Mongaugon Township, is a former

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, C ...

of Wayne County in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

Quarries A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their envir ...

including the DTE Energy Sibley Quarry that mines, gray limestone and celestine associated with calcite, fluorite, gypsum, epsomite, and rarely, sulfur were first worked by the French circa 1749.Romig, s.v. Monguan

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

forces aided by

Muskrat French The Muskrat French (french: Francophonie au Michigan; also known as the Mushrat French or Detroit River French Canadien) are a cultural group and dialect found in southeastern Michigan along the Detroit River and Lake St. Clair, the western and ...

defeated

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

aided by Native Americans forces at the

Battle of Monguagon The Battle of Maguaga (also known as the Battle of Monguagon or the Battle of the Oakwoods) was a small battle between British troops, Canadian militia and Tecumseh's natives against a larger force of American troops, Ohio Volunteers and Michigan ...

during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...

. Mongaugon Township was first settled in 1812 by many former soldiers of the afformentioned

War War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

who founded villages that grew to become the

cities A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

of Trenton and Riverview, and the

civil township A civil township is a widely used unit of local government in the United States that is subordinate to a county, most often in the northern and midwestern parts of the country. The term town is used in New England, New York, and Wisconsin to re ...

of Grosse Ile.Burton
p. 1579
/ref>

History

Battle of Monguagon

Before Monguagon's township years, a small conflict of the

known as the Battle of Maguaga, also known as the Battle of Monguagon, ensued at then-village Maguaga in present-day

Riverview, Michigan Riverview is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 12,486 at the 2010 census. Riverview is a suburb of Metro Detroit about south of the southern border of Detroit along the Detroit River. Riverview was incor ...

. In the days before the coalition, American troops under the

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

of Michigan Territory,

Brigadier General Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

William Hull William Hull (June 24, 1753 – November 29, 1825) was an American soldier and politician. He fought in the American Revolutionary War and was appointed as Governor of Michigan Territory (1805–13), gaining large land cessions from several Am ...

, marched to

Fort A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

to set up a base to attack on

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of th ...

. Hull sent Lieutenant-Colonel James Miller with 280 regulars and 330 Ohio volunteer troops to collect supplies for Hull's garrison that were depoted at the site of the

Battle of Brownstown The Battle of Brownstown was an early skirmish in the War of 1812. Although the United States military outnumbered the forces of Tecumseh's Confederacy 8 to 1, they lost the battle and suffered substantial losses while Tecumseh's forces were ...

, then escort the pack train back to Detroit. On the return, Miller's path was barred by British Captain Adam Muir. As American troops advanced on the British troops, men were noticed creeping through the nearby woods, who turned out to be Potawatomi warriors allied to the British, came to join the battle as flanking skirmishers, but immediately retreated. After American troops unleashed their forces onto the British troops, the British fell back, but then remained in their place, waiting for another attack. Miller decided not to advance on the British troops a second time. The casualties for Miller's force were 18 killed and 64 wounded, while the casualties for Muir's force was 3 killed, 13 wounded, and 2 missing from the 41st Regiment, who returned later and were imprisoned, as well as 1 killed and 2 wounded from the Canadian militia. 2 were killed and 6 were wounded from the Native American contingent. Miller's troops camped at the nearby woods for two days, not returning for their knapsacks which they had discarded before the attack to fight more effectively, and ignoring orders from General Hull to resume en route to the Rapids, before being ordered to return to Detroit.

After battle

On January 15, 1818, a proclamation by Lewis Cass, Governor of Michigan Territory, established Mongaugon, along with townships of

Hamtramck Hamtramck ( ) is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 28,433. Hamtramck is surrounded by the city of Detroit except for a small portion that borders the fellow enclave city of Hi ...

Huron Huron may refer to: People * Wyandot people (or Wendat), indigenous to North America * Wyandot language, spoken by them * Huron-Wendat Nation, a Huron-Wendat First Nation with a community in Wendake, Quebec * Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi ...

, St. Clair, and Springwells as townships of Wayne County. These townships were formed under authority initially granted by the Court of General Sessions for the Northwest Territory on November 6, 1790. Under this system, townships were governed by a commissioner.Catlin
p. 101
/ref> On April 12, 1827, Cass signed an act that abolished the office of township commissioner, and also established in Wayne County the townships of Brownstown, Bucklin,

Ecorse Ecorse ( ') is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 9,512 at the 2010 census. Ecorse is part of the Downriver community within Metro Detroit. The city shares a northwestern border with the city of Detroit ...

, Hamtramck, Huron, Mongaugon, Plymouth and Springwells. Township government in Mongaugon was organized on May 25, 1827, with the election of Colonel Abram Caleb Truax as supervisor, with several persons elected to other offices. Truax is credited as the founder of Trenton for laying out the village of Truaxton, which became Trenton. The township created by the act of 1827 consisted of survey township 4 south of range 11 east of the

Michigan Meridian The Michigan meridian is the principal meridian (or north-south line) used as a reference in the Michigan Survey, the survey of the U.S. state of Michigan in the early 19th century. It is located at 84 degrees, 21 minutes and 53 seconds west long ...

and included all of Grosse Ile. By a legislative act of February 16, 1842, the portion of Brownstown Township east of a north–south line through the center of sections 2, 11, 14, 23, and 26 were added to Monguagon Township.

Grosse Ile Township Grosse Ile Township is a civil township of Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 10,777 at the 2020 census. The township encompasses several islands in the Detroit River, of which the largest is named as Grosse Ile. N ...

was part of Monguagon until 1914 when it organized as a separate township.Catlin
p. 104
/ref> The cities of Trenton and Riverview incorporated from the township. Mongaugon was located at approximately and was bounded on the north by Ecorse Township (what is now the southern boundary of the cities of

Southgate Southgate or South Gate may refer to: Places Australia *Southgate, Sylvania *Southgate Arts and Leisure Precinct, an area within Southbank, Victoria Canada *Southgate, Ontario, a township in Grey County * Southgate, Middlesex County, Ontario Ed ...

and Wyandotte). On the west and south, it was bounded by Brownstown Township.Farmer Vol I
p. 128
/ref> The name Mongaugon is that of a

Pottawatomi The Potawatomi , also spelled Pottawatomi and Pottawatomie (among many variations), are a Native American people of the western Great Lakes region, upper Mississippi River and Great Plains. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a me ...

chief who lived along the Detroit River circa 1755.

Notes

References

* * * * * {{cite book , last = Romig , first = Walter , year = 1986 , title = Michigan Place Names , origyear= 1973 , publisher = Wayne State University Press , location = Detroit, Michigan , ISBN= 0-8143-1838-X Defunct townships in Michigan Former townships in Wayne County, Michigan 1818 establishments in Michigan Territory Populated places established in 1818 1959 disestablishments in Michigan