Fox Wars
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The Fox Wars were two wars between the Fox Indians and the French (mainly through their Indian allies) which occurred in modern Michigan and Wisconsin, U.S.A.. The First Fox War broke out with the French (1712-1716) when the Fox numbered some 3,500. The Second Fox War of 1728-1733 found the remaining 1500 Fox reduced to 500 who found shelter with the Sac and brought French animosity to that tribe. The Fox controlled the Fox River system. This river was vital for the fur trade between French Canada and the interior of North America, because one could navigate from the Bay of Green Bay in Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River. The French wanted rights to use the river system to gain access to the Mississippi and trade contacts with the tribes farther west.
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[edit] First Fox War
After the 1701 founding of Detroit as a trading post at its strategic location between the Upper and Lower Great Lakes, Governor Cadillac invited numerous tribes to settle in the area. Ottawas and Hurons established villages in the area, soon joined by Potawatomies, Miamis, and Ojibwa. The population may have reached 6,000 at times.[1] Conflicts between the Ottawas and the Miamis led to the Miamis removing to the Ohio area after 1708.
The Wisconsin tribes (Fox, Sauk, Mascouten, Kickapoo and Winnebago) actively prevented French trade access to the Sioux. The French invited these tribes to also start settlements at Detroit. In the spring of 1712, a large group of Fox under Lamyma, a peace chief, and Pemaussa, a war chief, established villages in the area, including one only 50 feet from the walls of Fort Pontchartrain. The Mascouten, under Kisis and Ouabimanitou, also established a village nearby. Most of the Huron and Ottawa were still out in winter hunting camps and the new French commander, Charles Regnault, Sieur Dubuisson, had perhaps as few as 30 fighting men in his garrison at the fort.[2]
Dubuisson may have requested that the Fox remove their village[2] and also sent messages to hurry the return of the more friendly Huron and Ottawa. At some point, the Fox and Mascouten learned of the winter raid by Saguina and his Ottawas upon a village on the St. Joseph River that had killed over 150 Mascouten. The Fox and Mascouten began threatening the Ottawas and French and took some Ottawas hostage. However the hunters soon returned when Makisabe and Saguina arrived with hundreds of Hurons and Ottawa. The Illiniwek chief Makovaandely along with Illiniwek, Missouri and Osage warriors also came..[1]
The Fox and Mascouten used fire arrows to damage the buildings of Fort Ponchartrain but were driven inside their palisaded village north of the fort, fighting from trenches to avoid the musket and mortar fire from their French-supplied and supported opponents. After several days, the Fox asked for a ceasefire and returned some hostages; however, none was granted. Several days later, another parley occurred, to seek protection of the women and children. Dubuisson chose to let his allies choose their course; they chose to grant no mercy. After nineteen days, during a nighttime thunderstorm, the Fox escaped their village and fled north. The French-allied Indians caught them near the head of the Detroit River and four more days of fighting occurred. The Fox and Mascouten were almost completed overwhelmed with 150 being taken captive. At the end of the siege and pursuit, around 1,000 Fox and Mascouten men, women and children were killed (including many of the captives). French losses were 30 men while their allies lost 60.[1]
The French sent joint expeditions out against the Fox. In 1716, an expedition of 200 French with 600 Indian allies captured Fox warchief Pemaussa ending this phase of the wars.
[edit] Second Fox War
The Fox continued to harass French settlements along the Mississippi River along with raiding the Illiniwek and attacking the French trade on Lake Michigan. By 1720, Kiala led the anti-French faction of the Fox but faced raids by the French-supported tribes (Potawatomi, Ojibwa, Huron and Ottawa). In 1733, Kiala surrendered and was sent as a prisoner to the West Indies. Other captured Fox were given out as slaves to other tribes while the small remnant of the tribe, numbering around 500 took refuge among the Sauk. French pursuit of the destruction of the Fox tribe was so severe as to damage French relations with other tribes.[1]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d Rites of Conquest: The History and Culture of Michigan's Native Americans, Charles E. Cleland, University of Michigan Press, 1992.
- ^ a b All Our Yesterdays: A Brief History of Detroit, Frank B. Woodford and Arthur M. Woodford, Wayne State University Press, 1969.
