He helped found several missions in the Great Lakes region. He learned to speak many of the local tongues, including those of the Huron, Ottawa, and Illinois. Members of the Illinois told him about a "Great River." He wondered if it flowed all the way to the Pacific Ocean. He asked permission from his superiors to explore for the river.
Meanwhile, Louis Jolliet (also spelled "Joliet") was born in Quebec in 1645. Educated at a Jesuit school there, he decided not to become a priest and instead went into the fur trade business. In 1672, the newly appointed French governor, Louis de Buade, Comte de Frontenac, commissioned Jolliet to join Marquette's expedition. The two men made a good pair. Marquette kept a diary and drew maps of the country through which the group passed. Jolliet's fur trade experience made him familiar with Indigenous peoples' cultures and languages.
The First Attempt
Along with five men from FrenchIndigenous families, Marquette and Jolliet set out in canoes on May 18, 1673. They headed for the northern shore of Lake Michigan and then to present-day Green Bay, Wisconsin.
They made their way up the Fox River almost to its source. They portaged for two miles through marshes and oak forests to the Wisconsin River. That river eventually led them to the Mississippi River near what is now Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. After traveling for just one month, they found the big river they sought on June 17.
Marquette and Jolliet quickly realized that the Mississippi River did not lead to the west and the Pacific Ocean. They decided to continue down it anyway. They reached the mouth of the Arkansas River, just a little more than 400 miles from the Gulf of Mexico. They became the first Europeans to explore and map much of the Mississippi River and its shores.
A Successful Trip
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة April 2023 من Cobblestone American History Magazine for Kids.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة April 2023 من Cobblestone American History Magazine for Kids.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
Putting the Pieces Together
Americans needed to begin to put the past behind them, come together, and plan for the future in the spring of 1865. But Abraham Lincoln, the man best equipped to lead them and who had hoped to restore the country as smoothly and peacefully as possible, had been assassinated.
LAST SHOTS
The last Confederate forces in the Civil War didn’t surrender in the spring of 1865 or on a battlefield.
AND IN OTHER 1865 NEWS
A group of African Americans stop at the White House’s annual public reception on January 1, where they shake hands with President Abraham Lincoln.
A Plot to Kill President the
For several months, actor John Wilkes Booth’s band of conspirators had plotted to capture President Abraham Lincoln and hold him hostage in exchange for Confederate prisoners.
Let the Thing Be Pressed
In June 1864, Union Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant began a nearly 10-month campaign in Virginia.
HEALING THE NATION
President Abraham Lincoln took the oath of office for the second time on March 4, 1865.
A Helping Hand
The spring season is hard in any agricultural society. Plants and animals are too small to eat.
WAR SHERMAN-STYLE
As far as Union Major General William T. Sherman was concerned, the Civil War had gone on long enough.
PEACE TALKS
The fall of Fort Fisher made clear that the Confederacy’s days were numbered. Southerners were tired and hungry.
FORT FISHER'S FALL
Outnumbered Confederate soldiers inside Fort Fisher were unable to withstand the approach of Union troops by land and the constant Union naval bombardment from the sea.
