Detroit, the capital of Michigan. On the way some one pointed out the
scene of Perry's victory over the hated British. We passed into Lake
Huron.

Then later I was privileged to see Mackinac, an Indian trading post. I
viewed the smoking wigwams from the deck of the _Illinois_. Here were
the savages buying powder, blankets, and whisky. The squaws were selling
beaded shoes. The shore was wooded and high.... I looked below into the
crystalline depths of the water. I could see great fish swimming in the
transparent calms, which mirrored the clouds, the forests, and the boats
and canoes of the Indians.... We ran down to Green Bay, Wisconsin. Here
too there were Indian traders.... We went on to Milwaukee. As there was
no harbor here a small steamer came out to take us off. I went ashore
with some others. A creek flowed from the land to the lake. But the town
was nothing. Only a storehouse and a few wooden buildings. Soon we
proceeded to Chicago. I was told that the northern boundary of Illinois
had been pushed north, in order to give the state the southern shores of
the great lake, with the idea of capturing a part of the emigration and
trade of the East. This fact eventually influenced my life, and the
history of the nation, as will be seen.

Chicago had been a trading post, and to an extent was yet. The
population was less than 1000 people. There was a fort here, too, built
in place of one which had been destroyed in a massacre by the Indians.
There was much activity here, particularly in land speculation. Not a
half mile from the place where we landed there was a forest where some
Indians were camping. I heard that an Indian war was just over. The
Black Hawks had been defeated and driven off. But some friendly remnants
of other breeds were loitering about the town.