Odd Wisconsin Archive
When Wisconsin Was a Corner of New France
Dateline: April 12, 1679. While cooking a goose on the shore of Lake Pepin, Father Louis Hennepin and two comrades were surprised by 50 canoes of Sioux warriors. After more than a year of captivity, they were rescued in June 1680 by the explorer Daniel Greysolon, sieur Duluth. Strangely, the two men had crossed paths six years earlier thousands of miles away, when Duluth was fighting and Fr. Hennepin tending the injured at the Battle of Seneff in Belgium. Hennepin left a detailed description of their trek back to the French settlements on the St. Lawrence, where Duluth was promptly jailed for illegal trading. For more descriptions of the French in Wisconsin, visit American Journeys.
:: Posted in Odd Lives on April 27, 2004
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