Pioneer history of Ingham County, compiled and arranged by Mrs. Franc L. Adams, secretary of the Ingham County pioneer and historical society.

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PIONEER HISTORY OF INGIIAM COUNTY

"Okemos, a nephew of Pontiac, and once the chief of the Chippewas, was born at or near Knagg's Station, on the Shiawassee
river where the Chicago and Grand Trunk Railway crosses that
stream. The date is shrouded in mystery. At the time of his
death he was said to be a centenarian. The earliest accounts we
have of him is that he took the warpath in 1796. Judge Littlejohn, in his 'Legends of the Northwest,' introduces him to the
reader in 1803. The battle of Sandusky, in which Okemos took
an active part, was the great event of his life, and this it was that
gave him his chieftainship and caused him to be revered by his tribe.
The following is his own story as condensed by the author of the
Washtenaw history:
"Myself and cousin, Man-a-to-corb-way, with sixteen other
braves, enlisted under the British flag, formed a scouting or war
party, left the Upper Raisin, and made our rendezvous at Sandusky. One morning, while lying in ambush near a road lately
cut for the passage of the American army and supply wagons,
we saw twenty cavalrymen approaching us. Our ambush was
located on a slight ridge, with brush directly in front of us. We
immediately decided to attack the Americans, although they
outnumbered us. Our plan was first to fire and cripple them, and
then make a dash with the tomahawk. We waited until they
approached so near that we could count the buttons on their coats,
when firing commenced. The cavalrymen with drawn sabers at
once charged upon the Indians. The plumes upon the hats of the
cavalrymen looked like a flock of a thousand pigeons just hovering
for a lighting.
"Okemos and his cousin fought side by side loading and firing
while dodging from one cover to another. In less than ten minutes after the firing began the sound of a bugle was heard, and
casting their eyes in the direction of the sound, they saw the roads
and woods filled with cavalry. The small party of Indians were
soon surrounded and cut down. All were left on the field for
dead. Okemos and his cousin both had their skulls cloven and
their bodies gashed in a fearful manner. The cavalrymen, before
leaving the field, in order to be sure that life was extinct, would
lean forward from their horses and pierce the chests of the Indians, even into their lungs. The last that Okemos remembered
was that after emptying one saddle and springing toward another