The Coolidge examiner., 1933-08-11

ing and spectacular events in American history
This was the re-enactment of the Indian ball
game played outside the walls of Fort Michli-
macknac on June 4, 1763 a ball game which
ended in a swift tragedy that cost the lives OF
more than a score of white men. The occasion
for the re-enactment OF this game the dedi
cation by Governor Comstock of Michigan of a
replica OF the little palisaded fort that once
stood on the present site of Mackinaw City, the
forerunner of later forts In the Mackinac region
over which. during the three centuries Of its his
tory. have flown the flags of three nations.
The tragedy which took place at Fort Michili-
mackinac 10 years ago was one OF the events
in the larger drama OF the conspiracy of Pom
tae, the famous chief of the ottawa Indians
to "drive the hated English into the sea-" Pom
tae's plan was a simultaneous uprising of the
confederated tribes the swift capture Of all the
forts In the West, the massacre OF their gar
risons and a general attack on the frontier
settlements, and he all but succeeded in his am
bilious plan.
Because of its location on the south side of
the Straits of Mackinac between Lake Huron
and Lake Michigan Mchilimackinac for more
than a century had been one of the most i'm
portant outposts of the frontier. Connected with
its early history are the names of Jean Nicolet
Radisson Groselliers, Joliet. Perot, La Sale.
Father AllOuez and Father Marquette, who
founded the Mission of St lgnace nearby in
1G71. Two years later ii was selected by the
French as the site for a fort and from that
time until 1859, when France lost her empire
in America to England, the flag of France ioated
over a fortress of one kind or another at Mich
ilimackinac In 1863 it was garrisoned by some
81 British officers and soldiers under the COM
mand of Capt. George Ethrington. Grouped
around the little fort were the homes of a num-
Der of French and English traders and it was
some of the former who first gave the com
mander hint of the tempest that was brewing
among the Indians.
But Ethrington disregarded their warnings,
even going so far as to threaten to send as
prisoner to Detroit the next person who should
disturb the inhabitants of the place with such
evil tdngs. The final warning. and one which
he should have needed even if he had dsre-
garded the others, came from Alexander Henry,
an English trader. who had been adopted a
"son brother and friend" by Wawatam, a Chip
pewa chief
Henry, one of the survivors of the massacre,
has left us an interesting account of the events
leading up to the tragedy and of the massacre
itself, of which he was an eyewitness. 1t fol
lows, in part:
"On the second of June Wawatam came to my
house in a temper of mind vsibly melancholy
and thoughtful He told me that he had just re-
turned from his winterng ground and asked
after his health; but without answering my
question he went on To say that he was very
sorry to find me returned froih the Sault; that
he had intended to go to that place himself, i'm
mediately after his arrival at Mchilimackinac
and that he wished me to go there along with
him and his family the next morning
ITO all this he joined inquiry whether or
not the commandant ha 4 heard bad news, adding
that during the winter he had himself been dis
turbed with the noise of evil BIRDS and further
suggesting that there were numerous Indians
near the fort many of whom had never shown
themselves within it. Wawatam about forty
five wears of age, of an excellent character among
his nation, and chief.
referring much of what l heard to the pc
culiarites of the Indian character, did not pay
all the attention which they will be found ia
have deserved to the entreaties and remarks OF