Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/248

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MARQUEZ
MARQUEZ

"that, if our enterprise was hazardous, it should not be rash." Marquette and Joiiet set out on 17 May in two canoes that soon reached Green Bay. The story of the voyage and discovery is related by Marquette in his " V^oyage et decouverte de quelques pays et nations de I'Amerique Septen- trionale," a translation of which is given in Shea's " Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi " (New York, 1852). The narrative is remarkable for charm of style as well as close observation and fine descriptive "ability. He had a keen and scientific eye for all the natural features of the river. He returned to Green Bay in September and remained there until October, 1674. The hardships that he endured had broken his constitution, but he sent to his superior the journal of his voyage down the Mississippi, and awaited orders. Being command- ed to establish a mission in Illinois, he set out for Kaskaskia on 25 Oct., and, overtaking a party of Pottawattamie and Illinois Indians, journeyed with them southward along the western shore of Lake Michigan. Marquette reached Chicago river in December, and found himself too exhausted to proceed farther. The Illinois left him to go to their village, but two Frenchmen remained with him and built a log hut, the first human dwelling- place on the site of what is 'now the city of Chicago. On 26 Jan., 1675, three Illinois Indians brought him presents from the chiefs of the tribe, and he promised to make every effort to reach their village. Notwithstanding his sufferings, he spent the long winter in prayer, meditation, and retreat, and said mass every day. Some time afterward he recovered sufficiently to resume his journey. On 29 March he set out, and, after great suffering, reached Kas- kaskia on 8 April. He went from cabin to cabin explaining the principles of his religion, and then convened the whole people on a prairie near the village. He preached to more than 2,000 men and a still larger number of women, most of whom he converted. After addressing another great meet- ing, he told the Indians that he was obliged to leave on account of his ailment, and then set out for Mack- inaw, escorted for thirty leagues by the Indians. But his strength gradually failed and he became so weak that he had to be lifted in and out of his canoe. On the eve of his death he told his com- panions that he would die the next day, and. per- ceiving the mouth of a river with an eminence on the bank, he directed that he should be buried there. He was carried ashore and a poor bark cabin raised to shelter him. " The river where he died," writes Parkman, '• is a small stream in the west of Michigan, some distance south of the prom- ontory called the Sleeping Bear. It long bore his name, which has now been given to a larger neigh- boring stream." His remains were transferred to Point St. Ignace, Mich., and their resting-place was afterward forgotten, but w.as discovered by a clergyman of Eagle Hai'bor, Mich., in 1877. Fa- ther Marquette was the first to give an explana- tion of the lake tides, and his theory has not been improved by modern scientists.


MARQUEZ, Leonardo (mar'-keth), Mexican soldier, b. in Mexico about 1820. He entered the army in early life, and, when serving as a major against the revolution of Gen. Paredes, captured the guerilla chief Jarauta {q. v.) near Guanajuato in July, 1848. But he was soon dissatisfied with the Liberal government, and on 10 Feb.. 1849, pro- nounced in Sierra Gorda against President Her- rera, declaring the resignation of Santa- Anna void, and marched against Queretaro. His forces desert- ed him and he was obliged to fly. He was cap- tured in Popotla, but escaped, and later was in- cluded in an amnesty. In 1858, under Gen. Zu- loaga's government, "he captured Zacatecas from the Liberal forces, but was soon forced to evacuate it. After the accession to power of Miramon {q. v.), Marquez was one of the chief supports of the reactionary government. While Miramon was ab- sent in the attack on Vera Cruz, the Constitutional forces under Santos DegoUado marched against the capital, but the garrison under Marquez encoun- tered and totally defeated them at Tacubaya, 11 April, 1859. The victory was sullied by the exe- cution of a great number of prisoners, and also of six young medical students, who had left the capi- tal to assist the wounded Liberals, Marquez alleg- ing an express order from Miramon for this cruel act. On the truimphal entry of the victorious army into the capital the next day, Marquez was present- ed by a committee of ladies with a silk sash bearing the inscription : " To virtue and valor, a token of the gratitude of the daughters of Mexico." Mira- mon now organized three brigades for service in the interior, and Marquez, in command of one, marched to Michoacan, occupying Morelia and afterward Guadalajara. From the latter place he made an expe- dition to Tepic, where he ordered several executions^ and brought back twenty loads of bar-silver. On his return he marched against Guanajuato, and was- attacked by the forces of Gen. Jose Maria Arteaga, whose rear-guard he surprised and routed. In November, 1859, Gen. Miramon, who for some time had shown dislike for Marquez, ordered his arrest and criminal prosecution for the seizure of a com- mercial remittance of $600,000 in silver in Guadala- jara, but after the defeat of the reactionary forces in Silao, 10 Aug., 1860, Miramon was forced by circumstances to set him at liberty. In September he took the command of one of the three divisions that were formed in Mexico, and was ordered to watch the Constitutional forces in Guanajuato, but when the bulk of their army marched on Gua- dalajara, and Marquez was not strong enough to intercept them, he was ordered against Queretaro, which he occupied in October. After recruiting his army he tried to relieve the reactionary forces that were besieged in Guadalajara, but was defeated near Guanajuato by Gen. Huerta on 8 Oct. After the armistice of Guadalajara he was attacked on 10 Nov. by the main army under Gonzalez Ortega at Tololotlan, and totally defeated, taking refuge in the city of Mexico, where he was soon sur- rounded by the Constitutional forces. As the gov- ernment was entirely destitute of resources, Mar- quez gave the superintendent of police, Lagarde, a. written order to enter the house of an English- man under pretext of searching for hidden arms, and. notwithstanding a protest, a door closed with the seal of the British legation was forcibly opened and $620,000 belonging to British bond-holders were taken on 17 Nov., 1860. When Miramon at at last resolved to march against the Constitutional forces, Marquez left the capital on 20 Dec, in command of one of the divisions, and after the final defeat of the reactionary party at Calpulal- pam on 22 Dec, when Miramon fled to Europe, Marquez retired to the mountains of Michoacan and continued to harass the Liberals. When Esco- bedo (g. v.) early in 1861 was captured by the reac- tionary forces under Gen. Mejia in Rio Verde, Marquez used his utmost endeavors to have Esco- bedo shot, but Mejia resisted and saved Escobedo's life. In March, 1861, Marquez issued a decree, which he circulated widely, declaring all persons that served the government of Juarez traitors, and condemning them to death. With the expectation of foreign intervention against the Liberal govern-