August 14, 1680: Daniel Greysolon Sieur du Lhut reports “saving” Father Louis Hennepin

On this day in 1680, Duluth’s namesake Daniel Greysolon Sieur du Lhut arrived at Mille Lacs lake in time to save French missionary Louis Hennepin from a group of Dakota (called “Sioux” by the French) he thought had abducted missionary Father Louis Hennepin. Du Lhut, along with a native interpreter and four of his countrymen, had traveled from the Head of the Lakes to where the city of Hudson, Wisconsin, now sits along the St. Croix River. There, according to historians Dwight Woodbridge and John Pardee, du Lhut “was informed by some Sioux Indians that a priest and two other Frenchmen had been robbed by a tribe of Sioux and were being taken up the river as captives.” du Lhut, the interpreter, and two of his companions hastily struck out for Mille Lacs and, “after a hard chase of two days and two nights he overtook the 1,100 who constituted the Indian party at 10 o’clock in the morning of July 25, 1680.” In his letter of August 14, 1680, du Lhut claims that Hennepin and his companions had been insulted and mistreated by the Dakota—Hennepin’s priestly garb was missing. Du Lhut’s party stayed with the Dakota at Mille lacs until the end of September, when they left with Hennepin for Wisconsin and Lake Michigan. According to du Lhut biographer Milan Kovacovic, “it appears that the so-called prisoners were never subjected to confinement, and that they received excellent treatment at the hands of the Dakota. When Duluth arrived to the rescue, they even seemed reluctant to leave their alleged tormentors.” La Salle, du Lhut’s competitive colleague, used the incident to “denigrate Duluth’s reputation and portray him as an adventurer with no scruples.” Read former Duluth mayor Travanion Hugo’s biography of du Lhut here.

Clarence Rosenkranz’s depiction of Daniel Greysolon Sieur du Lhut landing at Onigamiinsing (“Little Portage”) on Minnesota Point in 1679, which originally hung on the Greysolon Tea Rooms of Duluth’s Glass Block Store. (Image: Duluth Public Library)