"law of Paris," which was in force under French domination in Canada, and which by the British Parliament in 1774, had been continued in force under English supremacy, was still "the law of the land" west of Lake Michigan, practically at least.

From and after the fourth day of July, 1800, all that part of the territory of the United States northwest of the Ohio river, which lay to the westward of a line beginning upon that stream opposite to the mouth of Kentucky river and running thence to what is now Fort Recovery in Mercer county, Ohio; thence north until it intersected the territorial line between the United States and Canada, was, for the purposes of temporary government, constituted a separate territory called INDIANA. It included not only the whole of the present State of Illinois and nearly all of what is now Indiana, but more than half of the State of Michigan as now defined, also a considerable part of the present Minnesota, and the whole of what is now Wisconsin.

The seat of government was established at "Saint Vincennes on the Wabash," now the city of Vincennes, Indiana. To this extensive area was added "from and after" the admission of Ohio into the Union, all the territory west of that State, and east of the eastern boundary line of the Territory of Indiana as originally established; so that now all "the territory of the United States, northwest of the River Ohio," was, excepting the State of Ohio, included in Indiana Territory. On the thirtieth day of June, 1805, so much of Indiana Territory as lay to the north of a line drawn east from the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan to Lake Erie, and east of a line drawn from the same bend through the middle of the first mentioned lake to its northern extremity, and thence due north to the northern boundary of the United States, was, for the purpose of temporary government, constituted a separate Territory called MICHIGAN. no part of the present State of Wisconsin was included therein; but the whole remained in the Territory of Indiana until the second day of March, 1809, when all that part of the last mentioned Territory which lay west of the Wabash river, and a direct line drawn from that stream and "Post Vincennes," due north to the territorial line between the United States and Canada, was, by an act approved on the third of February previous, constituted a separate Territory, called ILLINOIS. Meanwhile jurisdiction had been extended by the authorities of Indiana Territory over the country lying west of Lake Michigan, to the extent, at least, of appointing a justice of the peace for each of the settlements of Green Bay and Prairie du Chien. All of what is now Wisconsin was transferred to the Territory of Illinois, upon the organization of the latter, except a small portion lying east of the meridian line drawn through Vincennes, which remained a part of Indiana Territory. This fraction included nearly the whole area between Green bay and Lake Michigan.

When, in 1816, Indiana became a State, "the territory of the United States northwest of the River Ohio," contained, besides Ohio and Indiana, the Territories of Illinois and Michigan, only; so the narrow strip, formerly a part of Indiana Territory, lying east of a line drawn due north from Vincennes, and west of the western boundary line of Michigan Territory, belonged to neither, and was left without any organization. However, upon the admission of Illinois into the Union, in 1818, all "the territory of the United States, northwest of the River Ohio," lying west of Michigan Territory and north of the States of Indiana and Illinois, was attached to and made a part of Michigan Territory; by which act the whole of the present State of Wisconsin came under the jurisdiction of the latter. During the existence of the Territory of Illinois, a kind of jurisdiction was had over the two settlements in what is now Wisconsin-rather more ideal than real, however.

In 1834, Congress greatly increased the limits of the Territory of Michigan, by adding to it, for judicial purposes, a large extent of country west of the Mississippi-reaching south as far as

the present boundary line between the present States of Iowa and Missouri; north, to the territorial line between the United States and Canada; and west, to the Missouri and White Earth rivers. It so continued down to the fourth of July, 1836.

A retrospective glance at the history of this region for forty years previous to the last mentioned year, including the time which elapsed after the surrender of the western posts, in 1796, by the British, discloses many facts of interest and importance.

The Anglo-Americans, not long after the region of country west of Lake Michigan became a part of Indiana Territory, began now and then to cast an eye, either through the opening of the Great Lakes or the Mississippi, upon its rolling rivers, its outspread prairies, and its dense forests, and to covet the goodly land; but the settlers at Green Bay and Prairie du Chien were mostly French Canadians at this date, although a few were Americans. The General Government, however, began to take measures preparatory to its occupation, by purchasing, in 1804, a tract in what is now the southwest portion of the State, of the Indians, and by holding the various tribes to a strict account for any murders committed by them on American citizens passing through their territories or trading with them. Comparative peace reigned in the incipient settlements at the head of Green bay and at the mouth of the Wisconsin, which was changed by the breaking out of the war of 1812, with Great Britain.

The English early succeeded in securing the Wisconsin Indian tribes as their allies in this war; and the taking of Mackinaw by the British in July, 1812, virtually put the latter in possession of what is now the eastern portion of the State. Early in 1814, the government authorities of the United States caused to be fitted out at St. Louis a large boat, having on board all the men that could be mustered and spared from the lower country, and sent up the Mississippi to protect the upper region and the few settlers therein. The troops landed at Prairie du Chien, and immediately proceeded to fortify. Not long after, Colonel McKay, of the British army, crossing the country by course of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers, with over five hundred British and Indians, received the surrender of the whole force. The officers and men were paroled and sent down the river. This was the only battle fought upon Wisconsin soil during the last war with England. The post at Prairie du Chien was left in command of a captain with two companies from Mackinaw. He remained there until after the peace of 1815, when the place was evacuated by the British.

When it became generally known to the Indian tribes in what is now Wisconsin, that the contest between the United States and Great Britain was at an end, they generally expressed themselves as ready and willing to make treaties with the General Government-eager, in fact, to establish friendly relations with the power they had so recently been hostile to. This was, therefore, a favorable moment for taking actual possession of the country between the Mississippi and Lake Michigan; and United States troops were soon ordered to occupy the two prominent points between Green Bay and Prairie du Chien. At the former place was erected Fort Howard; at the latter Fort Crawford. At Green Bay, half a hundred (or less) French Canadians cultivated the soil; at Prairie du Chien, there were not more than thirty houses, mostly occupied by traders, while on the prairie outside the village, a number of farms were cultivated. Such was Wisconsin when, at the close of the last war with Great Britain, it began in earnest to be occupied by Americans. The latter were few in number, but in 1818, they began to feel, now that the country was attached to Michigan Territory and the laws of the United States were extended over them, that they were not altogether beyond the protection of a government of their own, notwithstanding they were surrounded by savage tribes. Their happiness was increased upon the erection, by proclamation of Lewis Cass, governor of the Territory of Michigan, of three Territorial counties: Michilimackinac, Brown and Crawford. Their establishment dates

the twenty-sixth of October, 1818. The county of Michilimackinac not only included all of the present State of Wisconsin lying north of a line drawn due west from near the head of the Little Noquet bay, but territory east and west of it, so as to reach from Lake Huron to the Mississippi river. Its county seat was established "at the Borough of Michilimackinac." The whole area in Michigan Territory south of the county of Michilimackinac and west of Lake Michigan formed the two counties of Brown and Crawford: the former to include the area east of a line drawn due north and south through the middle of the portage between the Fox river of Green bay and the Wisconsin; the latter to include the whole region west of that line. Prairie du Chien was designated as the county seat of Crawford; Green Bay, of Brown county. On the 22d of December, 1826, a county named Chippewa was formed from the northern portions of Michilimackinac, including the southern shores of Lake Superior throughout its entire length, and extending from the straits leading from that lake into Lake Huron, west to the western boundary line of Michigan Territory, with the county seat "at such point in the vicinity of the Sault de Ste. Marie, as a majority of the county commissioners to be appointed shall designate." Embraced within this county,—its southern boundary being the parallel 46° 31′ north latitude,— was all the territory of the present State of Wisconsin now bordering on Lake Superior.

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Immediately upon the erection of Brown and Crawford counties, they were organized, and their offices filled by appointment of the governor. County courts were established, consisting one chief and two associate justices, either of whom formed a quorum. They were required to hold one term of court annually in their respective counties. These county courts had original and exclusive jurisdiction in all civil cases, both in law and equity, where the matter in dispute exceeded the jurisdiction of a justice of the peace, and did not exceed the value of one thousand dollars. They had, however, no jurisdiction in ejectment, They had exclusive cognizance of all offenses the punishment whereof was not capital, and the same power to issue remedial and other process, writs of error and mandamus excepted, that the supreme court had at Detroit. Appeals from justices of the peace were made to the county courts.

The establishing of Indian agencies by the General Government; the holding of treaties. with some of the Indian tribes; the adjustment of land claims at Green Bay and Prairie du Chien; the appointment of postmasters at these two points, were all indications of a proper interest being taken by the United States in the affairs of the country. But a drawback to this region, was the fact that, in all civil cases of over a thousand dollars, and in criminal cases that were capital, as well as in actions of ejectment, and in the allowance of writs of error, and mandamus, recourse must be had to the supreme court at Detroit; the latter place being the seat of government of Michigan Territory. However, in January, 1823, an act of congress provided for a district court, and for the appointment of a judge, for the counties of Brown, Crawford, and Michilimackinac. This court had concurrent jurisdiction, civil and criminal, with the supreme court of the Territory, in most cases, subject, however, to have its decisions taken to the latter tribunal by a writ of error. The law provided for holding one term of court in each year, in each of the counties named in the act; so, at last, there was to be an administration of justice at home, and the people were to be relieved from all military arbitrations, which frequently had been imposed upon them. James Duane Doty was appointed judge of this court at its organization. A May term of the court was held in Prairie du Chien; a June term in Green Bay; a July term in "the Borough of Michilimackinac," in each year. In 1824, Henry S. Baird, of Brown county, was appointed district attorney. Doty held the office of judge until May, 1832, when he was succeeded by David Irvin. This court continued until 1836, when it was abrogated by the organization of the Territory of Wisconsin.

For a long time it had been known that there were lead mines in what is now the south

western portion of the State; but it was not until the year 1825, and the two following years, that very general attention was attracted to them, which eventuated in the settlement of different places in that region, by Americans, who came to dig for lead ore. This rapid increase of settlers awakened the jealousy of the Winnebago Indians, at what they deemed an unauthorized intrusion upon their lands, which, with other causes operating unfavorably upon their minds, aroused them in June, 1827, to open acts of hostility. Murders became frequent. Finally, the militia of Prairie du Chien were called out. On the twenty-ninth of August, Brigadier-General Henry Atkinson, of the United States army, with a strong force of regulars, ascended the Wisconsin river to put an end to any further spread of Winnebago disturbances. He was joined on the first of September, by one hundred and thirty Galena volunteers, mounted, and under command of General Henry Dodge. The Winnebagoes were awed into submission. Thus ended the "Winnebago War." It was followed by the erection at the portage of Fort Winnebago, by the United States.

After the restoration of tranquillity, the United States proceeded by treaty with the Indians, to secure the right to occupy the lead regions. This was in 1828. The next year, the General Government purchased of the Winnebagoes, Southwestern Wisconsin, which put an end to all trouble on account of mining operations. On the ninth of October, 1829, a county was formed, by the legislative council of the Territory of Michigan, comprising all that part of Crawford county lying south of the Wisconsin river. This new county was called Iowa. The county seat was temporarily established at Mineral Point. Following this was a treaty in 1831, with the Menomonees, for all their lands east of Green bay, Winnebago lake, and the Fox and Milwaukee rivers.

There was now a crisis at hand. The most prominent event to be recorded in the pre-Territorial annals of Wisconsin is known as the Black Hawk War. This conflict of arms between the Sacs and Foxes and the United States arose from a controversy in regard to lands. By a treaty made at Fort Harmar, just across the River Muskingum from Marietta, Ohio, in January, 1789, the Pottawattamie and Sac tribes of Indians, among others, were received into the friendship of the General Government, and a league of peace and unity established between the contracting parties On the third of November, 1804, a treaty at St. Louis stipulated that the united Sac and Fox tribes should be received into the friendship of the United States, and also be placed under their protection. These tribes also agreed to consider themselves under the protection of the General Government and of no other power whatsoever. At this treaty lands were ceded which were circumscribed by a boundary beginning at a point on the Missouri river opposite the mouth of the Gasconade, and running thence in a direct course so as to strike the River Jefferson at the distance of thirty miles from its mouth, and down that stream to the Mississippi. It then ran up the latter river to the mouth of the Wisconsin, and up that stream to a point thirty-six miles in a direct line from its mouth; thence by a straight course to a point where the Fox river of the Illinois leaves the small lake then called Sakaegan, and from that point down the Fox to the Illinois, and down the latter to the Mississippi. The consideration for this cession was the payment of goods to the value of two thousand two hundred and thirty-four dollars and fifty cents, and a yearly annuity of one thousand dollars-six hundred to be paid to the Sacs and four hundred to the Foxes-to be liquidated in goods valued at first cost. Afterward, Fort Madison was erected just above the Des Moines rapids in the Mississippi, on the territory ceded at the last mentioned treaty. Then followed the war with Great Britain, and the Sacs and Foxes agreed to take no part therein. However, a portion afterward joined the English against the Americans along with other Western tribes. At the restoration of peace the Sacs and Foxes held treaties with the United States. There was a renewal of the treaty of 1804.

Such in brief is a general outline of affairs, so far as those two tribes were concerned, down to the close of the last war with England. From this time, to the year 1830, several additional treaties were made with the Sacs and Foxes by the General Government: one in 1822, by which they relinquished their right to have the United States establish a trading house or factory at a convenient point at which the Indians could trade and save themselves from the imposition of traders, for which they were paid the sum of one thousand dollars in merchandise. Again, in 1824, they sold to the General Government all their lands in Missouri, north of Missouri river, for which they received one thousand dollars the same year, and an annuity of one thousand dollars for ten years. In 1830, they ceded to the United States a strip of land twenty miles wide from the Mississippi to the Des Moines, on the north side of their territory. The time had now come for the two tribes to leave the eastern shore of the Mississippi and retire across the "great water." Keokuk, the Watchful Fox, erected his wigwam on the west side of the river, and was followed by a large part of the two tribes. But a band headed by Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiah, or the Black Sparrow Hawk, commonly called Black Hawk, refused to leave their village near Rock Island. They contended that they had not sold their town to the United States; and, upon their return early in 1831, from a hunt across the Mississippi, finding their village and fields in possession of the whites, they determined to repossess their homes at all hazards. This was looked upon, or called, an encroachment by the settlers; so the governor of Illinois took the responsibility of declaring the State invaded, and asked the United States to drive the refractory Indians beyond the Mississippi. The result was, the Indian village was destroyed by Illinois volunteers. This and the threatened advance across the river by the United States commander, brought Black Hawk and his followers to terms. They sued for peace-agreeing to remain forever on the west side of the Mississippi. But this truce was of short duration.

Early in the Spring of 1832, Black Hawk having assembled his forces on the Mississippi, in the vicinity of the locality where Fort Madison had stood, crossed that stream and ascended Rock river. This was the signal for war. The governor of Illinois made a call for volunteers; and, in a brief space of time, eighteen hundred had assembled at Beardstown, Cass county. They marched for the mouth of Rock river, where a council of war was held by their officers and Brigadier-General Henry Atkinson, of the regular forces. The Indians were sent word by General Atkinson that they must return and recross the Mississippi, or they would be driven back by force. "If you wish to fight us, come on," was the laconic but defiant reply of the Sac chief. When the attempt was made to compel these Indians to go back across the "great river," a collision occurred between the Illinois militia and Black Hawk's braves, resulting in the discomfiture of the former with the loss of eleven men. Soon afterward the volunteers were discharged, and the first campaign of Black Hawk's War was at an end. This was in May, 1832. In June following, a new force had been raised and put under the command of General Atkinson, who commenced his march up Rock river. Before this, there had been a general "forting" in the lead region, including the whole country in Southwest Wisconsin, notwithstanding which, a number of settlers had been killed by the savages, mostly in Illinois. Squads of volunteers, in two or three instances, had encountered the Indians; and in one with entire success-upon the Pecatonica, in what is now Lafayette county, Wisconsin-every savage (and there were seventeen of them) being killed. The loss of the volunteers was three killed and wounded. Atkinson's march up Rock river was attended with some skirmishing; when, being informed that Black Hawk and his force were at Lake Koshkonong, ir. the southwest corner of what is now Jefferson county, Wisconsin, he immediately moved thither with a portion of his army, where the whole force was ordered to concentrate. But the Sac chief with his people had flown. Colonels Henry Dodge and James D. Henry, with the forces under them, discovered the