Page:History of the Ojibway Nation.djvu/382

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372
MINNESOTA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.

son, and though his people refused to recognize him as a chief, yet he always assumed the dignity and was treated as such by the British. Great Cloud proceeded to Fort William with St. Germain, and he was in nearly all the principal battles which took place between the British and Americans, during the last war, in Canada. He remained in the east some time after the closing of the war, and we find his name attached to most of the treaties which from this time the United States government made with the allied Ottaways, Pottawatumies, and eastern Ojibways, at Detroit, Vincennes, and Sault Ste. Marie.

Of the Ojibway half-breeds, John Baptiste and Michel, sons of Michel Cadotte, Sr., of La Pointe, were captured or enticed by the British of Isle Drummond, and there given the option, either to go into confinement during the war, or act as interpreters, and use their influence to collect the Ojibways. They accepted the latter alternative, and were actors in all the principal Canadian battles, and were present on the occasion of Tecumseh's death. John Baptiste was severely wounded, and is now[1] a pensioner on the British government. Michel is also living,[1] minus one arm, at La Pointe, on Lake Superior.

After the taking of Fort Howard, on the island of Mackinaw, the Ojibways of Lake Superior and the inland country towards the Mississippi, being deprived of their usual resident traders and supplies, congregated in unusual numbers on the island. The British took this occasion again to renew their attempts to induce them to join their arms. They, however, signally failed to make an impression on their minds, as the Ojibways were influenced by one of their principal chiefs, who was noted both for wisdom and great firmness of character. His name was Keesh-ke-mun, already mentioned in a previous chapter. On discovery that the councils of this chief was the cause of the failure

  1. 1.0 1.1 A.D. 1852.