History assignment 1

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State marks anniversary of the attack at Michilimackinac Date: May-June 2013 From: Michigan History Magazine(Vol. 97, Issue 3) Publisher: Historical Society of Michigan Document Type: Brief article Length: 139 words

Full Text:  On June 2, 2013, Mackinac State Historic Parks will host a commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the most dramatic event in the history of old Fort Michilimackinac--the capture of the post by Native-American warriors in 1763.

The commemoration will begin at 6:30 p.m., just west of the base of the Mackinac Bridge in Mackinaw City where a reconstruction of the fort now stands. Among the evening's activities will be the unveiling of a new book on the subject of the attack. Visitors will also enjoy costumed interpreters providing live demonstrations and tours of the site.

A new rowhouse, reconstructed after years of archaeological excavation and research, will be opened that day. The rowhouse (pictured above) will feature two new exhibits, one including a stone fireplace ruin from the original structure.

For details, visit www.mackinacparks.com or call (231) 436-4100.

Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2013 Historical Society of Michigan http://www.hsmichigan.org/publications/michiganhistory/ Source Citation (MLA 9th Edition)    "State marks anniversary of the attack at Michilimackinac." Michigan History Magazine, vol. 97, no. 3, May-June 2013, p. 8. Gale

Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A331003911/AONE?u=subd78095&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=1ccef70b. Accessed 25 Jan. 2024.

Gale Document Number: GALE|A331003911

Disclaimer: This is a machine generated PDF of selected content from our products. This functionality is provided solely for your convenience and is in no way intended to replace original scanned PDF. Neither Cengage Learning nor its licensors make any representations or warranties with respect to the machine generated PDF. The PDF is automatically generated "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE" and are not retained in our systems. CENGAGE LEARNING AND ITS LICENSORS SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY WARRANTIES FOR AVAILABILITY, ACCURACY, TIMELINESS, COMPLETENESS, NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. Your use of the machine generated PDF is subject to all use restrictions contained in The Cengage Learning Subscription and License Agreement and/or the Gale Academic OneFile Terms and Conditions and by using the machine generated PDF functionality you agree to forgo any and all claims against Cengage Learning or its licensors for your use of the machine generated PDF functionality and any output derived therefrom.

A solitary strike: the attack at Michilimackinac Author: Keith R. Widder Date: May-June 2013 From: Michigan History Magazine(Vol. 97, Issue 3) Publisher: Historical Society of Michigan Document Type: Article Length: 2,081 words

Full Text:  On the morning of June 2, 1763, all hell broke loose at Fort Michilimackinac when warriors from Ojibwe villages on Mackinac Island and along the Cheboygan River executed a brilliant strategy to capture the post from an unsuspecting garrison.

Inspired by Chief Pontiac, who was rallying tribes along the frontier to rise up against the British, the Ojibwe developed a plan to take the fort by surprise. They arranged to play a game of baggatiway (a forerunner of lacrosse) against a team of Sac Indians from Wisconsin. At an appointed time, the warriors tossed the ball over the fort wall and dashed inside-ostensibly to retrieve it. Along the way, they armed themselves with weapons hidden beneath the robes of their women.

Within an hour, the Indians had overwhelmed the British force, "furiously cutting down and scalping every Englishman they found."

One officer, 15 enlisted men of the Sixtieth Regiment, and one civilian were killed.

After the smoke cleared, the Michilimackinac Ojibwe stood alone, with no other Native group supporting their actions.

The story of the attack on Fort Michilimacldnac goes beyond trader Alexander Henry's eyewitness account, which has shaped our knowledge and understanding of the event for over two centuries. Now, it incorporates new research into why the Michilimackinac Ojibwe acted alone and why their victory--reversed just a year later-was so short-lived.

The answers to those questions have their origins in 1760, following the capitulation of Montreal and the cessation of most of the hostilities associated with the French and Indian War. In November of that year, British Major Robert Rogers arrived in Detroit to take possession of the French fort there. Rogers then set out for Michilimackinac, intending to install a British garrison at the northern post. Ice in Lake Huron, however, drove him back to Detroit where he held an important council with Ojibwe chiefs and "head warriors" from western Lake Superior and Sault Ste. Marie. Jean-Baptiste Cadot, a French-Canadian trader from the Sault, had accompanied the Ojibwe. Cadot was married to Athanasie, an influential Ojibwe woman, and together the couple held much sway among the members of her tribe.

Rogers and the Ojibwe leaders conducted two transactions that formed the first alliances between Native people of the Michilimackinac region and the British. The western Ojibwe granted Rogers 20,000 acres bordering on Lake Superior in exchange for a present of blankets, wampum beads, gunpowder and shot, vermilion, and rum. The Ojibwe claimed that they granted this "Bounty" to Rogers because he was the "First English Officer that Ever Came to Our Contry [sic] with Troops." The Sault Ste. Marie Ojibwe granted another 20,000 acres bisected by the St. Marys River to Rogers, Cadot, and Alexander Henry in exchange for a similar quantity of goods. The two bands also retained their right to hunt and fish on these lands.

These negotiations placed Ojibwe bands north and west of the Straits in a beneficial alliance with the British.

South of the Straits, the Odawa at L'Arbre Croche (in present-day Emmet County) had formed close kinship ties with the French at Michilimackinac that would have profound implications for the events of June 2. An examination of the extended family of Domitilde, sister of Odawa chief Nissowaquet (La Fourche), helps illustrate why her people came to the aid of the beleaguered British after the attack, rather than joining the Ojibwe.

In her lifetime, Domitilde married two French fur traders. The first union resulted in three sons and three daughters. The latter union, to Augustin Langlade, produced a son named Charles. Domitilde's son enhanced his prestige when he took Charlotte-Ambroise Bourassa, the daughter of a leading couple at Michilimackinac, as his bride. With this marriage, Charles stood at the center of a human web that included his and his wife's parents, half-siblings and their spouses, along with members of his mother's extended family. This network stretched from Michilimackinac down both sides of Lake Michigan, above Lake Superior, and west beyond the Mississippi River.

Charles Langlade's influence among the Odawa, who were his own people, and other nations enabled him to organize and lead Native war parties to fight against the British during the French and Indian War. But, being a fur trader, he also understood the value of developing diplomatic and commercial ties with members of the new regime. Charles paved the way for the Odawa to incorporate the British into the Odawa-French community at Michilimackinac.

Indian nations in what is now Wisconsin were also inclined to accept the British, because Lieutenant James Gorrell--the commandant at Fort Edward Augustus at Green Bay (La Baye)--made every effort to gain their respect. He did this by violating the orders of his commander in chief, General Jeffery Amherst. Amherst disapproved of the French policy of gift giving during councils held with Indian leaders. He viewed such actions as an expensive form of bribery, and ordered his officers in the field to engage only minimally in the practice. However, when Gorrell met his Native counterparts, he freely gave them wampum belts and sufficient presents to satisfy their expectations. By doing so, he earned their trust.

So why did Michilimackinac Ojibwe strike the British rather than join with their Native brethren who had accepted the newcomers? Alexander Henry gives two reasons in an account of his meeting with Minweweh (Minavavana), an Ojibwe chief of the village on Mackinac Island, shortly after he arrived at the Straits in September 1761. Minweweh told Henry that the British had not conquered his people and that they had no intention of becoming slaves or ceding any of their land. The chief also warned Henry that the king of France had awakened and would wreak havoc on the British, rescuing his Indian children.

More insight into the Ojibwe's motivations for the attack may be derived from Kinonchamek, the son of either Minweweh or Grand Sable, another chief from Mackinac Island. Kinonchamek directed an impassioned speech to Pontiac and his followers at Detroit on June 19, 1763, castigating the Detroit Indians for doing violence against the French--an act that would not please the French commandant when he returned after the Indians had run the British out of the country. Kinonchamek also said that during the attack his people had seized provisions, needed to provide for their families, from the British. The implication was that the Ojibwe would be able to get along without the fur trade--the primary business in the region, which benefited the Indians and the Europeans--until the returning French could re-establish it.

In the days following the attack, the Indian-British alliances described earlier isolated the Michilimackinac Ojibwe and prevented Pontiac's War from spreading beyond the fort. Charles Langlade and interpreter Jacques Farly secured the release of the commandant Captain George Etherington and Lieutenant William Leslye and provided protection for Henry and his fellow trader Henry Bostwick. Langlade also sent word to L'Arbre Croche, asking the Odawa to come to the aid of British survivors and to challenge the Ojibwe's violent takeover of the fort. When the Odawa arrived at the Straits, they held tense negotiations with the Ojibwe that resulted in the former tribe being allowed to take the officers and 11 enlisted men to the safety of their village.

From there, Etherington set up a command post in exile and orchestrated a response to the loss of the fort. He sent a party of 10 Odawa to La Baye, carrying a message to Gorrell to keep the Indians there loyal to the British and to bring a force to L'Arbre Croche with the intention of re-establishing Etherington's command at the fort. In the meantime, Etherington appointed Langlade to serve in his stead as post commandant and purchased goods from traders to be used as presents for the Odawa. From June 16 to June 19, Gorrell conferred with the Menominee, Sac, Fox, and Ho-Chunk in his area, giving wampum belts and presents of trade goods to each group. The Indians reaffirmed their alliances, and a party of nearly 100 arrived at the Odawa settlement on the east shore of Lake Michigan on July 1.

From this point forward, the Green Bay Indians--primarily the Menominee--and the Odawa did the heavy lifting, while Gorrell and Etherington watched from the sidelines. The Indians renewed a prior alliance, exchanged wampum belts and presents, and determined their next step. Even though the Odawa and their guests stood firm in their support for the British, they had different agendas. The Menominee wanted to force the Ojibwe to reinstate Etherington, but the Odawa insisted that they be allowed to escort the British prisoners in for repatriation. The Odawa understood that if they brought the survivors to Montreal, General Thomas Gage, the military governor of Montreal, would reward them handsomely. What's more, it was likely that the Menominee proposal would have required them to go to war with the Ojibwe. The Odawa position prevailed.

The Michilimackinac Ojibwe appeared at L'Arbre Croche for three seemingly fruitless days of negotiation before all of the Native parties traveled to the fort to continue their talks.

The La Baye chiefs' desire to put a British garrison back in the fort was born of their need to quickly re-establish the Montreal- Michilimackinac fur trade. The chiefs told Gorrell that if the Ojibwe would not allow the Odawa and their men to escort the soldiers and English traders to Montreal, they would "Raise their Warriors" and "open the Road themselves." This meant war with the Michilimackinac Ojibwe. Finally, the La Baye Indians and the Ojibwe agreed that an old alliance required them to smoke the peace pipe and lay down their arms. The Ojibwe agreed to release the prisoners for passage to Montreal, but their resentment toward the Odawa simmered. They told Etherington that it was the La Baye Indians, not the Odawa, who convinced them to release him. In addition, they complained that it was the Odawa at Detroit who had started the war and encouraged them to join the conflict. It appeared that the Ojibwe felt betrayed by the L'Arbre Croche Odawa, even though they made no effort to enlist their support before the attack.

On July 18, approximately 40 canoes carrying the men of the Sixtieth Regiment, traders, voyageurs, and Indians left Michilimackinac for Montreal. This effectively ended the conflict that broke out on June 2.

The shadow cast by the dramatic occurrences at the fort has obscured the existence and the significance of early alliances among Native people living adjacent to Michilimackinac and the British. The work of important leaders including Charles Langlade, Domitilde, Jean-Baptiste Cadot and his wife Athanasie, and James Gorrell is missed when we focus too closely on the violence rather than on the diplomacy and relationships that shaped the course of events. Cadot and Athanasie made sure the Ojibwe from Lake Superior and Sault Ste. Marie stayed out of the fracas. Gorrell's defiance of his general enabled him to draw the La Baye Indians into firm alliances with the British. Old alliances among the Indians also worked to put out the fire at the Straits of Mackinac before it spread.

Of equal importance were complicated personal relationships that joined people together. When Etherington went to L'Arbre Croche, he was among people he knew and trusted: Domitilde, Nissowaquet, and others. Charles Langlade probably knew every Ojibwe warrior who participated in the assault by name, giving him much more influence over them than if they were strangers. In fact, most people who found their way onto the stage at Michilimackinac in June and July of 1763 probably knew each other as kin, trading partners, allies, or enemies. One unexpected example of this took place at the height of the horror of June 2 in trader Henry Bostwick's garret.

Fearing for his life, Bostwick raced to his attic, where Ojibwe assailants discovered him hiding under bags of corn. When an Indian named Nitchi thrust a blow toward Bostwick, the Englishman evaded the stroke. Bostwick then saw an unnamed warrior he had earlier befriended, and asked the young man to save his life. Bostwick had served this Ojibwe meals in his home one story below where they now stood--a practice that Indian culture valued highly. As a result, Bostwick's life was spared, proving that the bond created by respect for each other's ways can be stronger than the emotion brought on by war.

Keith R. Widder was curator of history for Mackinac State Historic Parks for 26years. He is the author of the soon-to-be-released "Beyond Pontiac's Shadow: Michilimackinac and the Anglo-Indian War of 1763."

Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2013 Historical Society of Michigan http://www.hsmichigan.org/publications/michiganhistory/ Source Citation (MLA 9th Edition)    Widder, Keith R. "A solitary strike: the attack at Michilimackinac." Michigan History Magazine, vol. 97, no. 3, May-June 2013, pp. 44+.

Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A331003922/AONE?u=subd78095&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=800ed17a. Accessed 25 Jan. 2024.

Gale Document Number: GALE|A331003922