Songs that tell the Stories

In the picture above you can see the fishing method developed by the Anishinaabe. In their birch bark canoe, one man would steer the canoe while the man at the front dipped his net into the water. They would do all of this while the treacherous rapids swirled around their fragile canoes.

Alexander Henry, who lived at the Sault for a while in1762 claimed that one could catch 500 whitefish in two hours in this way.

While some Anishinaabe lived at the Sault year round, most of those who came in the summer left as winter arrived.

If there were so many whitefish at the Sault rapids, why wouldn't all of the First Nations people stay year round

What would be in the way of their fishing?

  The "Blackcoat priests"

Accompanied by another Frenchman named Grenolle, Étienne was the first European to ever reach Bawating, the place we now know as Sault Ste. Marie. We can't really say that he discovered Sault Ste. Marie because the Anishinaabe had lived there for hundreds of years.

Étienne actually named it "Sault de Gaston." Gaston was the name of the brother of the French king Lo uis XIII.

"Sault"  is an old French word meaning "jump" that refers to the rapids that were once a ferocious, mile-long cauldron of dangerous water.

Today the rapids are usually just a trickle, calm enough for fishermen to stand right in the middle of it to cast their fishing lines.

This is what the Sault Ste. Marie rapids looked like when Étienne first saw them.

 

Samuel is known as the "Father of New France."

He was a navigator, guiding many wooden sailing ships across the Atlantic ocean to Canada. He was a cartographer (a map-maker) who made many of the first maps of Canada, including the first one to ever show Sault Ste. Marie.

He was a soldier, joining with several tribes to attack (unsuccessfully) their enemy, the Iroquois in 1615.

He was an explorer who was the first European in many parts of Eastern Canada and was the founder of the city of Quebec.

He was an ethnologist (a person who studies cultures) and introduced Europeans to the way of life practiced by the First Nations people that he had contact with.

The very nice picture to the left is actually not Samuel. There were no paintings made of him during his lifetime so no one knows what he really looked like!

This picture, meanwhile, is what a typical Frenchman of Champlain's time and status looked like.

What do you notice about his "fashion choices?" Would he fit right in today or look a little out of place?

He certainly looked strange to many First Nations people who thought facial hair made a person look very ugly.

Do you think we will look strange to people in the future? Why do we wear the kinds of things we wear today?

The Saulteaux are Anishnaabe originating from Sault Ste. Marie.

There are now Saulteaux as far as British Columbia.

The movie star Adam Beach is a Saulteaux Anishnaabe from Manitoba.

What are people from the Sault called these days? Is there a name for people from your school or family or group of friends?

This picture of Sault Ste. Marie was drawn in 1632 by Samuel de Champlain based on how his scout, Étienne Brûlé, described it to him.

On the left side is Lake Superior and on the right side is Lake Huron. Sault Ste. Marie and its rapids are in between.

What are those shapes appearing above and below the rapids?

Talon was the Intendant of New France which means he was in charge of almost everything that happened in Canada on behalf of the Louis XIV, the king of France.

He controlled where people could live, what they were allowed to do for work and how they would be punished if they were in trouble.

Before Talon came to New France things were very bad. There were very few people and no one cared about building the colony.

When Talon came he offered rewards for anyone who started a family with special bonuses for families with more than ten children. In order to encourage marriages and children he arranged for 800 women, known as the filles du roi (daughters of the king) to come to New France.

What kind of reward would be enough for you to go to a place with none of the things you are used to like Internet and indoor plumbing to marry and raise a family?

Where would someone go today to start a colony where there are no people? Would it be on earth?

Susan was not born with the name Susan. That was the name her Irish husband gave her.

Her Anishinaabe name was Owshagusdodaywayquy which means "woman of the green glade."

By marrying the daughter of chief Wa-bo-jeeg from the Western coast of Lake Superior, John Johnston was guaranteed ideal trading terms for furs.

As the song tells us, John was also deeply in love with Owshagusdodaywayquay  She did not feel the same at first and hid in the corner of their lodge for several days before she would even speak to him.

Owshagusdodaywayquy was important and respected throughout the Sault Ste. Marie area. For example, when the Americans decided to build a fort at Sault Ste. Marie, Owshagusdodaywayquy used her skills at peace-making to prevent a terrible battle.

Owshagusdodaywayquy never learned to speak English and maintained her Anishinaabe traditions throughout her life.

After John's death she became a great businesswoman in the trade of maple syrup and maple sugar, tapping the trees of Sugar Island each spring.

 

The arch rival of France was the country Britain and one of their wars was over who would be in charge in Canada.

In 1762 this war ended when the British won which meant that Fort Mackinaw, the setting for this song, was given up by the French and taken over by the British.

Since Alexander Henry was American, he knew the British would let him do fur trading in Mackinaw and the Sault Ste. Marie area, something the French would have forbidden.

Have you ever risked danger in order to do or get something you wanted? What were the consequences? Was it worth the risk?

This is a drawing of Fort Mackinaw as in looked in 1762.

It had high wooden walls for protection but since the British were watching the lacrosse game the main gate was wide open.

The commander of the Fort, Major Etherington, was warned by several of his men that something wasn't quite right about the invitation to watch the lacrosse game.

Etherington brushed aside his men's concerns which made the surprise attack by the Anishinaabe a success.

Have you ever watched someone "pull an Etherington" by ignoring a warning just before something bad happened

Why didn't they listen?

 

Louis de Repentigny was a French military commander.

As a reward for his service the king of France gave Louis Sault Ste. Marie!

There was one condition though. Repentigny had to have buildings completed within two years.

Unfortunately for Louis, war broke out between France and Britain shortly after his fort was built and once he left to fight, he never returned to Sault Ste. Marie.

The man who worked with him to build the fort, Jean Baptiste Cadotte, stayed on at Sault Ste. Marie and his Métis descendants became legendary fur traders all around Lake Superior.

Do you think there was any problem with the king of France giving away Sault Ste. Marie to Louis de Repentigny? Should the king have asked anyone else first?

Do you think that is Louis' real hair? Would you wear a fancy wig if it was considered fashionable?

Why is it that what looks really cool for one generation looks so strange to the next generation?

Do you think there anything people do today to make themselves fashionable that will look funny to future generations? Give some examples.

Wa-bo-jeeg, whose  name means "White Fisher," was a member of the caribou dodem (clan) and was a chief known for his eloquence (he was a great speech-maker).

His father, Ma-mong-a-ze-da , was a famous chief and warrior who fought for the French in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham.

As a warrior, Wa-bo-jeeg gained fame in his battles against the Dakotas over hunting territory.

He was also renowned as a fur trader and hunter.  The book, The Historic Johnston Family says, "The skins he took annually were worth $350, a sum amply sufficient to make him rich in clothing, arms [guns], powder [for the guns], vermilion [a brilliant red coloured powder for art], and trinkets [small, showy ornaments like jewels or rings]."

The Historic Johnston Family also describes how Wa-bo-jeeg, "had a splendid lodge. 60 feet in length, which he was fond of ornamenting [decorating with art]. In the centre there was a strong post, which rose several feet above the roof, and on the top there was the carved figure of an owl, which veered with the wind."

Jane had two names. Her Irish father gave her "Jane" while her Anishinaabe mother named her Bamewawagezhikaquay.

It's a nice coincidence that the first Native American poet had such a poetic name. Bamewawagezhikaquay means, "the sound the stars make rushing through the sky."

Have you ever heard the sound a shooting star makes? None of us have. We can only imagine what such a sound would be.

The sound that Jane's imagination made were the words of the poems she wrote. The little sample below shows how her creativity was full of the Anishinaabe love of the earth, (the poem is dedicated to a spring flower called Miscodeed in Anishinaabe), and the rhyming couplets are drawn from the poetry tradition she learned from her Irish father.

Sweet pink of northern wood and glen,

E’er first to greet the eyes of men

In early spring, — a tender flower

Whilst still the wintry wind hath power.

How welcome, in the sunny glade,

Or hazel copse, thy pretty head

Oft peeping out, whilst sill the snow,

Doth here and there, its presence show

Soon leaf and bud quick opening spread

They modest petals – white with red

Like some sweet cherub – love’s kind link,

With dress of white, adorned with pink.

Another short poem of Jane's written in Anishinaabe was composed as she returned to Sault Ste. Marie after traveling all the way to Ireland with her father.

She had been terribly homesick in Ireland and the sight of the pine trees, a tree that doesn't exist in Ireland, filled her with excitement.

Shing wauk! Shing wauk! Nin ge ik id,

Waish kee wau bum ug, shing wauk

Tuh quish in aun nau aub, ain dak nuk i yaun.

Shing wauk, shing wauk No sa

Shi e gwuh ke do dis au naun

Kau gega way zhau wus co zid . . .

 

The pine! the pine! I eager cried,

The pine, my father! see it stand,

As first that cherished tree I spied,

Returning to my native land.

The pine! the pine! oh lovely scene!

The pine, that is forever green . . .

Why was John Tanner kidnapped by the Shawnee man, Manito-o-geezhik? As it turns out, the youngest son of Manito-o-geezhik's wife had died and she had told her husband that unless a replacement son was found, she could not continue living.

But that's not all!

After a while John Tanner's new Shawnee family encountered the woman Net-no-kwa. She was not only related to Manito-o-geezhik but she was an important chief of the Ottaways.

As it turns out, Net-no-kwa had also lost a son and she wanted John Tanner for herself! Because she was an important person and she was a very smart negotiator, John soon had his third mom.

This was very good news for young John Tanner because Net-no-kwa and her family were much kinder to him.

This drawing is probably a reproduction of a "music board" used by Shingwaukonse at a demonstration of a Meda society ceremony at Sault Ste. Marie in 1820. (Today the society is known as Midewiwin.)

The Indian Agent at Sault Ste. Marie, Henry Schoolcraft, was very interested in First Nations religious ceremonies and so, in 1820, he invited a group of Anishinaabe to his office after he saw, "in the hands of one of them, a thin quadrangular tubular piece of wood, covered with hieroglyphics, cut in the surface, and painted in strong colors of red, black, green and other colors."

In the article from his magazine The Literary Voyager  from 1827 he continues:

The evening having arrived, and the Indian Medas, being assembled, with their musicians, and sacred pouches under their arms, the door was carefully locked, and the window curtains closely put down. The master of ceremonies, Shingwauk, came forward and seated himself near me, laying his inscribed music board, on my table, and commenced his songs, agreeably to the order of the notation, figure by figure.

Years later, in his book with the incredibly long title, Historical and statistical information respecting the history, condition, and prospects of the Indian tribes of the United States; collected and prepared under the direction of the Bureau of Indian Affairs per act of Congress of March 3rd, 1847, Schoolcraft included the "music board" as an example of a Meda song though he did not credit it to Shingwaukonse.

Activity:

Split your class into three groups, one large, one medium and one small group.

Choose an event that everyone in the class knows about e.g. how "Pizza day" works at your school.

Have each group discuss exactly how the event happens e.g. which day, the time of day, the cost, how many pieces each person can have, what toppings are on the pizza etc.

Have a person from each group describe the event.

Talk about and write down the differences between the descriptions.

Vote as a class on which version of the event is the most correct.

If the largest group wins does that mean their version is the most correct or is it the most correct because they had the most votes?

How  would you make the decision fair?

The MacDonell's were from Scotland and Alan's relative was a Catholic Priest for several hundred Scottish Highlanders (Scots who lived in the more mountainous parts of Scotland).

It's hard to imagine such a thing happening today but in 1838 John Prince challenged another man to a duel with pistols!

The other man, William R. Wood, spoke out against John Prince for executing prisoners of war.

John took this as an insult to his honour and demanded a duel.

On the day of the event the other man shot and missed while John's shot hit wounded Mr. Wood though he later recovered.

Has anyone ever said something about you that you thought was an unfair insult? Can you think of a better way to resolve the problem than dueling each other with pistols?

After the war of 1812 there were two Sault Ste. Marie's, an American one and a British one. (Canada didn't become Canada until 1867.)

This meant that when Theophilus rowed across the river to the British side to cut some wood for a fence, he was breaking the law which Major Joe was only too happy to let him know.

As the story goes, when Major Joe rowed across the river to do some business later on that same day, he was told to let Theophilus cut some British wood and when he said no they put him in jail for three days.

For those three days no one, including his wife(!), on the Canadian side of the river knew what had happened to him.

The Americans finally let Joe go but he never did let them cut some of that British wood.

Have you ever had to pay a price for "sticking to your guns" about something where you refused to back down? Was it worth it? How can you know for sure if you were in the right?

To the left is a painting of Joseph Wilson's home in Sault Ste. Marie in the late 1800s.

As you can see in close-up below, there was a fence around his home.

Joseph was not only the customs officer for the town but he was also the sheriff.

Since there was no police station or jail, anyone who got in trouble was told to stand inside Joseph Wilson's fence until he returned home to sort things out.

If someone broke the law today, do you think it would work to tell them to go stand inside a fence and wait for a policeman? Why/why not?

Why do you suppose it worked back then?

Have you ever been in a canoe race? Is there some game or sport where you really enjoy competing with others? What do you like best about it?

Below is the description of this particular race in 1836 by the painter, George Catlin.

“. . . one of their favourite amusements at this place, which I was lucky enough to witness a few miles below the Sault, when high bettings had been made, and a great concourse of Indians had assembled to witness an Indian regatta; or canoe race, which went off with great excitement, firing of guns, yelping, &c. The Indians in this vicinity are all Chippeways, and their canoes all made of birch bark, and chiefly of one model; they are exceedingly light, as I have before described, and propelled with wonderful velocity.” George Catlin sketched this scene during a journey to the Pipestone Quarry (in present-day Minnesota) in 1836. (Catlin, Letters and Notes, vol. 2, no. 54, 1841; reprint 1973)