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INCIDENTS IN THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE SAGINAW VALLEY BY JUDGE ALBERT MILLER
They then came down the river and fought another battle on the bluff, about a mile above the present village of Flushing, on the farm formerly owned by a Mr. Bailey. Here there is also a large number of mounds yet to be seen, and if you should dig them-open, as I have, you would find them filled with human bones. The next battle was fought about sixteen miles below Flushing, on the farm formerly occupied by the late James McCormick's.
There were several battles fought on the Cass, at what is now called the Bend or Bridgeport Center, where there was a fortification of earthworks, which was plainly to be seen thirty-five years ago. The next important battle was fought on the Tittabawassee, just above the farm on which the late James Fraser first settled when he came to the Saginaw valley. This differs from the rest, as the remains of the slain were all buried in one mound, and it is > a very large one.
After the extermination of the whole nation, with the exception of the twelve females before spoken of, a council of the allies was then held to know what should be done with them. Some were for torturing and killing, and others were for sparing their lives. Finally it was agreed that they should be sent west to the Mississippi; and an arrangement was made with the Sioux that no tribe should molest them, and the Sioux should be responsible for their protection, which agreement was faithfully kept. The conquered country, of which the Saginaw valley is a part, was then divided among them all as a common hunting ground. But a great many who came here to hunt never returned, nor were ever heard of. It became the opinion of the Indians that the dead Socks still haunted the hunting grounds, and were killing off their hunters; when in fact, it was a few Socks who had escaped the massacre, and still lingered around their hunting grounds watching for straggling hunters and killing them wherever an opportunity occurred.
Michigan
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