Various

“ COMMITTEES OF CORRESPONDENCE It would not be difficult to prove that the initiative step in the final struggle was first taken by the Carolinas and by Virginia and that the people of Boston and of other cities in New England moved rather in response to pressure from without than at their own suggestion. The men who became the leaders in the general movement afterwards were beyond question both sincere and patriotic from the beginning, but the people of New England were not, at that time, so near a unit in sentiment as were those of Virginia and of North and South Carolina. ”

“ On the other hand, the conflict in New York, which lasted for over two days, was the first stand, and a successful one, made by the people against the British soldiers. It was an event of very great importance indeed, for not only was blood first shed but in it was life first lost for the Cause. Yet how little importance has any New England writer in the past ever attached to it! It has certainly never been pointed out that the “Battle of Golden Hill,” in contra-distinction to the “Boston Massacre,” was the beginning of the struggle. ”

“ General Washington was a man of very strong passions and was undoubtedly prejudiced against many of the peculiarities of the New Englanders of his day. And although few men held themselves in better restraint than he, he would nevertheless, at times, express himself very freely in regard to the men and measures of New England.
It is said that Sparks manipulated Washington’s correspondence by striking out every reflection made against the New England people and by suppressing many letters. ”

“ History repeats itself, and at all times truth has been so warped, to serve one purpose or another, that the historical student, especially, rarely fails to become the confirmed skeptic in his branch of knowledge. But the subject of historical accuracy, even in relation to American history, is too extensive a one to be treated of by a single individual or encompassed within the space which could be allotted to an article of this character. ”

“ THE BOSTON MASSACRE The impartial student is fully impressed with the fact that, as his investigations approach the period just preceding the American Revolution, the claims of the New England people become more prominent. Here again, if the writers of our histories and especially of our school books have not given undue credit to those who were the chief actors in New England at this period, they have at least uniformly failed to do full justice to those who were quite as active in the cause in other colonies. ”

“ They carry us into the fastnesses of our mountains, the depth of our forests, the watery wilderness of our lakes and rivers, giving us pictures of savage life and savage tribes, Indian legends, fishing and hunting anecdotes, the adventures of trappers and backwoodsmen ”

“ However, the Indians around Green Bay were by no means restricted to one agricultural product, although contact with the white men tended to make them more and more dependent, since they found it easier to barter furs for food than to raise grain.
From the above citations, it appears that the cultivated fields of the Indians occupied a diagonal line across the state, following the courses of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers and Green Bay; and that the Sauk, Foxes, and Winnebago were the most inclined, in the struggle for existence, to make use of their agricultural knowledge and opportunities. ”

“ However, in many particulars, the most important prehistoric dwelling place in our Valley is that on the shore of Cumberland Bay, partly within the present limits of the city of Plattsburgh. Here was a sand ridge a mile long, from twenty to forty rods wide, fifteen to twenty-five feet high, having a sluggish stream abounding in fish on its landward side, and the wide bay opening out into the broad lake, on the other. The greyish white sand between the pines on the ridge and the waters of the bay, was a conspicuous object for miles out on the lake. ”

“ The Indians of northern Michigan at the present day generally care for their corn much as did their ancestors of a century ago; and the few who attempt its cultivation with a horse cultivator do not take the precaution to plant the corn in rows, but run here and there wherever there happens to be sufficient room between the hills.
Whether or not the Wisconsin Indians, like those of Ohio or New England, girdled trees so as to rid the land of them, and leave it in a suitable condition for cultivation by their rude and ineffective tools, is not stated ”

“ Sacrament empties, we all halted without knowing why, until we saw our savages at the water side gathering up flints, which were almost all cut into shape. We did not at that time reflect upon this, but have since learned the meaning of the mystery, for our Iroquois told us that they never fail to halt at this place to pay homage to a race of invisible men who dwell there at the bottom of the lake. These beings occupy themselves in preparing flints, nearly all cut, for the passers by, provided the latter pay their respects to them by giving them tobacco. ”

“ Unlike the French settlers in other parts of the United States, the Carolina Huguenots, notwithstanding the inhospitable reception given them on their arrival in the colony, held their own manfully in their adopted country; and soon established such friendly relations with their English neighbors, that in the course of a generation or so, by intermarriage with these, they had ceased to be a distinctive class of the population, and were only to be traced by their French names, which they had bestowed upon half the families in the lower section of the State. ”

“ Probably he referred to the place now known as Winnequah, on the eastern shore of Lake Monona, where a few Indian corn-hills are still discernable. The nature of the land here at the time of the Indian occupancy, cannot now be estimated with the same accuracy as in the case of the Sauk district. It is not on the edge of a prairie; but from the condition of the present woods about Winnequah, and the sandy nature of the soil, it is altogether likely that there were sufficient open spots for all the corn-fields which the small villages of Indians would be likely to cultivate. ”

“ Previous to the arrival of the ships in Boston, concerted action had been agreed upon, as has been already shown, in regard to the destruction of the tea from Charleston, South Carolina, to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The people of Philadelphia had been far more active and outspoken at the outset than they of Boston, and it was this decisiveness which caused the people of Boston to act, after they had freely sought beforehand the advice and moral support of the other Colonies. ”

“ In the same strain Father Allouez, who visited the Western Indians in the early part of 1670, says of the Outagami: “These savages * * * are settled in an excellent country,—the soil, which is black there, yielding them Indian corn in abundance. They live by hunting during the winter returning to their cabins towards its close, and living there on Indian corn that they had hidden away the previous Autumn; they season it with fish.” ”

“ Jonathan Carver, who made a trip through the northwest in 1766, in speaking of the Winnebago Indians remarks: “The land adjacent to the lake [Winnebago] is very fertile, abounding with grapes, plums, and other fruits, which grow spontaneously. The Winnebagoes raise on it a great quantity of Indian corn, beans, pumpkins, squashes, and watermelons, with some tobacco.” [8] Carver also gives an interesting description of the kind of corn grown by the Indians. ”

“ Thus it is seen that the Indians, on their own account, furnished provisions for their own war parties; for the English forays against Americans and Spanish; for explorers like Marquette, Carver, and Lewis and Clark, and the long list of later adventurers who came to spy out the land and eventually to expel the tribesmen from their fields. The traders who ranged the woods and rivers for a century before civilization ruined their traffic, depended in a large measure on the meagre stores of Indian corn and beans ”

“ It would be hazardous to attempt any estimate of the quantity of corn raised, even by any one tribe. The Sauk and Foxes appear to have depended more on products of the soil than did their neighbors. The four hundred acres raised near where Sauk City now stands, is good evidence of a total product of no slight proportions, for these Indians had many other villages scattered along the line of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers. ”

“ It evidently occurred on the west shore of Lake Champlain, between a band of Iroquois raiders returning over land from Montreal and a band of Algonquins, who, coming up the Richelieu, had “scarcely arrived” at Lake Champlain. These latter proceeded to surround the Iroquois. How much more easily surrounded on a point than on a continuous shore! The leader of the Iroquois “was famous and renowned.” He had “so often made us” i. e. both French and Algonquins, “mingle our tears with our blood!” ”

“ When the cave is full, straw is put in and covered over with dry earth. They cure the corn in the milk, because the blackbirds are numerous enough to devour it all if it were left to ripen in the field. [12] From this it is seen that the agricultural methods of Wisconsin Indians were not different from those farther east and south—the women do the work; the corn is gathered before fully ripe, and put in caches for safe keeping. ”

“ One trait remains to be mentioned—a trait common to the entire South. I allude to the ardent patriotism and intense State-love of the people. This is proved by the records of the Civil War, which show how gladly substance and life were both devoted to the service of their beloved country. Even now, a thrill runs through one, at the recollection of the heroic self-sacrifice and whole-hearted devotion of the united Southern people to their “Lost Cause.”
Charleston, S. C. H. E. Belin ”

“ THE PUBLIC SCHOOL One of the first claims made to the credit of New England was the early attention paid to public education. It is strictly true that, next to building a meeting house in a new settlement, a school was put up. But thorough investigation of this subject furnishes evidence that the chief purpose, at least, of these schools was to fit young men for the ministry and that they were not based, either in scope or object, upon the plan of the public school of the present day. ”

“ The settlement of Black Hawk’s followers on the lower part of the Rock, on the point between that river and the Mississippi is of interest, and these 103were Wisconsin Indians, who had resumed their agricultural labors in a new home.
Something of the skill of these people in choosing land on which to grow corn, also an idea of the quantity grown, are furnished by Black Hawk in his Autobiography: “In the front a prairie extended to the Mississippi, and in our rear a continued bluff gently ascended from the prairie. ”

“ If the quartering of troops in one section of the Colonies, rather than in another, may be accepted as evidence of disaffection among the people and of organized resistance to the acts of the British Government, then again full justice has not been done to New York. According to Bancroft British troops had already been quartered in this city as early as December, 1766, and were not sent to Boston until at least two years later. ”

“ As a class, Southerners undoubtedly held a very good opinion of themselves; and sometimes, where mental ballast was lacking, this comfortable consciousness of being at quits with the world went to the head, and effervesced in silly superciliousness and irritating condescension. ”

“ The earliest settlers seized upon the little cultivated plots as the most desirable ground for their own first plantings, and utilized the native-grown seed, since it was known to be adapted to the soil and climate. It is interesting to note that the two crops which the Indians prized most highly, corn and tobacco, are at present two of the foremost products of Wisconsin. ”

“ Speaking of these tribes as a whole, Worden remarks: “The Sacs and 101Foxes raise corn, beans and melons, and derive a great part of their subsistence from agriculture and gardening.” [13]
Indian improvidence is usually spoken of as though the red man had no regard whatever for the morrow; but Pike credits the Osage with the virtue of rigid economy in saving their corn and beans for seasons when the chase is likely to fail in supplying the larder. [14] The same author mentions the drying of pumpkins, for winter use, by the Indians of the plains. ”

“ A traveller in 1669 makes this record on his visit to Green Bay: “I found here only one village of different nations—Ousaki, Pouteouatami, Outagami, Orenibigoutz (i. e. Ouinipegouk) —about six hundred souls. * * * All these Nations have their fields of Indian corn, squashes, beans, and tobacco.” [18]
In 1793, Robert Dickson wrote of the Indians near Portage: “At the Falls of the Fox River there is a portage of three-quarters of a mile. The Indians here raise Indian corn, squash, potatoes, melons, and cucumbers in great abundance, and good tobacco. ”

“ The Indians were always inordinately fond of the tender, green corn, and this fact, together with the danger of loss by birds or frost from leaving it out until maturity, induced them to gather it early. They were familiar with the fact that corn may be cured while yet in the green state, and still be desirable food ”