History of the Ojibway Nation/Chapter 16
CHAPTER XVI.
ENDING OF THE FRENCH SUPREMACY.
We have now brought forward the history of the different sections of the Ojibway tribe, to the time when the French nation were forced to strike their colors and cede their possessions in America (comprising the great chain of lakes), into the hands of the British Empire.
The time during which these two powerful nations battled for the supremacy on the American continent, is an important era in the history of the Algic tribes who occupied a great portion of Canada, and the areas of the great western lakes.
Induced by their predilection to the French people, the causes of which we have given in a previous chapter, the eastern section of the Ojibway tribe residing at Sault Ste. Marie, Mackinaw, and the shores of Lake Huron, joined their warriors with the army of the French, and freely rallied to their support at Detroit, Fort Du Quesne, Niagara, Montreal, and Quebec. The Ojibways figured in almost every battle which was fought during these bloody wars, on the side of the French, against the English. A party of the tribe from their central village of La Pointe on Lake Superior, even proceeded nigh two thousand miles to Quebec, under their celebrated war chief Ma-mong-e-se-da, and fought in the ranks of Montcalm on the plains of Abraham, when this ill-fated general and the heroic Wolfe received their death wounds. According to the late noted British interpreter John Baptiste Cadotte, the name by which the Ojibways now know the British, Shaug-un-aush, was derived from the circumstance of their sudden and almost unaccountable appearance, on that memorable morning on the heights of Abraham. It is a little changed from the original word Saug-aush-e which signifies "to appear from the clouds."
With the deepest regret and sorrow, the Ojibways in common with other Algic tribes, at last viewed the final delivery of the Northwestern French forts into the hands of the conquering British. With aching hearts they bade a last farewell to the kind hearted French local commanders, whom they had learned to term "Father," and the jovial hearted "Coureur du Bois" and open-handed "Marchand voyageur," many of whom took their final departure from the Indian country on its cession to Great Britain. The bonds, however, which had been so long riveting between the French and Ojibways were not so easily to be broken.
The main body of the French traders and common voyageurs who had so long remained amongst them, had many of them become united to the Indian race by the ties of marriage; they possessed large families of half-blood children whom the Indians cherished as their own, and in many instances actually opposed their being taken from their midst. These Frenchmen, as a body, possessed an unbounded influence over the tribes amongst whom they resided, and though they did not openly aid and advise them in the strenuous effects which they continued to make even after the French as a nation had retired from the field, to prevent the occupation of their country by the British, yet their silence and apparent acquiescence conduced greatly to their noble and protracted efforts headed by the great Algic leader Pontiac.
The fact of their love and adherence to the French people cannot be gainsaid, and to more fully illustrate this feeling, as it actuated their conduct even after the great French nation had delivered them over to the dominion of the British, I will refer to the respected authority of Alexander Henry, the first British trader whom the Ojibways tell of having resided with them after the termination of the disastrous war which we are about to notice.
In 1760, the French forts on the northern lakes were given up to the British, and for the time being the northern tribes of Indians apparently acquiesced in the peace which, their Great Father, the French King, had made with Great Britain. In the spring of the following year, Mr. Henry, the well-known author of "Travels and Adventures in Canada and the Indian Territories, between the years 1760 and 1766," tells of making a trading voyage from Montreal to Michilimackinac. He came across a large village of Ojibway Indians on the small island of La Cloche in Lake Huron who treated him in the kindest and most friendly manner, till, "discovering that he was an Englishman," they told his men that the Michilimackinac Indians would certainly kill him, and that they might as well anticipate their share of the pillage. They accordingly demanded a part of his goods, which he prudently gave them. He observed afterwards that from the repeated warnings which he daily received, his mind became "oppressed and much troubled," and learning that the “hostility of the Indians was exclusively against the English," this circumstance suggested to him a prospect of security in securing a Canadian disguise, which eventually enabled him to complete his journey.
He arrived at Michilimackinac, where he found his difficulties to increase, and where he fully learned the nature of the feelings which actuated the minds of the Ojibways against the occupation of their country by the English, nor were his apprehensions allayed, till he received a formal visit from the war chief of the eastern section of the tribe, who resided at Michilimackinac. Mr. Henry describes this man as a person of remarkable appearance, of commanding stature, and with a singularly fine countenance.
He entered the room where the traveller was anxiously awaiting the result of his visit, followed by sixty warriors dressed and decorated in the most formal and imposing fashion of war. Not a word was spoken as they came in one by one, seated themselves on the floor at a signal from the chief, and began composedly to fill and smoke their pipes. The Ojibway chieftain meanwhile looking steadfastly at the trader, made various inquiries of his head boatman, a Canadian. He then coolly observed that "the English were brave men and not afraid of death, since they dared to come thus fearlessly among their enemies."
When the Indians had finished smoking their pipes, the chief took a few wampum strings in his hand and commenced the following harangue:—
"Englishman! It is to you that I speak, and I demand your attention!
"Englishman! You know that the French king is our father. He promised to be such; and we, in return, promised to be his children. This promise we have kept.
"Englishman! It is you that have made war with this our father. You are his enemy; and how then could you have the boldness to venture among us, his children? You know that his enemies are ours.
"Englishman! We are informed that our father, the king of France, is old and infirm; and that being fatigued with making war upon your nation, he is fallen asleep.
"During his sleep, you have taken advantage of him and possessed yourselves of Canada. But his nap is almost at an end. I think I hear him already stirring and inquiring for his children, the Indians:—and when he does awake, what must become of you? He will destroy you utterly.
"Englishman! Although you have conquered the French you have not yet conquered us! We are not your slaves. These lakes and these woods and mountains were left to us by our ancestors. They are our inheritance, and we will part with them to none. Your nation supposes that we, like the white people, cannot live without bread and pork and beef. But you ought to know that he—the Great Spirit and master of life—has provided food for us in these broad lakes and upon these mountains.
"Englishman! Our father, the king of France, employed our young men to make war on your nation.
"In this warfare, many of them have been killed, and it is our custom to retaliate, until such time as the spirits of the slain are satisfied. Now the spirits of the slain are to be satisfied in either of two ways. The first is by spilling the blood of the nation by whom they fell; the other, by covering the bodies of the dead, and thus allaying the resentment of their relatives. This is done by making presents.
"Englishman! Your king has never sent us any presents, nor entered into any treaty with us, wherefore he and we are still at war; and until he does these things, we must consider that we have no other father or friend among the white men than the king of France. But for you, we have taken into consideration that you have ventured your life among us, in expectation that we should not molest you; you do not come armed with an intention to make war. You come in peace, to trade with us and supply us with necessaries of which we are much in want. We shall regard you therefore as a brother, and you may sleep tranquilly without fear of the Chippeways. As a token of our friendship, we present you with this pipe to smoke."
Mih-neh-weh-na, the name of the chieftain who delivered this noble speech, now gave his hand to the Englishman. His sixty warriors followed his example. The pipe, emblem of peace, went round in due order, and after being politely entertained by the anxious trader, from whose heart they had taken a heavy load, they all quietly took their leave.
So many more able writers than myself have given accurate accounts of the memorable events which occurred during this important era in American history, that I desist from entering into details of any occurrence, except in which the Ojibways were actually concerned.
For upwards of four years after the French had ceded the country to the British, the allied Algic tribes, after a short lull of quiet and comparative peace, under the masterly guidance of Pontiac, maintained the war against what they considered as the usurpation, by the British, of the hunting grounds which the Great Spirit had given their ancestors.
Such was the force and accuracy of the organization which this celebrated leader had effected among the northern tribes of his fellow red men, that, on the same day, which was the 4th of June, 1763, and the anniversary of the king's birth (which the Indians knew was a day set apart by the English as one of amusement and celebration), they attacked and besieged twelve of the wide-spread western stockaded forts, and succeeded in taking possession of nine. In this alliance, the Ojibways of Lake Huron and Michigan were most active parties, and into their hands was entrusted by their common leader, the capture of the British fort at Mackinaw. "That fort," according to the description of an eminent writer, "standing on the south side of the strait between lakes Huron and Michigan, was one of the most important positions on the frontiers. It was the place of deposit, and point of departure between the upper and lower countries; the traders always assembled there, on their voyages to and from Montreal. Connected with it, was an area of two acres, inclosed with cedar wood pickets, and extending on one side so near to the water's edge, that a western wind always drew the waves against the foot of the stockade. There were about thirty houses within the limits, inhabited by about the same number of families. The only ordinance on the bastions were two small brass pieces. The garrison numbered between ninety and one hundred."
The important enterprise of the capture of this important and indispensable post, was entrusted into the hands of Mih-neh-weh-na, the great war chieftain of the Ojibways of Mackinaw, whom we have already mentioned, and by the manner in which he superintended and managed the affair, to a complete and successful issue, he approved himself a worthy lieutenant of the great head and leader of the war, the Ottawa chieftain Pontiac.
The Ottawas of Lake Michigan being more friendly disposed to the British, were not called on by the politic Ojibway chieftain for help in this enterprise, and a knowledge of the secret plan of attack was carefully kept from them, for fear that they would inform their English friends, and place them on their guard. In fact, every person of his own tribe whom he suspected of secret good-will towards any of the new British traders, Min-neh-weh-na sent away from the scene of the intended attack, with the admonition that death would be their sure fate, should the Saugunash be informed of the plan which had been formed to take possession of the fort.
In this manner did he guard with equal foresight and greater success than Pontiac himself, against a premature development of their plans. Had not the loving Indian girl informed the young officer at Fort Detroit of Pontiac's secret plan, that important post, and its inmates, would have shared the same fate as befell the fort at Mackinaw.
Of all the northern tribes who occupied the great lakes, the Ojibways allowed only the Osaugees to participate with them in their secret councils, in which was developed the plan of taking the fort, and these two tribes only were actively engaged in this enterprise.
The fighting men of the Ojibways and Osaugees gradually collected in the vicinity of the fort as the day appointed for the attack approached. They numbered between four and six hundred. An active trade was in the mean time carried on with the British traders, and every means resorted to for the purpose of totally blinding the suspicions which the more humane class of the French population found means to impart to the officers of the fort, respecting the secret animosity of the Indians. These hints were entirely disregarded by Major Etherington, the commandant of the fort, and he even threatened to confine any person who would have the future audacity to whisper these tales of danger into his ears. Everything, therefore, favored the scheme which the Ojibway chieftain had laid to ensnare his confident enemies. On the eve of the great English king's birthday, he informed the British commandant that as the morrow was to be a day of rejoicing, his young men would play the game of ball, or Baug-ah-ud-o-way, for the amusement of the whites, in front of the gate of the fort. In this game the young men of the Osaugee tribe would play against the Ojibways for a large stake. The commandant expressed his pleasure and willingness to the crafty chieftain's proposal, little dreaming that this was to lead to a game of blood, in which those under his charge were to be the victims.
During the whole night the Ojibways were silently busy in making preparations for the morrow's work. They sharpened their knives and tomahawks, and filed short off their guns. In the morning these weapons were entrusted to the care of their women, who, hiding them under the folds of their blankets, were ordered to stand as near as possible to the gate of the fort, as if to witness the game which the men were about to play. Over a hundred on each side of the Ojibways and Osaugees, all chosen men, now sallied forth from their wigwams, painted and ornamented for the occasion, and proceeding to the open green which lay in front of the fort, they made up the stakes for which they were apparently about to play, and planted the posts towards which each party was to strive to take the ball.
This game of Baug-ah-ud-o-way is played with a bat and wooden ball. The bat is about four feet long, terminating at one end into a circular curve, which is netted with leather strings, and forms a cavity where the ball is caught, carried, and if necessary thrown with great force, to treble the distance that it can be thrown by hand. Two posts are planted at the distance of about half a mile. Each party has its particular post, and the game consists in carrying or throwing the ball in the bat to the post of the adversary. At the commencement of the game, the two parties collect midway between the two posts; the ball is thrown up into the air, and the competition for its possession commences in earnest. It is the wildest game extant among the Indians, and is generally played in full feathers and ornaments, and with the greatest excitement and vehemence. The great object is to obtain possession of the ball; and, during the heat of the excitement, no obstacle is allowed to stand in the way of getting at it. Let it fall far out into the deep water, numbers rush madly in and swim for it, each party impeding the efforts of the other in every manner possible. Let it fall into a high inclosure, it is surmounted, or torn down in a moment, and the ball recovered; and were it to fall into the chimney of a house, a jump through the window, or a smash of the door, would be considered of no moment; and the most violent hurts and bruises are incident to the headlong, mad manner in which it is played. It will be seen by this hurried description, that the game was very well adapted to carry out the scheme of the Indians.
On the morning of the 4th of June, after the cannon of the fort had been discharged in commemoration of the king's natal day, the ominous ball was thrown up a short distance in front of the gate of Fort Mackinaw, and the exciting game commenced. The two hundred players, their painted persons streaming with feathers, ribbons, fox and wolf tails, swayed to and fro as the ball was carried backwards and forwards by either party, who for the moment had possession of it. Occasionally a swift and agile runner would catch it in his bat, and making tremendous leaps hither and thither to avoid the attempts of his opponents to knock it out of his bat, or force him to throw it, he would make a sudden dodge past them, and choosing a clear track, run swiftly, urged on by the deafening shouts of his party and the by-standers, towards the stake of his adversaries, till his onward course was stopped by a swifter runner, or an advanced guard of the opposite party.
The game, played as it was, by the young men of two different tribes, became exciting, and the commandant of the fort even took his stand outside of his open gates, to view its progress. His soldiers stood carelessly unarmed, here and there, intermingling with the Indian women, who gradually huddled near the gateway, carrying under their blankets the weapons which were to be used in the approaching work of death.
In the struggle for its possession, the ball at last was gradually carried towards the open gates, and all at once, after having reached a proper distance, an athletic arm caught it up in his bat, and as if by accident threw it within the precincts of the fort. With one deafening yell and impulse, the players rushed forward in a body, as if to regain it, but as they reached their women and entered the gateway, they threw down their wooden bats and grasping the shortened guns, tomahawks, and knives, the massacre commenced, and the bodies of the unsuspecting British soldiers soon lay strewn about, lifeless, horribly mangled, and scalpless. The careless commander was taken captive without a struggle, as he stood outside the fort, viewing the game, which the Ojibway chieftain had got up for his amusement.
The above is the account, much briefened, which I have learned verbally from the old French traders and half-breeds, who learned it from the lips of those who were present and witnessed the bloody transaction. Not a hair on the head of the many Frenchmen who witnessed this scene was hurt by the infuriated savages, and there stands not on record a stronger proof of the love borne them by the tribe engaged in this business than this very fact, for the passions of an Indian warrior, once aroused by a scene of this nature, are not easily appeased, and generally everything kindred in any manner to his foe, falls a victim to satiate his blood-thirsty propensities.
Alexander Henry, one of the few British traders who survived this massacre, gives the most authentic record of this event that has been published, and to his truthful narrative I am indebted for much corroborating testimony, to the more disconnected accounts of the Indians and old traders. A few quotations from his journal will illustrate the affair more fully, and I have no doubt will be acceptable to the reader, as being better told than I can tell it.
After disregarding the friendly cautionary hints of Wa-wat-am, an Ojibway Indian who had adopted him as a brother, but who dared not altogether disclose the plan of attack formed by his people, Mr. Henry resumes his narrative as follows:—
"The morning was sultry. A Chippeway came to tell me that his nation was going to play at Baggatiway with the Sacs or Saukies, another Indian nation, for a high wager. He invited me to witness the sport, adding that the commandant was to be there, and would bet on the side of the Chippeways. In consequence of this information, I went to the commandant and expostulated with him a little, representing that the Indians might possibly have some sinister end in view, but the commandant only smiled at my suspicions. . . .
"I did not go myself to see the match, which was now to be played without the fort, because, there being a canoe prepared to depart on the following day to Montreal, I employed myself in writing letters to my friends; and even when a fellow trader, Mr. Tracy, happened to call on me, saying that another canoe had just arrived from Detroit, and proposing that I should go with him to the beach to inquire the news, it so happened that I still remained to finish my letters, promising to follow Mr. Tracy in the course of a few minutes. Mr. Tracy had not gone more than twenty paces from the door, when I heard an Indian war-cry and a noise of general confusion. Going instantly to my window, I saw a crowd of Indians within the fort, furiously cutting down and scalping every Englishman they found. In particular, I witnessed the fate of Lieut. Jenette. I had, in the room in which I was, a fowling piece, loaded with swan shot. This I immediately seized, and held it for a few minutes, waiting to hear the drum beat to arms. In this dreadful interval, I saw several of my countrymen fall, and more than one struggling between the knees of an Indian, who, holding him in this manner, scalped him while yet living! At length, disappointed in the hope of seeing resistance made to the enemy, and sensible of course that no effort of my own unassisted arm could avail against four hundred Indians, I thought only of seeking shelter. Amid the slaughter which was raging, I observed many of the Canadian inhabitants of the fort calmly looking on, neither opposing the Indians nor suffering injury. From this circumstance I conceived a hope of finding security in their houses."
After describing the many hair-breadth escapes which befell him at the hands of the savages, Mr. Henry was eventually saved by Wa-wat-am, or Wow-yat-ton (Whirling Eddy), his adopted Ojibway brother, in the following characteristic manner, which we will introduce in his own words, as an apt illustration of Indian custom:—
"Toward noon (7th June), when the great war chief, in company with Wen-ni-way, was seated at the opposite end of the lodge, my friend and brother Wa-wa-tam, suddenly came in. During the four days preceding, I had often wondered what had become of him. In passing by, he gave me his hand, but went immediately toward the great chief, by the side of whom, and Wen-ni-way, he sat himself down. The most uninterrupted silence prevailed. Each smoked his pipe, and this done, Wa-wa-tam arose and left the lodge, saying to me, as he passed, 'Take courage.'
"An hour elapsed, during which several chiefs entered, and preparations appeared to be making for a council. At length Wa-wa-tam re-entered the lodge, followed by his wife, and both loaded with merchandise, which they carried up to the chiefs, and laid in a heap before them. Some moments of silence followed, at the end of which, Wa-wa-tam pronounced a speech, every word of which, to me, was of extraordinary interest:—
"'Friends and relations,' he began, 'what is it that I shall say? You know what I feel. You all have friends and brothers and children, whom as yourselves you love, and you, what would you experience, did you, like me, behold your dearest friend, your brother, in the condition of a slave—a slave exposed every moment to insult, and to the menaces of death! This case, as you all know, is mine. See there,' pointing to myself, 'my friend and brother among slaves, himself a slave!
"'You all well know, long before the war began, I adopted him as my brother. From this moment he became one of my family, so that no change of circumstances could break the cord which fastened us together. He is my brother—and because I am your relation, he is therefore your relation too; and how, being your relation, can he be your slave?
"'On the day on which the war began, you were fearful, lest, on this very account, I should reveal your secret. You requested, therefore, that I should leave the fort, and even cross the lake. I did so, but did it with reluctance. I did it with reluctance, notwithstanding that you, Mih-neh-weh-na, who had the command in this enterprise, gave me your promise that you would protect my friend, delivering him from all danger, and giving him safely to me.
"'The performance of this promise I now claim. I come not with empty hands to ask. You, Mih-neh-weh-na, best know whether or not, as it respects yourself, you have kept your word. But I bring these goods, to buy off every claim, which any man among you all may have on my brother, as his prisoner.'
"Wa-wa-tam having ceased, the pipes were again filled, and after they were finished, a further period of silence followed. At the end of this, Mih-neh-weh-na arose and gave his reply:—
"'My relation and brother,' said he, 'what you have spoken is the truth. We were acquainted with the friendship which subsisted between yourself and the Englishman, in whose behalf you have now addressed us. We knew the danger of having our secret discovered, and the consequences which must follow. You say truly that we requested you to leave the fort. This we did in regard for you and your family; for if a discovery of our design had been made, you would have been blamed, whether guilty or not, and you would thus have been involved in difficulties, from which you could not have extricated yourself. It is also true that I promised you to take care of your friend; and this promise I performed by desiring my son, at the moment of assault, to seek him out, and bring him to my lodge. He went accordingly, but could not find him. The day after I sent him to Langlade's (a French trader), when he was informed that your friend was safe; and had it not been that the Indians were then drinking the rum which had been found in the fort, he would have brought him home with him, according to my orders. I am very glad to find that your friend has escaped. We accept your present: and you may take him home with you.'
"Wa-wa-tam thanked the assembled chiefs, and taking me by the hand, led me to his lodge, which was at the distance of a few yards only from the prison lodge. My entrance appeared to give joy to the whole family. Food was immediately prepared for me, and I now ate the first hearty meal which I had made since my capture. I found myself one of the family, and but that I had still my fears as to the other Indians, I felt as happy as the situation could allow."
Mr. Henry says further: "Of the English traders that fell into the hands of the Indians at the capture of the fort, Mr. Tracy was the only one who lost his life. Mr. Ezekiel Solomons, and Mr. Henry Bostwick, were taken by the Ottawas, and, after the peace, carried down to Montreal, and there ransomed. Of ninety troops, about seventy were killed; the rest, together with those of the posts in the Bay des Puants (Green Bay) and at the river St. Joseph, were also kept in safety by the Ottawas till the peace, and then either freely restored, or ransomed at Montreal. The Ottawas never overcame their disgust at the neglect with which they had been treated in the beginning of the war, by those who afterwards desired their assistance as allies."
That portion of the Ojibways, forming by far the main body of the tribe who occupied the area of Lake Superior, and those bands who had already formed villages on the Upper Mississippi, and on the sources of its principal northeastern tributaries, were not engaged in the bloody transactions which we have described or at most, but a very few of their old warriors, who have now all paid the last debt of nature, were noted as having been present on the occasion of this most important event in Ojibway history.