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BY JAY JOSLYNPostCrfscfnl Sunday EditorWisconsin, especially the Fox Valley, 150 years ago was the happy hunting grounds for the British military*recruiter Hebert Dickson. The fruits of his efforts in the number of Menominee, Winnebago. Pot-awatomi. Kn.-kapoo and Ottawa braves he rallied to the Union Jack, played a major part in the success the British had in keeping the Northwest Territory loyal to the crown in the War of 1812.In fact, if the Treaty of Ghent that ended the war had been decided in the field rather than at the conference table with European considerations outweighing American realities, Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota would have been a part of Canada. Thanks to Dickson and the Wisconsin Indians, American arms nail very poor luck on this front.Fur CompetitionThe story of the Wisconsin “campaign” in theWar of 1812 is told by Reginald Horsman in theautumn issue of the “Wisconsin Magazine of History.’1Horsman places the reason for the British successat the door of the fur trading competition in the areabetween the English combine of British and Freneb-Indian trappers and the American employees of John Jacob Astor.The Revolutionary War made hardly a ripple on the surface of events in Ibis area, but as the newlv-Hawks during his administration despite the indignities suffered by the nation at the hands of England on the high seas; but when Congress convened in November of 1811, the War Hawks would not be turned back. However, the nation’s unpreparedness caused debate in Congress to be prolonged until June - 18, when war was declared.England was busy strengthening her hold on the Northwest Territory. The field, was open to them. The U.S. had no forts in the confines of Wisconsin ?nd the major settlements here, Prairie du Chien and Green Bay, were tied by their trapping interests to England. The two great British fur companies, the North West and the South West companies, started recruiting their trappers for defense in 1811.The Indians, apprised by Tecumseh of the Americans’ push westward, were ready for similar recruitment and Dickson—one of the area’s foremost trappers—was on hand to assist them on choosing the British side. .He distributed considerable supplies, to tribesalong the upper Mississippi, and in making his .wayacross Wisconsin on the Wisconsin Fox waterway, he obtained pledges of 25lt;fto 300 braves to the British cause, if they were needed. He was ordered to bring these forces to the Mackinac area by June 30. He dispatched some 130 Menominees and Winnebagoes to Amherst burg, east of Detroit, where they arrived July8, the dav certain npws arnv^i _r
Newspaper Details
Appleton Post Crescent
Appleton, Wisconsin, US
Sun, Feb 17, 1963
Page 43
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