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FORT PERROT, WISCONSIN

ESTABLISHED IN 1685 BY NICHOLAS PERROT

Editor of Magazine of American History:

In the September issue of your Magazine, under the heading "Old French Post at Trempeleau, Wisconsin," Mr. T. H. Lewis writes of his explorations in that neighborhood; but as both his first and subsequent visits derive their significance from the intermediate explorations of others to which he alludes, it is to be regretted that he did not mention them more at length.

In the Archives des Marines of France there is a manuscript map prepared by Franquelin for Louis XIV. It bears the date 1688. The only explorer who, so far as we know, established posts on the banks of the upper Mississippi previous to the date of the map was the noted Nicholas Perrot whom De La Barre had commissioned commandant of the west. The French narratives indicate that Perrot spent the winter of 1685-86 on the east bank of the Mississippi above the mouth of Black river, and later, probably in the early summer of 1686, built Fort St. Antoine on the same side of the Mississippi above the mouth of the Chippewa, according to Penicant on the shore of Lake Pepin. Franquelin's map clearly indicates the first position by the expression La butte á Hyvernement, that is to say, "Wintering Hill." It also shows, less correctly, the position of Fort St. Antoine.

The exact sites of these posts have been, nevertheless, hard to deter mine on account of the perishable nature of the structures of which they were composed. The historians and antiquarians of this part of the Northwest, like others of their class, have not been slow to conjecture, and the difficulty has stimulated a few of them to explore. The result has been the discovery of the ruins at Trempeleau mountain, the “Wintering Hill;" but final conclusions respecting the actual site of Fort St. Antoine are still in the air.

In the spring of 1887, Judge B. F. Heuston, who is preparing a history of Trempeleau county, Wisconsin, came to me to secure certain historical data. I called his attention to Franquelin's map, and suggested the possi bility of finding the site of the post at Trempeleau. He was much interested; but the sequel is best described in the two following letters, pub

lished respectively in the Minneapolis Evening Journal and the St. Paul Pioneer Press:

"WINONA, April 21.-The search for the ruins of Perrot's fort near Trempeleau, Wisconsin, attracted many people there this week. The scientific members of the party were the guests of Judge Newman, and included Judge Heuston, W. A. Finkelnburg, and Professor J. M. Holzinger of Winona; R. G. Thwaites, secretary of the Wisconsin Historical Society, and Mr. C. Leith, clerk of public printing at Madison. The place for examination was one suggested by Professor Kirk as the locality of the fort which Mr. Nicholas Perrot established in 1685 in connection with his trading post. He was sent out by the Canadian government to make treaties with the Indians. The exact spot is one mile above Trempeleau, and in excavating for the road-bed two fireplaces were cut out. The party dug out, from one to two feet under ground, four fireplaces made of crude stones on three sides. The size of the ground on which the fort was prob ably located is sixty feet square."

"WINONA, Special, April 21.-The works of the old writers made it pretty clear that the fort of Perrot should be looked for near Trempeleau. Late last fall, Judge Heuston, accompanied by George Squier and the brothers Antoin and Paul Grignon, Canadians, and old residents of Trempeleau, went about a mile up the river to near Trempeleau mountain, looking for the signs of the lost fort. Proceeding to lay open some rocks that showed marks of fire, they soon came upon what was unmistakably a fireplace. This had a paved bottom surrounded on three sides by rude flag-stones, probably picked up on the bluffs, and contained ashes, and showed remains of wood. Since then the Wisconsin Historical Society has addressed inquiries to Judge Heuston concerning the probable location of Fort Perrot. This led to the exploring expedition of last Wednesday, April 18, under the zealous management of Judge Heuston. Trempeleau mountain was reached by the Burlington railroad bridge. At the foot of this mountain flint chips were picked up, showing that there was here formerly a flint arrow factory. The party hastened to the historic spot, a mile above the village, close to the Burlington railroad track, where a large concourse of villagers, armed with pointed rods, spades, shovels, pickaxes, and a photographic outfit, were anxiously awaiting its coming. Soon a companion to the fireplace laid open last fall was unearthed, about sixty feet to the east and facing it. Both of these are only a little over a rod from the Burlington track. Not quite midway between these two fireplaces, and a little to the south, was found a third one. This faced south. About thirty-five feet to the south of this, and therefore on the

south side of the track, was found a fourth fireplace, larger, or at least fuller of ashes, than the others, which led to the common supposition that this probably marks the mess room. W. M. Dixon, who helped grade the Burlington railroad track at this place, said that two more such fireplaces were right on the track, and were destroyed by the graders. Judge Newman interrupted the excavations, and introduced to the company Mr Thwaites of the Historical Society, who briefly gave the history of the long lost fort, and the reasons for looking for it near Trempeleau. The spot where the fireplaces were uncovered was overlaid with earth and sod to a depth of one to two feet. A forest growth had spread over the site of the fort, as is shown by the stump of an oak tree six inches in diameter, grown right out of one fireplace."

J. St. Rick

FIRST EDITIONS OF THE BIBLE PRINTED IN AMERICA

It is a significant fact, better known to bibliographers than to the public, that neither the Old nor the New Testament was ever printed in English in the British colonies, until after the declaration of independence.

The earliest publication on this continent of any portion of the Scriptures was Eliot's translation of the New Testament into the Natick dialect in 1661; the Old Testament followed in 1663. Twenty years later a second and the last edition was issued. The first edition of this Indian Bible is now valued at $1,250; the Marquis of Hastings's copy of the second edition sold for $1,000. The first edition of a Bible in the German language (the first in any European tongue in this country) was printed at Germantown, Pennsylvania, in 1743. Mr. H. E. Luther, a wealthy type-founder of Frankfort, gave the fonts of type in German text from which it was printed. At the Brinley sale a copy was sold for $350.

In 1777 Robert Aitken, a native of Scotland, who had settled as a printer in Philadelphia, published an edition of the New Testament, the first in the English language with an American imprint. For this breach of privilege and his attachment to the cause of American independence, he was committed to prison. This is a volume of extreme rarity. After his release, the zealous Scot issued an edition of the entire Bible, copied from "that pearl of great price"-the authorized English version. It appeared in 1782, and will always be prized as the first Bible in English ever printed in America. A perfect copy is preserved in the Lenox library. In 1790 editions of the New Testament were issued in New York and New Haven, and in 1791 a folio Bible with fifty copperplates was published at Worcester, the text revised by Dr. Bancroft, father of the historian. An edition for the use of Quakers was printed in New Jersey, and in 1794 the New Testament, without the Old, appeared in Boston.

In 1790 an edition in large quarto of the Douai and Rheims version of the Bible was printed at Philadelphia, and sold for $6. Charles Carroll of Carrollton headed the subscription list, followed by the names of many of the most distinguished men of the South.

NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND.

Clement Ferguson

GENERAL GRANT AND THE FRENCH

Mr. Theodore Stanton of Paris, the well-known scholar, has written an able and interesting article for the Cornell Magazine under the above title, in which he endeavors to show how little foundation there has ever been for the French prejudice against General Grant which has unfortunately crept into the newspapers, biographical dictionaries, histories, literature, and even the national poetry of France. Mr. Stanton quotes a number of interesting letters, and a few extracts will be of interest. He says: "I now take up a number of manuscript letters which were written to me some time ago, but have not heretofore been published. It will be noticed that they are from the pens of gentlemen who were closely associated with General Grant both in public affairs and in the intimacy of private life, and several of whom were conspicuous in diplomatic stations during his administration, and participated actively in the diplomatic transactions between the United States on the one hand, and France and Germany on the other, that marked the stormy period covered by the years 1870 and 1871. The statements of such witnesses and their commentaries on the documents that have already been placed before the reader, will show still more conclusively, I think, that General Grant must be exonerated by all fair-minded Frenchmen from the charge of hostility to France.

General Wm. T. Sherman, who was general of the army in 1870, with headquarters at Washington, says: General Grant, in common with all Americans, entertained great love and affection for the French nation because of the material aid extended to us during the Revolutionary War, and especially for the gallant youth, of whom Lafayette was the type, who shared the dangers of that war near the person of the father of his country, General Washington. During our civil war, when we were contending for liberty as against slavery, the French Government was chiefly instrumental in establishing an Empire in Mexico with an Austrian prince at its head, backed by a strong army of French troops, commanded by Marshal Bazaine. This General Grant construed as an act of unfriendly interference, if not positive hostility to us, and I have heard him say that our civil war was not over till the French were compelled to leave Mexico. He would have been most willing in 1865 to have turned our victorious armies against Bazaine had not the same end been accomplished by diplomacy. The history of all this is well known in France. General Grant never attributed this act to the French people, but to Louis Napoleon. Therefore, when, in 1870, the French and Germans became involved in war, his sympathies were against Louis Napoleon. But the moment he fell at Sedan that feeling ceased, and thenceforward I cannot recall an act or expression of his but of the kindest nature toward France and her people.'

'When the French and German war took place,' writes the Hon. John Russell

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