Class r3 S2^ 
 Book I H 3 ^ 
 
 GlpgMJJ'. 
 
 CQFSKIGHT DEPOSUl 
 
HISTORY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 DISCOVERY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 VALLEY OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 
 
 •♦• ^H* ^ 
 
 BY 
 
 ADOLPHUS M. HART. 
 
 
 Gaint Conia, £iXo.: 
 
 PUBLISHED AND FOR SALE BY A. M. HART. 
 
 1852. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, mtne year 1852, by 
 
 A. M. HART, 
 
 in the Clerks office of the District Court of Missouri. 
 
 STEKEOTYPED AT THE ST. LOUIS STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY 
 BY A. P. LADEW & CO. 
 
 Printed by T. W. Ustick. 
 
 
 Ctf^ \ 
 
PREFICE. 
 
 There being no work of the same compass, in the Eng- 
 lish language, devoted to this interesting branch of History, 
 and it being especially intended for the use of Academies 
 and schools, the author might have dispensed viriththe ne- 
 cessity of furnishing a preface to make the general reader 
 acquainted with the character and object of the publication. 
 He deems it necessary, however, to remark, that the fol- 
 lowing pages comprise an abstract of all that has been writ- 
 ten in the books and manuscripts that are extant, relating 
 to the early history of this part of the American Continent. 
 The subject is one, which will no doubt be hereafter more 
 fully developed, as' the works of other writers are brought 
 to light. In the mean time he has been obliged to rely 
 chiefly on those sources of information, which are found in 
 the scarce French works, that have been published on this 
 subject, as well as in a few of the manuscripts of the ear- 
 ly discoverers of the valley of the Missisippi, to which he 
 has been permitted to have access. 
 
 St. Louis, February, 1852. 
 
 Adolpiius M. Haet. 
 
HISTORY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ISCOVERY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 VALLEY OF THE MISSISSIPPI: 
 
HISTORY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 DISCOVEEY OF THE 
 VALLEY OE THE MISSISSIPPI. 
 
 There are many historical associations, which cluster 
 around the ancient denizens of Canada, in their efforts 
 to colonize this section of the American Continent, and 
 to rescue it from the savage tribes, who wandered in its 
 pathless deserts. Canada was the gateway, through 
 \vhich the pioneers of civilization entered, to disclose to 
 the world the rich and exhaustless treasures of the West, 
 or rather it may be likened to the portal of a mansion, 
 through which admission was gained to the inner cham- 
 bers, ornamented with every production of nature, and 
 disclosing to the view, in their gaudy array, pictures, 
 which had never been dreamt of, in the wildest efforts of 
 the human imagination. The poor and ignoble Colonist, 
 who emigrated in the seventeenth century, from the 
 
 hills and valleys of his native country, with his axe in 
 
 7 
 
8 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 his hand, and his gun on his shoulder, to clear the forest 
 and drive away the red-man from those paths, which 
 had been familiar to him from his infancy, exhibits to the 
 view of the philanthropist of the present day, an exam- 
 ple of courage and energy, of fortitude amidst danger, 
 and of heroism in his trials, which marks not the course 
 of the modern adventurer. Changeable as are the cir- 
 cumstances of human life, the Canadian colonist remains 
 at the present day, as unchanged as ever. No longer is 
 he required to wage an exterminating warfare, against 
 the aboriginal tribes of the country, no longer does he 
 hunt " the wild beast fi'om his lair,''' but now w^ith his 
 bible in one hand and his axe in the other, religion goes 
 hand in hand with civilization, and wherever one sees 
 the boundaries of the primeval forest receding from his 
 view^, there he observes the glittering spires of the Parish 
 Church, reflecting the rays of the sun in the firmament 
 of heaven, and betokening the soothing influence of re- 
 ligion, over a moral and an industrious people. 
 
 Nor can we withhold our meed of praise from those 
 French missionaries, who took their departure from Que- 
 bec, and travelled amongst all the Indian tribes, from 
 Hudson's Bay, on the one hand, to the countries along 
 the shores of the Mississippi, on the other. History has 
 commemorated in bright and glowing colors, whatever 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 9 
 
 events transpired, during the march of the Crusaders to 
 rescue the Holy land from the power of the Saracen, and 
 here the valiant v^arrior and hero was accompanied by 
 armed hosts, bent on achieving their object and having 
 the means to do so ; but with the missionary who stepped 
 beyond the bounds of civilization, and wandered through 
 trackless deserts, (his only compass, the blazeed bark of 
 the pine-tree ; his only food, the fortuitous product of 
 the chase,) history has not done justice to the noble 
 philanthropy, by which they were animated, nor to their 
 ardent devotion for the progress of science and religion, 
 amongst the benighted nations of the earth. The Cross 
 was the emblem of both the Crusader and the mission- 
 ary, but there must have been something sad and touch- 
 ing, in the effect, which this religious emblem produced 
 on the minds of the Savages, in the midst of the sombre 
 and silent forests of the New World, when it could dis- 
 arm their fierce heart-s and render them sensible to the 
 liveliest feelings of emotion. There must be something 
 soothing in rehgion, when it could mollify the wild pas- 
 sions of man, in the savage state, and make him succumb 
 to its influences. It was owing to the existence of these 
 feelings, that the French missionary was able to estab- 
 lish those friendly relations, which were afterwards en- 
 tertained towards him, by the denizens of the forest. 
 
10 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 The religious doctrines which he inculcated, contributed 
 to draw closer the ties, which connected him wdth his 
 neophytes. Hence the facilities, which he had to pene- 
 trate from one cabin to another, from one nation to ano- 
 ther, even in countries the most distant. Whether w^e 
 regard their efforts, as connected Vv-ith the cause of sci- 
 ence or religion, or as tending to develope to the inhabi- 
 tants of Europe an example of energy and activity in 
 the cause of human civilization, the French missionary 
 of the seventeenth century will always be an object of in- 
 terest to the student of American history, and will al- 
 ways be considered, as having contributed his share in 
 the regeneration of the aboriginal tribes of this Conti- 
 nent, from the galling chains of superstition and igno- 
 rance, by which they were surrounded. The warriors 
 and statesmen of the reign of Louis the Fourteenth fiule 
 into insignificance, when put in comparison, with what 
 the genius of a Colbert and a Talon planned, or what 
 the energy and activity of an Allouez and a Marquette 
 accomplished. "Do you not know," said the interpreter 
 of an Indian tribe to these missionaries, "do you not 
 know," said he, " that these distant nations never spare 
 strangers, that the wars, which they carry on, infest 
 their frontiers with hordes of robbers ; that the grand 
 river (meaning the Mississippi,) abounds in monsters, 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 11 
 
 who devour men and animals, and that the excessive 
 heat there causes death." " We know that," said they, 
 *' we know all, but by the decree of Providence, we 
 have been appointed, as humble missionaries, in the ser- 
 vice of God, to disseminate His Holy doctrines, amongst 
 countless tribes, in the deserts of America, and with His 
 will, we shall do our duly." 
 
 Long before what is now known, as "the West" was dis- 
 covered, several mis^ionaries had penetrated beyond the 
 hunting grounds of the Ottawas and the Abenakies, and 
 had established themselves, along the borders of Lake 
 Huron. The Fathers Breboeuf, Daniel, Jogues, Raim- 
 bault and several other members of their order, had es- 
 tablished villages along the shores of that Lake, amongst 
 others. Saint Joseph, Saint Michael, Saint Ignace and 
 Sainte Marie. The latter, placed at the outlet of Lake 
 Huron into Lake Erie, was for a long time, the central 
 point of the various missions, in that distant part of the 
 country. Later, in the year 1671, the scattered tribes 
 of the Hurons, fatigued of wandering from country to 
 country, fixed themselves at Machilimackinac,* a place 
 
 * The name of this locality is derived from a small Island form- 
 erly celebrated in those Countries, from the heio;ht of its banks, 
 which might be seen, at a distance of twelve miles. It is situated 
 at the jimction of Lakes Huron, Michigan and Superior. 
 
12 HISTORY OF THE VAL2.EY 
 
 situated on the shores of Lake Superior. This was the 
 first establishment, founded by an European, in the State 
 of Michigan. The Indians who were found therej re- 
 ceived from the French, the name of '^ Sauteurs,'' or 
 " Leapers," on account of their proximity to the Falls 
 of Sainte Marie, known as the " Sault Sainte Marie J' 
 These Indians belonged to the Algonquin Tribe. 
 
 In the space of thirteen years, (from 1634 to 1647,) 
 this extensive territory was visited by eighteen French 
 missionaries, besides others attached to their ministry, 
 who, animated by zeal in the cause of civilization, lent 
 their services to their clerical brethren, in order to reclaim 
 these savages from the depths of ignorance and supersti- 
 tion into which they had cast themselves. The Five 
 Nations, comprising the Iroquois, one of the fiercest 
 tribes that inhabited those countries, were located to the 
 north of Cataraqui, between the River Ottawa and Lake 
 Ontario, but nearer the latter, and the travellei^ had to 
 pursue their route across that part of the country, which 
 was watered by the tributaries of the Ottawa, the river 
 Akuanagusin, marked on the old charts, being one of 
 those tributaries. At that period, the South of Lake 
 Erie, beyond Buffalo was almost unknown to either the 
 voyageurs or the missionaries. It might be interesting 
 to particularize those sections, on the borders of Lake 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 13 
 
 Erie or Oswego, (as it is marked on an old chart, in the 
 possession of the writer,) which were then inhabited by 
 the Indian tribes, but the geographers of those days in 
 Europe do not seem to be very remarkable for accuracy 
 in fixing the localities of Indian settlements. Fort San- 
 doski, (Sandusky) now the harbour, where is the termi- 
 nation of the Railroad, connecting Lake Erie with the 
 Ohio, is marked on this map, and the euphonious appel- 
 lations of Tuscarora, Mingos, Kittawing, Schohorage, 
 Fort Mohican and the Cross of Holfway, need only be 
 mentioned, as indicating those parts of the Western States, 
 now teeming with millions of human beings, devoted to 
 the arts of agriculture and commerce, and supplying the 
 world with the products of a soil, which a bounteous 
 Providence has given them, to promote the prosperity 
 and happiness of their fellow-men. In the year 1640, 
 the Fathers Chaumonot and Breboeuf, completed the 
 survey of the valley of the Saint Lawrence, from the foot 
 of Lake Superior to the Ocean. About this period the 
 two missionaries Charles Raimbault and Isaac Jogues 
 left Canada, to visit Lake Huron, and after a pleasant 
 voyage, in which they were struck with the picturesque- 
 ness of the scenery along the shores, and amongst the 
 islands of Lake Huron, they arrived in seventeen days 
 at Sault Sainte Marie, where they met with a friendly 
 
 2 
 
14 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 reception from about two thousand Indians, assembled 
 there. As they advanced on their journey, the bounda- 
 ries of the American Continent seemed to recede from 
 them, and they learnt the names of numerous Indian 
 tribes, who, it was said, inhabited the South and West, 
 and amongst others, the " Sioux," whose hunting grounds 
 were situated at a distance of several leagues from Lake 
 Superior. They heard also, of several tribes of warri- 
 ors, who lived by the products of the soil, but whose 
 race and languages were unknown to them. — "Thus," 
 observes an American author, "from the religious zeal 
 of the French, a cross was erected on the borders of 
 Sault Ste Marie, and on the confines of Lake Superior, 
 from whence they saw the lands of the Sioux, in the 
 valley of the Mississippi, five years, before Elliott of 
 New England had addressed even a single word to the 
 Indians, who were but six miles from the harbor of 
 Boston." 
 
 It may be said, that at this period (1646), the safety 
 of the French possessions in America, depended chiefly 
 on the efforts of the missionaries to preserve peace, 
 which they succeeded in doing with all the neighboring 
 Indian tribes, with the exception of the Iroquois. The 
 small French Colony, on the banks of the Saint Law- 
 rence, situated at such an immense distance from the 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 15 
 
 mother country, with limited resources, and scarcely food 
 to eat would have been annihilated, had it not have been 
 for the friendly alliance, which these missionaries had 
 been able to contract with the native tribes. The Five 
 Nations had already boasted, that they would soon drive 
 Montmagny^ and the French to the sea, from whence 
 they came. But the bravery and the courage of these 
 men, who, with the breviary hanging around their necks, 
 and the Cross in their hands, penetrated the innermost 
 recesses of the forest, gave these people a lofty idea of 
 the power and the resources of the nation, to which 
 they belonged. There they w^ere, from the shores of 
 Hudson's Bay, to the gulf of Saint Lawrence and the 
 forests of Michigan, engaged day and night, in the ac- 
 complishment of their high and lofty purposes, anima- 
 ting, encouraging and rewarding those, who were dis- 
 posed to be friendly with them, and intimidating those, 
 whose hostility they were menaced with. Brought up 
 to a life of strict austerity, accustomed to that self-de- 
 nial, which was enjoined by the sect, to which they be- 
 longed, the terrors of a violent death, at the hands of 
 ruthless savages could not deter them from fulfilling the 
 solemn trust, whiqh had devolved upon them, and that 
 
 * Governor of New France or Canada. 
 
16 HISTORY OP THE VALLEV 
 
 very confidence which they had in the holiness of their 
 cause, enabled them the more readily to accomplish their 
 duty. Providence smiled benignantly on their efforts, 
 for had it not been that the tribes, whose alliance was 
 courted by the French, feared the hostility of the Iro- 
 quois, in all probability they would have rejected the 
 overtures of the missionaries and preferred war to peace. 
 In the year 1659, (as is related in the narrative of the 
 Missionaries), two young voyageurs, or travellers, led 
 by curiosity and the spirit of adventure, joined an Al- 
 gonquin tribe, and spent the winter on the shores of 
 Lake Superior. With their eyes fixed on the immense 
 solitudes of the West, and wondering what people in- 
 habited those forests, they heard with avidity the glow- 
 ing accounts^ by the Huron tribe, of those " Sioux", war- 
 riors and they resolved to visit them. They met on 
 their route with scattered tribes, w^ho had been dispersed 
 by the Iroquois, and they at length arrived in the coun- 
 try of the "Sioux," who, to their surprise, tendered to 
 them the hand of fellowship. They were a numerous 
 tribe, being divided into forty companies, and their man- 
 ners, whilst they were unlike those of the Algonquins 
 and Hurons, were calculated to impress the minds of the 
 travellers with a favorable opinion of them. The 
 Historian of New France, states, "that they had an 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 17 
 
 excellent disposition, treated their prisoners with less 
 cruelty than other nations, and had some knowledge of 
 the existence of a Divinity," These two intrepid ad- 
 venturers returned to Quebec, in 1660, escorted by sixty 
 Algonquin canoes and Canadian boats, laden with furs 
 and peltries. They confirmed the accounts which two 
 other Frenchmen, who had gone four years before, as 
 far as Lake Michigan, brought back with them, of the 
 numerous tribes, who wandered in those parts, and of 
 the Kristinos, " whose cabins were raised high ^nougli 
 to enable them to see the Great Lakes." 
 
 In the year 1660, Father Mesnard went with the Al- 
 gonquins to preach the Gospel to the Ottawas and other 
 tribes, on the shores of Lake Superior. He remained 
 about eight months, in a bay which he called Sainte The- 
 resa, probably the bay of Kiwina, on the south side of 
 the Lake, where he subsisted for some time, on acorns 
 and the fruit of wild plants. Invited hence by the Hu- 
 rons, he took his departure for the bay of Cha-gouia- 
 migong or Saint Esprit, on the western side of the Lake, 
 whither the Iroquois did not resort, on account of the 
 distance and the scarcity of provisions. Whilst Mes- 
 nard's compagnon de voyage, (fellow-traveller,) was oc- 
 cupied in repairing the canoe, he went into the woods; 
 and aevjer xe-appeared. This Priest had a great reputa?- 
 
18 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 tion amongst the savages, for the sanctity of his clerical 
 office, and a few years afterwards, his soutane (a gar- 
 ment worn by Priests,) and his breviary were found 
 amongst the " Sioux," who preserved them as relics, 
 and held them in great veneration. The Indians gener- 
 ally were remarkable for their carefulness in preserving 
 whatever belonged to these faithful missionaries, for four 
 or five years after the death of the Fathers Breboeuf 
 and Gamier, whom the Iroquois assassinated, a mission- 
 ary found in the possession of those barbarians a testa- 
 ment and a prayer-book, which had belonged to them. 
 The old chroniclers, such as Charlevoix, Champlain 
 and others, do not mention, that they preserved any other 
 articles, belonging to the persons they murdered, but the 
 books they had with them. These untutored savages 
 regarded these books in the light of their better spirits, 
 by whose directions these missionaries had been led on- 
 wards, in the paths of usefulness they were following. 
 
 We have thus far traced the early discoveries in the 
 West, which did not at the period we mentioned (1660) 
 extend beyond the hunting grounds of the " Sioux." 
 But vague suspicions were then entertained of the ex- 
 tent of the country, or the existence of a great River to 
 the West, and the accounts which they received from 
 the Sioux were so uncertain, that there w^as little in- 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 19 
 
 ducement for renewed exertions. However, we are 
 about reaching a period (1665) when the spirit of adven- 
 ture was again in the ascendant, amongst the old French 
 Colonists of America, and when their progress in making 
 discoveries in the West is to be regarded with increased 
 interest. Hitherto we have been narrating the attempts 
 of a few voyageurs and missionaries, to penetrate the 
 depths of the American forest, and when we consider 
 the almost insurmountable obstacles, which they encoun- 
 tered and the melancholy fate which many of them met 
 with, at the hands of their ruthless enemies, we cannot 
 withhold from them, our meed of praise at the magna- 
 nimity they displayed and the heroism they manifested. 
 But at this period, it pleased Divine Providence to bring 
 other actors on the scenes, other men, who with all the 
 self-devotion and courage, which were found in those 
 who had preceded them, combined qualities, which suited 
 them better for the task they had to perform. Previ- 
 ously to the year 1665, it was religious zeal, which 
 prompted men to risk their lives, in exploring the wild- 
 erness, the propagation of their faith, and the know- 
 ledge of God, were surely objects holy enough, to engage 
 their attention, but now, to these powerful motives was 
 joined the love of science and the desire to enlighten 
 Europeans, as to the extent of the American Continent 
 
20 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 and the resources and capabilities of this extensive 
 country. It was in this year, that Father Allouez, a 
 man who may be justly regarded as the pioneer amongst 
 the discoverers of the West, combining great mental en- 
 ergy, with a steadfastness of purpose, for which he was 
 remarkable, was sent from Canada to explore the regions 
 about Lake Superior. As he approached that vast In- 
 land Sea, and observed the Islands, which dotted its 
 surface, the fertility of its shores, and the gorgeousness 
 and picturesqueness of its scenery, there was something 
 in it dazzling to his imagination. He gazed with won- 
 der at the numerous objects, which struck his attention, 
 and to a mind bent on the pursuits of science, they were 
 doubly interesting to him. To his zeal for religion, and 
 untiring exertions in the cause of human civilization, 
 are we indebted for the first Christian Chapel, which 
 was erected in the solitudes of the West. After a short 
 sojourn at Sainte Theresa, he arrived at Cha-gouia-mi- 
 gong, or Saint Esprit, which had been visited by Father 
 Mesnard in 1660. Here, in what is now known as the 
 northern part of Wisconsin, at a spot, which was not 
 far from the source of the Mississippi, was raised the 
 first Temple in the Western wilderness, in which prayers 
 were offered up, by the humble missionaries of God, to 
 give them strength and confidence in their holy under- 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 21 
 
 takings, and to vouchsafe to them His protection in the 
 numerous trials they had to undergo. 
 
 Father Allouez preached in the Algonquin language 
 to twelve or fifteen tribes, who understood that idiom. 
 His reputation spread abroad, and the warriors of differ- 
 ent nations left their hunting grounds to visit the white- 
 man. The Pouteouatamis, from the borders of Lake 
 Michigan, the Outagamis and the Sakis from the deserts 
 of the East, the Sioux from the West, the Kristinos 
 from the swampy forests of the North, and the Illinois 
 of the Prairies, all vied with each other in their eager- 
 ness to see and hear the white-man, to learn his dis- 
 course and admire his eloquence. It was on one of these 
 occasions, that the Sioux informed Father Allouez, that 
 they protected themselves from the inclemency of the 
 weather, by covering their huts with the skins of wild 
 animals, and that they inhabited vast prairies on the bor- 
 ders of a great river, which they called " the Missis- 
 sippi.'^ It was thus, that the French had the first idea 
 of the existence of a great river, the discovery of which 
 "was to immortalize Joliet and his companion. 
 
 During the sojourn of Allouez in the country, he pur- 
 sued his researches amongst the Indian tribes, towards 
 the North, where he discovered the Nipissings, whom 
 the fear of the Iroquois, had driven to that distant re- 
 
22 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 gion. He entered into friendly communications with 
 them, and after having travelled two thousand miles, in 
 these extensive forests, suffering hunger, want and fa- 
 tigue, he directed his steps homewards, overjoyed with 
 the result of his expedition. To his discoveries, and 
 the information, which he imparted to the French Gov- 
 ernment, was the world indebted for the origin of that 
 expedition, in which a French Priest and a Canadian 
 merchant disclosed to the inhabitants of Europe the ex- 
 istence of a river, which to geographers had been hith- 
 erto unknown, and which flowing to the ocean, was 
 destined to bear on its waters the products of a country, 
 unequalled on the face of the globe, for its richness and 
 fertility, and affording to the people of the old world, a 
 home and an asylum, where they could end their days 
 in peace and happiness. 
 
 Historians of modern times have done justice to the 
 energy and activity of Joliet and Marquette, and the 
 people of these Western States have erected monuments 
 to their memory, and named towns and villages, in honor 
 of them, but do we not see the hand of Divine Provi- 
 dence pointing to the spot, where was to be consumma- 
 ted the regeneration of the human race, directing these 
 hardy adventurers, as instruments in its service, to avail 
 themselves of the time, and the occasion, which were 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 23 
 
 most favorable for the accomplishment of its wise pur- 
 poses : never before, had the Indian tribes been brought 
 to such a state of submission to their European neigh- 
 bours, as they were at that period. Even the Iroquois, 
 the fiercest of all the tribes, that wandered about the 
 American forests, were on friendly terms with the neigh- 
 bouring savages, and peace and unanimity seemed to reign 
 in their councils. This was a most auspicious period 
 for making further discoveries, and the French Govern- 
 ment took advantage of it. 
 
 Allouez, Marquette and Dablon made themselves 
 more celebrated for their scientific discoveries, than for 
 their services, in the cause of religion. The latter was 
 the originator of an expedition in search of the Missis- 
 sippi ; his curiosity had been excited by the glowing de- 
 scriptions he had heard of the magnificence of the coun- 
 try, bordering on its waters, and in 1669, he resolved to 
 undertake the journey. But his apostolical labors hav- 
 ing interfered with the execution of his design, we hear 
 nothing of the result of this expedition, excepting that 
 he reached a tract of country, which was not far off, 
 from the source of the river. 
 
 Between 1670 and 1672, Allouez and Dablon pursued 
 their journey as far as Wisconsin and the northern part 
 of the State of Illinois, visiting the Mascoutins, (sup- 
 
24 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 posed to be fire worshippers,) the Kickapous, and the 
 Outagamis, on the border of Fox river, (riviere aux 
 Renards) which takes its source to the East of the Mis- 
 sissippi. The brave and intrepid Dablon had resolved 
 to penetrate, if possible, as far as the ocean, and endea- 
 vour to seek out a passage to the countries beyond it. 
 
 Hitherto, Canada had been governed by officers appoint- 
 ed by the French government, under the name of Gover- 
 nors and Intendants, some of whom had accepted the office, 
 more from considerations of pecuniary interest, arising out 
 of the profitable nature of the fur-trade, than from any 
 other motive, but at this period such men as Colbert and 
 Talon ruled the destinies of the New World, they were 
 men whose minds imbued from their infancy, with a 
 love of science and a desire for the progress of the hu- 
 man race, who saw at once the advantages which would 
 arise, if the discoveries in the West were pushed for- 
 ward with energy. There were few men like Talon 
 for enterprise and activity of mind. Shrewd, calcula- 
 ting, and a close observer of what was occurring around 
 him, he grasped at the idea of the glory, which awaited 
 him, should he succeed in his endeavours. His adminis- 
 tration of the government of the French Colonies in 
 America would be crowned with success, if, whilst he 
 was at the head of it, the wealth and commerce of his 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 2^ 
 
 country could be increased by the discovery of the Mis- 
 sissippi. These were objects dear to his heart, but 
 there were others which were dearer to him. It was 
 the desire to extend the bounds of civilization, to aid in 
 the development of the resources of this vast country, 
 to forward navigation and promote the scientific know- 
 ledge of his fellow country-men. Under his administra- 
 tion, commerce had revived, emigration had increased, 
 and the Indian tribes had learned to respect the power 
 and authority of the French government. 
 
 Such was the character of the French Governor, un- 
 der whose auspices the first expedition started from 
 Quebec, which was successful in discovering the Missis- 
 sippi. Some writers say, that Marquette was the origi- 
 nator of the project, others attribute it to the genius and 
 foresight of Talon, however that may be, Talon selec- 
 ted Joliet, a merchant residing in Quebec, who had pre- 
 viously travelled amongst the Ottawas, and a man of 
 great experience, energy and activity, to accompany the 
 French missionary in his voyage of discovery. They 
 left Quebec in the year 1673, and reached Fox river in 
 safety. They remained some time at Sainte Theresa, 
 where they were received with every mark of distinction. 
 They asked for two guides, and their request was read- 
 ily granted. No other European had ever Avandered hi 
 
26 HISTORY OP TKE. Ti5&LLEY 
 
 that direction, beyond the precincts of the village. On 
 the 10th June, 1673, they took their departure from 
 Sainte Theresa, accompanied by live other Frenchmen 
 and the two Indians, who acted as guides. They carried 
 their bark canoes on their shouklers, to make the short 
 Portage (a word in the French language, which sig- 
 nifies a carrying place,) which separates- the source of 
 Fox river from the river Wisconsin, which flows to 
 the West. It was at this point, that the two guides, 
 becoming alarmed at the danger of the enterprise, aban- 
 doned their fellow-travellers and left them " in an un- 
 know^n country, in the hands of Providence," floating 
 down a river, in the midst of the profound solitude, 
 which surrounded them. At the expiration of seven 
 days, they entered the Mississippi, of which they had 
 heard so much, and such w^as their joy at the dis- 
 covery, that they fell down on their knees and thanked 
 God, that he had brought them to their point of des- 
 tination. A feeling of awe and solemnity came over 
 them, as they sailed down that majestic river, and every 
 step they took, they were struck Vrith the magnificence 
 of the objects, which surrounded them. In the midst 
 of the silent forests of the New World, with buoyant 
 hopes, and hearts untrammelled by the cares and sorrows 
 of more busy life, they proceeded on their journey, in 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 27 
 
 the expectation of soon finding an outlet to the ocean. 
 Nor were they greeted at the commencement of their 
 voyage, with the sight of a human being ; there was no 
 sign of any habitation, nothing to indicate the probabil- 
 ity of their vicinity to the abodes of man ; save the aqua- 
 tic birds, that dipped their beaks in the waters, and the 
 howl of some ferocious animal prowling for food, there 
 was no indication of animal life. They had proceeded 
 about sixty leagues, without meeting with any person, 
 when all at once, they observed some footsteps on the 
 sand, on the right bank of the riyer^ and afterwards, a 
 footpath, leading to a prairie. Tkey paused, ere they 
 incurred the risk of meeting with an unknown tribe, ia 
 the midst of the forest. Yet they had a mission to ful- 
 fil, an object to accomplish. The pause was of short 
 duration. Joliet and Marquette hazarded the interview. 
 Taking the foot-path, they walked six miles, when they 
 reached a settlement on the river Moingona, or tke river 
 des Moines of the French. They halted ;and cried ou,t 
 with a loud voice. Four old men came forth from the 
 village, bringing with them the calumet of peace ; they 
 received the sti'angers with distinction, — ''We are Illi- 
 nois," said they, " we are men, be welcome to our ca- 
 bins." In the language of one of our most favored his- 
 
^8 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 torians, " it was the first time that the soil of Iowa 
 ^was trodden by the feet of white men." 
 
 The Indians, who had heard of the French, had long 
 desired their alliance, as they knew, they were the ene- 
 mies of the Iroquois, who were about making predatory 
 excursions in their own country. The latter had in- 
 spired such a degree of ^terror in the breasts of all the 
 Indian tribes, that the Illinois, like the others, courted 
 the alliance of the French, who had been able to resist 
 their aggressions and thwart their efforts to subdue the 
 neighbouring tribes. Joliet and Marquette, with their 
 companions having remained a few days the guests of 
 this 'friendly people, and having accepted a grand feast, 
 which had been prepared for them, took their departure 
 very much to the regret of their new allies. The chief 
 •of the tribe, followed by several hundred warriors, ac- 
 companied them to the river-side, and as a memorial of 
 'their friendship, presented Marquette Avith a calumet, or- 
 •namented with feathers of different colours, w^hich they 
 .assured him would be a safe passport among all the 
 neighbouring nations. 
 
 Our hardy adventurers proceeded on their journey, 
 and arrived in a short time at the junction of the Mis- 
 souri (marked on the old charts "Pe/aYcTiom") with 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 29 
 
 the Mississippi ; they passed the Ohio, or la belle riviere, 
 as it was afterwards called by the French, the borders of 
 w^hich were then peopled by the Chouanons, or Chaunis. 
 The aspect of the country was ^changed,; instead Q-f. ex- 
 tensive prairies, they saw nothing but dense forests. 
 They found also another race of men, whose language 
 they were unacquainted with ; they had left the lands of 
 the great Huron and Algonquin famihes, bounded by the 
 Ohio to the north, and were now entering the huntincr 
 grounds of the Mobilien tribe, of whom the Chickasas 
 formed part. The Dahcotas, or the Sioux, inhabited 
 the western borders of the Mississippi. Thus, the 
 French required interpreters on both sides of the river, 
 where two languages were spoken, differing from tho&e 
 of the Hurons and Algonquins, with w:hose dialects they 
 were acquainted. 
 
 They continued to descend the Mississippi, until they 
 reached Arkansas river, near the 33d degree of latitude, 
 a tract of country, which, it is said, had been visited by 
 the celebrated Spanish traveller, De Soto, The calumet, 
 which had been presented to Joliet and Marquette, was 
 very serviceable to them, as it was readily received by 
 this barbarous people as an emblem of peace, and en- 
 sured to our travellers a favorable reception wherever 
 
 thev went. The Indians sent ten men to escort them tp 
 
 3* 
 
so HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 the village of Arkansas, situated near the mouth of the 
 river, where they were met by the Chief and other war- 
 riors, who gave them shelter and food. What struck 
 the attention of Joliet, was, that they appeared to be a 
 richer tribe than the others they had encountered, and 
 that they had with -them several implements — amongst 
 others, steel axes, which they must have obtained in 
 their forays irtto other settlements. He concluded they 
 could not be at a very great distance from the Spaniards 
 and the Bay of Mexico. The heat of the climate af- 
 forded additional evidence of their being far to .the 
 Southward ; they were in a country, where abundant 
 rains supplied the want of snow, found in more noi^thern 
 latitudes. Joliet and Marquette having discovered that 
 the river Mississippi did not discharge itself into the Pa- 
 cific, but took a Southerly course, and having been dis- 
 appointed in not finding an outlet to the ocean, their 
 provisions being scanty and with few persons to prose- 
 cute their voyage, they resolved on returning and com- 
 municating to the Government the result of their dis- 
 coveries. 
 
 They journeyed homewards by the Illinois river, and 
 arrived safely at an Indian settlement, now the site of 
 Chicago. In passing through this territory, now one of 
 the most populous and thriving States in the West, they 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 31 
 
 were struck with its great natural advantages, with the 
 fertiUty of its soil, the beauty of its scenery, and even 
 with the plumage of its wild birds. Marquette, in his 
 journal, w^hich has been preserved, says " they discov- 
 ered the most fertile country in the world, watered by 
 fine rivers, woods, filled with the choicest vinos and 
 apple trees, extensive prairies, covered with the buffalo, 
 the deer, w-ild fowl ofievery description, and eve?! parrots 
 of a particular kind.^' Such w^as the rhapsody in 
 which this discoverer of the Mississippi indulged, in his 
 description of a country, which at the present day seems 
 destined to occupy the proud position of being the gran- 
 ary of America, which, for its agricultural capabilities 
 and other resources, is the hav^en of .hope to thousands 
 of the bonded slaves of the old world, and where are the 
 homes and fire-sides of some of the best citizens that 
 America possesses. 
 
 All this country was ;then inhabited by the Miamis, 
 the Mascouteas, or fire worshippers, the Pouteouato- 
 mies and the Kikapous. Allouez and Dablon had al- 
 ready visited a portion of it. On his return from the 
 Mississippi, Marquette remained with the Miamis, to 
 the north of the river Illinois. Joliet proceeded imme- 
 diately to Quebec, to communicate the intelligence of 
 the discovery to Talon, who, he found, had gone to 
 
22 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 France. Marquette remained two years amongst the 
 Miamis, and in the year 1675 took his departure for 
 Mackina, at the head of Lake Michigan. On the jour- 
 ney, he disembarked from his canoe at the outlet of a 
 small river, on the Eastern side of the Lake, for the pur- 
 pose of raising an altar and celebrating mass, after 
 which, having requested his companions to wait for him 
 a few minutes, they retired to a place at a short distance 
 from him, and on their return >they found him dead. 
 
 Like Mesnard and others who had preceded him, the 
 discoverer of the Mississippi found his grave in the wilds 
 of the West. He was buried in silence at the outskirts 
 of a forest, near to the spot where he met with his death. 
 
 History does not mention that France rewarded the 
 exertions of its adventurous colonists by any signal 
 mark of distinction. Joliet and his companions were 
 suffered to remain in obscurity, but if their own coun- 
 try neglected its faithful servants, the people of America 
 have erected monuments to their memory in the magnifi- 
 cent cities, towns and villages, which they have dotted 
 over the surface of the country they discovered. Their 
 works of art and their progress in science will forever 
 distinguish that section of America, the early discovery 
 of which was owing to the zeal of a French missionary 
 and the intrepidity of a Canadian merchant. 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 33 
 
 The news of the discovery of the Mississippi created 
 a great sensation in the Colony. The boundaries of the 
 American continent, comprising such" a vast extent of 
 country were then known to extend towards the sea, 
 and although they were satisfied as to the course which 
 the Mississippi took, they did not doubt that they should 
 find the ocean to the westward of the territories they 
 had discovered. These researches had contributed to 
 the glory of France, they had added lustre to the events 
 of the reign of Louis the Fourteenth, the cause of sci- 
 ence had been greatly promoted by the exertions of its 
 navigators, further scope had been afforded to the 
 studies of its geographers and naturalists, yet the dis- 
 coveries were not complete. Until they had traced the 
 course of the Mississippi, and had re-commenced the voy- 
 age at the point w%ere Joliet and Marquette abandoned 
 it, and were satisfied that the Mississippi flowed into the 
 Gulf of Mexico, it could not be said that they had com- 
 pleted their task, in the exploration of the great Ameri- 
 can continent. 
 
 In the year 1667, there emigrated from France to 
 Canada, a young man by the name of Robert Cavalier 
 de La Salle ; ambitious, intrepid and daring, he came to 
 New France with a two-fold object in view, that of 
 making a fortune and acquiring a brilliant reputation. 
 
34 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 He had been educated by the Jesuits, under whose care 
 he had been placed from his infancy. Brought up to 
 that hfe of austerity and self-denial which was practiced 
 by that religious order, having all the enthusiasm and 
 courageousness for which they were remarkable, he 
 wanted only the opportunity to distinguish himself and 
 to prove to the world the indomitable courage with 
 which he was possessed. With a cultivated mind and 
 enlarged ideas, having a perfect knowledge of human 
 nature, and being acquainted with the character, object 
 and pursuits of the Indian tribes in alliance with France, 
 La Salle was well qualified for the performance of the 
 most arduous duty. He listened with attention to Jo- 
 liet's account of his expedition to the Mississippi, his 
 mind was entranced at the glowing descriptions of that 
 traveller, his heart rebounded with joy at the prospect of 
 the glory which awaited him, with the glance of au 
 eye, he observed the immense field which should occupy 
 his future labours, his plans were already formed, that 
 project, on the success of which, he based his ideas of 
 fortune and future reputation, and which he pursued 
 w4th such indomitable energy and such incredible perse- 
 verance, even to the day of his death. 
 
 He had come to Canada with the intention of making 
 discoveries in the North or West, and epdeavouring to 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 
 
 35 
 
 find out a passage to Japan or China, but being poor, 
 and this enterprise requiring considerable means to ena- 
 ble any person to undertake it, he remained for several 
 years in a state of obscurity. At length his talents and 
 energy struck the attention of the Count de Frontenac, 
 and a new era was dawning upon him. 
 
 Encouraged by Courcelles and Talon, on his arrival 
 in Canada, he had established a small office [comptoir), 
 where he dealt with the Indians, at a place situated 
 about eight miles from Montreal, to which, it is supposed, 
 the name of La Chine was given, in satirical allusion to 
 the folly of his undertaking,, to discover a north-west 
 passage to China. When the news of the discovery of 
 the Mississippi reached Canada, La Salle was, as before 
 mentioned, at Quebec. Availing himself of the excited 
 state of the public mind, caused by this event, he com- 
 municated his plans to the Count de Frontenac. He 
 flattered himself, that in proceeding towards the source 
 of the newly-discovered river, he might find a passage 
 to the ocean ; at all events, the discovery of the outlet 
 of the Mississippi would not be attended without glory 
 and advantage to him. Desirous of availing himself, at 
 the same time, of the opportunity it would afford him to 
 extend his commercial engagements, he wished to be- 
 come possessed of Fort Frontenac, an important place 
 
36 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 of business in carrying on the fur trade. Strongly- 
 recommended by his protector, the Count de Frontenac, 
 he went to France : the Marquis de Seignelay, who had 
 replaced his father, the great Colbert, as Minister of the 
 Marine, received him well, and granted him all that he 
 desired. The King of France conferred on him a patent 
 of nobility, conceded to him Fort Frontenac, on con- 
 dition that he should rebuild it in stone, and gave him 
 permission to carry on his commercial pursuits, and con- 
 tinue the discoveries, w^hich had been already commenced. 
 This concession was equivalent to an exclusive grant to 
 trade with the Five Nations, and it was highlv advanta- 
 geous to La Salle. 
 
 On the 14th July, 1678, La Salle, animated with 
 lively hopes, and his heart filled with joy, took his de- 
 parture from Rochelle, in France, bringing with him 
 thirty men, mariners and workmen, anchors, sails and 
 other equipments for the vessels, which he intended to 
 build, to navigate the Lakes. On his arrival at Quebec, 
 he left without loss of time for Cataraqui (now Kingston, 
 in Canada West), taking goods with him to traffick with 
 the Indians. He displayed his usual energy in preparing 
 his outfit. As early as the 18th November, but four 
 months since his departure from France, the first sloop 
 which was ever seen on Lake Ontario sailed out of the 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 37 
 
 harbour of Cataraqui, with its sails spread to the breeze, 
 laden with merchandize and the necessary materials to 
 construct a fort and a vessel of larger size at Niagara, 
 where he intended to establish another trading post for 
 trafficking with the Indians. 
 
 This first voyage on the waters of Lake Ontario was 
 attended with success. When they arrived at the head 
 of the Lake, the Indians were struck with astonishment 
 at the appearance of the vessel, they gazed with admi- 
 ration at its structure, its equipments, and the skilful 
 manner in which it was navigated. Great as was their 
 astonishment, it did not surpass that of the Europeans at 
 the sight of the stupendous Cataract of Niagara ; they 
 had heard from a distance the sound of its waters, rush- 
 ing over a precipice of one hundred and sixty feet in 
 height, and as they approached the Falls, they realized 
 what they had never pictured in their imagination, 
 they gazed with wonder at the sight of a river, rushing 
 over such a precipice into the foaming abyss below, and 
 they were startled at the view of this new feature in 
 the scenery of the great Western World. 
 
 La Salle caused the cargo of the sloop to be disem- 
 barked and transported to the head of Lake Erie, where 
 he commenced the construction of a fort and a vessel 
 But v/hilst the savages observed the progress of the fort 
 
 4 
 
38 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 towards its completion, they began to fear and to mur- 
 mur. In order not to excite the hatred of these barba- 
 rians, La Salle contented himself with converting it into 
 a dwelling, surrounded by simple palisades, w^hich he 
 intended to use for a store. In the winter, a workhouse 
 was erected at some distance above the Falls, for the 
 purpose of enabling him to complete the vessel of sixty 
 tons, which he was about building. This work w^as ex- 
 ecuted under the immediate superintendence of the Che- 
 valier de Tonti, and as this nobleman was the first ar- 
 chitect of a vessel to ply on the waters of Lake Erie, 
 his name and services should not be forgotten. He had 
 been recommended to La Salle by the Prince de Condi ; 
 an Italian by birth, he had in his youth engaged in the 
 Sicilian w^ars, and had the misfortune to lose one of his 
 hands from the bursting of a shell, Avhich he supplied 
 by an iron hand, which he usually covered with a glove. 
 From this circumstance, the savages feared him a great 
 deal, and gave him the appellation of the iron-arm M 
 De Tonti. He ^vas very useful to La Salle, to w^hom 
 he was always sincerely attached. There was a w^ork 
 published under his name, on the History of Louisiana, 
 which he afterwards disavowed. 
 
 The activity of La Salle increased as the realization 
 of his designs became the more probable. In the win- 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 39 
 
 ter, he sent De Tonti and the Franciscan Hennepin, since 
 celebrated for the publication of his travels in America, 
 as an embassy to the Iroquois, whom he wished to enlist 
 in favor of his enterprise ; he himself afterwards visited 
 them, as w^ell as many other nations, wdth whom he 
 washed to establish commercial relations. 
 
 La Salle was the first European who founded Nia- 
 gara, and built a vessel on Lake Erie. He called it the 
 "Griffon," after the name of a ravenous wild bird, 
 common in that country. The vessel was launched in 
 the river Niagara, in the year 1679, in the midst of gen- 
 eral rejoicings amongst the French, the discharge of ar- 
 tillery, and the singing of the Te Deum, not how^ever 
 without the expression of the superstitious belief of the 
 savages, who, on seeing the vessel sailing on the w^ater 
 exclaimed " Otkon^^ " Otkon^'^ significant of their as- 
 tonishment at what the French could do, and implying 
 that they were " extraordinary spirits." 
 
 On the seventh of August of the same year, the 
 Griffon, armed wdth seven pieces of artillery, laden with 
 arms, food and merchandize, and carrying thirty-two 
 men and two missionaries, entered Lake Erie, in the 
 midst of the thunder of the artillery and musketry, the 
 sound of w^hich w^as re-echoed back from the long 
 ranges of forest, on the borders of the Lake. La Salle, 
 
40 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 triumphing over the envy of his enemies and the almost 
 insurmountable obstacles to his enterprise, arrived safely, 
 after a few days' passage, at Detroit, the sight of which 
 was pleasing to his companions. They were delighted 
 with the appearance of the country, and stood for hours 
 admiring the beauty of the scenery, in this favorite lo- 
 cality. "Those," says Hennepin, " who will have the 
 happiness to possess at a future day, the lands of this 
 agreeable and fertile country, will be under lasting obli- 
 gations to those travellers, who first showed them the 
 way and crossed over Lake Erie, after a hundred leagues 
 of dangerous navigation." The words of this intelli- 
 gent traveller have become true, the people of America 
 owe a debt of the deepest gratitude to all, who were 
 instrumental in discovering this fertile country, and res- 
 cuing it from the aboriginal tribes, who first occupied it. 
 The normal occupiers of the soil were at first repulsed 
 by the genius and the energy of their French invaders, 
 it was afterwards left to the valour and achievements of 
 American soldiers to expel them from their strongholds, 
 in order to make way for that progressive civilization, 
 which Providence had ordained should take place in the 
 wilds of the West. 
 
 On the 23d of August, La Salle after passing through 
 a small Lake, opposite Detroit, to which he gave the 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 41 
 
 name of St. Clair, entered Lake Huron and arrived in 
 five days at Michilimackinac, having been exposed to a 
 violent hurricane, on the voyage. On his arrival at this 
 trading-post, the Indians ran away from fright, on see- 
 ing the vessel on the water, carrying its large white 
 sails, and approaching towards them ; when they heard 
 the noise of the cannon, it was with difficulty they could 
 be restrained from launching forth into the most violent 
 expressions of terror and consternation. 
 
 The French Chief, dressed in a scarlet mantle, orna- 
 mented with gold lace, and followed by a guard of armed 
 men, disembarked from the Griifon, to hear h'^b mass 
 celebrated in the chapel of the Ottawas; he was re- 
 ceived with every mark of distinction, and the Indians, 
 in a short time, became reconciled to the strangers and 
 joined in rendering them homage. 
 
 The Griffon proceeded on its voyage, and in the early 
 part of the month of September, cast anchor in the Bay 
 des Puans, on the western shore of Lake Michigan. 
 This was the destination of the travellers, so far as they 
 could proceed by water, and make use of their vessel. 
 La Salle had come to this trading post, to collect the 
 furs, which had been brought here from the interior, and 
 having laden the Griffon with them, he despatched her 
 
 for Niagara, with the " richest cargo that had yet been 
 
 4* 
 
42 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 borne, on the waters of Lake Erie." The Griffon sailed 
 on the 18th of September and was never afterwards 
 heard of. The loss amounted to not less than fifty or 
 sixty thousand francs, and was seriously felt by La 
 Salle, who had intended to dispose of these furs and dis- 
 charge his pecuniary obligations in Canada. 
 
 La Salle, after the departure of his vessel, continued 
 his route as far as the village of Saint Joseph, on the 
 borders of Lake Michigan, whither, according to his di- 
 rections, the Griffon was to return, after its arrival from 
 Niagara. He was accompanied by several men of dif- 
 ferent trades, with arms and merchandize. Having 
 reached this village, he erected a house and fort in its 
 neighbourhood, for the safety of his effects, and also to 
 serve as a retreat for his men. He gave it the name of 
 Fort Miami. This fortification was raised on the sum- 
 mit of a hill in the form of a triangle, watered on two 
 sides by a river known as the Miami,* and defended on 
 the other, by a deep ravine. He carefully surveyed the 
 entry of the river, in the expectation of the return of 
 his vessel, on the safety of which, depended in a great 
 measure, the success of his enterprise and the probability 
 
 • There were several small streams, marked on the old Charts, to 
 which the name of Miami was given. The writer believes this to have 
 been the river Chicago. 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 43 
 
 of his speedily entering on the prosecution of his dis- 
 coveries. He sent two experienced men to Machilimack- 
 inac to pilot it up the Lake, but having waited a con- 
 siderable time, and hearing no accounts, he began to 
 appi'ehend that some accident had happened to her. 
 Although he was disconcerted at this unexpected delay, 
 the winter being near at hand, he resolved on making 
 an excursion amongst the Illinois, and leaving ten men 
 to guard the fort, he left, accompanied by De Tonti, 
 Hennepin, with two missionaries and about thirty fol- 
 lowers. He followed the course of the river known 
 then as the Miami, and after considerable fatigue and 
 danger, arrived towards the end of December, in an In- 
 dian village, situated on the borders of the river Illinois, 
 in that section of the country, which at the present day, 
 bears that name. The tribe was absent on the hison 
 chase, and the village completely deserted. 
 
 The French descended the river and did not meet with 
 the Illinois Indians, until they arrived at Lake Peoria, 
 called Pimiteoni by Hennepin, where there was a nu- 
 merous assemblage of them. These savages, being of 
 a quiet and peaceable disposition, received them with 
 generous hospitality and rubbed their legs, (according 
 to the custom of the tribe, with strangers, who had 
 
44 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 come from a distance) with bear's grease and the grease 
 of wild bulls, which they considered had a wonderful 
 effect in restoring activity to limbs that had become tor- 
 pid, from a long march in the forest. La Salle made 
 them presents and contracted a friendly alliance with 
 them. It was, with great pleasure, that that nation un- 
 derstood, that the French had come to establish colonies 
 in their territory. Like the Hurons, they were exposed 
 to the invasions of the Iroquois ; the French would there- 
 fore be powerful allies, to resist with them the encroach- 
 ments of their artful and relentless enemies, whilst in 
 their turn. La Salle could reckon on them, as his best 
 and most faithful friends. Thus an alliance was pro- 
 posed and accepted between these untutored savages and 
 their European brethren, which had the most salutary 
 consequences, and was as lasting, as any which they 
 were able to contract with these roving savages, in the 
 American forest. The Illinois made their cabins in a 
 peculiar manner, they were constructed of the bark of 
 trees, doubled and sewed together to make them more 
 durable. They were of large stature, strong, robust, 
 skilful in the use of the bow and arrow, but some 
 French wTiters represent them as a wandering, idle 
 people, having no courage, guided by no moral re- 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 45 
 
 straints, and without any respect for their Chiefs. They 
 were not acquainted with the use of fire-arms, when the 
 French first came amongst them. 
 
 Already, La Salle's men began to murmur and said, 
 that as they had heard no news of the Griffon, that 
 vessel must have been lost, many of them became dis- 
 couraged and six deserted during the night. His under- 
 taking, which at the commencement was begun under 
 such favorable auspices, was now threatened with an un- 
 toward result. What was he to do ? For some time he 
 had met with almost insurmountable obstacles, his men 
 were deserting him, and others who remained were only 
 induced to do so, by the promise of their return to Can- 
 ada in the spring, should circumstances not be more fa- 
 vorable to them. In this emergency, and in order to 
 occupy the minds of the men and arouse them from the 
 state of lethargy, into which they had thrown them- 
 selves, he resolved on employing them, in the erection 
 of a Fort, on a height of land, which he found at a 
 short distance from the Lake, and which he named Fort 
 " Crevecoeur," or the Fort of the Broken-heart, to in- 
 dicate his evil destiny and the anguish and remorse, un- 
 der which his mind laboured. There is a spot, w^hich 
 bears also this name in the State of Missouri, it may 
 have probably been the scene of other disasters to some 
 
46 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 of these hardy adventurers, for if they did not leave 
 their bones to bleach on the sands of the forest, at least 
 many of them returned broken-hearted to their homes, 
 after having endured all the pangs of want and misery, 
 within the recesses of this newly-discovered country. 
 
 La Salle gave orders for the construction of a boat 
 to descend the Mississippi, and whilst the men were oc- 
 cupied in completing these works, becoming impatient 
 at hearing no news of the Griffon, and being in want of 
 materials to construct his boat, he adopted the almost 
 desperate resolution of returning on foot to Fort Fron- 
 tenac, a distance of twelve or fifteen hundred miles, in 
 order to procure the means of prosecuting his voyage. 
 Before his departure, he instructed Hennepin when he 
 reached the Mississippi, to ascend that river, as high as 
 possible, towards its source, and examine the tract of 
 country to the North, and after having given the com- 
 mand of the Fort to De Tonti, he himself commenced 
 his long journey for Cataraqui, on the second of March, 
 1680, armed with a musket, and accompanied by four 
 Frenchmen and an Indian.* 
 
 * Charlevoix, in following the description given under the name of 
 De Tonti, has fallen into several errors, respecting La Salle's expedi- 
 tion to the River Illinois, which may be easily detected. Hennepin, 
 an ocular witness, is the best authority in these matters, corroborated 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 47 
 
 Hennepin had left Fort Crevecoeur, on the 29th of 
 February ; he descended the Illinois river, as far as the 
 Mississippi, travelled about the country, and afterwards 
 ascended the river, as high as the Falls of Saint An* 
 thony, and fell into the hands of the Sioux. During 
 his captivity, these barbarians amused themselves, in 
 making him write several words of their language, 
 which he had begun to study. They said it was only 
 putting black upon white, and when they saw him con- 
 sult the vocabulary, which he had written of the terms 
 of their peculiar language, they remarked amongst them- 
 selves, ''that white thing must be a spirit, as it teaches 
 him to understand all that we say.'' It is a singular 
 fact, but one, which we see recorded on the pages of al- 
 most every work, on the aboriginal tribes of America, 
 that whatever appeared to them, as out of the ordinary 
 course of things, they immediately attributed it to the 
 agency of a spirit, thus testifying to their belief in su- 
 
 as many of his statements are, by the Letters and relations of Father 
 Zenobe Mambre. See his " Premier etablissement de la For, 
 DANS LA NouvELLE FRANCE." Many English writers, who follow 
 Charlevoix, have been incorrect in their descriptions of this voyage. 
 The description as given in the text, approaches nearest towards the 
 correct one. 
 
48 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 pernatural agency, and possibly, as some may suppose, 
 in the existence of a Divinity. 
 
 At the expiration of several months, the savages per- 
 mitted the three French captives to return amongst 
 their companions, after exacting a promise from them, 
 that they should come back the following year. One 
 of the chiefs traced the route, which they should follow 
 on a piece of bark, and this map, says Hennepin, was 
 as useful to them, as if they had had a compass to guide 
 them in their travels. They reached the mission at 
 Lake Michigan by the river Wisconsin, which flows into 
 the Mississippi and Fox river, which runs to the East- 
 ward. 
 
 Such was the expedition of Hennepin, who was the 
 first traveller, who ventured as high up the river, as the 
 Falls of Saint Anthony, and was the first to discover 
 that the Missouri was a large river, running through 
 that tract of country which now bears its name. On 
 his return, as he approached the river Wisconsin, where 
 it joins the Mississippi, he was astonished to meet with 
 a number of traders, conducted by a man of the name 
 of De Luth, who had been travelling for some time, in 
 that distant region. 
 
 Whilst Hennepin was exploring the Upper Mississippi, 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 49 
 
 La Salle's affairs grew worse at Crevecoeur, where De 
 Tonti was in command. But in order to understand the 
 nature of the difficulties which surrounded him^ and the 
 almost insurmountable obstacles he had to contend with, 
 we must take a glance at his position in Canada, where 
 his enemies were at work to undermine his projects. 
 
 Some English writers, in describing La Salle's charac- 
 ter, have been guilty of imputing the most sordid mo- 
 tives to him, in prosecuting his discoveries, but cotem- 
 poraneous French writers have done justice to him, in 
 believing, that he was actuated by a love of science and 
 a desire to promote the amelioration of his race. On 
 his arrival in Canada, as I have already remarked, 
 without fortune, but with great ambition and the strong- 
 est recommendations to persons in authority, whose 
 friendship he cultivated, he very soon became an object 
 of special favour with many who were acquainted with 
 him, whilst his projects, connected with the discovery 
 and colonization of the country, being looked upon 
 with disfavor by others, and especially by the traders, 
 (fraitans,) excited their envy and jealousy. They 
 thought, that the exclusive grant, which La Salle had 
 obtained from the Count de Frontenac, would interfere 
 with their business and prevent them from trading in 
 furs, in the West, and they availed themselves of every 
 
 5 
 
so HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 occasion that presented itself, to thwart his projects. 
 There were two classes of persons, whose enmity he had 
 incurred, the merchants and the coureurs de bois, or 
 small traders, who travelled in the woods, to deal with 
 the Indians. Whilst he was at Crevecoeur, on the 
 Illinois, awaiting news of the safe arrival of the Grif- 
 fon, his creditors in Cataraqui seized every thing he had 
 left behind him, in payment of his debts, and thus in- 
 jured his credit with those persons, who might have been 
 of service to him, and on the other hand, the coureurs 
 de hoisy or small traders, were doing every thing in their 
 powder to predispose the savages against him, and to in- 
 duce his men to desert from his employment, so that his 
 enterprise might fail.* They excited the Iroquois and 
 Miamis to take up arms against the Illinois, his allies, 
 and lost no opportunity to injure him in the estimation of 
 
 * From the works of Le Clerc and Zenobe Mambre, two French 
 authors of that period. 
 
 " This enterprise, which ought to have been sustained by all those 
 persons, who were inclined to act for the Glory of God and the ser- 
 vice of the King, was almost frustrated by the bad feelings which 
 they had created in the minds of the Hurons,the Ottawa s of the Isles, 
 and neighbouring nations, with whom La Salle had dealings. He found 
 the fifteen men, whom he had sent in the Spring of 1679, to Crevecoeur, 
 predisposed against him and seduced from his service ; a part of his 
 property was dissipated, and De Tonti, far from being able to deal 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 51 
 
 the other tribes. Nothing could equal the activity of 
 these traders; they hated La Salle in consequence of the 
 monopoly of the fur trade, which the Count de Fronte- 
 nac had granted to him, and were determined, if possible 
 to drive him out of the country. They w^ere constantly 
 at his heels, or to use the language of the old French 
 writers, Us le suivaient a la piste, they secretly insinu- 
 ated to the savages the most serious charges against him, 
 and interposed every obstacle against the accomplishment 
 of his designs. To this opposition in the interior of the 
 country, were united the intrigues of the English, who 
 were beginning to regard with a jealous eye, the discov- 
 eries and spirit of aggrandizement of the French, in the 
 West ; they therefore sent secret embassies to encourage 
 the Iroquois to declare war against their French allies, 
 in the valley of the Mississippi. 
 
 Such were the disadvantages under which LaSalle la- 
 boured, and it is not surprising that having to contend 
 against such numerous and powerful foes, he was unable 
 to execute but a part of the plans, he had at first contem- 
 
 satisf actorily with the neighbouring tribes, was very much inclined to 
 doubt their fidelity." 
 
 Other writers give different versions of De Tonti's conduct, but how- 
 ever their statements may differ, there can be no do ibt, that La Salle's 
 affairs at Crevecoeur, were at this period, far from being in a satisfac- 
 tory condition. 
 
52 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 plated ; it was quite enough to be obliged to overcome 
 the obstacles^ which everywhere surrounded him in push- 
 ing his discoveries in the West, he w^as totally unpre- 
 pared for the opposition he met with in a quarter, where 
 he least expected it. 
 
 However, De Tonti, who had been placed in charge 
 of Fort Crevecoeur, lost no time in visiting the encamp- 
 ment of the Illinois and assuring himself of their friendly 
 assistance. Having been informed, that the Iroquois 
 wished to join the Miamis in an attack on them, he has- 
 tened to instruct his new allies, in the use of fire-arms, 
 so that they might be on a footing of equality with these 
 nations, amongst whom musketry had been lately intro- 
 duced. He also show^ed them the manner of fortifying 
 their position, by erecting palisades, and built a Fort, on 
 a rock, two hundred feet in height, protected by a river at 
 its base. H-e was occupied with these labors, w^hen nearly 
 all the men, whom he had left at Fort Crevecoeur, be- 
 comins: disheartened at the unfavorable turn which mat- 
 ters had taken, robbed the ammunitions and stores and 
 deserted. 
 
 There was no longer room for doubt, La Salle's en- 
 emies had succeeded inarming the five nations, who ap- 
 peared on a sudden, in the month of September 1680, 
 in the territory occupied by the Illinois and threw that 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 53 
 
 weak and peaceable people into the greatest consternation. 
 This invasion exposed the French to eonsitlerable danger. 
 De Tonti hastened to interfere, and a truce was effected, 
 but the Iroquois, observing the fear into which tliey had 
 thrown the Illinois, did not allow it to be of long dura- 
 tion : they committed the most frightful ravages, dug up 
 their dead, devastated their fields, and destroyed their 
 habitations. The Illinois retreated beyond the Missis- 
 sippi, roamed over the forest in scattered bands, in order 
 to evade the vigilance of the Iroquois, and left the French, 
 in the midst of their enemies. De Tonti, havinof with 
 him but five men rmd two Recollets,* resolved to aban- 
 don the country. The remnants of this small colony left 
 Fort Crevecoeur, in a bark canoe, without provisions and 
 depending on the chase for food, during their journey 
 homewards. 
 
 Whilst they were descending the north side of Lake 
 Michigan, La Salle was proceeding along the south shore, 
 with a reinforcement of men, and materials for the con- 
 struction of his vessel. He^ therefore, found no person at 
 the Fort, which he had established on the river Illinois. 
 This made him lose another year, which he spent in trav- 
 elling amongst the neighbouring tribes ; he visited a great 
 
 • An order of Priesthood. 
 
54 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 number of the savages, amongst others, the Outagamis, 
 and the Miamis, whom he succeeded in drawmg away 
 from their alliance wuth the five nations, who, it seems, 
 after the departure of De Tonti, had driven a part of the 
 Illinois Indians, amongst the Osage tribe, heyond the 
 Mississippi. He afterwards returned .to Cataraqui and 
 Montreal, to put his aifairs in order, which needed all 
 his attention. He had suffered considerable losses. * 
 However, he succeeded in maMno- a settlement with his 
 creditors, to w^hom he gave permission to carry on trade 
 in those immense possessions which had been granted to 
 him by the Count de Frontenac, and received from them 
 
 * A vessel laden with twenty two theusand livres worth of goods 
 BufFered shipwreck, in the gulf of Saint Lawrence-; several bark ca- 
 nees ascending the Saint Lawrence, from Montreal to Fort Frontenac 
 v^ve losl in the rapids. He said, that with the exception of the Count 
 de Frontenac, it seemed to him, that all Canada had conspired against 
 his enterprise;; that they had seduced his men, whom he had brought 
 with him from France, of whom part had run away from him with 
 his goods, through New Holland, and that with regard to theCanadians, 
 who had come with him, that they had found means to disgust them, 
 and detach them from his service. " In all his misfortunes, " says a 
 missionary, " I have never remarked in him the slightest change, al- 
 ways appearing perfectly calm and self-possessed, and I observed, he 
 was more resolved than ever, to continue his work and prosecute his 
 discoveries." 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 55 
 
 in return, further advances to prosecute his discoveries. 
 He abandoned the extensive plan he had projected, of es- 
 tablishing forts and colonies, at the different points on his 
 route, towards the sea. Apprehensive of further embar- 
 rassments, he even gave up the idea of constructing a ves- 
 sel and availed himself of the Indian bark canoes, to pro- 
 ceed on his voyage. 
 
 He took his departure accompanied by De Tonti, and 
 Father Mambre, twenty-four Frenchmen, and eighteen 
 savages of the Wolf and Abenaquis tribes, the bravest in 
 America, and reached the Mississippi, on the 6th of Feb- 
 ruary 1682. 
 
 Like Marquette, he followed the course of the great 
 river, without stopping to survey the adjoining country. 
 He was enchanted with the mildness of the climate and 
 the beauty of the scenery along the shores of the Missis- 
 sippi, that feeling of sadness which had before subdued 
 him, gradually wore off, and as his prospects became 
 brighter, his ideas of fortune and future greatness again 
 returned to him. He saw the Arkansas and other tribes, 
 visited by Marquette : and as he drew near the South, 
 met with a number of other nations, such as the Chica- 
 sas, the Taensas, the Chactas, and the Natchez, rendered 
 so celebrated by the writings of Chateaubriand, and other 
 travellers. Being obliged to stop several times, he did 
 
56 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 not arrive at the outlet of the river, until the ninth of 
 April, when he first saw the Ocean, spreading its w^ide 
 waters around that beautifjil country, rendered so pleas- 
 ing by its warm, tropical climate. Like Marquette, and 
 the other travellers, who had preceded him, he gave vent 
 to the liveliest feelings of emotion, a cry of enthusiasm 
 and of triumph was wrung from his heart, at length he 
 had reached the point of his destination, the object of his 
 most anxious desires for years had been attained, he stood 
 on that soil, w^hich he claimed as a noble conquest for 
 his country. He solemnly took possession of that part 
 of the valley of the Mississippi for France, and gave it 
 the name of Louisiana, in honor of Louis the Fourteenth, 
 of which New Orleans, the capital, w^as founded by one 
 of the countrymen of La Salle. 
 
 Thus the discovery of the Mississippi was completed 
 by the French, from the Falls of Saint Anthony to the 
 sea, a distance of more than eighteen hundred miles. 
 
 La Salle then retraced his steps and despatched Mam- 
 bre to France, to render an account to the King of the 
 result of the voyage. This Franciscan monk embarked 
 on board of a vessel, w'hich had been sent from France 
 to Canada to brino; back the Count de Frontenac, and 
 which sailed from Quebec, on the seventeenth of Novem- 
 ber. La Salle himself remained the following summer, 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 57 
 
 and winter, amongst the Illinois, and in the vicinity of 
 Lake Michicran to form new establishments and trade 
 with the Indians. Having afterwards heard of the evil 
 disposition towards him of the new Governor M. de la 
 Barre, he resolved to go to France, to counteract the ef- 
 fects of the report which that functionary had sent to the 
 Government, relatively to his discoveries in the West. 
 De la Barre had written to the Ministry, that it was ow- 
 ing to the imprudence of La Salle, that war had been de- 
 clared by the Five nations against the French, and that 
 the Colony might be attacked, before he had time to 
 place it in a state of defence ; he wrote again after the 
 discovery of the outlet of the Mississippi, that Mambre, 
 who had just arrived in Quebec, to go to Europe, would 
 not communicate anything to him about La Salle's ex- 
 pedition, that he did not believe, that much faith could 
 be attached to what the Franciscan said, and that La 
 Salle himself appeared to have ulterior designs in view, 
 which could not meet with their approval, that he was 
 in the vicinity of the Bay of Lake Michigan, with about 
 twenty vagabonds, French and savages, where he set his 
 Sovereign at defiance, pillaged and robbed the people of 
 his nation, exposed them to the incursions of the Iroquois, 
 and made use of all this violence, under the pretext, that 
 
"SB 
 
 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 he alone was entitled to the right to trade with the In- 
 dians, in the countries, which he had discovered. 
 
 From these false representations, made by the Gover- 
 nor to the French Ministry, followed by the seizure of 
 Forts Frontenac and St. Louis in Illinois, La Salle left 
 Quebec, in the month of November 1683, to repair to 
 France, for the purpose of laying his case before the 
 French Ministry and proving his fidelity to the Crown. 
 
 La Salle's arrival in France was most opportune. It 
 was at the period, when Louis the Fourteenth, was at the 
 height of his glory, and was acknowledged as the most 
 powerful Prince in Christendom. The Conqueror of com- 
 bined Europe, he had dictated terms to the vanquished, 
 at the Congress of Nimegue, in 1678. Everything seem- 
 ed to favor the designs of this ambitious monarch. The 
 discovery of the Mississippi lent additional interest to the 
 events of his reign, and whilst he rejoiced at the glory, 
 which he had acquired in arms, he was not insensible to 
 that, which he had gained, as being the Monarch, under 
 whose reign, La Salle had been able to do so much for the 
 promotion of science. It was not, therefore, surprising, 
 that La Salle's enemies were thwarted in their designs to 
 injure him, and that he himself was received with great fa- 
 vor, by his sovereign, as being the discoverer of the out- 
 
OF TIIZ MISSISSIPPI. 59 
 
 let of the Mississippi, and the one, who had procured 
 for him this new acquisition of territory. 
 
 Although Colbert had descended to the grave, the im- 
 pulse which he had given to commerce, to industry and 
 colonization had survived him, and the French people 
 learnt with a feeling of pride, of the extension of territory 
 in the interior of America. M. de Seignelai, (Colbert's 
 successor) after having held a conference with our trav- 
 eller, whom he had with a great deal of interest 
 perceived, that M. de la Barre had been led into error. 
 He could refuse nothing to La Salle, who had en- 
 dowed France with one of the finest countries in the 
 world, and the King as w^ell as the Minister, gave him 
 permission to establish colonies in America. Apprecia- 
 ting these marks of favor, on the part of his Sovereign, 
 and sensible, how much they w^ould tend to dispel the 
 prejudice, existing against him elsewhere, he set about 
 making preparations for a new enterprise, in which he 
 had already secured the favourable co-operation of Gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 Ferdinand de Soto, the associate of Pizarro, whose 
 name has become renowned in the History of Spain, had 
 done nothing more in lo39 and '40 than travel over the 
 interior of the country from Florida to Arkansas. The 
 object of his expedition was to ascertain, whether there 
 
60 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 existed any gold or silver mines, in that section of Ameri- 
 ca, and having failed to discover any, he was about re- 
 turning, when he met with his death at Red river in the 
 year 1542. Moscosa, his Lieutenant, replaced him and 
 marched with three hundred and fifty men, towards the 
 West, but on his reaching the mountains, he changed his 
 course to the South and embarked on board of a vessel 
 to return to his country. Neither De Soto nor Moscosa 
 had visited the country, with a view to its colonization, 
 and there is nothing but vague traditions existing of 
 their travels, in the southern part of this continent. 
 There is a work in the Spanish language, written by 
 Garcilasso de la Vega, of which a translation has been 
 made b^ P. Richelet, entitled " History of the Conquest 
 of Florida, by Ferdinand de Soto," but it contains no 
 information of the existence of any Colony, established 
 by the Spaniards, in the valley of the Mississippi.* 
 
 We have seen the favorable reception, which Louis 
 the Fourteenth gave La Salle, when in 1683, he informed 
 
 I 
 
 * This work was in the Library of the Legislative Assembly in Can- 
 ada, which was destroyed by fire, in the month of April 1849. With 
 the exception of Zenobe Mambre's work, all the works herein men- 
 tioned were found in that collection. The destruction of thai library 
 unequalled by any on this Continent, and as regards its Avorks, on 
 American History, by any throughout the World, was an event which 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 
 
 61 
 
 him, that he had lately acquired such a vast accession of 
 territory, on the American Continent. There were no 
 favors, which that proud and ambitious monarch did not 
 lavish on the discoverer of the outlet of the Mississippi. 
 He was received at Court, with all the honors paid to 
 the princes and nobles of the land, his name was on eve- 
 ry one's lips and there was no praise, which he did not 
 receive. It must have been gratifying to La Salle, when 
 he remembered the misfortunes of his early days, and 
 all the trials he had gone through, and when he recalled 
 to mind the aspersions of his enemies, to lind himself 
 the recipient of Royal favors, and the object of the be- 
 nevolence of that monarch, under whose auspices, he had 
 first commenced his undertaking. He proposed to Louis 
 the Fourteenth, to unite Canada with the country, on 
 the borders of the Gulf of Mexico, and to extend his sov- 
 reignty from the shores of the Saint Lawrence to the 
 outlet of the Mississippi. This project was readily 
 countenanced by the King, and he gave La Salle instruc- 
 tions to proceed immediately to colonize Louisiana. 
 Four vessels were placed at his disposal ; the Jolly car- 
 
 will forever be deplored. The collector of the works, a gentleman of 
 distinguished literary attainments, had visited every book-mart in Eu- 
 rope, to attain the object, he had in view. 
 
 6 
 
62 HISTORY O? THE VALLEY 
 
 Tying thirty-six cannons, the Belle six cannons, the 
 Jlimahle, a vessel of three hundred tons and a transport. 
 Two hundred and eighty persons embarked on board 
 these vessels, amongst whom, there were a hundred sol- 
 diers, mechanics, volunteers, and eight missionaries. 
 
 On the 24th July 16S4, this little squadron, under the 
 command of M. de Beaujeu, left Rochelle, in France, on 
 its voyage of discovery. Scarcely had they set sail, 
 when a mis-understanding arose between de Beaujeu 
 and La Salle. This gave rise, as it would appear, to a 
 lengthened controversy, in w^hich both parties appealed 
 to the French Ministry. Mr. Sparks, in the 11th vol- 
 ume of his valuable work, on American Biography, has 
 given the substance of De Beaujeu's letter to the au- 
 thorities in France, but as the details of this quarrel 
 would be uninteresting, they are here passed over. 
 
 In consequence of these misunderstandings, it seems, 
 they committed an error in navigating the vessels and 
 wen4 out of the proper course — instead of being at the 
 east, they were far to the west of the outlet of the 
 Mississippi, and on the 14th of February 168o, landed 
 in St. Benard's bay, now called Matagorda, in Texas, 
 at a distance of a hundred and tw^enty leagues from the 
 river, they were in search of. To add to La Salle's dif- 
 ficulties, the commander of the Aimable, on entering the 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 63 
 
 bay, struck his vessel on a rock, some authors say de- 
 signedly,* others accidentally. However this may be, 
 the JlimahU was shipwrecked and the whole cargo was 
 lost, and La Salle w^as deprived of the use of nearly 
 all his munitions of war, mechanical implements and 
 other articles, which were necessary to commence ope- 
 rations, for the establishment of a colony, in an unculti- 
 vated and distant country. De Beaujeu, instead of pun^ 
 ishing the Commander, received him on board of his 
 ship, to protect him from La Salle's vengeance. There 
 seemed to be a fatality, attending this enterprise from 
 its commencement to its termination. De la Barre's 0|> 
 position to it, followed by the confiscation of La Salle's 
 property, the aspersions cast on his character, and the 
 injury, that was attempted to be done to him in France ; 
 all was discouraging to him, and when to this was added, 
 the conduct of jD,e Beaujeu towards him, it certainly ap- 
 peared,, as if the fdies were against the successful com- 
 pletion of his projects. Pe Beaujeu endeavored to ag- 
 gravate the hardships of J^a Salle's condition ; he refused 
 him all succor or assistance, he would not give him any 
 of the materials, that were on board his vessel to re- 
 place those, which had been lost, and on the 14th March 
 
 * Joutel JOURNAL HISTORIQUE DU DERNIER VOYAGE PE FEU M. Dj; 
 
 JLA Salle IN 12mo., paris, 1713. 
 
64 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 1685, finally abandoned the young Colony, consisting of 
 one hundred and eighty persons, on an inhospitable 
 shore, in a distant country, surrounded by savages and 
 exposed to the most imminent danger. 
 
 They immediately began to cultivate the ground and 
 to erect a fort, to protect them against the incursions of 
 the Indians. When it was nearly completed, La Salle 
 ascended the Riviere aux Vaches, to a distance of about 
 two leagues from the Bay, where he commenced the 
 erection of another Fort, which he called Saint Louis, 
 in honor of the King, who had bestowed on him so 
 many favors. Placed on a height of land, the view 
 from the Fort extended over the whole surroundingr 
 country. However, when the buildings were almost fin- 
 ished, the people began to complain ; the grain, which 
 they had sown became parched from the intensity of the 
 heat, or was destroyed by wild animals from the adjoin- 
 ing forest, the mechanics knew but little of their trades, 
 and the works were suspended from the want of men to 
 complete them, the people grew exasperated from the 
 evils they suffered and broke out into open mutiny, 
 which was only allayed by the interference of Joutel, 
 the author of the best account, we have, of this unfor- 
 tunate expedition. Some of the men w^ere seized with 
 sickness and died, whilst others^ threatened with a hos- 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 6S 
 
 tile attack from the Indians, complained that La Salle 
 did not bring them out of the country. He alone of all 
 the colonists, concealed his fears and never lost that 
 equanimity, for Avhich he was remarkable; in the midst of 
 all his difficulties, he preserved a calm and serene coun- 
 tenance, he never gave vent to a thought, which might 
 have the effect of discouraging his men, but on the con- 
 trary, applied himself with assiduity to the completion 
 of the work and was himself foremost in carrying it on. 
 The resources of his genius seemed to increase with the 
 obstacles he had to surmount, his temper naturally kind 
 to his inferiors, became severe, as it was necessary to 
 repress their insubordination and he punished the slight- 
 est faults with the greatest rigour. There hardly ever 
 escaped a word of kindness or consolation from his lips, 
 towards those, who were suffering with the greatest pa- 
 tience. A deep sadness came over the spirits of th,e 
 colonists. They felt indifferent at every thing that oc- 
 curred, and disease having again spread its ravages 
 amongst them, about thirty of them surrendered life, 
 without even a feeling of sorrow. The character of 
 La Salle contributed greatly to his misfortunes. His 
 pride disdained any interference with him. Any other 
 person less capable, perhaps less just than him, but more 
 
 insinuating, might have succeeded where he failed. 
 
 6* 
 
66 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 111 that part of the country, where this colony was 
 established (now Texas) the climate was warm, but sal- 
 ubriou^, the air pure, the sky serene, and it scarcely 
 ever rained, extensive plains were seen, divided here and 
 there, by rivers, lakes, and the most charming rural re- 
 treats, the palm tree grew in the forests, which were 
 filled with a species of leopards and tigers, the rivers 
 were full of crocodiles, twenty feet in length, which 
 chased away the fish, the hissing serpent was concealed 
 beneath the grass, in the prairies strewed with flow- 
 ers, which attracted the attention of the French, and 
 a multitude of savage tribes were roving through the 
 forests ; thus, in the midst of all the allurements of this 
 fine tropical climate, beguiled by the charming prospect 
 around them, they had but to wander from the precincts 
 of their habitations, and they were doomed to meet 
 with death, where they had hoped to enjoy life. 
 
 La Salle resolved to make further exertions, for the 
 discovery of the outlet of the Mississippi. He made a 
 voyage to the Colorado, in which he lost several men, 
 who were massacred by the Indians or who perished 
 in the shipwreck of the Belle, the only vessel be- 
 longing to him, which was left after the departure of 
 De Beaujeu. He made another excursion among the 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 67 
 
 Cenis* a tribe in the interior, which was not more suc- 
 cessful, and out of twenty men, who went with him, he 
 brought back but eight. Owing to sickness, and the 
 accidents, which happened to them, there were also 
 frightful ravages, amongst his other companions. La 
 Salle proposed to ask for assistance from the inhabit- 
 ants of the West India Islands, and to travel about the 
 gulf of Mexico, until he found the Mississippi, but the 
 loss of the Belle frustrated all his plans ; his resources 
 failing him every day, and being distant two thousand 
 miles from the habitations of civilized man, there re- 
 mained no other recourse, but to demand assistance 
 from France, by the way of Canada. 
 
 He decided to go himself to Illinois, a step which 
 would certainly have been unadvisable, had not his 
 presence been necessary in Canada, to silence his oppo- 
 nents, who were always ready to cast aspersions on his 
 conduct, whenever success did not attend him. He left 
 on the twelfth of January 1687, taking with him seven- 
 teen persons, and leaving twenty at Fort Saint Louis, 
 including men, women and children. Thus, at this peri- 
 od, the number of colonists was reduced from one hun- 
 
 • Charlevoix mentions, that the Clamccets were the names of the 
 savages, who lived on the borders of the sea, whilst the Cenis occu- 
 pied the interior. 
 
68 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 dred and eighty to thirty-seven. A Canadian of the 
 name of Le Barbier was left in command of the Fort. 
 "We separated," says Joutel, *' one from another, with 
 such sorrow and sadness, that it appeared as if we all 
 had a secret presentiment, we should never see each 
 other again." 
 
 The journey was slow and painful. On the sixteenth 
 of March, whilst they were yet, on, one of the tributa- 
 ries of Trinity river, a sanguinary tragedy occurred, 
 which seemed to complete the misfortunes, which had 
 already befallen this ill-fated expedition. Some of the 
 men who accompanied La Salle, at the head of whom 
 was Duhaut, being separated from the rest, had a quar- 
 rel with La Salle's nephe\v., named Moragnet ; dishear- 
 tened at their losses and privations, and incensed at the 
 insolence of this man, they determined to kill him, and 
 to dispatch at the same time his two companions, in case 
 they should disclose their participation in the offence. 
 But they had no sooner committed this triple assassina- 
 tion, than fearing the justice of La Salle, and carried 
 away by their propensity to commit crime, they thought 
 their vengeance would not be satisfied, as long as that 
 Chief lived ; his death was therefore resolved upon. 
 In the mean time, La Salle, finding that his nephew did 
 not return, a suspicion flitted across his mind, that 
 
OP THE MISSISSIPPI. 69 
 
 something wrong had occurred to him, and he asked, if 
 he had not had some difficulty with Duhaut. He left 
 immediately to go and meet him. The conspirators 
 having ohserved him coming at a distance, loaded their 
 guns, crossed the river, and concealed themselves in the 
 brushwood, lying in wait for him. The latter, on ap- 
 proaching their place of concealment, observed two ea- 
 gles, flying over his head, as if they were in the neigh- 
 borhood of some prey ; he fired his gun. One of the 
 conspirators came forth from his hiding place and on 
 La Salle's approaching him, he asked him w^here was 
 his nephew ? Whilst he was giving a vague reply, a 
 ball struck La Salle in the head, and he fell mortally 
 wounded, without saying a word. The missionary An- 
 astasc who was near him, feared that he w^ould undergo 
 the same fate. La Salle lived about an hour after he 
 had been wounded, and in shaking hands with Anastase, 
 \vho was on his knees near him, indicated to him, that 
 he understood the words, which that pious missionary 
 was addressing to him. He was buried on the spot, 
 where he was killed, in the midst of the forest, by that 
 good Priest, who planted a cross over his grave, in mem- 
 ory of one, who had been to him a good friend and a 
 kind companion. Mr. Sparks places the scene of this 
 bloody drama, on the borders of one of the tributaries 
 
70 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 of the river Brazos, whilst other writers say, it occur- 
 red in the vicinity of Trinity river. 
 
 The murderers laid hold of everything they could 
 find and proceeded on their journey ; some of their 
 companions with their hearts overburdened with grief, 
 others with the deepest remorse and disquietude. The 
 assassins soon became disunited, and in a quarrel, which 
 they had, respecting the division of the property, Du- 
 haut and the Surgeon Liotot, the two chief conspirators, 
 met with their death from a pistol shot, fired at them by 
 their companions. The savages looked with terror on 
 these sanguinary scenes, perpetrated in the depths of the 
 forest, by those very men, who had come amongst 
 them to inculcate peaceful doctrines, and to teach 
 them, how sinful it was to imbrue their hands in hu- 
 man blood. Soon after the commission of this last 
 crime, they separated. All those who were compromis- 
 ed in the murder, remained amongst the Indians, whilst 
 the others to the number of seven, viz : Joutel, Anas- 
 tase, the Cavaliers, uncle and nephew, and three others, 
 continued their journey, as far as Illinois, where they 
 arrived at Fort Saint Louis, on the fourteenth of Sep- 
 tember 1687. 
 
 However sad was the fate of La Salle and his com- 
 panions, the small colony, that had remained, at Saint 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 71 
 
 Bernard's Bay, met with even more dreadful disasters. 
 A few days after La Salle left, the savages suddenly at- 
 tacked the fort, and massacred all the inhabitants, with 
 the exception of five. They had suffered all the pangs 
 of want and hunger, they had been exposed to the at- 
 tacks of hordes of ruthless savages, and gladly welcom- 
 ed death, as the means of averting their misery. The 
 five persons, who escaped, fell into the hands of the 
 Spaniards ; two or three of them were sent to the mines 
 of Mexico and the others, young men named Talon, 
 were taken under the protection of the Vice-Roy of that 
 country, and treated by him, with every mark of kind- 
 ness. When they arrived at the age of manhood, they 
 were placed in the Spanish Navy, and after several en- 
 gagements, in which they distinguished themselves, re- 
 turned to France, their native country. 
 
 Such was the unfortunate issue of an expedition 
 which had inspired the greatest hopes, and which would 
 have probably succeeded, had they confined themselves 
 to promoting the objects they had in view at the estab- 
 lishment, where they were at first located, without di- 
 recting their attention elsewhere. Texas is one of the 
 finest and most fertile Countries in the world, but La Salle 
 here committed the same error he had fallen into, in Cana- 
 da, that of being accompanied by too many persons, in his 
 
72 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 expeditions. The ruin of St. Louis, was- the necessary 
 consequence of the disasters, which befel this party. 
 In order to promote its success. La Salle ought to have 
 remained in his young Colony and given encouragement 
 to settlements and the arts of agriculture. Some authors 
 reproach him for having lost sight of his first designs, 
 in order to attempt the discovery of the fabulous mines 
 of Sainte Barbe ; but there is nothing in Joutel, nor in 
 Zenobe Mambre,* which would justify this assertion.! 
 It would appear, that the genius of this celebrated 
 traveller was more adapted to establish a great commer- 
 cial empire in those distant countries, than to found an 
 agricultural colony. There was something grand and 
 majestic in his ideas, and the plans, which he submitted 
 to Louis the Fourteenth, were based on exact and 
 
 * Christian Le Clere " First establishment of the Faith in New 
 France." 
 
 f On the contrary, instead of approaching the Spaniards, he went 
 farther from them. We read in Zenobe Mambre's work, " It was 
 here, that La Salle changed his route from the North-East to the 
 East, for reasons, which he does not give us, and which we have nev- 
 er been able to penetrate." The Mississippi was to the East of him. 
 There must be some error in this account from Zenobe Mambre, the 
 words from " North East to the East," ought perhaps to be read 
 " From North East to the West." His error consisted in not going 
 to the East, where he would have discovered the outlet of the river. 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 73 
 
 profound calculations ; he was the precursor of Du- 
 pleix. 
 
 I have enlarged more on the result of this unfortu- 
 nate expedition, because it serves as a prelude to that, 
 which was afterwards undertaken in Louisiana. The 
 student of American history owes a tribute of respect to 
 the memory of a man, who sacrificed his fortune and 
 his life, in the cause of French colonization in America, 
 for if he did not establish, he at least greatly accelera- 
 ted the establishment of Louisiana, now the abode of so 
 many of his countrymen, and one of the most flourish- 
 ing parts of the Union. Every day adds also to the in- 
 terest which is taken in the history of the fathers of the 
 New World. As this Continent becomes more inhabit- 
 ed, as these ancient colonies, once so poor, so humble in 
 their origin, are changed into States, into independent 
 Republics, the names of their founders acquire increased 
 celebrity, and their actions may be regarded as the land- 
 marks of history, behind which there is so much to 
 interest the student in his researches for information, 
 concerning the early discovery of this part of America. 
 
 The foundation of a Colony in Louisiana, like that of 
 Canada, and the other French possessions in America 
 was doomed to be accompanied by many vicissitudes 
 and misfortunes. The experience of a century had not 
 
74 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 changed the policy of the government, the large and 
 comprehensive principles of Colbert were forgotten, 
 even at the time, when it was first contemplated to found 
 this establishment, and the penury of a nearly exhaus- 
 ted treasury induced the creating of a monopoly, where 
 the enterprise ought to have received the attention, for 
 it needed the undivided energies of the Government. 
 France, at the present day is attempting to establish a 
 military empire in Africa ; it might learn a lesson, from 
 its experience in the colonization of this Continent. 
 There were none of the elements of durability in either 
 the policy she pursued or the institutions she established 
 in the New World. She placed her foot on American 
 soil, in the hope of realizing money from the adventure, 
 her objects were to promote commerce and increase her 
 wealth, she thought but little of the means of ensuring 
 happiness to her children on this Continent. By encour- 
 aging the arts of agriculture, she would be giving hope 
 to the Colonists, that they would find a permanent home, 
 in the wilds of America, and this would thwart her 
 schemes for aggrandizing herself, by the monopoly of 
 the commerce of the New World. She would not give 
 them liberty, but preferred transplanting to this Conti- 
 nent the germs of that despotism, that was crushing the 
 energies of her people at home. Hence, her want of 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 75 
 
 success, in making the Colonists feel a permanent inter- 
 est in the soil, hence, from their love of liberty and 
 fear of despotism they yielded, under the combined influ- 
 ence of American valor and patriotism. From the plains 
 of Abraham, in the frigid regions of Canada, to the rice 
 and sugar plantations of Louisiana, there was not an 
 inch of territory, which she was not finally obliged to 
 abandon, although she was the first to enter on the 
 work of colonization and to obtain a temporary foot- 
 hold in the country. 
 
 The war, which was terminated by the Peace of Ris- 
 wick, had engrossed so much of the attention of the 
 French, that they did not make any further attempt to 
 colonize either Texas or Louisiana ; but several French 
 Canadians, attracted by the beauty and fertility of the 
 country, had established themselves during this period, 
 along the shores of the Atlantic and the Mississippi, and 
 were the ancestors of many of those wealthy planters 
 and merchants, who are now settled in the City of New 
 Orleans and the surrounding country. They had foun- 
 ded establishments in that part of Louisiana, and at Mo- 
 bile, in order to be as near as possible to the French West 
 India Islands, whither they resorted for purposes of com- 
 merce.* But as soon as peace was re-established on a 
 
 * Le Page Dupratz work on America, published in Paris in 1758, 
 
76 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 solid and permanent basis, the French Court bestowed 
 ks attention on the affairs of the New World. The 
 Spaniards, who at all times looked upon America, as 
 their exclusive patrimony, had regarded La Salle's en- 
 terprise with much envy, and they learned the news of 
 his death and the dispersion of his companions, without 
 manifesting any emotion. They knew, it would afford 
 them the opportunity of taking quiet possession of the 
 country and driving away the French for ever. After 
 having visited different parts of the coast, for the pur- 
 pose of selecting a convenient locality for a settlement, 
 they established themselves at Pensacola, at the western 
 extremity of Florida, where they had remained for a 
 short period, before D'Iberville arrived. 
 
 On his return from Hudson's Bay in 1697, this cele- 
 brated traveller proposed to the French Ministry, to re- 
 sume the projects, which they had some years before 
 contemplated, with respect to Louisiana. M. de Pont- 
 charlrain readily accepted his offer, and gave him two 
 vessels, with which he set sail from Rochefort in France, 
 in the month of October of the following year, and 
 more successful than La Salle^ he found the outlet 
 of the Mississippi, the search after which had occupied 
 a part of the life-time of his predecessor^ Having, on 
 liis return, been named Governor General of that ex- 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 77 
 
 tensive country, he went there in the year 1699, with a 
 number of Colonists. He presented himself before Fort 
 Pensacola and asked permission to disembark, which the 
 Spaniards refused. He continued his route towards the 
 West, and in March 1699, entered the mouth of the 
 Mississippi, which he ascended to the settlement of the 
 Outmas, a tribe established above the place, now known 
 as Donaldsonville, who delivered to him a letter from 
 De Tonti, addressed to La Salle, whom he had wished 
 to meet in the fall of 1685. 
 
 D'Iberville returned and disembarked his small colo- 
 ny, in the Bay of Biloxi, situated between the river and 
 Pensacola. Here, they suffered much from the heat of 
 the climate, and there was nothing in the appearance of 
 the country to attract their attention ; its dry and arid 
 soil they judged unfit for agriculture and they conclu- 
 ded, that D'Iberville selected the locality, as being so 
 well adapted to establish co-mmercial relations with the 
 neighbouring Indians, the Spaniards, the French West 
 India Islands and with Europe. 
 
 On his return from France, in the year 1700, D'Iber- 
 ville was apprised that the English, coming from the 
 sea, had appeared in the Mississippi, whilst others com- 
 ing by land from Carolina, had advanced as far as the 
 
78 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 territory of the Chickasas, on the river Yazous.* The 
 attention of this nation was attracted towards Louisiana, 
 by the treasonable conduct of Father Hennepin,! who 
 in dedicating a new edition of his travels in America, 
 to King William the Third, wherein he described La 
 Salle's discoveries as his own, invited that Protestant 
 Monarch to take possession of the country and to prop- 
 agate the Gospel amongst the Indians. J William, 
 therefore despatched three vessels, laden with Huguenots 
 to commence the colonization of the Mississippi, but 
 D'lberville was before-hand with them. They then 
 went to the Province of Panuca, to concert measures 
 with the Soaniards to drive awav the French from Bi- 
 loxi. This proceeding was however ineffectual. § They 
 met with hardly any opposition on the part of the Span- 
 
 * The Carolinas North and South are marked on the old French 
 charts, as having the Mississippi for their western boundary. 
 
 t The King of France issued orders to arrest this Monk, if he pre- 
 sented himself in Canada. (Documens de Paris.) 
 
 :{: There is a curious passage in the abstract of a Memorial to King 
 William, presenting the claims of the English to a part of the valley 
 of the Mississippi, (to be found in the appendix'to Coxe's Coralr.- 
 na, page, 86,) in w^hich the New Englanders claimed a rigjht to the 
 territory, on the ground of discovery, in the year 1678. Coxe's Cora- 
 lana was published in 1722. 
 
 § Universal History, XI., 278. 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 79 
 
 iards, and from the friendly relations, which subsisted 
 between these nations, at the commencement of the cen- 
 tury, the English were foiled in their efforts to bring 
 abo-ut a state of hostility between them. 
 
 After the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, a large 
 number of Huguenots had established themselves in Vir- 
 ginia an 1 a^ong the coast of America. They had ac- 
 quired considerable property in Carolina, and Massachu- 
 setts had given them the right of representation in the 
 Legislature, They established many towns, which are 
 now in a flourishing state. These unfortunate exiles, 
 who could never forget their native country, had peti- 
 tioned Louis the Fourteenth for permission to settle un- 
 der his protection in Louisiana ; they assured him that 
 they would ever be faithful subjects and would demand 
 nothing more than liberty of conscience. They said, 
 that if he acceded to their wishes, they would leave in 
 considerable numbers and aid in developing the resources 
 of that flourishing country. Louis the XIV, who be- 
 came more religious, as his years advanced, refused 
 their prayer, " The King," says Pontchartrain, ^' did 
 not expel the Protestants from his Kingdom, to erect a 
 Republic in America." They renewed their demand, 
 under the regency of the Duke of Orleans, but that li- 
 centious Prince gave them the same answer as his pred- 
 
80 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 ecessor. In speaking of the Huguenots, the circum- 
 stance of their arrival in America, may be mentioned, 
 in connection with the discovery of the West. They 
 were a hardy and energetic race of men ; suffering from 
 religious persecution and escaping from the flames of 
 religious warfare, which were kindling in their native 
 country, they emigrated to America, appreciating the 
 value of civil and religious liberty. Foremost in every 
 work for the advancement and amelioration of their 
 race, they prosecuted science for the blessings it would 
 confer on mankind and thus contributed in no slight de- 
 gree to facilitate the labors of those, who were making 
 researches in America. Nor were they behind-hand in 
 the struggles, which their adopted Country was after- 
 wards engaged in, with the parent State. They volun- 
 tarily came forward and rendered essential service to 
 America, when she stood most in need of it. " The re- 
 membrance, says an American writer,* of the distin- 
 guished services, which their descendants rendered to 
 our country, and to the cause of civil and religious lib- 
 
 * Memoir of the French Protestants, who settled at Oxford, Mas- 
 sachusetts A. D. 1686, with a sketch of the entire History of the 
 Protestants of France by A. Holmes, D. D. Corresponding Secreta- 
 ry. " Collection of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Vo. 2nd 
 of the 3d series. 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 81 
 
 erty, ought to increase our respect for the French emi- 
 grants and our interest in their history. Mr. Gabriel 
 Manigault of South Carolina gave the country, which 
 had offered an asylum to his ancestors, two hundred and 
 twenty thousand dollars, to carry on the war of Inde- 
 pendance. He rendered this service, at the commence- 
 ment of the contest, when no one could say, whether it 
 would terminate in a revolution or a revolt. Of the 
 nine chairmen of the old Congress, who directed the 
 affairs of the United States, during the war of the Rev- 
 olution, three w^ere descendants of French Protestant 
 refugees, viz : Henry Laurens of South Carolina, John 
 Jay of New York, and Elias Boudinot of New Jersey." 
 We left D'Iberville ^engaged in establishing his small 
 Colony in the Bay of Biloxi, near Pensacola. He un- 
 dertook a short voyage up the Mississippi, as far as the 
 Natchez, where he contemplated fixing the site of a 
 town, but he returned to Biloxi, where he established 
 his head quarters. M. de Sauvolle was named the 
 commandant of this Fort. D'Iberville w^ote to the 
 French Ministry, that men of experience in the affairs 
 of America were of opinion, that Louisiana would nev- 
 er become important in a commercial point of view, un- 
 less they established free trade wdth the merchants of 
 the Kingdom. The Government restricted commerce 
 
82 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 vith Louisiana, as it was generally believed at that pe- 
 riod, that great value was to be attached to the pearl 
 fisheries, and the skins of the bisons and other wild ani- 
 mals, and that the trade in these articles would greatly 
 enrich the public treasury. The rumors that prevailed 
 in France, respecting the existence of gold and silver 
 mines, to the west of the Mississippi, led the Govern- 
 ment to indulge in the most sanguine hopes, that the 
 country would prove the richest portion of the French 
 domains. This, therefore, induced the Ministry to cre- 
 ate monopolies, w^hich they could at all times regulate, 
 rather than throw open the commerce of Louisiana to 
 the enterprise and industry of its people. D'Iberville 
 sent M. Leseur, his relative, to take possession of a 
 copper mine, on Green river, to the North West of the 
 Falls of Saint Anthony. This undertaking was soon 
 abandoned, on account of its being carried on so far in 
 the interior. With regard to the pretended mines of 
 gold and silver, which excited much more attention in 
 Europe, than in America, they were so many idle delu- 
 sions, which seized hold of the public mind for the mo- 
 ment, but which vanished, as soon as the uncertainty of 
 their existence became known. Not that there were no 
 mines to the west of the Mississippi, but they had not 
 then been discovered. With many, the search after 
 
 « 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 83 
 
 gold was the only object they had m view, in coming to 
 the New World, but their hopes were doomed to be 
 disappointed and their labours resulted in shame and 
 ruin. Such were the frequent attempts, made by a Por- 
 tuguese fugitive, named Antoine, who had escaped from 
 the mines of Mexico, and w^ho had made several fruit- 
 less searches, in the soil of Louisiana. They resulted 
 in nothing else, than to bring the French hunters after 
 gold, nearer and nearer to the sources of the rivers, 
 emptying themselves into the Mississippi, and which 
 took their rise in the neighbourhood of the Rocky Moun- 
 tains. In their wanderings, they had traversed the coun- 
 try, bordering on the banks of the Red river, the Ark- 
 ansas, and the Missouri, and the coveted riches, which 
 they idly fancied, were embowelled in the earth, fled be- 
 fore them, as so many mirages of the desert. 
 
 To what reflections do these unsuccessful attempts of 
 the French give rise ? Had they discovered the exis- 
 tence of the gold, which is now known to be, to the 
 west of the Mississippi ; had they the most distant 
 idea of the existence of that wealth, which is now within 
 the limits of our Government, w^hat an impetus would it 
 have given to the cause of French colonization in Ameri- 
 ca ? Thousands would have left their native country 
 and settled themselves on this Continent, attracted by 
 
84 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 that golden meteor, which they saw in the distance and 
 which they were so eagerly in search of. Instead of 
 shedding their blood, on the battle fields of Duquesne and 
 Monongahela, in the hope of sustaining a feeble sov- 
 ereignty in the New World, they would have fought 
 w^ith desperation, knowing the value of the prize, they 
 were surrendering. But the French was not the nation, 
 which Providence had ordained, should become the in- 
 heritors and the possessors of this soil. The glorious 
 deeds of our ancestors, in ejecting the French from 
 America, w^ere began amongst the mountain passes of 
 the AUeghanies. They were consummated in the war 
 for Independence. Divine Providence, in rewarding 
 those, who were not engaged in a search after gold, but 
 who were battling in the cause of human liberty and 
 civilization, on the plains of Cerro Gordo and Buena 
 Vista, opened to their view those objects, which the 
 French had searched for in vain, those mines of gold, 
 which they had so long coveted, but which they never 
 could obtain. 
 
 In the year 1701, D'Iberville commenced an establish- 
 ment on the river Mobile, and M. de Bienville, his 
 brother, since in command of the colony, after the death 
 of De Sauvolle, removed the inhabitants from the sandy 
 plains of Biloxi, to this more favored locality. The 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 85 
 
 river was only navigable for boats of light draught, and 
 the soil which it watered, was only adapted for the cul- 
 tivation of tobacco, but, " according to the system, that 
 then, prevailed of fixing the colony near the mouth of 
 a river," they wished to be within a short distance of 
 the Island of Dauphine, or the Massacre, as it was 
 called, in order that they might have the advantage of 
 a harbour, from whence, as at Biloxi, they might trade 
 with the Spaniards, the French West India Islands and 
 with Europe. Mobile soon became the chief place of 
 residence, {chef-lieu,) of the French. On his fourth 
 voyage to Louisiana, in the following year, D'Iberville 
 caused barracks and stores to be constructed, and under 
 the management of its first founder, the Colony advanc- 
 ed by degrees in population and resources, until the 
 death of D'Iberville, which occurred in the year 1706. 
 D'Iberville expired, with the reputation of being one 
 of the bravest and most skilful officers, in the French 
 Navy. Born in Canada, of an ancient Norman family, 
 he had enlisted, almost from his boyhood, in the service 
 of his country. He had passed his apprenticeship in 
 arms, in the wars, which the French carried on against 
 hostile Indian tribes, in which the most essential qualifi- 
 cations in the French officer was the possession of ex- 
 traordinary physical force, and the most daring intre- 
 
 8 
 
86 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 pidity, and in which the officer, as the soldier was ahke 
 accustomed to lengthy marches in the thickest forests, 
 at all seasons of the year. Depending on the chase for 
 food, and handling his gun, as he would his axe, and his 
 paddle as his sword, he was brought up to a life of the 
 severest privations ; " not to fear a ball, if it should 
 strike him in the midst of the forest, nor to attack the 
 most savage Indians, in an ambuscade, nor to storm a 
 Fort, by a sharp escalade, and without artillery." D' 
 Iberville excelled in this difficult and sanguinary mode 
 of warfare. He was no less distinguished as a mariner, 
 and had he remained in France, would have reached the 
 highest grades in his profession. He engaged in a num- 
 ber of combats on the sea, sometimes against superior 
 forces, and he was always victorious. He tv.'ice carried 
 on a most desolating w^ar, against the English posses- 
 sions in New Foundland, and took its capital ; he con- 
 quered Pemaquid in Acadia, subdued the territory around 
 Hudson's Bav, founded Louisiana, and terminated a 
 most glorious career, before Havana in 1706, then ser- 
 ving, as the Commander in Chief of the French Squad- 
 ron.* Having been attacked with the yellow fever, 
 his health for the last three or four years of his eventful 
 
 • The work of Le Page Dupratz. 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 87 
 
 life, had become seriously impaired. The " colonies," 
 (says Bancroft,) and the French Nav^ iost in him a hero, 
 worthy of their regret." He was a man whom nature 
 had endowed with the necessary qualifications to go 
 through the difficult duties he had to perform. The 
 Marquis of Denonville, who appreciated his talents, had 
 recommended him to the French Court. In 1702, Louis 
 the Fourteenth, who encouraged the young French no- 
 bility in Canada, raised him from the grade of a Cap- 
 tain of a Frigate to that of Commander of a man of 
 war.* His death was a loss for Louisiana, for it is to 
 be presumed, that had he lived longer, the colony would 
 have made considerable progress ; but that illustrious 
 mariner, whose authority was so great, being dead, a 
 long period elapsed, before a new Governor arrived from 
 France. 
 
 Two years after the death of D'Iberville, M. Diron 
 d'Artaguette came to Louisiana, in the capacity of Com- 
 
 * Gazette of France of the 15th July, 1702. Historical notes and 
 manuscripts of M. A. Berthelot, Esquire. The historical manuscripts 
 in the possession of the family of the late Amable Berthelot, Esqr., 
 Member of the Canadian Parliament are of considerable interest and 
 have not yet been published. Jacques Viger, Esqr., late Mayor of 
 the City of Montreal, Canada, is also in possession of manuscripts 
 of great value relating to the early history of America. 
 
88 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY ' 
 
 missaire-ordonnafeur, an office, which corresponded with 
 that of Intendant in the old French Colonies, investing 
 him with civil and military authority. Some authors 
 mention, that D'Artaguette was named Governor, but 
 this is an error. This new functionary worked with 
 little success to put the Colony in a better condition, 
 and the inhabitants had long complained of the hard- 
 ships, they had to undergo. Neither the soil nor the 
 climate was adapted for agricultural or industrial pursuits, 
 and they wished to return to their native country. 
 However, they entertained quite a contrary opinion in 
 Europe of the capability and resources of Louisiana, 
 and notwithstanding France was then engaged in a 
 most disastrous war, her possessions in America contin- 
 ued to attract a great deal of attention. In the course 
 of this war the Island of Dauphine suffered much from 
 the depredations of corsairs and pirates, and in the year 
 1711, they caused a damage to the Colonists, which was 
 estimated at eighty thousand francs. D'Artaguette was 
 not the man, who ought to have been chosen to direct 
 the affairs of the Colony, at that critical period. He 
 was weak-minded and vaclilating, and his conduct was 
 in striking contrast with that of D'Iberville, who infus- 
 ed a spirit of energy and determination amongst the peo- 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 89 
 
 pie. "A Colony (says Raynal *) founded on such an 
 uncertain basis, could never prosper." The death of 
 D'Iberville had spread consternation amongst them and 
 having lost their leader, they vv^ere thrown into a state 
 of despair. The Colonists thought, they were about 
 being totally abandoned by France, and sought other lo- 
 calities, where they hoped to find better means of liv- 
 ing. Towards the end of the year 1711, there were 
 but twenty-eight families remaining, and these w£r£ re- 
 duced to a state of the greatest misery. 
 
 The French possessions in America were in the state 
 in which they are 'herein described, wh^n in the year 
 1712, Crozat demanded and obtained from the King of 
 France the monopoly of the commerce of Louisiana, 
 for a period of sixteen years. 
 
 It is however necessary, that we should direct our at- 
 tention to what was occurring in the North Western 
 
 * The Abbe Raynal whose work on the '^ History of the two Indies," 
 icxcited such attention at the time of its publication and increased his 
 reputation, as an author and a statesman. His " Essay on the Amer- 
 ican Revolution," is justly esteemed as a master-piece of fine writing 
 and pure philosophy. This work contributed much to enlighten the 
 public mind in Europe, as to the true character of the contest, be- 
 tween the Colonies and England. Many passages in it are truly elo- 
 quent. 
 
 8* 
 
90 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 portion of the Continent, before we refer to any other 
 matters, connected with the colonization of the south- 
 ern part of America. 
 
 Mr. Bancroft says,* that before 1693, the Reverend 
 Father Gravier began a mission among the IlUnois, and 
 became the founder of Kaskaskia, though it is not 
 known in what year it was estabhshed. This presump- 
 tion is founded on the contents of a letter, written by 
 the Reverend Gabriel Marest, dated ^^ Jlux Kaskaskias, 
 autrement dit P hnmaculee Co7iception de la Sainte Vi- 
 erge, le 9 J^ovemhre, 1712, in which mention is made of 
 there having been for some years/ an establishment at 
 this point. He further states, that soon after the foun- 
 ding of Kaskaskia, Cahokia and Peoria were establish- 
 ed. These statements are repeated in " Perkins' An- 
 nals of the West,! and the authority, on which they 
 are based, seems to be taken from a work, published in 
 Paris in 1781, 'Lettres edijiantes,' 328, 339, 375. I 
 have not seen any account, in the French histories, of 
 the establishment of any place as a permanent settlement 
 before that of the Forts Miami and Crevecoeur, and in 
 an old map in my possession^ which was pubhshed in 
 
 I 
 
 • Bancroft vol. 3d, 195. 
 
 f Perkins Annals of the Weit., page 55. 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 
 
 91 
 
 France after the year 1738, descriptive of America, 
 whilst in the occupation of the Indian tribes, I observe a 
 river, marked on this chart, as running in a South West- 
 erly direction from Detroit, and named the " River St. 
 Jerome, by which the Canadians come from Quebec," 
 (Riviere St. Jerome par ou les Canadiens viennent de Que- 
 bec.) The outlet of this river is at a place, called " Fort 
 Staquado,'' on the Ohio, which if it be the Wabash, as I 
 am inclined to believe, this Fort must have occupied the 
 site, at the junction of that river with the Ohio. The 
 Canadians generally followed the course of the rivers, and 
 the geographer, by indicating the river St. Jerome, as the 
 course which they took, it is rather singular if it be the 
 Wabash, that they should not have established them- 
 selves, along the shores of that river and the Ohio, and 
 the Southern branch of the Mississippi, before they as- 
 cended as high up the river as the present sites of Kas- 
 kaskia and Cahokia. These latter settlements are not 
 marked on this old chart, and although the geographers 
 of that period may not have been very remarkable for 
 accuracy in describing the country, nevertheless I am 
 inclined to entertain doubts, whether other places were 
 not established before the Canadians had settled either 
 in Kaskaskia or Cahokia, In my opinion, Fort Creve- 
 
92 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 ccEur,* near Peoria, Illinois, might claim the honor of 
 being the first permanent settlement of the " white men" 
 in the West, for as we are informed, it was founded by 
 La Salle, its claims to precedence in this respect are bet- 
 ter, than those of either of the places w^hich have been 
 named. The matter is not of much importance, but as 
 a historical fact, is worthy of further inquiry. 
 
 The historian Hennepin had" said, " that those who 
 would have the happiness, at some future period, to pos- 
 sess the lands of this agreeable and fertile country, w^ould 
 be under lasting obligations to those travellers, who show- 
 ed them the way, and crossed Lake Erie, after a hun- 
 dred leagues of difficult navigation." These w^ordshad 
 
 ** Some writers, amongst others "Coxe's Coralana," at page 32 of 
 his work, says, that Fort Crevecosur was built on the south east 
 BANK of the River Illinois, others locate it differently. In the histor- 
 ical view of Peoria^ published lately by S. Dewitt Drown, there is a plan 
 of the Fort, which is located by the writer, "at two or three miles 
 East of Peoria." Like other matters of historical inquiry, relating to 
 discoveries in the "West such as the dates of the establishments of 
 Towns, villages, &c., nothing can be stated with certainty. In Mr. 
 Drown's work, and the Rev. Mr. Peck's able sketches, which w^ere 
 concluded in the Republican of this City, on the 17th of August last 
 may be found much useful and valuable information. Judge Breeze's 
 labours on this subject and Mr. Primm's able address are too wdl 
 .known to need any reference to them. 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 93 
 
 hardly been pronounced, when in June 1700, M. de la 
 Motte Cadillac, arrived at Detroit, with a hundred Ca- 
 nadians and a Missionary, to form an establishment. 
 The colonists were delighted with the beauty of the 
 country and the mildness of the climate. In the lan- 
 guage of the writers of that period, " Nature spread its 
 charms over the face of that delightful country." With 
 its surface slightly undulated by picturesque elevations, 
 its green prairies, its forests of oak, and of maple, in- 
 termingled here and there with specimens of the wild 
 acacia, its running streams, and the beautiful small 
 islands, dotted over the surface of its lakes, there was 
 every thing to attract the attention and enrapture the 
 imaginations of the newly arrived Colonists, particularly 
 after leaving the bleak hills and snowy vales of Canada, 
 their native country. Even at the present day, the Ca- 
 nadians, in the midst of their more enterprising breth- 
 ren, still linger around the old homesteads of their an- 
 cestors, in that section of Michigan, and in the markets 
 of Detroit, the old Canadian vehicles are to be found, 
 in striking contrast with the more novel inventions of 
 their industrious neighbours. 
 
 About this period, 1701, the English Colonists in 
 America w^ere beginning to be alarmed at the important 
 position the French were assuming, in relation to the 
 
94 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 affairs of this Continent. The latter power being in 
 possession of Canada and the country bordering on the 
 Great Lakes, was the rival of England, whose Colonies, 
 were situated, near the seaboard. The policy of the 
 French Government was to extend their sovereignty in 
 the interior of America, and they could only do so, by 
 cultivating the friendly feelings of the powerful Indian 
 tribes, who wandered over the country. It was a vast 
 and gigantic plan, which the ministers of Louis the Four- 
 teenth had formed for the subjugation of this continent. 
 They contemplated the establishment of a chain of forts, 
 extending from Canada, on the one hand, to Louisiana, 
 on the other, and with the Mississippi as their western 
 boundary, they thought, it would not be difficult to 
 drive away the English and obtain exclusive possession 
 of the country. At that period, the British Colonies 
 did not exceed two hundred and twenty-five thousand in 
 population ; they were scattered over an immense tract 
 of country, from Massachusetts on the one hand, to the 
 Carolinas on the other, and there was no concerted 
 plan of action between them. The New England 
 States did not comprise much more than one hundred 
 thousand men, many of whom were engaged in agricultu- 
 ral pursuits, whenever their enemies, (the Indians) ceased 
 from carrying on their predatory excursions, and afforded 
 
 I 
 I 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 95 
 
 an opportunity of employing themselves, in rural labour. 
 The Jibenakis were then a powerful tribe, whose strong- 
 holds were situated on their Northern frontier and they 
 gave the Colonists quite sufficient trouble, in resisting 
 their encroachments, without interfermg in the contests, 
 which were carried on, between the French and the 
 other tribes, in the interior. 
 
 This led to that passive state, in which the British 
 Colonists remained, up to the period of the Treaty of 
 Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1748, when from their increased 
 numbers and powerful influence, they were commencing 
 to give another direction to affairs, on this Continent. 
 
 But four years had elapsed, since the settlement of 
 Detroit, when the flames of war were again kindled and it 
 required all the energy and activity of the Marquis de 
 Vaudreuil, the Governor General of Canada, to quell 
 the turbulent spirit of the Iroquoise confederation. The 
 latter were the complete masters of the country, and 
 their alliance was courted by both the French and the 
 English. During this period and for a number of years, 
 the cause of colonization was greatly impeded by these 
 unremitting hostilities on the part of the Indian tribes. 
 The history of this period is replete with accounts of 
 the encroachments of the Indian tribes, on the French 
 possessions in the West, and of the measures which they 
 
96 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 adopted to repel them. The slightest cause was imme- 
 diately seized hold of, to declare war between these nu- 
 merous and powerful tribes and their weak enemies, the 
 French. Several voyageurs from Canada travelled 
 through the Western country for purposes of trade, but 
 we read of no further settlements in the West for a num- 
 ber of years. The historical records of this period, re- 
 lating to the discovery of the West, are very incomplete, 
 and it is only of late years that any attention has been 
 bestowed on the subject. These records consist almost 
 exclusively of the " Relations of the Jesuits," several 
 of whose works have only been lately discovered.* 
 
 From the year 1714 to 1728, there v/as nothing inter- 
 esting in the annals of military warfare, in the West. 
 In this year, however, the Canadians were again called 
 to arms, and equipped an expedition, which is worthy 
 
 * Dr. O'Callaghan, author of the "History of New Netherlands" 
 and the compiler of several valuable State papers, relating to the His- 
 tory of New York, has lately published a list of the works, which the 
 Jesuits wrote, on the early history of this country. This small pub- 
 lication has since been translated into French, by Jacques Viger, Es- 
 quire, of Montreal, with several notes and corrections. It is a valu- 
 able compendium of the works of these writers. 
 
 We have also lately heard of the discovery of other ^' Relations" or 
 accounts of their voyages in the West, in one of the J.ibraries, in 
 Rome. 
 
 \ 
 
OP THE MISSISSIPPI. 97 
 
 of being mentioned, in the long contests, which ensu- 
 ed between the Iroquoise confederation and the French, 
 there is nothing remarkable, excepting that the history 
 of this period is replete with accounts of most sanguin- 
 ary battles, of these being followed by truces, which, 
 almost as soon as they were entered into, were again 
 broken and gave rise to scenes of the wildest disorder. 
 Predatory excursions were made by roving Indians in 
 the forest, into the settlements of the French at Detroit 
 and Illinois, and it was difficult to exercise summary 
 punishment on those offenders, who took refuge within 
 the recesses of the forest. But in the beginning of the 
 year 1728, the Outagamis, whose strongholds were sit- 
 uated on the shores of Lake Michigan, caused great an- 
 noyance to the French, by their frequent depredations 
 and attacks on the settlement, at Detroit. This nation 
 was distinguished for its peculiar mode of warfare and 
 had become the object of the hatred of all the other 
 tribes in the West. They were ferocious, cunning and 
 cruel, they had resisted all attempts at overtures, on the 
 part of the French, to enter into friendly relations with 
 them, and although they suffered many defeats, no soon- 
 er were they dispersed, than they again appeared in in- 
 creased numbers and committed great havoc and plun- 
 der. A military expedition was fitted out, to reduCQ 
 
 9 
 
98 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 them to submission. It was placed under the command 
 of M. de Ligneris and consisted of four hundred and 
 fifty Canadians, and seven or eight hundred Indians, 
 They left Montreal, in the commencement of June, and 
 proceeded by a Northwardly course, to the point of their 
 destination. They arrived at Michilimackmac, on the 
 first of August, and at the head of Lake Michigan on 
 the fourteenth of that month, after two months and 
 nine days travelling. After a few engagements with a 
 tribe, called " Les Malhomines or Folles-avoines," in 
 which they were successful, they proceeded to the villa- 
 ges and hunting grounds of the Outagamis, which they 
 found deserted, and after wandering about in those lo- 
 calities, for a short time, they retraced their steps and 
 returned home. It was during this expedition, that the 
 French directed their attention more particularly to fur- 
 ther discoveries in the North West. They had succeed- 
 ed in tracing the course of the tw^o great rivers and of 
 all the great Lakes, in the Northern part of the Conti- 
 nent, they had ascended the tributaries of the Missis- 
 sippi, which take their sources in the Rocky Mountains, 
 they had even attempted to find a North Western pas- 
 sage to the Pacific, but in this they did not succeed, al- 
 though we read in the works of Lepage Dupratz, that 
 an Indian of the name of Yazou had accomplished the 
 
OP THE MISSISSIPPI. 99 
 
 journey. The French had tried on several occasions to 
 find a passage across the mountains to the Ocean, but 
 I do not find it recorded in any work, to which I have 
 had access, that they were successful in attaining their 
 object. About this period (1729) the attention of the 
 French Government was directed to the prosecution of 
 further discoveries in America, and for a few years they 
 made several fruitless attempts to engage navigators and 
 traders to direct their steps North westerly, in the 
 hope of finding the Ocean. But few were found to under- 
 go the dangers and perils of the journey, and it was only 
 in the year 1738, that an expedition was formed, under 
 the auspices of M. de Beauharnais, the Governor, the 
 object of which was to make further discoveries, in the 
 North west. M. de Maurepas was foremost in setting 
 this enterprise on foot, he was the Minister of France, 
 at that period, and was evidently a man of great genius 
 and learning, full of enterprise, and resolved to carry 
 on with vigor the great work of exploration, on this 
 Continent. He chose M. de la Verandrve to be the 
 Chief of the expedition. This man had neither the en- 
 ergy nor the ambition of Perrot or La Salle, but he had 
 some experience in travelling in the forests and a satis- 
 factory result might have been expected from his la- 
 bours. He left Canada in the year 1738, with orders to 
 
100 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 take possession of all the countries he might discover, 
 in the name of the French King, and to examine atten- 
 tively, what advantages might be obtained from estab- 
 lishino; a communication between Canada or Louisiana 
 and the Pacific ocean. The Government contemplated 
 the extension of trading posts to the North West as far 
 as the ocean, and the acquisition of great wealth from 
 the peltries and other products, furnished by the Indians. 
 At that period, the attention of Europeans began to be 
 directed towards the countries, in the North Western 
 part of America, and although their researches had not 
 as yet proved very successful, they thought, they would 
 at no distant day realize the advantages, which would 
 arise from the discovery of this Continent, and the 
 unbounded wealth, which they fondly imagined, was 
 contained within the limits of the Western Hemisphere. 
 They knew not to what point, the boundaries of Amer- 
 ica extended, and as their bold and fearless adventurers 
 had advanced within the recesses of the forest, they 
 found there was no limit, no end to their journey ; they 
 were always proceeding in a Westerly course, and yet 
 they did not meet with the Ocean ; it seemed to them, 
 as if this long looked for object receded as they advanc- 
 ed, that it was a mere dream of the imagination. Many 
 of them returned disheartened to their country, and 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 101 
 
 abandoned the project, as one, which was fraught with 
 danger and difficulties of no ordinary character, and 
 which even if they succeeded in accomplishing, would 
 be attended with little benefit to them. M. de la Ver- 
 andrye passed Lake Superior, advanced towards the foot 
 of Lake Winnepeg and then ascending the River Assin- 
 niboil, approached the Rocky Mountains, which he did 
 not however reach, having become engaged in a war 
 with the Indians, in which he lost several of his men 
 and becoming disconcerted at the difficulties, which sur- 
 rounded him, he abandoned the enterprise and returned 
 to Canada. This traveller mentioned to the learned 
 Swedish historian Kalm, whom he afterwards met in the 
 year 1749, that he discovered in the territory, to the 
 North West, at a distance of nine hundred leagues from 
 Montreal, massive stone columns of great height and 
 durability, in some instances, one placed over the other, 
 forming a kind of wall, and in others, consisting of one 
 large block only ; he does not mention, that there were 
 any superscriptions or words, marked on these stones, 
 with the exception of one of the size of about one foot 
 in length, by about four or five inches in breadth, on 
 both sides of which were some unknown marks, resem- 
 bling letters, the meaning of which they did not under- 
 stand. This small stone was afterwards sent to the Sec- 
 
 9* 
 
102 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 retary of State, in Paris. Many of the missionaries, 
 whom Kalm saw in Canada, assured him, that the let- 
 ters, which were engraved on it, resembled very much 
 those, which were in use amongst the Tartars, and from 
 this circumstance and others, which w^ere afterwards 
 mentioned by other travellers, must have originated the 
 belief, w^hich was very generally entertained, in the 
 commencement of the eighteenth century, of the exis- 
 tence of a great Asiatic emigration of tribes from Tar- 
 tary, the progenitors of at least a part of the Indian 
 tribes, wandering over the Continent. The late discov- 
 eries in Central America would also tend to fortify this 
 hypothesis.* However it may be, it gave rise to some 
 very learned disquisitions, amongst the French and Span- 
 ish savanSy to account for the origin of our Indian tribes. 
 The voluminous and elaborate works of De Pauw and 
 Bailli d'Engel, may be enumerated amongst the former, 
 whilst the work of Gregorio Garcias, in folio " Origen 
 de los Indios de el JVuovo Mundo et Indios Occiden- 
 tales'' published in Madrid, in the year 1729, may be 
 mentioned amongst the latter. There has been no ques- 
 
 * P. F. Cabrera, 'Description of an Ancient City, discovered in the 
 Kingdom of Guatemala,' London quarto, 1822. 
 f Stephen's Travels in Central America. 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 103 
 
 tion, even in modern times, on which such a vast amount 
 of learning has been expended, as that, respecting the 
 origin of the savage tribes of this Continent, and 
 althouo-h volumes have been written on this abstruse 
 subject, we are yet as much in the dark, as ever, as to 
 the manner, in which this Continent first became inhabi- 
 ted. 
 
 The French gave the name of the Country of the 
 Western Ocean, ''^ Pays de la mer de POuesf to the 
 territory, discovered by M. de la Verandrye, because 
 they thought, it was not far from the sea ; they estab- 
 lished a chain of small trading posts, to keep the Indi- 
 ans under subjection, and to carry on their commerce in 
 peltries. The post which was at the greatest distance 
 from any settlement of the French, was called " Queens 
 Post ;" it was situated at about a hundred leagues, to 
 the West of Lake Winnepeg, on the Assinniboil river. 
 Three other forts or posts were afterwards erected to the 
 West of Queen's Post, the farthest one being called 
 Pascoyac, after the river of that name. 
 
 Under the administration of M. de la Jonquiere, 
 another expedition was set on foot, having the same ob- 
 ject in view. The French Intendant Bigot was then in 
 Canada ; for the purpose of trading with the Indians, as 
 well as to make discoveries, he formed an association, 
 
104 HIStO&Y O^ ¥HE VALLEY 
 
 which consisted of the Governor and himself, M. Breard, 
 Comptroller of the Marine, Legardeur de St. Pierre, an 
 officer, distinguished for his bravery and well liked by 
 the Indians, and De Marin, a Sea-Captain, held in great 
 fear by the Savages, for the cruelty of his disposition. 
 To the two latter, was assigned the accomplishment of 
 the objects of the Association. Marin was to ascend 
 the Missouri, in order to discover if there were another 
 river flowing to the Ocean, whilst St, Pierre was to take 
 the direction of Queen's Post, and endeavor to meet his 
 fellow-traveller, at some point, which was designated 
 by them. The object, which they had in view to make 
 scientific discoveries in the West, appeared however to 
 be subordinate to that of amassing wealth from their 
 voyage, for they returned, after a short journey, bring- 
 ing back with them a large quantity of peltries, the 
 value of which was immense and served to swell the 
 coffers of the Association. 
 
 We read of no further discoveries, in the North 
 Western part of this Continent, which are worthy of 
 being mentioned, unless it be those made by American 
 travellers, at a much later period, whose efforts in the 
 cause of the colonization of the West yield only in in- 
 terest to what the early pioneers accomplished in the 
 discovery of the Valley of the Mississippi. 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 105 
 
 In the year 1735, the tocsin of war was again heard 
 and although, hostilities did not commence until several 
 years after, preparations were being made by the two 
 great antagonistic nations, on this Continent, in their 
 struggle for ascendency. In this year (1735) M. de 
 Van Ransaeller, Patroon or Lord of the Manor, in Al- 
 bany, New York, paid a visit to the Governor in Cana- 
 da, and informed him, that there was a more favorable 
 feeling existing between the people of that Colony, and 
 those on the other side of the frontier, and deprecating 
 (even if war should break out,) any hostile proceedings, 
 between the Fi'ench and the English settlers, in that 
 Colony. In 1740, war between England and France, 
 appeared to be more imminent than ever, and M. de 
 Beauharnais, under orders from the French Court, put 
 the fortresses of Chambly, St. Frederick and Niagara, in 
 a state of defence. He also courted the alliance of the 
 Indian tribes, whose assistance would greatly contribute 
 to the success of his cause. Their assistance was very 
 desirable, in as much, as at that period (1741) there 
 were upwards of fifteen thousand able-bodied men, who 
 were reckoned as warriors, amongst the Indian tribes, 
 from the territory occupied by the Abenaquis to the 
 North, to the Mobiliens and Choctaws to the South. 
 
 We shall now recur to what was passing in the South 
 
106 HIStORY OP THfi VALlEY 
 
 Western portion of America, but before we conclude 
 this part of our subject, we cannot but express our re- 
 gret, that the historical records, contained in the ac- 
 counts of the Missionaries, relating to the discoveries 
 in the North West are so unsatisfactory and incomplete, 
 that it is almost impossible to enter more extensively 
 into the narration of facts, bearing on this interesting 
 subject of inquiry. With further developments, made 
 in the works of the early missionaries (some in manu- 
 script) which are, now and then, being discovered in 
 the libraries on the Continent of Europe, no doubt, 
 most important information will be obtained and the la- 
 bours of the student of the history of this period will 
 be greatly facilitated.* 
 
 We haVe already mentioned, that in the year 1712, 
 Crozat obtained, from the French Government, the ex- 
 clusive privilege of trading with Louisiana, for a period 
 of sixteen years. The Crown of France was then en- 
 gaged in hostile preparations, for the part it vras taking 
 
 * We read in the Public Journals, a short time ago, of the discov*- 
 ery of several old manuscripts of the Missionaries, in a library, be- 
 longing to the Dominican Friars, in Rome. It would be worth while 
 for any one, to make further researches in the libraries in Continen- 
 tal Europe. He would no doubt, obtain a mass of information,which 
 would be of great interest to the American reader. 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 107 
 
 in the affairs of the Spanish succession, and but little 
 attention was directed to the colonization of its territo- 
 ries in the southern part of this Continent. Govern- 
 ment relied more on the energies of private associations 
 or individual enterprise, to carry out its plans, for the 
 development of the resources of this country, and it 
 was with this view, that it delegated a part of its au- 
 thority to a French merchant, who had acquired a large 
 fortune in his commercial undertakings, and who had 
 already been of great service to the Government, in 
 bringing into France a considerable quantity of the 
 precious metals, when her finances were being nearly 
 exhausted and she stood greatly in need of such assist- 
 ance. This merchant was Crozat. He had been named 
 Secretary and Counsellor of the Royal household and 
 held an important place, in the department of finances. 
 To the exclusive grant, with which he had been invest- 
 ed of trading with the Colony, was added the privilege 
 of exploring and working whatever mines might be 
 found and Crozat set about the performance of his task, 
 with his mind intent on the great advantages, which 
 would spring from the enterprise. 
 
 Louis the Fourteenth, named M. de la Motte Cadillac, 
 Governor in place of M. de Muys, who died on his way 
 to America. M. Duclos had the office of Cominissaire 
 
108 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 ordonnafeur (a Commissioner with extended authority, 
 but subordinate to that of the Governor) in the place 
 of M. d'Artaguette, who had returned to France, and a 
 Superior Council was established, for three years, com- 
 posed of these two functionaries, and a Clerk, with 
 power to add to their number. This Council was a 
 general tribunal for civil and criminal matters, with an 
 unlimited jurisdiction, as to the amount involved, or the 
 nature of the offence. Their proceedings were to be 
 regulated by the Customs of Paris.* M. de la Motte 
 Cadillac disembarked in Louisiana, in the year 1713, 
 and in order to give him an interest in the commerce of the 
 Colony, Crozat had associated him, as a partner in the 
 concern. At that period, Louisiana was only looked 
 upon, as a great entrepot for Commerce with the neigh- 
 boring countries, but little w^ealth was found within its 
 borders, and the people were in a depressed condition, 
 arising out of the difficulty of fmding a market, for 
 
 * The customs of Paris, were certain traditionary regulations, which 
 from their antiquity had obtained the force of law, within the pre- 
 voTE or vicoMTE of the City of Paris, and were. I believe, reduced 
 to writing under the reign of Charles the Seventh of France. They 
 are to this day in force in the Province of Lower Canada, and form 
 the whole of the municipal law of that country. They are justly es- 
 teemed, as an excellent legal Code, by both French and English law- 
 yers. 
 
OP THE MISSISSIPPI. 109 
 
 their small surplus products. Crozat and Cadillac were 
 alive to the emergency ; they loaded a vessel with differ- 
 ent products for Vera Cruz, but the Vice Roy of Mexi- 
 co, acting under that exclusive commercial policy, which 
 was then in full vigor, issued an order to prevent the 
 disembarkation of the cargo, and directed that the vessel 
 should withdraw from the harbour. Notwithstanding the 
 result of this first attempt, Cadillac was not discouraged 
 and resolved to make a trial by land. He chose M. Juche- 
 reau de St. Denis, an intrepid Canadian voyageur, who 
 had been in Louisiana for about fourteen years.* This 
 traveller made two voyages in Mexico, and after having 
 encountered several adventures of a rather romantic 
 character, he returned from his second journey, in April, 
 1719, having accomplished but little during the excur- 
 sion. Whilst the Governor of Louisiana was seekinor 
 for a market for the surplus products of the Colony, or 
 the goods, which he had brought with him from France, 
 he also sent emissaries to trade with the Natchez and 
 other tribes on the Mississippi, amongst whom they 
 found several Englishmen from Virginia, who were es- 
 tablished in that quarter, and w^ho had as much difficulty 
 in quellijig the turbulent spirit of the Chickasas as their 
 
 • Le Page Dupratz work. 
 
 10 
 
110 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 own countrymen had in their previous relations, with 
 the Iroquois or Five Nations. The same contest, which 
 had been so frequently witnessed between rival tribes in 
 the North, was now being carried on in the South, and 
 whilst some were friendly and actuated by proper mo- 
 tives, in their relations with the Europeans, others were 
 found, who were inclined to pursue a contrary course, 
 and to visit the aggressions of their neighbours, wath un- 
 relenting fury. On the one hand, we find, about this 
 time, (1720) several tribes with the Alabamous and the 
 Chactas making excursions into the Carolinas, and com- 
 mitting the most frightful ravages, whilst on the other 
 the Natchez contemplated the destruction of their 
 French neighbours, which was only prevented by the 
 energy and promptitude, with which the Governor acted. 
 It was on this occasion, that the Natchez found them- 
 selves compelled to make amends for their conduct, for 
 with the force, which De Bienville, who was in com- 
 mand in this campaign, had with him, he made these 
 savages erect a Fort, in the very midst of their village, 
 to serve as a protection for those, whom they had intend- 
 ed to destroy. It was the first act of humiliation, to 
 which the Chief of the Natchez was obliged to submit, 
 and it must have wounded his pride, to find himself re- 
 duced to such subjection, especially for one, who pre- 
 
 II 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. Ill 
 
 tended to be descended from the Sun, and who bore the 
 name, as a mark of his superiority amongst the tribes, 
 and as a reflection of the light of that great luminary, 
 amongst the benighted nations of America. This Fori, 
 at Natchez on the Mississippi, was built on an eminence 
 of two hundred feet in height and was called RosaL'e, 
 after the name of Madame de Pontchartrain, whor.e 
 husband being a Minister of State, was the guardian 
 and protector of the Lemoine family, from which D<j 
 Bienville sprung. It was in the following year (1715) 
 that M. de Tisne founded Natchitoches, now a rich and 
 flourishing city, on Red river in Louisiana. 
 
 Notwithstanding this success against the Indian tribes, 
 Crozat's prospects in Louisiana were becoming every 
 day more desperate ; he had hardly been there four 
 years, when he observed the little commerce^ that he 
 found on his arrival in a languishing state. The mon- 
 opoly with which the French King had invested him, 
 seemed to crush all spirit of enterprise, amongst the 
 people, for before his arrival, the inhabitants of Mobile, 
 and of the Island of Dauphiny exported provisions, 
 timber and furs to Pensacola, the Islands of Martinique, 
 St. Domingo, and to France, and received back in ex- 
 change, the merchandise and other articles, which they 
 required to trade with the Indians, but Crozat had no 
 
112 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 sooner exercised the exclusive privileges granted to him 
 by the French Government, than they were obliged to 
 abandon this, their only source of trade, and hence, 
 their depressed condition, a few years after his arrival 
 amongst them. There were no longer to be seen any 
 vessels, arriving from or sailing to the West India 
 Islands, and Crozat prohibited all commerce with the 
 Spaniards at Pensacola, so that they were restricted in 
 the use of specie, which they obtained in the trade with 
 them, and they were not allowed to traffic, excepting 
 with Crozat's agents, and at prices which were fixed by 
 them. The price of furs, was fixed so low, that they 
 directed their attention to dealing with the Canadian 
 traders, who gave them higher prices, and this hitherto 
 profitable branch of Colonial commerce, which had en- 
 riched the people of Louisiana now sought other chan- 
 nels, in which more remunerating prices could be obtain- 
 ed for these products. Crozat could not fail to perceive 
 the altered state of affairs in the Colony and he ad- 
 dressed several remonstrances to the French Govern- 
 ment, which met with no attention whatsoever. Having 
 made heavy advances to promote the prosperity of the 
 country and finding all his endeavours to carry on a profit- 
 able trade with Mexico, had failed, disconcerted at the 
 state of apathy, which seemed to exist, amongst the 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 113 
 
 Colonists, and alarmed at his future prospects, Crozat 
 adopted the resolution of surrendering to the French 
 Government all the privileges, which were granted to 
 him, by the Royal Charter, which he accordingly did, 
 and thus this monopoly ceased, which was certainly 
 attended with very disastrous results to the Colony. 
 
 No sooner was this monopoly surrendered into the 
 hands of the French Government, than another and a 
 more exclusive one was established, certainly not more 
 fortunate in its results, but exercising a more immediate 
 and important bearing on the prospects and fortunes of 
 the French Colonists, in America. The establishment 
 of the great "Western Company," which was to im- 
 mortalize the name of John Law and to connect it with 
 schemes, involving the ruin of many a family, was the 
 next measure which was adopted by the French Govern- 
 ment, with a view to promote the colonization of Louis- 
 iana. How far this was adapted to forward the objects 
 for which it was established, has become matter of general 
 history, and the failure of the scheme, whilst it was felt 
 more seriously in Europe, operated greatly to retard the 
 advancement of the French Colonies, in America. The 
 great "Mississippi bubble" as it was called, was a plain, 
 palpable failure, but as it had a wonderful effect, in di- 
 recting public attention to the affairs of the New 
 
 10* 
 
114 HISTORY OP THE VALLEY 
 
 
 World, its plan and ultimate operation are worthy of 
 being mentioned. 
 
 A Scotch adventurer, by the name of John Law, 
 being desirous of attracting public attention by some 
 grand scheme, in which he was to take a prominent part, 
 availed himself of the deplorable state of the French 
 finances, to attain the object, which he had in view. 
 Naturally of an ardent temperament and great genius, 
 he had applied himself to the study of the science of 
 political economy and in the depressed state of financial 
 affairs in France, he conceived, that that country was the 
 fittest scene, to commence his labours. Accordingly, 
 hither he repaired and with the sanction of the then 
 Regent, he began the establishment of a Bank, in the 
 year 1716, consisting of a capital formed of twelve 
 hundred shares, at a thousand crowns, (^ecus) each. 
 With the knowledge he had obtained from his previous 
 studies in a science, which had not then been dignified 
 by the application of such minds, as Turgot and Smith, 
 he appeared before the reigning monarch in France, as a 
 person, who could retrieve the country from all its em- 
 barrassments, and his schemes, plausible at first, were 
 received with great favof by the Government. What 
 an unexpected and almost infallible remedy his project 
 appeared to be, to sink the national debt of France, 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 115 
 
 which had increased to such an enormous sum, that the 
 Government was on the verge of bankruptcy, and the 
 confidence of the people in its stability was all but lost? 
 The paper money, and the imaginary gold and silver 
 mines of Louisiana were to be the grand panacea for 
 all the evils, under which France laboured. We can 
 only account for the readiness, with which these schemes 
 were adopted and so favorably received at the time, by 
 the deplorable state, to which France was reduced, and 
 these illusions, which would have vanished at any other 
 period, as so many idle dreams of the imagination, were 
 eagerly seized upon by the King, the Ministers and peo- 
 ple, and even spread abroad, amongst neighbouring 
 nations. They only show how credulous is the human 
 mind in moments of difficulty and danger, and how 
 easily the most hopeless project is adopted to afford 
 relief to temporary evils. Such was Law's system, and 
 such it turned out to be. Alluring in its prospects, and 
 holding out hopes of the acquisition of enormous wealth 
 from the existence of fabulous mines of the precious 
 metals, along the shores of the Mississippi, thousands 
 were found, who readily embarked in the undertaking, 
 and thousands met with a disastrous fate, involving their 
 families and themselves in ruin. To the acute and pene- 
 trating qualities of Law's mind, he saw at once, that 
 
116 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 he might work on the foundation, which had been laid 
 by other travellers and writers in America, and the 
 superstructure, which he raised, on which the too credu- 
 lous people gazed with admiration, and which they 
 thought would be enduring, was nevertheless doomed to 
 fall to the ground, with a crash, which w^ould involve 
 all in its ruins. 
 
 Ponce de Leon had no sooner reached the shores of 
 Florida in 1512, than he spread a report abroad, that 
 the country was filled with precious metals. Neither 
 Philippe de Narvaez, nor Ferdinand de Soto had discov- 
 ered any gold mines, although they had been for years 
 in search of them. The French and the Spaniards had 
 made many unsuccessful attempts to seek for riches in 
 the bowels of the earth, and at this period, but vague 
 suspicions were entertained in America even amongst 
 those, who were most sanguine at first, of the existence 
 of mines in Louisiana or the colonies adjacent thereunto, 
 but in Europe a contrary opinion had always prevailed ; 
 they fancied in tbeir imaginations, that some day or 
 other, the earth would yield up its wealth, and the peo- 
 ple of Europe would be enriched by the enormous quan- 
 tity of the precious metals, which would be brought 
 from America. How idle the hope ! how fatal the delu- 
 sion I yet John Law found in the very existence of that 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 117 
 
 belief all the success, which he expected from his vis- 
 ionary schemes. 
 
 The new banking institution, which he established 
 served as a means to prop up for a time the public 
 credit, and it certainly did some good, in meeting its 
 obligations, and was a source of great convenience, but 
 its operations were necessarily limited, and the thoughts 
 of its projector were directed more than ever to the 
 gold mines of Louisiana, and the wealth he expected in 
 that quarter. In the year 1717, the " Western Com- 
 pany," (Compagnie (F Occident) was again re-establish- 
 ed, with Law for its director, and Louisiana was ceded 
 to the Company, with other privileges, including the 
 tobacco trade and the commerce with Senegal. From 
 the unlimited terms of the charter, it was intended, as at 
 first, in Crozat's case, to be a monopoly and it is impos- 
 sible to say, whether it was attended with advantage or 
 disadvantage, in the then state of the Colony. In Cro- 
 zat's case, it had certainly proved unsuccessful, but the 
 Colony had become so reduced, that nothing could 
 hardly render the condition of the people worse. 
 
 However it might be, the shares of the Western 
 Company were paid for in State notes, Qnllets d'Etat,) 
 which were taken at par, although they were not worth 
 more than fifty per cent, in commerce. In a moment. 
 
118 History op the valley 
 
 the capital of a hundred millions was taken up, each 
 being anxious to be the holder of paper scrip, which 
 they expected would be shortly paid in gold and 
 silver, from the mines of Louisiana. The creditors of 
 the Government, who thought they were ruined by the 
 enormous depreciation of the national finances, eagerly 
 laid hold of this speculation, as their only means of 
 safety. Rich men embarked nearly all their property in 
 the undertaking, and men of all classes and ranks in 
 society united in availing themselves of its probable ad- 
 vantages. Not satisfied with holding shares, in this 
 great Mississippi bubble, they directed their attention to 
 acquiring landed estates in the South, and the people of 
 France, Switzerland and England vied with each other 
 to send the greatest number of emigrants to the land of 
 promise, where after three years service, to defray the 
 expenses of the voyage, hopes were held out to them, 
 that they would become proprietors and have a perma- 
 nent interest in the soil. 
 
 In the mean time, the Governor and chief Commis- 
 sioner of Louisiana had been removed from office, and 
 M. de I'Espinay succeeded M. de la Motte Cadillac and 
 M. Hubert took Duclos' place ; some time after M. de 
 Bienville was appointed Commander in Chief of all 
 Louisiana. The French then occupied Biloxi, the Island 
 
OP THE MISSISSIPPI. 119 
 
 of Dauphine, Mobile, Natchez, and Natchitoches on 
 Red river. They had also commenced establishments in 
 other parts of the country. Biloxi had become the 
 chief pLice of business, and the Port of Isle Dauphine 
 was abandoned for the more convenient location at Ves- 
 sel Island, (^Isle aux Vaisseaux.) All these places were 
 situated on or near the sea-shore, thus showing, that the 
 early settlers placed more dependence on the arts of 
 commerce, than on agricultural pursuits, the country 
 near Biloxi and the sea being unfit for such a purpose. 
 At this period (1717,) the attention of the Colonists was 
 directed to the choice of a location for a City, on the 
 banks of the Mississippi, and they selected a spot, on 
 the left shore, about thirty leagues from the Sea, which 
 De Bienville had before surveyed and which he thought, 
 was the most favorable location for a great commercial 
 emporium. In that year, this military officer with a 
 few poor carpenters and other artisans went there, and 
 laid the foundations of a City, which even to the present 
 day, is the chief commercial metropolis of the South, 
 and which he named New Orleans, in honor of the 
 Duke of Orleans, then Regent of France. M. de Pail- 
 loux was named Governor of the place, and it was only 
 in the following year (1718,) that the first vessel arrived 
 in the Port of New Orleans, where they were surprised 
 
120 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 to find Sixteen feet of water in the shallowest part of 
 the Mississippi. It was not then generally believed, 
 that the river was navigable so high up for vessels of a 
 large class. It was only in the year, seventeen hundred 
 and twenty-two, that the seat of Government was 
 transferred to New Orleans, a delay, which was partly 
 attributable to the reluctance of the Colonists to lose 
 sight of the sea, and to go into the interior of the 
 country. 
 
 The " Western Company " was no sooner in posses- 
 sion of Louisiana, than they began to organise a regular 
 government and to encourage an extensive system of 
 emigration, for the purpose of settling the country and 
 working those mines, the produce of w^hich, they expect- 
 ed would liquidate the national debt of France, which 
 had increased to such an immense sum, that fears were 
 entertained for the safety of the monarchy, and the sta- 
 bility of the empire. In the new administration, De 
 Bienville was named Governor General, and chief di- 
 rector of the affairs of the Company, in America ; M. 
 de Pailloux was appointed Major General with M. 
 Dugue de Boisbriand^ as Commander in Illinois, and M. 
 Diron, brother of the old Chief-commissioner, as Inspec- 
 tor General of the Military forces. 
 
 Louisiana was ceded to the Company in the year 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 121 
 
 seventeen hundred and seventeen, and in the following 
 spring eight hundred Colonists embarked at Rochelle, 
 on board of three vessels for that country. There were 
 several gentlemen and old officers on board of these ves- 
 sels, amongst whom was M. Lepage Dupratz, whose in- 
 teresting memoirs of the history of the South and West 
 have already been mentioned in this work. These emi- 
 grants were dispersed in different sections of the Colony. 
 The gentfemen and officers had left their native Country 
 in the hope of obtaining large concessions of land, 
 wherein they wished to establish the feudal tenure, and 
 to live as noblemen and lords of the manor, a system of 
 seigniorial tenure, which had been before introduced into 
 Canada. Law himself showed the example, he obtain- 
 ed a land of four square leagues, in Arkansas, which 
 was erected into a Dutchy, and he assembled fifteen hun- 
 dred men, Germans and French, from the Provinces to 
 inhabit the territory ; he intended also sending six thou- 
 sand Germans from the Palatinate, to serve as vassals, 
 under this new tenure. But it was at this period, (1720,) 
 that the edifice, which he had erected with such care, 
 fell to the ground, the vast schemes he had formed for 
 ameliorating the financial condition of France proved 
 abortive, and there arose a storm in that country, and 
 its colonies in America, which, as a whirlwind, swept 
 
 11 
 
122 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 everything before it, and involved the rich and the poor, 
 the high and the low, the Metropolitan and the Colo- 
 nist, in one common ruin, and shook the foundations of 
 public and private fortunes, in the Old and the New 
 Worlds. Its disasters fell heavily on Louisiana. The 
 Western Company was still sending an immense number 
 of emigrants to America, and many were on their jour- 
 ney, when the celebrated " Mississippi bubble " burst 
 and of course, they were left without means to provide 
 for their wants, on their arrival in this new Country. 
 They were disembarked on the sterile shores of Biloxi, 
 after having suffered the fatigue of a long sea voyage, 
 and here they were left unprovided for, and without be- 
 ing able to obtain a livelihood. Never before the year 
 1721, when this occurred, were the Colonists so numer- 
 ous, there were not sufficient vessels at Biloxi to send 
 them up the Mississippi, provisions failed, numbers were 
 without food to eat, and more than five hundred died of 
 starvation, of whom two hundred belonged to Law's 
 establishment. Fear and melancholy operated on the 
 minds of the Colonists, disunion and discord followed 
 in their train, and companies were formed, (a Swiss 
 company in particular,) who with their officers at their 
 head left the colony in disgust and went over to Carolina.* 
 
 * Charlevoix, " Journal historique." 
 
 I 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 123 
 
 It was in consequence of these disasters, that the 
 Colonists made up their minds to abandon Biloxi, 
 where they had met with nothing but misfortunes, and 
 to select New Orleans, as their place of residence. In 
 a short time, they became more reconciled to their em- 
 barrassments and privations and set about looking for 
 favorable locations, where they might depend for a 
 while, on the pursuits of agriculture and the chase for 
 subsistence. It was in this manner, that several settle- 
 ments, now flourishing, were at first established. Had 
 it not have been for the disasters at Biloxi, many j-ears 
 might have elapsed before the Colonists w^ould have 
 emigrated to the shores of the Mississippi, and as it 
 turned out, these new settlements progressively advanc- 
 ed, until they became permanent places for business, 
 and the centres of a large commercial and agricultural 
 population. The historian of the Indies, the celebrated 
 Abbe Raynal, who regards emigration on an extensive 
 scale, as the worst means for making a country thrive, 
 views these gradual and progressive movements, as the 
 certain indications of a well-founded prosperity, and of 
 the rapid improvement of a new country. Besides the 
 four or five principal towns, established at different peri- 
 ods by the French, they laid the foundations of settle- 
 ments, at Yazou, Baton-rouge, Bayou-goula, Scores- 
 
1-24 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 blancs, at Pointe-coupee, Black river, Paska-ogoula, and 
 even as far as lilinois. Most of these places continue 
 to thrive and are now important locations for business. 
 
 Law's scheme had failed and the political economists 
 of Europe were engaged in disputes, as to the wisdom 
 of the plan he had formed, for ameliorating the finan- 
 cial condition of France, amongst whom Raynal and 
 Barbe Marbois, took opposite sides. The discussion 
 was attended with very little benefit, inasmuch as the 
 evils, which sprung from the system, were felt by the 
 people, and were the best arguments to convince them 
 of the utter absurdity of the project. At this crisis, in 
 the history of the New World, events were transpiring 
 in Europe, which had an important bearing on the 
 affairs of America, and to these, it will be necessary to 
 direct our attention. 
 
 In the month of August 1718, the celebrated Quad- 
 ruple alliance had been formed between the four great 
 powers of Europe. The peace of Europe had been 
 established, as it was supposed, on a solid and perma- 
 nent basis, wdien through the intrigues of the celebrated 
 *' Monk of Parma," Alberoni, the minister of Philip V, 
 the flames of war were again illumined on the Europe- 
 an Continent and France prepared for the contest with 
 Spain. The circumstances which gave rise to this war. 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 125 
 
 partook somewhat of a romantic interest, and are de- 
 tailed at length, in the histories of that period. The 
 ambitious designs of Alberoni had been frustrated by 
 the discovery of secret dispatches in the possession of 
 the Abbe of Porto- Carrero, who had been intercepted 
 on his way through the mountain passes of the Sierra- 
 Morena, to confer w^ith the Spanish minister. England 
 had also taken mnbrage at the proffered support, which 
 Alberoni had promised to the young pretender, Prince 
 Charles, and under colour of being a party to the alliance, 
 willingly united with France, to crush the ambitious 
 projects of the Cardinal-minister of Spain. M. de 
 Serigny was sent to America, with three vessels, to take 
 possession of Pensacola, a Spanish port, which was 
 much needed by France, on account of its proximity to 
 Louisiana, and its being so easily accessible, for purposes 
 of trade with the West India Islands. Don John Peter 
 Matamoras was in command of the garrison. The 
 place being attacked by land, by seven hundred Canadi- 
 ans, French and Indians, under the orders of M. de 
 Chateauguay and by sea, by M. de Serigny, surrender- 
 ed, (1719,) after a slight resistance and the garrison 
 and part of the inhabitants embarked on board of two 
 French vessels, for Havana. On their journey thither, 
 they fell in with the Spanish fleet, which took posses- 
 IP 
 
126 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 sion of them, and carried them as prizes into the port, 
 which they had expected to enter as conquerors. 
 
 The news of the surrender of Pensacola created a 
 great sensation in New Spain and Mexico. The Vice 
 Roy, the Marquis of Valero despatched a squadron, 
 consisting of twelve vessels of war and carrying eight 
 hundred and fifty men, under the command of Don Al- 
 phonso Carrascosa to invest the Town. At the sight 
 of the Spanish fleet, a part of the garrison deserted to 
 the enemy, whilst M. de Chateauguay was also obliged 
 to capitulate. Some of those who had surrendered 
 were enlisted in the Spanish service, and a number of 
 the deserters were treated with great severity by Car- 
 rascosa, who confined them for a length of time, in the 
 holds of the vessels. Don Matamoras was re-estabhsh- 
 ed in command of the garrison at Pensacola, with suffi- 
 cient troops, to defend the town, in case of another 
 attack. 
 
 After this victory, the Spanish Vice Roy resolved to 
 drive away the Frencti from their possessions in Ameri- 
 ca, and despatched Don Carnejo with a sufficient force 
 to effect this object. Don Carrascosa was sent round to 
 the Island of Dauphiny and Mobile, with a similar pur- 
 pose in view, but bofh these expeditions were unsuccess- 
 ful, and the Spaniards suffered nothing but disasters. 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 127 
 
 A detachment of 4;roops, forming part of Carrascosa's 
 command was completely routed by M. de Vilinville, at 
 Mobile, whilst Carrascosa himself was repulsed at Guil- 
 lory, a small Island near the Isle Dauphiny, around 
 which he had been reconnoitering, to attempt to gain a 
 favorable opportunity to attack the French. The brave 
 Serigny was his competitor on this occasion, and with 
 nearly equal forces compelled the Spanish General to 
 depart from the Island- 
 
 The French having been successful in their hostile 
 measures against the Spaiiiards, now became in their 
 turn the aggressors. Be Bienville again invested Pensa- 
 cola by land, and the brave Count de Champmelin 
 attacked it by sea. The combat was of short duration 
 — Carrascosa had attempted to blockade the entry of 
 the Port with his fleet, and prepared for the contest. 
 The French vessels poured a brisk cannonade into the 
 sides of the Spanish frigates and in a short time, their 
 flags w^ere lowered, and the French were the conquer- 
 ors. De Bienville continued firing upon the town, du- 
 ring the whole of the night, and on the following mor- 
 ning it surrendered to the enemy. There were twelve 
 to fifteen hundred men, made prisoners of war, amongst 
 whom were several ofiicers. The French dismantled a 
 
128 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 part of the fortifications, and left a small garrison, in 
 charge of the remainder. 
 
 It was after the termination of this war, that Louis 
 XV., thought fit to commend in praiseworthy terms the 
 conduct of those Canadians, who had served in Louis- 
 iana. Whilst the Colonists, who had emigrated from 
 France were always discontented at the state of things 
 existing in that country, and were daily deserting to 
 join the English, in the neighbouring colonies, the Ca- 
 nadians remained faithful adherents to the French crown 
 in America, and w^ere those, on whom chief reliance was 
 placed, whenever it becam-e necessary to assume a hos- 
 tile attitude either against internal or external foes. 
 De Bienville, De Serigny, De St. Denis, De Yilinville 
 and De Chateauguay wer-e Canadians by birth or by de- 
 scent, and as it has alr-eady been shown, distinguished 
 themselves on several occasions at very critical periods, 
 in the French Colonial history of America, and were en- 
 trusted by the French Government, with high and com- 
 manding offices. Mr. Bancroft has paid them a well 
 deserved compliment in his work on the History of the 
 United States, and other writers have united, in giving 
 them credit for the bravery they evinced, on several 
 very trying occasions and for the intrepidity and daring, 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 129 
 
 they manifested, either as pioneers in clearing the forest, 
 or as warriors on the field of battle, De Serigny was 
 named Captain of a French frigate ; St. Denis was 
 made a member of the order of St. Louis, and De Chat- 
 eauguay was placed in command of a garrison at St. 
 Louis of Mobile. 
 
 The contest was over ; the war between France and 
 Spain was brought to a termination. Alberoni, dis- 
 graced, was escorted by French troops to the confines of 
 Italy^ where he ended his days in obscurity, after having 
 embroiled Europe in all the horrors of war. Peace was 
 declared on the 17th of February 1720, and the con- 
 tending parties laid down their arms, in the Eastern and 
 Western hemispheres, having abandoned all that each had 
 acquired in the latter, during the war, including Pensa- 
 cola, for the possession of which, such sanguinary con- 
 tests had been waged, in the early periods of the cam- 
 paign. Pensacola again became part of the Spanish 
 domains, in America. 
 
 This treaty of peace was soon followed by one with 
 the Chickasas and the Natchez, who had taken advan- 
 tage of the war to commit hostilities against Louisiana. 
 The Colony was in a state of tranquillity, which it had 
 not enjoyed for several years, when the people were 
 again exposed to heavy disasters, arising from the effects 
 
130 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 of a terrific storm, which laid desolate many of the 
 towns, and several habitations in different parts of the 
 Colony. This occurred on the 12th of September 1722, 
 and its effects were more seriously felt by the inhabit- 
 ants of New Orleans and Biloxi, than elsewhere. They 
 were obliged to re-build these Cities, which suffered so 
 much, that scarcely a house was left standing. 
 
 The year 1726 was the last one of De Bienville's ad- 
 ministration, which had been rendered so difficult in 
 consequence of the errors committed by Crozat, and the 
 failure of Law's scheme. Notwithstanding these disad- 
 vantages the Colonists had been able to contend success- 
 fully against the aggressions of Spain and to preserve 
 their possessions in America. De Bienville returned to 
 France and was succeeded in the administration of the 
 Government, by M. de Perrien At this period, there 
 was a regular government organised in Louisiana, and 
 it does not fall within the scope of this w^ork to detail 
 minutely the events, that occurred during each success- 
 ive administration. What had a direct tendency to pro- 
 mote the cause of European colonization, along the 
 shores of that river, (the history of the discovery of 
 which was alone the object of this work) has been no- 
 ticed, but it would occupy more space, than could be as- 
 signed within the limits of this publication to give an 
 
 i\ 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 131 
 
 account, however succinct or brief it might be, of what 
 followed, after the establishment of a regular govern- 
 ment in Louisiana. 
 
 There is, however, an event of some importance, 
 which occurred during this period (1729,) which it 
 w^ould not be right to pass over in silence. I allude to 
 the " Natchez massacre." 
 
 The " Western Company " had given place to the 
 ^^ Company of the Indies," which was established in 
 1723, and of which the Duke of Orleans was made 
 Governor. Their charter granted privileges, which ex- 
 tended over different European possessions, in Asia, 
 Africa and America, and whilst they exercised tempora- 
 ry sovereignty, in various parts of the world, their la- 
 bours in America seem, by all accounts, to have been 
 productive of but little benefit to the Colonists. Indeed 
 the little good, which the Western Company had been 
 able to do, as far as the cause of colonization was con- 
 cerned, might compare favorably with what appears to 
 have been effected by the establishment of the Company 
 of the Indies, in Louisiana. In the collisions, which 
 frequently occurred, arising out of the division of the 
 powers of government, the local administration of 
 affairs in Louisiana, was considerably weakened, and 
 the Indian tribes took advantage of it. 
 
132 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 Notwithstanding the Colonists thought that they had 
 reduced the savages to a state of complete subjection, 
 from the length of time, they had been at peace with 
 each other, they were astonished to find, that a plot had 
 been for some time in existence, either to exterminate 
 them or drive them away from the Colony. Whilst we 
 cannot but admire the efforts, which the aboriginal 
 inhabitants of this Continent have made to preserve 
 their sovereignty, w^hich was destined to fall before the 
 march of progressive civilization, and w^hilst doubts 
 might well be entertained as to the right of Europeans 
 to dispossess them of the soil, without adequately re- 
 munerating them, or giving them other hunting grounds, 
 whereon to gain a precarious subsistence, nevertheless, 
 this " Natchez massacre " may be regarded as such an 
 act of perfidy and cruelty towards their French neigh- 
 bours, as to entirely deprive them of sympathy. The 
 blow was to be struck simultaneously throughout the 
 Colony, and for the wrongs w^iich they thought they 
 endured, their vengeance knew no limits. Every man, 
 woman and child, were doomed to utter destruction, 
 their habitations were to be razed to the ground, and 
 not a vestige was to be left of French sovereignty in 
 America. The French had always been on good terms 
 with most of the Indian tribes, as the Illinois, the Ar- 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 133 
 
 kansas, and the Tonicas ; but the Iroquois and Chick- 
 asas tribes had been their inveterate enemies. It has 
 been said, by some writers, that the English Colonists 
 in Carolina, and along the shores of the Atlantic, had 
 sent secret emissaries amongst these tribes, to excite 
 them to acts of hostility against the French, but I am 
 inclined to doubt this assertion. The English, no doubt 
 viewed with a jealous eye, the occupation of this coun- 
 try by the French, from the shores of the Ohio, to the 
 Gulf of Mexico, and it might have been their policy to 
 give the Indian tribes, an unfavorable opinion of their 
 French neighbours. But England was not then at war 
 with France, and the English Colonists feared too much 
 the hostile incursions of the Abenaquis, the Hurons and 
 other tribes, in the neighbourhood of the French pos- 
 sessions in the North, to excite the savages to pursue 
 the same course, against the French Colonists, in the 
 South. 
 
 Whilst preparations were being made for the indis- 
 criminate massacre of the Europeans in Louisiana, the 
 latter were, for some time, not aware of the extent of 
 the conspiracy against them. They had heard of the 
 existence of the plot, but they feigned, that they were 
 entirely ignorant of it. The day was approaching, when 
 
 the axe was to be raised and the fatal tomahawk to be 
 
 12 
 
134 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 used, to remove the scalps of so many of their country- 
 men. M. de Chepar was in command at Natchez. Al- 
 though that officer had had a few quarrels with the Indi- 
 ans^ they so far concealed their enmity, and acted with 
 such dissimulation, that they made him believe, they 
 w^ere his friends, and De Chepar was so anxious to 
 avoid giving them the least cause for apprehension, of 
 a chano^e of his sentiments towards them, that he ac- 
 tually imprisoned seven Frenchmen, who wished to arm 
 themselves, to be protected against surprise. He ap- 
 peared to be actuated by such blind fatality, as to allow 
 sixty savages to enter the Fort, and to permit others to 
 lodge with the Colonists, and even received some of 
 them in his own house. This would hardly be believ- 
 ed, w^ere it not that Charlevoix, a cotemporary historian 
 positively asserts it. 
 
 The conspirators were ready for action ; the day and 
 the hour had been fixed, when the massacre was to be 
 commenced, but the savages, who had now so far suc- 
 ceeded, as to enter the Fort, and be in the midst of the 
 Colonists, had their cupidity so much excited, by the 
 arrival of barges, laden with rich merchandise, for the 
 garrison, that they resolved to strike the blow at that 
 moment, and not to await the expiration of the time, 
 which had been fixed for the general massacre through- 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. l35 
 
 out the country. This precipitation, whilst it was fatal 
 to those Colonists, who were at Natchez, was the 
 means of saving others in the West and South of Ameri- 
 ca, from partial if not from total annihilation. 
 
 In order that the conspirators at Natchez might get 
 possession of fire-arms to effect their purpose, they 
 feigned, that they were preparing for a hunting expedi- 
 tion, to furnish game for ;the Commandant to treat his 
 newly arrived guests. They obtained guns, and other 
 munitions in the Fort, and on the 28th of November 
 1729, they scattered themselves abroad, in the different 
 houses of the inhabitants, taking care always to be in 
 greater numbers than their victims, and remarking that 
 they were going to hunt. They carried their dissimula- 
 tion to such an extent, that they actually chanted a 
 hymn in praise of M. de Chepar, when all at once 
 there was silence, three shots of musketry were fired, 
 which were the signals for a general onslaught. The 
 savages rushed furiously on the French, and in this 
 dreadful massacre, two hundred of them fell victims to 
 the treachery and dissimulation of their perfidious ene- 
 mies. But about twenty were saved, and one hundred 
 and fifty children, and sixty women were made prison- 
 ers. In this frightful encounter, there were instances of 
 bravery, amongst the French, which Charlevoix has not 
 
136 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 failed to mention. M. de la Loire des Ursins killed four 
 Indians by his own hand, and the clerks in his store 
 bravely defended themselves, until the last man was 
 killed. The Natchez lost only twelve men, in this 
 affair, so well were all the preparations made for the 
 general massacre. 
 
 During the engagement, " the Sun," or the Chief of 
 the Natchez was seated near a tobacco-warehouse,* be- 
 longing to the Company of the Indies, awaiting patient- 
 ly the termination of this tragedy. At intervals, the 
 heads of those who had fallen, were brought and placed 
 at his feet, amongst others, that of M. de Chepar, the 
 person in command of the garrison. The bodies of the 
 victims were suffered to remain without burial, and be- 
 came the prey of vultures and dogs, whilst the women 
 and children who had been taken prisoners, were exposed 
 to the cruelty of these ferocious savages, and having 
 suffered every indignity, were finally sent into the interi- 
 or, to become the slaves of neighbouring tribes. 
 
 Such was the massacre of the French, of the 28th of 
 November 1729. The Abbe Raynal, gives a rather 
 different account of this massacre, from that of Charle- 
 voix — both however agree in the main facts, but I pre- 
 fer the latter, for the reason, I have already assigned. 
 
 • Some authors say, " on the roof of the tobacco warehouse." 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 137 
 
 Of course, De Perrier exercised summary vengeance 
 against the perpetrators of this horrid butchery. He 
 notified the people, at the different French settlements 
 to be on their guard, and sent an expedition against the 
 Natchez, whom he compelled to surrender, and who 
 with their Chief, " the Sun,^^ were sent into captivity. 
 
 We have thus detailed, as we believe, almost every 
 leading evont in the history of the discovery of the 
 valley of the Mississippi, up to the passing of the Treaty 
 of Aix la Chapelle in the year 1748. 
 
 Shortly after this period, the leading events on this 
 Continent have been mentioned, in connection with the 
 name and services of our ancestors, the Anglo Ameri- 
 cans, on the shores of the Atlantic. To their achieve- 
 ments is the world indebted for the progress of that 
 civilization, which is daily extending throughout the 
 length and breadth of this Continent. To the heroic 
 conduct and intrepid bearing of those men, who followed 
 Colonel Pepperel to the gates of Louisbourg, was the 
 Anglo Saxon of America, partly indebted for the expul- 
 sion of the French from their strong-holds in this West- 
 ern hemisphere, and to the still nobler conduct and glo- 
 rious career of the "Father of his Country," was he 
 indebted for their expulsion from the Valley of the 
 Mississippi. Whilst the Treaty of Aix la Chapelle 
 
 12* 
 
138 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 
 
 commemorates the achievements of the one, that of 
 Fontainebleau, sheds glory and lustre on the actions of 
 the other. Their memories will forever he cherished in 
 the hearts of their countrymen, and their images, like 
 those of the warriors of old, will be placed in the vesti- 
 bule of the domestic sanctuary, there to remain, as me- 
 morials of the past, and as an encouragement for the 
 future. 
 
 4 
 
THE FIRST INHABITANTS 
 
 OF KENTUCKY AND TENNESSEE. 
 
 Prior to our arrival at Marietta, we met one of these 
 settlers, an inhabitant of the environs of Wheehng, who 
 accompanied us down the Ohio, and with whom we 
 travelled for two days, alone in a canoe from eighteen to 
 twenty feet long, and from twelve to fifteen inches broad, 
 he was going to survey the borders of the Missouri, for 
 a hundred and fifty miles beyond its embouchure. The 
 excellent quality of the land, that is reckoned to be 
 more fertile there, than that on the borders of the Ohio, 
 and which the Spanish Government, at that time, order- 
 ed to be distributed gratis, the quantity of bears, elks, 
 and more especially bisons, were the motives that in- 
 duced him to emigrate into this remote part of the 
 country, whence, after having determined on a suitable 
 spot to settle there with his family, he was returning to 
 fetch them from the borders of the Ohio, which obliged 
 him to take a journey of fourteen or fifteen hundred 
 miles ; his costume like that of all the American sports- 
 men, consisted of a waistcoat with sleeves, a pair of 
 
 pantaloons, and a large red and yellow worsted sash, a 
 
 139 
 
140 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 carbine, a tomahawk or little axe, which the Indians 
 make use of to cut wood and to terminate the existence 
 of their enemies, two beaver snares and a large knife, 
 suspended at his side, constituted his sporting dress. A 
 rug comprised the whole of his baggage. Every evening 
 he encamped on the banks of the river, where after hav- 
 ing made a fire, he passed the night ; and whenever he 
 conceived the place favorable for the chase, he remainad 
 in the woods for several days together, and with the 
 produce of his sport, he gained the means of subsistence, 
 and new ammunition, with the skins of the animals that 
 he had killed. 
 
 Such were the first inhabitants of Kentucky and 
 Tennessee, of whom there are now remaining but very 
 few. It was they, who began to clear those fertile 
 countries, and wrested them from the savages, who 
 ferociously disputed their right ; it was they, in short, 
 who made themselves masters of the possessions, after 
 five or six years bloody war; but the habit of a wander- 
 ing and idle life has prevented their enjoying the fruit 
 of their labours, and profiting by the very price, to 
 which these lands have risen in so short a time. They 
 have emigrated to more remote parts of the country and 
 formed new settlements. It will be the same with most 
 of those, who inhabit the borders of the Ohio. The 
 
OP THE MISSISSIPPI. 141 
 
 same inclination that led them there, will induce them 
 to emigrate from it. To the latter will succeed fresh 
 emigrants, coming also from the Atlantic States, who 
 w^ill desert their possessions to go in quest of a milder 
 climate and a more fertile soil. The money, that they 
 will get for them will suffice to pay for their new acqui- 
 sitions, the security of which will be assured by a nu- 
 merous population. The last comers instead of log 
 houses, with which the present inhabitants are content- 
 ed, will build wooden ones, clear a greater quantity of 
 the land, and be as industrious and persevering in the 
 amelioration of their new possessions, as the former 
 were indolent of every thing, being so fond of hunting. 
 To the culture of Indian corn, they will add that of 
 other grain, hemp and tobacco; rich pasturages wall 
 nourish innumerable flocks, and an advantageous sale of 
 all the country's produce will be assured them, through 
 the channel of the Ohio. 
 
 The happy situation of this river entitles it to be 
 looked upon as the centre of commercial activity be- 
 tween the Eastern and Western States. By it, the 
 latter receive the manufactured goods, which Europe, 
 India and the Caribbees supply the former ; and it is the 
 only open communication with the ocean, for the expor- 
 tation of provisions from the immense and fertile parts 
 
142 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY OF THE MISSISSIPPI, 
 
 of the United States, comprised between the Alleghany 
 mountains, the lakes and the left banks of the Missis- 
 sippi. 
 
 All these advantages, blended wdth the salubrity of 
 the climate and the beauty of the landscapes, enlivened 
 in the spring by a group of boats, which the current 
 whirls along with astonishing rapidity, and the uncom- 
 mon number of sailing vessels, that from the bosom of 
 this vast continent go directly to the Caribbees ; all 
 these advantages, I say, make me think, that the banks 
 of the Ohio from Pittsburg to Louisville inclusively, 
 will in the course of twenty years, be the most popu- 
 lous and commercial part of the United States, and 
 where I should settle, in preference to any other. 
 
 (F. A. Michaud, Travels on the Ohio, etc, 8 vo. Lon- 
 don, 1805.) 
 
 II 
 
^ 
 
 AN AMERICAN BACKWOODSMAN, 
 
 DURING THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 
 
 Throughout all this country, and in every back 
 settlement, in America, the roads and paths are first 
 marked out by blazees on the trees, cut alternately on 
 each side of the way, every thirty or forty yards ; these 
 are removed every time the roads are repaired. A blazee 
 is a large chip sliced off the side of a tree with an axe ; 
 it is above twelve inches in length, cut through the bark 
 and some of the sap wood, and by its white appearance 
 and brightness when fresh made, serves to direct the 
 way in the night as well as in the day. 
 
 The miles are chiefly computed and are ascertained by 
 notches, chopped in the nearest tree ; a notch for every 
 mile. The first blazeed paths originated in this manner, 
 when any person went from one place to another through 
 the woods, where it would have been difficult if not im- 
 possible, to return upon his track, he fell upon this 
 method of blazing each side of the trees, at certain dis- 
 tances, as he passed on, and thereby retraced his way 
 in returning without the least trouble. 
 
 143 
 
144 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 The convenience and simplicity of this mode has ren- 
 dered it universal, throughout the whole back country. 
 
 It became the more readily adopted as all who travel 
 beyond the roads and beaten tracks, always have a 
 tomahawk to their belts ; which in such situations and 
 circumstances, are more useful than anything, except 
 the rifle-barrelled firelocks, both of which all the male 
 inhabitants habituate themselves constantly to carry 
 along with them everywhere. 
 
 Their whole dress is also very singular, and not very 
 materially different from that of the Indians ; being a 
 hunting shirt, somewhat resembling a wagoner's frock, 
 ornamented with a great many fringes, tied round the 
 middle with a broad belt, much decorated also, in which 
 is fastened a tomahawk, an instrument, that serves every 
 purpose of defence and convenience ; being a hammer at 
 one side, and a sharp hatchet at the other ; the shot bag 
 and powder horn, carved with a variety of whimsical 
 figures and devices, hang from their necks over one 
 shoulder ; and on their heads, a flapped hat, of a red- 
 ish hue, proceeding from the intensely hot beams of the 
 sun. 
 
 Sometimes they wear leather breeches, made of Indian 
 dressed elk, or deer skins, but more frequently thin trow- 
 sers. On their legs, thev have Indian boots or leggings, 
 
 1 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 145 
 
 made of coarse woollen cloth, that are either wrapped 
 round loosely and tied with garters, or are laced upon the 
 out-side, and always come better than half way up the 
 thigh ; these are a great defence and preservative, not 
 only against the bite of serpents and poisonous insects 
 but likewise against the scratches of thorns, briars, 
 scrubby bushes and underwood, with which this whole 
 country is infested and overspread. On their feet, they 
 sometimes wear light shoes of their own manufacture, 
 but generally Indian moccasins of their own construc- 
 tion alsO; which are made of strong elk's or buckskins, 
 dressed soft as for gloves or breeches, drawn together 
 in regular plaits over the toe, and lacing from thence 
 round to the fore -part of the middle of the ancle, with- 
 out a seam in them, yet fitting close to the feet, and 
 are indeed perfectly easy and pliant. 
 
 Thus habited and accoutred, with his rifle upon his 
 shoulder or in his hand, a backwoodsman is completely 
 equipped for visiting, courting, travelling, hunting or 
 war. And according to the number and variety of the 
 fringes on his hunting shirt, and the decorations on his 
 powder horn, belt and rifle, he estimates his finery, and 
 absolutely conceives himself of equal consequence, more 
 civilized, polite and more elegantly dressed, than the 
 
 most brilliant Peer at the Court of St. James', in a 
 
 13 
 
146 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 
 
 splendid and expensive birth-day suit, of the first fash- 
 ion and taste and most costly materials. Their hunting 
 or rifle shirts, they have also dyed in a variety of colors, 
 some yellow, others red, some brown and many wear 
 them quite white. 
 
 Thus attired and accoutred, as already described, 
 set him in the midst of a boundless forest, a thousand 
 miles from an inhabitant, he is by no means at a loss, 
 nor in the smallest degree dismayed. With his rifle, he 
 procures his subsistence ; with his tomahawk he erects 
 his shelter, his wigwam his house, or whatever habita- 
 tion, he may choose to reside in ; he drinks at the 
 chrystal spring or the nearest brook ; his wants are all 
 easily supplied, he is contented, he is happy ! For felici- 
 ty beyond doubt, consists in a great measure, in the 
 attainment and gratification of our desires, and the ac- 
 complishment of the utmost bounds of our wishes. 
 
 (J. F. D. Smyth, Tour in the United States, etc. 
 2 vols. 12 mo. Dublin, 1784.) 
 
 I 
 
FIRST SETTLEMENT 
 
 OF THE 
 
 STATE OF OHIO. 
 
 The first purchase of land in the State of Ohio, 
 after the Indian title was extinguishedj was made by the 
 Ohio company. On the 27th of November, 1787, Con- 
 gress made and executed a contract with the agents of 
 the Ohio company, for the sale of one million and a half 
 of acres, at the price of one million of dollars, to be 
 paid for in final settlement securities. This tract, was 
 bounded on the east by a line called the seventh range 
 which had been previously run ; southerly on the Ohio 
 river ; westerly on the seventeenth range of townships, 
 and to extend so far north, that a line running east to 
 the first boundary, should contain, exclusive of the res- 
 ervations, the quantity of land contracted for. 
 
 The first regular settlement of this State commenced 
 in the year 1789. A party of about sixty men from 
 New-England, under the superintendence of General 
 Rufus Putnam, and hired and paid by the company, ar- 
 rived at the mouth of the Muskingum on the 7th of 
 April, and immediately began to clear the land on the 
 eastern side of the river. In the month of August, 
 
 147 
 
148 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 eight families had arrived, who inhabited the temporary 
 buildings, erected for their accommodation, on that pleas- 
 ant and commanding situation, where the beautiful and 
 thriving town of Marietta now stands. In the course 
 of the autumn more arrived, so that, at the beginning 
 of June, 1790, there w^ere twenty families on the 
 ground. 
 
 It was the intention of this company, among whom 
 were many of the officers of the revolutionary army, to 
 have made a rapid settlement, but the Indians beginning 
 to commit depredations, checked the emigration from 
 the Atlantic States. In the winter of 1791, several 
 persons in the out settlements were killed, and others 
 taken prisoners. The people w^ere obliged to erect 
 posts of defence at Bellepre and at Wolf Creek. Ma- 
 rietta was strongly stockaded, and the inhabitants lived 
 in a garrison state, until after the victory gained by 
 General Wayne, on the 20th of August, 1794, 
 
 Soon after the Ohio company had made this purchase, 
 another contract was made with Congress by Col. John 
 C. Symmes, for a tract of land supposed to contain 
 about one million of acres, lying within the following 
 limits : beginning at the mouth of the Great Miami 
 river, and thence running up the Ohio to the mouth of 
 the Little Miami river ; thence up the main stream of 
 
 I 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 149 
 
 the Little Miami to the place where a due west line, to 
 be continued from the western termination of the north- 
 ern boundary line of the grant made to the Ohio com- 
 pany, shall intersect the said Little Miami river ; thence 
 due west, continuing the said western line to the Great 
 Miami river ; thence down the Great Miami to the place 
 of beginning. 
 
 Settlements commenced in the autumn of 1789, on 
 this tract, under the direction of Col. Sy mines, princi- 
 pally by emigrations from the State of New Jersey. 
 But the settlers here were subjected to embarrassment 
 similar to those of the Ohio company, in consequence 
 of the Indian war. The settlement made little proo-ress 
 until after the conquest of General Wayne, and the 
 treaty with the Indians, in the succeeding year. 
 
 Not long after the commencement of these settle- 
 ments, another of considerable magnitude was begun, on 
 a tract of land, called the Connecticut Reservation, 
 situated on the north-east corner of the State, and boun- 
 ded east by the Pennsylvania line, on the north by Lake 
 Erie, and extending westward as far as Sandusky lake. 
 These settlers came principally from the State of Con- 
 necticut. 
 
 These were the first settlements undertaken on a large 
 scale, within the limits of the State of Ohio, but made 
 
 13* 
 
150 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 little progress until after the close of the Indian 
 war. 
 
 Another very considerable settlement commenced, in 
 1796, on a tract of land, called the Virginia Reserva- 
 tion, situated between the Scioto and Little Miami riv- 
 ers. This land was located by army warrants, granted 
 originally to the troops of the Virginia line of the revo- 
 lutionary army. A part of the settlers w^ere from Vir- 
 ginia, but far the greatest number from the State of 
 Kentucky. The town of Chillicothe was began in the 
 autumn of this year (1796,) and so rapid was the in- 
 crease of inhabitants that it was made an incorporate 
 town in about five years. The Territorial Assembly of 
 the representatives of the people convened in this town 
 for several years, and it continued the seat of govern- 
 ment until 1809, when, by an act of Assembly, it was 
 moved to Zanesville on the river Muskingum. 
 
 On the 13th of April, 1802, the people were author- 
 ized, by an act of Congress, to form a constitution an I 
 State government, and were accordingly admitted into 
 the Union upon the same footing with the original 
 States. Bv the same act, the boundaries of the State 
 were established on the following lines, viz : ^' Begin- 
 ning on the east by the Pennsylvania line ; on the south 
 by the Ohio river to the mouth of the Great Miami 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 151 
 
 river ; on the west by a line drawn due north from the 
 mouth of the Great Miami ; and on the north by an 
 east and west line drawn through the southerly extremes 
 of lake Michigan,, running east, after intersecting the 
 due north line aforesaid, from the north of the Great 
 Miami, until it shall intersect lake Erie, or the territori- 
 al line, and thence with the same through lake Erie, to 
 the Pennsylvania line aforesaid." 
 
 CINCINNATI AT THE COMMENCEMENT 
 
 OF THE 
 
 PRESENT CENTUKY. 
 
 " Cincinnati is handsomely situated on a first and 
 second bank of the Ohio, opposite Licking river. It is a 
 flourishing town, has a rich, level, and well settled 
 country around it. It contains about four hundred 
 dwellings, an elegant court house, jail, three market 
 houses, a land office for the sale of Congress lands, two 
 printing offices issuing weekly Gazettes, thirty mercan- 
 tile stores, and the various branches of mechanism are 
 
152 HISTORY OP THE VALLEY 
 
 carried on with spirit. Industry of every kind being 
 duly encouraged by the citizens, Cincinnati is likely to 
 become a considerable manufacturing place. It is eigh- 
 ty-two miles north by east from Frankfort, and about 
 three hundred and eighty by land south southwest from 
 Pittsburgh, north latitude thirty-nine degrees, five min- 
 utes, fifty-four seconds, according to Mr. Ellicot, and 
 west longitude eighty-five degrees, forty-four minutes. 
 It is the principal town in what is called Symmes's pur- 
 chase, and is the seat of justice for what is called Ham- 
 ilton county, Ohio. It has a bank issuing notes under 
 the authority of the State, called The Miami Exporting 
 company. The healthiness and salubrity of the cli- 
 mate ; the levelness and luxuriance of the soil ; the pu- 
 rity and excellence of the waters, added to the blessings 
 attendant on the judicious administration of mild and 
 equitable laws ; the great security in the land titles ; all 
 seem to centre in a favourable point of expectation, that 
 Cincinnati and the country around it, must one day be- 
 come rich and very populous, equal perhaps, if not su- 
 perior to any other place of an interior in the United 
 States. The site of Fort Washington is near the centre 
 of the town. It was a principal frontier post ; it is 
 now laid out in town lots. A considerable trade is 
 carried on between Cincinnati and New Orleans in keel 
 
OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 153 
 
 boats, which return laden with foreign goods. The 
 passage of a boat of forty tons down to New Orleans 
 is computed at about twenty -five, and its return to Cin- 
 cinnati at about sixty-five days." 
 
 (Topographical description of the Ohio, &c., anony- 
 mous, 12 mo. 1812.) 
 
 SAINT LOUIS 
 
 AT THE COMMENCEMENT 
 
 OF THE PRESENT CENTURY. 
 
 '* Fifteen miles below the mouth of the Missouri, is 
 Saint Louis, delightfully situated on elevated ground, 
 upon the bank of the Mississippi. It is considered to 
 be the most healthy and pleasant situation known in 
 this part of the country. The settlement of this vil- 
 lage was began by a few French people, who came over 
 from the east side of the river, about the year 1765. 
 It became the residence of the Spanish Commandant, 
 and of the principal Indian traders. The trade of the 
 Indians on the Missouri, part of the Mississippi, and 
 Illinois, was chiefly drawn to this village. Before the 
 
154 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 
 
 purchase of Louisiana by the United States, it contained 
 one hundred and twenty houses, mostly built of stone, 
 but large and commodious dwellings. It contained 
 about eight hundred inhabitants, who were mostly 
 French. Since this purchase was made, numbers have 
 emigrated to this village from different parts of the 
 United States. There are now more than two hundred 
 houses, a post office, and a printing office, issuing a 
 Weekly Gazette. There are many mercantile stores, 
 and a flourishing trade in furs and peltry. It is made 
 the seat of territorial government for Upper Louisiana. 
 
 3> 
 
 NATCHEZ AT THE COMMENCEMENT 
 
 OF THE 
 
 "The city of Natchez is about one hundred and 
 twenty miles below the Walnut hills. It is situated on 
 an extremely elevated bank, which recedes from the 
 river, with a very moderate descent. Fronting the 
 river, the blulF is nearly perpendicular, and two hundred 
 
155 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 
 
 feet in height, from the surface of the water. Between 
 the base of the bluff and the river, is a space which is 
 level, about six hundred feet wide ; it is used for land- 
 ing ; and is spread over with dwellings, trading houses 
 and shops. From this little village a road is dug out, 
 in a zigzag form, to the summit of the bank. The city 
 is built at some distance from the edge of the precipice, 
 leaving a space for a handsome common. It contains 
 more than three hundred houses, mostly frame, and one 
 story high. Some of those more recently erected are 
 two story and in a handsome style. The houses generally 
 are commodiously constructed for transacting busi- 
 ness, and the free admission of air in the hot season. 
 The prospect from the city is delightful ; commanding 
 an extensive view of the river in both directions. There 
 are two printing offices, issuing weekly papers ; a post 
 office, receiving a mail once a week ; several mercantile 
 houses, and a large number of smaller stores and shops. 
 Great quantities of cotton, indigo, tobacco, and other 
 commodities, are annually shipped from this city, where 
 the accumulation of wealth is pursued with industry and 
 ardour. It is a port of entry, and ships of four hundred 
 tons can come up from New Orleans, which is about 
 three hundred miles, without any other obstruction than 
 the strength of the current." 
 
 END. 
 
*1 
 
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