The second epoch is the military, which commenced with the Pontiac war, running down through the successive struggles of the British, the Indians, and the Americans, to obtain dominion of the country, and ending with the victory of Commodore Perry, the defeat of Proctor, the victory of General Harrison and the death of Tecumseh, the leader of the Anglo-savage conspiracy on the banks of the Thames.
The third may be denominated the enterprising, the hardy, the mechanical, and working period, commencing with the opening of the country to emigrant settlers, the age of agriculture, commerce, and manufactures, of harbors, cities, canals, and railroads, when the landscapes of the forest were meted out by the compass and chain of the surveyor, when its lakes and rivers were sounded, and their capacity, to turn the wheel of a mill or to float a ship, were demonstrated, thus opening up avenues of commerce and industry. Its wild and savage character has passed away, and given place to civilization, religion, and commerce, inviting the denizens of over-crowded cities to its broad lakes and beautiful rivers, its rich mines and fertile prairies, and promising a rapid and abundant remuneration for toil.
We have alluded to the labors and sacrifices of the Jesuit missionaries in the early period of the history of the northwest, and it is right and proper that the labors of the Protestant missionaries, though of a much later period, should not be forgotten. The Jesuit fathers were not alone in sacrifice and toil in introducing the Gospel among the tribes of the northwest. The first Protestant missions established in this region, as far as we have been able to learn, were those of the Presbyterian Church on the Island of Mackinac and at Green Bay.
The first missionary who visited Mackinaw was the Rev. David Bacon, father of the Rev. Leonard Bacon, D. D., of New Haven. He was sent out by the Connecticut Missionary Society in 1800, and commenced his mission in Detroit, where, after remaining a year or two, he relinquished his field to a Moravian missionary, Rev. Mr. Denky, and visited the Indians on the Maumee. From this he returned to Detroit, and from thence went to Mackinac, where he remained until the missionary society was compelled, from want of funds, to recall their missionary.
The following interesting account was given by C. J. Walker, Esq., before the Historical Society of Detroit:
"The Connecticut Missionary Society is, I believe, the oldest Missionary Association in America. It was organized in June, 1795, the General Association of Connecticut, at its annual meeting that year, having organized itself into a society of that name. Its object was 'to Christianize the heathen in North America, and to support and promote Christian knowledge in the new settlements within the United States.' For some years its efforts were principally directed to sending missionaries 'to the new settlements in Vermont, New York, and Pennsylvania,' and subsequently 'New Connecticut,' or the Western Reserve of Ohio, became an important field of its operations. The trustees, in June, 1800, determined 'that a discreet man, animated by the love of God and souls, of a good common education, be sought for, to travel among the Indian tribes south and west of Lake Erie, to explore their situation and learn their feelings with respect to Christianity, and so far as he has opportunity to teach them its doctrines and duties.' A very sensible letter of 'Instructions' was adopted and a long message 'to the Indian tribes bordering on Lake Erie' prepared, showing very little knowledge of Indian mind and character. Mr. David Bacon presented himself as a candidate for this somewhat unpromising field of labor. His son says he was one of those men who are called visionary and enthusiasts by men of more prosaic and plodding temperament. He had not a liberal education, but was a man of eminent intellectual powers and of intensely thoughtful habits, and beside a deep religious experience, he had endeavored diligently to fit himself for a missionary life, the self-denying labors of which he ardently coveted. On examination Mr. Bacon was accepted.
"On the 8th of August, 1800, Mr. Bacon left Hartford on foot with his pack upon his back, and on the 4th of September he was at Buffalo, having walked most of the distance. On the 8th, he left on a vessel for this city, which he reached after a quick and pleasant voyage on the 11th. He was made welcome at the house of the commandant, Major Hunt, where, I believe, his first religious services were held. Gen. Uriah Tracy, of Litchfield, Conn., General Agent of the United States for the Western Indians, was then here, and, together with the local Indian agent, Jonathan Schieffelin, took an active interest in the mission of Mr. Bacon. John Askin, Esq., the same liberal-minded merchant, who so essentially befriended the Moravians twenty years before, and Benjamin Huntington, a merchant here, formerly of Norwich, Conn., rendered him valuable information and assistance. Learning from these sources that the Delawares at Sandusky, were about to remove, that the Wyandottes were mostly Catholics, and that there were no other Indians 'south and west of Lake Erie,' among whom there was an inviting field of labor, his attention was turned to the north, and, with the advice of these judicious friends, on the 13th of September, he took passage with General Tracy in a government vessel bound for Mackinac, and went to Harson's Island, at the head of Lake St. Clair, near which there was quite an Indian settlement. Although only forty miles distant, he did not reach there until the 17th, being four days upon the voyage. Jacob Harson or Harsing, as it was originally spelled, the proprietor of this island, was an Albany Dutchman, who, in 1766, on appointment of Sir Wm. Johnson, came to Niagara as Indian blacksmith and gunsmith, and his original commission or letter of appointment, written by Sir William, is now before me. On the breaking out of the Revolution, finding Mr. Harson friendly to the Americans, the British stripped him of his property and sent him, sorely against his will, to this frontier. He established himself upon the island as early as 1786, where his descendants now reside, acquired great influence with the Indians, and lived in a very comfortable manner. He received Mr. Bacon in this beautiful retreat, with great kindness and hospitality, and he thanks the Lord that he is provided a comfortable house, a convenient study, and as good a bed and as good board as I should have had if I had remained in Connecticut. I know of no place in the State of New York so healthy as this, I believe the water and the air as pure here as in any part of New England, and I have never been before where venison and wild geese and ducks were so plenty, or where there was such a rich variety of fresh-water fish. There were many Indians in the vicinity. Mr. Harson encouraged the establishment of a mission, and Mr. Bacon deemed it a most favorable opening. Bernardus Harson, a son of Jacob, was engaged as interpreter. He returned to Detroit on the same vessel with General Tracy, Sept. 30th, to attend an Indian Council which was held here on the 7th of October, when he was formally introduced to the Indians by General Tracy, and was most favorably received. He returned to the island and remained until the Indians departed for their winter hunting grounds, when he left for Connecticut, where he arrived about the middle of December. He was soon ordained to the ministry, and I believe married, for he returned with a young wife of whom nothing is heard previously.
"Late in January 1801, Mr. Bacon commenced his return journey with his wife and her brother, Beaumont Parks, Esq., now of Springfield, Illinois, a young man who came with him to learn the Chippewa language and to become a teacher. The sleighing leaving them they remained at Bloomfield, Ontario county, New York, until spring, and did not reach here until May 9th. Mr. Bacon's plan was to remain at Detroit, until he became so familiar with the Indian language that he could successfully prosecute his mission. He remained here until the spring of 1802, holding regular religious services in the Council House. For a time he preached twice upon the Sabbath, but the afternoon attendance being thin, he accepted a call from the settlement on the river Rouge to preach to them half a day. To aid in defraying expenses he commenced keeping a school in the house where he lived on St. James street, just in the rear of the Masonic Hall, and in this he was assisted by his wife. One at least of our present fellow citizens was a pupil of Mr. Bacon, and has pleasant memories of that little school. Amid many discouragements the study of the Chippewa was pursued by this missionary family, and although they made 'but slow progress' and it was 'hard work to commit their words to memory' and 'extremely difficult to construct a sentence according to the idioms of their language,' they 'hope and expect we shall be able to surmount every difficulty.'
"While thus toilfully but hopefully preparing for his anticipated work, getting acquainted with Indians, their life and character, and as yet uncertain at what precise point to commence his mission, Mr. Denhey, a Moravian missionary, desired to occupy the field upon the St. Clair River, which Mr. Bacon in some measure occupied the year before, and to this Mr. Bacon assented. His attention had been called to Mackinac and L'Arbre Croche, but he resolved to visit the Indians upon the Maumee, and ascertain by personal interviews and examination what encouragement there was for a mission in that vicinity. For this purpose, with his brother-in-law and a hired man, on 29th of April, 1802, he left in a canoe for the 'Miami,'as the Maumee was then called. He found most of the Indian chiefs engaged in a drunken debauch, and it was not until the 14th of May, and after repeated efforts, that he succeeded in gathering a full council, and addressing them upon the subject of establishing a mission among them. He felt it his duty to have translated the message sent to the Indians by the Missionary Society. The poor savages listened courteously to this long piece of abstruse theological narrative and argument, but they must have been terribly bored, notwithstanding Mr. Bacon's efforts to 'express the ideas in language better adapted to the capacity and more agreeable to their ways of speaking.' No wonder that Little Otter was 'too unwell to attend in the afternoon.' After this translation, Mr. Bacon made a well conceived speech of considerable length, setting forth the advantages which the Indians would derive from a mission. There was no little point in the polished reproof of Little Otter, in the commencement of his speech, who said: 'Now brother, if you will listen to us we will give you an answer. But it is our way to be very short. Our white brothers, when they make speeches, are very lengthy. They read and write so much that they get in a great many little things. But it is not so with your red brothers. When we go on any great business and have any great things to say, we say them in a few words.' With no little ingenuity, but with apparent courtesy, these sons of the forest declined a mission in their midst. The gist of the reply is contained in the following sentence: 'Brother, your religion is very good; but it is only good for white people. It will not do for Indians, they are quite a different sort of people.'
"On the following day Mr. Bacon started for Detroit, and remained here until June 2d, when, with his family, he removed to Missilimackinac, then the great centre of Indian population in our Territory. Here he remained until August 1804, perfecting himself in the language, teaching, preaching and pursuing the other labors incident to his mission. He very clearly saw that a successful Indian mission involved no inconsiderable expenditure in establishing schools and in educating the Indians in agriculture and the ruder arts of civilization. These expenditures were too large for the means of the Missionary Society, and in January, 1804, they directed the mission to abandoned, and that Mr. Bacon should remove to the Western Reserve. The intelligence of this reached Mr. Bacon in July, and in August he removed and became the first founder of the town of Tallmadge, Ohio. Thus ended this first Protestant effort to convert the Indians of Michigan to the faith of the cross. It was while Mr. Bacon was residing here that Rev. Dr. Bacon was born. We may therefore, with pride, claim him as a native of our beautiful city."