Dawn of Detroit

by Tiya Miles

  56. Askin Ledger, Askin Papers, BHC, DPL.

  57. Mary, Tom, George: 35, 33, 34, 37/205. Jim: 29. Jobs performed by people of color: 13, 24, 33/177. Askin Papers, BHC, DPL.

  58. Anonymous Ledger, MS/Anonymous, L4: 1806–15, BHC, DPL. Adelaide Brush to Charles Askin, July 27, 1810; Elijah Brush to John Askin, February 13, 1810 Askin family fonds [textual record], Correspondence with the Brush family, 1801-1850, MG 19 A 3 Volume 37, Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa, ON. These letters do not make clear who Peter Denison was buying himself from. The money may have gone to Catherine Tucker, who had indentured Peter and Hannah to Brush, or to William Hull or the town of Detroit due to Peter’s abandonment of the black militia in 1807 to flee with his family to Canada. It is possible, but unlikely, that Elijah Brush paid himself to free Peter, since he promises to “furnish the money.” I am grateful to Rachel Whitehead for leading me to these letters.

  59. Gilpin, War of 1812 in the Old Northwest, 27, 28, 29; Yanik, Fall and Recapture, 23.

  60. Gregory Evans Dowd, A Spirited Resistance: The North American Indian Struggle for Unity, 1745–1815 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993), 142, 144.

  61. Gilpin, War of 1812 in the Old Northwest, 4, 6, 13, 16; Yanik, Fall and Recapture, 20–21. For a detailed study of Tecumseh’s revolution and broader native resistance campaigns, see Dowd, A Spirited Resistance.

  62. Yanik, Fall and Recapture, 21–22. John Tyler was Harrison’s vice presidential candidate in the 1840 presidential race.

  63. Memorial to Congress by Citizens of Michigan Territory, MHPC Vol. XL, 346–53.

  64. Witgen, Infinity of Nations, 327.

  65. Yanik, Fall and Recapture, 17; Gilpin, War of 1812 in the Old Northwest, 28, 29; Hull quoted in Yanik, Fall and Recapture, 22.

  66. The longevity of the black militia is a point of debate among the handful of historians who have written about it. Most state that the company was disbanded by 1811, before the start of the war. This argument is sound and based on the fact that Judge Augustus Woodward’s references to the group conclude in this year and no primary sources from Michigan officials note a continuation of the force. One historian states that the militia continued past 1811, and its men served in the War of 1812, but the primary sources he cites do not actually show evidence for this claim. There is logic on the side of the argument for War of 1812 involvement. It seems unreasonable that Hull, having taken the risk to form the black militia and being supported in this by a territorial special committee, would not use this group during war preparations. My representation of the black militia’s involvement in the very first months of the war is based on the uncovering of a new source by a reporter that is not full proof of the group’s continuation (as the reporter’s source could have passed on dated information) but is certainly evidentiary and highly suggestive. Report to readers on war developments, Zanesville, OH, July 20, 1812, Document Transcriptions of The War of 1812 in the Northwest, Vol. IV, Anecdotes of the Lake Erie Area War of 1812, Transcribed from Original Sources by Richard C. Knopf (Columbus: Ohio Historical Society, 1957), 120–21.

  67. Letter from Detroit to New York, July 18, 1812, Document Transcriptions of The War of 1812 in the Northwest, Knopf, trans., 110.

  68. Black Swamp: Harry L. Coles, The War of 1812 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1965), 45–46; Gilpin, War of 1812, 36, 51. Yanik, Fall and Recapture, 48.

  69. We learn that letters have been received, Document Transcriptions of The War of 1812 in the Northwest, July 25, 1812, Knopf, trans., 111.

  70. We learn that letters have been received, Document Transcriptions of The War of 1812 in the Northwest, July 25, 1812, Knopf, trans., 111.

  71. Eustis quoted in Yanik, Fall and Recapture, 50–51.

  72. Report to readers on war developments, Zanesville, OH, July 20, 1812, Document Transcriptions of The War of 1812 in the Northwest, July 20, 1812, Knopf, trans., 120–21. Hull’s Proclamation: Yanik, Fall and Recapture, 56; Gilpin, War of 1812 in the Old Northwest, 73–74.

  73. bell hooks, “Revolutionary ‘Renegades’: Native Americans, African Americans, and Black Indians,” in Black Looks: Race and Representation (Boston: South End Press, 1992).

  74. Fort Mackinac: Gilpin, War of 1812 in the Old Northwest, 89; Yanik, Fall and Recapture, 63. A. B. Woodward to William Eustis, Secretary of War, July 28, 1812, Clarence Edwin Carter, Territorial Papers, Volume 10, 389–92. While not conclusive for the argument that the black militia was active at the start of the war, Woodward’s complaint does not foreclose this likelihood. He makes no mention of the militia having been disbanded, which would seem relevant in a letter about Hull’s misdeeds and the war’s development in real time.

  75. Yanik Fall and Recapture, 91, 92; location of artillery on present-day Jefferson Ave., Yanik 89; Brock quoted in Yanik, 88.

  76. Yanik, Fall and Recapture, 88, 94.

  77. Yanik, Fall and Recapture, 94–96, 100.

  78. Denison in Quebec quote: Smith, Slaves’ Gamble, 34. Number of Detroit prisoners: Taylor, Civil War of 1812, 175.

  79. Hull was released from the British on parole in October of 1812. He returned to Massachusetts before being court-martialed by the U.S. government in 1813 for the charges of treason, cowardice and neglect of duty. Although Hull was found guilty of the second two charges and sentenced to death, President Madison commuted this sentence. Negative representations of Hull both at the time and in histories of the war have led to debate and the historian Anthony Yanik’s recent book, subtitled “In Defense of William Hull.” Yanik and others argue that Hull was a scapegoat for Madison, Hull’s officers, and the Republican Party for larger failures of the war. Gilpin, War of 1812 in the Old Northwest, 232. Yanik, Fall and Recapture, 125–27. Elijah Brush was apparently released by February of 1813; Jacobson, Detroit River Connections, 62. Denison’s death: St. John’s Register, August 28, 1812. Also quoted in Tucker, “Uncertain Freedom, 37.

  80. Treaty of Ghent, Primary Documents in American History, Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/Ghent.html. Accessed July 29, 2016. For more on the reduction of Native negotiating influence after the War of 1812, see White, Middle Ground, 516–17, 523, For more on Native persistence, population, and strength in the Great Lakes beyond the War of 1812, see Witgen, Infinity of Nations, 27, 325–27; McDonnell, Masters of Empire, 318–19.

  81. French Town: Ralph Naveaux, Invaded on all Sides: The Story of Michigan’s Greatest Battlefield, Scene of the Engagements at French Town and the River Raisin in the War of 1812 (Marceline, MO: Walsworth Publishing Co., 2008), 17. For more on the battle at the River Raisin, see Naveaux, Invaded on All Sides. Brush’s death: Swan, Lisette, 8; Jacobson, Detroit River Connections, 61–63. Gilpin, War of 1812 in the Old Northwest, 126; Yanik, Fall and Recapture, 162. Taylor, Civil War of 1812, 243. Ominous quote: Taylor, Civil War of 1812, 439.

  82. “Forgotten war”: Donald R. Hickey, The War of 1812: A Forgotten Conflict (1989; reprint, Urbana: University of Illinois Press, Bicentennial Edition, 2012); Taylor, Civil War of 1812, 10.

  83. Coles, War of 1812, 255. Taylor, Civil War of 1812, 10. Ste. Anne’s Church Records: Marie Louise baptism, February 3, 1799; Jean Baptiste Rémond, baptism, July 5, 1812; Julie Ford, baptism, August 11, 1813. Ste. Anne’s Church Records; Russell, ed., Michigan Censuses, 101–147; Katzman, “Black Slavery in Michigan,” 62. R. G. Dunlop, W. L. Mackenzie, John H. Dunn, Adolphus Judah, W. R. Abbott, David Hollin, Malcolm Cameron, and J. Levy, “Records Illustrating the Condition of Refugees from Slavery in Upper Canada before 1860,” Journal of Negro History 13:2 (April 1928): 199–207, 205.

  84. Taylor, Civil War of 1812, 327.

  85. Fergus Bordewich is the first scholar I know of to offer this supposition that black men’s involvement in the War of 1812 informed a larger black population about the liberatory possibilities of Canada. Fergus M. Bordewich, The Underground Railroad and the War for the Soul of America (New York: Harper Collins, 2005), 114.

  Conclusi
on: The American City (1817 and Beyond)

  1. Swan, Lisette, 8. St. St. John’s, Anglican, 1802–1827, Register of baptisms, marriages and burials, 1802–1827, Sandwich, Ontario, Archives of Ontario, Toronto. Marriage Certificate of Scipio Dennison and Charlotte Paul, Zd4-Denison Family, Solomon Sibley Papers, DPL.

  2. George McDougall, attorney for Sarah Macomb, Detroit Gazette, September 17, 1817, p. 4; George McDougall, agent for David B. Macomb, Detroit Gazette, September 17, 1817, p. 4. Clarence Burton, History of Detroit, 1780–1850, Financial and Commercial (Detroit: 1917), 58–61. Jacobson, Detroit River Connections, 25, 129.

  3. “Notice. A Meeting,” Detroit Gazette, September 19, 1817, p. 3. “Commission Store,” Detroit Gazette, September 19, 1817, p. 3. John Williams to Samuel Abbott, May 1817, John R. Williams Papers, BHC, DPL. Monroe: MPHC, Vol. 38, p. 446. John R. Williams was the son of Cecile Campau; his father, Thomas Williams, hailed from Albany, NY; Gitlin, Bourgeois Frontier, 144–145.

  4. John Williams to Samuel Abbott, May 1817, John R. Williams Papers, BHC, DPL. William was elected mayor in 1824; Poremba, Detroit, 76, 104. “American city”: F. Clever Bald, Detroit’s First American Decade, 1948; “Subscription List,” Detroit Gazette, September 19, 1817, p. 1; “Statutes of the University of Michigania,” Detroit Gazette, September 19, 1817, p. 2; “Subscription List,” Detroit Gazette, October 10, 1817, p. 3; Poremba, Detroit, 98, 99.

  5. “Subscription List,” Detroit Gazette, September 19, 1817, p. 1; “Statutes of the University of Michigania,” Detroit Gazette, September 19, 1817, p. 2; “Subscription List,” Detroit Gazette, October 10, 1817, p. 3. The subscription lists printed in the newspaper name thirty-five people but are incomplete. The newspaper does not include some names (such as James May, Augustus Woodward, and Barnabas Campau) that are listed as donors in other sources. Augustus Woodward also kept a subscription list for $150 donors that may have been independent of the university treasurer’s list. Woodward’s list reference: Campau Papers, MS/Campau Family, 1817 May–December, BHC, DPL. Terrence McDonald, director of the Bentley Library at the University of Michigan, calculated that “the total amount of subscriptions was $5100. The two newspaper lists total $4086 . . . we are missing the names of those who together contributed about $1000. The subscriptions were raised between Sept. 19 and Oct. 10 1817.” Terrence McDonald to Tiya Miles, email correspondence, July 31, 2016.

  6. C.M. Burton, “Augustus Brevoort Woodward,” MPHC Vol. 29, p. 658.

  7. Burton, “Augustus Brevoort Woodward,” MPHC Vol. 29, pp. 658–659.

  8. May donation: R.N. Drake, “Sketch of Judge May: Grandfather of Mrs. Seymour,” Drake Scrapbook in Possession of R. N. Drake, Seattle, Washington, From SB of Drake loaned to C.M.B., James May Papers, Wallet 1, BHC, DPL, 8. Silas Farmer, History of Detroit and Wayne County, 729. Drake gives a figure of $100 for May’s contribution. Farmer gives a figure of $25. Both authors provide transcribed or quoted copies of these pledge documents; however, the originals have not been found in the University of Michigan archives at the Bentley Library or in papers at the Detroit Public Library. Records of other contributions: Barnabas Campau: Campau Papers, MS/Campau, Barnabas, Folder 1819–21, BHC, DPL; “the Lodge”: Campau Papers, MS/Campau Family, 1817 May–December, BHC, DPL; use of city fire fund: Campau Papers, MS/Campau Family, 1817 May–December, BHC, DPL. Woodward’s slave: Robert B. Ross and George B. Catlin, Landmarks of Detroit: A History of the City (Detroit: Evening News Association, 1898), 416. Burton, History of Detroit, 1780–1850, 73. Michelle Cassidy, “The Origins of Article 16 and the University of Michigan,” paper written for the University of Michigan Bicentennial Committee, Ann Arbor, MI, 2015. Joseph Campau was a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Zion Lodge, Number 10; Gitlin, Bourgeois Frontier, 54–55. He reportedly died as the richest man in Michigan; Jacobson, Detroit River Connections, 85.

  9. Cassidy, “The Origins of Article 16 and the University of Michigan,” University of Michigan Bicentennial Committee. An Act to Establish the Catholepistemiad, or university of Michigania (August 26, 1817), Frank Egelston Robbins, ed., University of Michigan Early Records, 1817–1837 (Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan, 1935), 3–5.

  10. Quote by John Petoskey, University of Michigan College of Literature, Science & the Arts (2016) and School of Law (currently enrolled); used by permission of John Petoskey, June 21, 2016. To be eligible for the tuition waiver, applicants must be enrolled in a United States federally recognized tribal community, of one-quarter blood quantum, with established Michigan residency of at least twelve months. The waiver is defined as a benefit stemming from political relations between government entities (such as the state of Michigan and tribes) rather than race or ethnicity. Michigan Indian Tuition Waiver Frequently Asked Questions, Michigan.Gov, https://www.michigan.gov/documents/mdcr/faqsmitw_329746_7.pdf. Michigan Indian Tuition Waiver, Michigan Department of Civil Rights, http://www.michigan.gov/mdcr/0,1607,7-138--240889--,00.html. Accessed June 20, 1016.

  11. First Minority Graduates and Attendees, Bentley Historical Library, UM, http://bentley.umich.edu/legacy-support/umtimeline/minfirsts.php. Accessed July 1, 2016.

  12. Catherine Sibley quoted in Swan, Lisette, 9.

  13. MPHC, Vol. 38, p. 446.

  14. Swan, Lisette, 9, 13. Deed, Stephen Mack to Elizabeth Dennison; Lease of lots in Pontiac, Scipio and Elizabeth Forth to Scipio Dennison; Lease of lots in Pontiac, Scipio and Elizabeth to Scipio; Promissory note, Scipio Dennison to Elizabeth; Letter, Scipio Dennison to Solomon Sibley; Zd4-Denison Family, Solomon Sibley Papers, DPL. A Michigan state historical marker in Pontiac recognizes Elizabeth Denison Forth’s biography and land purchase. http://www.michmarkers.com/startup.asp?startpage=L1860.htm. Accessed July 23, 2016.

  15. Swan, Lisette, 10, 14, 16, 17; Visitor Elizabeth Campbell quoted in Swan, Lisette, 18. Biddle served as mayor from 1827 to 1828; Poremba, Detroit, 106. Sibley family: Sibley House Detroit, http://sibleyhousedetroit.com/the-sibley-family; Accessed July 13, 2016.

  16. Maurice M. Manring, Slave in a Box: The Strange Career of Aunt Jemima (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1998), 61–65, 74–75. Eliza Biddle to Aaron Ogden, January 15, 1855, Gershom Mott Williams Papers, BHC, DPL, transcribed in McPherson, Looking for Lisette, 440. The set of documents that Mark McPherson calls the “Lisette Letters” in his Appendix B refers to twelve letters in the Biddles’ correspondences that mention Elizabeth Denison.

  17. Swan, Lisette, 8, 9, 14, 21. Eliza Biddle to Susan Biddle, June 28, 1859, transcribed in McPherson, Looking for Lisette, 445–46.

  18. Elmwood Cemetery internment record, B/Negroes-Forth, Elizabeth Denison, Reading Room, DPL. This record is not wholly accurate. It states that Elizabeth Denison Forth was 114 years old at the time of her death in 1866 and that she was born in Virginia. All other records indicate that she was born a slave in the 1780s in Detroit, which means that she died close to the age of 90. Lisette Denison’s grave location is given as Strangers Ground 45–194 in the Elmwood record.

  19. Draft of Elizabeth Dennison’s Will, Zd4-Denison Family, Solomon Sibley Papers, DPL. Elizabeth Denison Forth Will, Folder B/Negroes-Forth, Elizabeth Denison, Reading Room, DPL.

  20. Swan, Lisette, 15; Indenture of service between Scipio and Eastman Dennison and Charles E. Brush in Green Bay, 1834, Zd4-Denison Family, Solomon Sibley Papers, DPL.

  21. Swan, Lisette, 49. Saint James Church has produced a historical pamphlet that covers the history of Elizabeth Denison as its “founder.” This pamphlet is informative and engaging, but my account here differs from it in some respects, especially regarding the relationship between Lisette Denison and Eliza Biddle. The pamphlet states that the two women “shared a strong bond” and made a “vow” to found a church together on Grosse Ile. I have not seen evidence for this claim. I am grateful, though, to the church for sharing their version of the history so generously; “Saint James Story of the Chapel,” Saint James Church, Grosse Ile, MI.

  22. Histories of American Indian e
nslavement retain the idea that the practice died out by the middle 1700s and that Indian slaves after that time were likely to be mixed Afro-Native or lost to the designation “Negro” in plantation records. Studying slavery in Detroit shows the continuation of a clear practice of Indians being kept as slaves well into the nineteenth century.

  23. The novelist Gayl Jones includes a haunting refrain of the call to “make generations” in her classic story of generations of black women sexually abused in slavery; Gayl Jones, Corregidora (Boston: Beacon, 1975), 10, 60, 90, 101. The historian Susan Sleeper Smith developed this concept of Midwestern Indians using a hiding-in-plain-sight strategy of survival, with a focus on Indiana. Susan Sleeper Smith, Indian Women and French Men: Rethinking Cultural Encounter in the Western Great Lakes (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2001), 115, 116; see Chapter Seven.

  24. Swan, Lisette, 49. Sibley House Detroit, http://sibleyhousedetroit.com/the-sibley-family/. The Charles C. Trowbridge House is located at 1380 East Jefferson in downtown Detroit, Detroit 1701, http://detroit1701.org/Trowbridge_Hist.htm. Accessed July 13, 2016.

  25. Frost and Tucker, “Introduction,” in Frost and Tucker, eds., A Fluid Frontier, 2–4. EdDwight.com, http://www.eddwight.com/memorial-public-art/international-underground-railroad-memorial-detroit-mi-windsor-canada; Accessed July 13, 2016. Detroit 1701, http://detroit1701.org/UndergroundRailroad.htm; Accessed July 13, 2016.

  A Note on Historical Conversations and Concepts

  1. Charles Bright, “‘It Was As If We Were Never There’: Recovering Detroit’s Past for History and Theater,” Journal of American History (March 2002).