USA > Alabama > History of Alabama, and incidentally of Georgia and Mississippi, from the earliest period, v. 1 > Part 20
USA > Georgia > History of Alabama, and incidentally of Georgia and Mississippi, from the earliest period, v. 1 > Part 20
USA > Mississippi > History of Alabama, and incidentally of Georgia and Mississippi, from the earliest period, v. 1 > Part 20
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three discharges, but although the Indians fired while almost CHAPTER touching him, yet they did not inflict on him any new VII. wounds. Finding himself then, as it were, miraculously escaped from so many mortal blows, he took to flight, having on, still, his priestly garments, and without any other defence than entire confidence in God, whose particular protection was given him, as the event proved. He threw himself into the water, and after advancing some steps, gained the boat, in which two of the voyagers were making their escape. They had supposed him to be killed by some of the many 1,30 January balls which they had heard fired on him. In climbing up into the boat, and turning his head to see whether any one of his pursuers was following him too closely, he received, in the mouth, a discharge of small shot, the greater part of which were flattened against his teeth, though some of them entered his gums and remained there for a long time. I have, myself, seen two of them. Father Doutreleau, all wounded as he was, undertook the duty of steering the boat, while his two companions placed themselves at the oars; unfortunately one of them, at setting out, had his thigh broken, by a musket ball, from the effects of which he has since remained a cripple. As soon as they found ** themselves freed from their enemies, they dressed their wounds as well as they could, and for the purpose of aiding their flight from that fatal shore, they threw into the river : every thing they had in their boat, preserving only some pieces of raw bacon, for their nourishment. It had been their intention to stop, in passing, at the Natchez, but having
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CHAPTER seen that the houses of the French were either demolished VII. or burned, they did not think it advisable to listen to the compliments of the Indians who, from the bank of the river, invited them to land. They placed a wide distance between them as soon as possible, and thus shunned the balls which were ineffectually fired at them. It was then that they began to distrust all the Indian nations, and, therefore, resolved not to go near the land until they reached New- Orleans, and supposing that the savages might have rendered themselves masters of it, to descend even to the Balize, where they hoped to find some French vessel provided to receive the wreck of the colony. * I cannot 1730 January 8 express to you, my reverend father, the great satisfaction I felt at seeing Father Doutreleau, his arm in a scarf, arrive (in New-Orleans) after a voyage of more than four hundred leagues, all the clothes he had on having been borrowed, except his cassock. My surprise was increased at the recital of his adventures. I placed him, immediately, in the hands of brother Parisel, who examined his wounds, and who dressed them with great care and speedy success. The missionary was not yet entirely cured of his wounds, when he departed to act as chaplain to the French army, as he had promised the officers, in accordance with their request.
*
"Knowing as you do, my reverend father, the vigilance and the oversight of our governor, you can well imagine that he did not sleep in this sad erisis in which we now found ourselves. We may say, without flattery, that he surpassed
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himself by the rapid movements he made, and by the wise CHAPTER measures he adopted to revenge the French blood which VII. had been shed, and to prevent the evils with which almost all the posts of the colony were threatened. As soon as he was apprised of this unexpected attack, by the Natchez Indians, he caused the news to be carried to all the posts, and even as far as the Illinois, not by the ordinary route of the river, which was closed, but on one side by the Natchi- toches and the Arkansas, and the other by Mobile and the Chickasaw. He invited the neighbors, who were our allies, and particularly the Choctaws, to avenge this outrage. He furnished arms and ammunition to all the houses of the city and to the plantations. He caused two ships, that is, the Due de Bourbon and the Alexandre, to ascend the river as far as the Tonicas. These ships were like two good fortresses against the insults of the Indians, and in case of attack, two certain asylums for the women and children. He caused a ditch to be dug entirely around the city, and placed guard houses at the four extremities. He organized for its defence many companies of city militia, who mounted guard during the whole night. As there was more to fear in the grants and in the plantations than in the city, he fortified them with the most care. He had good forts erected at Chapitonlas, Cannes, Brales, Altemands, Bayagonlas, and Pointe Coupce. " At first, our governor, listening only to the dictates of his own courage, adopted the design of placing himself at the head of the troops, but it was represented to him that he ought not to quit New-Orleans, where his presence was
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CHAPTER absolutely necessary ; that there was danger of the Choctaws VII. determining to fall upon the city, if it should be deprived of its troops; and the negroes, to free themselves from slavery, might join them, as some had done with the Natchez. Moreover, he could feel perfectly easy with regard to the 1730 January conduct of the troops, as the Chevalier De Loubois, with whose experience and bravery he was well acquainted, had been appointed to command them. Whilst our little army was repairing to the Tonicas, seven hundred Choctaws, mus- tered and conducted by M. De Sueur, marched towards the Natchez. We were informed, by a party of these people, that the Natchez were not at all on their guard, but passed all their nights in dancing. The Choctaws took them, therefore, by surprise, and made a descent on them, the 27th January, at the break of day. In less than three hours they had delivered fifty-nine persons, both women and children, with the tailor and carpenter, and one hundred and six negroes or negro women, with their children. They made eighteen of the Natchez prisoners, and took sixty scalps. They would have taken more, if they had not been intent on 1730 January 27 freeing the slaves, as they had been directed. They had but two men killed and seven or eight wounded. They encamp- ed, with their prizes, at the grant of St. Catherine, in a mere park enclosed with stakes. The victory would have been complete, if they had waited the arrival of the French army, as had been agreed upon by their deputies .*
* Monette, Martin, and other modern authors, state that LeSeur advanced from the Tombigby, with six hundred warriors, and near
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"The Natchez, seeing themselves attacked by the formida- CHAPTER ble Choctaws, regarded their defeat as certain, and shutting VII. themselves up in two forts, passed the following nights in dancing their death dance. In their speeches, we heard them reproaching the Choctaws for their perfidy in declaring in favor of the French, contrary to the pledge they had given, to unite with them for our destruction. Three days before this action, the Sieur Mesplex landed at the Natchez with five other Frenchmen; they had volunteered to M. De Loubois, to carry to the Indians negociations for peace, that they might be able, under this pretext, to gain information with regard to their force and their present situation. But, in descending from their boat, they encountered a party who, without giving them time to speak, killed three of their men and made the other three prisoners. The next day they sent one of these prisoners with a letter, in which they demanded, as hostages, the Sieur Broutin, who had formerly been commander among them, and the Chief of the Tonicas. Besides, they demanded, as the ransom for the women, chil- dren and slaves, two hundred guns, two hundred barrels of powder, two thousand gun flints, two hundred knives, two hundred hatchets, two hundred pickaxes, five hogsheads of brandy, twenty casks of wine, twenty barrels of vermilion, two hundred shirts, twenty pieces of limbourg, twenty pieces
Pearl river increased his force to twelve hundred. Arriving near · Natchez, and learning the unguarded condition of the Indians of that place, the Choctaws fell upon theut, in spite the entreaties of LeSeur, who urged them to await the arrival of the French army.
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CHAPTER
VII. of cloth, twenty coats with lace on the seams, twenty hats bordered with plumes, and a hundred coats of a plainer-kind. Their design was to massacre the French, who should bring these goods. On the very same day, with every refine- ment in cruelty, they burned the Sieur Mesplex and his companion.
1730 February
" On the 8th February, the French, with the Tonicas and some other small tribes from the lower end of the Mississippi, arrived at the Natchez, and seized their temple, dedicated to the Sun. The impatience and impracticability of the Choc- taws, who, like all these Indians, are capable of striking only one blow and then disperse-the small number of French soldiers, who found themselves worn down by fatigues-the want of provisions, which the Indians stole from the French- the failure of ammunition, with which they were not able to satisfy the Choctaws, who wasted one part of it, and placed the other in reserve to be used in hunting-the resistance of the Natchez, who were well fortified, and who fought in despe- ration-all these things decided us to listen to the proposi- tions which the besieged made, after the trenches had been opened for seven days. They threatened, if we persisted in the siege, to burn those of the French who remained; while, on the other hand, they offered to restore them, if we would withdraw our seven pieces of cannon. These, in reality, for want of a good gunner, and under present circumstances, were scarcely in a fit state to give them any fear.
"These propositions were accepted, and fulfilled on both sides. On the 25th of February, the besieged faithfully re-
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stored all that they had promised, while the besiegers retired CHAPTER with their cannon to a small fort which they had hastily built VII. on the Escore, near the river, for the purpose of always keep- ing the Natchez in check, and ensuring a passage to the voyagers. Governor Perrier gave the command of it to M. D'Artaguette, as an acknowledgment of the intrepidity with which, during the siege, he had exposed himself to the great- est dangers, and everywhere braved death.
" Before the Choctaws had determined to fall upon the Natchez, they had been to them to convey the calumet, and were received in a very novel manner. They found them and their horses adorned with chasubles and drapery of the altars ; many wore patterns about their necks, and drank, and gave to drink, of brandy in the chalices and the pyx. And the Choctaws themselves, when they had gained these articles by pillaging our enemies, renewed this profane saeri- lege, by making the same use of our ornaments and sacred vessels in their dances and sports. We were never able to recover more than a small portion of them."*
Here Father Le Petit discontinues his detail of the Natchez war, and ends his letter with some remarks upon the character of the Illinois and several other tribes of Indians. He appears to have deemed it a very great outrage that the Natchez thus
* " The Early Jesuit Missions in North America," compiled and translated from the letters of the French Jesuits, with notes by the Rev. Ingraham Kip, M.A., Corresponding Member of the New- York Histori- cal Society. New-York: 1846. See Part 2, pp. 267-300.
1,20 February
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CHAPTER VII.
prostituted their holy vessels and priestly robes, yet he an- nounces that the French army " arrived at the Natchez and seized their temple, dedicated to the Sun," which they, no doubt, also destroyed. The religion of the Natchez was as sacred to the Natchez, as the religion of the Roman Catholics was to the good Father Le Petit.
1730 February 25
The Natchez Chiefs proposed to surrender more than two hundred prisoners, if the French commander would remove his artillery and withdraw his forces, or else all the prisoners would be consumed by fire. Loubois, to save the lives of these miserable captives, consented, yet with the secret inten- tion of wreaking his vengeance upon the Indians as soon as the prisoners were in his possession. But he was sadly disap- pointed, for the Indians, suspecting treachery on his part, took advantage of the suspension of hostilities, and one night evacuated the fort, and succeeded in gaining the opposite shore of the Mississippi with all their women and children. The prisoners were found in the fort, agreeably to the treaty. Loubois was astonished at the dexterous manœuvre, but he saw the folly of pursuing the foe, who had now secreted them- selves in the vast swamps. He began the erection of a ter- raced fort upon the verge of the bluff, and leaving there a garrison of one hundred and twenty men, returned with his troops and the rescued prisoners to New-Orleans.
The largest portion of the Natchez, conducted by the Great Sun, established themselves " upon the lower Washita, on the point between Little river and the Washita, just below the mouth of Little river, where the Washita assumes the name of
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Black river."* Here the Natchez placed about four hundred acres of land in a state of defence, by the erection of large ' and small mounds and extensive embankinents. Other por- tions of this tribe sought an asylum among the Chickasaws, while others wandered still further cast, and took up their abode upon a portion of the territory now embraced in Talla- dega county, Alabama. The English traders of Carolina, it is said, rejoiced in the destruction of the French, and many of them, then residing among the Chickasaws, urged those peo- ple and the refugee Natchez, to engage in a vigorous warfare, and not only to defend their soil, but to exterminate the French. In the meantime, Governor Perrier made preparations to follow up the Natchez upon the Washita, but his exertions were, to some extent, defeated by a serious negro insurrection, which occurred upon the plantations in the vicinity of New- Orleans.
However, upon the 10th of August, one of the company's ships arrived at the Balize with some troops and supplies. Although mortified that the reinforcement was so small, Per- rier added them to the colonial troops, and, procuring a Choc- taw force at Mobile, left New-Orleans with an army of six hun- November 15 dred and fifty, which was increased on the way to one thou- sand, by Indian allies. Reaching the mouth of Black river, they at length came in sight of the enemy's stronghold. The troops were disembarked, the fort invested, and for three days 1733 January 2) the besieged made a spirited resistance, when they made
CHAPTER VII.
1:31 August 10
* Monette's History of the Valley of the Mississippi, vol. 1, p. 267.
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CHAPTER propositions which Perrier rejected. At length the Indian- VII. consented to surrender the Great Sun and one War Chief, which the governor refused. They then consented to surrender sixty-five men and about two hundred women and children. upon condition that their lives should be spared. Perrier once more opened his artillery upon them ; but a heavy rain. · which continued until night, silenced his batteries. Whru night set in, the Natchez began to escape from their defene ... and make their way up the river, in the midst of a temj ---! of wind and rain. The Indian allies went in pursuit, and returned with one hundred prisoners. The next day Perrin demolished the outworks of the fort and began his voyage to 1739 February 5 New-Orleans, where he arrived, in due time, with four hun dred and twenty-seven captives of the Natchez tribe. At the head of them were the Great Sun and several principal Chi ?.. Soon afterwards, they were all shipped to St. Domingo atvi sold as slaves." Those of the Natchez who escaped duriez the stormy night, rallied again and collected in one books. near the French settlements on Red river. They then march 2
*" The French army re-embarked, and carried the Natchez a slave. to New Orleans, where they were put in prison ; but afterwards. I. avoid the infection, the women and the children were disposed of the King's plantation and elsewhere. Among these women was 1 Female Sun, called the Stung An, who then told me all she had don in order to save the French. Sometime after, these slaves were all barked for St. Domingo, in order to root out that nation in the colors- * and thus that nation, the most conspicuous in the colors and the most useful to the French, was destroyed."-Du Pratz, p. 95.
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and attacked the post in a most furious manner, but St. Denys, CHAPTER the commandant, an intrepid officer, repelled them, with the VII. ' loss of ninety-two braves, including all their Chiefs. The remnant escaped by flight. This was the closing scene in the Natchez drama, and ended the existence of these brave Indians as a distinct tribe .*
* In relation to the massacre at Natchez, and the final defeat of those Indians, I have carefully consulted the following authorities :- Du Pratz's Louisiana ; London, 1774 .-- Bossu's Travels in Louisiana, vol. 1 ; Lon- don, 1771 .- Memoire Historique et Politique sur la Louisiane, par M. de Vergennes, Ministre de Louis XVI. ; A Paris, 1802 .- Voyage a la Lou- isiane, par B *** D ; Paris, 1802 .-- Memoires Historique sur la Louisi- ane, par M. Dumont ; A Paris, 1753 .- Kip's Early Jesuit Missions ; New-York, 1846 .- Gayarre's Histoire de la Louisiane .- Martin's His- tory of Louisiana ; New-Orleans, 1827 .- Stoddart's Sketches, historical and descriptive, of Louisiana ; Philadelphia, 1812 .- Monette's History of the Valley of the Mississippi; New-York, 1846.
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CHAPTER VIII.
THE ENGLISH IN GEORGIA.
CHAPTER VIII.
WE have shown that South-Carolina had been established as a colony for some years, that its seat of government w.z- at Charleston, and that its inhabitants, in endeavoring to extend the English trade to all the Western Indian nations .t. far as the Mississippi river, had many conflicts and difficulti ... with the French, who occupied the territory of Alabama. They were also constantly opposed by the Spaniards of the Floridas. In order to interpose a barrier to these foes, :- well as to protect the citizens from the attacks of the Creek Indians, the King of England and the British Parliamot .: listened to a proposition of a great philanthropist, to plant a colony upon the western bank of the Savannah river. His motives, purely noble and disinterested, originated in a desire to ameliorate the condition of many unfortunate people in England. To carry out his plans of humanity, he was will- ing that the King should blend with them politie measure. for the advancement of this, his most Southern province, and it was determined that "silk, wine, and oil should be culti- vated most abundantly."
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James Oglethorpe, a descendant of one of the oldest and CHAPTER most influential families of England, was born on the 22d VIII. December, 1688, and after graduating at Oxford University, ' was commissioned an ensign in the British army. In 1713, he accompanied the Earl of Petersbourg, then Ambassador to the Italian States, in the capacity of aid-de-camp. Returning to England, a year afterwards, he was promoted to a captain- cy in the first troop of Queen Anne's Guard, and was soon an adjutant-general of the Queen's forces. He was next trans- ferred to the post of aid-de-camp to Prince Eugene, the first general of the age, and was with him amid all the sanguinary battles fought between the Austrians and the Turks, upon the frontiers of Hungary. When these wars were over, Oglethorpe returned to England, and in 1722 was elected a member to the British Parliament, where he soon became useful and influential.
Oglethorpe caused an investigation to -be made into the state of the English prisons, and it was ascertained that they groaned with thousands of poor wretches who had been imprisoned many years for debt. That the kingdom of England also contained thousands, "descended of good fami- lies," who were in destitute circumstances, and that hun- dreds of German exiles, driven from their native country by religious persecution, were starving among them. He brought this unhappy state of things before the King and Parliament, and, by his zeal and ability, succeeded in procur- · ing a charter for the colonization of Georgia, the inhabitants of which were to consist of these distressed people. HIe
1733 Juno
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CHAPTER resolved, himself, to embark with the first emigrants. They VIII. consisted of thirty families, numbering, collectively, oh- hundred and twenty-five souls. Entering the sea from the Thames, the vessel, after a long voyage across the Atlantic. 1733 January furled its sails in the harbor of Charleston. Oglethuif- landed, and was received with attention by the Governor and Council of South-Carolina. The King's pilot carried the ship into Port Royal, while small vessels were furnished to convey January 20 the emigrants to the Savannah river. Leaving his people. .. Beaufort, and accompanied by Colonel Bull, of South-Carol. na, Oglethorpe ascended the Savannah, and launched he- boat at the splendid bluff, which now forms the site of the commercial emporium of Georgia. At the northern end of this bluff, the great philanthropist came upon an Indian town, called Yamacraw, the chief of which was nami Tomochichi, and where Musgrove, a Carolina trader, married to a half-breed named Mary, had established himself .*
This Indian, Mary, was born in the year 1700, at the town of Coweta, upon the Chattahoochie, in Alabama. H .! Indian name was Consaponaheeso, and by maternal deseen! she was one of the Queens of the Muscogee nation, and the Indians conceded to her the title of princess. When ten years of age, her father took her to Ponpon, in South-Caroli- na, where she was baptised, educated and instructed in
* Stevens' History of Georgia, vol. 1, pp. 58-76-89. Gepres Historical Collections, vol. 1, pp. 9-11-12-167-174. McCall's H.t. ry of Georgia, vol., 1, pp. 9-32.
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Christianity. Afterwards, she fled back to her forest home, CHAPTER laid aside the civilization of the British, and assumed the ease VIII. and freedom of the happy Muscogee. In 1716, Colonel John Musgrove was despatched to the Chattahoochie, by the government of Carolina, to form a treaty of alliance with the Creeks, with whom that colony had been at war. It was there stipulated that the Creeks were to remain the free occupants of all the lands east, as far as the Savannah river. The son of the British negotiator, John Musgrove, had accompanied his father to Coweta, and falling in love with the princess Mary, made her his wife. After remaining in the nation several years, and after the birth of their only child, they removed to South-Carolina. There residing seven 17:3 1:33 June years in much happiness, they afterwards established them- selves upon Yamacraw Bluff, at the head of an extensive trading house, and where Oglethorpe found them, as we have just observed. By his alliance with this remarkable woman, who was well versed in the Indian and English languages, Musgrove obtained considerable influence over the natives, and became exceedingly wealthy. Mary was, after- wards, the warin friend of Oglethorpe, and several times saved the early colonists of Georgia from savage butchery.
Oglethorpe returned to Beaufort, and, collecting his colo- nists, sailed up the Savannah, and landing at the bluff, where now stands the beautiful city, immediately disembarked and pitched four large tents. Here the emigrants spent their first night in Georgia. The Indians received them with hospitality, and gave pledges of future friendship. Ogle-
1:33 February 12
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CHAPTER thorpe marked out the streets and squares; all was bustle VIII. and activity, and it was not long before Savannah assumed 1733 February 9 something of the appearance of a town. A small fort was established at the edge of the bluff, as a place of refuge, and some artillery was mounted upon it. Fort Argyle was built at the narrow passage of the Ogechee, above the mouth of Canouchee, to defend the inhabitants against inland invasion from the Spaniards of St. Augustine.
May 21
Soon after his arrival, Oglethorpe despatched runners to the Lower Creek nation, and having assembled eighteen Chiefs and their attendants, at Savannah, he formed a treaty with them, in which they relinquished to the British govern- ment the lands between the Savannah and the Altamaha. It was also stipulated, among other things, that English traders should be allowed to establish themselves in any part of the Creek nation. Their goods were to be sold at fixed rates : thus, a white blanket was set down at five buckskins, a gun at ten, a hatchet at three doeskins, a knife at one. and so on. Returning to Charleston, after this important treaty, a dinner was given to the philanthropist by the legislative bodies, which he returned by a ball and supper to the ladies.
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