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 BY PI. G. ^^TJlx&Tl, M. E). 
 
 \ 
 
 Read before the Chautauqua County Society op History and Natural 
 Sciences, at Gkeenhurst, on Chautauqua Lake, Sept. 24, 189t). 
 
 Published iii\THS Fbedomia Censob, January, 1891. 
 
 ijg^gj^^g^rg^n Class 
 
 iBook- 
 
 ^M <^M %1JW) 
 
 I / 
 
.ClTa. 
 
CVJ* 
 
 THE OLD PORTAGE ROAD. 
 
 An Eakly Attempt by the French to Establish Military Posts in Chautau- 
 qua County, and a Military Portage Road from Lake Erie to 
 
 Lake Chautauqua. 
 
 [By H. C. Taylor, M. D., Brocton, N. Y,] 
 
 As to the location and opening of 
 a Portage road from Lake Erie at or 
 near Barcelona to Lake Chautauqua 
 at or near Mayville, previous to the 
 settlement of the county by the 
 whites, there seems to be little 
 doubt. Its course was plainly to be 
 traced, and the fact generally con- 
 ceded. Even at this day there are 
 traces of its existence, less strongly 
 marked, 'tis true, for as in all things 
 earthly, this work of an earlier era, 
 under the etceteras of civi'ization 
 and the ever effacing hand of time, 
 is fast losing its distinctive features. 
 
 Its starting point was on the west 
 side of Chautauqa creek at Barce 
 lona, within a few rods of the lake. 
 Its course from this point was south- 
 erly along the bank of the creek, 
 passing the afterward location of 
 the first grist mill built in the 
 county, by John McMahan, not far 
 from the mouth of the creek, in 1804 
 or 1805, reached and crossed the 
 now main road at the ancient cross 
 roads, one mile west of the 
 centre of the village of West- 
 field, at the monument erected there 
 a tew years since by Hon. E. T. 
 Foote. (1870.) From this point by 
 a south easterly course ii soon roach- 
 ed the steep bank of the creek Chau- 
 tauqua, along which it ran for a mile 
 when it passed into a deep gorge of 
 a bundled feet or more in depth, 
 
 through which the creek ran, by an 
 extensive dugway still plainly to be 
 seen on the lands owned by Miss 
 Elizabeth Stone, where it crossed the 
 creek and by another dugway on lands 
 for many years owned by Wm. Cum- 
 mings, it reached the high banks a 
 few rods from the present Glen 
 Mills. The passage of this gorge 
 was a work of considerable magni- 
 tude. The west bank was so very 
 precipitous that the passage of teams 
 would seem nearly impossible, 
 yet it is said that in later years, be- 
 fore the road on the east side of the 
 creek through the now village of 
 Westfield was opened, vast quanti- 
 tities of salt and merchandise were 
 transported oyer it from Lake Erie 
 to Lake Chautauqua for Pittsburgh 
 and other points in the Ohio Valley. 
 On the east side of the gorge the 
 road was less precipitous and is 
 now a public highway. After reach- 
 ing a point above Glen Mills on the 
 south side of the gorge through 
 which the east branch of the Chau- 
 tauqua creek now runs, and where 
 the Mayville road is now located at 
 that point, to avoid the rugged sec- 
 tion over the hill it passed up the 
 east branch for some distance and 
 continued to the east of the present 
 thoroughfare to Mayville, and reach- 
 ed Chautauqua lake at or near the 
 present steamboat landing. My own 
 
— 2- 
 
 knowledge of the existence of this 
 old road was acquired in the winter 
 of 1827-28. In the spring of 1827 
 my father removed with his family 
 from New England to Fredouia in 
 this county. I was then a lad of 
 thirteen. We had almost for our 
 next door neighbor Col. James Mc- 
 Mdhan, the first actual settler in 
 Chautauqua county. He kept a tav- 
 ern on the west hill, and the bar 
 room was often the resort of an 
 evening of neighbors and friends 
 with a slight sprinkling of young 
 America, and at that day I had the 
 honor of being known among the 
 latter. Mr. McMahan was a fine 
 type of the pioneer settler and a 
 genial gentleman. It needed but a 
 hint to set him olf into a recital of 
 scenes and incidents of early life 
 in Chautauqua, while yet a part of 
 Genesee. I remember well how he 
 would sit for an hour, possibly with 
 his head inclined, his l)road and 
 massive chin resting nearly upon his 
 breast, gazing intently into the fire, 
 stoves had not yet been iutroduced, 
 and as if entirely unconscious of the 
 presence of others and in his own 
 peculiar style, relate facts and as 
 sociations of his life of hardship and 
 toil of 24 years on his farm near 
 Westheid, and for some j-ears earlier 
 as a surveyor in this and adjoining 
 counties, but mostly in western coun- 
 ties of Peunsyivania. [Mr McMa 
 han passed through this county as a 
 surveyor as early as 1795.J He seem 
 ed happy in living over again all that 
 had entered into his life duriug 
 those \ ears. He often spoke of the 
 old road, giving an accurate discrip- 
 tion of it the entire length, and stat- 
 ed that it was in use, more or less, 
 when he came to this county as a 
 settler in 1802, for the transporta- 
 tion of salt and merchandise from 
 Portland harbor to Mayville for the 
 Alleghany and Ohio valleys, and con- 
 tinued to be in use until 1805, when 
 the route was changed to the east 
 
 side of the creek. (The Portage 
 Road as now known through West- 
 field was surveyed by James Mc- 
 Mahan in August 1805, and legally 
 located the same month by road 
 commissioners Thomas McCIintock 
 and James Dunn.) To all these re- 
 citals I was more than a willing lis- 
 tener. The impressions I received 
 are as vivid today as they were the 
 next hour, and they have remained 
 with me as some pleasant memory. 
 The road was then, 1827, plainly to 
 be seen at intervals and could be 
 traced nearly its entire length, espe- 
 cially the northern portion from the 
 lake to the foot hills 
 
 In his location of the road Mr. 
 McMahan incidentally mentioned 
 the fact that the first cemetery in 
 the county for the burial of the 
 whites was placed on this road, north 
 of the ancient cross roads, on the 
 west side, between the present 
 main road and the L. S. & M. S. 
 K R. tracks. In after years after 
 my venerable friend had returned to 
 Westfield I made a critical survey of 
 the road myself, with an interest 
 that it would be difficult for me to 
 describe ; and in the month of June 
 of the present year I again looked 
 the ground over and noted the 
 changes time had wrought. 
 
 There being no doubt as to the 
 existence of the road in question, it 
 will be the object of this paper to 
 make answer to the following, viz : 
 Who were the projectors of the 
 road ? Who its builders "? When 
 built 1 and for what purpose ? The 
 popular theory that the French du- 
 ring their efforts for supremacy on 
 this continent, at some time and for 
 some specific purpose, had construct- 
 ed this highway through the forest, 
 however true, lacked authentic evi- 
 dence. Positive data seemed to be 
 lacking, but certain facts exist and 
 they are abundant, which in a very 
 lary[e de";ree warrant inferences that 
 reasonably and properly take their 
 
-3— 
 
 places in our mind as facts. 1 shall 
 improve upon such evidences as I 
 have been able i o collect, and present 
 such facts and associations as seem 
 pertinent and such as have found a 
 place in my note book through the 
 years of the past. From my boyhood 
 up, I have noticed that in discussions 
 touching this question, the impres 
 siou has always obtained, that what- 
 ever the object of construction it 
 was one looking to sotae great 
 achievement, some great scheme con- 
 templated or in process of lulfillment, 
 or both, and that in connection with 
 it something doubtless did occur of 
 vast importance, and that possibly 
 had a bearing in shaping the destmy 
 of the race on this continent. In 
 this effort I desire to acknowledge 
 my indebtedness to the late Hon. E. 
 T. Foote for valuable information 
 first brought to my notice, in con- 
 nection with the road in question, by 
 him, and published by the Fredonia 
 Censor in Feb., 1871. [Affidavit 
 Stephen Coffen, Col. Records State 
 of New York, vol. 6, page 834.] 
 Aside from this letter whatever I 
 present will be gleanings from vari- 
 ous sources. 
 
 In order to a proper understand- 
 ing of the question as 1 discuss the 
 propositions named, it will be neces- 
 sary to step backward as to time and 
 for a few moments trace the claims 
 of the English and French, respect- 
 ively, to territory in the new world. 
 You will all remember tbe historic 
 fact that James the First, of Eng- 
 land, claimed, by right of discovery, 
 a large proportion of the North 
 American continent Uuder this 
 assumption, or presumption, as you 
 please, for the purpose of planting 
 and extending settlements in the 
 western world, he granted to the 
 London and the Plymouth com- 
 panies in England bv letters patent, 
 in 1606, certain rights and privileges 
 to all that portion of tbe continent 
 extending from the 34th to the 45th 
 deg. of north latitude inclusive, or a 
 
 strip of territory 660 miles wide, and 
 extending from the mouth of Cape 
 Fear river in North Carolina to Hali- 
 fax in Nova Scotia, and from the 
 Atlantic to the Pacific oceans, includ- 
 ing little less than two million?, six 
 hundred and fifty-six- thousand five 
 hundred square miles. This was a vast 
 territory, and it is not probable that 
 King James, or the members of these 
 companies, or any one of them, had 
 even a remote idea of its extent. Of 
 course our own county and State 
 were included in this grant. Under 
 these and some subsequent grants 
 of less magnitude, settlements were 
 made in Virginia in 1607, in Massa- 
 chusetts in 1620, in Connecticut in 
 1630, in New Hampshire in 1622, in 
 Rhode Island in 1636. New York 
 was settled by the Dutch in 1614, 
 and ceded to the English in 1664 ; 
 and from these and other special 
 permits, or grants, other settlements 
 were formed, until the entire sea- 
 board from Maine to Florida was 
 occupied. 
 
 The large centers of population 
 were upon the seaboard, but smaller 
 settlements were pushed westward 
 with vigor until the flood of emigra- 
 tion began pouring over the crest of 
 tbe Alleghanies, and adventurous 
 traders were located at every conve- 
 nient post on the tributaries of the 
 Upper Ohio, and it was the design 
 to open up the vast territories be- 
 yond the mountains and secure the 
 profits of a trade with tbe natives. 
 JBeside this and an overweaning am- 
 bition for territory and for building 
 up a vast dependency of the English 
 crown, as time passed on, from the 
 turn of affairs it was more than pos- 
 sible that their old enemy on the 
 northern border would attempt an 
 occupancy of territories claimed by 
 them — the English — west of the 
 mountains, and strong efforts were 
 made to make good their own pre- 
 sumptive title. 
 
 France, from the first discoveries 
 in America, had not been an idle 
 
_4_ 
 
 spectator. She, too, was ambitious 
 of Empire. Iq 1G03 the King of 
 France granted to De Monts, a dis- 
 tinguished Frenchman and a gentle- 
 man of hirge means, the sovereignty 
 of the entire country from the 40th 
 to the 46th deg. of north latitude, or 
 from one deg. south of New York 
 City to one deg. north of Montreal. 
 He sailed from France with two 
 small vessels in the spring of 1G04, 
 and in May made a landing in Nova 
 Scotia. After trafficing with the 
 natives through the season he spent 
 the winter on a small island off the 
 mouth of the River St. Croix, on the 
 coast of New Brunswick, in a small 
 fort hastily constructed by him. In 
 the spring of 1G05 De Monts removed 
 to a point on the Bay of Fundy on 
 the west coast ot Nova Scotia, and 
 planted the first permanent settle- 
 ment of the French in America, calling 
 it Port Royal, now called Annapolis 
 — thus antedating the settlement of 
 Virginia by the English two years — 
 and giving the general name of A- 
 cadia to that peninsula. New Bruns 
 wick, and the adjacent islands. De 
 Monts returned to France and three 
 years after, or in 1608, by pei mis- 
 sion fitted out a second expedition 
 for the traffic in furs with the natives 
 on the River St. Lawrence, and dele- 
 gated the command to Samuel 
 Champlain, who had before visited 
 that section. 
 
 In June of that year Champlain, 
 after visiting various sections, landed 
 at a point five miles above the Isle of 
 Orleans, where he founded a settle- 
 ment which eventually became tlie 
 city of Quebec. This was the first 
 permanent settlement in New France 
 or Canada. After the fi)unding of 
 Quebec, settlements were planted in 
 various sections of Acadia and 
 Canada in lapid succession. From 
 the first permanent settlements of 
 the English in Virginia and the 
 French in Acadia and New France 
 these two nations were parallel pow- 
 
 ers in the American continent. The 
 French, however, were singularly 
 unfortunate in many of their move- 
 ments, but with a perseverance 
 worthy of commendation they con- 
 tinued lo extend their limits and 
 planted settlements over a vast 
 extent of teritory. A trading post 
 was planted at Mackinaw in 1667, at 
 Detroit in 1670, at Niagara in 1679, 
 and others were planted far into the 
 western wilds, at Vincennes, Indiana, 
 and at Kaskaskia in Illinois. They 
 had also flourishing settlements in 
 the northern border of the Gulf of 
 Mexico. The English claimed teri- 
 tory from the Atlantic to the Pacific 
 Ocear, under letters patent, as we 
 have seen, but the French, not 
 recognizing, of course, any grant by 
 the English sovereigns, claimed terri- 
 rory by rights of exploration and 
 possession, and planted their stand- 
 ard where it pleased them best. 
 Please bear in mind the location of 
 the settlements of these two powers 
 on the continent, say in 1744, at the 
 opening of King George's war, for 
 they remained relatively nearly the 
 same, the English along the Atlantic 
 seaboard mostly, but pushing west- 
 ward and over to the Alleghanies, 
 and to the great lakes; the French 
 along the gulf and river St. Law- 
 rence, and in a decided sense pushed 
 westward to the great lakes and 
 along the streams that fall into the 
 gulf of Mexico, with a few flourish- 
 ing settlements along the gulf. 
 
 With us even at thia distance of 
 time it is not difficult to imagine the 
 spirit of jealousy and rivalry that 
 existed between these two nations in 
 regard to their western possessions. 
 It is Haid that the statesman of each 
 very well knew at this time and for 
 many years earlier had known, that 
 the time was approaching when this 
 jealousy would culminate in a fierce 
 struggle that would decide the su - 
 premacy ever these western posses- 
 sions. 
 
Ajs earlv as 167S that farsighted 
 and intrepid French explorer. La 
 Salle, suggested to the French gov- 
 ^ninent not onlv the desirabilitv 
 bat the vast importance of a onion 
 of Canada widi the Talley of the 
 Miggiwdj ipi bj a line of military poets 
 or forts, as a secnritj against the 
 English and their advancing Bettle- 
 ments aiong the seaboard and the 
 eastern sloDe of the AUeghanies, and 
 the government for a long series of 
 years designed earrring this sagges- 
 tion into efEeet, bat from exigencies 
 occurring at home in the diapeof 
 jealonsies and wars with their old 
 rival, it was put over from time to 
 time and it was not until 1722 that 
 they came to feei the absolute reces- 
 sity of a movement toward its aeoom 
 ididmient. In this OHyvement it was 
 the design on the part of the Freoeh to 
 isolate the English settl^nents and 
 coaSne them east of Uie All^;faany 
 mountains — cut them off from the 
 vast territnies on the west oi the 
 mountains, and from the loerative 
 trade with the natives inhabiting 
 those seetJowR. Of course the Bng- 
 lidi would not consult to be thus 
 heouned in and confined to a narrow 
 strip of tesritoiy eomparativdy along 
 the seaboard, with their large ideas and 
 pride of Empire^ In 1722, as I in- 
 timated, eommeoeed a greut m litary 
 strife, yet without actual dedaratkm 
 of war for sooae years, that was <mly 
 to eease with the destmetaon of the 
 French power on the eoatMBent, in 
 1753. [The treal^ of peace was 
 not signed until 1763.^ A desol- 
 tarj warfare wa= t-r: op am 
 the part ot the i i oti 
 
 thepart iftheEi. i v 
 
 the adv:'-<; -i^ -'!:e i _ . ^ ^ ., 
 
 and wi:_ _^ i _ -g 
 
 Gecrges ^ . mt four years, 
 
 from 17^4 1"^- - i intermitt 
 
 inglv ' -^ 1 Fr^neh and 
 
 Ii-i: :: .: ; - illed, 
 
 - ; r i on the part of 
 .-- Zi...;_ -■!:.' 17, 17-56. ar^ on 
 
 1 
 
 the part of the French on June 9,fol- 
 loTving. Fort Niagara was built bj 
 the French as early as 1678, but 
 was taken and d»troyed by the 
 Indians in 1684, and for a series of 
 veairs remained in ruins and might 
 have remained thus for many years 
 longer had not the English in 1722 
 established a trading p>5t at Oswego 
 on Lake Ontario. [The Fort was not 
 bnUt until 1727.]" This doubtless 
 was the reason of Fort Niagara be- 
 ing verv soon thereafter reconstruct- 
 ed and reoccupied, oi in 1""25 This 
 seemed also a favorat n^r-t in 
 
 the matter of carrying out tiieir de- 
 sign of uniting their Canadian 
 poaseaBMms with the Ohio Yall^ and 
 their settlen-ents beJow. by way of 
 Niagara, Lake Erie, and some carry, 
 ing place between that lake and the 
 streams running south from the 
 great waterdied along the southern 
 shore of L-^V'^ T" '-'<=- The English 
 oocapaLjj acent s^tle- 
 
 ments were the move- 
 
 ment cc ;■ 1 . r oe delayed 
 
 with safe' The P^ngiiwh 
 
 must be '.■: .: .i^ A_ rghanies, 
 
 or the 1- rth- 
 
 dre^^ Tes to the task with 
 
 a ^ .of sagaei^ and vigor. 
 
 " ther long dday, 
 
 :: __- .__. - will not now stop 
 
 to disfcuss, and it was not until 17:»2 
 that the first ei^editMm to operate 
 westoflKagara was fitted ooL The 
 Harqnis Doqneene bad bem appoint- 
 ed governor of Canada and arrived 
 that year, 17o2.and at cmee eommene- 
 ed his mJe by a grand miUtary review. 
 He was poa^oos in his beazing and 
 in a very marked degree failed of 
 securing the re^ieet ci the yeofAe, 
 only such reqieet was aetorded him 
 as he eompelied by haraii 
 The entapcise nponwhiefa be 
 about to enter waa very onpopalar 
 with the aaiU&en amd the people and 
 load cries of diseoiitait were heard 
 OD ererv hard ar-J f '.rc^ of a ribald 
 
— 6— 
 
 character, in which the names of the 
 Governor and his advisers were in- 
 geniously made a part, were boister- 
 ously sung on the streets of Quebec, 
 and the ma'contentswerecniy quieted 
 and made to obey the orders of their 
 superiors by an arrest and incarcera- 
 tion of some of the leaders. Gov. 
 DuQuesne had undertaken a vast en- 
 terprise, but he did not seem to 
 realize its immensity and the dan- 
 gers from various sources that would 
 surround it, especially from the evil 
 designs of the ambitious and un- 
 principled adventurers of his own 
 military household. He was warned 
 by the Colonial Minister, M. Ro- 
 uille, with reference to the establish- 
 ment of military posts iu Ohio, "that 
 no private or unworthy motives on the 
 part of others be allowed to influence 
 him," but this seemed the one favor- 
 able opportunity of a long series ot 
 years and he could not well resist 
 the temptation to attempt carry- 
 ing out the scheme so long had 
 in contemplation, though his van 
 guard consisted of but 250 men, 
 whereas his original plan called for 
 700 men ; and it is quite possible 
 that he did not scrutinize as closely 
 as he ought the motives and conduct 
 of some of his officers; if he had some 
 serious disasters might possibly have 
 been avoided, for it is true "that every 
 military movement, and above all the 
 establishment of every new post, was 
 an opportunity to official thieves 
 with whom the colony swarmed." 
 Beside the personal ambition of Gov. 
 DuQuesne there was another motive 
 that seemed to call for immediate 
 action. The Euglish settlements 
 were advancing rapidly as we have 
 se^n, bat a s' range ne^.lect en the 
 pirt of the oro visional asserablies 
 had actually left thtm without pro- 
 teciion. and tb3 entire western slope 
 of tbe Alleghaaii'S and the valley of 
 the Ohio wou.d be an ensy acquisi- 
 tion. The Governor was proud to 
 believe that he was the chosen ves- 
 sel to direct and carry out this vast 
 
 enterprise and secure for his King 
 and country millions of square miles 
 of territory and untold wealth, and- 
 that his own brow, for his faithful- 
 ness and zeal, would be crowned with 
 the chaplet of fame. 
 
 Duriog the fall and early winter 
 the preparations for the expedition to 
 La Belle Riviere were proceeded with, 
 with as much expedition as the lim- 
 ited resources of the colony would 
 allow, and on the first of January, 
 1753, the first division was ready to 
 move. 
 
 Just here, in order to an under 
 standing of the discussion of the 
 question in hand, I must be allowed 
 to introduce an abstract of an affida- 
 vit made by Stephen Coffen, a mem- 
 ber of this expeditiou, before Sir 
 William Johnson, a member of the 
 Nevv' York Council, in 1754, and but a 
 few years since, 1871, brought to no- 
 tice by Hon. E, T. Foote, while sear- 
 ching ancieno documents relating to 
 the colonial history of New York, lo 
 which I once referred. It furnishes 
 the only clue we have as a s'arting 
 point as to the old road iu question, 
 and as the route of the expedition as 
 originally designed, lay through a 
 portion of our county, I will be 
 pardoned I know if I present an ab- 
 stract of considerable extent, as I am 
 able to do, the affidavit lying before 
 me. 
 
 Who was Stephen Coffen ? April 
 11, 1713, a treaty of peace was con- 
 cluded at Utrecht in Holland, be- 
 tween England and Prance, whereby 
 England obtained control of the 
 fisheries of Newfoundland and Labra- 
 dor, and the whole of Nova Scotia 
 was ceded to the British Crown. 
 
 The goverument by the Eughsh of 
 the territory acquired wa^j little else, 
 ho\ 'ever, than a military occup ition, 
 and that confined to the southern 
 poi tion of the peninsula. Nine 
 teui^hs and more of the inhabitants 
 were French, sympathized with and 
 rendered aid to them whenever oc- 
 casion occurred. Annoyances to the 
 
— 7— 
 
 English for a series of years were con 
 tinuous, and misfortunes from this 
 source were of frequent occurrence. 
 The French were desirous of regain- 
 ing this territory and entered upon 
 this course of annoyance and a sys- 
 tem of encroachments, to stili farther 
 narrow down the English occupation, 
 so that at some favorable moment 
 they might wipe out the garrison at 
 Port Euyal and rid themselves of 
 troublesome neighbors. 
 
 A letter from the Governor of 
 Canada to the minister of War of the 
 home goverment [Journal, Paris Doc. 
 Vol. 10. P. 89.] speaks of the neces- 
 sity of again acquiring the lost ter- 
 . ritory, of the loyalty of the people, 
 that they were able and willing to 
 turnisb a large portion of the supples 
 necessary for the subsistence of the 
 troops who might occupy the coun- 
 try, at least all the northern portion 
 of it, as occasion seemed to them 
 necessary. This the settlers did in 
 opposition to all treaty stipulations. 
 In all the wars between England and 
 France, the colonies of both nations 
 on this continent were as a matter of 
 necessity involved, and various ex- 
 peditions on the part of the English 
 colonies were from time to time fitted 
 out and did good service toward 
 checking the aggrebsious of the 
 French. The state of affairs being 
 as we have seen, to counteract the 
 mischief being done, the colonies un- 
 der the direction of the home govern- 
 ment, or at least at their suggestion, 
 fitted out an expedition of 500 men, 
 almost entirely from New England, 
 in the fall of 1746, placed it under 
 the command of Col. John Graham, a 
 native of Massachusetts, [Col. Hist. 
 Paris, doc. vol. 10, P. 90. Also 
 Haliburton's Nova Scotia, vol. 1, P. 
 139] and Lieut. Col. Arthur No- 
 ble of the famous Waldo regiment 
 at the siege of Louisburgia iu 1745. 
 [Col. history. Paris, Doc. yol. 10, 
 page 93.] The expedition was sent 
 by water to Port Royal, i^AnnapoUs), 
 
 and from there overland in the mid- 
 dle of a severe winter (Jan. 1747) 
 to the town of Minas, situated at 
 the head of Minas Basin, an arm of 
 the bay of Fundy, and in the very 
 heart of the peninsula. This town 
 was located in the center of a vast- 
 territory inhabited by an industrious 
 and thrifty population, intensely 
 loyal to the French crown, and also 
 under the control of a considerable 
 force of the royal troops. A journal 
 of occurrences in Canada by Sieur 
 Cheron, characterizes this move- 
 ment on the part of the English 
 as the boldest movement of the 
 war. The object of this expedi- 
 tion was to build block houses and 
 form a permanent location, overawe 
 the people and effectually seize upon 
 all the military posts belonging to 
 the French, intercept supplies, etc. 
 Their movements were well known 
 by the French, but the expedition 
 reached its destination without mo- 
 lestation. Before a blockhouse 
 could be built, however,or other place 
 of security prepared, they were at- 
 tacked by French troops under Capt. 
 Coulon, Feb. 11, 1747. They took 
 refuge in the few houses of the town, 
 but were eventually overcome, 70 
 [The French claim'ed 130 killed.] 
 were killed and the balance taken 
 prisoners. Of the latter was Stephen 
 Coffen. Mr. Coffen took refuge in 
 a house with Lieut. Col. Noble, who 
 was killed during the engagement, 
 and four others, Lieutenants Leche- 
 mere, Jones and Pickering and En- 
 sign Noble. [Halibuiton's Nova 
 Scotia, vol. 2, p. 132.] From here 
 we will allow Mr. Coffen to tell his 
 own story as contained in his depo- 
 sition to which I have referred : 
 
 COFFEN 'S AFFIDAVIT. 
 
 Stephen Cofl'en deposes and says 
 that he was taken prisoner by the 
 French and Indians of Canada at Menis, 
 in the year 1747; [spelled 3Iinas. It 
 was a French village in Nova Scotia 
 
— 8— 
 
 and at one time a town of considerable 
 importance. No traces of it are now to 
 be seen, except the cellars of the houses, 
 a few aged orchards and groups of 
 willows.] that he was under the 
 command of Maj. Noble (acting); that 
 from Menis he was taken to various 
 places by his captors, and after about 
 four years he came to Quebec. That in 
 September, 1752, while at Quebec as a 
 prisoner, ho tried to agree with some 
 Indians to aid him in an escape to his 
 own home in New England, but the In- 
 dians proved treacherous and informed 
 the Governor of the plot, who immedi- 
 ately ordered him to jail where he lay 
 three months, after which time he was 
 released. That the French were then 
 preparing for a march to Belle Riviere, 
 (Ohio) and he offered his services, but 
 the Governor, Gen. LeCain (Duquesne), 
 refused him. That he then applied to 
 Maj. Ramsey for liberty to go to Ohio 
 with the army, and that he was finally 
 accepted and equipped as a soldier, and 
 was at once sent with the detachment of 
 300 [The Governor reports to his gov- 
 ernment that there were but 250 men.] 
 men to Montreal under the command of 
 Mons. Babeer, and from there they set 
 off immediately by land and ice for Lake 
 Erie, stopping twice for rest, the last 
 time at Toronto, before reaching Niag- 
 ara. That they remained at the fort 
 15 days, and then set out by water, it 
 being April, and arrived at Chadakoin, 
 on Lake Erie (Barcelona), where they 
 were ordered to fell timber and prepare 
 it for building a fort, according to the 
 Governor's instructions, but Mons. 
 Mora7ig [spelled 3Iariii] coming up the 
 next day with 500 men and 20 Indians, 
 put a stop to the building of the fort, 
 not liking the situation, the river Chad- 
 akoin (Chautauqua Creek) beiag too 
 shallow to carry out any craft with pro- 
 visions, etc., to Belle Riviere [the French 
 called the Alleghany river La Belle 
 Riviere, a continuation of the Ohio.] 
 
 That the two commanders had a 
 sharp debate, the first insisting on 
 building the fort there in accordance 
 with instructions, but Morang gave him 
 a writing to satisfy the Governor on 
 that point; and then Mons. Mercier, 
 who was commissary and engineer, was 
 directed to go along the lake and look 
 for a situation, which he found, and re- 
 turned in three days, it being fifteen 
 leagues to the southwest of Chadakoin 
 (at Erie). 
 
 That they were then all ordered to 
 repair thither, and when they arrived 
 thei-e were about 20 Indians fishing in 
 the lake, who immediately quit it on 
 seeing the French. They built a square 
 fort of chestnut logs, squared and 
 lapped over each other to the height of 
 15 feet. The fort was 120 feet square, 
 and a log house in each square, a gate 
 at the northward and one at the south 
 ward and not a porthole out in any part 
 of it. When finished they called it Fort 
 La Briske \_Presque1 Isle. The Indians 
 who came with them now returned, be- 
 ing dissatisfied with the dogged be- 
 havior of Morang. As soon as the fort 
 was finished they moved southward, 
 cutting a wagon road through a fine 
 level country 21 miles to the river of 
 Boeuf (at Waterford), leaving Capt. 
 Deponteney with a hundred men to 
 garrison Fort la Briske Isle. Then 
 they fell to work cutting timber, boards 
 etc. for another fort. Mons. Morang 
 ordered Mons. Bite with 50 men to go 
 to a place called by the Indians gana- 
 garahara (Franklin), on the banks of 
 Belle river where Aux Boeufs [the 
 French called French Creek, Aux 
 Boeufs (O Buff)], empties into 
 it. Then Morang had 90 boats 
 made to carry down the baggage and 
 provisions to said place. Mons. Bite 
 in coming to said Indian Place (Frank- 
 lin) was asked what he wanted or in- 
 tended, and he answered that it was 
 their father's, the governor of Canada's 
 
— 9— 
 
 intention to build a trading house for 
 their and all their brother's conveni- 
 ence, but the Indians replied that the 
 land was theirs, that they would not 
 have them build on it. The said Mons. 
 Bite returning, met two English traders 
 with their horses and goods, whom 
 they bound and brought to Morang, 
 who ordered them to Canada in irons. 
 Eite reported to Morang that the situ- 
 ation was good, but the water of the 
 river Aux Boeuf was too low at that 
 time to carry down any craft with pro- 
 visions, etc. That Morang became very 
 peevish, sour and sick, and was very 
 unpopular with his officers and men, 
 and that he wished his officers and men 
 would confine him in the fort and set 
 fire to it so as to terminate some of his 
 disappointments, as he had promised 
 the governor of Canada to finish the 
 three forts that season, and not being 
 able to fulfill the same, was both afraid 
 and ashamed to return to Canada, be- 
 ing sensible he had now forfeited the 
 governor's favor, so he desired to per- 
 ish in the flames of the burning fort. 
 The officers would not do this, though 
 they had tot the best regard for him, 
 as he had behaved veiy ill to them all. 
 That about eight days before he left 
 Fort la Briske Isle, Chev. la Crake ar- 
 rived express from Canada in a birch 
 canoe worked by ten men, with orders 
 (as he afterwards learned) from Gover- 
 nor la Cain (Duquesne) to Morang to 
 make all the preparation possible against 
 the spring of the year, to then build two 
 forts at Chadakoin, one of them by Lake 
 Erie (Barcelona), the other at the end 
 of the carrying place at Lake Chadakoin 
 (Chautauqua), which carrying place is 
 fifteen miles from one lake to the other. 
 That Chev. la Crake returned immedi- 
 ately to Canada, after which, when Fort 
 Pdviere O'Boeuf was finished, which was 
 built of wood, stockaded triangularwise, 
 with two log houses on the inside, Mor- 
 ang ordered all the party to return to 
 
 Canada for the winter season, except 
 300 men which he kept to garrison both 
 forts and prepare material against the 
 spring for building other forts. Morang 
 sent also Jean Coeur, an officer and in- 
 terpreter, to stay the winter among the 
 Indians of Ohio in order to prevail upon 
 them, if possible, not only to allow of 
 the building of forts on their lands, but 
 also persuade them to join the French 
 interests against the English. Depo- 
 nent further says that on the 28th of 
 October he set out for Canada under 
 command of Capt. Deman, who had the 
 command of twenty-two Buttoes, with 
 twenty men in each Batto, the remain- 
 der, being 7G0 men, followed in a few 
 days. On the 30th they arrived at Chad- 
 akoin (Barcelona), where they stayed 
 four days, during which time Mons. 
 Peon [spelled Pean], with 200 men, cut 
 a wagon road over the carrying place 
 from Lake Erie to Lake Chadakoin, 
 viewed the situation which proved to 
 their liking, so set oflf Nov. 3d for Niag- 
 agara where we arrived on the 6th; it is 
 a poor old rotten fort with 25 men in it. 
 We left 50 men there to build Battoes 
 for the army in the spring. Also built 
 a storehouse for provisions, &c. Stayed 
 there two days then set oflf for Canada 
 by water. That while within one mile 
 from Oswego, all hands being weary 
 with rowing all night, they landed and 
 had breakfast, and at this point he, with 
 a Frenchman, slipped oflf and got to the 
 fort and were there concealed until the 
 army passed, when they left and came 
 here (Col. Johnson's). Deponent fur- 
 ther says that in all, during the season, 
 there came to Presque Isle about 1,500 
 men — 300 were kept for garrison duty 
 at la Briske Isle and la Boeuf, 50 at 
 Niagara and the balance returned to 
 Canada . 
 
 his 
 
 Stephen [X] Coffen. 
 
 mark 
 
 Sworn before me this 10th day of Jan- 
 uary, 1754. 
 
 William Johnson. 
 
—10- 
 
 Lieufc. H. Holland, commanding at 
 Oswego, in a letter to Gov. Delancey 
 of New York, dated Nov. 8, 1753, 
 speaks of these two deserters, the 
 one an Englishman and the other a 
 Frenchman, coming to the fort at 
 the time stated [Col. Hist. N. Y. 
 Vol. 6, page 825.] Six other de- 
 serters from Niagara (Frenchmen,) 
 came to Oswego the fore part of 
 April the following year (1754), two 
 of whom. Antoine Francois L'On- 
 aque and Jean Bapti ste de Cortois, 
 were with the expedition to Lake 
 Erie, Chadakoin etc. [Col. Hist, N. Y. 
 Vol. 6, page 833.1 They were sent 
 to Sir William Johnson, and by him 
 to Albany where they were critically 
 examined by Dr. Alex. Calhoun, and 
 the facts elicited sent to Gov. Delan- 
 cey, April 12, 1754. Their state- 
 ments, and the diagrams of Fort la 
 Briske Isle and la Boeuf they pre- 
 pared were in nearly every particu- 
 lar corroborative of the statements 
 made by Coffen in his affidavit. The 
 English were well apprised in regard 
 to this expedition, through deserters 
 before it left Canada, and of the 
 teal designs of the French. The 
 thiee divisions of their army passed 
 the fort at Oswego in the precise order 
 and on the time proposed by them, 
 the first leaving Quebec January 1, 
 1753, the second leaving on the first 
 of March, and the third on the first 
 of May following, the last passing 
 Oswego on the 14th of May, as we 
 learn from a letter of Lieut. Holland 
 commanding, to Gov. Clinton dated 
 the next day, May 15th, and of Capt. 
 Stoddart to Col. Johnson, of the 
 same date. The plans of the French 
 were in no sense disturbed until 
 they reached Chadakoin, where after 
 a fierce wordy contest between tne 
 two commanders, M. Barbeer and M. 
 Marin, the route was changed from 
 that point to the present location of 
 Erie, as stated by Coffen and the 
 deserters from Niagara in April fol- 
 lowing. 
 
 I regret exceedingly that the 
 building of the fort at Chada- 
 koin (Barcelona,) was so suddenly 
 interrupted. A few months since I 
 visited the proposed location, as I 
 imagined, though nothing but the 
 peculiar surface of the ground gave 
 me thfe least idea as to its certain 
 location. But while there I cculd 
 not help conjuring up weird phan- 
 toms from the misty past and cover- 
 ing the whole section with an army 
 of Frenchmen, well drawn out and 
 reaching to the foothills and over 
 the highlands to Chautauqua lake. 
 Many years ago I had the pleasure 
 of visiting the grounds occupied by 
 Forts le Briske Isle and le 
 Boeuf. We have become inter- 
 ested in these forts and I de- 
 sire to speak of them more 
 definitely, in fact this seems to be 
 necessary in order to fully under- 
 stand what is to lollow. Fort la 
 Briske Isle was located on the top 
 of a hill, or high plat of ground on 
 the west side of what is now called 
 Mill Creek, the stream that 
 empties into the bay at Erie, at its 
 eastern end and just east of the now 
 Parade street, one of the popular 
 streets of the city. It was situated 
 in the angle formed by the steep 
 sides of the narrow valley of Mill 
 Creek and the bluff of the lake 
 or bay. It was a commanding posi- 
 tion. Coffen in his affidavit gives us 
 a slight description of it, its dimen- 
 sions etc., and others speak of it as 
 built in the approved French fash- 
 ion, with four bastions, one of which 
 was evidently used for storing arms. 
 The site is being gradually destroyed 
 in the process of brickmaking. 
 Many relics have been found from 
 time to time, such as old swords, 
 pistols, cutlerly, broken crockery 
 and occasionally a coin, and the 
 remains of bodies that had been 
 hurried near by. A few years ago 
 workmen unearthed what they term- 
 ed a bay window of the old fort. It 
 
-11— 
 
 was one of the bastions and had in 
 it a large number of pistols, gun- 
 barrels, hatchets and other tools. 
 Many of these relics are now in mu- 
 seums, and many in the possession 
 of citizens of Erie and other locali- 
 ties, notably in the collection of the 
 late Frank Henry of Wesleyville in 
 that county. [John Miller, Jr., of 
 Erie.] 
 
 The fort was a work of con- 
 siderable extent and was not com- 
 pleted and ready for occupancy until 
 Aug. 7 of that year, 1753, over three 
 months from the arrival of the 
 French on the ground, not as early 
 as we would infer from the affidavit 
 of Coffen. It wap held by the French 
 until 1759, a period of six years, 
 when the report ot British successes 
 in various directions, especially at 
 Quebec, Sept. 13th decided them to 
 evacuate the two forts between Lake 
 Erie and the Alleghany river. Forts 
 la Briske Isle and le Boeuf, and the 
 Stockade at Venango, and retire 
 from the country. They did not do 
 this, however, but with the hope and 
 expectation of returning within the 
 next two or three years, not doubt - 
 ing but that the English within that 
 time would be driven out of Canada. 
 Four years later, in 1763, the Eng- 
 lish took possession of Fort la Briske 
 Isle, and held it until it was stormed 
 and taken by the Indians during the 
 famous conspiracy of Pontiace, in 
 May of the same year. It surrendered 
 after the hardest two days fight on 
 record. Upon the nearly level 
 ground on the opposite side of the 
 stream from the fort when held by 
 the French, a village had grown up, 
 and it is on record that at one time 
 it contained one hundred families or 
 about 500 inhabitants. It had a mill 
 for grinding grain, and other village 
 etceteras, and a Roman Catholic 
 priest. This record was made in 
 1758. Late in 1759 there was not 
 a vestige of it left. The cause of this 
 is legendary. One story has it that 
 
 a plague of small pox wiped out the 
 entire population ; another is that 
 the Indians tomahawked eyery man, 
 woman and child ; still another is to 
 the effect that the people, frightened 
 by the reports of a forward move- 
 ment on the part of the English, and 
 the unfriendly state of affairs be- 
 tween them and the Indians, hastily 
 fled, burying in wells their money 
 and valuables. The latter story is 
 probably the true one, the people 
 leaving with the garrison. Until 
 withm a few years, treasure hunters 
 were busy digging over the ground 
 occupied by the fort and the village, 
 or up to the time the opening of the 
 streets made city squares of it. 
 Almost every square rod from Third 
 street to the bay was at some time 
 turned over. [John Miller, Jr., of 
 Erie.] 
 
 Now Jet us take a short sur- 
 vey of Fort le Boeuf. Washington's 
 journal of his visit to this fort while 
 in the performance of duties assign- 
 ed him by the goyernor of Virginia, 
 as every student of history will re- 
 call, locates this fort on the south 
 and west fork of French Creek near 
 the water ; that it was nearly sur- 
 rounded by the creek and a small 
 branch of it, forming a kind of 
 island. Its location was just south 
 of the village of Waterford in Erie 
 county, Pa. [It was in fact located 
 on la Boeuf creek as now known.] 
 The road leading to it from Erie, cut 
 out by the French, is still called the 
 French road, and Mr. John Miller 
 Jr. of Erie, to whom I am indebted 
 for valuable information, informs me 
 that it is one of the finest roads in 
 the county Mr. Coffen in his affi- 
 davit says that this fort was triangu- 
 lar in form, but the Pennsylvania 
 Colonial record has it that "four 
 houses composed the sides, the bas- 
 tions were of poles driven into the 
 ground, standing more than twelve 
 feet above and sharpened at the top, 
 with port holes cut for cannon and 
 
—12— 
 
 loop holes for small arms. Eight 
 cannon, six pounders, were mounted 
 in each buation, and one four pound- 
 er before the gate. In the bastions 
 were guard houses, chapel, surgeons' 
 lodgings and commandant's private 
 stores." But it matters little as 
 to the particular form of the 
 fort. 
 
 Fifty years ago the present 
 season I visited this fort. — 
 The corners of the structure 
 were pointed out to me, and the 
 remains of a fireplace of one of the 
 log houses within the inclosure. But 
 I am of the opinion that these re- 
 mains, and such as I am informed 
 exist there to day, are not the remains 
 of the old French fort. It is well 
 known that this fort was burned and 
 absolutely destroyed by the Indians 
 within a short time of, and probably 
 previous to, the surrender of Fort la 
 Briske Isle to the Indians, or in May, 
 1759. 
 
 W. G. Sargeant, Esq., of Mer- 
 cer county. Pa., writes me that his 
 great-grandfather, Andrew Ellicott, 
 m connection with Dr. T. R. Kenne- 
 dy, wHo afterward built mills at Ken- 
 nedy in this county, built a block 
 house on the site of the old French 
 fort, or Fort la Boeuf, in 1791 or '95, 
 which, I understand, was for the pro- 
 tection of their own men while en- 
 gaged in a lumbering enterprise. 
 The remains found there to-day are 
 probably, as Mr. Sargeant seems to 
 suggest, those of this block house 
 built by his ancestor. There are very 
 many facts connected with this old 
 French fort and the French occupan- 
 cy, in my own possession, that are ex- 
 tremely interesting, and I am prom- 
 ised many others by way of Mr. Sar- 
 geant, also with reference to the 
 block house named, that may form 
 subjects for some future paper. In 
 this instance, as in many instances 
 noted in our American antiquities, I 
 believe we have been groping too far 
 in the past, when, on careful inquiry, 
 
 we might find our originals much 
 nearer our own time. 
 
 It is said that the diary of a Cath- 
 olic priest, who accompanied the ex- 
 pedition under M. Marin and was lo- 
 cated and officiated at Fort la Boeuf 
 in 1753 and 1754, is still in existence. 
 If so, it doubtless contains informa- 
 tion of interest and value. Since 
 writing the above sentence I have 
 been fortunate in obtaining an Eng- 
 lish copy of this diary, from the 
 original which is now in the archives 
 of the Dominion government, Cana- 
 da, but with a single exception, 
 named farther on, will reserve it as a 
 text for further work at some time in 
 the future. 
 
 The importance attached by the 
 English to the building of these forts, 
 la Briske Isle and la Boeuf, may be 
 seen in the facts connected with the 
 visit of Maj. Washington to the com- 
 mandant, M. de Pierre, m December, 
 1753. Washington expected to find 
 the commandant at Fort le Briske 
 Isle (Erie), but he had been 
 called to Fort le Boeuf (Water - 
 ford) to give directions with ref- 
 erence to the strengthening of 
 the fort and the building of 
 boats for the contemplated move- 
 ment in the spring. Washington 
 was greatly surprised at the extens- 
 ive preparations made and making, 
 and the number of transports along 
 the creek — fifty bark canoes, and 170 
 pine boats ready for use. The his- 
 tory of that visit, as I have said, is 
 well known, and its significance in 
 this connection is seen only in the 
 fact that in the main it corroborates 
 the statements made by Mr. Coffen 
 and the two other deserters rei rred 
 to, and goes to further establish the 
 truth of the whole relation. As fur- 
 ther evidence of the reliability of the 
 statements made by Stephen Caffeu, 
 I desire to introduce the following : 
 
 The past winter there died in 
 Painesviile, Ohio, Mr. Isaac Shat- 
 tuck, aged 81 years. Mr. Shattuck 
 
-13- 
 
 was for many years a citizen of Port- 
 land in this county, and a man of 
 most perfect integrity. He was a 
 neighbor of mine, and 1 often list- 
 ened with a large degree of pleasure 
 to the recital of facts and incidents by 
 him, of early life as communicated to 
 him by his grandfather. Samuel 
 Shattuck, who came to Portland with 
 the family in 1823, and died in 1827. 
 It is important that I state some facts 
 in regard to this man, Samuel Shat- 
 tuck,as I had them from the grandson 
 and the family, in order to a more 
 perfect understanding of what is to 
 follow. 
 
 Samuel Shattuck was born in 
 the town of Deerfield, Franklin Co., 
 Mass., Sept. 18, 1741. He was of 
 English origin, his ancestors coming 
 to Massachusetts Bay sometime in 
 the early days of the colony. He 
 came of a hardy and adventurous 
 stock, and was never at ease, even 
 when a small boy, when stirring 
 events were transpiring around him. 
 He was a youth of perfect integrity, 
 unusual good sense and the soul of 
 honor. He grew up amid all the ex 
 citing scenes that cluster around the 
 life of a pioneer and a soldier He 
 remained at his home with his father 
 and his family until his twelfth year. 
 The exciting events of the running 
 strife that existed betv/een the colon 
 ies and Canada before the formal 
 declaration of war, commonly called 
 the French and Indian war, fired his 
 youthful spirit, and no amount of 
 restraint could keep him at home 
 with the family. He was not at all 
 certain what he could do, but was 
 certain that there would be an open- 
 ing somewhere that would admit him 
 to a participation in the strife that 
 was brewing and sure to come, in 
 fact had already come. Sometime 
 in 1752 he left his home in Deerfield 
 in company with some colonial offi - 
 cers, ostensibly for some point north 
 of Albany, New York, but we next 
 hear of him at Oswego on Lake On- 
 
 tario, quartered at the old fort on the 
 west side of the river, built in 1727. 
 The position he occupied is not 
 known, but it is presumed that he 
 was attached in some way to the 
 officers' quarters. From here com- 
 menced with him a series of adven- 
 tures and duties performed as a 
 soldier, that did not in fact cease 
 until the last farewell was said at 
 the disbanding of the colonial 
 armies in 1783. I have thus intro- 
 duced a slight biographical sketch 
 of the youthful Shattuck for the 
 purpose of placing him in evidence 
 with refrence to certain features of 
 the history of the old Portage Road. 
 The young man remained at Oswego 
 discharging such duties as were 
 assigned him until the next spring, 
 or spring of 1753. His recital of 
 some of the scenes and events of 
 that year and a pait of the next, I 
 will repeat in substance, using my 
 own words. He says : 
 
 It was well known by Lieut. Holland, 
 the commaudant at the Fort, and all the 
 garrison, that an expedition had been fit- 
 ting out through the fall and early win- 
 ter of 1753-54, at Quebec and Montreal, 
 and it was well known also that its des- 
 tination was the western frontier, in 
 fact some scouts had come in and re- 
 ported that a large number of boats were 
 in process of construction and nearly 
 completed at Niagara for some service, 
 presumably on Lake Erie. In all this 
 we were not disappointed, for in some 
 of the last days of March we were in- 
 formed that an army of from 800 to 
 1,000 men, French and Indians, had ar- 
 rived at Niagara from Quebec. A day 
 or two later an Iu<liaD, a trusted guide 
 and scout, came in and reported that 
 preparations were being rapidly made 
 for a movement up Lake Erie to some 
 point he could not learn, and by the 10th 
 or 15th of April the expedition would 
 embark in boats that had been prepared 
 duriug the winter. News also came to 
 the fort by way of Albany that the 
 
— U- 
 
 French in this move had thrown off all 
 disguise, and openly avowed their de- 
 termination to reach the Ohio Valley by 
 way of the Allegheny river and eveutu" 
 ally their possessions below. They 
 claimed to be masters of the situation 
 and cared little what the English might 
 do at that late day. Ihe orders just re- 
 ceived by Lieut. Holland were to watch 
 the movements of the French, and re- 
 port as soon as their destination was 
 known . Looking over all the facts in 
 his possession he was of the opinion 
 that the expedition by the lake would 
 be a short one, and at ouco detailed an 
 officer and five men to follow and watch 
 them. On my urgent solicitation I was 
 allowed to accompany them. We set 
 out on the 7th of April for Lake Erie, 
 following the shore of Lake Ontario until 
 we reached what is now known as the 
 Genesee river, then struck boldly into 
 the woods, intending to reach Lake Erie 
 40 or 50 miles from its outlet ; but as it 
 happened we came in sight of its waters 
 a few miles below what is now called Cat- 
 taraugus creek. We were satished the 
 flotilla had net passed, so we waited for 
 it. The second day alter, as near as I 
 can remember the ICth of April, it came 
 in sight, and the sight was beautiful 
 indeed. It was a line day and well 
 along into the afternoon. We at once 
 started onward, keeping well back from 
 the lake, and encamped for the night on 
 the banks ol a stream that 1 now believe 
 to have been the Canadaway, a few miles 
 west of the now location of Dunkirk- 
 In the morning the boats weie out of 
 sight, but we expected to overtake them 
 easily, and in fact did so sooner than 
 was agreeable to us as we came near dis- 
 covering, ourselves to the Indians that 
 belonged to the exi edition scattered 
 through the woods They had lauded 
 at the mouth of Chautauqua creek, as 
 now called, and were already^ felling 
 trees on the v/est side of thfi Creak, ap- 
 parently for some sort of fortilicatioii. 
 
 We were confident they had chosen this 
 as a carrying place to some waterway 
 south of the highlands. That night we 
 slept some two or three miles back from 
 the lake, jirobably near the east end of 
 the village of Westfield as now seen 
 (1826). In the morning we repaired to 
 our place of ambush and were muv.h sur- 
 prised, in the afternoon, to see another 
 flotilla of boats, filled with Frenchmen, 
 make a landing, a much larger number 
 of men than the party of the day before. 
 From some cause not apparent to us 
 there was a cessation of work, and after 
 three or four days the whole of both par- 
 ties, with the exception of a few In- 
 dians, embarked in their boats and 
 moved westward. Here was something 
 uuiooked for, but as we had been de- 
 tailed for a special duty we had no al- 
 ternative but to follow. We at once 
 struck back into the woods and to the 
 highlands, where we could look over the 
 lake and at the same time avoid some 
 straggling Indians that seemed to 
 choose the land rather than the com- 
 pany of their friends on the water. 
 These redskins, all the season through, 
 gave us more trouble than all things , 
 else, and we were sometimes obliged to 
 absent ourselves for days to avoid the 
 unusual number that occasionally ap- 
 peared to gather about, watching the 
 work of tlie French. The wonder is j 
 that we escaped discovery and capture, ^ 
 but we owed all our good fortune in this 
 to our leader, who was an old Indian 
 fighter from Onondaga, and understood 
 thtm well. After a few miles we were 
 obliged to return to the rise of ground 
 between the highlands and the lake, 
 and at sundown were nearly abreast of 
 the boats when Ihey made a lauding at 
 the point where the city of Erie now 
 stands. For the next two months or 
 more there was considerable work done 
 toward building a fort, but it must have 
 been the last of July or possibly later 
 before it was completed. [Marin, in 
 
—15- 
 
 his report to Gov. Duquesne, says it was 
 the third of August, and some other ac- 
 counts say it was the seventh of August, 
 but the facts are it was completed on 
 the third and occupied the seventh.] 
 
 In the meantime parties had been 
 sent south and returned, and on more 
 than one occasion there seemed to be a 
 delay in movements that to us seemed 
 unaccountable, but in due time the 
 whole force, aside from the garrison, 
 moved south, completing a fine road as 
 they went, that other parties had com- 
 menced. After three days they halted 
 on the banks of a stream running nearly 
 east at that point, where they went to 
 ■work completing a stockaded fort already 
 begun. We were not idle all this time, 
 but wandered away sometimes for days 
 at a time, where small game was more 
 plenty, upon which we depended for our 
 subsistence. We did not use our fire 
 arms from the time we left Oswego until 
 we were well onour return, but depended 
 upon traps and snares to secure such 
 game as we needed. The design of the 
 French was plain to be seen, and think- 
 ing we had 'accomplished all we were 
 expected to'do, we left for Oswego some 
 time in September, where we arrived in 
 due time with a full report which was 
 sent at once to New York. I forgot to 
 say that one of our party was dispatch- 
 ed to Oswego as early as the first of 
 July. It was not expected that the 
 French with so small a force and so 
 late in the season, and with the amount 
 of work before them, would push for- 
 ward to the Ohio valley that season, 
 and their return was confidently looked 
 for and with great anxiety. Sometijae 
 in the latter part of October it was 
 known that the expedition had not re- 
 turned, and fearing mischief, Liaut. 
 Holland dispatched the sime party to 
 learn of their movements and report as 
 soon as at all consistent. 
 
 This time we took a course farther 
 south and after reaching the highlands 
 
 south of Lake Erie continued along 
 their crest, keeping the lake in sight. 
 On the seventh day out, or October 30th, 
 as near as I remember, in the afternoon 
 we came upon a party of nearly or quite 
 a hundred Frenchmen rolling logs into 
 a ravine in the bottom of a deep gulf, 
 and digging into the steep sides of the 
 gulf for a road, apparently, at a point 
 that I now (1826) know to have been 
 on the south border of the village of 
 Westfield. They had, apparently, re- 
 turned from Erie and were completing 
 the work they began in April. We came 
 upcu this party very suddenly and un- 
 expectedly, for we had supposed that 
 the whole matter of a carrying place 
 had been transferred to Erie; in fact so 
 sudden was it that had it not been for 
 some adroit movements on our part and 
 sharp running up the east branch of 
 Chautauqua creek, as I now know it, we 
 should have been seen, overtaken and 
 of course gone into captivity. As it was 
 we escaped and witnessed the comple- 
 tion of the road from Lake Erie to Lake 
 Chautauqua. On the third or fourth 
 day the whole party embarked in their 
 boats and moved eastward. We at once 
 retraced our steps and about the 10 th of 
 November reached Oswego." 
 
 This is the story of Mr. Shattuck, 
 and knowing the family as I did, I 
 have not the least doubt of its 
 truthfulness. Although traditional 
 it goes far, very far, toward establish- 
 ing the truth of the statement by 
 Mr. Oolfen as to ti e origin of the 
 old Portage Eoad and the date of its 
 opening. I desire to introduce an- 
 other relatior going to show the 
 early existence of the road, its 
 builders and its piobable use. It is 
 from a letter of Gen. William Irvine 
 to Gen. Washington, written Jan. 
 27, 1788, and found in Cr ig's His- 
 tory of Pittt-burg, published in 1851. 
 Gen. Irvine had himself visited 
 Chautauqua lake after the close of 
 the revolutionary war, and in answer 
 
—16— 
 
 to a letter of inquiry by Gen Wash- 
 ington of Jan. 10, the same year, 
 he gives many particulars of his 
 visit and seenus to be particularly 
 pleased with the waterway from Fort 
 Pitt to Lake Jadaque or Cuautauqua. 
 After reaching the head of Lake 
 Jadaque he was taken sick and was 
 not able to complete his tour of in- 
 spection to Lake Erie as intended, 
 but returned to Pittsburg. Previous 
 to this he had examined other routes 
 through Ohio, and the French 
 Creek route, as to the best communi- 
 cation by water with Lake Erie, and 
 continuing his letter he says:^ ''I 
 think I shall be able to afford you 
 more satisfaction as I can point out 
 a more practicable and easy communi- 
 cation, by which the articles of trade 
 you mention can be transported fr )m 
 Lake Erie than by any other hitherto 
 mentioned route, at least until canals 
 are cut. This is by a branch of the 
 Alleghany which is navigable by 
 boats of considerable burthen to 
 within eight miles of Lake Erie. 
 
 "I examined the greater part of the 
 communication myself, and such 
 part as I did not, was done by 
 persons before and subsequent to my 
 being there, whose accounts can 
 scarcely be doubted." Gen. Irvine 
 made the distance from Fort Pitt to 
 Venango by water, and from Venango 
 to the mouth of the Conewango, where 
 the town of Warren, Pa., is located, 
 on horseback, and fiom this point to 
 Lake Jadaque (Chautauqua) by boat. 
 "I traveled about twenty five miles 
 a day. Two Indians pushed a load- 
 ed canoe, and encamped with me 
 every night. ' 
 
 Of the dictance between Lake 
 Erie and. Lake Chautauqua, that he 
 failed to visit on account of sickness, 
 he says: "The following account I 
 had from a chief of the Seneca tribe 
 as well as from a white man named 
 Mathews, a Virginian, who says that 
 he was taken prisoner by the 
 Indians at Kenawha iu 1777. He 
 
 has lived with the Indians since that 
 time. As far as I could judge he 
 appeared to be well acquainted wit h 
 this part of the country. I employ- 
 ed him as an interpreter. He stated 
 that from the appearance of Jadaque 
 Lake it is not more than nine miles 
 along the path or road to Lake Erie, 
 and that there was formerly a wagon 
 road between the two lakes. The 
 Indian related that he was about 
 fourteen years old when the French 
 went first to establish a Post at 
 Fort Pitt, that he accompanied an 
 uncle who was a chief warior, on 
 that occasion, who attended the 
 French; that the head of Lake Jada- 
 que was the spot where the detach- 
 ment embarked; that they fell down to 
 Fort Duqutsue without any obstruc- 
 tion, in large canoes with all the 
 artiiitiry, stores, provisions, &c. 
 He added that French Creek was 
 made the medium of communication 
 afterward, why, he could not tell, but 
 always wondered at it, a^ he expressed 
 himself, knowing the other to be so 
 much better. The Seneca related 
 many things to corroborate and con- 
 vince me of its truth." ^ * * * 
 "Beth Matiiews and the Seneca de- 
 sired to conduct me, as a further 
 proof of their vtracity, to the spot on 
 Lake Jadaque, where lies one of the 
 four pounders left by the French. — 
 Major Fiuiey, vvho has been in the 
 country since i wa-^, informed me 
 that he had seen the gun.'' The 
 French Creek route was evidently 
 not well thought of by Gen. Irvine 
 and not worthy of consideration as a 
 means of communication. Gen. Ir- 
 vine, in a letter to Gen. Washington 
 dated Oct. 6, 1788, says very decid- 
 edly that "ihe navigation of the Cone- 
 wango, 1 know, is much preferable 
 to French Creek.'' 
 
 The real reasoiys for the adoption 
 of the French Creek route to the 
 Alleghany by the French, as it ap- 
 pears to me, I will give farther on. 
 
 These statements by Gen. Irvine 
 
-17— 
 
 together with those of the Virginian 
 and Seneca Indian go very decided- 
 ly to show that there was some other 
 reason for the change of route from 
 water to water than the one of eligi- 
 bility. For fifty years after I be- 
 came acquainted with these two 
 routes and knew them, every rod, it 
 was also a wonder to me that the 
 one by way of Chautauqua lake 
 should have been abandoned for the 
 one by the way of French Creek. 
 But a letter from Gov. Duquesne to 
 M. Rouiile the French minister of 
 Foreign Aftairs dated Aug. 20, 1753, 
 explains in part the matter and gives 
 some reasons for the change, yet it 
 seems to me the grand underlying 
 thought is not brought to the sur- 
 face. This letter in very many par- 
 ticulars is corroborative of the state- 
 ments of Mr. Coffen, and a number 
 of very natural inferences go to 
 establish other statements, so that 
 we need hardly to insist on placing 
 it — the affidavit — in the line of tra- 
 dition, but in every essential as 
 facts of history. The Gov. says: 
 
 "You will see, my lord, by the ex 
 tract of this journal hereto annexed, 
 the reasons which compelled me to 
 reduce to almost one half the rear 
 guard that I had informed you con- 
 sisted of four hundred men, and 
 those that determined me to prefer 
 landing the troops at the harbor of 
 Presque Isle on Lake Erie, which, 
 very fortnately, I discovered, instead 
 of Chatacouit (Chautauqua), where I 
 informed you I would begin my 
 posts. This discovery is the more 
 propitious as it is a harbor which 
 the largest barks can enter loaded 
 and be in perfect safety. I am 
 informed that the beach, the soil and 
 the resources of all sorts were the 
 same as represented to me. * * * 
 It is regarded as the finest spot in 
 nature. * =^ * A bark cuuld safely 
 winter at Presque Isle, where it 
 would lie as it were in a box." 
 
 Farther on he eulogises the harbor. 
 
 but complains of the long portage. 
 These changes were brought about 
 mainly through the dispatches of M. 
 Marin to Gov. Duquesne, giving 
 glowing descriptions of the harbor 
 and the surrounding coutry. Marin 
 in this adhered very strictly to the 
 terms of his contract with M Bar- 
 beer at Chatakoin Be this as it may, 
 we all know that as far as harbor 
 facilities are concerned simply, this 
 route was vastly to be preferred to 
 the one by Chatakoin, and I am of 
 the opinion that these facts, as 
 regards the harbor, influenced the 
 Governor beyond all things else. 
 Gov. Duquesne was not a little am- 
 bitious. It opened up to him at 
 once a vast possibility. In his mind 
 a young navy and a vast commerce 
 sprang into existence at once, on 
 these inland seas, and became as a 
 whole one glorious addenda to the 
 French crown, as he intimates to M. 
 Roville, the minister of foreign affairs, 
 farther on. 
 
 With Gov. Duquesne action fol- 
 lowed quickly every decision, and no 
 sooner had he learned of the fine 
 harbor at Presque Isle than he dis- 
 1 atched a ••Royal assistant Pilot to 
 search around the Niagara rapids 
 lor some place where a bark could 
 remain to take in its load," and ex- 
 pressed the hope that soon he will 
 be able to report to his government 
 that he had ordered the construction 
 of such a vessel, and then says that 
 "nothing would be of greater advan- 
 tage in the saving of transport and 
 the security of property of the new 
 posts." Although this was an after- 
 thought he proposed to make these 
 new discoveries and these changes 
 factors in this scheme of possession 
 and colonization in the interior of 
 the continent. The better route to 
 the Alleghany must be abandoned 
 for one less feasible in view of the 
 grand possibilities surrounding the 
 latt'-r. This afterthought of Gov. 
 Duquesne, from whatever cause, was 
 
—18— 
 
 seized upon as a glorious inspiration. 
 The Governor was not a pessimist. 
 No amount'of adversity or unfavor- 
 able criticism, as far as this enter- 
 prise was concerned, seeme.i to 
 dampen his ardor or dim the glowing 
 picture upon which he was just now 
 gazing ; yet he seems to have had 
 times of perplexity and regrets, and 
 some doubts whether he did well in 
 entering upon such an important en- 
 terprise under so unfavorable circum- 
 stances, and says that were he placed 
 in like circumstances again he would 
 better weigh his chances of success 
 — he would not take the same risks. 
 The landing of the French troops 
 at the mouth of the Chadakoin creek 
 (Barcelona) was not a matter of 
 chance. The French were adepts in 
 wood craft, and ha I critically ex- 
 plored the entire route and had 
 made maps of locations and every 
 point of interest. They well knew 
 what they were doing. In 1749, the 
 Marquis de la Galissoniere was Gov- 
 ernor of Canada. He was a hump- 
 back, yet bis deformed body was 
 animated by a "bold spirit and a 
 strong and penetrating intellect." 
 He was by far the most able of any 
 of the naval governors of Canada. 
 He saw at once the necessity of an 
 immediate movement toward the 
 accomplishment of . beir cherished 
 design of a line of forts from Canada 
 to the Ohio valley and ev.entually to 
 their possessions below, and to inau- 
 gurate the scheme he dispatched an 
 expedition to explore a route from 
 Lake Erie to the Alleghany liver, 
 down that stream and take formal 
 possession of the country in the name 
 of the king of France. The com- 
 mand of this expedition was given to 
 Celoron de Bienville, who was "a 
 Chevalier de St. Louis and a captain 
 in the colony troops." The expedi- 
 tion consisted of fourteen officers 
 and cadets, twenty soldiers, one 
 hundred and eighty Canadians, and 
 a band of Indians. The flotilla in 
 
 which they embarked , c nsisted of 
 twenty-three birch bark canoes. 
 They left LaChine, the northern • 
 point of the island of Montreal, on 
 the 15th of June, 1749, and reached 
 Niagara on the 6th of July. They 
 carried their canoes and supplies 
 over the portage by the falls and eni- 
 barkeJ on the waters of Lake Erie. 
 On the 15th of July they landed "on 
 the lonely shore vvhere the town of 
 Portland (Barcelona) now stands, 
 and for the next seven days were 
 busy in shouldering canoes and bag- 
 gage up and down the steep hills, 
 through the dense forest of beech, 
 oak, ash and elm, to the waters of 
 Cbautauqua Lake, eight or nine 
 miles distant. Here they embarked 
 again, steering southward over the 
 sunny waters, in the stillness and 
 solitude of the leafy hills, till they 
 came to the outlet, and glided down 
 the peaceful current in the shade of 
 the tall forests that overarched it." 
 — [Parkman]. They reached La Belle 
 Riviere at noon of the 29th. This 
 part of the Ohio which they had 
 reachpd is cow called the Alleghany, 
 and the point was at the mouth of 
 the Conewango, where the town of 
 Warren, Pa, now stands. Here a 
 very imposing ceremony took place. 
 The men were drawn up in order, 
 Louis XV was proclaimed lord of all 
 that region, the arms of France, 
 stamped on a sheet of tin were 
 nailed to a tree, a plate of lead was 
 buried at its foot, and the Notary of 
 the expedition drew up a formal act 
 of the whole proceeding. The 
 leaden plate was inscribed as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 "Year 1749, in the reign of 
 Louis XV., King of France, we, 
 Celoron, commanding the detach- 
 ment sent by. the Marquis de la 
 Galissoniere, Commander General of 
 New France, to restore tranquility in 
 certain villages of these cantons, 
 have buried this plate at the conflu- 
 ence of the Ohio and the Kanaoua- 
 
—19- 
 
 gon (Conewango) this 29th of July, 
 as a token of renewal of possess on 
 heretofore taken of the aforesaid Ri- 
 ver Ohio, of all streams that fall into 
 it, aud all lands on both sides to the 
 source of the aforesaid streams, as 
 the preceding Kings of France have 
 enjoyed or ought to have enjoyed it, 
 and which they have upheld by force 
 of arms and by treaties, notably by 
 those of Ryswick, Utrecht, and Aix 
 la Chapelle." 
 
 From this point they descended 
 the Alleghany to a point twelve 
 miles below the mouth of French 
 Creek, where they buried another 
 leaden plate like the first; another 
 was buried near the mouth of Wheel- 
 ing Creek in Ohio, and another at 
 the mouth of the Muskingham, when 
 the same ceremony was had as at 
 the mouth of the Conewango. Here, 
 about half a century later, a party of 
 boys bathing in the stream saw the 
 plate protrud ng from the bank, laid 
 bare by the high waters of the river, 
 secured it with a long stick, used 
 half of it for bullets and gave the 
 balance to a man from Marietta, who, 
 hearing of this mysterious relic in - 
 scribed in bome unknown tongue, 
 came for the purpose of securing it 
 from their hands. [O. H. Marshall 
 in Mag. of Am. Hist., Mar., 1878.] 
 It is now in the cabinet of the Am. 
 Antiquarian Society. [Parkman.] 
 Pursuing their course, on the 18th 
 of August, Celoron buried yet an- 
 other plate at the mouth of the 
 Great Kenawha. In 1846, nearly a 
 century afterward, this too was 
 brought to light by the action of the 
 waters of the river and was found by 
 a boy while at play near the water. 
 The inscription was nearly identical 
 with those buried before except as to 
 name and date. The last plate was 
 buried on the 30th of August at the 
 mouth. of the Great Miami. Tlais 
 river was called by the French 
 Riviere a la Roche. From this point 
 Celoron and his party started north- 
 
 ward up the Miami to the mouth of 
 what is now called Loramie Creek, 
 where was situated an Indian village 
 called Pique Town, or Pickawillany 
 by the English. This town after- 
 ward became one of the most import- 
 ant Indian towns in the west. His 
 worn out canoes were here burned, 
 and the whole party made its way 
 with great difficulty over the long 
 portage to a French i ost on the 
 Maumee river, where thev were fur- 
 niched wooden canoes in which they 
 embarked and reached Lake Erie 
 early in October. A month later 
 they were at Fort Frontenac and 
 soon after reached Montreal. Thus, 
 it will be seen that in 1749 the old 
 portage road through our county 
 was in fact located. 
 
 Some other writers make mention 
 of this old road, and among them 
 Pouchet, a French ofiicer who com- 
 manded the French at Fort Niagara 
 in July, 1759, when it was taken by 
 the English under Sir William John- 
 son. Pouchet wrote a history of the 
 French and Indian war in North 
 America, and in speaking of the 
 route from Lake Erie, south, says : 
 "The river Chatacoin (Chautauqua) 
 is the first that communicates from 
 Lake Erie to the Ohio, and it was by 
 this that they, the French, went in 
 early times when they made a jour- 
 ney to that part." 
 
 Sir William Johnson was sent by 
 General Amherst, Commander-in- 
 Chief of all the British troops in 
 America in 1761, to Detroit to estab- 
 lish treaties and trading posts with 
 the Western Indians, and on his re- 
 turn passed down the south shore of 
 Lake Erie, and in his journal relates 
 very many interesting particulars of 
 his journey, some of which I will 
 copy: 
 
 " Wednesday, October 1, 1761, in 
 the morning, we embarked at Presque 
 Isle (Erie) where we had staid all 
 night, with a strong head wind, con- 
 tinued so all the day, notwithstand- 
 
—20- 
 
 ing it improved all day, and got to 
 Jadaghqua creek (Chautauqua) and 
 carrying place, which is a line har- 
 bor 'and encampment. It is very 
 dangerous from Presque Isle here, 
 being a prodigious steep rocky bank 
 all the way, except two or three 
 creeks and small beaches where are 
 beautiful streams of water or springs 
 which tumble down the rocks. We 
 came about forty miles today, ihe 
 fire was burning where Capt. Coch- 
 ran (the officer who commanded at 
 Presque Isle) I suppose encamped 
 last night. Here the French, had a 
 baking place, and here they had 
 meetings, and assembled the In- 
 dians when first going to Ohio, and 
 bought this place of them." 
 
 The baking place referred to by 
 Sir William, was a circular piece of 
 masonry of stone laid in strong mor- 
 tar, three feet in height and three or 
 four feet in diameter, and was built 
 on the west side of the creek at Par- 
 celona, where the first attempt to 
 build a fort was made by the French. 
 Another oven of the same character 
 was discovered near the boatlanding 
 at MayviUe, and was in a good state 
 of preservation as late as IblU. 
 Judge Peacock often spoke of it when 
 referring to the times of the French 
 occupation. The one in Barcelona 
 was known to exist much earlier, in 
 1802 the vear of the first settlement 
 of the county. This also was often 
 referred to by some of the early 
 settlers, I am informed, especially by 
 Col Bell, who saw it at the date 
 named French deserters and 
 
 others' escaping from the French 
 prisoners, speak of the carrying 
 place at Chadakoin, and there is 
 reason to believe that it was at var- 
 ious times used by the French and 
 their Indian allies in various expedi- 
 tions of a warlike character oiher 
 than the one in the spnng of 1754, 
 from its opening to the final evacua- 
 tion of the country by them m 175J. 
 Investigations develop continuous 
 
 facts in regard tn this old road, but 
 I have not time to pursue the ques- 
 tion further now. 
 
 Looking over the whole ground 
 and keeping our text, the Old Por- 
 tage Road, in view, I come to this 
 conclusion : The portage, by way of 
 Presque Isle, required a yast amount 
 of labor to make it what it must be 
 in order to a successful means of 
 transit for their armies, stores, and 
 supplies; and on the retirement of 
 the army the last of October was far 
 from being completed, and in no 
 sense was it in condition to admit of 
 use for these purposes, and besides 
 this the streams upon which they 
 had relied for the passing of heavy 
 stores and ordnance had so far 
 shrunken as to be of no use what- 
 ever. Another season would be nec- 
 essary to complete the work by this 
 route they had begun. Serious dis- 
 appointment, sickness and death 
 clustered thick about them, especially 
 at Le Boeuf, and it was decided that 
 as the route by Chadakoin needed 
 but a small amount of work, compar- 
 atively, to make it passable, it should 
 be completed for the first expedition, 
 the one to be undertaken in the 
 spring, the spring of 1754, and after^ 
 ward abandoned as the chief route. 
 This was decidedly humiliating, but 
 there seemed to be no alternative. 
 There is no direct statement to this 
 effect, but in reading the dispatches 
 and the old colonial records of those 
 times, one is forced to these conclu- 
 sions ; at all events, this arrangement 
 seems to have been carried out. M. 
 Pean with two hundred men com- 
 pleting the work at Chadakoin as we 
 have seen, the balance of .the army, 
 with the exception of the garrisons, 
 returning to Canada. The portage 
 at Chadakoin was in the end to be 
 but temporary. A vast internal em- 
 pire, with all its etceteras, was to be 
 built up, and the advantages to be 
 gained from a fine harbor more than 
 counterbalanced the disadvantages 
 
.21- 
 
 with reference to route. That this 
 plan was carried out, the story of the 
 Seneca Indian that I have in part 
 given, seems to more than indicate. 
 There i« no doubt that the army of 
 1,000 French and Indians under 
 Monsieur Contrecoeur, that drove 
 out the little garrison of but forty 
 men of the Ohio company at the con- 
 fluence of the Alleghany and Monon- 
 gahela rivers and established Fort 
 Duquesne, Apr. 16, 1754, actually 
 reached its destination over the old 
 Portage road in this county, floated 
 over the waters of our own Chautau- 
 qua lake, down its outlet to the Alle- 
 ghany, and from that point tollowed 
 that stream to their destination. 
 
 From out-croppings in the letters 
 and dispatches here and there as 
 found among colonial papers, we 
 learn that to secure a change of car- 
 rying place from Chadakoin to Pres- 
 que Isle, Sieur Marin had among 
 other things promised that the en- 
 tire route should be opened and 
 properly equipped during the season, 
 and that everything should be in 
 readiness for an early advance ; in 
 fact, the sanguine governor, Du- 
 quesne, from the glowing letters of 
 Marin and others, expected no less 
 than this, in fact more, a de- 
 scent of the Alleghany the same 
 fall of 1753 and winter the party at 
 a point he only reached late the 
 next spring or in April, and it is 
 quite probable this might have oc- 
 curred had he adhered to his first ir- 
 tention and made Chadukoin his point 
 ii stead of Pi esque Isle. To be sure 
 Fort LaBriske Isle had been built and 
 was a pertect thing in its way; Fort 
 Le Bouef had also been built 
 and was sufficient for the pur- 
 pose for which it was designed ; 
 Venango was not completed, was in 
 reality but a post. A very tine road 
 had been built between Forts La 
 Briske Isle and Le Boeuf, but the 
 road bfclow was hardly commenced, 
 and the streams that fall were a fail- 
 ure, and the outlook was anything 
 
 but encouraging. The work by the 
 men thus far had been done at a 
 fearful cost and vast quantities of 
 property had been destroyed or lost. 
 Marin had practiced deception, and 
 had deceived himself also in the hope 
 of carrying out a grand scheme. 
 
 In his efi"orts to forward the work 
 at Venango, being short of transpor- 
 tation facilities, his horses poor and 
 unfit for duty, be entrusted a large 
 amount of goods and supplies to 
 an Indian chief and his party to con- 
 vey thither, paying him a stipulated 
 price in gold and trinkets, but as 
 might have been expected, the wily 
 chief hardly got beyond the picket 
 line before he turned his course for 
 Ohio and was never seen afterward. 
 This occurred almost immediately 
 after Marin had written Gov. Du - 
 quesne that the natives were very 
 docile and ready and willing to do 
 anything he asked of them. Sick- 
 ness of some fatal character broke 
 out among his men and it was said 
 by deserters that some two hundred 
 died and were buried in the forest. 
 Of the truth of this as to numbers, 
 tnere seems to be some doubt, 
 though it is well known that the 
 men suft'ered severely from lung 
 diseases, dysentery and scurvy, and 
 an unusual number were left 
 to sleep their last sleep amid 
 these western wilds. It was an 
 expedition full of privation and 
 extreme suffering, and those that 
 escaped death and returned to 
 Canada were haggard and emaciated 
 in the extreme, in fact were little less 
 than skeletons. Gov. Duquesne was 
 greatly shocked at their appearance 
 and said of them as they passed him 
 in review at Quebec: "I- could not 
 help being touched by the pitiable 
 state to which fatigue and exposure 
 had reduced them. Past all doubt, 
 if these emaciated figures had gone 
 down the Ohio as intended, the 
 river would have been strewn with 
 corpses, and the evil disposed sav- 
 ages would not have failed to attack 
 
-22 
 
 the survivors, seeinpf ihat ihey were 
 but specters." [Duquesne's li iter in 
 N. Y. colonial documents 10, 255 
 Also Duquesne on Ministre, Nov. 29, 
 1753.J Mariu, the commauder, a 
 grufi, choleric man of sixty-three 
 years of age, himself fell sick vpith 
 dysentery early in the season but 
 refused to be sent back to Montreal. 
 He bore bis infliction however with lit- 
 tle tortitude, and became sour, morse 
 and peevish. The work hung heavily 
 on his hands, dragged its slow length 
 along, and the effect of it all upon 
 his proud spirit, more especially his 
 failure to accomplish what he had 
 confidently promised, broke down his 
 ph.>sical powers and he wished to die, 
 and that the work at LeBueuf perish 
 with him. He liug-red along under 
 the most distressing circumstances 
 until the 29th of October, but a siu- 
 gle day after the army left for 
 Canada, when he died. In an En- 
 glish copy of the journal of the 
 catholic priest, officiating at Le 
 Boeuf and Fort Duquesne for the 
 vears 1753 and 1754, which has 
 
 " • T 
 
 recently come inio my possession, 1 
 find the following: 
 
 •'BURIAIj op MARIN, OOMMANDEK IN CHIEF 
 OF THE AKMY AT LA BELIiE RIVIEBE. " 
 
 "la the year one thousand seven hun- 
 dred and fifty three, on the twenty- 
 ninth of October, dierl at about half- 
 past four in the evening in the fort of 
 LaReviere aux Boeuf, uoder the name of 
 St. Pierre, Monsieur Pier.e,)0ut, Esq., 
 Sieur deMarin, Chevalier of the Mili- 
 tary and Royal Order of St, Louis, 
 Captain of Infantry and Commander in 
 Chief of the army at LaBelle Riviere.af ter 
 having received the sacraineuts of Pen- 
 ance, Extreme Unction and Viaticum, 
 aged sixty three years. His body was 
 buned in the cametery of said Fort, and 
 that by us Recollet Priest, Chaplain at 
 the said Fort, and during the campaign 
 of LaBelle Reviere. There were pre- 
 sent at his funeral, Monsieurs de Re- 
 pentigny, commandant of the aforesaid 
 
 army and Captain of lufantiy, and M. 
 M. Du Huys, Lieutenant of Infantry, 
 Benoit, Lieutenant of Infantry, De 
 Simblin, Major at the aforesaid Fort, 
 Lat'ors, keeper of the stores, who have 
 sieued with us. 
 
 Le Gardetjr de Repentignx. 
 
 Laforce Benois de Hdxs, 
 T. DE PRE Simblin, 
 Fb Denys, Bakom Ptke Recollet. 
 
 Chaplain. 
 
 Sieur Marin was a remarkable 
 man. He was chosen to command 
 this expedition on acconnt of his 
 great ability and peculiar tact in 
 dealing with the Indian tribes, as 
 we learn from a letter of Governor 
 Duquesne to his home government, 
 before the expedition lelt Canada. 
 [Paris Doc. X. Aug. 20, 1753.J But 
 he was rash and unprincipled, with 
 an overweening ambition to serve 
 well his King and country and build 
 up an empire in the heart of the 
 North American continent and do it 
 in his own way. By his dogged per- 
 sistence he possibly and probably 
 defeated what might have been a 
 grand success; for who can tell what 
 would have been the result if the ex- 
 pedition had reached its destination 
 the same season, as it might and 
 probably would have done had not 
 the route been changed. But what- 
 ever he was or was not he is deserv- 
 ing of great credit for his p rsever- 
 ance under such uutovard and dis- 
 couragmg circnmstances. Thus end- 
 ed the first expedition to establisaa 
 line of French forts between Can- 
 ada and the Valley of the Mississippi 
 and the Gulf of Mexico : and really 
 the master spirit of the enterprise 
 gave his life for its success and sealed 
 his work by leaving his earthly re- 
 mains in the soil on which the most 
 herculean efforts of his life had been 
 made. 
 
 I have thus briefly adverted to a 
 few facjs and incidents connected 
 with the eaily occupancy of the 
 
—23- 
 
 western and southern section of our 
 county, and their study has been of 
 gi'owing interest to me; yet a thous- 
 and things renaain to be said, but 
 ujust be passed over for the present. 
 Although much of the evidence with 
 reference to the four propositions 
 named in the outset is in a sense 
 traditional in character, yet it seems 
 to me that it is of such a character 
 that the most skeptical can hardly 
 fail of acknowledging its truth. 
 That the deep solitudes of our coun- 
 ty were the scenes of warlike dem- 
 onstrations nearly half a century be- 
 fore the first settlement by the 
 whites (1802) now admits of no 
 doubt, and that the old Portage 
 Road from its associations has claims 
 on us as a relic of the past, none will 
 deny; and I believe our discussion 
 has demonstrated with reference to 
 the four propositions stated in the 
 outfcet: 1st, that the old Portage 
 Road was constructed by an army of 
 Frenchmen coming from Quebec, 
 Canada, by way of Niagara. 2d, 
 that it was constructed in 1753. 
 3d, that it was constructed for the 
 transportation of military stores and 
 munitions of war. 4tb, that it was 
 actually used for the purposes in- 
 tended within a few months after its 
 construction and by those by whom 
 it was constructed. 
 
 It would have been interesting 
 and perhaps more profitable had I, 
 before writing this puper, presented 
 more or less minutely a hi-tory of 
 the adventures of some of the early 
 French travelers to this section, such 
 as Baron la Hon tan, who was an 
 officer in the expedition of Gov. 
 Denonville to Lake Ontario and 
 Niagara in 1687. After leaving 
 Niagara laHoutau coasted along the 
 northern shore of Lake Eiie as far as 
 the French Post of St. Joseph. With 
 some western Indians he afterward 
 passed to the south shore, but I do 
 tiot find, as I once supposed, that he 
 came within the limits of Chautauqua 
 County, but having visited the 
 
 counties both east and west of this 
 county, he became so well informed 
 with reference to the country, pro- 
 ductions, etc., that he gave a very 
 fine description of buth, the next year, 
 1688. He was very enthusiastic 
 in regard to the section near the 
 lower end of the lake and refers 
 with a good deal of animation to 
 the wild beeves (bufifalos) found in 
 "prodigious quantities" roaming in 
 the forest. 
 
 And that other French traveler, 
 Charlevoix, who visited our county 
 in 1720, who gave a glowing 
 description of the scenery along our 
 northern border, and the bright 
 green hills in the background. But 
 these and a thousand facts and in- 
 cidents that I might have named 
 must be left for the present for want 
 of time and space. I may return to 
 them at some time in the future. 
 
 As I am an advocate today for 
 Chautauqua county and its claims to 
 such honors as may come froua mili- 
 tary occupancy or military move- 
 ments within her borders, I wish to 
 refer to another thing that re- 
 lates to ancient warlike demonstra- 
 tions. Judge Foote refers to it in 
 his letter of Feb., 1871, and Mr. 
 Edson in his addenda to that letter 
 also refers to it. I have reference to 
 to the statement that a British ex| e- 
 dition during the revolutionary war, 
 01 in 1782, was fitted out at some 
 point, and destined to operate against 
 Fort Pitt, then in the possession of 
 the colonial forces, and for two 
 months or more rendezvoused on 
 Chautauqua lake preparatory to a 
 descent on that point. I remember 
 very well of reading at the time the 
 lecture of Hon, ISamuel A. Brown, of 
 Jamestown, before the students of 
 Jamestown Academy, I think in 1843, 
 in wbicn he stated that an army of 
 3u0 British and 500 Indian?, with 
 twelve pieces of artillery, spent two 
 months, June and July, around 
 Chautauqua lake pieparatory to 
 floating down the outlet and the Alle- 
 
24- 
 
 glviny to attack Fort Pitt. I am 
 not apprised in regard to his authori- 
 ty for the statement, but presume it 
 ■was the same letter of Gen. Irvine to 
 Gen. Washington, from which I have 
 already quoted. This story has been 
 discredited by some, and Judge 
 Foote did not give it full credence, 
 yet it might have been true and 
 probably was true. It would seem 
 that sixty-one years, or to 1843, 
 ought not to have obliterated every 
 vestige of so important a movement 
 as this one. In older countries it is 
 probable some record would have 
 been j reserved, but with us in the 
 new world, as we call it, the word is 
 onward, with but too little reference 
 to the past or its lessons. I will 
 quote again from the letter of Gen. 
 Irviue : 
 
 "He," the Seneca Indian giving 
 information to General Irvine, whose 
 name was Kio?ola, "was constantly 
 employed by the British during the 
 late war and held the rank of cap- 
 tain, and commanded the party 
 which was defeated on the Alle- 
 ghany by Col. Broadhead ; that a 
 detachment c mposed of 300 British 
 and 500 Indians was formed and 
 actually embarked in canoes on Lake 
 Jadague, with twelve pieces of artil 
 lery with an avowed intention of at- 
 tacking Fort Pitt. This expedition 
 was laid aside in consequence of the 
 reported repairs and strength of 
 Fort Pitt, carried by a spy from the 
 neighborhood of the Fort. They 
 then contented themselves with the 
 usual mode of warfare, by seuding 
 small parties, on the frontier, one of 
 which burned Hannaslown. * * * 
 I remember very well that in August 
 178..', we picked up at Fort Put a 
 number of canoes which had drifted 
 down the river.aud I received repeated 
 accounts in June and July from a 
 Cauadian who deserted to me, as 
 well as from some friendly Indians, 
 of this armament, but I never knew 
 before then where they had assem- 
 bled." 
 
 This is all that has come to us 
 from any source of a historic nature 
 touching this matter. I have hereto- 
 fore introduced tradition to aid me 
 in my endeavor to learn facts, and I 
 shall hope to re pardoned if I again 
 introduce myself as a medium 
 through which other like evidence 
 mav be introduced that mav be of 
 interest and may cast a gleam of light 
 on an otherwise obscure page of his- 
 tory. Fifty-one vears ago the pres 
 ent fall (1890), or 'fall of 1839, 1 was 
 in the city of Pittsburg on business 
 and on my return to my home in 
 Meadville, Pa., I proposed to find my 
 way over the river road on foot. 
 
 The second day I fell in company 
 with an Alleghany liver pilot from 
 some point above Franklin. Hts 
 name has entirely escaped me. He 
 Was a man ot fine physique, and in 
 some Sense one of the most remark- 
 able men I ever met. at least as far as 
 general information was concerned. 
 No subject could be broached but an 
 ULUsually intelligent discussion on 
 his part followed as a matter of 
 course. During our long walk I 
 learned much of his history and that 
 of his family. He was then, he said, 
 fortv-nine years of age. His father 
 was born in what is now Chester 
 county, Pa , and was a soldier of the 
 Revolution. He was v/ith Col. Dan- 
 niel Broadhead in 1779 on his expe- 
 dition against the Seneca and Mun- 
 sey Indians in August and Septem- 
 ber of that year, but was seriously 
 wounded at some point on the upper 
 Alleghany, by an accidental dis- 
 charge ot his gun, and left to die, 
 but for some cause he never learned 
 he was carried a long distance away 
 by some Indians, secreted and nursed 
 to health and protected for some 
 months, or until strength returned, 
 when he was allowed to depart, and 
 in due time found his way to his old 
 home. He very soon enlisted again 
 and was most of the time on the 
 frontier in some capacity, was cap- 
 tured by the Indians in the spring 
 
—25— 
 
 of 1782, and was as a prisoner, with 
 a party of 300 English and some 
 four or five hundred Indians on 
 Chautauqua lake in the summer of 
 that year. He said they were pre- 
 paring to drop down the Alleghany 
 to Fort Pitt ; that the expedition 
 started at the appointed time, but 
 for some cause not apparent to him 
 stopped short of its destination. 
 From this camp they sent out three 
 parties in as many different direc- 
 tions within a very short time, one 
 of which pillaged and burned Han- 
 nastown (a small village in what is 
 now Northumberland county, Pa.) 
 His father esc iped from the main 
 camp after the return of the party 
 from Hannastown and found his way 
 to Fort Pitt, and eventually to his 
 
 home. He did not again enlist. 
 This is given for what it is worth, 
 but I am convinced of its truth. It 
 is almost identical with the story of 
 the Seneca Indian and goes far to 
 corroberate it and some facts in his- 
 tory. In looking over the whole 
 matter in the light of such evidence 
 as I have been able to obtain, I have 
 DO doubt but this expedition was 
 actually undertaken, the British 
 coming from Canada by way of Fort 
 Niagara and Lake Erie to the now lo- 
 cation of the village of Barcelona, 
 the same route pursued by the 
 French in 1753, over the old Port- 
 age Koad and Lake Chautauqua, 
 down the outlet and the Alleghany 
 river as stated. 
 
 H. O. Tatlor. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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