Descent of Fox River--Blackbirds--Menomonies--Rice fields--Starving Indians--Thunder storm--Dream--An Indian struck dead with lightning--Green Bay--Death of Colonel Haines--Incidents of the journey from Green Bay to Michilimackinack--Reminiscences of my early life and travels--Choiswa--Further reminiscences of my early life--Ruins of the first mission of Father Marquette--Reach Michilimackinack.
1825.August 26th. A PORTAGE of about one mile and a quarter was before us.
At day-break two ox carts, which I had ordered in the evening, came, and took our baggage across to the banks of Fox River. The canoes were carried over by the different crews. On reaching the banks of the Fox River, I concluded to stay for the purpose of breakfasting. I added to my stock of eatables, a bag of potatoes, and some butter and milk, purchased from a Frenchman, who resided here. It was about nine o'clock A.M. when we embarked on the Fox, and we began its descent with feelings not widely different from those of a boy who has carried his sled, in winter,upthe steep side of a hill, that he may enjoy the pleasure of ridingdown. The Fox River is serpentine, almost without a parallel; it winds about like a string that doubles and redoubles, and its channel is choked with fields of wild rice; from which rose, continually, immense flocks of blackbirds. They reminded me very forcibly of the poet's line--
"The birds of heaven shall vindicate their grain."
Mr. Holliday the elder and his son made several unsuccessful shots at them. I did not regret their ill success, and was pleased to hear them singing--
"As sweetly and gayly as ever before."
We met several canoes of Menomonies. We stopped for dinner near a lodge of them, who were in a starving condition. I distributed bread and corn among them. They presented me a couple of dishes of a species of berry, which they callNeekimen-een, or Brant-berry. It is a black, tasteless berry, a little larger than the whortleberry. We encamped at the head ofPukwaLake.
27th. A very severe shower of rain fell about three o'clock A.M.; it detained us in our camp until five, when we embarked. Why should I relate to you our dull progress through fields of rice--through intricate channels, and amidst myriads of ducks and wild water fowl. This day has been hot, beyond any experience on the journey. I sank back in my canoe, in a state of apathy and lassitude, partly from the heat, and partly from indisposition. My thoughts were employed upon home. A thousand phantoms passed through my head. I tried to imagine how you were employed at this moment, whether busy, or sick in your own room. It would require a volume to trace my wandering thoughts. Let it suffice that another day is nearly gone, and it has lessened the distance which separated us, about seventy miles.
28th. I encamped, last night, near a large village of Winnebagoes and Menomonies. They complained to me of want of food and ammunition. I distributed among them a quantity of powder, ball, and shot, and some bread, hard biscuit, pork, and tobacco. Never were people more grateful, and never, I believe, was a more appropriate distribution made. I had purchased these articles for the Chippewa Nation, to be used on my contemplated voyage home, from the Prairie, through Chippewa River and Lake Superior, before the design of going that way was relinquished. The fact was, I could get no men to go that way, so alarmed were they by the recent murder of Finley and his party.
About two o'clock A.M. I was awoke by a very heavy storm of rain and wind, attended with loud peals of thunder. The violence of the wind blew down my tent, and my blankets, &c. received some damage. After this mishap the wind abated, and having got my tent re-arranged, I again went to sleep. I dreamt of attending the funeral of an esteemed friend, who was buried with honors, attended to the grave by a large train. I have no recollection of the name of this friend, nor whether male or female. I afterwards visited the house of this person, and the room in which he (or she) died. I closed the door with dread and sorrow, afflicted by the views of the couch where one so much esteemed had expired. The mansion was large, and elegantly furnished. I lost my way in it, and rung a large bell that hung in the hall. At this, many persons, male and female, came quickly into the hall from folding doors, as if, I thought, they had been summoned to dinner. As you have sometimes inclined to believe in these fantastic operations of the human mind, when asleep, I record them for your amusement, or reflection. Was this an allegory of the destructive effects of the storm, mixed with my banquet to my Indian friends, the Menomonies and Winnebagoes?
After descending the river more than twenty miles we landed atla Butte des Mortsto cook breakfast. Immediately on landing my attention was attracted by a small white flag hanging from a high pole. I went to It and found a recent Indian grave, very neatly and carefully covered with boards. The Indian had been struck dead by lightning a few days previous. Is this the interpretation of my dream, or must I follow my fears to St. Mary's, to witness some of our family suffering on the bed of sickness. God, in his mercy, forbid!
This day was comparatively cool. On the previous days it was my custom to sit in my shirt and sleeves. To-day, I kept on my surtout all day, and my cloak over it until twelve. Such sudden changes in the temperature of the seasons are the reproach of our climate. My health has been better than for a few days back, owing, I believe, solely to my abstinence both yesterday and the day before. How much illness would be prevented by a proper attention to regimen. It is now eight o'clock in the evening, I am sitting in my tent with a candle standing on a rush mat, and my black trunk for a writing desk. I am interrupted by the news that my supper is ready to be brought in. How happy I should be if you could participate in my frugal meal. In the language of Burns--
"Adieu a heart-warm fond adieu."
29th. I encamped last night, at the foot of the Winnebago Rapids, one mile below Winnebago Lake. I found the rapids of Fox River, which begin here, more difficult to pass than on our ascent, the water being much lower. We were necessarily detained many hours, and most of the men compelled to walk. About six o'clock, P.M. we reached the upper part of the settlement of Green Bay. I stopped a few moments at Judge Doty's, and also a little below at Major Brevoort's, the Indian agent of the post. We then proceeded to the lower settlements, and encamped near the fort at Arndt's. Dr. Wheaton met me on the beach, with several others. I supped and lodged at Arndt's, having declined Dr. Wheaton's polite invitation to sup, and take a bed with him. At tea I saw Mrs. Cotton, whom you will recollect as Miss Arndt, and was introduced to her husband, Lieutenant Cotton, U.S.A. I was also introduced to the Rev. Mr. Nash, a clergyman of the Protestant Episcopal order, on missionary duty here. I went to my room, as soon as I could disentangle myself from these greetings, with a bundle of papers, to read up the news, and was truly pained to hear of the death of my early friend Colonel Charles G. Haines of New York, an account of which, with the funeral honors paid to him, I read in the papers.
30th. The repair of my canoe, and the purchase of provisions to recruit my supplies, consumed the morning, until twelve o'clock, when I embarked, and called at the fort to pay my respects to Dr. Wheaton. I found the dinner-table set. He insisted on my stopping with Mr. H. to dinner, which, being an old friend and as one of my men had absconded, and I was, therefore, delayed, I assented to. The doctor and family evinced the greatest cordiality, and he sent down to my canoe, after dinner, a quantity of melons, some cabbages, and a bag of new potatoes. Before I could obtain another man and set out again, it was three o'clock. I was obliged to forego the return of some visits. We continued our voyage down the bay about 40 miles, and encamped at 8 o'clock, having run down with a fair wind.
31st. Soon after quitting our camp this morning, a heavy wind arose. It was partly fair, so as to permit our hoisting sail for a few hours, but then shifted ahead, and drove us ashore. We landed on a small island called Vermilion, off the south cape of Sturgeon Bay. Here we remained all the remainder of the day and night. While there detained I read "China, its Arts, Manufactures, &c.," a work translated from the French, and giving a lively, and apparently correct account of that singular people.
About two o'clock, P.M., we cut some of the water and musk-melons presented by Dr. Wharton, and found them delicious. About 6 o'clock, P.M., my cook informed me that he had prepared a supper, agreeably to my directions, and we found his skill in this way by no means despicable. Such are the trifles which must fill up my journal, for did I only write what was fit for grave divines, or the scrutinizing eye of philosophy to read, I fear I should have but a few meagre sheets to present you on my return, and perhaps not a single syllable witty or wise.
Sept. 1st. The wind abated during the night, and we were early on the waters, and went on until eleven o'clock, when we landed for breakfast. At twelve o'clock we went forward again, with a fair wind. I read another volume of "China." "The Chinese ladies," says the author, "live very retired, wholly engaged in their household affairs, and how to please their husbands. They are not, however, confined quite so closely as is commonly supposed. The females visit entirely amongst each other. There is no society or circles in China to which the women are admitted. Marriages are a mere matter of convenience, or, to speak with greater propriety, a kind of bargain settled between the parents and relatives."
We came on very well, and encamped at the Little Detroit, or strait, so called, in the Grand Traverse. This traverse separates Green Bay from Lake Michigan. It is computed to be twenty miles over. A cluster of islands enables canoes to pass. There are some hieroglyphics on the rocks.
2d. We embarked at three o'clock, A.M., and went on very well, until ten, when we stopped on one of the islands for breakfast, having nearly completed the traverse. In the meantime the wind arose in our favor, and we went on along the north shore of Lake Michigan gayly. We passed the mouth of the Manistee River, which interlocks with the Tacquimenon of Lake Superior, where some of our St. Mary's Chippewas make their gardens. An aft wind and light spirits are inseparable, whether a man be in a frigate or a canoe. There is something in the air exhilarating. I have been passing in retrospect, the various journeys I have made, but during none has my anxieties to return been so great as this. What a wonderful destiny it is that makes one man a traveler and another a poet, a mathematician, &c. We appear to be guided by some innate principle which has a predominating force. No man was more unlikely to be a traveler than myself. I always thought myself to be domestic in my feelings, habits, and inclinations, and even in very early youth, proposed to live a life of domestic felicity. I thought such a life inseparable from the married state, and resolved, therefore, to get married, as soon as prudence and inclination would permit. Notwithstanding this way of thinking my life has been a series of active employment and arduous journeyings. I may say my travels began even in childhood, for when only six or seven years old, I recollect to have wandered off a long distance into the pine plains of my native town, to view Honicroisa Hill, a noted object in that part of the country, to the great alarm of all the family, who sent out to search for me. My next journey was in my eleventh year, when I accompanied my father, in his chaise, he dressed out in his regimentals, to attend a general court-martial at Saratoga. I had not then read any history of our Revolution, but had heard its battles and hardships, told over by my father, which created a deep interest, and among the events was Burgoyne's surrender. My mind was filled with the subject as we proceeded on our way, and I expected to see a field covered with skulls, and guns, and broken swords.
In my fifteenth year I accompanied my father, in his chaise, up the Valley of the Mohawk to Utica. This gave me some idea of the western country, and the rapid improvements going on there. I returned with some more knowledge of the world, and with my mind filled with enthusiastic notions of new settlements and fortunes made in the woods. I was highly pleased with the frank and hospitable manners of the west. The next spring I was sent by a manufacturing company to Philadelphia, as an agent to procure and select on the banks of the Delaware, between Bristol and Bordentown, a cargo of crucible clay. This journey and its incidents opened a new field to me, and greatly increased my knowledge of the world; of the vastness of commerce; and of the multifarious occupations of men. I acquitted myself well of my agency, having made a good selection of my cargo. I was a judge of the mineralogical properties of the article, but a novice in almost everything else. I supposed the world honest, and every man disposed to act properly and to do right. I now first witnessed a theatre. It was at New York. When the tragedy was over, seeing many go out, I also took a check and went home, to be laughed at by the captain of the sloop, with whom I was a passenger. At Philadelphia I fell into the hands of a professed sharper; He was a gentleman in dress, manners, and conversation. He showed me the city, and was very useful in directing my inquiries. But he borrowed of me thirty dollars one day, to pay an unexpected demand, as he said, and that was the last I ever saw of my money. The lesson was not, however, lost upon me. I have never since lent a stranger or casual acquaintance money.
3d. I was compelled to break off my notes yesterday suddenly. A storm came on which drove us forward with great swiftness, and put us in some peril. We made the land about three o'clock, after much exertion and very considerable wetting. After the storm had passed over, a calm succeeded, when we again put out, and kept the lake till eight o'clock. We had a very bad encampment--loose rough stones to lie on, and scarcely wood enough to make a fire. To finish our misery, it soon began to rain, but ceased before ten. At four o'clock this morning we arose, the weather being quite cold. At an early hour, after getting afloat, we reached and passed a noted landing for canoes and boats, calledChoishwa(Smooth-rock.) This shelter, is formed by a ledge of rock running into the lake. On the inner, or perpendicular face, hundreds of names are cut or scratched upon the rock. Thiscacoethes scribendiis the pest of every local curiosity or public watering-place. Even here, in the wilderness, it is developed.
Wise men ne'er cut their names on doors or rock-heads,But leave the task to scribblers and to blockheads;Pert, trifling folks, who, bent on being witty,Scrawl on each post some fag-end of a ditty,Spinning, with spider's web, their shallow brains,O'er wainscots, borrowed books, or window panes.
At one o'clock the wind became decidedly fair, and the men, relieved from their paddles, are nearly all asleep, in the bottom of the canoe. While the wind drives us forward beautifully I embrace the time to resume my narrative of early journeyings, dropt yesterday.
In the year 1808, my father removed from Albany to Oneida County. I remained at the old homestead in Guilderland, in charge of his affairs, until the following year, when I also came to the west. The next spring I was offered handsome inducements to go to the Genesee country, by a manufacturing company, who contemplated the saving of a heavy land transportation from Albany on the article of window-glass, if the rude materials employed in it could be found in that area of country. I visited it with that view; found its native resources ample, and was still more delighted with the flourishing appearance of this part of the Western country than I had been with Utica and its environs. Auburn, Geneva, Canandaigua, and other incipient towns, seemed to me the germs of a land "flowing with milk and honey."
In 1811, I went on a second trip to Philadelphia, and executed the object of it with a success equal to my initial visit. On this trip I had letters to some gentlemen at Philadelphia, who received me in a most clever spirit, and I visited the Academy of Arts, Peale's Museum, the Water Works, Navy Yard, &c. I here received my first definite ideas of painting and sculpture. I returned with new stores of information and new ideas of the world, but I had lost little or nothing of my primitive simplicity of feeling or rustic notions of human perfection. And, as I began to see something of the iniquities of men, I clung more firmly to my native opinions.
My personal knowledge of my native State, and of the States of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, was now superior to that of most men with whom I was in the habit of conversing, and I subsequently made several little journeys and excursions that furthered me in the knowledge.
As yet, I knew nothing by personal observation of New England. In the early part of 1813, having completed my nineteenth year, I went to Middlebury, in Vermont, on the banks of Otter Creek, where, I understand, my great-grandfather, who was an Englishman, to have died. Soon after I accompanied Mr. Ep. Jones, a man of decided enterprise, but some eccentricities of character, on an extensive tour through the New England States. We set out from Lake Dunmore, in Salisbury, in a chaise, and proceeding over the Green Mountains across the State of Vermont, to Bellows' Falls, on the Connecticut River, there struck the State of New Hampshire, and went across it, and a part of Massachusetts, to Boston. Thence, after a few days' stop, we continued our route to Hartford, the seat of government of Connecticut, and thence south to the valley of the Hudson at Rhinebeck. Here we crossed the Hudson to Kingston (the Esopus of Indian days), and proceeded inland, somewhat circuitously, to the Catskill Mountains; after visiting which, we returned to the river, came up its valley to Albany, and returned, by way of Salem, to Salisbury. All this was done with one horse, a compact small-boned animal, who was a good oats-eater, and of whom we took the very best care. I made this distich on him:--
Feed me well with oats and hay,And I'll carry you forty miles a-day.
This long and circuitous tour gave me a general idea of this portion of the Union, and enabled me to institute many comparisons between the manners and customs and advantages of New York and New England.
I am again compelled to lay my pencil aside by the quantity of water thrown into the canoe by the paddles of the men, who have been roused up by the increasing waves.
4th. We went on under a press of sail last evening until eight o'clock, when we encamped in a wide sandy bay in the Straits of Michigan, having come a computed distance of 80 miles. On looking about, we found in the sand the stumps of cedar pickets, forming an antique enclosure, which, I judged, must have been the first site of the Mission of St. Ignace, founded by Pierre Marquette, upwards of a hundred and eighty years ago. Not a lisp of such a ruin had been heard by me previously. French and Indian tradition says nothing of it. The inference is, however, inevitable. Point St. Ignace draws its name from it. It was afterwards removed and fixed at the blunt peninsula, or headland, which the Indians callPeekwutino, the old Mackinac of the French.
Leaving this spot at an early hour, we went to Point St. Ignace to breakfast, and made the traverse to the Island of Michilimackinac by eleven o'clock. We were greeted by a number of persons on the beach; among them was Mr. Agnew, of theSault, who reported friends all well. This was a great relief to my mind, as I had been for a number of days under the impression that some one near and dear to me was ill. It was Sunday morning; many of the inhabitants were at church, and appearances indicated more respect for the day than I recollect to have noticed before. The good effect of the mission established in the island, under the auspices of the Rev. Mr. Ferry, are clearly visible. Mr. Robert Stuart invited me to take a room at the company's house, which I declined, but dined and supped there.
Journey from Mackinac to the Sault Ste. Marie--Outard Point--Head winds--Lake Huron in a rage--Desperate embarkation--St. Vital--Double the Detour--Return to St. Mary's--Letters--"Indian girl"--New volume of travels--Guess' Cherokee alphabet--New views of the Indian languages and their principles of construction--Georgia question--Post-office difficulties--Glimpses from the civilized world.
1825.Sept. 5th. I arose at seven, and we had breakfast at half-past seven. I then went to the Company's store and ordered an invoice of goods for the Indian department. This occupied the time till dinner was announced. I then went to my camp and ordered the tent to be struck and the canoe to be put into the water; but found two of my men so ill with the fever and ague that they could not go, and three others were much intoxicated. The atmosphere was very cloudy and threatening, and to attempt the traverse to Goose Island, under such circumstances, was deemed improper. Mr. Robert and David Stuart, men noted in the Astoria enterprise; Mr. Agnew, Capt. Knapp, Mr. Conner, Mr. Abbott, Mr. Currey, &c., had kindly accompanied me to the beach, but all were very urgent in their opinion that I should defer the starting. I ordered the men to be ready at two o'clock in the morning should the weather not prove tempestuous.
6th. I arose at three o'clock, but found a heavy fog enveloping the whole island, and concealing objects at a short distance. It was not till half-past six that I could embark, when the fog began to disperse, but the clearing away of the fog introduced a light head wind. I reached Goose Island, a distance of ten miles, after a march of three hours, and afterwards went to Outard Point, but could go no further from the increased violence of the wind.
Outard Point, 8 o'clock P.M.Here have I been encamped since noon, with a head wind, a dense damp atmosphere, and the lake in a foam. I expected the wind would fall with the sun, but, alas! it blows stronger than ever. I fondly hoped on quitting Mackinac this morning, that I should see home to-morrow, but that is now impossible. How confidently do we hope and expect in this life, and how little do we know what is to befall us for even a few hours beyond the present moment. It has pleased the All-wise Being to give me an adverse wind, and I must submit to it. I, doubtless, exulted too soon and too much. On reaching Mackinac, I said to myself: "My journey is accomplished; my route to the Sault is nothing; I can go there in a day and a half, wind or no wind." This vanity and presumption is now punished, and, I acknowledge, justly. I should have left it to Providence. Wise are the ways of the Almighty, and salutary all His dispensations to man. Were we not continually put in mind of an overruling Providence by reverses of this kind, the human heart, exalted with its own consequence, would soon cease to implore protection from on high.
I feel solitary. The loud dashing of the waves on shore, and the darkness and dreariness of all without my tent, conspire to give a saddened train to my reflections. I endeavored to divert myself, soon after landing, by a stroll along the shore. I sought in vain among the loose fragments of rock for some specimens worthy of preservation. I gleaned the evidences of crystallization and the traces of organic forms among the cast-up fragments of limestone and sandstone. I amused myself with the reflection that I should, perhaps, meet you coming from an opposite direction on the beach, and I half fancied that, perhaps, it would actually take place. Vain sport of the mind! It served to cheat away a tedious hour, and I returned to my tent fatigued and half sick. I am in hopes a cup of tea and a night's rest will restore my equipoise of mind and body. Thus
"Every pang that rends the heart,Bids expectation rise."
7th. Still detained on this bleak and desolate Point. A heavy rain and very strong gale continued all night. The rain was driven with such violence as to penetrate through the texture of my tent, and fall copiously upon me. Daybreak brought with it no abatement of the storm, but presented to my view a wide vista of white foaming surge as far as the eye could reach. In consequence of the increasing violence of the storm, I was compelled to order my baggage and canoe to be removed, and my tent to be pitched back among the trees. How long I am to remain here I cannot conjecture. It is a real equinoxial storm. My ears are stunned with the incessant roaring of the water and the loud murmuring of the wind among the foliage. Thick murky clouds obscure the sky, and a chill damp air compels me to sit in my tent with my cloak on. I may exclaim, in the language of the Chippewas,Tyau, gitche sunnahgud(oh, how hard is my fate.)
At two o'clock I made another excursion to view the broad lake and see if some favorable sign could not be drawn, but returned with nothing to cast a gleam on the angry vista. It seemed as if the lake was convulsed to its bottom.
OUTARD POINT.What narrowed pleasures swell the bosom here,A shore most sterile, and a clime severe,Where every shrub seems stinted in its size,"Where genius sickens and where fancy dies."If to the lake I cast my longing view,The curling waves their noisy way pursue;That noise reminds me of my prison-strand,Those waves I most admire, but cannot stand.If to the shore I cast my anxious eye,There broken rocks and sand commingled lie,Mixed with the wrecks of shells and weeds and wood,Crushed by the storm and driven by the flood.E'en fishes there, high cast upon the shore,Yet pant with life and stain the rocks with gore.Would here the curious eye expect to meetAught precious in the sands beneath his feet,Ores, gems, or crystals, fitting for the case,No spot affords so poor, so drear a place.Rough rounded stones, the sport of every wind,Is all th' inquirer shall with caution find.A beach unvaried spreads before the eye;Drear is the land and stormy is the sky.Would the fixed eye, that dotes on sylvan scenes,Draw pleasure from these dark funereal greens,These stunted cedars and low scraggy pines,Where nature stagnates and the soil repines--Alas! the source is small--small every bliss,That e'er can dwell on such a place as this.Bleak, barren, sandy, dreary, and confined,Bathed by the waves and chilled by every wind;Without a flower to beautify the scene,Without a cultured shore--a shady green--Without a harbor on a dangerous shore,Without a friend to joy with or deplore.He who can feel one lonely ray of blissIn such a thought-appalling spot as this,His mind in fogs and mists must ever roll,Without a heart, and torpid all his soul.
About three o'clock P.M. there was a transient gleam of sunshine, and, for a few moments, a slight abatement of wind. I ordered my canoe and baggage taken inland to another narrow little bay, having issue into the lake, where the water was calm enough to permit its being loaded; but before this was accomplished, a most portentous cloud gathered in the west, and the wind arose more fierce than before. Huron, like an offended and capricious mistress, seemed to be determined, at last, on fury, and threw herself into the most extravagant attitudes. I again had my tent pitched, and sat down quietly to wait till the tempest should subside; but up to a late hour at night the elemental war continued, and, committing myself to the Divine mercy, I put out my candle and retired to my pallet.
8th. The frowning mistress, Lake Huron, still has the pouts. About seven o'clock I walked, or scrambled my way through close-matted spruce and brambles to get a view of the open lake. The force of the waves was not, perhaps, much different from the day before, but they were directly from the west, and blowing directly down the lake. Could I get out from the nook of a bay where I was encamped, and get directly before them, it appeared possible, with a close-reefed sail, to go on my way. Myengageesthought it too hazardous to try, but their habitual sense of obedience to abourgeoiseled them to put the canoe in the water, and at 10 o'clock we left our encampment on Outard Point, got out into the lake, not without imminent hazard, and began our career "like a racehorse" for the Capes of the St. Mary's. The wind blew as if "'twad blawn its last." We had reefed our sail to less than four feet, and I put an extra man with the steersman. We literally went "on the wings of the wind." I do not think myself ever to have run such hazards. I was tossed up and down the waves like Sancho Panza on the blanket. Three hours and twenty minutes brought me to Isle St. Vital, behind which we got shelter. The good saint who presides over the island of gravel and sand permitted me to take a glass of cordial from my basket, and to refresh myself with a slice of cold tongue and a biscuit. Who this St. Vital may have been, I know not, having been brought up a Protestant; but I suppose the Catholic calendar would tell. If his saintship was as fond of good living as some of his friends are said to be, I make no doubt but he will freely forgive this trespass upon his territory. Taking courage by this refreshment, we again put out before the gale, and got in to the De Tour, and by seven o'clock, P.M., were safely encamped on an island in St. Mary's Straits, opposite St. Joseph's. The wind was here ahead.
On entering the straits, I found a vessel at anchor. On coming alongside it proved to be the schooner Harriet, Capt. Allen, of Mont Clemens, on her way from the Sault. A passenger on board says that he was at Mr. Johnston's house two days ago, and all are well. He says the Chippewa chiefs arrived yesterday. Regret that I had not forwarded by them the letter which I had prepared at the Prairie to transmit by Mr. Holliday, when I supposed I should return by way of Chippewa River and Lake Superior.
I procured from the Harriet a whitefish, of which I have just partaken a supper. This delicious fish is always a treat to me, but was never more so than on the present occasion. I landed here fatigued, wet, and cold, but, from the effects of a cheerful fire, good news from home, and bright anticipations for to-morrow, I feel quite re-invigorated. "Tired nature's sweet restorer" must complete what tea and whitefish have so successfully begun.
9th. My journal has no entry for this day, but it brought me safely (some 40 miles) to my own domicil at "Elmwood." The excitement of getting back and finding all well drove away almost all other thoughts.
The impressions made on society by our visit to New York, and the circles in which we moved, are given in a letter from Mr. Saml. C. Conant, of the 19th July, which I found among those awaiting my arrival. To introduce a descendant of one of the native race into society, as had been done in my choice, was not an ordinary event, and did not presuppose, it seems, ordinary independence of character. Her grandfather, by the maternal side, had been a distinguished chief of his nation at the ancient council-fire, or seat of its government at Chegoimegon and Lapointe. By her father, a native of Antrim, in the north of Ireland, she was connected with a class of clergy and gentry of high respectability, including the Bishop of Dromore and Mr. Saurin, the Attorney-General of Ireland. Two very diverse sources of pride of ancestry met in her father's family--that of the noble and free sons of the forest, and that of ancestral origin founded on the notice of British aristocracy. With me, the former was of the highest honor, when I beheld it, as it was in her case, united to manners and education in a marked degree gentle, polished, retiring, and refined. No two such diverse races and states of society, uniting to produce such a result, had ever come to my notice, and I was, of course, gratified when any persons of intellect and refinement concurred in the wisdom of my choice. Such was Mr. Conant and his family, a group ever to be remembered with kindness and respect. Having passed some weeks in his family, with her infant boy and nurse, during my absence South, his opportunities for judging were of the best kind.
"If you will suffer me to indulge the expression of both my own and Mrs. Conant's feelings, I am sure that you cannot but be pleased that the frankness and generosity of one, and the virtues and gentleness of the other of you, have made so lively an impression on our hearts, and rendered your acquaintance to us a matter of very sweet and grateful reflection. Truly modest and worthy persons often exhibit virtues and possess attainments so much allied to their nature as to be themselves unconscious of the treasures. It does not hurt such ones to be informed of their good qualities.
"When I first visited Mr. Schoolcraft, I looked about for hisIndian girl. I carried such a report to my wife that we were determined to seek her acquaintance, and were not less surprised than recompensed to find such gentleness, urbanity, affection, and intelligence, under circumstances so illy calculated, as might be supposed, to produce such amiable virtues. But all have learned to estimate human nature more correctly, and to determine that nature herself, not less than the culture of skillful hands, has much to do with the refinement and polish of the mind.
"Mr. S.'s book ('Trav. Cent. Ports. Miss. Valley') has also received several generous and laudatory notices; one from theU.S. Literary Gazette, printed at Boston. I saw Gov. Clinton, also, who spoke very highly both of the book and the author. He thought that Mr. W.'s ill-natured critique would not do any injury either here or in Europe."
Oct. 23d. C.C. Trowbridge, Esq., sends me a copy of "Guess' Cherokee Alphabet." It is, with a few exceptions, syllabic. Eighty-four characters express the whole language, but will express no other Indian language.
Maj. John Biddle communicates the result of the delegate election. By throwing out the vote of Sault Ste. Marie, the election was awarded by the canvassers to Mr. Wing.
New views of Indian philology. "You know," says a literary friend, "I began with a design to refute the calumnies of theQuarterlyrespecting our treatment of the Indians, and our conduct during the recent war. This is precisely what I have not done. My stock of materials for this purpose was most ample, and the most of the labor performed. But I found the whole could not be inserted in one number, and no other part but this could be omitted without breaking the continuity of the discussion. I concluded, therefore, it would be better to save it for another article, and hereafter remodel it."
28th. Mr. C. writes that he has completed his review, and transmits, for my perusal, some of the new parts of it. "I also transmit my rough draft of those parts of the review which relate to Hunter, to Adelang's survey, and to ----. These may amuse an idle hour. The remarks on ---- are, as you will perceive, materially altered. The alteration was rendered necessary by an examination of the work. The 'survey' is a new item, and I think, you will consider, the occasion of it, with me, a precious specimen of Dutch impudence and ignorance. Bad as it is, it is bepraised and bedaubed by that quack D. as though it were written with the judgment of a Charlevoix."
This article utters a species of criticism in America which we have long wanted.
It breaks the ice on new ground--the ground of independent philosophical thought and inquiry. Truth to tell, we have known very little on the philosophy of the Indian languages, and that little has been the re-echo of foreign continental opinions. It has been written without a knowledge of the Indian character and history. Its allusions have mixed up the tribes in double confusion. Mere synonyms have been taken for different tribes, and their history and language has been criss-crossed as if the facts had been heaped together with a pitchfork. Mr. C. has made a bold stroke to lay the foundation of a better and truer philological basis, which must at last prevail. It is true theprestigeof respected names will rise up to oppose the new views, which, I confess, to be sustained in their main features by my own views and researches here on the ground and in the midst of the Indians, and men will rise to sustain theoldviews--the original literary mummery and philological hocus-pocus based on the papers and letters and blunders of Heckewelder. There was a great predisposition to admire and overrate everything relative to Indian history and language, as detailed by this good and sincere missionary in his retirement at Bethlehem. He was appealed to as an oracle. This I found by an acquaintance which I formed, in 1810, with the late amiable Dr. Wistar, while rusticating at Bristol, on the banks of the Delaware. The confused letters which the missionary wrote many years later, were mainly due to Dr. Wistar's philosophical interest in the subject. They were rewritten and thoroughly revised and systematized by the learned Mr. Duponceau, in 1816, and thus the philological system laid, which was published by the Penn. Hist. Soc. in 1819. During the six years that has elapsed, nobody has had the facts to examine the system. It has been now done, and I shall be widely mistaken if this does not prove a new era in our Indian philology.
Whatever the review does on this head, however, and admitting that it pushes some positions to an ultra point, it will blow the impostor Hunter sky high. His book is an utter fabrication, in which there is scarcely a grain of truth hid in a bushel of chaff.
Nov. 4th. Difficulties have arisen, at this remote post, between the citizens and the military, the latter of whom have shown a disposition to feel power and forget right, by excluding, except with onerous humiliations, some citizens from free access to the post-office. In a letter of this date, the Postmaster-General (Mr. McLean) declines to order the office to be kept out of the fort, and thus, in effect, decides against the citizens. How very unimportant a citizen is 1000 miles from the seat of government! The national aegis is not big enough to reach so far. The bed is too long for the covering. A man cannot wrap himself in it. It is to be hoped that the Postmaster-General will live long enough to find out that he has been deceived in this matter.
29th. Mr. Conant, of New York, writes: "I hope you will not fail to prosecute your Indian inquiries this winter, getting out of them all the stories and all theIndianyou can. I conclude you hear an echo now and then from the big world, notwithstanding your seclusion. The Creek Delegation is at Washington, unfriendly to the late treaty, and I expect some changes not a little interesting to the aboriginal cause. Mr. Adams looks at his 'red children' with a friendly eye, and, I trust, 'the men of his house,' as the Indian orator called Congress, will prove themselves so. I have been charmed with the quietude and coolness manifested in Congress in reference to the Georgia business."
And with these last words from the civilized world, we are prepared to plunge into another winter, with all its dreary accompaniments of ice and snow and tempests, and with theconsolingreflection that when our poor and long-looked-for monthly express arrives, we can get our letters and papers from the office after duly performing our genuflections to a petty military chief, with the obsequiousness of a Hindoo to the image of Juggernaut.
General aspects of the Indian cause--Public criticism on the state of Indian researches, and literary storm raised by the new views--Political rumor--Death of R. Pettibone, Esq.--Delegate election--Copper mines of Lake Superior--Instructions for a treaty in the North--Death of Mr. Pettit--Denial of post-office facilities--Arrival of commissioners to hold the Fond du Lac treaty--Trip to Fond du Lac through Lake Superior--Treaty--Return--Deaths of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.
1826. Feb. 1st. The year opens with unfavorable symptoms for the Indian cause. The administration is strong in Congress, and the President favorable to the Indian view of their right to the soil they occupy east of the Mississippi until it is acquired by free cession. But the doctrine of state sovereignty contended for by Georgia, seems to be an element which all the States will, in the end, unite in contending for. And the Creeks may settle their accounts with the fact that they must finally go to the West. This is a practical view of the subject--a sort of political necessity which seems to outride everything else. Poetry and sympathy are rode over roughshod in the contest for the race. We feel nothing of thishereat present, but it is only, perhaps, because we are too remote and unimportant to waste a thought about. Happy insignificance! As one of the little means of supporting existence in so remote a spot, and keeping alive, at the same time, the spark of literary excitement, I began, in December, a manuscriptjeu d'espritnewspaper, to be put in covers and sent from house to house, with the perhaps too ambitious cognomen of "The Literary Voyager."
6th. The author of a leading and pungent critique for theNorth American Reviewwrites in fine spirits from Washington, and in his usual literary tone and temper about his review: "Dr. Sparks' letter will show you his opinion. He altered the manuscript in some places, and makes me say of--what I do not think and what I would not have said. But let that pass. I gave himcarte blanche, so I have no right to find fault with his exercise of his discretion. W. is in a terrible passion. He says that the article is written with ability, and that he always entertained the opinion expressed in the review of Heckewelder's work. But he is provoked at the comments on ----'s work, and, above all, at the compliment to you. Douglass, who is here, says this is merely PhiladelphiaversusNew York, and that it is a principle with the former to puff all that is printed there, and to decry all that is not."
This appears to have been known to Gov. Clinton, and is the ground of the opinion he expressed of W. to Mr. Conant.
March 6th. Col. De Garmo Jones writes from Detroit that it is rumored that McLean is to leave the General Post-office Department, and to be appointed one of the United States Judges.
Mr. L. Pettibone, of Missouri, my companion in exploring the Ozark Mountains in 1818 and 1819, writes from that quarter that his brother, Rufus Pettibone, Esq., of St. Louis, died on the 31st July last. He was a man of noble, correct, and generous sentiments, who had practiced law with reputation in Western New York. I accompanied him and his family on going to the Western country, on his way from Olean to Pittsburgh. His generous and manly character and fair talents, make his death a loss to the community, and to the growing and enterprising population of the West. He was one of the men who cheered me in my early explorations in the West, and ever met me with a smile.
7th. My sister Maria writes, posting me up in the local news of Detroit.
9th. Mr. Trowbridge informs me that Congress settled the contested delegate question by casting aside the Sault votes. We are so unimportant that even our votes are considered as worthless. However that may be, nothing could be a greater misrepresentation than that "Indians from their lodges were allowed to vote."
14th. Col. Thomas H. Benton, of the Senate, writes that an appropriation of $10,000 has been granted for carrying out a clause in the Prairie du Chien treaty, and that a convocation of the Indians in Lake Superior will take place, "so that the copper-mine business is arranged."
17th. Maj. Joseph Delafield, of New York, says that Baron Lederer is desirous of entering into an arrangement for the exchange of my large mass of Lake Superior copper, for mineralogical specimens for the Imperial Cabinet of Vienna.
April 16th. A letter from the Department contains incipient directions for convening the Indians to meet in council at the head of Lake Superior, and committing the general arrangements for that purpose to my hands, and, indeed, my hands are already full. Boats, canoes, supplies, transportation for all who are to go, and a thousand minor questions, call for attention. A treaty at Fond du Lac, 500 miles distant, and the throwing of a commissariat department through the lake, is no light task.
27th. A moral question of much interest is presented to me in a communication from the Rev. Alvan Coe. Of the disinterested nature and character of this man's benevolence for the Indian race, no man knowing him ever doubted. He has literally been going about doing good among them since our first arrival here in 1822. In his zeal to shield them from the arts of petty traders, he has often gone so far as to incur the ill-will and provoke the slanderous tongues of some few people. That he should deem it necessary to address me a letter to counteract such rumors, is the only thing remarkable. Wiser, in some senses, and more prudent people in their worldly affairs, probably exist; but no man of a purer, simpler, and more exalted faith. No one whom I ever knew lives less for "the rewards that perish." Even Mr. Laird, whose name is mentioned in these records, although he went far beyond him in talents, gifts, and acquirements of every sort, had not a purer faith, yet he will, like that holy man, receive his rewards from the same "Master."
May 2d. Mr. Trowbridge writes me of the death of Wm. W. Pettit, Esq., of Detroit, a man respected and admired. He loaned me a haversack, suitable for a loose mineral bag, on my expedition in 1820.
8th. Difficulties between the military and citizens continue. The Postmaster-General declined, on a renewed memorial of the citizens, to remove the post-office without the garrison. He says the officers have evinced "much sensibility" on the subject, and denied that "any restraints or embarrassments" have been imposed, when every man and woman in the settlement knows that the only way to thepost-officelies through theguard-house, which is open and shut by tap of drum. Restraints, indeed! Where has the worthy Postmaster-General picked up his military information?
June 6th. Definite information is received that the appropriation for the Lake Superior treaty has passed Congress.
10th. Mr. John Agnew, designated a special agent for preliminaries at Fond du Lac, writes of his prompt arrival at that place and good progress.
Gov. C. writes: "We must remove the copper-rock, and, therefore, you will have to provide such ropes and blocks as may be necessary."
22d. The citizens on this frontier, early in the season, petitioned the Legislative Council for the erection of a new county, embracing the Straits of St. Mary's and the Basin of Lake Superior, proposing to call it Chippewa, in allusion to the tribe occupying it. Maj. Robert A. Forsyth, of Detroit, M.C., writes of the success of the contemplated measure.
July 4th. The proposed treaty of Fond du Lac has filled the place with bustle for the last month. At an early hour this morning expectation was gratified by the arrival of His Excellency, Gov. Cass, accompanied by the Hon. Thomas L. McKenney, Commissioner of Indian Affairs. They reached the village in boats from Mackinac.
These gentlemen are appointed by the President to hold the conferences at Fond du Lac.
10th. Everything has been put in requisition for the last six days to facilitate the necessary embarkation. Jason could not have been more busy in preparing for his famous expedition to Argos. The military element of the party consisted of a company of the 2d Infantry, with its commissariat and medical department, numbering, all told, sixty-two men. It was placed under the command of Capt. Boardman. They embarked in three twelve-oared barges, and formed the advance. The provisions, presents of goods, and subsistence supplies of the commissioners' table, occupied four boats, and went next. I proceeded in a canoeallégewith ten men, with every appendage to render the trip convenient and agreeable. Col. McKenney, struck with "the coach-and-six" sort of style of this kind of conveyance, determined to take a seat with me, and relying upon our speed and capacity to overtake the heavy boats, we embarked a day later. The whole expedition, with flags and music, was spread out over miles, and formed an impressive and imposing spectacle to the natives, who saw their "closed lake," as Superior was called in 1820, yield before the Anglo-Saxon power. The weather was fine, the scenery enchanting, and the incidents such as might fill a volume.[45]We were eighteen days in traversing the lake by its shores and bays. The distance is about 530 miles, which gives an average of thirty miles per day.
[45]Vide "Sketches of a Tour to the Lakes, of the Character and Customs of the Chippewa Indians, and of Incidents connected with the Treaty of Fond du Lac, by Thomas L. McKenney." Baltimore, Fielding Lucas, 1827; one vol. 8vo., 493 pp.
On reaching the post of Fond du Lac, of St. Louis, near the point where that bold stream deploys below the Cabotian Mountains,[46]we found a large assemblage of Indians from every part of the wide-spread Chippewa territories. It embraced delegations from the extreme sources of the Mississippi, the Rainy Lake borders, and Old Grand Portage, besides the entire American borders of Lake Superior and the Rice Lake region, the sources of the Wisconsin, Chippewa, and St. Croix valleys. The negotiations were held under a large bower, supported by posts, and provided with rude seats. The principles of the treaty of Prairie du Chien, of 1825, were fully explained and assented to. They ceded the right to explore and take away the native copper and copper-ores, and to work the mines and minerals in the country. They agreed to surrender the murderers still inland, who belonged to the misguided war party of 1824. They fully acknowledged the sovereign authority of the United States, and disclaimed all connection whatever with foreign powers. They stipulated that the boundary lines of the treaty of Prairie du Chien should be carried out in 1827 with the Menomonies and Winnebagoes, in the region of the sources of the Fox, Wisconsin, and Menomonee rivers. They provided for an Indian school at St. Mary's, and made some further important stipulations respecting their advance in the arts and education, through the element of their half-breeds. The effects of this treaty were to place our Indian relations in this quarter on a permanent basis, and to ensure the future peace of the frontier. My agency was now fixed on a sure basis, and my influence fully established among the tribes. During the treaty I had been the medium of placing about forty silver medals, of the first, second, and third classes, on the necks of the chiefs. A list of their names is appended.
[46]From Cabot.
While the Commissioners were engaged in the treaty, an effort was made, under their direction, to get out the large copper-boulder on the Ontonagon. It was entrusted to Col. Clemens, of Mount Clemens, and a Mr. Porter. The trucks and ropes taken inland by them proved inadequate. They then piled up the dry trees in the valley on the rock, and set them on fire. They found this effort to melt it inefficacious. They then poured on water from the river on whose brink it lays. This cracked off some of the adhering rock. And this attempt to mutilate and falsify the noblest specimen of native copper on the globe was the result of this effort.
The whole expedition re-embarked on the 9th of August, and being now relieved of its heavy supplies and favored with winds, returned to the Sault St. Marie on the 18th of that month.
No sooner were we arrived at St. Mary's than we were informed of the remarkable coincident deaths, on the 4th July, 1826, of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, the second and third Presidents of the United States.
Among the letters accumulated during my absence, was one of Aug. 2d, from Gov. Clinton, requesting some wild rice for foreign distribution.
Another one was from my excellent friend Conant, of N.Y., who, with a fine sensitive mind, just appreciation of facts, and no ordinary capacity, appears to be literally breaking down in health and spirits, although still a young man. In a joint letter to Mrs. S. and myself, he says: "It appears you do not escape afflictions and visitations to teach you 'how frail you are,' how liable at any moment to render up to Him who gave them, your spirit and your life. Mr. S.," he adds, in evident allusion to my excess of "hope," "firm in body and ambitious in his pursuits, does not, I suppose, give over yet, and can scarcely understand how anybody should tire of life, and look at its pursuits with disgust."
Among my unread letters was one, Aug. 28th, from a Mr. Myer and Mr. Cocke, of Washington, District of Columbia, who propose to establish a periodical to be called "The Potomac Magazine," and solicit contributions. These abortive attempts to establish periodicals by unknown men are becoming more frequent as population increases in the land. It is felt truly that the number ofreadersmust increase, but it is a mistake to suppose that they will read anything but the very best matter from the first sources, European and American. It is, at any rate, a mistake to suppose that a man who has attained reputation in any branch of science, literature, or general knowledge, should not seek the highest medium of communicating it, or that he would throw away his time and efforts in writing for these mere idealities of magazines without the strong inducements of either fame, money, or, at least, personal friendship.
E.A. Brush, Esq., of Detroit, writes (Aug. 28th) from Mackinac, that honors were performed that day by the military authorities on the island, in commemoration of the deaths of Adams and Jefferson. "The obsequies have this morning commenced here; but at this moment it is rather difficult to select the report of a cannon, at intervals of half an hour, from the claps of thunder at those of half a minute."
Aug. 20th. Mr. Robert Stuart, agent of the A.M. Fur Co., writes a letter of congratulations on the good policy to result from placing a sub-agent at La Pointe, in Lake Superior, a location where the interior tricks of the trade may be reported for the notice of the government. The selection of the sub-agent appointed by Commissioner McKenney is gall and wormwood to him. He strives to conceal the deep chagrin he feels at the selection of Mr. George Johnston as the incumbent.