In 1923, Stanley Newton published, “The Story of Sault Ste. Marie and Chippewa County.” This is part three of a continuing series, that tells the history of Sault Ste. Marie and area in its early years. Enjoy! – Laurie Davis
Americans Surrender
Captain Roberts was in charge at St. Joseph when he received orders from General Brock to attack the American position on Mackinac Island without delay. About one thousand whites and Indians, John Johnston among them, proceeded down the river in July 1812, debarked at British Landing in the rear of the fort, and planted their cannon on the heights, in a position to rake the blockhouses and the town. The little garrison commanded by Lieutenant Hanks surrendered.
Two years later, a fleet of seven American vessels with seven hundred soldiers came up Lake Huron to attack the British at Mackinac. The British commandant sent to Sault Ste. Marie for help, and Johnston and his Saulteurs again responded via the river route, taking the shortcut through West Neebish.
Fort St. Joseph Destroyed
Meanwhile, a detachment of American troops ascended the old channel east of Sugar Island, burned the North West Company’s storehouses on the north side of the river, and in all probability destroyed the Company’s canal and lock. When these were unearthed many years later, the remains were in a badly wrecked condition. The troops also grounded the schooner Perseverance in the rapids and confiscated a large quantity of John Johnston’s merchandise on the river’s south side. Fort St. Joseph was destroyed at about the same time.
Johnston afterward petitioned the British Government to reimburse him for his losses. He stated in this petition that he had been present at and had assisted in the capture of Michilimackinac, commanded the fort there in the absence of its Lieutenant, and sustained heavy damages at the Sault by the act of United States troops. His petition was denied, and a later memorial to the United States Government asking for restitution met with no better success.
The North West Company also made claim on the British treasury for its losses inflicted by Major Holmes’ troops. Its petition does not specifically mention the destroyed canal and lock, but there is little doubt they were demolished in Holmes’ raid. All trace of them was lost and later generations had forgotten their existence until an old record of them came to the notice of Judge Joseph Steere of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.
Together, with Mr. E. S. Wheeler and Mr. Joseph Cozzens, he searched out the location and discovered unmistakably the tiny lock, but a short distance from the great ship lock built by the Canadian Government at Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. The rubbish was removed from it and the lock form was reconstructed in stone, and many visitors now view it yearly.
Great Flotilla Bearing Furs
Had Holmes raided both Saults a few days later, it is likely, he would have taken one of the richest prizes of the war. Shortly after he left the rapids to rejoin his command, a flotilla of canoes carrying a million dollars worth of furs came down from Superior and passed safely to Montreal.
John Jacob Astor, who came to this country from Germany via England in 1783, was a leader in the northern fur trade. It is said that his first experience in the business was with Alexander Henry as a clerk, and he soon was out buying furs on his own account. The old stories tell us that it was his custom to entertain the Indians with his flute before talking business with them and that the flute made many friends for him in his quest for merchandise. There has circulated recently in the country’s periodicals, a curious and circumstantial story that John Jacob Astor was the discoverer of a pirate hoard secreted by Captain Kidd on the coast of Maine and that this find was the foundation of his fortune. At the beginning of the century, he was worth several hundred thousand dollars and was the richest merchant in New York City.
Organized American Fur Company
Astor organized the American Fur Company in New York in 1808. Its central assembling point for peltries and supplies was at Mackinac Island, and finding the Mackinaw Fur Company, he purchased it from its English owners in 1811. The war of 1812 seriously hampered his operations, but after the Treaty of Ghent the Company prospered wonderfully, and many millions of dollars worth of furs from the Upper Peninsula, Wisconsin, and Minnesota territory were assembled, sorted, and shipped at Mackinac. About 1815 the American Fur Company and its subsidiaries employed four hundred clerks at Mackinac Island alone, besides two thousand trappers, and voyageurs.
The wise and patriotic efforts of John Jacob Astor in bringing about a better understanding between the American Government and the Indian tribes of the Northwest have never been fully appreciated. His trading post for the Lake Superior country was here at Sault Ste. Marie, and here, as well as elsewhere his officials and employees endeavored to treat the red men with fairness and justice. Due largely to the friendly feelings engendered by the Company, it was not very long before whatever sympathy the Saulteur Indians retained for the British cause had disappeared. The potent influence of Astor at all times worked for the progress of desirable emigration into the Northwest, and the upholding of the flag and the government.
Astor’s expedition to the mouth of the Columbia River in 1811 resulted in a loss to him, but it was of advantage to the United States in establishing later the Union’s claim to Oregon and our present northern boundary.
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