Chapter FOUR: The Period of British Control

British military control of Wisconsin was ushered in with the arrival of Ensign James Gorrell at Green Bay on the twelfth of October, 1761. With the aid of his two non-commissioned officers and fifteen privates, Gorrell set about to restore the old French fort which he renamed Fort Edward Augustus, in honor of the Duke of York. His next task was to win over the French _habitants_ about the fort and to gain the sympathy of the Indians in the area for the British cause. Apparently Gorrell was quite successful in both tasks.

The French _habitants_ about the posts taken over by the British found it rather easy, for the most part, to transfer their allegiance to the British Crown since they were given the same privileges they enjoyed under French authority. Moreover, the British traders found it more advantageous to form partnerships with the more experienced French traders than to attempt to supersede them.

British success with the Indians varied according to local conditions at the different forts. The British were not inclined to give presents as liberally as the French had done, and it was not British policy to fraternize or intermarry with their savage allies. The feeling of inferiority prompted by this treatment caused resentment among many tribes.

In central Wisconsin, however, Gorrell’s diplomatic treatment of the Indians, added to the fact that the Sauk, Fox, Winnebago, and Menomini held a certain amount of resentment towards the French, swung these tribes over to the British. The promises of medals and commissions to the Indian chiefs, and the fact that the British trade goods were cheaper by far than those offered by the French, also tended to offset the more arrogant treatment of the tribes by the British.

Gorrell’s success with the Indians of central Wisconsin was very important to Wisconsin history, for in 1763 the British were compelled to deal with a widespread Indian uprising largely led by Pontiac, chief of an Ottawa tribe from around the Straits of Mackinac, and one of the most able Indian leaders who ever lived. It was Pontiac’s plan to drive all the British and Colonials into the sea by means of an alliance of Indian tribes from the Alleghenies to the Mississippi River, and from the Ohio River to the Great Lakes. Pontiac’s chief claim to greatness lies in his remarkable feat of keeping a number of tribes together for a seven-month siege of Detroit, a unique event in Indian warfare.

In addition to the attack on Detroit, concerted attacks were made on other British posts, of which a number fell, including the one at Mackinac. The failure of the Indians to take Forts Detroit, Pitt, and Niagara assured defeat for Pontiac’s campaign.

On June 2, 1763, the Chippewa Indians took Fort Mackinac by a clever subterfuge. They faked a game of LaCrosse in front of the stockade and pretended accidentally to knock the ball into the fort. As the players rushed after the ball they seized guns from the watching Indian women who had concealed the weapons under their blankets. Most of the garrison was massacred before they had a chance to defend themselves.

The loyalty to the British of Wisconsin’s Sauk, Fox, Winnebago, and Menomini Indians, and the timely arrival of a delegation of Sioux, sworn enemies of the Chippewa, probably saved Green Bay from a similar fate.

Etherington hastily summoned Gorrell to his assistance. Gorrell abandoned Fort Edward Augustus at Green Bay and with the aid of 90 men of the Sauk, Fox, Menomini, and Winnebago tribes succeeded in obtaining the prisoners’ release from the Indians. The party then proceeded on to Montreal. British military occupation of Wisconsin was not resumed until the War of 1812.

The Pontiac rebellion also served to bring the problems relating to the Indians home to the British Government and probably helped as an incentive to the issuance of the Proclamation of 1763. British subjects were now forbidden to purchase lands west of the Appalachian mountains without special license. It was hoped that this would prevent further encroachments by white settlers upon Indian lands. Trade with the Indians was to be permitted where licenses with the various colonial governments had been procured. Moreover, since Wisconsin was not included in the limits of any of the colonies, Wisconsin was left without any government other than that exercised by the military at Mackinac. This matter was not rectified until 1774 when the Quebec Act placed Wisconsin under the authority of the Governor of Canada.

Mackinac became the seat of Wisconsin’s fur trade when the fort was rebuilt there in 1764. It was the only fort northwest of Detroit with government officers and Indian agents. By 1767, large numbers of traders were coming into the Wisconsin area. The Indians by this time were so dependent on the white trader that any interruption in the supply of goods flowing to the Indians worked severe hardships upon them.

Wisconsin’s fur trade was still largely controlled by Montreal investors, mostly British. The actual traders, however, who contacted the Indians were still primarily Frenchmen, and this was to remain so throughout Wisconsin’s fur-trade period. Some competition in Wisconsin was given to the British by Spanish and French traders from Louisiana, which had become Spanish territory by the peace treaty in 1763. But the British managed to retain the bulk of the northwest fur trade with the Indians.

Wisconsin’s Indians did not participate strongly in the American Revolution, but they did take part in some action. Charles de Langlade, half French, half Ottawa Indian leader who helped the French so efficiently during the French and Indian War, now espoused the British cause as ardently as he had the French. Langlade’s tremendous influence over the Indians was well known, and the British hoped to persuade him to obtain Wisconsin Indian help in fighting the Colonists. Langlade did succeed in leading Chippewa and Ottawa east to help Burgoyne in 1777, and in 1778 Wisconsin Indians went to Detroit to help General Hamilton. On the whole, however, Wisconsin’s Indians were too disinterested in the white man’s war to be enthusiastic about long trips east to aid the British.

The American Revolutionary War hero, Major George Rogers Clark, whose capture of Vincennes and Kaskaskia, and the French villages of the Illinois country, provided the basis for United States claims to the Northwest Territory during the peace negotiations between the British and the United States, called together a great assembly of Indians at Cahokia, Illinois, in 1778, and succeeded in obtaining their pledges of allegiance to the United States. Many Wisconsin Indians attended the meeting, including the noted Blackbird, chief of a Milwaukee village composed of Ottawa, Chippewa, and Potawatomi. Blackbird apparently remained loyal to the American cause. Major Clark’s influence with the Wisconsin Indians tended to nullify the efforts of Charles Langlade, and other French officers in the service of England, to mobilize the Wisconsin Indians against the United States.

In 1780, England utilized some Wisconsin Indians in an attack on the Spanish with whom she was then at war. Twelve hundred warriors were assembled at Prairie du Chien, and marched on St. Louis. Aided by the fact that they had advance knowledge of the enemy movements, that some of the tribesmen were more or less sympathetic with the American cause, and that the Indians showed no enthusiasm for attacking in the face of cannon fire, the Spanish and Americans succeeded in routing the attackers. After this action Wisconsin’s Indians were not involved in any important campaigns during the remaining years of the American Revolution.

British control of Wisconsin’s Indians did not cease with the end of the Revolutionary War. Despite the British agreement in the Treaty of Paris, in 1783, to turn over their posts at Niagara, Detroit, and Michillimackinac, they continued to hold these forts until after the Jay Treaty of 1794. It was not until October, 1796, that Mackinac, the last post to be turned over by the British, was officially occupied by American troops. The British, however, still maintained their control over Wisconsin’s Indians through the fur trade now operating from posts just across the Canadian border.

Within a month after the declaration of war against England by the American Congress in 1812, Mackinac was retaken by the British and Menomini and Winnebago Indians from Wisconsin. Among the Menomini were chiefs Tomah and Oshkosh, the latter destined to become a famous Menomini leader and friend of the Americans. Within another month Fort Dearborn (at Chicago) was attacked by Indians and most of its civilian and military inhabitants massacred. Menomini, Potawatomi, and Winnebago Indians from Wisconsin took part in this attack.

The Americans were well aware of the strategic importance of Prairie du Chien in any attempt to control Wisconsin’s Indians. In June, 1814, Fort Shelby, probably the first building over which an American flag ever flew in Wisconsin, was erected at this strategic location. Lt. Perkins and sixty men were left in charge at the fort.

The British quickly determined to drive out the Americans and succeeded in forcing Perkins to surrender the fort on July 19, 1814. About 500 Indians, mostly Menomini, Chippewa, Winnebago, and Sioux, took part in the assault on the American post.

The British renamed the post Fort McKay and managed to hold it against the Americans until, in agreement with the Treaty of Ghent, they finally abandoned the fort in May, 1815, and British control of Wisconsin’s Indians was finally at an end. The fate of Wisconsin’s Indians was now in the hands of the United States Government.