Part I, Chapter IV: The Fox Wars and Early Colonie

The decade of the 1710's saw an interesting change in the demographic in the areas of Minnesota, especially after the results of Queen Anne's War became evident. As new French trading posts like Fort du Lhut and Fort Le Sueur began to expand because of private enterprise from early French explorers, so too did their populations and the growth of their commerce. Unaffected by the shortage of furs due to overhunting because of their only recent establishment (unlike their Wisconsin and upper peninsular Michigan-based cousins who had existed since the 1680's), the new French posts enjoyed a peaceful relation with the surrounding Sioux and Ojibwa Natives, a booming economy and a rapid increase in settlement. This rapid increase is partly credited due to the large influx of French speaking peoples from Acadia and Newfoundland in the late 1710's, who voluntarily (or sometimes forcibly) left their homes and brought their families to these new settlements in search of wealth and freedom from cultural persecution at the hands of the new British government. Although it is often regarded as a nominal amount, these early settlers would become pioneers in terms of shaping the future of the region. By 1720, the Fort Le Sueur and Fort du Lhut settlements had expanded to an astonishing 200 permanent party European settlers and 400 seasonal traders, dwarfing the Green Bay colony in Wisconsin and becoming the largest permanent European settlement in the New World west of Fort Ponchartrain in Michigan (which would later become Detroit,) a marvel considering its remote location.



The region known as Wisconsin, however, did not fair as well as its Minnesota cousin. The Fox natives inhabiting the southeastern portions of the territory and the upper peninsula were becoming increasingly hostile due to European expansion and lack of trade, and their numbers only emphasized how large of a threat they remained to the French populace. Numbering 5,000 strong in highly concentrated areas, they more than doubled the entire French population of Wisconsin and Minnesota combined. In 1713, relations turned sour, as news spread like wildfire to the Wisconsin territory that Fort Ponchatrain in Michigan had been besieged at the hands of the Fox natives residing there. Although the siege was eventually broken and the natives were defeated accordingly, the settlement of Green Bay and its surrounding trading posts were not nearly as prepared nor well equipped as Ponchatrain. In 1715, the already uneasy relations between the French and the Fox finally gave way, and open hostilities were quickly declared. The Fox natives surrounded the Green Bay colony with nearly 700 armed Natives, while the colonists (formerly traders) numbered only 100 Europeans, of which only 50 were Frenchmen and only 40 were fit to fight. The other 50 Europeans, mostly Dutch and English, were granted amnesty by the Fox warchief Pemaussa, and they quickly left the besieged settlement. The majority of those granted amnesty traveled East to Detroit in search of further trading, as this was a shorter distance from the Green Bay colony, but a nominal amount of some 20 British turned north to Minnesota, where they would eventually settle around the du Lhut area.



Pemaussa encamped his warriors and braves outside the Green Bay settlement, and asked the residing settlers to surrender. Knowing their fate, they refused, and instead began to make defensive preparations for the inevitable Fox assault. On June 26th, 1715, the Fox attempted to breach the shallow walls of Green Bay, but were turned back, suffering 20 dead and 35 wounded, while the French only suffered a handful of casualties. Realizing that the siege could not last against French firepower and fortification, Pemaussa never again sent an assault party into range of the French rifles, and instead resorted to harassing tactics in order to draw the French settlers out into the open. His warriors were only armed with bows and horses, and of the 700 Natives he had brought into battle, only 20 were armed with rifles, all of which were outdated and regarded as inefficient. By July 22nd, word had reached the colony by horseback courier that reinforcements from Ponchatrain had been mustered, as the Fort had received word of the siege from the Dutch settlers who were granted amnesty and traveled there. It was confirmed that a significant party was en route to break the siege, but no estimation was given to the time of their arrival. Already running dangerously low on supplies, the colonists could only hope, wait, and pray.



On August 28th, the party arrived, and Pemaussa's 2-month long siege was quickly broken by over 200 armed French and 600 of their Ojibwa allies in little more than half an hour. With the siege lifted, Green Bay slowly began to rebuild, and Pemaussa and his warriors were eventually killed near Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan on September 16th, effectively ending the First Fox War. By the end of hostilities, over 1,000 Fox men, women and children had been killed by the French colonists, while only suffering 9 killed and 17 wounded of their own. Their Native allies also took a handful of casualties, but the total ratio had resounding effects for the future progression of the territory of Wisconsin. Their future resistance during the token Second Fox War that started in the 1730's as a result was only minor, and their warchief Kiala was captured in 1733. The French proceeded to sell him into slavery in the West Indies, while they used the other captured Fox as tribute slaves to their Native allies, the Ojibwa and Sioux. The remnants of the Fox that were free, now numbering only roughly 500 Natives, took refuge with their Sauk counterparts, and never again became a major factor in the expansion of French settlement in the Upper Midwest. During the wars and the years following, the French had pursued destruction of the Fox tribe to such an extent that it began to slightly damage their relations with other tribes, including the Ojibwa and Sioux.



Regardless, with the Fox eliminated, the French now enjoyed total dominance of the combined Wisconsin-Michigan theater and the Upper Louisiana Territory. With some 4,500 Natives perished, the "fur drought" of the 1710's and 1720's in Wisconsin soon began to reverse, and by the 1730's the fur trade had again stabilized. The Green Bay territory saw improvements and expansion as well, bringing in roughly 400 seasonal traders every summer. By 1735, Green Bay and Sault Sainte Marie had each expanded to over 150 permanent party Europeans each. The upper peninsula of Michigan and northern Wisconsin also saw some slight expansion, as agrarian "advisers" to friendly natives began to form in search of yet unexplored ways beyond fur trading to acquire wealth.



Minnesota's expansion along the tip of Superior was also coupled by the establishment of forts and fur trading posts to the south along the Minnesota side of the Mississippi River. The most significant, Fort Beauharnois, was built on the shores of Lake Pepin in 1727, and also held the first established Roman Catholic Church west of Detroit upon the completion of its chapel in 1728. The formal Roman Catholic faith had yet to have an establishment in the Upper Midwest, instead relying on Jesuit missionaries prior to its creation, and immediately began conversion efforts, which unintentionally quelled a small minority of the Sioux and Ojibwa populations.



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