THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
EARLY FRENCH EXPLORATIONS IN THE
MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
De Soto-Le-- CaronSamuel de Champlain--French
Adventurers--James Marquette--Louis
Joliet--Embarkation to Explore New
Countries--Lake Michigan and Green
Bay-The "Ouisconsin " -
Indian Accounts of the Country - Discovering
the Great River- Indian
Name of the River--Joy of the Explorers-Interview
with Indians on Iowa Soil-Feast-Speech
of an Indian Chief-The Des Moines
River-" Muddy Water" -The
Arkansas Return-Indian Nations-Marquette's
Record-His Subsequent Voyage-La Vantum
Marquette's Death-Removal of His Remains-Joliet's
Subsequent Explorations-Robert La
Salle-Louis Hennepin-Chevalier de
Tonti-De La Motte-Fort Crevecceur-Hennepin's
Voyage-Falls of St. Anthony-Seur de
Luth-Hennepin's Claims as an Explorer
Colonization of Louisiana-Dissensions-Murder
of La Salle.
7
THE
three great colonizing powers of the
Old World first to raise the standard
of civilization within the limits
of North America were France, England,
and Spain. The French made their earliest
settlements in the cold and inhospitable
regions of Quebec; the English at
Jamestown, Virginia, and at Plymouth,
Massachusetts; and the Spaniards on
the barren sands of Florida. To the
French belongs the honor of discovering
and colonizing that portion of our
country known as the Valley of the
Mississippi, including all that magnificent
region watered by the tributaries
of the Great River. It is true that
more than one. hundred years earlier
(1538-41) the Spanish explorer, De
Soto, had landed on the coast of Florida,
penetrated the everglades and unbroken
forests of the south, finally reaching'
the banks of the Great River, probably
near where the city of Memphis now
stands. Crossing the river, he and
his companions pursued their journey
for some distance along the west bank,
thence to the Ozark Mountains and
the Hot Springs of Arkansas, and returning
to the place of his death on the banks
of the Mississippi. It was a perilous
expedition indeed, characterized by
all the splendor, romance and valor
which usually attended Spanish adventurers
of that age. De Soto and his companions
were the first Europeans to behold
the waters of the Mississippi, but
the expedition was a failure so far
as related to colonization. The requiem
chanted by his companions as his remains
were committed to the waters of the
great river he had discovered, died
away with the solemn murmurs of the
stream, and the white man's voice
was not heard again in the valley
for more than a hundred years. De
Soto had landed at Tampa Bay, on the
coast of Florida, with a fleet of
nine vessels and seven hundred men.
More than half of them died, and the
remainder made their way to Cuba,
and finally back to Spain.
Four years before
the pilgrims moored their bark on
the wild New England shore, a French
Franciscan, named Le Caron, penetrated
the region of
8
the great lakes of the north, then
the home of the Iroquois and the Hurons,
but a French settlement had been established
at Quebec by Samuel de Champlain in
1608. This was followed by the establishment
of various colonies in Canada, and
the hardy French adventurers penetrated
the country by the way of the St.
Lawrence and the lakes. In 1625 a
number of missionaries of the Society
of Jesus arrived in Canada from France,
and during the succeeding forty years
extended their missions all along
the shores of Lake Superior.
In 1637 a child
was born at the little city of Laon,
in France, whose destiny it was in
the fullness of time to be instrumental
in the hands of Providence in giving
to the world a definite knowledge
of the grandest and most fertile region
ever opened up to civilization. That
child was James Marquette, ,the descendant
of a family of Celtic nobles. He entered
the Society of Jesus when seventeen
years of age, and soon conceived a
desire to engage in the labors of
a missionary among the Indians. He
sailed for Quebec in 1666, and two
y-ears later founded the mission of
Sault Ste. Marie at the Falls of St.
Mary. The winter of 1669-70 he spent
at Point St. Ignatius, where he established
another mission. Here the old town
of Michillimackinac, afterward called
Mackinaw, was founded. It was from
Indians of the different tribes who
came to this mission that he received
some vague intimations of the great
river-the father of all the rivers.
He at once conceived a desire to penetrate
to the banks of the wonderful river,
and carry his missionary work to the
tribes which he had learned inhabited
its borders. He applied to his Superior,
Claude Dablon, for permission to "seek
new nations toward the Southern sea."
The authorities at Quebec were equally
desirous of having new regions explored,
and therefore appointed Louis Joliet
to embark' upon a voyage of discovery.
Joliet was a native of Quebec and'
had been educated in a Jesuit College.
He had at the age of eighteen taken
minor orders, but had abandoned all
thoughts of the priesthood and engaged
in the fur trade. He was now twenty-seven
years of age, with a mind ripe for
adventure. He left Quebec, and arriving
at Mackinaw found Father Marquette
highly delighted with the information
that they were to be companions in
a voyage which was to extend the domain
of the Ring of France, as well as
to carry the Gospel to new nations
of people. The explorers, accompanied
by five assistants, who were French
Canadians, started on their journey,
May 13,1673. Marquette has himself
recorded in the following simple language
their feelings on this occasion: "We
were embarking on a voyage the character
of which we could not foresee. Indian
corn, with some dried meat, was our
whole stock of provisions. With this
we set out in two bark canoes, M.
Joliet, myself and five men, firmly
resolved to do all and suffer all
for so glorious an enterprise."
They coasted along the northern shore
of Lake Michigan, entered Green Bay,
and passed up the Fox river, carrying
their canoes across the Portage to
the" Ouisconsin," now called
Wisconsin.. At Lake Winnebago, before
crossing the Portage, they stopped
at an Indian village, which was the
furthest outpost to which Dablon and
Allouez had extended their missionary
work. Here they assembled the chiefs
and old men of the village and told
them of the objects of the voyage.
Pointing to Joliet, Father Marquette
said: "My friend is an envoy
of France to discover new countries,
and I am an ambassador from God to
enlighten them with the truths of
the Gospel." The Indians furnished
two guides to conduct them to the
Wisconsin river. It is related that
a tribe of Indians endeavored to dissuade
them from pursuing their perilous
journey
9
by telling of desperate and savage
tribes that they would meet; that
the forests and the rivers were infested
with frightful monsters; that there
were great fish in the rivers that
would swallow up men and canoes together,
and of a demon who could be heard
from a great distance, and who destroyed
all who approached. Unmoved, by these
frightful stories, Marquette, Joliet,
and their five brave assistants, launched
their little canoes on the waters
of the Wisconsin, and moved slowly
down the current. After a lapse of
seven days, June 17th, 1673, they
reached the mouth of the Wisconsin
and glided into the current of the
Mississippi, a few miles below the
place now known as Prairie du Chien.
Here, and on this day the eye of the
white man for the first time looked
upon the waters of the upper Mississippi.
Marquette called the river "The
Broad River of the Conception."
The Indian name is derived from the
Algonquin language one of the original
tongues of the continent. It is a
compound of the words Missi,
signifying great, and Sepe,
a river.
The explorers
felt the most intense joy on beholding
the scene presented to their enraptured
vision, Here was the great river whose
waters somewhere thousands of miles
away flowed into a Southern sea, and
whose broad valley was the fairest
and richest in the world, but unknown
to civilized man, save as an almost
forgotten dream or a ,vague romance.
They had solved one of the great mysteries
of the age in which they lived. As
they glided down the stream the bold
bluffs reminded Marquette of the "castled
shores of his own beautiful rivers
in France." The far stretching
prairies alternating with forests,
on either side, were adorned .in all
the wild glories of June. Birds sang
the same notes that they had sung
for ages amid those" forests
primeval," while herds of buffalo,
deer and elk were alarmed and fled
to the dense retreats of the forest
or the broad prairies beyond. Not
until the 25th Julie did they discover
any signs of human habitation, Then,
about sixty leagues, as they thought,
below the mouth of the Wisconsin,
at a place where they landed on the
west bank of the river, they found
in the sand the foot-prints of man.
Marquette and Joliet left their five
companions in charge of the canoes
and journeyed away from the river,
knowing that they must be near the
habitation of men. They followed a
trail leading across a prairie clothed
in the wi1d luxuriance of summer for
a distance of about six miles, when
they beheld another river and on its
banks an Indian village, with other
villages on higher land a mile and
a half from the first. The Indians
greeted the two white strangers, as
far as their ability permitted, with
a splendid ovation. They appointed
four of their old men to meet the
strangers in council. Marquette could
speak their' language. They informed
him that they were "Illini"
(meaning "we are men"),
and presenting the calumet of peace,
invited them to share the hospitalities
of their village. Marquette told them
of the object of their visit, and
that they had been sent by the French,
who were their friends. He told them
of the great God that the white man
worshiped who was the same, Great
Spirit that they adored. In answer,
one of the chiefs addressed them as
follows: .
"I
thank the Black Gown Chief (Marquette),
and the Frenchman (Joliet) for taking
so much pains to come and visit us;
never has the earth been so beautiful,
nor the sun so bright as now; never
has the river been so calm, nor so
free from rocks, which your canoes
have removed as they passed; never
has our tobacco had so fine a flavor,
nor our corn appeared, so beautiful
as we behold it to-day. Ask the Great
Spirit to give us life and health,
and come ye and dwell with us."
After these ceremonies
the strangers were invited to a feast,
an account of
10
which is given by Marquette. It consisted
of four courses. First, there was
a large wooden bowel filled with tagamity,
or Indian meal, boiled in water and
seasoned with oil. The master of ceremonies,
with a wooden spoon, fed the tagamity
to their guests as children are fed.
The second course consisted of fish,
which, after the bones were taken
out, was presented to the mouths of
the strangers as food may be fed to
a bird. The third course was a preparation
of dog meat, but learning that the
strangers did not eat that it was
at once removed. The fourth and final
course was a piece of buffalo meat,
the fattest portions of which were
put into the mouths of the guests.
The stream
on whose banks took place this first
interview between the explorers and
the untutored Indians, after parting
with their guides, was the Des Moines
river, and the place of their landing
was probably about where the town
of Montrose is now located, in Lee
county, Iowa. One of our sweetest
American poets has rendered Marquette's
narrative in verse, as follows:
"Came a people
From the distant land of Wabun;
From the farthest realms of morning
Came the Black Robe Chief, the Prophet,
He the Priest of Prayer, the Pale-face,
With his guides and his companions.
And the noble Hiawatha,
With his hand aloft extended,
Held aloft in sign of welcome,
Cried aloud and spoke in this wise:
'Beautiful is the sun. O strangers,
When you come so far to see us;
All our town in peace awaits you;
All our doors stand open for you;
You shall enter all our wigwams;
For the heart's right hand we give
you. Never bloomed the earth so gayly,
Never shone the sun so brightly,
As to-day they shine and blossom
When you came so far to see us.'
And the Black Robe Chief made answer,
Stammered in his speech a little,
Speaking words yet unfamiliar:
'Peace be with you, Hiawatha,
Peace be with you and your people,
Peace of prayer, and peace of' pardon,
Peace of Christ, and Joy of Mary!'
Then the generous Hiawatha,
Led the strangers to his wigwam,
Seated them on skins of bison,
Seated them on skins of ermine,
Brought them food in bowls of bass-wood,
Water brought in birchen dippers,
And the calumet, the peace-pipe,
Filled and lighted for their smoking.
All the warriors of the nation,
Came to bid the strangers welcome;
'It is well,' they said, 'O brother,
That you came so far to see us.' "
Marquette and Joliet remained
at the Indian villages six days, and
were then accompanied to their canoes
by an escort of six hundred Indians.
Invitations were extended to the strangers.
to renew their visit, after which
the explorers embarked in their boats
and floated on down the stream, passing
the sites ,of future great cities
of the valley, and passing the mouths
of the Missouri and .Ohio rivers,
and as far down as the mouth of the
Arkansas.
11
Marquette named the Missouri river
Pekitanoui, .or "Muddy
Water," .on account of the now
well-known character of that stream.
After extending
their voyage to the mouth of the Arkansas,
where they found a village .of the
Arkansas tribe, they ascended the
Mississippi to the mouth of the Illinois.
They ascended the latter river to
its source. Along this stream they
found many villages of the Illinois,
or Illini, a large and powerful
tribe, who were subdivided into five
smaller tribes—the Tamaroas,
Michigamies, Kahakias, Kaskaskias,
and Peorias. The country between the
Illinois and Mississippi rivers was
inhabited by the three last named
tribes. The Michigamies resided in
the country bordering on Lake Michigan,
and the Tamaraas occupied the territory
now included in the counties of Jersey,
Madison and St. Clair, Illinois. Kaskaskia—also
designated by the early explorers
as "La Vantum" and"
Great Illinois Town "—was
the largest of the villages, containing,
according to Marquette, seventy-five
lodges. Without the lass of a man,
.or any serious accident, the party
reached Green Bay in September, and
reported their discoveries. Marquette
made a faithful record of what they
had seen and the incidents of the
voyage. That record has been preserved.
The report of Joliet was unfortunately
lost by the upsetting of his canoe
while and the way to Quebec.
At the request
.of the Illinois Indians, Marquette
soon returned and established the
mission of the Immaculate Conception
at La Vantum. In the spring of 1675,
on account of failing health, he started
to return to Green Bay. While passing
along the share of Lake Michigan,
conscious that he was nearing the
end of his earthly labors, he observed
an elevated place near the mouth of
a small river. He told his companions
that the place was suitable far his
burial, and requested them to land.
On that lonely and desolate coast,
May 18, 1675, at the age of thirty-eight,
James Marquette ended his last earthly
voyage, and received burial at the
hands of his devoted companions. Two
years later same Indians of the mission
at Kaskaskia disinterred his remains,
and conveyed them in a box made of
birch bark, with a convoy of over
twenty canoes, to Mackinaw, where
they were reinterred at the mission
church. The past was abandoned in
1706, and the church burned. The place
of burial was finally lost, and remained
lost far two hundred years. In May,
1876, the foundations of the old Jesuit
Mission were accidentally discovered
on the farm of one David Murray, with
a number of church relics, the mouldering
[moldering] remains of the great missionary
and explorer, and a cross with his
name inscribed upon it.
Joliet, after his return to Quebec,
became again a trader with the Indians.
His services were rewarded by the
French government by the gift of the
island of Anticasta, in the Gulf of
St. Lawrence. Little after this is
known of him. He died about 1730.
The reports given
of the discoveries of Marquette and
Joliet, served to encourage other
adventurers to engage in the effort
to extend their explorations. Robert
La Salle, a French navigator, who
was barn at Rouen about the year 1635,
had long cherished a project of seeking
a route to China by way .of the Great
Lakes. Before the return of Marquette
and Joliet, he had explored Lake Ontario
and visited the different Indian tribes.
In 1675 he went to France and obtained
from the government a grant to a large
tract of land about Fort Frontenac,
the exclusive right of traffic with
the Five Nations, and also a patent
of nobility. He laid before his government
his desire to explore the Mississippi
to its mouth, and take possession
of all the regions he might visit
in the name of the King of France.
His plans were
12
warmly approved, and he was provided
with the means for carrying them into
execution. In Ju1y,1678, he returned
to Foft Frontenac, soon after established
a trading house at Niagara, and visited
the neighboring Indian tribes for
the purpose of collecting furs. He
engaged the services of thirty mechanics
and mariners and built the first ship
for the navigation of the lakes. It
was called the Griffin, and was a
bark of sixty tons. Having been joined
by Louis Hennepin and Chevalier de
Tonti, the latter an Indian veteran,
on the 7th of August, 1679, they launched
the Griffin on Niagara river, and
embarked for the valley of the Mississippi.
They crossed Lake Erie and Lake St.,
Clair, reaching Green, Bay, September,
2d. For the purpose of relieving himself
of some pressing financial obligations
at Montreal, La Salle, here engaged
for a time in collecting furs with
which he loaded the Griffin, and sent
it in the, care of a pilot and fourteen
sailors on its return trip, with orders
to return immediately but the vessel
was, never heard of afterward. He
waited until all hope had vanished,
and then, with Father Hennepin, Chevalier
de Tonti; the, Sieur de la Motte,
and about thirty followers, began
again the voyage. They ascended the
St. Joseph in canoes to the portage,
and carried their barks to the Kankakee,
a distance of six miles, descended
the Kankakee and the Illinois until
they reached an Indian village on
the latter stream, at the expansion
of the same, known as Lake Peoria.
The village was situated on the west
bank of the lake, and must have been
passed by Marquette and Joliet on
their voyage up the river in 1673,
although no mention is made of it
by them. La Salle, Hennepin, Tonti
and their followers landed at Lake
Peoria, January 3d, 1680. The Indians
received them hospitably, and they
remained with them for several days.
Here a spirit of discontent began
to manifest itself among the followers
of La Salle, and fearing trouble between
his men and the Indians; they crossed
the river and moved down about three
miles, where they erected a fort,
which La Salle, named Fort Crevecoeur
{heart-break} a name expressive of'
"La Salle's sorrow at the loss
of his fortune by the disaster to
the Griffin, and also his feelings
in the fear of mutiny among his men.
The party remained here until in February,
when Tonti was placed in command of
the post, and Hennipin charged with
a voyage of discovery to the sources
of the Mississippi. La Sa,lle returned
on foot with three companions to Fort
Frontenac for supplies. On his arrival
he learned of the certainty of the
loss of the Griffin, and a1so of the
wreck of another vessel which had
been sent with resources for him from
France.
Father Hennepin,
with two companions, Picard du Gay
and Michel Aka, on the 29th of February,
1680, embarked from Fort Crevecoeur
in a canoe down the Illinois to its
month, which they reached in a few
days. They then turned up the Mississippi,
reaching the mouth of the Wisconsin,
April 11th. Above this point no European
had ever ascended. They continued;
the voyage, reaching the Falls of
St. .Anthony, April 30, 1680. Hennepin
so named the falls in honor of his
patron Saint. When they arrived at
the mouth of St. Francis river, in
what is now the State of Minnesota,
they, traveled along its banks a distance
of 180 miles, visiting the Sioux Indians,
who inhabited that region. The river,
Hennepin so named in honor of the
founder of his order. In his account
of this voyage; Hennepin claims that
they were held in captivity by the
Indians for about three months, although
they were treated kindly by them.
At the end of this time a band of
Frenchmen, under the leadership of
Seur de Luth, in pursuit of furs,
had penetrated to this part of the
country by the way of Lake Superior.
The
13
Indians allowed Hennepin and his companions
to return with the traders. They descended
the Mississippi to the mouth of the
Wisconsin, passing up that stream
and down the Fox river, and so on
through Green Bay to Lake Michigan.
Hennepin went to Quebec and thence
to France, where, in 1683, he published
an account of his explorations and,
a description of the, region of the
Upper Mississippi. In 1697 (two years
after La Salle's death) he published
an enlarged work; in which, he claimed
that he had, descended the Mississippi
to its mouth. His faithful description
of the valley for a time gave him
credit for veracity, but the impossibility
of reconciling his dates; and other
circumstances, are by the best authorities
regarded as stamping his claim false.
Before the time this work was published,
as we shall see, La Salle had descended
the Mississippi to its mouth. Hennepin
explained his long silence as to his
exploration to the mouth of the Mississippi,
by claiming that he had feared the
enmity of La, Salle, who had ordered
him to follow a different course,
and had also prided himself upon his
own claims as being the first European
to descend the Mississippi to the
Gulf of Mexico. Father Hennepin died
in Holland, about the year 1699.
We now return
to the further adventures of the brave
and intrepid La Salle. He returned
to Fort Crevecoeur in the latter part
of the year 1680, to find that Tonti
had been abandoned by his men, and
obliged to take refuge among the Pottawattamies.
He spent another year in collecting
his scattered followers, finally succeeded,
and on the 6th of February, 1682,
he had reached the mouth of the Illinois.
As they passed down the Mississippi
La Salle noted the different streams
tributary thereto. They erected a
fort near the mouth of the Ohio, and
a cabin at the first Chickasaw bluff.
On the 9th of April they entered the
Gulf of Mexico. They reascended the
river a short distance, founded the
Fort of St. Louis, took possession
of the whole valley in the name of
France, and called it by the name
of Louisiana, in honor of the king.
La Salle, having
accomplished much for the glory of
France, now retraced his steps northward.
After spending one year about the
great lakes, actively engaged in laying
the foundations of French settlements
in the new regions he had discovered,
in November, 1683, he reached Quebec,
and soon after embarked for France.
The government, with marks of great
esteem, bestowed upon him a commission
placing under his authority the French
and natives of the country, from Fort
St. Louis to New Biscay. An expedition,
with four vessels and 280 persons,
was fitted out for the co1onization
of Louisiana it sailed August 1, 1684.
Associated with La Salle, in this
expedition, was Beaujen, as naval
commander. The mouth of the Mississippi
was the objective point, but by mistake
the fleet passed on, northward. When
the error was discovered La Salle
desired to return, but Beaujeu persisted
in advancing. Dissensions arose, and
La Salle, with 230 colonists, disembarked.
This was in February, 1685. A fortified
post, which was called Fort St. Louis,
was established, and attempts made
at agriculture, but without success.
Attempts were made to reach the Mississippi,
which they thought near, but failed.
La Salle and his fo11owers traversed
the, wilderness toward New Mexico,
and in January, 1687, by sickness
and disaster, his party was reduced
to thirty-seven. Some of these, following,
Beaujeu's example, revolted. La Salle,
with sixteen men, then determined
to reach the country of the Illinois.
Two men, who had embarked their capital
in the enterprise, were bitter in
malignity toward the leader of this
unsuccessful expedition. Their feelings
found some gratification in the murder
of a
14
nephew of La Salle. The latter sought
to investigate as to the death of
his relative, but only shared .his
fate, as one of them fired upon him
from ambush, and the heroic La Salle
fell, the victim of quarrels and dissensions
among his own followers. This event
happened after he had passed the basin
of the Colorado and reached a branch
of' Trinity river, in Texas.
We have thus briefly
outlined the part taken by this energetic
and adventurous explorer, in giving
to civilization a knowledge of a region
that was destined to constitute the
richest and most productive portion
of the American continent, if not
indeed, of the world.
EARLY SETTLEMENTS
IN THE NORTHWEST.
Early French Settlements-Indian
Tribes-Mission at Kaskaskia- Kahokia-
Vincennes-Fort Ponchartrain-Fort Chartres-La
Belle Riviere-La Salle-The English
Claim "From Sea to Sea"-Treaty
with Indians in 1684-English Grants-French
and Indians Attack Pickawillany Treaty
with the Six Nations- French and English
Claims-George Washington
-French and Indian War-Fall of Montreal-Treaty
of Paris-Pontiac's Conspiracy
Detroit-Pontiac's Promissory Notes-Pontiac's
Death-France Cedes Louisiana to Spain
-Washington Explores the Ohio Valley-Emigration-Land
Companies-The Revolution
-Colonel Clark-8urrender of French
Posts In Illinois-Surrender of Vincennes-Gov.
Hamilton Taken Prisoner-Daniel Boone-Simon
Girty-Virginia's "Land Laws."
AS
THE French were the first to explore
the region known as the Northwest,
so they were the first to improve
the opening thus made. The earliest
settlements were in that part of the
country east of the Mississippi and
south of the Great Lakes, occupied
chiefly by the Illinois tribes of
the Great Algonquin family of Indians.
The Illinois were divided into the
Tamaroas, Michigamies, Kakokias, Kaskaskias,
and Peorias, and were sometimes designated
as the Five Nations. The three last-named
tribes occupied the country between
the Illinois and Mississippi rivers;
the Michigamies the region bordering
on Lake Michigan, and the Tamaroas,
a small tribe, in the same region
occupied by the Kahokias, and now
embraced in the counties of Jersey,
Madison, and St. Clair, in the state
of Illinois. The French opened the
way for colonization by the establishment
of missions among these tribes, their
efforts in this direction having been
attended with great success in Canada.
A mission was founded at Kaskaskia
by Father Gravier about the year 1698.
This at the time of the visit of Marquette
and Joliet, in 1673, was the largest
and most important of the Illinois
villages, and contained seventy-four
lodges, or about fifteen hundred inhabitants.
By the early explorers it was called
by the several names of' "Kaskaskia,"
"La Vantum," and" Great
Illinois Town." Here, in 1675,
Father Marquette had attempted to
christianize the Indians by establishing
the mission of' the Immaculate Conception.
For years it was nothing more than
a missionary station, occupied only
by the Nations and the missionary.
About the year 1700 missions were
also established at Kahokia and Peoria,
the latter being near the site of
old Fort Crevecoeur. Another of the
early French settlements was at Vincennes
on the Oubache (Waba, now Wabash)
river. Authorities disagree as to
the date of this settlement, but it
was probably about 1702. For many
years this was an isolated colony
of French emigrants from Canada, and
several generations of their descendants
lived and passed away in these vast
solitudes, before either they or their
savage neighbors were disturbed by
the encroachments of an expanding
civilization. During all this time
they had maintained
friendly relations with the natives
in July, 1701, a station was established
15
by De la Motte on the Detroit river,
called Fort Ponchartrain. While these
attempts to colonize the Northwest
were in progress, similar efforts
were being made by France in the Southwest,
but without maintaining like friendly
relations with the natives, for in
a conflict with the Chickasaws, an
entire colony at Natchez was cut off.
As these settlements in the Northwest
were isolated but little is known
of their history prior to 1750. In
this year Vivier, a missionary among
the Illinois, near Fort Chartres,
writes of five French villages, with
a population of eleven hundred whites;
three hundred blacks, and sixty red
slaves or savages. He says there were
whites, negroes and Indians, to say
nothing of half-breeds. They then
raised wheat, cattle, swine and horses,
and sent pork, grain and flour to
New Orleans: On the 7th of November,
1750, the same priest writes:
"For fifteen
leagues above the mouth of the Mississippi
one sees no dwellings, the ground
being too low to be habitable. Thence
to New Orleans the lands are only
partially occupied. New Orleans contains
black, white and red, not more, I
think, than twelve hundred persons.
To this point come all lumber, bricks,
salt-beef, tallow, tar, skins and
bear's grease; and above all, pork
and flour from the Illinois. These
things create some commerce, as forty
vessels and more have come hither
this year. Above New Orleans plantations
are again met with; the most considerable
is a colony of Germans some ten leagues
up the river. At Point Coupee, thirty-five
leagues above the German settlement,
is a fort. Along here, within five
or six leagues, are not less than
sixty habitations. Fifty leagues further
up is the Natchez post, where we have
a garrison, who are kept prisoners
through fear of the Chickasaws. Here
and at Point Coupee they raise excellent
tobacco. Another hundred leagues brings
us to the Arkansas, where we have
also a fort and a garrison for the
benefit of the river traders. .From
the Arkansas to the Illinois, nearly
five hundred leagues, there is not
a settlement. There should be, however,
a fort at the Cubache (Ohio), the
only path by which the English can
reach the Mississippi. In the Illinois
country are numberless mines, but
no one to work them as they deserve."
The fame of Robert
Cavelier de La Salle was not achieved
alone by his explorations of the Valley
of the Mississippi, for, in 1669,
four years before the discovery of
the Mississippi by Marquette and Joliet,
La Salle discovered the Ohio river,
or La Belle Riviere (Beautiful River),
as the French called it. Being conversant
with several Indian dialects, he had
learned from some Senecas of a river
called Ohio which rose in their country
and flowed a long distance to the
sea. La Salle then held the belief
that the river flowing to the west
emptied into the Sea of California,
and longed to engage in the enterprise
of discovering a route across the
continent. He obtained the approval
of the government at Quebec, but no
allowance to defray the expense. He
sold his property in Canada for two
thousand eight hundred dollars, and
with the proceeds purchased canoes
and the necessary supplies. With a
party of twenty-four persons he embarked
in seven canoes on the St. Lawrence,
July 6th, 1669. Crossing over Lake
Ontario, they were conducted by Indian
guides to the Genesee, about where
the city of Rochester, New York, is
now located. The enterprise did not
receive the approbation of the Indians
at the Seneca village then situated
on the bank of the Genesee at this
point, and they refused to furnish
him guides to conduct him further.
After a month's delay he met an Indian
belonging to the Iroquois tribe on
Lake Ontario, who conducted them to
their village, where they received
a more friendly welcome. From the
chief' of the Iroquois at Onondaga
he obtained
16
guides who conducted the party to
a river south of Lake Erie. This proved
to be a tributary of the Ohio. They
descended it and thence down the Ohio
to the great falls where Louisville
now stands. By virtue of this discovery
the French claimed the country along
the Ohio, and many years after established
military and trading posts at different
points. One of these was Fort Du Quesna,
erected ,in 1654, which, was taken
from them by the English a few years
later and called Pittsburg, in honor
of William Pitt, then prime
minister of England.
Not withstanding,
the discovery of the Ohio by the French
under La Salle as early as 1669, the
English claimed from the Atlantic
to the Pacific on the ground that
her sea-coast discoveries entitled
her to the sovereignty of all the
country from" sea to sea."
In 1684, Lord Howard.' Governor of
Virginia, held a treaty with Indian
tribes known as the Northern Confederacy,
to-wit: the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas,
Cayugas and Senecas. The Tuscaroras
being subsequently, taken in, these
tribes became known as the Six Nations,
and the English assumed their protection.
They purchased from them large tracts
of' land and aimed to obtain a monopoly
of the Indian trade. The English government
made grants of land west of the Alleghenies,
and companies were formed for their
settlement. France, seeing the English
obtaining a foothold by planting trading
posts in the Northwest, in 1749 sent
Louis Celeron with a small
force of soldiers to plant in mounds
at the mouths, of the principal tributaries
of the Ohio, plates of lead with the
claims of France inscribed thereon.
The English, however, still continued
to make explorations and establish
trading posts. One of these grants
of' England was to a company known
as the" Ohio Company," and
embraced a tract of land on the Great
Miami" described as being one
hundred and fifty miles above its
mouth. Christopher Gist was
sent by this company in 1750 to inspect
thier [their] lands and to establish
a trading post. In 1752 a small party
of French soldiers, assisted by Ottawas
and Chippewas attacked this post and
captured the traders after a severe
battle. The English called this post
Pickawillany - the name being subsequently
contracted to Pickaway or Piqua. The
location of this post was doubtless
near that of the present town of Piqua,
on the Great Miami, a bout seventy-eight
miles north of Cincinnati. Thus on
the soil of what became a part of
the state of Ohio was shed the first
blood between the French and English
for the possessions of the Northwest.
In 1744 the English
had entered into a treaty with the
Six Nations at Lancaster, Pennsylvania,
by which they acquired certain. lands
described as being within the "Colony
of Virginia." The Indians subsequently
complained of bad faith on the part
of the English in failing to comply
with some of the stipulations of the
treaty. The Governor of Virginia,
appointed commissioners to hear the
grievances of the Indians. They met
at Logstown, on the north bank of
the Ohio, about seventeen miles below
the present city of Pittsburg, in
the spring' of 1752. Notwithstanding
the complaint of the Indians that
the English had failed supply them
with arms and ammunition as they had
i agreed, they succeed in obtaining
a confirmation of the treaty of Lancaster.
In the meantime
the French were quietly preparing
to maintain their claims to the country
in dispute they provided cannon and,
military stores in anticipation of
the coming conflict. The French were,
notified to give up their posts, but
they failed to comply. Governor Dinwiddie
finally determined to learn definitely
their intentions, and for this purpose,
selected Major
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