taries, were by various Indian deeds conveyed to some of the persons engaged in the plot, singly or together, from the foot of Lake Huron to the Cuyahoga River, with some inconsiderable exceptions. If those Indian titles could have been made good, those parties would have an almost entire control of the country, and the condition of the private claims would have left the holders of these too at their mercy. With all these circumstances combining, it is not a wild conjecture to suppose that the possibility of getting back into British allegiance a country controlled by British subjects may have been in the thoughts of the conspirators as an incident if not an object of their action.

HE early adventurers in their advance from

THE

the broad expanse of Lake Erie, up through our beautiful river, saw all around them a glorious scene of waters and forests, as yet untouched by the hand of civilization, and inhabited by savages as strange and wild as their own wilderness. Herds of deer wandered through the forests and drank from the clear waters of the river, whose unruffled surface re

flected their graceful forms. Fish of great value glided through the waters, flocks of waterfowl traversed their course along the shores or dipped in the current, and snow-white gulls skimmed its surface; beautiful woods of lofty trees extended as far as the eye could see, around whose trunks were twined grapevines of the largest size, whose luscious fruit hung in rich clusters gracefully from the boughs above, the vast quantity of which growing along the banks gave to our river its name, originally called by the French River Aux Raisin; and now, over 100 years later, the name is very appropriate, for what we have lost in wild fruit by the clearing of the forests, we have more than replaced by our extensive vineyards of various varieties of the best of cultivated grapes. The Indians called it the Nummasepee, or River of Sturgeon, from the vast quantities of those fish found in it.

As the travelers advanced into the interior, by Indian trails, a beautiful scene opened before them, the country being covered with groves of forest trees like extended parks. Luxuriant flowers of various and gorgeous colors covered the whole surface of the ground. It seemed as if nature, amid the solitude, fresh in her virgin bloom, had adorned her bosom with the fragrant roses of summer in honor of her Maker; and vain of her charms had set our lake and river upon the landscape as mirrors to reflect her own beauty. Such were the scenes that colored the description of the French travelers of the eighteenth century through this country.

Our lake region of country was held by the French Crown until 1763, when it was transferred from France to Great Britain. This was the period when the first beams of civilization had scarcely penetrated its forests, and the paddle of the French fur-traders swept the lakes, and the boat songs of the traders awakened tribes as wild as the wolves which howled around their wigwams.

Two Indian villages formerly occupied the place whereon now stands the city of Monroe, viz. those of the Ottawas and Pottawatomies, and previous to that time the Erri-er-ro-nous lived upon the confines of the lake, from which tribe, it is supposed, Lake Erie derived its name. It was a peaceably disposed tribe, but was finally exterminated by the fierce Iroquois, who comprised the most powerful Indian league known to have existed on the continent.

The Iroquois league consisted of the Onondagas, the Cayugas, the Senecas, the Oneidas, and the Mohawks, with their headquarters in the western part of New York State. The warriors of these tribes were men of large stature and muscular forms, and a savage determination marked every feature of the face.

Military skill, courage, shrewdness, energy, ambition and eloquence were their prominent traits. In their policy they appear to have had more vigor and system than the other Indian tribes, and cherished a sort of spartan discipline throughout their confederacy. They were also equally crafty and ferocious. They could crawl, unseen, along the track of their enemies, or rush down upon the French in fearless bands of naked and gigantic warriors, and it is well known that their marches against the French colonists and the remote missionary posts were like the rushing of a tornado through the forest.

In 1784 a small body of Canadians settled on the River Raisin and laid the foundation of Frenchtown, built a few log cabins on both

banks of the river, and enclosed them and the surrounding land with pickets or "puncheons," made of sapling logs, split in two, driven in the ground and sometimes sharpened at the top, thus forming a very good means of defense against the Indians.

A narrow path ran along the bank of the river and border of the front of the farms on each side of the River Raisin. It was a depot of the fur-traders for the Northwest Company, and for a long period the concentrating point for the surrounding Indians, who were continually repairing to the town in order to exchange their furs for blankets, red cloth, silver ornaments, arms and ammunition, mindful also of the stock of fire-water, of which ample provision was made. Money was refused in exchange for goods, and the French were required to bring in produce in exchange for them, which was transported to the Upper Lakes for the use of the Fur Company stations.

In the year 1785, a treaty was made with the tribes of the Ottawas, Chippewas, Delawares and Wyandots, by which a belt of land, commencing at the River Raisin and extending to Lake St. Clair, with a breadth of six miles along the strait, was ceded to the United States, and was the only soil which could be appropriated by the whites for cultivation.

About this time was organized the first church on the River Raisin, the French Catholic, when the Rev. Mr. Frichett visited the settlement as a missionary. Soon after the first stationed priest arrived the Rev. Antoine A. Gillett, who remained until the year 1805. This society built, about the year 1788, the first church building ever erected in the county; was located some two miles west of our city on the north bank of the river, and was at this time the central part of the settlement. The building was in a dilapidated condition taken down in 1842.

The first settler or fur-trader was Joseph Pulier Benac, then Colonel Francis Navarre, Charles and John Baptiste Jerome. In 1780, Colonel Francis Navarre rode from Detroit by the Indian trail on a French pony, carrying in his hand some pear trees the size of your little finger that he set out on his lot west of the block-house, which was subsequently clapboarded and used as the Episcopal Church parsonage, afterwards demolished. The site thereof is now owned and occupied as the residence of

Dr. A. I. Sawyer of this city, and the famed pear trees, planted by the hands of Colonel Francis Navarre over a century ago, now yield their fruit, as they so bountifully have done for so many years, averaging yearly forty bushels. They stand as monuments to the memory of an industrious man, and remind us that a few hours of pleasant labor live with blessings for our own brief life and for those that follow us.

The first American settlement was established at Frenchtown in 1793, and at that time Detroit and Frenchtown were the principal settlements on the eastern side of the peninsula of Michigan. In 1796 Captain Porter first raised the American banner at this point on the soil of Michigan.

On the 11th of January, 1805, the act was passed for the organization of the Territory of Michigan, and General William Hull was appointed Governor and Indian Agent, and on the 5th of September following, measures were taken for the organization of the militia of the Territory. The Second Regiment was organized for the district of Erie, and John Anderson, of Frenchtown, was appointed colonel.

It was very difficult to organize efficient military companies among the population of the Territory at this time. The French inhabitants, although brave almost to a fault, and having genuine taste for military glory, were here unaccustomed to discipline and disliked its restraints. Amusing accounts are given of attempts to organize the militia in the district of Erie. At one time Colonel Anderson had most of his officers under arrest for appearing on parade without uniforms, and they were very anxious to know their fate. He complained that the more he drilled his men the less they knew.

As early as 1806, rumors of a deep-seated and growing feeling of dissatisfaction among the Indians began to prevail. Tecumseh (the word in Indian parlance signifying “the tiger crouching for his prey ") and Ell-shwa-taw-a (or the prophet), the twin brother of Tecumseh, sprang into great prominence.

Tecumseh was a warrior of the Shawanese tribe without any hereditary claim to distinction a seceder from the legitimate authority of his nation, the builder of his own fortune. He was an open and avowed hater of the Americans, and was determined in his opposition to the advance of the nation on

the Indian domain, and doubtless urged by the British Government to organize a general confederacy against the United States.

In 1807 the efforts to organize this confederacy on the lakes had been commenced. Agents were dispatched from the headquarters of the Shawanese to the lake Indians, with messages and belts of wampum; and the minds of the savages were aroused to desperate action. The points insisted on were that the Americans should be driven back over the Allegheny Mountains, and that the war should not be terminated until that object was accomplished. That after this was effected, the Indians should have undisturbed possession of their ancient hunting-grounds and be placed under the protection of the British Government, and the warriors that distinguished themselves in the war should be publicly recognized and receive presents from the British monarch of large medals.

Tecumseh and the Prophet were doubtless instigated by the British Government to effect this confederation, in order to co-operate with the English when war should be declared between England and the United States, which then seemed inevitable. While these events were transpiring the Territory of Michigan was in a comparatively defenseless state. The settlements on the Miami, the Raisin and the Huron comprised a population of only 1,340; four-fifths were French, and the remainder Americans, with a small portion of British.

The hostile spirit which had been thus excited by Tecumseh and the Prophet, soon manifested itself upon our frontier. The scattered settlements along the inland streams were at that time much exposed to the depredations of the Indians, and the emigrants found their cattle slaughtered around their huts. At Frenchtown this devastation was carried to the most formidable extent before the declaration of war between England and the United States.

At one time bands of naked warriors, with feathers on their heads (the Iroquois before alluded to), made a descent upon Frenchtown, and in silence proceeded to destroy all property which was supposed to be required for the support of the army in the coming contest. Entering the houses of the French peasantry, they plundered the defenseless tenants of the provisions within them without exchanging a word with the occupants, cut down the cattle

in the fields, and with their tomahawks demolished the bee-hives which were found in their gardens.

Soon after the surrender, Colonel Anderson, who had from his efficiency as colonel of the militia and exertions as an organizer become prominent, was a marked man by Tecumseh and his band, and they were determined to take his life. The Colonel, with the small number of Americans on the river, were compelled to leave to escape the vengeance of the Indians, leaving his wife (the sister of James Knaggs) in possession of his store and property. He then resided on the site on Elm Avenue now owned and occupied as the residence of Talcott E. Wing, Esq. A portion of the house was occupied as a residence, the remainder as a store and fur-trading establishment, liberally supplied with goods adapted to the wants of the Indians, together with an abundant supply of fire-water. Mrs. Anderson was conversant and familiar with the language of the various tribes of Indians, and had as a clerk and helper in the store become well acquainted with most of the trading Indians. When the news reached her of the capture of General Winchester and his forces, knowing well the habits and customs of the savages, especially when under the influence of liquor, she hurried to the cellar of the store, where the liquors were stored, and caused the heads of the whisky barrels to be knocked in. The Indians burst in the door, ransacked the store, then repaired. to the cellar, prostrated themselves on their breasts and filled themselves with whisky. When besotted, drunk and wild, they returned to the portion of the house occupied as a residence, with the most unearthly yells and whoops; emptied the scalps they had gathered in bags on the parlor floor, and dancing around the room, slapped the bleeding scalps against and bespattering and disfiguring the walls and ceiling. Mrs. Anderson was in the room adjoining, seated on a large chest containing the money and valuables of her husband. The Indians approached her in a threatening and menacing manner, and with upraised tomahawks and knives commanded her to rise up. She having often traded with them and speaking fluently their language, raised her voice to its highest pitch and pointing her finger at them, with the expression, "Shame, so many Indians fight one squaw," and was then, with the

interference of two resolute Indians, left unmolested, retaining her treasures.

Colonel John Anderson was of Scotch descent, and married at Maumee Miss Knaggs, the sister of James Knaggs, who became distinguished in the war of 1812 as a scout, under Generals Hull, Cass and Harrison. He removed to Frenchtown about the year 1800, having one son, John Anderson, who was born at Maumee. After removing to Frenchtown he had one son, Alexander D. Anderson, who was an attorney, and for many years Judge of Probate for the County of Monroe, and one daughter, Eliza, who became the wife of the Hon. Warren Wing. Immediately after the massacre in January, 1813, Mrs. Anderson, with her three children, John, Alexander and Eliza, fled to Detroit and remained there, hiring a house and keeping boarders to maintain herself and family until the return of Colonel Anderson from Dayton, Ohio. As their names were identical, the Colonel Anderson referred to above is often confounded with Colonel John Anderson, of the United States Army, who, with Plympton and Kirby, purchased the farms of Mulhollen and Egnew next west of Monroe street, extending from the River Raisin south to Plumb Creek, a portion of which was subsequently platted, and constitutes that portion of the city west of Monroe street.

The Loranger farm on the east side of Monroe street was purchased by Joseph Loranger of Judge Augustus B. Woodward, who bought it originally to qualify himself as judge under the fourth section of the ordinance which required a judge to own at least 500 acres of land, and had given his place the euphonious name of Euphemia, which it retained until the name of Monroe was substituted.

Among the number of the American families. that escaped about the same time with Colonel Anderson, were the families of Samuel Mulhollen and Jared Egnew, who purchased for $6 per acre the farm next adjoining the Joseph Loranger tract on the west, the east line of which was Monroe street, and the west Adams street, extending south from the river to Plumb Creek, constituting a part now of the first ward of the city of Monroe. The western farm in the division fell to Mr. Mulhollen, who built a log house on the site where the "Harleston House" stood, now occupied by the German Catholic Church as a school-room, near and a little to

the northeast of the brick church building, opposite the "Isle of Patmos." The site of the Mulhollen house was subsequently purchased by the Hon. Charles Lanman, thereafter by George B. Harleston.

The site of the village, now city, of Monroe, was at that time occupied as farming land, and the Loranger farm, east of this tract, was, in 1817, platted by Joseph Loranger into village lots. After the settlement of Mr. Mulhollen on the river three children were born-Samuel, Sarah and Aurilia- the first of whom is now living; the last named married Sylvester Brown, a very successful farmer of eminent piety, who, late in life, sold his possessions, and with his wife, spent the last years of their lives in the city of Monroe. There were at that time no bridges, and Mrs. Sarah Rowe (nee Mulhollen) well remembers fording the river in the summer months when the water was low, going to and coming from school, and when the water was high going and coming on horseback, the father having one child in front and the other holding on behind. The first schoolmaster was a Mr. Hicock, who occupied a log house on the north side of the river between the Clark and Downing farms. The second school was taught on the north side of the river, opposite the present residence of Talcott E. Wing, Esq.

The first school taught on the south side of the River Raisin was by Isaac P. Skinner, who will be remembered as for so many years thereafter Register of Deeds of the county of Monroe. He occupied as a school house a large building built for and for many years used as a distillery, on the river bank, a little east of the present residence of Doctor A. I. Sawyer. In an interview with Mrs. Rowe in 1887, she well remembered for months before the surrender of Hull (which surrender was in August, 1812), the rumors of war between England and America which were rife. The drilling of the militia was of frequent occurrence, and for two weeks before the surrender the family, in common with other American families, sought protection nights in the fort or stockade on the site of the present residence of Major E. Chapman. She also well remembers the scene that occurred at her father's house immediately after the surrender of General Hull. The family were making preparations to flee from the country, fearing and apprehensive of the ravages of hostile Indians, who were in hordes traversing the