ing chapter of the history of what was then the northwestern wilderness. Some of those events fall properly within the scope of the present narrative.

In the Grand Traverse country and the region adjacent some important changes had taken place. A military post had been established at Mackinaw, not on the island of that name, but on the south side of the Straits, at the place which, since the military occupation of the island, has been known as Old Mackinaw. Around the fort had grown up a little French village. It is said there were thirty families living within the palisade, and as many more in the immediate vicinity. The Hurons had left St. Ignace, and settled at Detroit and Sandusky, where they had taken the name of Wyandots. The mission had been transferred from St. Ignace to L'Arbre Croche (The Crooked Tree), south of the Straits. L'Arbre Croche seems to have been used by the French as a general name for the Ottawa settlements along the shore of Lake Michigan in the western part of what now constitutes the county of Emmet. The village of L'Arbre Croche proper, so named from a crooked pine tree, a conspicuous and convenient landmark for the voyageurs coasting in their canoes along the shore, was on the site of Middle Village of the present day. Another landmark, conspicuous to the hardy voyageurs of those days, was a huge cross of cedar timber, standing on the brow of the bluff, at what is now, from the circumstance, called Cross Village. Whether it was erected by Father Jonois, or some one who preceded him, is not known. By whomsoever erected, it has stood there till the present day, being repaired or renewed by the willing hands of the Catholic Ottawas when natural decay made repair or renewal necessary.

The Ottawas of L'Arbre Croche, under their head chief, Nee-saw-kee, could muster 250 warriors. Many of them were nominal Catholics. Profiting by the instruction of the missionaries, they had made some advancement in civilization, and cultivated the ground to a greater extent than formerly.*

South of L'Arbre Croche, in the western part of the Michigan peninsula, there were other settlements of Ottawas, and there was a strong band in the vicinity of Detroit, under the immediate chieftianship of the renowned Pontiac.

The principal village of the Chippewas in the northern part of the peninsula was on Mackinac island. The village contained a hundred

*Parkman, in his History of the Conspiracy of Pontiac, says that the name of the Ottawa chief at L'Arbre Croche has not survived in history or tradition. This is a mistake. His name, Nee-saw-kee, is familiar to the Ottawas of today. His grandson, Neesaw-wa-quat, a chief of the Little Traverse Indians, died in 1857.

warriors. There was another smaller village at Thunder bay, where dwelt their chief, Minavavana. There were also numerous settlements of the Chippewas in the Saginaw valley and on Grand river.

A part of the Wyandots, as we have already seen, were living at Detroit, and the Pottawattamies occupied the southwestern portion of the peninsula. Theoretically, the peninsula, or at least the northern part of it, belonged to the Ottawas and Chippewas, the former claiming the western and the latter the eastern portion, the boundary between them being an imaginary line drawn due south from the fort at Mackinaw.

At the close of the French and Indian war, in accordance with the terms of capitulation agreed to by the French at Montreal, all the military posts of the northwestern wilderness passed into the hands of the English. The Indians throughout the region were the enemies of the English and the firm friends of the French. It was with ill-concealed displeasure that they saw the English come among them. The haughty and sometimes brutal treatment received from the latter, so different from the easy familiarity and kindness of the French, instead of tending to allay the irritation, had only the effect of increasing it. The first English traders at Mackinaw, who came after the removal of the French garrison and before the English troops arrived, ventured there at their peril. They succeeded in propitiating the Chippewas, but the Ottawas of L'Arbre Croche, a strong body of whom were at Mackinaw, were bent on mischief. The traders saved their goods, and perhaps their lives, only by arming their followers, barricading themselves in a house, and holding the Ottawas at bay till the arrival of the troops assured some degree of security.

Pontiac, an Ottawa by birth or adoption, having won distinction at the head of a numerous body of his braves at the memorable battle of the Monongahela, contributing not a little to the defeat of Braddock's army, now smarting under wrongs both fancied and real, and foreseeing the probable ruin of his people before the increasing strength of the English, conceived the bold plan of cutting off all the frontier military posts almost at a single blow. So well were the arrangements of the wily chieftain carried out that, in a short time, with the exception of the garrison at Detroit, not a British soldier remained in the region of the great lakes.

The fall of Mackinaw, next to Detroit the most important post in the western country, has been a theme of thrilling interest to both the historian and the writer of romance. In the events grouped around the

tragic fate of the garrison, the people of the region the history of which we are endeavoring to trace bore a conspicuous part.

When, towards the end of May, 1763, the Chippewas of Mackinaw heard that Pontiac had already struck Detroit, they at once resolved on the immediate destruction of the English at the fort. Their number had recently been largely increased by the arrival of several bands from other localities. Though confederate with the Ottawas of L'Arbre Croche, they determined to proceed independently of the latter, securing all the plunder and glory to themselves.

It was the 4th of June, the birthday of King George. The Chippewas came to the fort, inviting the officers and men to come out and witness a game of baggattaway, their favorite ball-play, which had been arranged between them and the Sacs, several bands of whom, from the Wisconsin river, were encamped in the vicinity. The unsuspecting commander allowed the gates to be thrown wide open, and some of the soldiers went out to watch the game. The Indian women collected near the entrance, each with a weapon concealed under her blanket. When the excitement of the game had apparently reached its height, the ball received a blow that sent it over the palisade, into the area of the fort. It seemed an accident, but was really a well-executed part of the plan of attack. In an instant there was a rush of players through the gateway, as if to recover the ball, but, as they passed the women, each snatched a weapon, and fell upon the nearest unsuspecting and defenseless Englishman. The bloody work was quickly completed, and a general cry was raised of "All is finished." There were at the fort 34 officers and soldiers, constituting the garrison, and four traders. Of these one officer, 15 soldiers, and one trader were killed. The others were made prisoners. Of the prisoners, five soldiers were soon afterwards killed by an infuriated brave who had not been present at the assault and took this method of expressing his approval of what had been done and of his hatred of the English.

It is uncertain what would have been the fate of the remaining prisoners, had there been no check to the doings of the Chippewas. Probably most of them would have met death by torture. Their lives had not been spared from motives of humanity or clemency. The French had looked coolly on, neither helping the Indians nor offering protection to the English. The latter, however, found a friend in Father Jonois, the Catholic missionary at L'Arbre Croche. But by far the most effectual aid came from the incensed Ottawas. Confederates of the Chippewas, it was their right to be consulted in matters of such moment as the

destruction of the English, or, at least to be invited to join in the execution of the project. Regarding themselves as slighted and wronged, if not insulted, they resolved to revenge themselves by taking the control of matters into their own hands.

A party of seven Chippewas, with four prisoners, started in a canoe for the Isles du Castor (Beaver islands). When about 18 miles on their way, an Ottawa came out of the woods and accosted them, inquiring the news, and asking who were their prisoners. As the conversation continued, the canoe came near the shore, where the water was shallow, when a loud yell was heard, and a hundred Ottawas, rising from among the trees and bushes, rushed into the water, and seized the canoe and prisoners. The astonished Chippewas remonstrated in vain. The four Englishmen were led in safety to the shore. The Ottawas informed them that their captors were taking them to the Isles du Castor merely to kill and eat them, which was probably not far from the truth. The four prisoners soon found themselves afloat in an Ottawa canoe, and on their way back to Mackinaw, accompanied by a flotilla of canoes, bearing a great number of Ottawa warriors.

Arrived at Mackinaw, the Ottawas, fully armed, filed into the fort and took possession of it. A council of the two tribes followed, in which the wounded feelings of the Ottawas were somewhat soothed by a liberal present of plunder, taken from the whites. The prisoners seem to have been divided, the Ottawas, because they were the stronger party, or for other reasons, being allowed to keep the greater number. The Ottawas soon after returned to L'Arbre Croche, taking with them Capt. Etherington, Lieut. Leslie, and 11 men. They were disarmed, but, probably through the influence of Father Jonois, treated kindly. Father Jonois performed a journey to Detroit in their behalf, bearing a request to Major Gladwyn for assistance, but that officer, beleaguered by a horde of savages, could do nothing.

In the meantime Capt. Etherington had found means to communicate with Lieut. Gorell, commanding the little garrison at Green Bay, requesting him to come with his command immediately to L'Arbre Croche. Gorell had the fortune to secure the good will of the Menomonies, 90 of whom volunteered for an escort. As the fleet of canoes on the way approached the Isles du Castor, warning was received that the Chippewas were lying in wait to intercept them. Immediately the Menomonies raised the war song, and stripped themselves for battle. The alarm, however, proved to be false. When the party reached L'Arbre Croche they were received with honor and presented the pipe of peace.

After a series of councils, to which the Chippewa chiefs were invited, the latter reluctantly consented not to obstruct the passage of the soldiers to Montreal. Accordingly, on the 18th of July, the English, escorted by a fleet of Indian canoes, left L'Arbre Croche, and, going by way of the Ottawa river, reached Montreal the 13th of August.

CHAPTER IV.

The Period Following Pontiac's War-The War of 1812-Military Operations on the Island of Mackinac Indian Barbaritics-Golden Age of the Ottawas of L'Arbre Croche-Extent of their Settlements— Indian Houses-Gardens-Hunting Grounds-The Jesuits AgainChurches Built.

From the massacre at Mackinac in 1763 up to the close of the war of 1812, a period of 52 years, we are able to gather from history and tradition only meagre accounts of events occurring strictly within the limits of the Grand Traverse country. It was not at any time the theater of active war. The Ottawas were still the only inhabitants, except here and there an adventurous fur trader, or possibly a zealous Roman Catholic missionary.

That the Ottawas of L'Arbre Croche were concerned, directly or indirectly, in most of the Indian troubles of the northwestern frontier, occurring during the period alluded to, scarcely admits of a doubt. They were probably represented at the grand Indian council held near the mouth of the Detroit river in 1786. Some of their warriors, no doubt, were present at the battles in which Harmer and St. Clair were defeated, and some of their braves may have fallen before Wayne's victorious army on the banks of the Maumee. One of their noted chiefs, Saw-gawkee, a son of the former head chief, Nee-saw-kee, was a firm believer in the Shawnee prophet Waw-wa-gish-e-maw, or, as he is called by the historians, Elkswatawa. It does not appear that either Tecumseh or the prophet visited L'Arbre Croche in person, but the influence of the prophet was sufficient to induce a deputation of Ottawas from that vicinity to visit the distant Indian villages on Lake Superior, with a message he professed to have received from the Great Spirit, intended to rouse them against the Americans.

When in 1812, war was declared between the United States and Great Britain, Capt. Roberts, commanding the British post on St. Joseph's island, was able in a short time to gather around him a thousand Indian