Michigan,
Was discovered and settled by French missionaries and furtraders.
As early as 1610 the site of
Detroit was visited by Frenchmen, and in 1641 some Jesuits reached the falls of St. Mary.
The first
European settlements within the present limits of
Michigan were made there by the establishment of a mission by Father
Jacques Marquette (q. v.) and others in 1668. Three years later Fort Mackinaw was established, and in 1701
Detroit was founded.
Michigan made slow progress in population from that time until it was made a Territory
of the
United States.
It came into possession of the
English by the treaty of 1763; suffered from the conspiracy of
Pontiac (q. v.); and it was some time after the treaty of peace, in 1783, before the
British gave up the territory.
The
Americans did not take possession until 1796.
At first it was a part of the
Northwest Territory, and afterwards it formed a part of the
Territory of Indiana.
It was erected into an independent Territory in 1805, with
William Hull (q. v.) as its first governor.
In August, 1812, it fell into the hands of the
British (see
Detroit), and remained so until the fall of 1813, when
General Harrison reconquered it (
Thames, battle of the). In consequence of alarming despatches from
Hull, in
Detroit, in July, 1812, a force to support him was organized at
Georgetown, Ky.; but before it had crossed the
Ohio news of the surrender at
Detroit reached them.
That event stirred the patriotic zeal of the whole Western country, and the greatest warlike enthusiasm prevailed.
Volunteers gathered under local leaders in every direction.
Companies were formed and equipped in a single day, and were ready to march the next.
They passed over the
Ohio from
Kentucky,
Pennsylvania, and
Virginia; and the governor of
Ohio sent forward 2,000 men under
General Tupper for the recovery of
Michigan.
General Harrison was appointed commander-in-chief of the Army of the Northwest.
For several weeks volunteers found employment in driving the hostile
Indians from post to post, in
Ohio and
Indiana, on the borders of the extreme western settlements.
They desolated their villages and plantations, after the manner of
Sullivan in 1779, and thereby incurred the fiercest indignation of the tribes.
Harrison took steps early to relieve the frontier posts—
Fort Harrison, on the
Wabash;
Fort Wayne, at the head of the
Maumee;
Fort Defiance, at the junction of the
Auglaize and
Maumee; and
Fort Deposit.
At
Vincennes General Hopkins had assembled about 4,000 mounted
Kentucky militia to chastise the Indians on the borders of
Illinois.
They penetrated the
Indian country beyond the
Wabash; but, becoming alarmed, returned to
Vincennes, and left the honors of the campaign to be gathered by
Ninian Edwards, governor of the
Territory of Illinois, who had advanced up the
Illinois River with about 400 men to co-operate with
Hopkins.
He succeeded in destroying several Indian villages above
Peoria.
Harrison, meanwhile, was busily employed in pushing forward provisions to forts towards the lake, whence his troops were to march for concentration at the rapids of the
Maumee, where another depot was to be established.
It was a miserable country to pass over —swampy, wooded, and made almost impassable by heavy rains.
The troops became discontented and mutinous.
Orders given to
Tupper's division to advance to the
Maumee Rapids were not, or could not be, obeyed; it fell back to
Urbana.
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Harrison had been very anxious to retake
Detroit before winter; but the nature of the country compelled him to wait for the freeing of the swamps.
Another expedition, under
Hopkins, marched up the
Wabash to
Tippecanoe, in November, 1812; but the approach of winter and insufficient clothing of his troops compelled him to return to
Vincennes after destroying one or two Indian villages.
So ended in failure the effort to recover
Michigan in the autumn of 1812.
To this end
Harrison had labored incessantly all through the months of October, November, and December.
The lands of
Michigan were first brought into market for public sale in 1818, and from that time it dates its prosperity.
The
Territory was authorized in 1819 to send a delegate to Congress, and in the election the right of suffrage was extended to all taxable citizens.
Afterwards the Indians made important territorial concessions, and in 1836 all the lower peninsula and part of the upper were freed from Indian titles.
The same year
Wisconsin Territory was formed from the western portion of
Michigan.
The legislative power of
Michigan was vested in the governor and judges until 1823, when Congress transferred it to a council of nine persons, selected by the
President of the
United States from eighteen chosen by the citizens.
The council was increased to thirteen in 1825; but two years later the citizens were allowed to elect the councillors without the interference of the
President or Congress.
In 1835-36 there was a territorial dispute between
Ohio and
Michigan that, at one time, threatened civil war; but it was settled by Congress admitting the latter into the
Union as a State, on condition that it should relinquish its claim to the disputed territory and accept in its stead the upper peninsula.
In January, 1837,
Michigan was admitted.
In 1847 the seat of government was removed from
Detroit to
Lansing.
In 1850 a new constitution was adopted, which, with subsequent amendments, is now in force.
This State took a decided stand for the
Union in the anxious days of 1860.
Its legislature met at the beginning of January, 1861, when its retiring governor (
Moses Wisner) denounced the
President of the
United States as a partisan, and the Democratic party as cause of the alarm, resentment, and discontent in the
South, by persistent misrepresentations of the principles and intentions of the Republican party.
He declared the personal liberty act of his State to be right.
“Let it stand,” he said; “this is no time for timid and vacillating counsels while the cry of treason is ringing in our ears.”
The new governor (
Austin Blair), who was inaugurated Jan. 3, took substantially the same ground.
He recommended the legislature to take action for the support of the national government, and they responded by passing resolutions, Feb. 2, pledging to that government all the military power and material resources of the
State.
They expressed an unwillingness “to make compromises with traitors,” and refused to send delegates to the
peace conference (q. v.). The best men of the
State, serving in the
Union army, redeemed this pledge.
Michigan furnished to the
National army, during the
Civil War, 90,747 soldiers, of which number 14,823 perished.
The expenditures of the
State for carrying on the war were $3,784,408; by counties, cities, and townships for the same purpose, $10,173,336; and for the relief of soldiers' families by counties, $3,591,248, or a total of nearly $17,600,000. Population in 1890, 2,093,889; in 1900, 2,420,982.
See
United States, Michigan, in vol.
IX.
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