Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Volume 11

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PRAIRIE DU CHIEN IN 1827.

LETTERS OF JOSEPH M. STREET TO GOV. NINIAN EDWARDS, OF
ILLINOIS.1

Prairie Du Chien , Nov., 1827.

My Dear Sir :--I have been here two or 3 weeks and I can assure you I have not been idle, as my official communications would shew. By the same conveyance that takes this letter, a communication directed to the Secretary of War , as close written as this, on 3 whole sheets of paper, is sent off. And altho' so newly introduced into the Indian relations, I think you, who are by your knowledge of them and their affairs and countries, so able to judge, would give me some credit for my tact , and the easy manner in which

¹ 1 Joseph M. Street was born in Virginia, about 1780, and in the winter of 1805-6 emigrated from Richmond, in that state, to Frankfort, Ky., where he published The Western World newspaper, “and for several years took a conspicuous part in the gladiatorial field of Kentucky politics.” In the summer of 1812, he became one of the first settlers in Shawneetown. Ill., and formed a wide circle of political and personal friends among the leading pioneers of southern Illinois. He appears to have always been an uncompromising Whig, in office or out, and conducted an active political correspondence for many years with Gov. Ninian Edwards and others; many of his letters may be found in Washburne's Edwards Papers, from which volume the two here given are extracted, as casting interesting sidelights on the condition of affairs in Prairie du Chien and the lead region, in 1827. March 30, 1827, we find him writing from Shawneetown to Governor Edwards, complaining that he has a family of “12 white persons besides myself,” dependent on him for a support which he is “at an entire loss” to know how to provide. It appears that he had been conducting a vigorous correspondence with influential men of his party in Washington, begging for office, but he says that those having influence are “sweet in compliments and but give us hopes,” while those who do exhibit “warmth and feeling” are without influence. His correspondence with Edwards throughout the summer is in the same melancholy strain. He had, after persistent labors, obtained the county clerkship at Peoria, in March, 1827, but the appointment cost him $40 in traveling expenses from Shawneetown to Peoria and return, while the Office proved to be not worth $30 a year. During the summer he was appointed by Governor Edwards as brigadier general of the state militia, then being organized; but not being called into active service he received no pay. In August, 1827, his efforts were rewarded by a “letter of appointment” to the vacant Winnebago Indian agency at Prairie du Chien -- Agent Nicholas Boilvin having been drowned in the Mississippi ( ante, p. 248), during the early summer. Street resigned his militia office, September 16. He moved to Prairie du Chien on the first of November, and from the letter here given it will be seen that he was at first fearful the senate would not confirm his appointment. The senate did confirm it, however, and he was allowed to retain the post at a salary of $1,200 per year, with John Marsh of Massachusetts as sub-agent ($500 per annum), and John P. Gates of Canada as interpreter ($400 per annum); Thomas P. Burnett became sub-agent in 1830, succeeding Marsh. When the county of Iowa was organized by proclamation of Governor Lewis Cass, of Michigan Territory, October 9, 1829, Samuel W. Beall, Louis Grignon and Street were appointed commissioners to locate the seat of justice. Street did good service during the Black Hawk war, and it was to him that the Sac leader was delivered up, by One-eyed Decorah and Chætar. Street appears to have been fairly successful in keeping the Winnebagoes quiet, during the term of his agency. While not particularly popular with either whites or Indians, he was deemed a satisfactory agent. His letters show him to have been a pompous, garrulous man, and given somewhat to flattery of those from whom he expected favors. Upon the final removal of government troops from Rock Island, in November, 1836, he was ordered to establish a Sac and Fox agency there. In the fall of 1837, he accompanied Keokuk, Wapello and about thirty other Sac and Fox chiefs and head-men to Washington; in the party was Black Hawk, who had, in 1833, been placed under Keokuk for safe keeping. The party was received in the leading eastern cities with much ceremony, Indian deputations to the seat of government being then rare. In April, 1839, Street, pursuant to orders, removed his family from Prairie du Chien, which had till then remained as his home, to Agency City, on the Des Moines river, Wapello county, Iowa. During the following winter his health broke down, and he died at the agency house there, May 5, 1840, aged about sixty years.-- Ed.

This text is based on the following book(s):
06-27689 r892. General Collections, Library of Congress. Copyright status not determined; refer to accompanying matter.

This volume is a collection of several different kinds of important historical documents published by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. It opens with a biographical article and bibliography of Jean Nicolet, the first European to reach the Wisconsin region (1634), and continues with a compilation of "Western State Papers" from periods of French, English, and American domination of the Upper Midwest during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Selections from the third and fourth voyages (1658-1659) of Radisson and Groseilliers follow and chronicle their adventures along the Fox-Wisconsin watercourse, in the Chequamegon Bay vicinity, and in the Chippewa River's headwaters. A group of papers from the Canadian Archives (1778-1783) illuminates the Wisconsin region's history during the Revolutionary War and encompasses copies of all the Haldimand Papers which mention operations in that area. The Haldimand Papers contain the correspondence of British officers with each other and with their commanding officer, General Frederick Haldimand, at Quebec. Thompson Maxwell's narrative describes what may have been the first voyage across Lake Superior under British command, and there are additional documents detailing life at the fur-trading post of Milwaukee. There are also descriptions of Prairie du Chien and Green Bay in the early nineteenth century. This volume provides much information on the fur trade and the Native Americans who participated in it. The material included also discusses European, Native American, and American relations as well as boundary issues, local government structures, Jefferson County's early days, and the financial career of Andrew Mitchell. An index appears at the end of the volume.