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A SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF
Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac
The Founder
of Detroit.
By C.M. BURTON.
}
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GENERAL LIBRARY
OF
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
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A SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF
ANTOINE DE LA MOTHE CADILLAC
FOUNDER OF DETROIT.
Sarace
BY CM. BURTON.
DETROIT, MICH.
WILTON-SMITH COMPANY,
1895.
ziojo pam
pam R
(Copyrighted by C. M. Burton, 1895.)
-b
Reclass
TO THE READER:
No.27 BRAINARD ST.,
Detroit, Mich., July 24, 1895.
I wish that you would carefully read over and correct the accompany-
ing sketch. It has not been hastily gotten up, but has been compiled from
such material as I have been able to collect in a period of investigation
and collection that has extended over many years.
The manner in which it was printed, as a newspaper article, pre-
vented the references to authorities that are so indispensable to all modern
students, and I will here give the names of such works and persons as have
been consulted.
Of first importance is the collection of the writings of Cadillac him-
self; these are unpublished, but by the assistance of Mr. Benjamin F.
Stevens, of London, I have obtained nearly a complete transcript of all such
papers as were sent to the Department of Marine in Paris. Cadillac was a
prolific writer, and I have nearly one thousand manuscript pages of his com-
position. I wish to acknowledge also the great assistance rendered to me by
Mr. Stevens in collecting and transcribing these documents, and the general
interest he has taken in this work for me. To Mr. A. C. de Lery Macdonald;
of Montreal, I am greatly indebted for copies of records and documents
sent me from the old Notarial records in Montreal. These also are in
manuscript and several hundred documents have been transcribed for my
use. The copy of Pierre Margry's works which I have, is one of the Paris
edition and contains, in the fifth volume, a long introduction by Mr. Margry,
which is omitted in the American edition. This introduction is largely
devoted to the life of Cadillac, and I have relied upon it as good authority.
Moreover the body of the work contains many references to Cadillac, and
transcripts of some of his letters and reports. The works of Mr. Douglas
Brymner, the archivist at Ottawa, have been used, and especially am I
indebted to Mr. Brymner for the many courtesies he has shown me.
The documents relating to the Colonial History of New York and the
Michigan Pioneer and Historical collections are full of interesting matter
on this subject. The Massachusetts Historical Society Collections, and
those of the State of Maine have a few references. The Memoirs of Baron
de La Hontan, Les Aventures de Monsieur Robert Chevalier (who started
from Montreal in 1701 with Cadillac), French's Historical Collections of
Lousiana and Florida, and Le Page du Pratz's History of Louisiana have
all been consulted. Much information was derived from Benjamin Sulte's
work, Histoire des Canadiens Francais, and from that grand work of the
Abbe Tanguay, Dictionnaire Genealogique. I believe that Charlevoix
had access to the letters of Cadillac when he wrote his history of New
France, as I find complete sentences transferred from the latter's reports in
Charlevoix's History, and I have found this history, especially the notes of
Mr. J. G. Shea, of great use.
There are several references to Cadillac in the works of Mr. Justin
Winsor and I am indebted to that magnificent work, The Narrative and
Critical History of America for much light.
After this sketch was all printed, a friend, Mr. T. P. Hall, of Detroit, who
has taken a great interest in this work, handed me a pamphlet, Quelques Notes
sur Antoine de La Mothe de Cadillac. This is very interesting and con-
tains many things not previously found by me. The author very modestly
omits his name, putting only his initials "H. A. V.," but I decipher this to
mean "L'Abbe H. A. Verreau, President of the Historical Society of Mon-
Itreal."
The pamphlet contains a full transcript of the marriage record of
Cadillac and much other interesting matter. In addition to the foregoing I
have consulted the records of our own church of Ste. Anne, of which I have
a complete copy.
If you will kindly note such corrections as you deem proper and
attach such references as you may know of that I have not seen, and send
the notes to me, I will greatly appreciate the courtesy and make use of the
information.
Respectfully yours,
C. M. BURTON.
A SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF
Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac
FOUNDER OF DETROIT.
1
The great interest that all students
of our early history have, and must
continue to feel, in the life and ser-
vices of Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac,
makes it permissible to place before
the public even an imperfect biography
of him. While, perhaps, there is no
mystery surrounding the parentage,
birthplace and general history of Cad-
illac, sufficient interest has not been
taken in the subject in that part of
France where he was born to make
known these facts that go so largely
to make up a complete biography.
+
That the details of his family con-
nections and of the earlier years of
his life will eventually be made pub-
lic, I have little doubt, but at the
present time we must content our-
selves with such slight knowledge as
can be collected from his own writ-
ings, a few church records, and the
conjectures of those who have at-
tempted to write concerning him.
There is a short biography of him
in Vol. IX. of the documents relating
to the Colonial History of New York,
another short history in Appleton's
Cyclopedia of American Biography, a
better and more extensive notice in
Farmer's History of Detroit, a series
of articles on the same subject by Mr.
E. Rameau and Mr. T. P. Bedard, in
the Revue Canadienne, and references
to him in many other places.
The eminent archivist of Paris, the
late Pierre Margry, who spent his
life in the study of the subject of
French explorations and colonization
in North America, in his great work
on New France, says, that after dill-
gent search he was unable to
to find
even the place of Cadillac's birth.
It is said that he was a native of
Gascony. Gascony comprised a large
portion of the extreme southwest of
France and the location of his birth-
place in so large a tract of country
is pretty indefinite. It has been at-
tempted to
to fix St. Nicholas-de-la-
Grave, in the south of France, as his
birthplace, but, at the present time,
I am unwilling to concede that he
was born at this place. For the pur-
pose of satisfying myself regarding
St. Nicholas, I had the parish records.
examined and transcripts made of all
that could appear to pertain to this
subject. The old records are not in-
dexed, and it required a considerable
research to ascertain what was want-
ed, but I finally found that there was
born Dec. 4, 1653, Antoine de Laumet,
son of Jean Laumet and Jeanne de
Pechegut.
Cadillac's Birth and . Birthplace.
I do not believe that Antoine de
Laumet and Antoine de la Mothe are
the same persons, and while it seems
impossible to make the different rec-
ords accord, relative to the date of
Cadillac's birth, none of them, other
than the one referred to, place it at
so early a day. In order to fix the
date of his birth as accurately as
possible it might be well to look at
some of the subsequent records that
6
would tend to elucidate that event.
He was married June 25, 1687, at the
age of twenty-six years, this would
make his year of birth 1661. In 1703
he writes that he is forty-seven years
old, this would give his birth as oc-
curring in 1655 or 1656. He died Oct.
18, 1730, at the age of seventy-three
years, thus making him born in 1657.
The Abbe Tanguay, in his Dictionnaire
Genealogique, gives his birth as OC-
curring in 1661.
Thus at the very outset we are
met with questions regarding his birth-
place and the date of his birth that
we cannot now satisfactorily answer,
but taking the parish records of Que-
bec as authority, we
we find
find that his
father was Jean de la Mothe, Seigneur
de Cadillac, de Launay, de Semon-
tel, conseiller of the parliament of
Toulouse, and that his mother
Jeanne de Malenfant. (It was cus-
tomary in France and among the old
French Canadians for the wife to
retain her family name and she did
not take her husband's name.)
He must have entered the army at
a very early age and served some
years in France. His education was
excellent, for the age, and his letters
display a fair knowledge of Latin, a
good knowledge of the contents of the
Bible and the ability to quote from
it quite accurately without copying.
He held his own in religious discussions
with the Jesuit priests and
and where
open warfare only was carried on be-
tween them, he was generally the con-
queror in their war of words. He was
a cadet in the regiment of Dampierre-
Lorraine and a lieutenant in the regi-
ment of Clairembault in 1677. The re-
ports coming from the new world made
him eager to visit the shores of New
France, and there he went in 1683,
and settled at Port Royal.
Finds a Wife in the New World.
In the city of Quebec there lived
a man named Jean Guyon who was the
father of two sons, Francois and
Denys. The latter, when he came to
man's estate, remained a citizen of
that place, married Elizabeth Bouch-
er, and had, among other children,
a daughter, Marie Therese, who was
born April 9, 1671. Francois Guyon
moved to Beauport, where he became.
engaged in privateering. A French pri-
vateer was expected to take, pillage,
and destroy or confiscate as many
English vessels as it was his good
fortune to meet, but he was likewise
expected to leave the vessels of his
countrymen alone, or to
to give them
such assistance as he might to friends
in distress. They considered themselves
in government employ, and while their
pay depended upon the fortune they
met with on the ocean, they received,
as far as possible, the protection of
their own government.
government. Cadillac be-
came a seaman under the direction of
Francois Guyon or with him. It is
very evident that he was employed
in some such occupation as this, for
he thoroughly knew the coasts of
New England, and the bays and riv-
ers and villages of the Atlantic Coast
were familiar to him, from the Gulf
of St. Lawrence to the shores of Vir-
ginia.
At home and abroad France stood
the greatest nation in the world. Aca-
dia-Nova Scotia-was then one of her
possessions, and here Cadillac came
in 1683, and made his home as we
have seen at Port Royal. On one of
his visits to the home of Francois
Guyon at Beauport, he met and fell
in love with Marie Therese Guyon,
the niece of Francois, and the attach-
ment being mutual, a marriage fol-
lowed at the home of the bride in
Quebec on the 25th day of June, 1687.
Granted Land in Maine.
In the year succeeding this marriage
on July 23, 1688, he had received from
Governor Denonville and Intendant
de Champigny, a grant of a large tract
of land called Donaquec, in the present
state of Maine, being two leagues front
by two leagues in depth (the exact
size of a government township in Mich-
igan, 23,040 acres), and
and in addition
thereto he was granted the Island of
Mount Desert, lying in front of the land
granted to him. The king confirmed
this grant on the twenty-fourth of May,
1689, and Cadillac, living at Port Royal,
made preparations to use the dowry
that his wife had brought him in im-
proving his acquisition and in found-
ing an establishment. It is probable
that he went to live on the island early
in 1688, for we find in a census dated
May 11, 1688, of those persons living
:
7
between the River Penobscot and St.
Croix, whom Governor Andros de-
signed to drive out, the following en-
try, "In Winscheage Bay, on the east-
ern side of Mount Desart, Cadolick and
wife." There are many small circum-
stances that give us clearly to under-
stand that at this time Cadillac was
looked upon as a man of considerable
importance, and the grant of this town-
ship of land, with the general rights
of magistracy, or, as it was officially
termed, with rights of high, middle
and low justice, is only one of the
many evidences of the high esteem in
which he was held.
Plan for Capturing New York.
of
The abdication of James II. and the
election and crowning of William and
Mary, and the harboring of England's
fugitive king by Louis XIV, had cre-
ated, or rather served to increase, a
hatred that had long existed between
the English and French which ultim-
ately led to open war. In January,
1689, before war had been declared, the
Chevalier de Callieres, governor
Montreal, then in Paris, submitted to
the Marquis of Seignelay* a plan for
taking New York and driving the Eng-
lish from New England. He proposed
to take all available soldiers overland
to Orange (Albany) and after the de-
struction of that post to rapidly fall
down the Hudson and attack New
York. He requested that the two ships
of war that annually sailed from
France to escort merchantmen should
come, towards the end of August, to
the gulf of Manathe (New York har-
bor) and enter that port on his arrival
with the land forces. He expected
that the Dutch of New York would
rather side with the French than sub-
mit to the protestant English ruler.
Callieres' project was approved by
the king, and the two vessels chosen
for the expedition, Le Fourgon and
L'Embuscade, were expected to be
ready to sail at latest by the 15th of
June.
Just at this time the Count de Fron-
tenac was a second time appointed
governor of New France and set out
with this expedition, which was under
the command of Rear Admiral Sieur
de la Caffiniere. The instructions to
Frontenac, from the king, required
him to proceed with Caffiniere to the
mouth of the St.
Lav rence
River,
where he would be transferred to a
merchantman and be taken at once to
Quebec. There he would join the de-
tachment of soldiers which was expect-
ed to be already prepared and ready
to march, and proceed cerland ac-
cording to Callieres' program.
program. Caffi-
niere should proceed, first to Port
Royal, leaving there some goods he
had in his vessel, and should confide
his plans to the governor, Meneval,
and obtain a pilot recommended by
Meneval, and then should proceed
straight to the Bay of Manathe and
there await the coming of Frontenac
with his land forces.
The Plan Miscarries.
Caffiniere was delayed by the making
of necessary repairs to the Embus-
cade and did not set out for Rochelle
until later than intended, so that Fron-
tenac did not reach Chedabouctou un-
til Sept. 12. Here he was transferred
to the St. Francis Xavier and sailed for
Quebec. Caffiniere sailed on the Em-
buscade for Port Royal, taking six
English ketches and a brigantine be-
fore reaching that port. (Charlevoix
says that Caffiniere was unable to
make a landing at Port Royal on ac-
count of head winds, but it must have
been at this place that he got Cadillac,
as there is no account of his taking
assistants at any other place.)
Before quitting Port Royal, seeing
the necessity of having a guide who
well knew the coast, he took Cadillac.
Caffiniere reached the harbor of New
York and waited some time for the
appearance of the land forces, but be-
coming convinced from the lateness of
the season that the project was aban-
doned, he sailed in the Embuscade to
France, taking Cadillac with him,
where he landed at Rocheford on the
29th of December, 1689.
Cadillac at Court.
During the next seven months Cad-
illac remained in attendance at court,
soliciting employment and living on
borrowed money. The time spent by
him at the court of Louis XIV. was
not wasted, for he not only became ac-
quainted with court manners, but he
so impressed those in authority with
his ability that their influence was
gained to his advancement in every
walk of his after life. "Success,” says
*The Marquis of Seignelay, Jean Baptiste Colbert, was a son of the great Col-
bert and at this time was at the head of the department of marine. He died in 1690.
Margry, "sometimes takes strange
roads, which seem to lead even to de-
spair," and so it was with Cadillac,
for while he was at the court of France
assisting in forming plans for the cap-
ture and destruction of Boston and
New York, Sir William Phips, with a
few vessels and some soldiers, ap-
peared in the harbor of Port Royal,
May 10, 1690, and demanded the sur-
render of the post. On the succeeding
day the place was delivered to him,
and it is alleged, contrary to the terms
of capitulation, some portions of the
village were plundered and
houses burned. The governor, Meneval,
the two parish priests, Trouve and
Louis Petit, and the soldiers of the
garrison were all carried to Boston.
The church records were probably de-
stroyed; a house which Cadillac had
there was one of the buildings so de-
stroyed, "leaving him not even he
value of thirty sous," and his family
was, for a time at least, a British
prisoner.
some
With the exception of taking the
French officers and soldiers and some
of the captured property to Boston,
the place was left as before. The priest
Trouve was exchanged for a little
girl, Sarah Gerrish, granddaughter of
Major Waldron, of Dover, N. H., whom
the wife of the intendant. had bought
of the Indians. The other priest, Louis
Petit, was liberated by the English at
Boston in 1690, and returned to Port
Royal the same year.
In the succeeding fall Phips sudden-
ly appeared before the city of Quebec
with a squadron of armed vessels and
demanded its surrender. In this at-
tempt he was not successful, as the
sharp and enterprising Frontenac out-
witted him.
A
The ex-governor, Denonville, in 1690,
the year after he ceased to be gover-
nor, had urged the completion and car-
rying out of the plan of a general at-
tack on the English in America; the
formation of land parties to attack Al-
bany, New York and the settlements,
and the organization of a naval force
as well, and he wrote to the minister
that Boston was not palisaded, and
that the population, while very con-
siderable, was difficult to muster. There
were, he said, at that time three per-
sons at Rochelle who were well ac-
quainted with the New England coast,
and who had been frequently at Bos-
ton and New York. They were Mr.
Perrot, Sieur de Villebon, and a man
named LaMotte (Cadillac .
remained
in
Cadillac's Recommend.
Cadillac had already
France nearly a year, and it was not
until the 3rd of November, 1690, that
the minister, Pontchartrain, upon Cad-
illac's return to Canada, recommended
him in the following manner:
"Sieur de Lamothe-Cadillac, a gen-
tleman of Acadia, having been ordered
to embark for the service of the king,
on the Embuscade, which vessel had
brought him to France, his majesty
being informed that during his ab-
sence his habitation was ruined, hopes
that Frontenac, the new governor of
Canada, will find it convenient to give
him such employment as he may find
proper for his services, and that he
will assist him as he can.”
In the month of June, 1691, Cadillac
lost all the property that remained to
him in bringing his wife and children
to Quebec on a barque, which was
captured at the entrance of the St.
Lawrence by a corsair from Boston.
Frontenac, in obedience to the wishes,
though not the express orders of the
king, at first made Cadillac lieutenant
of the troops of the colony in place
of Sieur de Longueil, made captain.
I am unable to ascertain at present
whether Cadillac's wife and children
were carried to Boston or not, but if
they were they were soon set at ib-
erty and returned to Quebec, where
the parish records show his eldest son,
Antoine, was born, and baptized April
26, 1692. There was a daughter, Magde-
line, and possibly another daughter,
born to them at an earlier date, prob-
ably while they lived in Port Royal,
as the Quebec records do not contain
any record of baptism of either daugh-
ter. The parish priest at Port Royal
(the modern name of which is Annap-
olis Royal), reports to me that there
are no parish records there extending
back to that date. It seems very like-
ly that the intolerant Puritans, under
Sir William Phips, destroyed these
ancient records when they took the
place in 1690.
1
9
Cadillac's Plan for a Descent on
New England.
The idea of a descent on the New
England coast had not passed away
from the court entirely, for in the
same month of April, 1692, the king sent
for Cadillac to come to France and give
information on the proposed attack, he
being chosen because, as the mandate
states, "he is the best instructed on
these points." Cadillac drew up and
submitted a lengthy memorial on the
subject, displaying
his extensive
knowledge of the entire coast, the vil-
lages, inhabitants, traits of character,
fortifications, soundings of rivers and
bays, and all other matters that might
be considered of importance.
This report is still in the French ar-
chives, and has been printed, in part,
in the Maine Historical Collections
(Vol. 6), and in the Revue Canadienne,
but I have nowhere seen a complete
copy. He advised the construction of
vessels of light draft to repel expected
invasions of the St. Lawrence, and as
the proposed attack on New England
did not take
take place, he returned to
Canada, the king having directed the
secret building of the small vessels
suggested by Cadillac, and the com-
mand of them being given to him by
Frontenac.
The loyalty which Cadillac showed
in giving each
each year for the public
good, the product of his study and
skil, merited for him a rapid ad-
vancement. So it was that after having
in 1693 received a gratification, or dona-
tion from the public treasury, of 1.500
livres, he was named in 1694 ensign of
the navy, and captain of troops, and
in a letter to the minister this year,
the governor terms him "a man of
distinction full of valor and capable."
About this time also he was created
a knight of the militia order of St.
Louis. He was intimately associated
with Frontenac during 1693 and 1694
and
probably was a sort of aman-
uensis for him. He
him. He certainly knew
the private correspondence of Fron-
tenac, and on one occasion he quotes
an entire letter that the count had
sent, and that he could not have done
unless a closer relationship than mere
friendship has existed between himself
and the governor.
Margry says that Cadillac had the
best of instruction; he had ideas con-
cerning politics, concerning military
affairs, concerning colonization; con-
cerning the royal power in its rela-
tions with the church; on the conduct
to be employed towards the Indians;
and these ideas he maintained with a
certain braggadocio spirit. He went to
the bottom of these questions. His let-
ters, like his memoirs, are character-
istic and sharp, and James Randot,
the Intendant, writes moreover that
he had a winning manner.
a
At War With the Jesuits.
The friendship that had sprung up
between Cadillac and the minister
Pontchartrain lasted a lifetime, and
both of the Pontchartrains felt
thorough dependence on
dependence on the reports
they received from him. He contin-
ued to observe everything and to
make known to the court, by means
of his memoirs, all that he saw and
learned. The selfish interests of the
Jesuits would not permit affairs and
transactions to be made known that
seemed to injure or weaken their order.
Pontchartrain, Frontenac, de Calliere,
Cadillac, La Salle, in fact everyone
who did not live directly under the
influence of the Jesuits, despised or
feared them. This feeling of dislike
and distrust is not the concoction of
the present day but is displayed in
all the writings of that time. No let-
ter or report of Cadillac's crossed the
ocean that did not convey this 'dea
which came to
to him perpetually and
in all his walks.
The Jesuits were meddlesome and
never to be trusted. Organized in the
sixteenth century as a religious institu-
tion they had accomplished wonders,
and at this time there was no coun-
try-no department of the world free
from their presence and their influ-
ence. Their great power, at first di-
rected wholly for good, had come to
be used almost exclusively for polit-
ical purposes, and their religious call-
ing was used as a cloak to hide their
vast political authority. They nearly
usurped the functions of the catholic
church under French dominion
in
America and drove the other Catholic
orders from the field.
Their schemes and trickery, were
met on every hand. Even Cadillac
feared them and preferred that others
or M
10
should make complaint of their evil
doings rather than himself.
that
He writes that the missionaries will
not instruct the Indians in the French
language, but he hesitates
to give
the reason. "I think I understand the
mystery, but some other may reveal
it. At all events it is certain
there is nothing so inconvenient as
to see people (Indians) who come every
day to speak to the governors, and
to whom no audience could be given
if there was not a missionary at hand
to serve as interpreter, and who very
often adds to or subtracts something
from what is said on either side, as
suits his own interests.' This un-
derhand working on the part of the
Jesuits is what is complained of by
LaSalle and others,
others, and served to
embitter the life of every Frenchman
who would not succumb to their au-
thority. At the outset of his career
then we find Cadillac antagonized by
the Jesuits, and they followed him to
his grave.
"
Sent to Mackinac Island.
In 1694 Count Frontenac concluded
to send Cadillac to command the
upper Indian nations at Mackinac
(Missilimackinac) and the picture
which the latter draws of his intended
place of residence is
is very sombre.
"It is the most terrible place imag-
inable to sojourn. Neither bread nor
meat is eaten there, and no food is
to be had there but little fish and
Indian corn which, most of the time,
is worth fifty francs the minot.' (A
minot was about three bushels.)
Before he had started on his journey
the matter of his subsequent quarrels
with the Jesuits came to his imagi-
nation. "These poisoned memoirs can-
not go down and cross the ocean ex-
cept by means of the missionaries
who wish to be masters wherever they
are; who cannot tolerate any one
above themselves, much less inspec-
tors over their interests.' When
Cadillac set out upon his journey to
Mackinac in 1694 he borrowed, for
the purpose of trade, the sum of 3,750
livres of Francois Hazeur, of Mon-
treal (Ville Marie), and the original
contract or obligation given as se-
curity for the repayment of this sum
is now in the possession of our fel-
low townsman, Honorable
Belanger, French consul.
Joseph
of
In the record of "the most remarka-
ble occurrences in Canada, 1694 and
1695," it is narrated that Cadillac, who
was "captain of а detachment
marines, a man of very distinguished
merit," was on his way to Mackinac
to replace Sieur de Louvigny; that
the winter was very severe and near-
ly all of the French stopped at Mon-
treal, refusing to proceed further, but
that Cadillac, with a small party, bet-
ter disposed, pushed on to his new
post. Here he remained until 1697, en-
gaged in preserving the good will of
the Indians to French interests and
constantly quarreling with the Jesuits.
The great fear of both Cadillac and
the missionaries was that the Indians
would join the English, and this was
earnestly opposed by
for
Cadillac
state and political purposes while the
missionaries opposed it from religious
principles, as they looked upon the
English as heretics.
A Matter of Rum.
The foundation for the quarrel be-
tween Cadillac and the missionaries
was the objection the Jesuits had to
having any one in control over them,
or having any one to
one to inspect their
work and their dealings with the
savages; but the avowed subject of
their quarrel was their determination
to suppress the traffic in liquor among
the Indians.
Cadillac affirmed that the situation
of the mission post, the extreme cold
of winter, and the absence of proper
food at all seasons, made it neces-
sary that a small quantity of rum
should be taken by every one every
day. He said that if the Indians did
not get the rum from the French
they would go to the English for it,
and he then asks the Jesuits if the
little hilarity the rum causes grieves
them so much how much greater will
be their grief if the Indians go to
the English, and not only drink Eng-
lish rum but become heretics in the
bargain?
"How will you be able to endure
the daily exposure of these neophytes,
for whom you feel so much affection,
to the excessive use of English rum
and the imbibing of heresy?" But he
did not rest upon
upon the defense. He
Muol
11
accused the Jesuits of carrying on the
trade in beaver skins, with the sav-
ages, which was contrary to their
duties and the king's orders, and with
the surreptitious sale of rum to
them.
While at Mackinac he succeeded in
performing the duties of his situation
to the entire satisfaction of the of-
ficers who were above him, but his
life was made as bitter as his Jesuit
neighbors could make it, with the
constant complaints and talebearings.
Cadillac's wife did not go with him
to Mackinac, but probably remained
in Quebec at the home of her brothers.
The records of the notary Basset,
now at Montreal, disclose the fact
that Madam La Mothe engaged men
to carry goods to her husband at
Mackinac. One of these agreements
was with one Jean Dionne and is
dated June 6, 1695, and he was to re-
ceive 300 livres for a year's service,
and un couverte
couverte (possibly blanket),
four shirts, two great coats and a
gun.
Another agreement made by her
with Francois Hazeur, Sept. 22, 1695,
was to pay the sum of 2,291 livres,
6 sols and 4 denier for goods sent by
him to Cadillac, payment to be made
in 1696 on the arrival of the French
voyageurs from the upper country
with their peltries in September. This
agreement for the first time to my
knowledge, connects the name of An-
toine de La Mothe Cadillac with
Sieur de La Mothe Lusiere (who is
well known in Canadian history), for
it was at the house of the latter that
this agreement was drawn up and
signed in rue Notre Dame, at Mon-
treal. These two men are confounded
in the index to Winsor's "Cartier to
Frontenac.”
In 1697 Cadillac was recalled by
Frontenac, or rather he requested
Frontenac to relieve him, and Sieur
de Tonty, a younger brother of the
Tonty who had been with La Salle,
was sent to take his place.
One of the objects the
the French
government had in maintaining the
post at Mackinac was to prevent the
English from entering the Indian
country. Already the English were
advancing in that direction, and
claimed the ownership of the land by
right of prior occupation and Indian
deeds of conveyance.
For a Fort at Detroit.
Cadillac had made some investiga-
tions while at his post and concluded
that a better plan for holding the
Indians to the French allegiance and
for repelling the English was to build
a fort on the Detroit River, and upon
his return to Quebec he laid this propo-
sition before the governor-general. The
proposition was kindly received and a
memorial was prepared on the subject
to be placed before the king. On the
27th of May, 1699, the king wrote to
the governor, de Callieres, and the
Intendant, de Champigny sending
them a memoir which Lamothe-Cadillac
had prepared, containing a propositon
to establish all their Indian allies in
a body in the space between Lake
Erie, Lake Huron, and Lake Illinois
(Michigan) and directing them to in-
vestigate the matter, and if the propo-
sition should be found practicable, he
wrote that he would carry it out. It
seems probable that Cadillac brought
this letter in person from France,
where he had been an attendant at
the court of the king, to the governor
at Quebec. A few days after the writ-
ing of this letter, and on June 13,
Cadillac's
1699,
second son, Pierre
Denis, was born at Quebec.
Frontenac, the energetic and capable
the
governor of New France, and
steadfast friend of Cadillac, had died
Nov. 25, 1698, and the new governor,
de Callieres, did not consider the es
tablishment of a new fort, at. Detroit,
as practicable as the re-establishment
of old posts that had fallen to decay
or were deserted, and he reported the
impracticability of the scheme to the
king. Cadillac replied at full length,
taking up and fully answering every
objection of both the governor and the
intendant Champigny. The result was
that a commission was issued to Cad-
illac to prepare for the trip to form
the establishment at Detroit.
There were two ways of reaching
the upper country from Montreal, one
by proceeding up the Ottawa River
and over its many portages and thence
into Lake Nipissing and the Georgian
Bay and down the coast of Lake
Huron; the other was by coasting the
shores of Lake Ontario and Erie with
12
the single portage at Niagara Falls.
The latter was the easier route but
was not now used because the Iroquois
ranged through the entire country, and
they were warlike, untrustworthy, and
at the present time openly attached to
the British cause. News had also been
lately received that the English had
erected a fort on one of the rivers
that flowed into Lake Ontario and that
they were continuing to erect posts
on the shores towards Lake Erie.
For these several reasons Cadillac was
directed to proceed by the upper route
and to come down the coasts of Lake
Huron and traverse the St. Clair and
Detroit Rivers until a suitable place
was found on which to erect his fort.
From expressions to be found in some
of Cadillac's letters it appears that he
had never personally visted the Detroit
River. It is very probable, however,
that some of his followers had been
there before and knew the situation
of the river and the nature of the
country.
On
Makes a Start.
♥
On the 2d of June, 1701, he set out
from Montreal with 100 men-fifty sol-
diers and fifty civilians-and three
months' provisions. He took the upper
course as indicated in the letter of
de Callieres, making thirty portages
on his trip. The task of choosing a
proper site was not an easy one. It
must be situated on high land to be
healthful. It must have a full com-
mand of the river, so that no one
could pass by unnoticed. It must be
in a place attractive to the Indians,
for it was proposed to invite the In-
dians to settle here. It must avoid
the difficulties that had surrounded pre-
vious settlements that had gone to
decay. }
The French had for years wandered
and hunted over the lands they were
now about to ocupy permanently, and
some fifteen years previous to this
time (about 1685) a small fort or block
house used as a trading post and pro-
tection against hostile Indians had
been built on the west shore of the
St. Clair River near its head, not
far from the place subsequently occu-
pied by Fort Gratiot, the present city
of Port Huron. This post also bore
the name of Detroit, though the mis-
sionaries constantly gave it the name
of St. Joseph.
Cadillac proposed to name his new
settlement Fort Pontchartrain in honor
of his friend and benefactor Jerome
Phelypeaux, Count Pontchartrain, min-
ister to Louis XIV. When Cadillac left
Montreal he was accompanied by Al-
phonse de Tonty, then a captain like
himself, and two lieutenants, Dugue
and Chacornacle, a Recolet priest to
serve as aumonier or chaplain to the
garrison. It was understood that Cad-
illac was opposed to having the Jesuits
connected with the fort and soldiers,
but it was likewise understood that
there should be a Jesuit missionary
among the Indians and Father Vaillant
was chosen for that duty, but he only
remained a short time after he reached
Detroit.
A Joke on a Jesuit.
'
The story of his sudden departure is
related by Cadillac as follows: Fath-
er Vaillant had been trying to in-
duce the soldiers to return with him
to Montreal, promising to pay them
their wages for the entire year al-
though they had been employed only
six weeks. Cadillac, perceiving the dis-
satisfaction of the soldiers, quelled
the disturbance in this manner: "We
were still encamped," he writes. "On
leaving the dinner table, I had
I had the
soldiers and Canadians assembled;
Father Vaillant was present, but he
did not know my intentions, nor that
I had discovered his. I asked the
Canadians what reasons they had for
wishing to go back to Montreal, and
I begged them to tell me who could
have imbued them with sentiments
so opposed to the service of the king,
and, addressing myself to an officer,
I requested him to tell me what he
knew about it. Father Vaillant clear-
ly saw, by this speech, that the mine
was discovered, and that the mo-
ment was at hand when he would be
covered with shame and confusion.
He took the course of rising from
his seat, placing himself immediately
behind my tent, whence he went
through the woods, running his hard-
est, which gave the soldiers and Cana-
dians who saw him reason to laugh
their fill at it. My tent prevented me
from seeing him. Having asked what
cause they had to laugh so, one of
13
to
them said he did not know what I had
made Father Vaillant eat, that he was
in a great hurry to get to the woods,
and that by the galt he was going
we should apparenly not see him
again very soon. I knew from these
remarks what the matter was. I con-
tented myself with explaining
these people the king's intentions and
the good of his service, after which
they explained to me unreservedly,
the cause of their discouragement,
which arose from the instigation of
the father." The disappearance of
Vaillant ended the undertaking to es-
tablish a Jesuit mission on this side
of the river, though one was after-
wards established on the other side.
The Jesuits believed, and very prop-
erly too, that Cadillac would under-
take to entice the Indians from Mack-
inac to his new post, and that if he
was successful it would not be long
before their mission there would be
useless and deserted. Their complaints
grew louder and more frequent. · It
was in vain that Cadillac asked them
to come to Detroit and establish a mis-
sion there. They knew, or pretended
to know, that Cadillac did not want
them to come and that he would not
use them fairly if they did come. The
Jesuits came at him from all sides,
with all kinds of arguments, and car-
ried their complaints to every listen-
ing ear of their superiors.
Cadillac's Opponents.
Behold the array of Jesuits who
entered into personal and wordy war-
fare with Cadillac, commencing their
tirade even before he had reached
Lake Huron in 1701 and continuing
until they had driven him from the
post he had founded. Here are Fr.
Bouvard, Superior of the Jesuits, and
Etienne de Carheil, Joseph Marest,
Father Enjabran, Joseph Germain,
Francois Vaillant and Jean Mermet,
all priests of the order of Jesus, all
bent on the destruction of Cadillac
and of Detroit in order that their
mission at Mackinac might thrive.
The vials of the wrath of these holy
fathers were poured upon the head
of Cadillac in a deluge in the years
1701 and 1702, and he answered every
letter-answered them all so conclu-
sively, that he was sustained by the
court and would have founded his
•
new village successfully if those in
power had continued to protect him
as well as he deserved. On the loca-
tion which he had chosen for Fort
Pontchartrain on the 24th day of July,
1701, he at once erected an enclosure
about 200 feet square, of oak pickets
twelve feet long, of which three feet
were driven in the ground. The build-
ing of the fortifications, the estab-
lishment of neighboring Indian
Indian vil-
lages, the laying out of gardens and
"owing of wheat by the soldiers, is
all told by Cadillac in his second let-
ter, written at the end of his first
year at Detroit. But Cadillac's plan
in the establishment of Detroit was
not merely the founding of a fort as
a protection for the French and their
Indian allies against the Iroquois and
English, but he proposed to found a
colony-to people America with
Frenchmen-not men who would come
to the west and trade and then re-
turn to Montreal and Quebec, but
with men who would live there, raise
families, cultivate the soil, and make
permanent improvements-make North
America in fact, as it was in name,
New France.
Asks for Settlers.
Before starting for the West and
on the 18th of October, 1700, he had
written to the French minister that
in order to accomplish the objects of
the establishment of a post at De-
troit, the sending of a garrison only
would not answer the purpose.
the purpose. He
wanted fifty soldiers and fifty civil-
ians the first year. The second year
he proposed to have the fortifications
completed and then desired twenty
or thirty families to be sent there.
He also desired the king to send 200
young men of different trades. He
wanted missions established among
the Indians and a seminary and school
provided for the young Indians where
they could be taught the French lan-
guage. As time progressed he pro-
posed that the Ursulines, or other
nuns, should have a house there and
that a hospital be provided.
Soldiers and Canadians were to be
encouraged to marry the Indian maid-
ens, when the latter had been fully
instructed in their religious duties, as
such marriages would tend to strength-
en the friendship of the Indian tribes.
14
腾
​None of his people were to be per-
mitted to trade directly with the In-
lians for their furs, as this privilege
was reserved for the company of the
colony, and the company's agents were
to be established
established at the new
new post.
These were the proposals Cadillac made
before setting out for the West, and
there can be no doubt that if his plane
had not miscarried Detroit would have
equaled Montreal and Quebec within
the lifetime of its founder.
Cadillac's plans were accepted, and
to a certain extent acted upon at once.
The fort being well under way and
everyone being happy and contented,
Cadillac sent Lieutenant Chacornacle
with five men back to Quebec to bear
the tidings of their summer's work,
and Chacornacle proceeded directly to
France to place the plans of Cadillac
for the future personally before the
minister.
Growth in Population.
So well had Cadillac laid the founda-
tion of his frontier city that before
eight months had passed away it had
a population that was not again
equaled in number for nearly
nearly one
hundred and fifty years. Behold the
city built by the Aladdin's lamp that
our hero carried! When the first year
had rolled around, Cadillac wrote to the
minister: "All that I have the honor
to state to you has been done in one
year, without its having cost the king
a cent and without costing the com-
pany more than it ought, and in twelve
months we have put ourselves in a po-
sition to do without provisions from
Canada forever, and all this undertak-
ing was carried out with three months'
provisions, which I took when I set
out from Montreal, which were con-
sumed in the course of the journey.
This proves whether Detroit is a de-
sirable or an undesirable country. Be-
sides this nearly
nearly SIX THOUSAND
mouths of different tribes wintered
there, as everyone knows. This is the
Paradise of North America.")
With such glowing accounts as these
-with the establishment of a city in
the wilderness-it is not to be wondered
at that great faith was placed in his
ability by those in authority. Nor is
it likewise to be wondered at that the
thunders of the Jesuits should be
turned against the man who was pow-
erful enough and attractive enough to
draw the Indians from their missions
and ruin them.
"Better sin against God than against
a Jesuit," he wrote, if one destred to
live in peace among them, but he was
resolute in his determination to estab-
lish Detroit, even at the expense of
the surrounding missions. He had in-
vited Carheil, the missionary of Macki-
nac, to come to Detroit, but the per-
sistent refusal of the missionary to
comply angered Cadillac, and he wrote:
"This autumn I hope to tear the last
feather from his wing, convincing this
obstinate vicar that he will die in his
parish, having no parishioners to bury
him." But Cadillac did not comprehend
the power of that formidable society
whose anger he had roused.
Cadillac's Energetic Wife.
One cannot help admiring the pluck
and courage of Cadillac's wife, who,
through his entire life, was his help-
meet in every sense of the word. When
he was at Mackinac in 1694, she it was
who acted as agent for him in Quebec
and Montreal, taking charge of his
business there, borrowing money, en-
tering into trading schemes and send-
ing goods to him. A business woman
of the long ago, at a time when it is
supposed that women did not under-
take such work, but the records at
Montreal fully determine the enter-
prising character of the woman. It
was probably arranged before Cadillac
left Quebec in the first instance that
his wife would follow him as speedily
as possible, and Father Anjabran (or
Enjabran), a Jesuit priest and friend
of Cadillac, was requested to act as
an escort to Madam La Mothe and
Madam Tonty, wife of Captain Tonty,
on their journey to Detroit, but the
priest found himself unable to comply
with the request.
Madam La Mothe was at Three Riv-
ers Aug. 30, 1701, and on the 10th of
September the two ladies, with their
escort, left Montreal and reached Fort
Frontenac (modern Kingston) on the
23d of September. Here they passed
the winter, and early in the spring of
1702 reached Detroit. They were re-
ceived with many evidences of affec-
tion and surprise by the Indians. The
Iroquois were the best pleased and
most enthusiastic of those to welcome
15
them, as their coming was an evidence
of continued good will of the French
towards their nations.
was
Detroit's Trade.
It appears that when the proposal
first made to establish Detroit,
Cadillac supposed the trade of the new
place would be put in his hands as his
property, under the same conditions
that the trade of the Illinois country
had been granted to La Salle, and Cad-
illac, in one of his letters, states that
if he had known that the company of
the colony was to have the trade of
Detroit he would not nave undertaken
its establishment. The West India
Company had, in 1664, been granted
the entire trade of Canada. They paid
nothing for this monopoly directly to
the king, but they were obliged to
supply sufficient priests for the entire
possessions, to build forts and warships,
preserve peace or make war, as the
situation required, appoint and pay
the judges and generally to carry on
the details of the government as the
king would if it was under his imme-
diate charge. This monopoly was to
last forty years.
The sovereign council of Quebec,
which was established in 1663, was to
consist of the governor, bishop, intend-
ant and four councillors to be chosen
by them annually and the crown at-
torney. They had general charge of
the management of all affairs of New
France, and fixed the rates at which
goods should be sold by the West India
Company. The company lost money by
the enterprise which they had under-
taken, and was dissolved by an edict
of the king in 1674.
The Company of the Colony.
The dearth of published materials
relative to the formation of the Com-
pany of the Colony makes it difficult
to ascertain just who composed the
company and what its rights were.
It would seem that some of the prin-
cipal citizens of Quebec (Cadillac
among them), Oct. 3, 1699, sent a depu-
tation from that city* to Versailles
to solicit from the king the privilege
of forming a new company
company to have
general charge of the beaver trade
of Canada, and that this deputation
organized the new company about the
time that Cadillac completed his
scheme for his colony. If this explana-
tion of the formation of the new com-
pany is correct, it follows that at
the time we speak of there was no com-
pany that could have the charge of
the new colony of Cadillac and he
was justified in considering himself
the exclusive owner of the new post
and of its trade.
This was a privilege that had been
granted to LaSalle some years before,
at his settlement in the Illinois coun-
try, and Cadillac's rights and privil-
eges were supposed by him to be sep-
arate and distinct from the super-
vision and control of the Company
of the Colony.
Indeed it would seem as this was
the only practicable way of coloniz-
ing the west at that time. The com-
pany were never anxious to colonize.
They wanted immediate returns for
moneys expended, and were not will-
ing to wait for the slow growth and
uncertainties of colonization schemes.
For the benefit of the company every
one must turn hunter or trader and
bring to the store houses of the com-
pany all the furs obtainable. Coloniza-
tion did not depend on the hunter,
except to furnish a portion of the
farmer's food and clothing. Cadillac
wanted his civilians to turn farmer,
to cultivate the earth-to make De-
troit self-sustaining in order to be in-
dependent of Montreal and Quebec. He
was nearly successful. He would,
doubtless, have succeeded except for
his Jesuit enemies and the opposition
of the company.
Plan to Ruin the Post.
Detroit has not got fairly started
before Tonty and La Forest, who
were Cadillac's chief men and should
have been his advisers and as-
sistants, were involved in a plan to
ruin the post. They arranged a meet-
ing at Mackinac in 1701, and there
formed a scheme with the Jesuits
to establish a post on the river where
the Miami Indians were, with the
intention of drawing the Indians from
Detroit to that post. Two Jesuit
priests, Marmet and Davenant, were
engaged in the affair, and the gover-
nor-general was invited to send a gar-
rison of soldiers to assist in starting
their new post, under pretext, as Cad-
illac wrote, that the English would
come there if they did not get there
first.
* Composed of Auteuil, Juchereau and Pacaud.
.16
Tonty repented of his part in this af-
fair, confessed his share in it and
was pardoned by Cadillac, nevertheless
the latter looked with suspicion on all
his subsequent acts. He wrote that
Tonty was an Italian and (comparing
him with the great Italian Machia-
velli) that like a good scholar of
Naples Tonty betrayed him, working
in concert with the missionaries to
overthrow Detroit, and carrying on
his intrigues with
with so much cunning
that the plot was not discovered for a
long time.
Failing in their plans to successfully
establish a new post in the Miami
country, in order to draw the Indians
from Detroit, reports were circulated
among the Indians and repeated by
the Jesuits in their letters, that the
land at Detroit was unfruitful, the
fishing bad, the hunting rapidly falling
off and the place generally unfit for
Indian habitation; then came the pro-
posal to remove Cadillac and appoint
Tonty in his place. This likewise was
unsuccessful.
Feeling hurt at the charges brought
against them by Cadillac, the Jesuits
entered into a long explanation of
their actions and ended by saying
that however much they might feel
aggrieved by Cadillac's actions, they
were working for the interests of the
king and of religion, and with a more
Christlike spirit than he had displayed,
they would lay their resentment at the
foot of the crucifix.
A Growing Town.
Cadillac replied that while it might
be true that the Jesuits laid their re-
sentment at the foot of the crucifix,
it was for convenience only, and that,
as their vocation carried them con-
stantly to the crucifix,they could find
their resentments there when they
wanted them again, and that they did
find them in a very short time. So
the merry war of words went on, and
Detroit grew under its capable man-
ager.
The boundary lines of the little vill-
age were extended to take in the new
houses that were built; Indian villages
were established in the neighborhood
and substantial houses built for the
more important chiefs. Cadillac wrote,
in 1703, that the Indians were pleased
with these houses and that other chiefs
wanted the same privileges. This
would tend to keep the Indians per-
manently located here. "My opinion is
that this is the most certain way to
make these people subjects of the
king, and afterwards to make them
christians. That would have a better
effect than a hundred missionaries;
for it is certain that since they have
been preaching the gospel to these
people, they have made no progress,
and that all the good resulting from it
may be reduced to the baptism by
them of infants who die after having
received it." Truly Cadillac was with-
out the odor of sanctity.
A Mysterious Fire.
A fire broke out in the fort in 1703,
which threatened to destroy it. The
mystery surrounding the origin of this
fire gave Cadillac an opportunity to
lead the minister, Pontchartrain, to
believe that this also was the work
of the Jesuits. His account of the af-
fair was as follows:
"The fort was set on fire, the fire
having been put in a barn which was
flanked by two bastions and was full
of corn and other crops. The flame, by
burned
a strong wind,
down the
church, the house of the Recollet, that
of de Tonty and mine, which cost me
a loss of 400 pistoles, which I could
have saved if I had been willing to let
the company's warehouse burn, and
the king's ammunition. I even had
one hand burnt, and lost for the most
part all my papers in it. We have never
been able to ascertain who it was set
fire to the barn, though we may be
able to obtain some information about
it hereafter. All the tribes settled at
Detroit assert that it was a strange
savage who did this deed, or rather-
they say some Frenchman who has
been paid for doing this wicked act.
God only knows."
In this conflagration the church rec-
ords were destroyed. They were not
very extensive to be sure, but they
doubtless contained the record of the
birth and death of one of Cadillac's
children as well as the birth and death
of a child of Tonty.
We have seen that probably the com-
pany of the colony was formed at the
same time that the project of estab-
lishing Detroit was completed. Cadil-
lac says that when he was sent to
17
Detroit by the court to establish the
post he did not think it would fall into
the hands of the company, and that
if he had foreseen it he would not
have undertaken it, because there was
as much difference between the king
and the company as between a pro-
prietor and his tenant. When a man
manages his property himself he has
an interest in not letting it run to
ruin, he puts up with the bad years,
hoping to recompense himself in oth-
ers. But when this property is in the
hands of a selfish farmer he sucks
the very marrow out of it, while it is
in his possession, not caring what may
become of the land after that. When
he set out from Montreal he did so
with the intention, shared by the gov-
ernor general, of making a success of
the undertaking of the settlement of
Detroit. In order to succeed in it, it
was necessary not to apply himself to
trading only, but far rather to laying
the foundation of a post, the owner-
ship of which had not been decided
upon between the crowns of France
and England.
This is why it was thought advisable
to choose good men, and a sufficient
number, to drive the enemy out of it
if they were posted there before him,
or to be prepared to defend himself
in case he should be attacked. His
boats therefore were loaded with quan-
tities of provisions, iron and tools to
enable them to house themselves con-
veniently, to fortify themselves, and
finally to prepare themselves for re-
pulsing the enemy, if they had come
there.
Notwithstanding the work which
Cadillac had undertaken and the tacit
agreement he had with the govern-
ment that this place and its trade
should be his exclusive property, the
post and its management were handed
over to the company and Cadillac was
to manage it under its direction.
No writer of this period of Canadian
history omits to mention and dwell
upon the total corruption of all men
and all affairs connected with the
management of the colony. One would
think that no persons held office or
were in office in Canada, from gōver-
nor-general to subordinate clerks, ex-
cept thieves and blacklegs. Doubtless
there was much corruption in official
circles, "Neither man of honor nor
men of parts are endured in Canada,”
writes Cadillac. "Nobody can live here
but simpletons and slaves of the ec
clesiastical domination." It is not
surprising that this corruption extend-
ed to the company of the colony.
Corruption in Public Affairs.
This company was managed by a
board of five directors at Quebec, and
at this time the board consisted of
Lotbiniere, elino, Rinaud and two
others whose names I am not at pres
ent able to ascertain; possibly they
were the governor-general and intend
ant.* The directors were themselves
very corrupt, and they provided places
for relatives and friends at the ex
pense of the government and the com
pany. Their clerks, in turn, were cor
rupt and dishonest and, if we
if we may
believe Cadillac, not only stole from
the company, but received pardon and
protection from the directors.
Cadillac detected some of the clerks
of the company at
at Detroit pillaging
the company's warehouse and com-
plained to the governor-general. One
of the thieving clerks so caught was
Arnaud, son-in-law of Lotbiniere. Lot-
biniere was the uncle of Vaudreuil,
the governor-general. Another dishon-
est clerk was Nolan, who was a
brother-in-law of Delino, another was
Monseignot, brother-in-law of Arnaud.
Vincelot, who was sent to Detroit to
investigate, was cousin of Rinaud.
Chateleraut and Demeule, clerks,
were relatives of Lotbiniere. Lovigny,
a major of Quebec, who came to De-
troit with Vincelot, was a brother-in-
law of Nolan. Chatelraud was also
related to Lovigny. "A prettier family
party was never seen."
A Discouraged Commander.
With all these parties intent on
stealing from the company, and like-
wise intent on placing all the blame
*It seems almost impossible to keep track of these French officials by their names.
In the agreement made with Cadillac in 1705, the agents of the company are named
as follows: Rene Louis Chartier, Seignior de Lotbiniere, chief councillor of the Bu-
preme council of the country; George Renaud Duplessis, Seignior de Louzon,
treasurer of the navy; Philipes de Rigault, Marquis de Vandreuil, knight of the Mill-
tary Order of Saint Louis, governor and lieutenant-general for his majesty; Jacques
Raudot, councillor for the king in his councils, intendant of justice, police and
finance; Francois de Beauharnois, knight seignior of La Chaussoye Beaumont and
other places, councillor of the king in his councils, intendant-general of the navy
and formerly intendant of New France.
18
on Cadillac's shoulders, that
they
might force his removal and thus
ruin Detroit, which was an object to
them, as they desired no permanent
settlement, it is no wonder that Cadil-
lac got nearly discouraged. The clerks
he caught stealing from the company's
warehouse he compelled to make a
written confession of their theft. They
complained to their
their superiors, who
were their relatives, that Cadillac
was engaged in trade on his own be-
half and contrary to the order of the
company. Cadillac was ordered to
proceed to Quebec to meet the charges
made against him. Before starting
from Detroit Cadillac had ordered one
of the clerks, Denoyer, to be im-
prisoned, and as this action was one
of the principal offenses with which
Cadillac was charged, we will give
the affair as he relates it.
"That" (the imprisonment of De-
noyer) "is my great crime, and they
declare that they will be even with
me for having, as they call it, the
audacity to imprison one of their
servants whom they appointed as their
principal clerk, a
clerk, a waif and a poor
wretch who came here not knowing
which way to turn on his arrival in
this country. As to my powers they
are very ample, being to punish, ac-
cording to the circumstances, by cen-
sures, by reprimands, by arrests, by
imprisonment or by deprivation of
civil rights, and, in case of distinct
disobedience, to run my sword
through any one who has so offended
against me. It is by reason of the
remoteness (from Quebec) that these
orders have always been given to
me and on account of the seditions
and intrigues which have been at-
tempted to be formed here, which I
have known quite well how to re-
press. A soldier of the garrison hav-
ing been killed by the enemy, the
savages reported that they had found
the stake to which he had been bound,
On this report a party of about one
hundred savages of different tribes
was instantly formed to pursue and
try to avenge the soldier's death.
They asked me for seven or eight
Frenchmen to go with them, and hav-
ing granted them this, I ordered M.
de Tonty to command eight good men
of the employes of the company, to
take those who
who voluntarily offered
themselves, and to have provisions
and ammunition given them out of
the company's warehouse, according
to custom.
"Denoyer, the principal clerk, main-
tained that I could not form any de-
tachment for the king's service out of
the employes of the company without
his permission, and that they could
not go outside the fort without tell-
ing him of it, that the matter should
be so arranged or he would take strong
measures. The Canadians engaged for
the company's service having com-
plained to Mr. de Tonty, who had
commanded them, he came and made
his complaints to me. Having heard
him I sent for them and after I had
questioned them and they had de-
posed to what is above stated, in the
presence of witnesses, I sent for Mr.
Denoyer. Having asked him whether
it was true that he maintained that
I had no power to detach the com-
pany's employes for the king's ser-
vice without telling him of it and
without his leave, he had the imper-
tinence to maintain to my face, Mr.
de Tonty being present, that he did
not deny it, but that he did not believe
I had this power. This reply made
will all possible arrogance, compelled
me to send him to prison with these
words, 'I will teach you, you littie
clerk, to swerve from your duty and
to raise sedition by estranging minds
from obedience.'
The prison was the sergeants quar-
ters, and the clerk, Denoyer, remained
in it about three hours. Denoyer re-
lated the affair to his uncle Lotbiniere
and, as the result, a suit was com-
menced against Cadillac as soon as he
arrived at Quebec in answer to the
summons of the company, and he was
arrested or detained by Ramezay, com-
mandant of the city, until he should
answer this charge and three other
counts which composed the petition
of the company.
Complaining to Pontchartrain.
As we have seen above, shortly after
Cadillac had first set foot at Detroit,
he suspected his companion, Tonty, of
plotting against him, and he accused
him of his improper conduct. Tonty
acknowledged his wrong-doing and
promised to behave himself in the
19
future. When Cadillac was ordered to
repair to Quebec Tonty also came and
was accused of trading. Instead of
punishing him the company, finding
him a fit tool for their purposes, sent
him back to Detroit and gave him a
pension of 600 livres a year and put
him in command during Cadillac's ab-
sence. Cadillac, feeling that he could
get no justice from Canadian officials,
appealed at once to Pontchartrain and
sent him a long account of his trouble.
To further complicate the entangle-
ment Detroit was already in, the gov-
ernor-general, for the sake of disrupt-
ing Detroit, permitted Lieutenant La-
corne, who was the commandant at
Fort Frontenac, to employ the Iro-
quois, or at least to encourage these
warlike Indians to carry on war
against the Indians located at Detroit,
and of this Cadillac complained to
Pontchartrain.
Cadillac's
Powers
Increased.
While these complaints were on the
way to Paris, a letter from the count
was crossing the Atlantic, which di-
rected the company of the colony to
surrender the management of Detroit
to Cadillac. He was to have the en-
tire profit of the post; he could not
trade at Mackinac or in the more dis-
tant quarters, but he was permitted
to attract all the Indians to Detroit
that he could. The trade in beaver
skins had been carried on in such
vast quantities that the market was
overstocked, and one of the problems
of the times was how to curtail the
supply. Cadillac, in numbers of his
letters, states that he has been suc-
cessful in this matter, by inducing the
Indians to bring in other skins and
furs, and by devoting a portion of their
time to husbandry and other occupa-
tions than hunting beavers. The king
and his ministers also turned their at-
tention to the matter, and tried vari-
ous ways to make the supply and de-
mand equal each other.
The new provisions of trade under
which Detroit was turned over to Cad-
illac required the company to accept
from the traders of Canada 150,000
livres worth of beaver skins (castors)
per year, and of this quantity, Cadillac
was to be permitted, under the new
arrangement, to supply 15,000 or at
most 20,000 livres worth per year, but
he could furnish as many other furs
and skins as he liked. Vandreuil and
Beauharnois were directed to assist
him in all ways they could, and to
give him such soldiers as he required.
All these orders were accompanied by
the good wishes of Pontchartrain, who
writes: "With all this assistance, and
any other just and reasonable request
you may make, which his majesty
will grant you, he hopes you will suc-
ceed in realizing the outline you have
given of this post. From this success
you may expect favors from his ma-
jesty proportioned to the service you
render; and you may count on my
contributing on my part to procuring
them for you as far as I can. I am
explaining the intentions of his ma-
jesty on this subject definitely to
Messrs. Vandreuil and Beauharnois,
and to the directors of the company,
so that in future you may find no
more obstacles in this post. I am con-
vinced that on your side you will act
like a man of honor, and will give no
ground for complaint against your con-
duct, especially as regards the beaver
skins, the trade in which you will
confine to the said sum of 15,000 or
20,000 livres. Matters being thus
ordered, you will have no more con-
tests with the Jesuits, nor with any-
one.'
A Request Which Was Denied.
Cadillac had asked that he be grant-
el the right of high, middle and ow
justice, and desired that Detroit be
created a marquisate for his benefit,
but this request was denied. "Work to
compass the success of this settlement
and after that you shall not lack con-
cessions, nor even posts more impor-
tant than that you now have."
He was permitted to make grants
of land for the interests of the new
colony. As this was the first French
colony which it was attempted to es-
tablish in the West, its interests were
very much in the hearts of the king
and Pontchartrain.
So long as the company of the col-
ony had charge of Detroit it was a
trading post only, but as soon as the
entire control passed to Cadillac, it'
was the king's intention that a colony
should be formed there, that lan is
should be granted to people to farm!,
and that the soldiers should be per-
mitted to marry and settle.
20
In conformity with these directions
the company put Cadillac in posses-
sion of Detroit on the 25th of Septem-
ber, 1705, and they retired from the
post.
Constantly making new improve-
ments and adding to the value of the
property he had accumulated there, he
continued in its possession until 1710.
During this period he had built houses,
cultivated farms, brought cattle and
other animals, and at least one horse
named Colin to the place, made
grants of farm lands, gardens and
village lots to those who came to set-
tle there, and carried on an extensive
trade.
After the fire of 1703 Cadillac at once
set about repairing the loss as well
as possible, put up a new church and
repaired or rebuilt the burned dwelt-
ings and store houses.
Appointed Governor of Louisiana.
In 110 the king appointed him gov-
ernor of Louisiana and directed him
to proceed there at once overland, and
not to return to Quebec. He was in-
structed to see La Forest, who was
appointed his successor in the coin-
mand of Detroit, and give him such
instructions as might be necessary in
his new post, and to surrender every-
thing to him.
Cadillac supposed that the property
he had at Detroit, which consisted of
the exclusive right of trading, all the
lands except such as he had conveyed
and the rents from the lands conveyed,
the cattle, merchandise, buildings and
property, would be taken by La For-
est and paid for by him. He claimed
an extent of territory twenty-five
leagues in length along each side of
the Detroit River, extending from Lake
Erie to Lake Huron, by 200 leagues in
depth-90,000 square miles in territory.
To this modest land claim his wife,
who remained at Detroit after his de-
parture, had a minute inventory drawn
up on the 25th of August, 1711, and
subscribed by Pierre Chesne and An-
toine Magnant, inhabitants of the
place, showing all the personal prop-
erty that Cadillac claimed to own,
and which property was then handed
over to Pierre Roy to be kept for their
owner. Up to the time of Cadillac's
departure he had made at least 400
grants of land, and he writes: "If the
greater part of them had not been
driven away or harassed it would now
be a very fine colony. It is deplorable
to see families which had sold every-
thing at Quebec or elsewhere, in or-
der to settle at Detroit, being driven
from it by the greed of certain per-
sons who have profited, and still profit,
by what lawfully belongs to them
(these poor people)."
Taking Cadillac Property With-
out Compensation.
La Forest did not go to Detroit, but
obtained an order from Vandreuil to
turn the command of the post over
to Sabrevoir, who retained it but a
short time and then he surrendered it
to Tonty, who had been first the com-
panion and later the enemy of Cadil-
lac and always the slave of Vandreuil.
Cadillac complained bitterly and justly
of their taking all this property with-
out making compensation to him for it.
When the post had been surrendered
to him in 1705, under orders from the
king, a review of the det.acliment he
was taking to Detroit was held at
Lachine by the Messrs. Randot, Sr.,
and Jr. It consisted of 200 soldiers,
eight officers, two almoners and mis-
sionaries and forty families. He had
taken to Detroit, he says, domestic
animals of all kinds, all sorts of grains
and seeds, even to fruit trees in boxes,
all tools for carpentry, for joinery,
axes and locks of all kinds, materials
for building a windmill costing 1,000
pistoles, a barge, all the iron work
for the fort. He built a fort with
eight bastions, all the lodging places
for the troops, a suitable and well
ornamented church, a fine warehouse,
a powder magazine, a pigeon house,
ice house, a brewery for beer,
a barn eighty feet long. A hundred
Canadians were brought to work in
transporting materials besides the
workmen and soldiers, who were paid
thirty sous per day when they worked.
He remained only four years after
commencing this undertaking, doing
nothing but paying out money, and
when the time came that he might
commence to recoup himself he was
sent to Louisiana.
an
Explored the Mississippi Valley
for Silver.
He did not proceed to his new post
overland as he was directed, but went
21
to Montreal to see about the settle-
ment of his Detroit affairs, and from
thence proceeded to Quebec on the
same errand. He went to France
from Quebec and from there sailed
to the Louisiana Colony in company
with a ship load of marriageable girls
sent out from the mother country to
became wives of the colonists. He
sailed on the frigate Le Baron de la
Fosse and arrived in the colony with
his wife and children on June 15, 1713.
(Margry says in 1712). By his direction
Natchez was founded in 1713. Lake
Pontchartrain, near New Orleans, was
named after his friend and benefactor,
Count Pontchartrain, as was also Lake
Maurepas, after Count Maurepas who
was a son of Jerome Phelypeaux,
Count Pontchartrain.
Here, as
as at Detroit, he was full
of complaints against many of those
who were his superiors, and the De-
partment of Marine is flooded with
his correspondence and memoranda on
the subject. He explored the valley
of the Mississippi for the entire
length within his jurisdiction for silver
but could find none though he did
find lead ore.
Anthony Crozat had the exclusive
right of trading in Louisiana and, to
a certain extent, Cadillac was sub-
ject to his orders and directions.
Crozat became impatient at the con-
tinued fault-findings of Cadillac and
wished him removed from office. In
March, 1717, L'Epinay was appointed
a successor to Cadillac and a few
months later Crozat was relieved from
his contract for the support of Louis-
iana and the exclusive rights he had
held were turned over to a company.
Cadillac Imprisoned in the Bas-
tile.
Our interest in Cadillac ceases with
his removal from
from Detroit, but the
life of a man who filled so large a
place in the early history of the new
world should be better known than
his is at the present time. It is diff-
cult to trace his steps after leaving
Louisiana. From a note on one of the
pages of Margry it would appear that
in 1718 he was imprisoned in Paris
in the Bastile and was liberated there-
from on the 6th of February in that
year.
Why was he imprisoned and for how
long a time? The records of the Bas-
tile were scattered to the four winds
at the time of the "Hundred Days” in
1:15, and many of the documents were
gathered by the Russian soldiers and
taken to the great library in St. Peters-
burg, where they now are. It is not
known that any list of prisoners is in
existence. A recent writer in Quebec, Mr.
Phileas Gagnon, in his splendid work
"Bibliographie Canadienne," says that
he thinks the note in Margry relative
to Cadillac's being in the Bastile,
crept in by accident. Margry further
says that Cadillac's essay on Mack-
inac was written a few months after
he was liberated.
It cannot be supposed that a man of
the active temperament of Cadillac
passed the remainder of his life, for
he did not die till Oct. 18, 1730, in re-
tirement, though we know little of his
whereabouts during this period.
Concerning Cadillac's family the
church records are sometimes silent
regarding the baptism of children
whose births are spoken of in his let-
ters, and in some cases, as at Port
Royal, we believe the records to have
been destroyed.
Cadillac's Children.
From all the information I can ob-
tain and with the assistance of my
valued friend, Father Christian Denis-
sen, of St. Charles' Church, Detroit,
who is making a special study of the
genealogy of the old French families
of Detroit, I believe the following to
be a pretty correct list of Cadillac's
children:
Magdelene, a daughter, probably
born at Port Royal, or Mount Desert;
Antoine, born at Quebec, April 26, 1692,
came to Detroit with his father;
James, born at Quebec, March 16, 1695,
came to Detroit with his mother;
Peter Denis, born at Quebec, June 13,
1699, and buried there July 4, 1700;
Mary Ann, born at Quebec, June 7 and
buried there June 9, 1701. A child was
born at Detroit in the latter part of
1702, mentioned in one of Cadillac's
letters; the baptismal record was
probably destroyed by the fire in 1703.
Mary Therese, born at Detroit, Feb. 2,
1704; John Anthony, born at Detroit,
Jan. 19, 1707, and buried there April 9,
1709.
22
Mary Agatha, born at Detroit, Dec.
28, 1707.
Francis, born at Detroit, March 27,
1709.
Rene Louis, born at Detroit, March
17, 1710, and buried at Quebec, Oct. 7,
1714. His parents must have placed him
with some members of his mother's
family when they left Canada, for, at
this date, both his father and mother
were in Louisiana.
There was possibly another daughter,
as in one of the letters written regard-
ing the departure of Madam Cadillac
for Quebec in 1701, it is stated that she
left her daughters with the nuns of
the Ursuline convent, and the only
daughter, whose name we have, at
this time, was Magdelene. Thus
have ascertained the existence
twelve children, and there was one
more son, Joseph, who is mentioned in
the following transactions:
we
of
At various times during Cadillac's
life after leaving Louisiana, he peti-
tioned the regent of France to grant
him the possession of his Detroit prop-
erty or its equivalent, and in 1720, the
king, on the advice of the duke of Or-
leans, his uncle, the regent, directed
Cadillac's property to be returned to
him, but the governor-general and in-
tendant, while confessing themselves
willing to act in the matter,
raised serious objections to car-
rying out the orders of the
king. They thought, however, that
he should be given the sum of 4,359
livres for property taken for the king's
use. It would seem that Cadillac ne-
glected or refused to accept this sum.
In some manner he obtained the ap-
pointment as governor of Castell Sar-
razin in France, possibly in
quence of his Detroit troubles, and he
retained this governorship until his
death.
conse-
After his death, in 1733, his widow and
two sons, Francis and Joseph surviv-
ing him, one of his sons petitioned
for the re-establishment of the family
at Detroit, with their ancient rights,
and he requests that, if this cannot be
done, the royal revenues of Castell Sar-
razin be turned over to them, or
pension sufficient for their support for
life.
Sold for 50,000 livres.
Not receiving a satisfactory reply to
this petition, in 1738, Joseph, acting
for himself and for his mother and
only surviving brother, Francis, gave
a deed of all their rights to the De-
troit property for 50,000 livres, to one
Bernard Maichens, of Marseilles.
Maichens paid 25,000 livres down and
never paid any more;
any more; he probably
found his purchase worthless, and I
find no mention of his undertaking
to claim it.
In 1745 Joseph filed another petition
with the Count de Maurepas, asking
him to "grant to him an order to
the governor general of Canada and
other officers of Detroit on Lake Erie,
to allow him or his agent to go freely
to these places and to return from
them and to enjoy fully and peaceful-
ly his rights fixed by the decree of
the court in 1732." The petition was
granted, but nothing came of it.
At the end of the century a grand-
daughter petitioned the state of Mass-
achusetts to be permitted to have the
island of Mount Desert, and she ob-
tained all of it that had not previous-
ly been granted to other parties, but
nothing further was ever done with
their Detroit interests.
I am aware that this attempt to fol-
low the thread of Cadillac's life from
the cradle to the grave is incom--
plete, and that the thread is broken
in many places, but I feel confident
that I have collected many facts here-
tofore unpublished regarding him, and
I shall await with pleasure the criti-
cisms of those who know other facts
concerning his life.
Few men in the early history of
this hemisphere have left their names
affixed to so many places as has the
founder of our city.
If France can claim him by right
of birth and sepulture, Acadia claims
him as a seigneur, Quebec as a citizen,
Mackinac as commandant, Detroit as
founder and Louisiana as a governor.
C. M. BURTON.
A Letter from Mr. R. R. Elliott to the News-Tribune.
Mr. Burton's "Joke on a Jesuit."
To the Editor: I have not yet read Mr.
Burton's sketch of Cadillac, as I prefer
to wait until the entire work has been
published.
But when cutting out the second article
from last Sunday's News-Tribune, I no-
ticed that it commenced with a "Joke on
a Jesuit," being an incident related by Cad-
illac in scurrilous language about Fr. Vail-
lant, the Jesuit missionary, who had ac-
companied the Recollect martyr Fr. Del-
halle in the first expedition of Cadillac in
1701.
Probably no citizen of Detroit since its
American history began, has expended so
much money, or devoted so much time in
the collection of authentic documents re-
lating to its French history, and of its
original colonists, as has Mr. Clarence M.
Burton, whose collection is probably un-
equaled by any in America.
Other states interested in the history of
this frontier, have done much in this con-
nection; Michigan, as a state so much more
interested, has done nothing. Those only
who have made the French history of De-
troit their study, can appreciate how much
is due to Mr. Burton, for the additional
light he has shed upon much that had re-
'mained obscure in this history.
Unfortunately, in the present instance,
Mr. Burton has done, as others have done
before him, an
an injustice, in indorsing a
story of Cadillac which has a
has a fictitious
foundation. Gascon as he was, the roman-
`tic and adventurous founder of Detroit was
as loquacious in the use of his pen as he
was with his tongue; for he said and wrote
much of questionable authority.
The "Joke on a Jesuit," without this
caption, will be found in extenso in "The
Early History of Michigan, from the First
Settlement to 1815," by Mrs. E. M. Shel-
don, New York, Barnes & Co., 1856.
It is in one of the "Cadillac Papers," tran-
scripts of which General Cass had taken
when he was minister at the French court,
1836-42-which, with others of the
kind, had been translated and published
under the title above given.
same
From 1856 until 1884 the "Cadillac Papers"
were considered by historical students in
this vicinity as "the Genesis of the French
history of Detroit."
The translated document in which the
"joke" is related is to be found in Shel-
don, and covers pages 140-204. In this docu-
ment it is stated by Cadillac,
by Cadillac, that in
1704, the Count de Pontchartrain, min-
ister of state under Louis XIV.,
XIV., came,
at the former's request, to Quebec, to in-
vestigate the troubles existing between the
founder of Detroit and the authorities of
New France. Cadillac states that he was
brought before the count at the chateau
of St. Louis in Quebec, and when asked to
defend his conduct, related his experience
from the time of his landing at Detroit;
he airs his quarrels with the Jesuit mis-
sionaries, and the trouble which the mo-
nopoly of the Canada Company had caused
him, and ascribes the Indian hostility,
the burning of a portion of the post, and
other misfortunes, to the intrigues and
opposition of the Jesuit missionaries, and
cites the "joke" incident among others.
Mrs. Sheldon's translation of this docu-
ment is somewhat faulty; but the reader
of Mrs. Sheldon and of Mr. Burton
might, unless they knew the facts, con-
ceive a poor opinion
poor opinion of Father Vaillant.
Father Francis Vaillant de Gueslis, S. J.,
like others of this order, engaged in
missionary work in Canada, was of noble
lineage. He was ordained at Quebec in
1675. He had been a missionary with the
Mohawks from 1679, until obliged to leave
the valley in 1683. He was one of the
chaplains in De Nonville's expedition
against the Senecas in 1687; in 1688, he was
sent by the governor-general of New France
as special envoy to Governor Dongan, of
New York.
He was again with the Scenecas as
missionary from 1703 to 1707.
This eminent missionary, who had lived
with the dreaded Mohawks for years; who
had served in the famous Seneca campaign,
who was chosen to treat with the ablest
provincial governor the colony of New York
ever had under British rule, and who
lived again as a missionary in the Seneca
cantons until his mission was broken up
by British intrigue, could not have played
such a cowardly part before such an ad-
venturer as was his traducer.
He retired, probably under instructions,
when he had found how
found how matters were
being shaped; for he returned by way of
Lake Erie, and while
while stopping at Fort
Frontenac, Madame
Madame Cadillac arrived and
tarried there, to whom Father Vaillant gave
Horm
24
the first news she had had from her hus-
band, whom she was heroically bound to
join.
But the story as given by Mr. Burton
rests upon a gross historical fiction, which
had long been admitted in Detroit as gos-
pel in its French genesis. Although given
out by Sheldon, and accepted by Judge
Campbell and others, the story of Pontchar-
train's coming to Quebec was proved to be
fictitious by Mr. Bela Hubbard and myself
in January, 1884, when the latter gentle-
man drew from Pierre Margry the fol-
lowing admission. which I translate-
"The Count de Pontchartrain never came
to Quebec; evidently those who accept this
idea are deceived, the statement of Mrs.
Sheldon and of Judge Campbell to the con-
trary nothwithstanding.
The fact is, the "Cadillac papers" in
French American history are as unreliable
as are the voluminous writings of La Hon-
tan, and they are quoted by
quoted by reputable
writers only when corroborated by contem-
porary authority.
Even Judge Campbell, on page 64 of his
charmng work, has this to say of Cad-
illac's scurrilous remarks of Father Stephen
de Carheil, S. J.: “Father Carheil was a
devoted and good nan, and his zeal for the
preservation of the Indians from demoraliz-
ing influences (under Cadillac's administra-
tion at Michilmacinac) was commendable
and in some degrec efficacious."
The question will occur to the readers of
Cadillac's statement" if he told such a big
lie about Pontchartrain coming to Quebec,
how much reliance can be placed upon
his other statements"
Some important information may be con-
tained in the evidence given on both sides,
during Cadillac's lengthy litigation in Que-
bec, transcripts of which Mr. Burton has
probably procured and which may appear
in his subsequent articles.
RICHARD R. ELLIOTT.

Maou
7
THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
GRADUATE LIBRARY
DEC 1973
201973
DATE DUE

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