Wau-Bun: The "Early Day" of the North-West

What we had long anticipated of the sufferings of the Indians, began to manifest itself as the spring drew on. It first came under our observation by the accounts brought in, by...

Mr. Kinzie had volunteered to accompany the troops in their march, and had entrusted his family to the care of some friendly Indians, who had promised to convey them in a boat a...

It is well known that previous to the war of the Revolution, the whole of the western portion of Pennsylvania was inhabited chiefly by different Indian tribes. Of these, the Del...

[Footnote Z: This Narrative is substantially the same as that published in pamphlet form, in 1836. It was transferred with little variation to Brown's "History of Illinois," and...

Fort Dearborn at that day consisted of the same buildings as at present.[62] They were, of course, in a better state of preservation, though still considerably dilapidated. They...

The third day of our journey rose brilliantly clear, like the two preceding ones, and we shaped our course more to the north than we had hitherto done, in the direction of _Big-...

It had been arranged that Judge Doty should accompany us in our boat as far as the Butte des Morts, at which place his attendant would be waiting with horses to convey him to Mi...

We soon learned that a great panic prevailed at Green Bay on account of the Sauks.[108] The people seemed to have possessed themselves with the idea that the enemy would visit t...

The danger now appeared to have become so imminent that my husband determined to send his family to Fort Howard, a point which was believed to be far out of the range of the ene...

Late in the autumn, after our return, my husband took his mother to Prairie du Chien for the benefit of medical advice from Dr. Beaumont[98] of the U. S. Army. The journey was m...

It was late on the following day (March 13th), when we took leave of our kind hostess. She loaded us with cakes, good wishes, and messages to her sister Dixon and the children....

The early history of Chicago has much to do with the Kinzies and their connections. It is particularly fortunate that one of this family should have given to the world, out of t...

A great part of the command, with the cattle belonging to the officers and soldiers, had a day or two previous to the time of our departure, set out on their march by land to Gr...

The next morning, after a cheerful breakfast, at which we were joined by the Rev. Mr. Kent, of Galena,[55] we prepared for our journey. I had reconciled my husband to continuing...

The payment was now over, and the Indians had dispersed and gone to their wintering grounds. The traders too, had departed, laden with a good share of the silver, in exchange fo...

Having taken a tender leave of our friends, the morning of the 8th of March saw us mounted and equipped for our journey. The weather was fine--the streams, already fringed with...

My husband's accounts of disbursements as Agent of the Winnebagoes, which he had forwarded to the Department at Washington, had failed to reach there, of which he received due n...

Before we had any right to look for my husband's return, I one day received a message inviting me to come up to the new house. We all went in a body, for we had purposely staid...

We followed the old squaw to her lodge, which was at no great distance in the woods. I had never before been in an Indian lodge, although I had occasionally peeped into one of t...

Our arrival at Green Bay was at an unfortunate moment. It was the time of a treaty between the United States Government and the Menomonees and Wau-ba-na-kees. Consequently, not...

The war was now considered at an end. The news of the battle of the Bad Axe, where the regulars, the militia, and the Steamboat Warrior combined, had made a final end of the rem...

Major and Mrs. Twiggs, and a few of the younger officers (for nearly all of the older ones were absent), with our brother Robert, or, as he is called throughout all the Indian t...

At the age of fourteen the heroine of the foregoing story married Captain McKillip, a British officer. This gentleman was killed near Fort Defiance, as it was afterward called,...

It had been a stipulation of Gen. Hull at the surrender of Detroit that the inhabitants of that place should be permitted to remain undisturbed in their homes. Accordingly the f...

The companies of the first regiment which had hitherto been stationed at Fort Winnebago,[83] had received orders to move on to the Mississippi as soon as relieved by a portion o...

The Indians did not disperse after the ceremonies of the surrender had been gone through. They continued still in the vicinity of the Portage, in the constant expectation of the...

Michilimackinac! that gem of the Lakes! How bright and beautiful it looked as we walked abroad on the following morning! The rain had passed away, but had left all things glitte...

Agatha was the daughter of an Indian who was distinguished by the name of _Rascal_ Day-kau-ray. Whether he merited the appellation must be determined hereafter. He was brother t...

The Indians, of whatever tribe, are exceedingly fond of narrating or listening to tales and stories, whether historical or fictitious. They have their professed story-tellers, l...

There were two divisions of the Winnebago Indians, one of which was paid by the Agent, at the Portage, the other at Prairie du Chien, by Gen. Street.[49] The first, between four...

It must be remarked that in all Indian stories where two or more sisters are the dramatis personæ, the elder is invariably represented as silly, ridiculous and disgusting--the y...

Among the women of the tribe with whom we early became acquainted, our greatest favorite was a daughter of one of the Day-kau-rays.[85] This family, as I have elsewhere said, bo...

Our encampment this night was the most charming that can be imagined. Owing to the heavy service the men had gone through, in the earlier part of the day, we took but a short st...

The Butte des Morts, or Hillock of the Dead, was the scene long since[K] of a most sanguinary battle between the French and the Mis-qua-kees, or Foxes. So great was the carnage...

Chicago was not, at the period of my first visit, the cheerful, happy place it had once been. The death of Dr. Wolcott, of Lieut. Furman, and of a promising young son of Mr. Bea...

Early in January the snow fell in great abundance. We had an unusual quantity at the Portage, but in "the diggings," as the lead-mining country was called, it was of an unheard-...

The earth, the trees, and the shrubbery were all too much filled with the heavy rain which had fallen to allow us to think of encamping, so we made arrangements to bestow oursel...

It was on a dark, rainy evening in the month of September, 1830, that we went on board the steamer "Henry Clay," to take passage for Green Bay. All our friends in Detroit had co...

As the boats might be expected in a few days, it was thought best to begin at once what preparations were in my power towards housekeeping. These were simply the fitting and sew...

Panic at Green Bay--Tidings of Cholera--Green Bay Flies--Doyle, the Murderer--Death of Lieut. Foster--A Hardened Criminal-- Good News from the Seat of War--Departure for Home--S...

Treatment of American Prisoners by the British--Captivity of Mr. Kinzie--Battle on Lake Erie--Cruelty of Gen. Proctor's Troops--Gen. Harrison--Rebuilding of Fort Dearborn--Red B...