The History of Genesee, MI, Chapter II, The Battle of Long Lake

THE BATTLE OF LONG LAKE.

Perhaps the most interesting of these stories of that of the battle Long Lake, the her of which as the mute boy, Se-go-guen, the foster-brother of chief Chessaning, of whom we have heard in the above tale. It appears that this part of Michigan was, not long after the occurrence related above, cursed by a large number of renegades, mostly outlaws from the older settled portion of the east, whose crimes had driven them from their former homes and who has imposed on the well-known hospitality of the Indians by settling among them and there leading lives of vicious indolence. They had formed themselves into organized bands, having their secret words and signs and places of rendezvous, and were bound by oath to aid each other. They levied a tribute upon the traders who came among the Indians, burdening that traffic with a tax that fell heavily upon both the traders and the Indians. In case tribute was not paid, robbery, arson, and even murder, were the penalties.

Okemos, chief of the Ottawas, whose principal village was at Al-i-Kou-ma (Grand Rapids) on the Grand river, was an ally of Chessaning and Ne-o-me, and, because of an exceptionally atrocious murder of a trader located among the Ottawas, he called for a conference of the three chiefs to devise some plan for suppressing these depredations, by driving out the outlaws. The meting was appointed at Owosso, some miles up the Shiawassee river from Om-a-gan-see, the resident village of Chessaning, that being handiest for the conference.

In accordance with the arrangement, the three chiefs met, but the renegades, being apprised of the meeting and apprehensive of its object, had one of their number spy on the meeting. This one, living on the ground behind the lodge, overheard all the plans of the three. Se-go-guen, who had accompanied Chessaning, with an intuitive feeling of danger investigated and found the spying outlaw and informed Chessaning of his discovery. They spy escaped down the river to Om-a-gan-see. Chessaning, returning to Om-a-gan-see, soon identified the spy through the woodcraft of the mute. On being charged, the man a first denied, but finally admitted his guilt, defied Chessaning and even made an attempt with his tomahawk upon the life of the boy, Se-go-guen, for his part in the capture. Chessaning, standing by, stabbed the renegade, but not fatally. He was then put in confinement under guard, but in the meantime it appeared that, by the secret means of communication of the renegades, he had made known the plan of the chiefs to the leaders of the outlaws.

The plan of the three chiefs was to gather a cordon of warriors in the upper valleys of the rivers and like a drawn net, to close in, driving the outlaws down the streams and finally out of the country.

The warning sent out by the spy, however, gave notice to the outlaws, who decided on a counter-stroke; this was to simultaneously attack the several traders, looting their warehouses, and join at a place of meeting known only to the initiated.

The wounded spy, feigning complete exhaustion from his wound, caused his guards to relax their watchfulness, and so escaped. When his escape had been discovered, the mute Se-go-guen asked the privilege of tracking him, and, with his trained dog, which to some extent supplied the sense of hearing, set out in pursuit. Following unerringly, he traced the spy to a point near Long Lake, and thence saw him take a hidden canoe, cross the lake and disappear in a ravine on the opposite side. Circling the lake, Se-go-guen discovered the place of rendezvous of the renegades, where their bands had already gathered with the loot of several traders and with the two captive daughters of one of them. Eluding the sentinels, he went back over his track and found the forces of the three chiefs, whom he led to the place of hiding. There the renegades wee surrounded and killed, to a man, about eighty of them. This battle of Long Lake cleared this region of outlaws and a few years later, when the first settlers came, they found the region undisturbed by lawlessness. To these three chiefs, Ne-o-me of the Chippewas of the Flint river, Chessaning of the Hurons of the Shiawassee, and Okemos of the Ottawas, of the Grand river, three different races, is due the credit for this delivery; but chiefly is the honor to Se-go-guen, the mute boy of the Shiawassee.

A sequel to these tales of romance that cluster about our present homes built on the site of the ancient Mus-cat-a-wing, is found in the unpublished manuscript of this same writer. It is the tale of