Chapter VII: Part 7

Nearly every summer and autumn these forest fires occur more or less frequently in northern Wisconsin, working much damage in their neighborhoods; but usually they exhaust themselves when they reach a swamp, a river, or cleared fields. When, however, there has been an exceptionally long period of drought, everything in the cut-over lands becomes excessively dry; the light, thin soil, filled with dead roots and encumbered by branches and stumps, becomes as inflammable as tinder; the dried-up marshes generate explosive gases.

The roaring flames, once started in such a season, are fanned by the winds which the heat generates, and, gathering strength, roll forward with resistless impetus; dense, resinous forest growths succumb before their assault, rivers are leaped by columns of fire, and everything goes down before the destroyer. In a holocaust of this character, all ordinary means of fire fighting are in vain; the houses and barns of settlers feed the devouring giant, whole towns are swept away, until at last the flames either find nothing further upon which to feed, or are quenched by a storm of rain.

The most disastrous forest conflagration which Wisconsin has known, occurred during the 8th and 9th of October, 1871. There had been a winter with little snow, and a long, dry summer. Fires had been noticed in the pine forests which line the shores of Green Bay, as early as the first week in September. At first they did not create much alarm; they smouldered along the ground through the vegetable mold, underbrush, and "slashings," occasionally eating out the roots of a great tree, which, swayed by the wind, would topple over with a roar, and send skyward a shower of sparks.

Gradually the "fire belt" broadened, and, finding better fuel, the flames strengthened; the swamps began to burn, to a depth of several feet; over hundreds of square miles the air was thick and stifling with smoke, so that the sun at noonday appeared like a great copper ball set on high; at night the heavens were lurid. Miles of burning woods were everywhere to be seen; hundreds of haystacks in the meadows, and great piles of logs and railroad ties and telegraph poles were destroyed.

For many weeks the towns along the bay shore were surrounded by cordons of threatening flame. The people of Pensaukee, Oconto, Little Suamico, Sturgeon Bay, Peshtigo, and scores of other settlements, were frequently called out by the fire bells to fight the insidious enemy; many a time were they apparently doomed to destruction, but constant vigilance and these occasional skirmishes for a time saved them.

Reports now began to come in, thick and fast, of settlers driven from blazing homes, of isolated sawmills and lumber camps destroyed, of bridges consumed, of thrilling escapes by lumbermen and farmers. On Sunday, the 8th of October, a two days' carnival of death began. In Brown, Kewaunee, Oconto, Door, Manitowoc, and Shawano counties the flames, suddenly rising, swept everything within their path. Where thriving, prosperous villages once had stood, blackened wastes appeared. Over a thousand lives were lost, nearly as many persons were crippled, and three thousand were in a few hours reduced to beggary. The horrors of the scenes at New Franken, Peshtigo, and the Sugar Bush, in particular, were such as cannot be described.

This appalling tragedy chanced to occur at the same time as vast prairie fires in Minnesota, and the terrible conflagration which destroyed Chicago. The civilized world stood aghast at the broad extent of the field of needed relief; nevertheless, the frenzied appeals for aid, issued in behalf of the Wisconsin fire sufferers, met with as generous a response as if they alone, in that fateful month of October, were the recipients of the nation's bounty. Train loads of clothing and provisions, from nearly every State in the Union, soon poured into Green Bay, which was the center of distribution; the United States government made large gifts of clothing and rations; nearly two hundred thousand dollars were raised, and expended under official control; and great emergency hospitals were opened at various points, for the treatment of sick and wounded.

As for the actual financial loss to the people of the burned district, that could never be estimated. The soil was, in many places, burned to the depth of several feet, nothing being left but sand and ashes; grass roots were destroyed; bridges and culverts were gone; houses, barns, cattle, tools, seed, and crops were no more. It was several years before the region began again to exhibit signs of prosperity.

In the year 1894, forest fires of an appalling magnitude once more visited Wisconsin, this time in the northwestern corner of the State. Again had there been an exceptionally dry winter, spring, and summer. The experience gained by lumbermen and forest settlers had made them more cautious than before, and more expert in the fighting of fires; but that year was one in which no human knowledge seemed to avail against the progress of flames once started on their career of devastation.

During the summer, several fires had burned over large areas. By the last week of July, it was estimated that five million dollars' worth of standing pine had been destroyed. The burned and burning area was now over fifty miles in width, the northern limit being some forty miles south of Superior. Upon the 27th of the month, the prosperous town of Phillips, wholly surrounded by deforested lands, was suddenly licked up by the creeping flames, the terrified inhabitants escaping by the aid of a railway train. Neighboring towns, which suffered to a somewhat less degree, were Mason, Barronett, and Shell Lake.

In 1898 Wisconsin was again a heavy sufferer from the same cause. The fires were chiefly in Barron county, upon the 29th and 30th of September. Two hundred fifty-eight families were left destitute, and the loss to land and property was estimated at $400,000. Relief agencies were established in various cities of the state, and our people responded as liberally to the urgent call for help as they had in 1871 and 1894.

A more competent official system of scientifically caring for our forests, restricting the present wasteful cutting of timber, and preventing and fighting forest fires, would be of incalculable benefit to the State of Wisconsin. The annual loss by burning is alone a terrible drain upon the resources of the people, to say nothing of the death and untold misery which stalk in the wake of a forest fire.

BADGERS IN WAR TIME

The men of Wisconsin who had fought and conquered the hard conditions of frontier life, developing a raw wilderness into a wealthy and progressive commonwealth, were of the sort to make the best of soldiers when called upon to take up arms in behalf of the nation.

From the earliest days of the War of Secession until its close, Wisconsin troops were ever upon the firing line, and participated in some of the noblest victories of the long and painful struggle. General Sherman, in his "Memoirs," paid them this rare tribute: "We estimated a Wisconsin regiment equal to an ordinary brigade." It is impracticable in one brief chapter to do more than mention a few of the most brilliant achievements of the Badger troops.

In April, 1862, the Fourteenth, Sixteenth, and Eighteenth Wisconsin infantry regiments, although new in the service, won imperishable laurels upon the bloody field of Shiloh. The men of the Fourteenth were especially prominent in the fray. Arriving on the ground at midnight of the first day, they passed the rest of the night in a pelting rain, standing ankle-deep in mud; and throughout all the next day fought as though they were hardened veterans.

A Kentucky regiment was ordered to charge a Confederate battery, but fell back in confusion; whereupon General Grant asked if the Fourteenth Wisconsin could do the work. Its colonel cried, "We will try!" and then followed one of the most gallant charges of the entire war. Thrice driven back, the Wisconsin men finally captured the battery; confusion ensued in the Confederate ranks, and very soon the battle of Shiloh was a Union victory.

In the Peninsular campaign of the same year, the Fifth Regiment made a bayonet charge which routed and scattered the Confederates, and turned the scales in favor of the North. In an address to the regiment two days later, General McClellan declared: "Through you we won the day, and Williamsburg shall be inscribed on your banner. Your country owes you its grateful thanks." His report to the War Department describes this charge as "brilliant in the extreme."

Some of the highest honors of the war were awarded to the gallant Iron Brigade, composed of the Second, Sixth, and Seventh Wisconsin, the Nineteenth Indiana, and the Twenty-fourth Michigan. At Gainesville, in the Shenandoah Valley campaign, also in 1862, this brigade practically won the fight, the brunt of the Confederate assault being met by the Second Wisconsin, which that day lost sixty per cent of its rank and file; the brigade itself suffered a loss of nine hundred men.

The Third opened the battle at Cedar Mountain, and very soon after that was at Antietam, where it lost two-thirds of the men it took into action. The Fifth also was prominent near by, and the Iron Brigade, behind a rail fence, conducted a fight which was one of the chief events of the engagement.

At the battle of Corinth, several Wisconsin regiments and four of her batteries won some of the brightest honors. In the various official reports of the action, such comments as the following are frequent: "This regiment (the Fourteenth) was the one to rely upon in every emergency;" a fearless dash by the Seventeenth regiment, one general described as "the most glorious charge of the campaign"; there was an allusion to the Eighteenth's "most effectual service"; in referring to the Sixth battery, mention is made in the reports, of "its noble work."

At Chaplin Hills, in Kentucky, a few days later, the First Wisconsin drove back the enemy several times, and captured a stand of Confederate colors. The Tenth was seven hours under fire, and lost fifty-four per cent of its number. General Rousseau highly praised both regiments, saying, "These brave men are entitled to the gratitude of the country." The Fifteenth captured heavy stores of ammunition and many prisoners; the Twenty-fifth repulsed, with withering fire, a superior force of the enemy, who had suddenly assaulted them while lying in a cornfield; and the Fifth battery three times turned back a Confederate charge, "saving the division," as General McCook reported, "from a disgraceful defeat."

At Prairie Grove, in Arkansas, at Fredericksburg, and at Stone River, still later in the campaign of 1862, Wisconsin soldiers exhibited what General Sherman described as "splendid conduct, bravery, and efficiency."

Men of Wisconsin were also prominent in the Army of the Potomac, during the famous "mud campaign" of the early months of 1863. At the crossing of the Rappahannock, theirs was the dangerous duty to protect the makers of the pontoon bridges. In the course of this service, the Iron Brigade made a splendid dash across the river, charged up the opposite heights, and at the point of the bayonet routed the Confederates who were intrenched in rifle pits.

At Chancellorsville, the Third Wisconsin, detailed to act as a barrier to the advance of the Confederates under Stonewall Jackson, was the last to leave the illfated field.

At Fredericksburg, not far away, the Fifth Wisconsin and the Sixth Maine led a desperate charge up Marye's Hill, where, in a sunken roadway, lay a large force of the enemy; this force, a few months before, had killed six thousand Union men who were vainly attempting to rout them. This second and final charge overcame all difficulties, and succeeded. As the Confederate commander handed to the colonel of the Wisconsin regiment his sword and silver spurs, he told the victor that he had supposed there were not enough troops in the Army of the Potomac to carry the position; it was, he declared, the most daring assault he had ever seen. Such, too, was the judgment of Greeley, who declared that "Braver men never smiled on death than those who climbed Marye's Hill on that fatal day." The correspondent of the _London Times_ also wrote, "Never at Fontenoy, Albuera, nor at Waterloo was more undaunted courage displayed."

In the campaign which resulted in the fall of Vicksburg, in 1863, numerous Wisconsin regiments participated, many of them with conspicuous gallantry. It was an officer of the Twenty-third who received, at the base of the works, the offer of the Confederates to surrender.

The part taken by Wisconsin troops at Gettysburg, was conspicuous. The Iron Brigade and a Wisconsin company of sharpshooters were, day by day, in the thickest of the fight, and gained a splendid record. At Chickamauga, several of our regiments fought under General Thomas, and lost heavily. They afterward participated in the struggle at Mission Ridge, which resulted in the Confederate army under Bragg being turned back into Central Georgia.

The Iron Brigade was in Grant's campaign against Richmond, serving gallantly in the battles of the Wilderness, in the "bloody angle" at Spottsylvania, at Fair Oaks, and in the numerous attacks before Petersburg.

Wisconsin contributed heavily to the army of Sherman, in his "march to the sea," and in the preliminary contests won distinction on many a bitterly contested field. Several of our regiments were in the assault on Mobile, the day when Lee was surrendering to Grant, in far-off Virginia. Others of the Badger troops, infantry and cavalry, served in Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas, fighting the Confederate guerillas, while our artillerymen were distributed throughout the several Union armies, and served gallantly until the last days of the war.

Wisconsin soldiers languished in most of the great Southern military prisons. A thrilling escape of Union men from Libby Prison, at Richmond, was made in February, 1864, by means of a secret tunnel. This was ingeniously excavated under the superintendence of a party of which Colonel H. C. Hobart of the Twenty-first Wisconsin was a leader.

Another notable event of the war, of which a Wisconsin man was the hero, occurred during the night of the 27th of October, 1864. The Confederate armored ram _Albemarle_, after having sunk several Union vessels, was anchored off Plymouth, North Carolina, a town which was being attacked by Federal troops and ships. Lieutenant W. B. Cushing of Delafield, Waukesha county, proceeded to the _Albemarle_ in a small launch, under cover of the dark; and, in the midst of a sharp fire from the crew of the ram, placed a torpedo under her bow and blew her up. The daring young officer escaped to his ship, amid appalling difficulties, having won worldwide renown by his splendid feat.

The saving of the Union fleet in the Red River was an incident which attracted national attention to still another Wisconsin man. The expedition up the river, into the heart of the enemy's country, was a failure, and immediate retreat inevitable. But the water had lowered, and the fleet of gunboats found it impossible to descend the rapids at Alexandria. The enemy were swarming upon the banks, and the situation was so hazardous that it seemed as if the army would find it necessary to desert the vessels. Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Bailey of the Fourth Wisconsin infantry, serving as chief engineer on General Franklin's staff, proposed to dam the river, then suddenly make an opening, and allow the boats to emerge with the outrush of imprisoned water. The plan is a familiar one to Wisconsin lumbermen, in getting logs over shoals; but it was new to the other officers, and Bailey was laughed at as a visionary. However, the situation was so desperate that he was allowed to try his experiment. It succeeded admirably; the fleet, worth nearly two millions of dollars, was saved, and the expedition emerged from the trap in good order. Bailey was made a brigadier general, and the grateful naval officers presented him with a valuable sword and vase.

No account of Wisconsin's part in the War of Secession should, however brief, omit reference to a conspicuous participant, "Old Abe," the war eagle of the Eighth Regiment. He was captured by an Indian, on the Flambeau River, a branch of the Chippewa, and until the close of the long struggle was carried on a perch by his owners, the men of Company C. He was an eyewitness of thirty-six battles and skirmishes, and accompanied his regiment upon some of the longest marches of the war. Frequently he was hit by the enemy's bullets, but never was daunted, his habit in times of action being to pose upon his perch or a cannon, screaming lustily, and frequently holding in his bill the corner of a flag. No general in the great struggle achieved a wider celebrity than "Old Abe." Until his death, in 1881, he was exhibited in all parts of the country, at State and national soldiers' reunions, and at fairs held for their benefit. At the great Sanitary Fair in Chicago, in 1865, it is said that the sales of his photographs brought $16,000 to the soldiers' relief fund.

Upon the opening of the Spanish-American War, in April, 1898, Wisconsin's militia system was one of the best in the country, and its quota of 5390 volunteers was made up from these companies.

The First Regiment was sent to Camp Cuba Libre, at Jacksonville, Florida; the Second and Third to Camp Thomas, at Chickamauga; and the Fourth, at first to the State military camp at Camp Douglas, and later to Camp Shipp, Alabama. The First was the earliest raised, and the best equipped, but its colonel's commission was not so old as those held by the other regimental commanders from this State; therefore, when two Wisconsin regiments were to be sent in July to Puerto Rico, the Second and Third were selected, leaving the First reluctantly to spend its entire time in camp. After the war, it had been intended to detail the Fourth, not mustered in until late in the struggle, to join the American army of occupation in the West Indies; but, owing to the fact that a large percentage of the men were suffering from camp diseases, they were finally mustered out without leaving the country.

The Second and Third had an interesting experience in Puerto Rico. Arriving at the port of Guamico upon the 25th of July, they took a prominent part in the bloodless capture of the neighboring city of Ponce. This task completed, they were detailed, with the Sixteenth Pennsylvania, to form the advance guard of the army, which prepared at once to sweep the island from south to north. Our men were almost daily under fire, particularly in road clearing skirmishes under General Roy Stone.

Two days after the landing at Guamico, Lieutenant Perry Cochrane, of Eau Claire, an officer of the Third, was sent forward with seventeen other Eau Claire men, to open up the railway line leading to the little village of Yauco, lying about twenty miles westward of Ponce, and to capture that place. The track and the bridges had been wrecked by the fleeing enemy, so that Cochrane's party endured much peril and fatigue before they reached their destination; and Yauco was not disposed to succumb to this handful of men. Cochrane successfully held his own, however, until the following day, when reenforcements arrived.

A few days after the fall of Ponce, the Sheboygan company was acting as guard to a detachment repairing the San Juan road, several miles out of town. Hearing that a party of Spanish soldiers had taken a stand at Lares, eighteen miles away, a detail was sent with a flag of truce, to treat with them. The squad consisted of Lieutenant Bodemer, four privates, and a bugler. The Spaniards were not in a pleasant frame of mind, and but for their officers would have made short shrift of the visitors, despite the peaceful flag which they bore. Finally, the Spaniards agreed to receive a deputation of native Puerto Ricans, and talk the matter over with them. Our men withdrew, and sent natives in their stead; but the latter were treacherously assaulted, and only one of them escaped to tell the story.

Upon the 9th of August, there was a sharp fight at Coamo. Both of our regiments were actively employed in this encounter, and were of the troops which finally raised the American flag over the town walls.

The final engagement was fought two days later, at the mountain pass of Asomanta, near Aibonito, where 2500 Spanish troops were centered. The Second Wisconsin was the last American regiment in this fight, and lost two killed and three wounded. These were Wisconsin's only field losses during the war, although her deaths from camp diseases were about seventy.

INDEX

Albanel, Father Charles, 57.
Albion, 227.
Algonkin tribes, 16, 24.
Allouez, Father Claude, 45, 55-57, 147, 149.
American Fur Company, 85, 86, 90.
Andre, Father Louis, 57.
Apostle Islands, 40.
Appleton, 36, 86.
Ashland, 40, 146.
Astor, John Jacob, 85.
Atkinson, General Henry, 131, 139-141.
Aztalan, 7, 8.

Bad Ax River, 130, 142, 143, 212.
Badger State, origin of term, 161.
Bailey, Colonel Joseph, 242, 243.
Baraga, Father Frederick, 153.
Barron County, 235.
Barronett, 235.
Barstow, Colonel William A., 216-221.
Bashford, Governor Coles, 216-221.
Bayfield, 154.
Beaubassin, Hertel de, French commandant, 150.
Beaver Island, 193, 194.
Belgians in Wisconsin, 228, 229.
Belleview, 158.
Belmont, 157, 158.
Berlin, 15, 37.
Bill Cross Rapids, 55.
Black Hawk, Sac chief, 212.
Black Hawk War, 86, 134-145.
Black River, 15, 53-55, 62.
Bohemians in Wisconsin, 222, 229.
Bois Brule River, 67, 71, 90, 148.
Booth, Sherman M., 205-208.
Brisbois, Michel, 113.
Brothertown Indians, 15, 198, 200.
Brown County, 228, 233.
Buffalo County, 225.
Bulger, Captain Alfred, 116.
Burlington, 190.
Butte des Morts, Grand, 91, 131, 213.
Butte des Morts, Little, 76, 211.

Cadotte, Jean Baptiste, 152.
Cadotte, Michel, 152.
Calve, Joseph, 104.
Cass, Governor Lewis, 211.
Cassville, 158.
Ceresco Phalanx, 183-189.
Cha-kau-cho-ka-ma (Old King), 209, 211.
Champlain, Samuel de, 24, 25, 27, 28, 33, 51.
Chardon, Father Jean B., 57.
Chase, Warren, 184.
Chelsea, 55.
Chequamegon Bay, 40, 55, 56, 67, 84, 87, 88, 146-154.
Chippewa Indians, 14, 15, 18, 57, 78, 127, 149, 150, 152, 153.
Chippewa River, 40, 243.
Clark, General George Rogers, 97-104, 111.
Clark, General William, 111.
Cochrane, Lieutenant Perry, 244, 245.
Copper mines, 21.
Copper River, 55.
Cornish in Wisconsin, 229.
Crawford County, 171.
Cushing, Lieutenant W. B., 241, 242.

Dakotan tribes, 16.
Dane County, 225, 227, 228.
Davis, Jefferson, 140.
Delafield, 242.
De Louvigny, French captain, 75, 76.
De Pere, 36, 45, 49, 50, 56-58, 86, 88.
Dewey, Governor Nelson, 161, 203, 216.
Dickson, Robert, 112, 113.
Dodge, Major Henry, 142, 160, 214.
Door County, 35, 45, 228, 233.
Doty, Governor James D., 157, 159, 166.
Doty's Island, 36.
Dubuque, Julien, 120, 121.
Ducharme, Jean Marie, 104.
Duck Creek, 200.
Duluth, Daniel Graysolon, 34, 66, 67, 147-149.
Dutch in Wisconsin, 222, 229.

Eau Claire, 244.
Eau Claire County, 90.
Eau Claire River, 90.
Eau Pleine River, 90.
Embarrass River, 90.
English in Wisconsin, 92-98, 104-106, 110-116, 118.
Enjalran, Father Jean, 57, 58.
Equaysayway, Chippewa maid, 152.

Flambeau River, 243.
Fond du Lac, 158, 182.
Fond du Lac County, 90, 184, 225.
Fort Crawford, 128, 133.
Fort Edward Augustus, 93.
Fort Howard, 131, 133.
Fort McKay, 115, 116.
Fort Perrot, 63.
Fort St. Antoine, 63.
Fort St. Francis, 93.
Fort St. Nicholas, 63.
Fort Shelby, 112-116.
Fort Snelling, 128, 130-132.
Fort Winnebago, 133.
Fox Indians (Outagamies), 15, 57, 64, 69, 71-80, 134.
Fox River, 14, 15, 30, 32, 36-38, 45, 56, 58-61, 64, 67, 68, 71,
72, 76, 79, 111, 113, 114, 122-124, 131, 133, 148, 180, 182, 199,
200, 212, 213, 225.
French in Wisconsin, 15, 24-91, 97, 98, 104-110, 117-122, 127, 155,
222. _See_, also, Fur Trade.
Frontenac, Governor of New France, 28, 43, 44.
Fur Trade in Wisconsin, 22-25, 27, 28, 32-41, 43, 44, 49, 51, 53,
59-93, 97, 98, 104, 105, 109-113, 117, 118, 120, 127, 146, 149,
152, 171.

Gagnier, Registre, 129, 130.
Galena, Illinois, 63, 68, 122, 124, 172.
Galena River, 121.
Gautier, Charles, 100, 101, 103.
Germans in Wisconsin, 222, 224, 225.
Glode, Indian chief, 209.
Glover, Joshua, 204-208.
Gorrell, Lieutenant James, 93-96, 105.
Grand Portage, 84.
Green Bay, 14, 15, 29, 30, 35, 36, 38, 45, 58, 61, 65, 68, 70,
77-79, 84, 85, 88-91, 93-96, 98, 104-106, 112, 113, 123, 124, 131,
158, 166, 171, 173, 178, 182, 187, 199, 212, 213, 228, 232, 234.
Green County, 225-227.
Grignon, Robert, 213.
Grizzly Bear, Indian chief, 209.
Groseilliers, Medard Chouart des, 34-41, 53, 55, 59, 60, 146.

Hall, Rev. Sherman, 153.
Harrison, Governor William H., 106.
Helena, 124.
Hennepin, Father Louis, 66, 67.
Henry, General James D., 142.
Hesse, English captain, 104.
Hobart, Colonel H. C., 241.
Hudson Bay Company, 41, 60, 84.
Huron Indians, 15, 28-30, 39-41, 53, 54, 74, 151.

Icelanders in Wisconsin, 229.
Illinois Indians, 15, 32, 74-76.
Indians, as mound builders, 7-14, 19; life and manners of, 14-23;
pottery, 21; copper and stone implements, 21, 22. _See_, also,
the several Tribes.
Iometah, Indian chief, 209.
Iowa County, 121.
Irish in Wisconsin, 222.
Iron Brigade, 237-240.
Iroquois Indians, 24, 27, 38, 39, 45, 53, 63, 72.

Janesville, 182.
Jesuit Missionaries in Wisconsin, 25, 26, 29, 31, 32, 35, 42-59,
62, 66, 87, 88.
Johnson, Colonel James, 121.
Johnson, John, 152.
Joliet, Louis, 37, 38, 42-50, 60, 65, 118.
Joseph, fur-trade clerk, 151.

Kaukauna, 36, 86, 91.
Kenosha, 184.
Keokuk, Sac chief, 145.
Keshena, 212, 215.
Kewaunee County, 228, 233.
Kiala, Fox chief, 79.
Kickapoo Indians, 15, 16, 46, 74.
Kickapoo River, 15.
Koshkonong, 158.

La Crosse, 86, 88, 91.
La Crosse County, 90.
Lafayette County, 157.
Lake Chetek, 88.
Lake Court Oreilles, 88, 90, 153.
Lake Flambeau, 88, 90, 153.
Lake Koshkonong, 46.
Lake Michigan, 15, 27, 29, 32, 35, 49, 57, 60, 65-67, 69, 93, 94,
104, 123, 157, 158, 162, 164, 171, 179, 182, 193, 198.
Lake Pepin, 62, 63, 78, 90.
Lake St. Croix (Upper), 67.
Lake Sandy, 88.
Lake Shawano, 56, 57.
Lake Superior, 27, 29, 38-41, 53-56, 59, 60, 65, 66, 71, 104, 146,
148, 150, 151, 154.
Lake Vieux Desert, 54, 55, 90, 167.
Lake Winnebago, 37, 112, 113, 181, 200, 212, 225.
Langlade, Charles de, 100, 101, 103.
Langlade County, 90.
La Pointe, 55, 56, 147-150, 152-154.
La Ronde, fur trader, 150.
La Salle, Chevalier de, 28, 34, 43, 64-66, 69.
Lead Mining in Wisconsin, 63, 68, 117-124.
Le Sueur, Pierre, 67, 68, 119, 148, 149.
Lincoln, Abraham, 139.
Linctot, Godefroy, 103, 104.
Lipcap, killed by Indians, 129, 130.
Little Chute, 199.
Little Kaukauna, 196, 200.
Little Suamico, 233.
Long, John, 105, 106.

McArthur, Lieutenant Governor Arthur, 219, 220.
McKay, Major William, 113, 114.
Mackinac, 29, 35, 44, 45, 56, 61, 67, 70, 78, 83, 84, 93, 94, 98,
99, 104, 105, 111-114, 120, 147, 199, 209, 210.
Madelaine Island, 148-150.
Madison, 123, 158, 160, 165, 172, 175, 182, 217, 220.
Manitowoc County, 233.
Marin, French captain, 72, 73.
Marquette, Father Jacques, 37, 38, 42-50, 56, 60, 118, 147, 149,
153.
Marquette County, 90.
Mascoutin Indians (Fire Nation), 15, 37, 38, 45-47, 57, 60, 63, 64,
74, 78.
Mason, destroyed by fire, 235.
Massachusetts Indians in Wisconsin, 15.
Menard, Father Rene, 52-55, 59, 146.
Menasha, 36.
Menominee Indians, 15, 46, 59, 74, 78, 94-96, 199, 209-214.
Menominee River, 30, 167, 168.
Merrill, 55.
Methode, killed by Indians, 128, 133.
Miami Indians, 15, 46, 47, 60, 64.
Miller, A. G., 206.
Milwaukee, 66, 69, 86, 88, 106, 122, 123, 158, 172, 179, 180, 182,
204, 214, 222, 225, 228.
Mineral Point, 122, 158, 225.
Mississippi River, 14, 32, 37, 42-50, 57, 62, 63, 65-70, 72, 73,
76-78, 87, 93, 104, 111, 112, 119, 120, 123, 124, 127, 128, 138,
139, 142, 143, 148, 149, 156, 158, 162, 164, 168, 169, 179, 180,
182, 190, 225.
Mohawk Indians, 197, 198.
Montreal River, 167.
Mormons in Wisconsin, 190-195.
Morse, Dr. Jedediah, 199.
Munsee Indians, 15, 198, 200.

Nahkom, Indian woman, 213, 214.
Neapope, Sac leader, 139.
Neenah, 36, 73, 76, 86, 211, 213.
New Franken, 233.
New Glarus, 225, 227.
New York Indians in Wisconsin, 15.
Nicolet, Jean, 26-33, 36, 37, 43, 45, 59, 117.
Northwest Company, 84.
Nouvel, Father Henri, 57.

Oconto, 233.
Oconto County, 233.
Odanah, 153.
Ogemaunee, Menominee chief, 94-96.
"Old Abe," Wisconsin war eagle, 243
Oneida Indians, 15, 196, 198, 200.
Oshkosh (city), 37, 86, 213.
Oshkosh, Indian chief, 209-215.
Ottawa Indians, 15, 39, 53, 60, 74, 78.

Partridge, Alvin, 213, 214.
Pensaukee, 233.
Perkins, Lieutenant Joseph, 112, 114.
Perrot, Nicolas, 34, 57-64, 66, 72.
Peshtigo, 233.
Phillips, 235.
Platteville, 158.
Point Bass, 209.
Poles in Wisconsin, 222, 229.
Pontiac's War, 94, 97.
Portage, 37, 47, 48, 86, 90, 91, 103, 106, 113, 122, 131, 133, 158,
178, 180.
Portage County, 90.
Potosi, 68.
Pottawattomie Indians, 15, 36, 59, 64, 74, 138, 141.
Prairie du Chien, 14, 37, 48, 63, 70, 86, 88, 89, 91, 98, 103-105,
110-116, 123, 124, 127-133, 142, 144, 172, 178, 179.
Prairie du Sac, 142.

Racine, 91, 158.
Racine County, 90, 190.
Radisson, Pierre-Esprit, 34-41, 45, 53, 55, 59, 60, 146, 147, 149.
Reaume, Charles, 105-109.
Red Bird, Winnebago chief, 128-133.
Roads in Wisconsin, 177-182.
Rock River, 123, 134, 138, 141, 145, 182.
Rolette, Joseph, 113.
Russians in Wisconsin, 222.

Sac Indians, 15, 73, 74, 78-80, 134-145, 212.
St. Cosme, Father Jean Francois Buisson, 68, 69.
St. Croix County, 90.
St. Croix River, 67, 68, 71, 90, 148, 169, 170.
St. Francis Xavier mission. _See_ De Pere.
St. James, Jesuit mission, 57.
St. Louis River, 148.
St. Mark, Jesuit mission, 56, 57.
Sauk County, 225.
Sault Ste. Marie, 43, 60, 61, 63.
Scandinavians in Wisconsin, 222, 227, 228.
Scotch in Wisconsin, 222.
Shawano County, 233.
Sheboygan, 69, 86, 228.
Shell Lake, 235.
Shull, James W., 121.
Shullsburg, 121.
Silvy, Father Antoine, 57.
Sinclair, Captain Patrick, 104.
Sioux Indians, 14, 16, 18, 40, 56, 62, 66, 67, 78, 127-130, 144,
147.
Slavery in Wisconsin, 202-208.
Souligny, Indian chief, 209, 210, 214.
Spaniards in lead mines, 120, 121.
Spanish-American War, Wisconsin in, 243-245.
Stockbridge Indians, 15, 198, 200.
Strang, James Jesse, 190-195.
Sturgeon Bay, 86, 233.
Sturgeon Bay (water), Indians on, 14.
Sugar Bush, 233.
Superior, 235.
Swiss in Wisconsin, 225-227.

Taylor, Zachary, 139.
Taylor County, 225.
Tecumseh, 135, 209, 210.
Tomah, 209, 210.
Trempealeau, 62, 63, 169.
Trempealeau County, 7, 90, 91.

Vanderventer's Creek, 147.
Voree, 191-193, 195.

Wabashaw, Sioux chief, 144.
Walworth County, 192.
War of Secession, Wisconsin in, 236-245.
Warren, Lyman Marcus, 152, 153.
Warren, Truman, 152, 153.
Washington Island, 229.
Waukesha, 182.
Waukesha County, 216, 242.
Wekau, Winnebago avenger, 129-133.
Welsh in Wisconsin, 222, 229.
Whistler, Major William, 131, 132.
White Cloud, Sac leader, 138, 139.
White Crane, Chippewa chief, 152.
White River, 192, 195.
Whittlesey's Creek, 146.
Williams, Eleazer, 196-201.
Winnebago County, 213.
Winnebago Indians, 14-16, 18, 30-32, 78, 125-133, 138, 139, 141,
142, 144, 199; as mound builders, 14.
Winnebago Rapids, 73.
Wisconsin City, 158.
Wisconsin River, 14, 15, 32, 37, 48, 55, 61, 63, 67, 68, 71, 78,
79, 113, 114, 122-124, 133, 141, 142, 148, 167, 180.
Wisconsinapolis, 158.
Wolf River, 15, 56.

Yellow Banks, 138.

TYPOGRAPHY BY J. S. CUSHING & CO., NORWOOD, MASS., U.S.A.