War of 1812 Bicentennial

XIX. Wisconsin Indians Aid the British, 1813

The disasters of the summer of 1812 and the first months of 1813 nerved the Americans to renewed effort to retake Detroit and the territory of Michigan and to repel the invasions of the savage allies of the British. The rallying cry, 'Remember the River Raisin,' brought hundreds to the standards of the recruiting officers eager to avenge the cruelties inflicted on defenseless prisoners. Especially in Kentucky was this watchword potent, for it was upon the Kentuckians in the American ranks that the worst disasters fell. The people of southern Ohio also enlisted in considerable numbers under the stimulating influence of Governor Meigs, and Harrison with his fresh recruits found it possible to advance to the Maumee and there build a strong post, just above Wayne's battlefield, which was named in compliment to the governor of Ohio, Fort Meigs. Richard M. Johnson enrolled in Kentucky a mounted regiment, while Colonel Green Clay's Kentucky volunteers prepared to reinforce Harrison at Fort Meigs.

Meanwhile, Tecumseh had been rallying the Indians within his sphere of influence. He had been made a brigadier-general by the British officials, and drew into his ranks the Indians of Michigan and northern Indiana. A few Shawnee and Delawares remained neutral or served the American forces as scouts or guides. How completely Tecumseh drew the tribesmen to his standard is shown by a raid made in July, 1813, by Colonel William Russell from Vincennes northward to the Indian towns of the upper Wabash, where in a circuit of five hundred miles he met no Indians.¹

In April, General Proctor decided not to wait longer for the arrival of Dickson and his western Indians. He consulted with Tecumseh and ordered an advance against Fort Meigs, where Harrison was commanding in person. the Prophet and Tecumseh rallied their forces on River Raisin, where the Indian warriors from all the region south of Lake Michigan joined them, chiefly the Potawatomi bands under Main Poque and Gomo, who had now definitely allied themselves with the British. Together with a few British regulars and some Canadian militia, these warriors swept down upon the Maumee river fort, ravaging the country in every direction . Harrison sent in desperation to hasten the Kentucky troops advancing to his aid. One detachment under Colonel William Dudley was ordered to cross the river and silence the British cannon there erected. They performed their mission, but unfortunately success made them overbold, they scattered to pursue bands of Indians, who then caught them in ambush and the entire American detachment of eight hundred men was defeated. This defeat occurred the fifth of May, 1813, and the Indians continued to press the siege. They had been assured that with success all of Michigan territory would be theirs. But the Americans were too firmly intrenched, and the savages, always fickle when immediate results were not obtained, soon abandoned the siege and Proctor was obliged to retire to Malden.²

All the British plans for a second advance awaited the arrival of Colonel Dickson with his fresh Indian contingent from Wisconsin. After reaching Prairie du Chien in April, Dickson spent the next six weeks organizing his expedition and arrived at Green Bay the last of May. Meanwhile, a considerable portion of his Indians had rendezvoused at Chicago and had gone by land across to Detroit. The Sauk headed by Black Hawk, five hundred in number, had joined Proctor before the siege of Fort Meigs, which is picturesquely described by this Indian leader.³ A party of Menominee under Souligny arrived in time to join Tecumseh at fort Meigs;⁴ and even some of the upper Mississippi Sioux claimed to have been present.⁵

Dickson for lack of boats was able to take only six hundred warriors with him to Mackinac where he arrived the tenth of June.⁶ The Menominee constituted a third of his force under their chief, Tomah. Next in point of number were the Winnebago, with nearly a hundred Sioux from Dickson's old trading posts on the upper Mississippi and Minnesota.⁷ Early in July, Proctor and Tecumseh were delighted to welcome this large and well-disciplined contingent. At first the western Indians were obedient and tractable, but they were soon contaminated by the example of the tribesmen of the Detroit frontier. They became so restless and capricious that it was necessary to employ them at once or lose their interest and respect.⁸ Proctor thereupon decided to invade again American territory, where Harrison had been building several small defensive posts. A feint was made in late July in the direction of Fort Meigs, where General Green Clay of Kentucky was in command. The Indians attempted a strategy to make the garrison think they were attacking a reinforcement; but Clay was too wary to be trapped and restrained his troops from a sortie.⁹

Repulsed from Fort Meigs, Proctor prepared to lead his host against Fort Stephenson, a small stockade at Lower Sandusky, forty miles from Lake Erie, now the site of Fremont, Ohio. This small post was garrisoned by one hundred and sixty regular troops under the command of Major George Croghan of Kentucky. A small force of Pittsburgh 'Blues' was with him as artillerymen. fort Stephenson had only one cannon, a small six pounder, and the fort was overlooked by a height from which it might be shelled. Nevertheless, young Croghan determined to hold the stockade and spent the days while awaiting the British attack in digging ditches and piling up earthworks in defense of his post.

Croghan was the son of Major William Croghan of the Revolution and of Lucy Clark, sister of George Rogers Clark, for whom the young soldier had been named. He was twenty-one years of age and had been educated at William and Mary college, Virginia.¹⁰ He intended to study law, but on Harrison advance in 1811 against the Indians at Tippecanoe, Croghan joined him as volunteer aid.¹¹ His aptitude as a soldier procured him a commission in 1812 as captain in the Seventeenth United States regulars; he marched north with Harrison and later in the year 1812 was in Winchester's advance.¹² Having been left in command of Fort Defiance on the Maumee, he wrote his father after a débacle on the River Raisin: 'I am determined to defend this place till the last extremity. Be not alarmed for my safety. I have force enough to make a desperate stand.'¹³

The desperate stand he was to make did not occur at fort Defiance but in the following summer at Fort Stephenson. From his location he could hear the cannonading at Fort Meigs and when it ceased, he feared that post had been carried by assault. Writing to his father July 24, 1813, from Lower Sandusky, he said: 'I am left at this post to defend to the last extremity. I have just sent away all the women & children, with the sick of the garrison, that I may be able to act without incumbrance. Be satisfied, I shall I hope do my duty. The example set me by my Revolutionary kindred is before me. Let me die sooner than prove myself unworthy of my name.'¹⁴

Major George Croghan

From a copy in the Croghan papers
Wisconsin historical library

It was against an American youth animated with this spirit that Proctor and Dickson advanced on the first of August with six hundred regulars and eight hundred Indians, most of them from Wisconsin. the small post was ably defended, the entire British force was repulsed by the garrison. the Indians were amazed. Black Hawk wrote: 'When we approached it, I found it a small stockade, and concluded there were not many men in it. The British war chief sent a flag—Colonel Dixon [Dickson] carried it, and returned. He said a young war chief commanded, and would not give up without fighting. Dixon came to me and said, "You will see, to-morrow, how easily we will take that fort." I was of opinion that they would take it; but when morning came I was disappointed. The British advanced—commenced an attack, and fought like braves; but by braves in the fort were defeated, and a great number killed.'¹⁵

The Indians at once deserted in large numbers, Proctor withdrew to Malden, and Croghan was the hero of the West. His was the first success after a dismal series of defeats. He was presented with a sword by the ladies of Chillicothe and promoted by the war department to a lieutenant-colonelcy to take effect from August 2, 1813, the day of his glory.

'I am not worthy,' he wrote his father, 'of so high a command, but since my government have honored me . . . I stand pledged to use my utmost endeavors to become worthy of it.'¹⁶

The repulse at Fort Stephenson was long remembered by Wisconsin Indians. When Tomah and his Menominee braves left Malden on August 18, the chief was commended by Dickson as having 'conduced himself with the greatest propriety.'¹⁷ Dickson also sent off the Sioux apparently at the same time by way of Mackinac, where he instructed his subordinates to furnish clothing for the returning chiefs, and to forward ammunition to the interior for their winter's hunt.¹⁸ Dickson himself proceeded to headquarters at York to report the summer's campaign and to forward goods for presents and provisions for the next year's gathering of tribesmen. He and the Wisconsin Indians, therefore, had no share in the latter part of 1813 in the events of the Detroit area—the battle of Lake Erie, September 10, which cleared the way for victory; Proctor's retreat from Malden and Harrison's pursuit, culminating in the battle of the Thames, October 5, where Tecumseh was slain.

Several Winnebago were with Tecumseh in this final battle, as they had been in his first contest at Tippecanoe; among them were Caramaunee, and White Eagle of the Decorah family. It was also claimed that Black Hawk with his Sauk were in this battle, but his autobiography states that he returned to Rock river directly after the repulse at Lower Sandusky.¹⁹

With so many Indians taken from the West for the Detroit operations one would suppose that 1813 would be quiet on the far western frontier; but skulking bands of warriors still remained, acting without direction but with a continued hostile purpose. When the braves of Main Poque gathered at Chicago, Governor Edwards was much alarmed, since reports came to him that their destination was St. Louis and the Illinois towns. Twenty-two family forts were quickly improvised along the sixty-mile line from Kaskaskia river to the Mississippi, and on the western bank of the latter, forts were erected as high as the mouth of Salt river where Fort Mason stood.²⁰ Even at St. Louis settlers sold their property and prepared to move out of the territory for fear of the British and Indians and the settlement was protected by a stockade.²¹ Mounted rangers were embodied both in Illinois and Missouri territories; one of those who scouted in this emergency was Nathan Boone, son of the famous Daniel.²²

In June, Governor Benjamin Howard resigned his office to become brigadier-general of the western department. William Clark was appointed governor of Missouri territory in his stead. Howard then organized his forces for an expedition up the Illinois ring. Agent Thomas Forsyth had been all the spring watching the villages on the Illinois above Lake Peoria. He reported a gathering of Potawatomi, Kickapoo, and Ottawa that might send forth as many as 1,200 warriors against the western frontier.²³ General Howard determined to be beforehand in this affair. In August he sent Major Nathan Boone into Illinois to plan a route of march. On the fifteenth a party of hostiles, believed to be about sixty Sauk and Foxes, attacked this scouting party and compelled its retreat.²⁴

Early in September, General Howard with 1,400 men moved up Illinois river; the Missouri troops swam the Mississippi at Fort Mason, where now stands the city of Hannibal. September 15 a junction was made with the Illinois regiment and together they crossed country without opposition to Lake Peoria. Here it was learned that the hostiles were retreating up Illinois river; Howard's forces marched to Gomo's village, twenty-five miles above Peoria and burned it. The general then fell back to the lake and erected a stockade post, which was named Fort Clark. Major Boone was sent on a scout across to Rock river, and Major William Christy up the Illinois to the mouth of Fox river; neither detachment was molested and upon their return as winter was approaching, Howard thought best to move down the river. The expedition reached St. Louis, October 21, having been highly successful in terrorizing the hostile Indians throughout the territory of Illinois.²⁵

As a result of General Howard's expedition, the more friendly Potawatomi chiefs began to approach the Americans and ask for peace. Early in January, 1814, Black Partridge, who had opposed the massacre at Chicago and had aided in saving some of the victims, came to St. Louis to ask Governor Clark for peace. He was quite crestfallen when Clark reminded him that he had not kept his former promises, but after a council and the deliverance of six hostages as a pledge for good conduct, Clark promised the chief that he would report his request to the Great Father at Washington. Black Partridge then returned to his hunting grounds in a hopeful mood. All the other Potawatomi went to hunting after they left British headquarters at Malden.²⁶

The American influence at Prairie du Chien was reduced to zero. Nicolas Boilvin, the American agent, went from there in the autumn of 1812 leaving Joseph la Rocque, the Sioux interpreter, to look after American interests. La Rocque wrote Boilvin, March 12, 1813: 'Am yet alive; have been in danger of my life . . . I must tell you everything is against you Americans; all the Nations here have given their word to the English,' and La Rocque himself soon joined the British forces.²⁷

Boilvin was at Fort Madison at this time and he and the factor at that post exerted themselves to detach the Sauk from the British alliance. They were successful in dividing the tribe, and the factory was removed from the Mississippi to the north banks of Missouri river whither a large band of Sauk, Foxes, and Iowa migrated led by the chief Quashquamie. They were somewhat undecided concerning their migration until after General Howard's force had passed up the Illinois. The invasion of their region by such a large body of troops determined them to make their peace. With their interpreter Maurice Blondeau, accompanied by Agent Boilvin, they came down the Mississippi late in September and held a council with Governor Clark, who gave them advice to remain neutral. In all, nearly 1,500 members of these tribes removed within the American sphere of influence on the River Missouri.²⁸

This division of the Indians did not save Fort Madison. The fort was poorly located and in the midst of hostile territory. It was proposed to abandon it early in 1813, but General Howard visited the post in April and decided it must be maintained or all the settlements of Missouri would be devastated. In July there were two hostile attacks on Fort Madison—one on the eighth when two soldiers going to cut wood were fired on and killed. The sixteenth a more determined attempt was made to seize the post, and an outlying blockhouse was taken and four soldiers cut off. As the garrison was only thirty in number, these losses were severely felt, still the post was maintained until November, when no supplies or provisions having arrived, starvation stared the garrison in the face. The commandant ordered a trench dug to the river where boats swung at anchor. This movement escaped the vigilance of the enemy Indians; the last man to leave the fort set it on fire, and the boats were down the river before the Indians could stop them. The majority of the assailants were Sauk and Foxes, as the fort was in their territory; the Winnebago, however, supplemented their efforts to force out the Americans.²⁹

In the meantime, Dickson had arranged for a large amount of Indians presents to be distributed in his territory in order to induce the western Indians to take the warpath again. Jacques Porlier of Green Bay, who held a commission as captain in the Indian department, went down to Montreal and in the autumn of 1813 set out thence with thirteen canoes loaded with Indians goods. They carried flags, medals, and silver ornaments for the chiefs; shot and powder for the warriors; blankets, coats with epaulets, ribbons, strouds, vermilion, wampum—all the paraphernalia dear to the Indian heart. Porlier and his consignment met Dickson at Mackinac soon after the middle of October, and they left there together on the twenty-fourth for Green Bay and the West. Dickson had a contingent of twenty-eight soldiers from the Michigan Fencibles, a corps enrolled from the voyageurs and hangers-on at Mackinac, whom the war and its disarrangement of the fur trade had left stranded.³⁰ Dickson decided not to stop at Green Bay, where his soldiers would be exposed to the temptations of the grogshops. but to push on to Lake Winnebago, where he made headquarters for the winter, and where he was in a position to intercept the Indians as they came in from their winter hunting.³¹

Dickson's camp during the winter of 1813–14 was on Garlic island, now called Island park, off the west shore of the lake not far from the present Oshkosh.³² Here he had a very disagreeable, uncomfortable winter, frequently almost starving, and watching the Indians starve about him. He constantly sent begging letters to Green Bay, commanding and imploring the inhabitants there to send him provisions. Up to that time that settlement had been flourishing, with one gristmill, many domestic animals, and large supplies of grain. The exactions of Dickson and his Indians during the War of 1812, especially in the winter of 1813–14, nearly ruined the little hamlet and drove its people to destitution.³³

It was while Dickson was on Winnebago lake that he entered into a contest with Thomas Forsyth, the American Indian agent at Peoria lake, for the allegiance of the Potawatomi and other Indians in the debatable ground between the two camps. One incident in this contest was the deplorable duel between Dickson's agent, Charles Chandonnet, and his nephew and adopted son, Jean Baptiste Chandonnet, who had gone over to the American side. They met at St. Joseph, while each man was trying to rally the Potawatomi, and the younger man shot and killed the elder. Dickson wondered why Charles Chandonnet did not return to his wintering camp, little dreaming that his life was a sacrifice to the cause.³⁴

Meanwhile, the contest for the allegiance of the Potawatomi became very acute and a trial of influence on the part of the British agent at Lake Winnebago and the American agent at Lake Peoria. Each accused the other of attempting personal violence. Forsyth went up the Illinois river in March, 1814, and had several interviews with the chiefs in that region. One of them told him that Dickson had tried to bribe him with half his goods to arrest Forsyth and Lent Claire, his interpreter, and bring them to his camp on Winnebago lake, saying that he would not hurt them but would use them well. The Indian chief refused, 'telling Dickson he was a brave man, he might come down to St. Louis and take Forsyth and Lent Claire himself.' After Forsyth had left Peoria, six Winnebago came searching for him at the behest of Dickson.³⁵ Dickson, on the other hand, was certain that a band of Potawatomi who visited him in January had come with the purpose of assassinating him. 'I have discovered,' he wrote, 'that the Grand Puant, a Poutewatamie . . . came here with the intention of cutting us off but his heart failed him.'³⁶

Dickson was especially distrustful of the Milwaukee band, apparently with good reason. The chief at this place, Onaugesa, was known to the voyageurs as La Farine or 'Flour.' Dickson ordered Jacques Vieau and his brother from Green Bay to make a scout in the direction of Milwaukee, where they had traded for many years. Vieau brought back word that all was well at Milwaukee as far as the British cause was concerned. But Dickson was strongly of the opinion to Vieau had been deceived by his partiality for Onaugesa, who was a relative of his wife.³⁷ Apparently this was true, since while Forsyth was at Gomo's village on the Illinois, a runner came in from Milwaukee stating that 'Old Flour wished peace with the United States,' and was endeavoring to restrain the Menominee from going to war. Forsyth, however, feared Dickson's goods would have more weight than his words.³⁸

In truth, Dickson's chief dependence was upon Tomah's faithful Menominee and the Winnebago Indians. This latter tribe was especially bitter against the Americans and as they controlled all approaches to Prairie du Chien, the Americans could do nothing in that direction. Early in the year 1813 the Winnebago arrested two French-Canadians, whom Boilvin had paid to carry messages to Prairie du Chien. These voyageurs, Louis Bibeau and J. Demouchelle, were taken to Dickson's camp at Lake Winnebago where he opened their epistles and interpreted them for the benefit of his Indians. Forsyth learned that Dickson told them that the Americans meant to whip the Potawatomi who had sued for peace and give them the smallpox and cut them off from the face of the earth. 'So you see, my children (says Dickson) if you take the Americans by the hand how you are to be saved.'³⁹

By the newspapers in possession of these two American envoys, Dickson received news of the outside world, learned of the Creek war in the South of the American failure to take Montreal, and that Wellington was winning and Napoleon losing in the European wars.⁴⁰ This news heartened Dickson in his efforts to bring all the Wisconsin Indians into the British alliance, and gave him courage to plan for the next campaign. As soon as the sugar-making season ended, Dickson hurriedto Prairie du Chien, arriving at the Portage on April 24 and pushing on rapidly to the West. He spent but a few days at the Prairie, where his agents, Michael Brisbois and Joseph Rolette, had collected the Sioux and the Winnebago from the neighborhood. The leader left that place early in May with eighty Winnebago, one hundred and twenty Menominee, and one hundred Sioux.⁴¹ Because of a rumored invasion by the Americans along the Mississippi, the British agent did not draw from the rapids of that river the warlike Sauk, nor did the peacefully mining Foxes join his contingent. Francis Dease was left in command of Prairie du Chien with small militia force enrolled from the habitants.

Dickson and his savage contingent arrived at Mackinac the first of June, 1814, and found that the garrison at this place had been reinforced by British soldiers, and that Colonel Robert McDouall was in command. On the fifty of June the new commandant held a council with the western tribesmen, when the Sioux chiefs Wabashaw and Little Crow, Tomah the Menominee, and Caramaunee of the Winnebago band were the orators. McDouall gave them news of British successes and commended the tribesmen to the care of Dickson, whom the Indians called Red Head.⁴²

The Wisconsin contingent was to proceed no farther this summer of 1814 than Mackinac, where some of them were soon called upon to defend that post against the advance of the Americans and others to hasten back to the Mississippi to drive out the American forces which had taken possession of Prairie du Chien.