Turning Points
in Wisconsin History
Speeches of Pontiac (1763) and Souligny (1848) against white incursions.
Capture of Mackinaw, 1763.
Despite its title, this memoir by fur trader Louis Porlier actually touches on several subjects and is composed largely of two speeches. The first is by the Menominee chief Sho-no-nee (1785-1864; usually found in English as Souligny), denouncing U.S. government attempts to acquire more Menominee land in 1848. The second is Souligny's version of a speech by the Ottawa chief Pontiac (1720-1769) made at Milwaukee in 1763, urging the Wisconsin tribes to resist white advances into the Old Northwest and Mississippi Valley. He also describes how Charles de Langlade prevented British prisoners from being executed when Pontiac's warriors captured Mackinac in 1763. Because Porlier was writing from memory in 1879, he probably does not give the actual words of Souligny. But he was much respected by both Indians and white settlers, and the informational content of the two speeches is presumably correct.
| Related Topics: |
Explorers, Traders, and Settlers Colonialism Transforms Indian Life Treaty Councils, from Prairie du Chien to Madeline Island |
| Creator: | Porlier, Louis B., 1815-1899 |
| Pub Data: | Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, vol. 8 (Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1908): 227-231. |
| Citation: | Porlier, Louis B. "Capture of Mackinaw, 1763." Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, vol. 8 (1908): 227-231. Online facsimile at: http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/turningpoints/search.asp?id=47; Visited on: 5/5/2024 |
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