The following essay is part 2 in a series written by Lake Superior State University student Matt Collins, with the help of Bay Mills Historians Wanda Perron and Paula Carrick.
The Iroquois and Huron, neighboring tribes, had developed a rivalry amongst each other. In this winter of 1649, the wars would explode towards Bahweting. The Iroquois invaded the Huron nation and the fight put up by the Huron would not match the Five Nations war party. In three battles the Iroquois slaughtered and dispersed the Huron people from their homes and forced the survivors who escaped adoption to leave their country and begin the westward migration of the Great Lakes Indians. In 1650, the Five Nations Confederacy headed north and massacred the Nippising Indians at Lake Nippising, once again forcing the survivors to join the migration.
In 1650, before our homes were attacked, we, the "crane people" or Saulteurs, packed up our lives, traditions and customs and left Bahweting. Our people decided to join the refugee movement and abandon our homes before we suffered the same fate as our brothers and sisters.
We set out on the journey to Mitchigami, on the other side of Lake Michigan, near present day Green Bay, Wisc. There, we joined the Huron, Ottawa, Tionontati, and other Great Lakes Indian tribes to form an intertribal community that exceeded 10,000 people (Tanner, 1987). Mitchigami quickly became the center of French trade.
In 1655, with the area around Lakes Erie, Ontario, and Superior now depopulated, the Iroquois sent war parties more than 600 miles to attack us at our refuge. United in the largest war group they had ever sent out, the Iroquois headed for Mitchigami. By the time the large war party reached us, they were exhausted and weakened from hunger. In true Native fashion, the Iroquois asked for food from the people they were about to attack. We offered them corn, which we took the effort to first lace with poisons. The Iroquois were too wise for our plan, and they turned around and headed back home (Cleland, 1992)
Upon retreating, the Iroquois split into two groups, one headed south around Lake Michigan, and one headed northeast, towards Bahweting. It was time for us to attack.
A group of Illinois met the Iroquois group that headed south, and ultimately destroyed them. The Ojibwe quickly gathered warriors at Bahweting. The heavily armed Iroquois approached, exhausted from weeks of travel. Armed with bows and stone tipped arrows, we ambushed the mighty Iroquois in a surprise attack at our abandoned home.
Like their partners in Illinois Country, these Iroquois warriors would never again see their homeland. The tide of the war was changing. After a solid victory over our superior armed enemies we now were given something the French could not sell us. Confidence.
In 1657, with scouting parties, we prevented another Iroquois attack of 1,200 warriors at Rock Island, the entrance to Mitchigami. Although the fur trade had basically ceased during these last few years, we still took chances and even completed successful fur exchanges with our French allies. To counter this, the Iroquois blockaded the Ottawa River and prevented any further excursions.
In 1662, with confidence and pride in our hearts, we returned home to Bahweting. It did not take long for the Iroquois to send a large war party of more than 1,000 to greet us. Only two Iroquois were spared.
The Iroquois were devastated by this defeat and the same fear that imprisoned us for years had now captured their spirits. They would never again venture into Ojibwe Nation.
The Iroquois would wait 18 years before they sent attacks on other tribes. This time, they targeted the Illinois and Ohio Valley Indians. They were successful up to 1687 when they massacred the Miami Indians near Chicago, but once again, with the help of the Ojibwe, the Iroquois attacks would come to an end.
In 1687, with help from our allies, we destroyed four Iroquois villages and pushed them back to their own land. The last major battle came in 1696 when the Ojibwe, Odawa and Missisauga defeated the Iroquois at the mouth of the Saugeen River in present day Ontario.
A final council took place in August of 1701 in Montreal to establish general peace and return captured prisoners, ending the Iroquois Wars that lasted 60 years. As a result, the Iroquois could hunt in Canada, the Ottawa could travel through Iroquois Country to trade at Albany, and the Five Nations adopted a policy of neutrality between the French and British (Tanner, 1987).
The Saulteurs or "crane people", were Algonquin speaking Ojibwe who inhabited Bahweting. They were confronted with violent war on their homeland. They handled the adversity in an amazingly strong and humble way. They persevered through the worst years, and triumphed through the greatest. They were one of the strongest and most feared Ojibwe tribes. They stood up to the Iroquois Five Nations Confederacy, the strongest Indian military unit in the world, and ultimately defeated them. They survived migration and immigration, racism, persecution, social denial and a corrupt government takeover. Still, more than 300 years later, here we are today in Bahweting.
