Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society for the Year 1867

by Charles Edwin Mayo; Henry M. Rice; A. J. Hill; Gideon H. Pond

The Hurons, having so much audacity that they imagined the Sioux were incapable of resisting them without fire-arms and weapons of iron, conspired with the Ottowas to make war upon them, in order to drive them from their country, so as to be able to spread themselves more, to procure means of subsistence. The Ottowas and the Hurons joined together and marched against the Sioux. They believed that as soon as they would appear, the others would fly; but they were much deceived, for their attacks were sustained, and they were even repulsed; and if they had not retreated, would have been entirely defeated by the great number of people who came from the other allied villages to the assistance of the Sioux. They were pursued to their settlement, where they were obliged to make a hasty fort, which, however, was sufficient to cause the Sioux to retire;—not daring to storm it.

The continual inroads that the Sioux made upon them constrained them to fly(7). They had known of a river called the Black River. This they entered; and, having arrived where it takes its source, the Hurons found there a place fit to fortify themselves in, and to establish their village. The Ottowas, however, pushed beyond, and reached Lake Superior, where they fixed their home at Chagouamikon. The Sioux, seeing their enemies fled, remained in peace, without following them any more. But the Hurons were not content to stop there; they sent some parties against them, which, however, making little impression, drew frequent incursions on the part of the Sioux, and caused them to quit their fort to join the Ottowas at Chagouamikon, with a great loss of their people. So soon as they arrived there, they thought of forming a war party of one hundred men to go against the Sioux, and to revenge themselves for their former defeats.

It is to be remarked that the country where they are [the Sioux] is nothing but lakes and marshes, filled with wild rice, separated, the ones from the others, by little tongues of land, which, at the most, from one lake to the other, are but thirty to forty steps, and, in many cases, only five to six or a little more. These lakes, or marshes, contain fifty or more leagues square, [19 or 20,000 square miles] and are divided by no river but the Louisianne, which has its bed in the middle, and into which a part of their waters is emptied. Others fall into the river of Sainte Croix, which is situated, in respect to them, to the north-east, and flows near them. Finally, the other marshes and lakes, situated to the west of the river of Saint Peter, throw themselves similarly into it. Thus, the Sioux are inaccessible in that marshy country, and cannot be destroyed there, but by enemies having canoes, like themselves, to follow them; for, in these places, there are only five or six families together, which form a hamlet, or a kind of small village; and all the others are in the same way, at a certain distance, in order to be ready to help each other at the first alarm. If any one of these little villages is attacked, the enemy can hurt it but slightly; for all the neighbors assemble at once, and give prompt assistance where it is needed. The way they have of navigating these lakes is to strike into their [rice] fields with their canoes, and, carrying them from lake to lake, they force the flying enemy to turn round. Thus, they can go from one to another, till they have passed them all, and have arrived at the main land.

The hundred Hurons became entangled in the middle of these marshes, without canoes, where they were discovered by some Sioux, who hastened to give a general alarm. This nation [the Sioux] was numerous, scattered through all the extent of the marshes where they were gathering wild rice which is the grain of this people, and tastes better than rice.

More than three thousand Sioux approached, from all sides, and invested the Hurons, ... of all this party but one escaped(8).

...

The Hurons, seeing that they were so weak in numbers, concluded not to seek for revenge any more, but lived peaceably at Chagouamikon for many years. During all this time, they were not molested by the Sioux, who only applied themselves to making war on the Kiristinons, the Assiniboines, and all the other nations of the north, whom they have much injured, and by whom they have, on their part, been decimated....

Father Menard, who had been appointed missionary to the Ottowas, [in 1660, and who went to them], accompanied by some Frenchmen that were going to traffic with that nation, was abandoned by all who were with him, except one, who rendered to him, to the last, all the services and assistance that he stood in need of. The Father followed the Ottawas to the lake of the Illinois, and in their flight to Louisianne, as far as to above the Black River. There it was that this missionary had but one Frenchman for companion, and where all the rest had left him. This Frenchman, I say, followed carefully the route of the Ottawas, and made his portages in the same places that they had;—never leaving the same river that they were on. He found himself, one day [August, 1661], in a rapid that was carrying him away in his canoe. The Father, to relieve him, disembarked from his own, but did not take the proper road to come to him; he entered one that had been made by animals; and desiring to return to the right one, became embarrassed in a labyrinth of trees and was lost. The Frenchman, after having ascended the rapid, with a great deal of trouble, waited for the good Father, and as he did not come, concluded to search for him. He called his name in the woods with all his strength, for several days, but in vain. However, he met, in the way, a Sauk who was carrying the camp kettle of the missionary; and who told him news of him. He informed him that he had found his track a long way on, in the woods, but that he had not seen the Father himself. He told him, too, that he had found the traces of several others going towards the Sioux. He even said that he thought the Sioux might have killed him, or taken him prisoner. Indeed, several years afterwards, there were found amongst this nation his breviary and cassock, which they exposed at their ceremonies, making offerings to them of their food....

... to hunt in the direction of the Sioux; for Chagouamikon is only fifty to sixty leagues [138 to 166 miles] distant from them, going across the country in a direct line....

... They gave him, for second. M. du Lhut, whom he sent word to [1684] at Kamalastiguoia, at the further side of Lake Superior, where was his post(9)....