THE STANDARD DICTIONARY OF FACTS 



of 1794,00 account of the imposition of duties on 

 domestic distilled spirits. The people of \\ 

 ern Pennsylvania, where large Quantities of 

 whisky were manufactured, resisted the collec- 

 tion o*f the revenue by excise officers with force 

 of arms. The insurrection became general in 

 several counties. Many outrages were com- 

 mitted. Buildings were burned, the mails were 

 rifled, and government officer^ were insulted and 

 abused. me there were 6,000 or 7,000 



rirents under arms. The President of the 

 Uni Washington) finally called out 



the military force of the country, to put down 

 the insurgents, and was successful. Great leni- 

 ency was shown to the offenders, and the excite- 

 ment died away. 



Wisconsin. The name is derived from 

 the River \Vi-enn-in originally used with the 

 French orthography. Ouiaconsin), from an 

 Indian word, meaning "wild, rushing river." 

 The first white people in Wisconsin were French 

 explorers, Jean Nicolet and his followers, who 

 entered the region in 1634. In 1658-59, two 

 fur traders, Radisson and Groseilliers, visited the 

 Mi i ij.j.j an-! left a record of their travels. In 

 1665, a Jesuit mission at La Pointe was founded 

 by Father Claude Allouez, and three years later 

 he established the mission of St. Francis Xavier 

 on the shores of Green Bay. In 1673, Father 

 Marauette, accompanying Louis Joliet, reached 

 the Mississippi by passing through Wisconsin, 

 and later Father Hennepin and La Salle traced 

 other waterways within the territory. Trading 

 posts were established soon after this, becoming 

 dependencies of Mackinaw. About the middle 

 of the Eighteenth Century a fixed settlement 

 was established at Green Bay, and at the close 

 of the Revolutionary War Prairie du Chien, at 

 the mouth of the Wisconsin, grew into a like 

 settlement, and a few years later La Pointe and 

 Portage became permanent trading posts. 



Ki mland retained Mackinaw after the treaty 

 of 17S3. and American dominion was not felt 

 ly the Wisconsin traders until after the War of 

 1M-*. The formation of Astor's company to 

 establish fur trade in this region was followed by 

 a law forbidding English traders in the territory, 

 which resulted in an increase of American influ- 

 ence. By the ordinance of 1787 Wisconsin had 

 been a part of the Northwest Territory. In 1800, 

 it was included in Indiana Territory. In 1809, it 

 passed to Illinois, and in 1818 to Michigan. In 

 IM-'.V the lead mines in the southern part of the 

 State began to attract attention and considerable 

 mining population came into the country. In 

 1828. Fort \Vinnebago was erected at Portage 

 and the mining region was ceded to the whites 

 bv the Indians. In 1832, occurred the Black 

 Hawk War, which ended in the almost entire 

 extermination of the Sacs. The Territory of 

 \\ i-roMxJM was formed in 1836 out of lands then 

 comprised in the Territory of Michigan. It 

 embraced all the land now within the States of 

 Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, and that part 

 of the Territory of Dakota which lies east of the 

 Missouri and White Earth rivers. In 1838. all 

 the territory west of the Mississippi River, and 

 of a line due north from the source of that 

 ri\er to the international boundary-line, was 

 taken to form the Territory of Iowa. As thus 



bounded, Wisconsin became a State in 1848, 

 the seventeenth admitted under the Federal 

 Constitution. 



Wyoming was first visited by white men 

 in 1742 and 1744, when Sieur de Verendrye, 

 with a party from Canada, entered the territory 

 and discovered the Rocky Mountains. John 

 Colter, of Lewis and Clark's expedition of 1806- 

 10, explored the northern part of the section 

 I and discovered Yellowstone Park. In 1807, 

 Ezekiel Williams made extensive explorations 

 | in Wyoming, and in 1812 Robert Stuart's 

 courier party discovered the route to the West 

 known as the "Overland Trail." In 1834, 

 Sublette and Campbell built Fort Williams, 

 afterward called Fort Laramie, and established 

 the first permanent post in the State. In 

 1834, the first emigrants to the Pacific Coast 

 passed along the overland trail, and in 1836 

 the first white women crossed the Rocky Moun- 

 tains. 



Fort Bridger, the second permanent post, was 

 built in 1842. In 1847, the advance guard of 

 the Mormons crossed Wyoming on their way to 

 \ Utah. Fort Laramie was garrisoned in 1849 

 and made a government post. In 1854, began a 

 series of Indian wars which continued until 1876. 

 The greatest Indian uprising happened from 

 1862 to 1868, and in 1866 occurred the massacre 

 of Fort Phil Kearny. when Colonel Fetterman 

 and eighty men were killed. The gold mines 

 ! of Sweetwater were discovered in 1867, and the 

 city of Cheyenne was founded in the same year. 

 The first passenger train on the Union Pacific 

 Railroad arrived in Wyoming in 1867. In 1868, 

 :the Territory of Wyoming was organized. 

 Cheyenne was designated as the capital, and 

 Laramie was founded. The first territorial 

 legislature convened at Cheyenne in 1869. An 

 act was approved that year giving women the 

 right to vote and hold office in Wyoming. Coal 

 was discovered in 1869 and the first mine was 

 opened. In 1890, Wyoming was admitted to 

 statehood and the first legislature convened at 

 Cheyenne. In the same year cowboys, in an 

 attempt to put a stop to train robbery, brought 

 about a period of outlawry that necessitated a 

 call for United States troops. 



Serious trouble was caused for some years in 

 Wyoming by the State game laws, to which the 

 Indians were naturally unable to reconcile them- 

 selves. In the latter part of October and the 

 beginning of November, 1903, severe fighting 

 took place between the whites and Indians who 

 had been killing game, in which several whites 

 were killed. 



Yorktown, Virginia. Lord Cornwallis 

 had taken possession of Yorktown in August, 

 1781; but, after sustaining a disastrous siege, 

 he was obliged to surrender his army, consisting 

 of about 7,000 men, to the allied armies of France 

 and America, under the command of General 

 Washington and Count Rochambeau, October 

 19, 1781. This mischance was attributed to Sir 

 Henry Clinton, who had not given the garrison 

 the necessary succor they expected; and it 

 mainly led to the close of the war. It was 

 strongly fortified by the Confederates in the 

 American Civil War, but surrendered to Mc- 

 Clellan, May, 1862. 



