Upon the eighth day of September, 1760, the French flag ceased to fly
over Canada. In a long and bitter struggle, lasting at intervals through
an entire century, French and English had been battling with each other
for the control of the interior of this continent; and the former had
lost everything at the decisive battle on the Plains of Abraham, before
the walls of Quebec.
Reduced to the last extremity, the authorities of New France had ordered
her fur traders, _coureurs de bois_ and all, to hurry down to the
settlements on the St. Lawrence, and aid in protecting them against the
English. Thus in the Wisconsin forests, when the end came, there were
left no Frenchmen of importance. Leaving their Indian friends, and many
of them their Indian wives and half-breed families, they had obeyed the
far away summons, and several lost their lives in the great battle or in
the skirmishes which preceded it. The others, who at last returned, were
quick to show favor to the English, for little they really cared who
were their political masters so long as they were let alone. The
Indians, too, although personally they preferred the French to the
English, were glad enough to see the latter, because they brought
better prices for furs.
Wisconsin was so far away that it took a long time for British soldiers
to reach the deserted and tumbledown fort at Green Bay. About the middle
of October, 1761, there arrived from Mackinac Lieutenant James Gorrell
and seventeen men to hold all of this country for King George. The
station had been called by the French Fort St. Francis, but the name was
now changed to Fort Edward Augustus.
It was a very lonely and dismal winter for the British soldiers, for
nearly all the neighboring savages were away on their winter hunt and
did not return until spring. Mackinac, then a poor little trading
village, was two hundred forty miles away; there was a trading post at
St. Josephs on the southeast shore of Lake Michigan, four hundred miles
distant; and the nearest French villages on the Mississippi were eight
hundred miles of canoe journey to the southwest. All between was
savagery: here and there a squalid Indian village, with its conical
wigwams of bark or matted reeds, pitched on the shore of a lake, at the
foot of a portage trail, or on the banks of a forest stream. Now and
then a French trading party passed along the frozen trails, following
the natives on the hunt and poisoning their minds against the newcomers,
who were struggling to make their poor old stockade a fairly decent
shelter against the winter storms.
But, when the savages returned to Green Bay in the spring, they met with
fair words from Gorrell, a plentiful distribution of presents, and good
prices for furs, and their hearts were won. In 1763 occurred the great
uprising led by Pontiac against the English in the Northwest, during
which the garrison at Mackinac was massacred. This disturbed the
friendship of Gorrell's neighbors, with the exception of a Menominee
band, headed by chief Ogemaunee; and in June of that year the little
garrison, together with the English traders at Green Bay, found it
necessary to leave hastily for Cross Village, on the eastern shore of
Lake Michigan, escorted by Ogemaunee and ninety painted Menominees, who
had volunteered to protect these Englishmen from the unfriendly Indians.
At Cross Village were several soldiers who had escaped from Mackinac,
and the two parties and their escorts soon left in canoes for Montreal,
by the way of Ottawa River. This old fur trade route was followed in
order to escape Pontiac's Indians, who controlled the country about
Detroit and along the lower lake. They arrived safely at their
destination in August. The following year there was held a great council
at Niagara, presided over by the famous Sir William Johnson, who was
then serving as British superintendent for the Northern Indians. At this
council Ogemaunee was present representing the Menominees of Wisconsin.
In token of his valuable services in escorting Lieutenant Gorrell's
party to Montreal, and thereby delivering them safely from the great
danger which threatened, Ogemaunee was given a certificate, which reads
as follows:--
[Illustration:
[SEAL OF WAX] By the Honourable Sir William Johnson Baronet,
His Majesty's sole agent and superintendent of the affairs of
the Northern Indians of North America, Colony of the six United
Nations their allies and dependants &c. &c. &c.
To OGemawnee a Chief of the Menomings Nation:
Whereas I have received from the officers who Commanded the Out
posts as well as from other persons an account of your good
behaviour last year in protecting the Officers, Soldiers &c. of
the Garrison of La Bay, and in escorting them down to Montreal
as also the Effects of the Traders to a large amount, and your
having likewise entered into the strongest Engagements of
Friendship with the English before me at this place. I do
therefore give you This Testimony of my Esteem for your
Services and Good behaviour.
Given under my hand & Seal at Arms at
Niagara the first day of August 1764.