Dec 14 2008
Does Flint Boast a Major Native American Battlefield?
We really know so little about the land on which we live. Monroe has embarked on a major plan to reconstruct the site of the Battles of the River Raisin from the War of 1812. Much has been lost over the years. And that site is less than 200 years old. But just think of how much history happened in our region in the thousands of years of Native American settlement.
Where did major event occur? What were the major settlements. We know very little about that history. And it is possible that streets on which we drive, parks in which we hike and stores in which we shop harbor important histories known only to the ground below.
One of these secrets might have come to the surface in Flint recently. I have blogged in the past about Native American remains uncovered in the City of Flint. Now, information is breaking that the site might have been the location of a major Native American battle that involved the Ottawa, Chippewa and Sauk tribes. Flint Journal excerpts and link:
• More light could be shed on the historical mystery of the remains of Native Americans found this year at the Stone Street development when Michigan State University anthropologist Norm Sauer releases the results of a study of the remains.
• The study is expected to be released sometime soon.
The new evidence? Bones unearthed last winter on Stone Street in Flint when crews were building foundations for the government housing redevelopment project.
In a development that could be a plotline for the PBS show “History Detectives,” a local resident accidentally came across a musty book that could help unravel mystery.
“I was looking for a German book, when I came across this book,” said resident Jason Hartley, referring to a 1905 Flint history book he has owned for a few years. “When I read the passages, I couldn’t believe it. We’ve been talking about these bones in the neighborhood for a while now.”
The book, by a collection of authors edited by Charles A. Lippincott, pinpoints a location for a tribal battle that could be Stone Street or nearby.
A local historian said the book is credible and the account is possible, although another Flint history book called the entire battle a “myth.”
The book talks about how the Chippewa and Ottawa tribes created an alliance and forced out the Sauk tribe, starting with battles at the mouth of the Saginaw River near Lake Huron down to Flint.
Full story:
http://protectsacredsites.blogspot.com/2008/12/bones-found-at-stone-street-development.html
Most places have some Native heritage to them, even if they are not recognized or the specific events are unknown. There were many battles in the Michigan area between tribes, colonists, and others between the 1600-1800s, so it would not surprise me that there is one beneath Flint.