and complying with everything proposed by me, and agreed to, by the rest. Gave them pipes, tobacco, and rum; then they departed."
SILVER CROSSES DISTRIBUTED.
On the 17th of the same month he made the following entry in his Journal: "I counted out, and delivered to Mr. Croghan some silver works, viz., one hundred and fifty ear-bobs, two hundred brooches or breast-buckles, and ninety large crosses, all of silver, to send to Ensign Gorrel of the Royal Americans, posted at La Bay [Green Bay] on Lake Michigan, in order to purchase therewith some curious skins and furs for General Amherst and myself."[1]
MACKINAW CAPTURED BY OJIBWAYS.
The occupation of Mackinaw in 1761, by English soldiers, was neither agreeable to the French Canadian traders, nor to the Indians. The conspiracy of Pontiac extended from Lake Erie to Lake Superior, and on the 4th of June, the Ojibways under the leadership of Match-e-ke-wis, a bold young warrior, surprised the fort.[2] Etherington, the officer in command, on the 11th of June wrote to Lt. Gorrel of Royal Americans at Green Bay: "This place was taken by
- ↑ Silver ear-bobs and silver crosses were articles of trade, and as common at a frontier post as similar articles in gold, in the modern jewelry store. The wearing of the cross by a savage had as much significance, as when worn by a child of fashion. In the museum of the Minnesota Historical Society is a silver cross presented by W.J. Abernethy of Minneapolis, taken from a mound in Wisconsin.
In the diary of Matthew Clarkson, published in 4th vol. of Schoolcraft's Hist. and Stat. Condition of Indian Tribes, p. 297, is the following entry: "Account of silver truck Capt. Long left with me on the 28th of February, 1767, the day when he went from the Kaskaskias: 174 small crosses, 84 nose crosses, 33 long drop-nose and ear-bobs, 126 small brooches, 38 large brooches, 40 rings, 2 wide wrist-bands, 6 narrow, scalloped wrist-bands, 3 narrow plain, 4 half-moon gorgets, 3 large, 6 full moon, 9 hair-plates, 17 hair-bobs." - ↑ For a notice of Match-e-ke-wis by Dr. L.C. Draper, see Wis. His. Soc. Col., vol. vii. p. 188.
