USA > Alabama > History of Alabama, and incidentally of Georgia and Mississippi, from the earliest period, v. 1 > Part 22
USA > Georgia > History of Alabama, and incidentally of Georgia and Mississippi, from the earliest period, v. 1 > Part 22
USA > Mississippi > History of Alabama, and incidentally of Georgia and Mississippi, from the earliest period, v. 1 > Part 22
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* If Doctor Stevens means the " Cusseta," on the east side of the Chattahoochie, and opposite old Fort Mitchell. it was within the limit, of the Creek lands, and never belonged to the Cherokees. I am not aware of any town named " Cusseta," in any part of what formerly was the Cherokee nation, although there may have been, for, In reference to page 162 of the History of Alabama, it will be found that the Cherokees had towns named " Tallase" and " Tuskegee," and such towns were also in the Creek nation.
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vants, and negro slaves from the two Carolinas, Georgia and CHAPTER Virginia, offering, as his scheme did, toleration to all crimes IX. and licentiousness, except murder and idleness. Upon his person was found his private journal, revealing, in part, his designs, with various memoranda relating to his project. In it he speaks not only of individual Indians and negroes, whose assistance had been promised, and of a private treasurer, in Charleston, for keeping the funds collected; but also, that he expected many things from the French, and from another na- tion, whose name he left blank. There were also found upon - him letters for the Florida and Spanish governors, demanding their protection of him and countenance of his scheme. Among his papers was one containing articles of government for his new town, regularly and elaborately drawn out and digested. In this volume he enumerates many rights and privileges, as he calls them, to which the citizens of this colony are to be entitled, particularly dissolving marriages, allowing a community of women, and all kinds of licentiousness. It was drawn up with much art, method and learning, and was designed to be privately printed and circulated. When it was hinted to him that such a plan was attended with many dan- gers and difficulties, and must require many years to establish his government, he replied, 'proceeding properly, many of these evils may be avoided ; and as to length of time, we have a succession of agents to take up the work as fast as others leave it. We never lose sight of a favorite point, nor are we bound by the strict rules of morality in the means, 1745 when the end we pursue is laudable. If we err, our general
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CHAPTER is to blame ; and we have a merciful God to pardon us. But IX. believe me,' he continued, 'before the century is passed, the Europeans will have a very sinall footing on this continent.'
"Indeed, he often hinted that there were others of his brethren laboring among the Indians for the same purpose. Being confined in the barracks at Frederica, he exhibited a stoical indifference to his fate; conversed with freedom, con- ducted with politeness, and attracted the notice and favorable attention of many of the gentlemen there. His death in prison, put an end to all further proceedings, and his plans died with him. Such was the strange being whose Je- suitical intrigues well nigh eventuated in the destruction of Georgia. A thorough Jesuit, an accomplished linguist, a deep tactician, far-sighted in his plans, and far-reaching in his expedients, he possessed every qualification for his design, and only failed of bringing down great evil upon the English. because he was apprehended before his scheme had been matured."*
1745
There were many curious characters roving over the territo- ry of Alabama and Mississippi at this period. Traders from South-Carolina and Georgia, were found in almost every In- dian village ; while the French from Mobile and New-Orleans and the Spaniards from the Floridas continued to swell the num- ber of these singular merchants. They encountered all kinds of dangers and suffered all kinds of privations to become suc- cessful in their exciting traffic. Adair, one of these British
* Steven's History of Georgia, vol. 1, pp. 165-167.
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traders, thus describes the mode by which difficult streams CHAPTER were passed : IX.
" When we expect high rivers, each company of traders ' carry a canoe, made of the tanned leather, the sides over- lapped about three fingers' breadth, and well sewed with three seams. Around the gunnels, which are made of saplings, are strong loop-holes, for large deer-skin string's to hang down both the sides. With two of these is securely tied to the stem and stern, a well shaped sapling for a keel, and in like manner the ribs. Thus they usually rig out a canoe, fit to carry over ten horse-loads at once, in the space of half an hour. The apparatus is afterwards hidden with great care on the opposite shore. Few take the trouble to paddle the canoe, for, as they are commonly hardy, and also of an amphibious nature, they usually jump into the river with their leathern barge ahead of them, and thrust it through the deep part of the water to the opposite shore. When we ride with only a few luggage horses, we make a frame of dry pines, which we tie together with strong vines well twisted. When we have raised it to be sufficiently buoyant, we load and paddle it across, and afterwards swim our horses, keeping at a little distance below them."*
* Adair's American Indians, p. 272.
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CHAPTER X.
THE FRENCH BATTLES UPON THE TOMBIGBY.
CHAPTER x.
1732 January
March
WHEN we suspended our review of the operations of the French upon the territory of Alabama and Mississippi, for the purpose of bringing to the notice of the reader the early colo- nization of Georgia by Oglethorpe, it will be borne in mind that the horrible massacre at Natchez had occurred. The tribe of that name had crossed the Mississippi, and fortified on Black river, near the Washita. Governor Perrier, attacking them at that point, had captured many of the men, women and chil- dren, whom he conveyed to New-Orleans, and from thence shipped to the Island of St. Domingo, where they were sold to work upon the plantations. Some of those who escaped the hands of the French at Black river, retreated to the vicinity of the fort at Natchitoches, upon which they presently made a furious assault. The brave St. Denys, the commandant, successfully repulsed them. A remnant of this warlike but unfortunate tribe had fled to the Chickasaw nation, while another small band sought a home among the Creeks, upon the Coosa.
Governor Perrier was guilty of excessive cruelty to many
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of these poor fugitives who fell into his hands. In the streets CHAPTER of New-Orleans he publicly, and without any hesitation, caused X. 1732 four of the men and two of the women to be burned to death. He also cheerfully permitted the Tonicas, who brought down a Natchez woman whom they had discovered in the woods, to put an end to her existence in the same manner. A plat- form was erected near the Levee. The unfortunate woman was led forth, placed upon it, and, surrounded by the whole population of New-Orleans, was slowly consumed by the flames ! What a stigma upon the character of the early in- habitants of the Crescent City ! Gayarre says :-- " The victim supported, with the most stoical fortitude, all the tortures which were inflicted upon her, and did not shed a tear. On the contrary, she upbraided her torturers with their want of skill, flinging at them every opprobrious epithet she could think of."*
As a nation, the Natchez were thus entirely destroyed. Great sympathy was felt for them by all the tribes in Missis- sippi and Alabama; even the Choctaws, who were so wedded to the French, being sad on account of their fate, and annoyed at the unparalleled cruelties which they experienced at the hands of their vindictive conquerors. The noble Creeks, upon the Coosa, received some of the refugees with open arms, while the still nobler Chickasaws not only welcomed others to their doors, but swore to shed the blood of their pursuers, in
* Louisiana, its Colonial History and Romance, by Charles Gayarre. New-York : 1851. pp. 444-445.
1733
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CHAPTER a protracted war. These things made the condition of the
x. French colony a very critical one. The English of Carolina did not fail to fan the fire which, they imagined, would soon 1734 consume their ancient colonial enemies. An expedition was fitted out in Charleston, composed of many traders and ad- venturers, with seventy pack-horses laden chiefly with muni- tions of war. Whether it was at the instance of the British government, or not, is unknown. They took the well-beaten path for the Chickasaw nation, and passing by the town of Coosa, then situated in the territory of the present county of Talladega, they prevailed upon some of the refugee Natchez to accompany them, and to assist in repelling the French in- vasion, which, it was known, was then contemplated. Arris- ing in the Chickasaw nation, they dispersed over the country. and not a few of them found their way to the towns of the Choctaws. Soon the whole Indian sky was crimsoned with flashing meteors, and then made dark with angry clouds.
1733 March
France, apprised of the precarious situation of her distant children, once more resolved to send the veteran Bienville to take care of them. The King began to see that his services could not be dispensed with, and after he had passed eight years in Paris, he sailed for the colony. His arrival at Mobile was hailed with joy and acclamations by the inhabi- tants. Diron D'Artagnette, a man of nerve and much ability, who had been longer absent from the colony than Bienville, accompanied him. He was presently stationed at Mobile as the King's commissary. Bienville, at first ocenpied much of his time in visiting Mobile and New
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Orleans, for the purpose of giving quiet to the inhabitants and preparing them for a war of invasion. On one occasion, while he was in New-Orleans, Diron D'Artaguette aroused all the French settlers, towards the east, by despatches which he sent among them, in relation to the arrival of the English expedition, to which allusion has just been made, and of the determination of the Choctaws to act, in future, against the French. He warned everybody to be upon their guard, for it was probable they might be butchered at any hour. The people of Mobile were in a state of extreme terror; they never went to mass without carrying their guns in their hands. Indeed they, at one time, resolved to retire to New- Orleans; but Bienville arriving, commanded them to remain and fear nothing. He highly disapproved of the excitement which Diron D'Artaguette had produced, and thought there was no occasion for such officious watchfulness on the part of the connnissary. This produced unpleasant feelings between them, and they indulged in recriminations of each other, in official reports to the government. Bienville was mortified at the conduct of D'Artaguette, in rebuking the Choctaw Chiefs, who had recently paid him a visit, for permitting the English to come among them. Further, he dismissed them without presents, upon which they returned home, highly offended. These things were represented to the government by Bienville, while D'Artaguette, on the other hand, stated, in one of his despatches, that Bienville's opposition to him arose from the fact that he had reported the "misconduct of his proteges or favorites, Lesueur and the Jesuit, Father
CHAPTER x.
1735
1735 April 29
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CHAPTER Beaudoin who, to the great scandal of the Choctaws, seduce x. their women." *
It is pleasant, to us, to be able to state that only a few of the missionaries, of the order of Jesuits, thus abused the holy offices with which they were entrusted. The great body of them led the most pious lives and suffered the greatest privations, in their efforts to redeem the savages from heatbenism.
1735
In the meantime, small parties of Natchez, with their generous allies, the Chickasaws, sought all occasions to annoy their enemy. From ambuscades on the hill tops and banks of the rivers, along the Indian paths in the interior, and from dark vallies in the mountains, they sprang upon the French trappers, hunters and traders, with the impetuosity of lions and the agility of tigers, and drank their hot blood with the voraciousness of wolves.
1735
But Bienville was straining every nerve to complete his preparations for the invasion of the Chickasaw nation. He visited Mobile once more, and having assembled at that point a large delegation of Choctaw Chiefs, he, in a great measure, accomplished his object in gaining them over to his side. It was important that he should do so, for Red Shoes, a potent Chief of that tribe, had already declared in favor of the English. Bienville freely distributed merchandize, and pro- mised a much larger amount, if they would assist him in the war, -- to which they finally consented. Indeed, ever since his
* Louisiana, its Colonial History and Romance, by Gayarre, p. 169.
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arrival from France, he saw the necessity of inspiring the CHAPTER Indian nations with awe and respect, by a bold and success- x. ful strike at the Chickasaws. Nor had he failed to demand the necessary men and military supplies from the mother country.
In the midst of these precarious times, a most unfortunate affair occurred in the bay of Mobile. A smuggling vessel, from Jamaica, cast her anchor twelve miles from the town. Diron D'Artaguette ordered her commander to leave the French coast; he refused. The commissary, then, placed Lieutenant De Velles in a boat, armed with thirty men, and ordered him to capture the smuggler. When he approached near her, the latter opened an effective fire; seventeen Frenchmen were immediately killed. Before D'Artaguette could reinforce De Velles, the smuggler had made her escape to,sea. This affair again enraged Bienville, and the war of recrimination was fiercer than ever between him and the commissary. What a pity it was, that men of such worth and character did not better appreciate each other. In olden times they had been great friends.
The commissary had a younger brother, who had behaved with distinguished gallantry in expeditions against the Nat- chez. IIe had recently been promoted to the command of the French fort in the district of Illinois. With him Bien- ville corresponded, respecting the invasion; he was ordered to collect the disposable French forces, and all the Indians in that country who would join him, and with them to march in a southern direction to the Chickasaw towns, while Bien-
1735 July 16
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CHAPTER ville would march from the south, and ineet him in the X. country of the enemy, on the 31st March, 1736. Afterwards
1735 the governor informed young D'Artaguette that he had been unable to make his arrangements to join him at that time, but he would meet him at another time, which was also appointed.
Bienville, nine months before this period, had despatched M. De Lusser, with a company of soldiers and artizans, to a place upon the Little Tombigby, which is now called Jones' Bluff, with orders to erect there a fort and cabins to be used as a depot for the army, and, afterwards, to serve as a permanent trading post. That fearless officer had reached these wilds in safety, and it was not long before the forest resounded with the noise of axes and the heavy falling of timber. He was assisted in his labors by many of the Choctaws.
1736 March 22
March 28
1536
April 1
At length the army left New-Orleans, and passing through the lakes reached Mobile. The vessels containing the supplies having entered the Gulf by way of the Balize, were retarded by winds, and did not arrive until six days afterwards ; and then it was discovered that a cargo of rice was destroyed by the salt water. To replace this loss, Bienville set his baker- to work, who made a large supply of biscuits for the army. He sent a despatch to De Lusser at Fort " Tombeche," ordering him to build ovens, and to have made an abundant supply of biscuits by the time of his arrival at that place. When all things were ready, Bienville embarked his troops at Mobile, and turned his boats up the river of that name. Never before had
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such a large and imposing fleet of the kind disturbed the deep CHAPTER and smooth waters which now flow by our beautiful commer- X. cial emporium. Every kind of up-country craft was employed, , and they bore men nearly of all kinds and colors. The crews were composed of genteel merchants, gentlemen of leisure and fortune, loafers and convicts, rough but bold mariners, veteran soldiers, sturdy and invincible Canadians, monks and priests, Choctaws and Mobilians, and a company of negroes command- ed by Simon, a free mulatto. The fleet comprised more than sixty of the largest pirogues and bateaux. Entering the main Tombigby, Bienville made his way up that stream to the confluence of the Warrior, and there, passing into the Little Tombigby, he at length arrived at the fort .* Heavy rains and much high water had retarded his passage.
The governor found that the fort was unfinished, and only some cabins, surrounded by stockades and covered with leaves, could be occupied. The bakers had prepared but few biscuits, for the fire cracked the prairie soil of which the ovens were made. After various unsuccessful efforts to make suita- ble ovens, they succeeded by mixing sand with the earth. Bienville was surprised to see, at the fort, four persons in irons-one Frenchman, two Swiss, and Montfort, a sergeant. They had formed the design of assassinating the commandant of the fort, M. De Lusser, and also the keeper of the store-house, and of carrying off Tisnet and Rosilie, who had recently been rescued from the Chickasaws, among whom they had
* Now Jones' Bluft.
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CHAPTER been held in slavery. They intended to convey these unfortu- X. nate men back to their masters, in order to gain favor, with the tribe, who would therefore be induced, after a time, to fa- cilitate their escape to the British provinces. But these assas- sins were defeated in their plans ; for Lieutenant Grondel, with the rapidity of action and the bravery which had ever distinguished him, arrested Montfort with his own hands. The prisoners were tried by a court martial, and being sen- tenced to be shot, were "presently passed by the arms at the head of the troops.""
1736 May 4
May 23
When all the allied Choctaws had arrived, Bienville re- viewed his troops upon the plain in the rear of the fort. He found that his army was composed of five hundred and fifty men, exclusive of officers, together with six hundred Indians. Hle now assumed the line of march for the country of the enemy. The larger number of the French troops embarked in the boats. Some of the Indians proceeded in their own canoes, while many hardy Canadians, called couriers de bois, marched with other Indians, sometimes along the banks, where the swamps did not intervene; and then again a mile or two from the river. It was truly an imposing scene to be exhibit- ed in these interminable wilds. After encountering many difficulties, the redoubtable Bienville at length reached the spot where now stands the city of Columbus, in Mississippi : and pursuing his tedious voyage, finally moored his boats at or near the place now known as Cotton Gin Port. Here dis-
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* Dumont's Memoires Historiques sur la Louisiane, p. 216.
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embarking, he immediately began to fell the trees in the CHAPTER forest, and soon stockaded a place ample enough to secure x. 1736 May 23 'his baggage and provisions, together with the sick ; while the side fronting the river was arranged with loop-holes for mus- kets, to protect his boats, which were all unladen and drawn up close together. He was twenty-seven miles from the towns of the enemy, which lay in a western direction. He left twenty men here under Vanderek, besides the keeper of the magazine, the patroons of the boats, and some of the sol- diers who were sick. With some difficulty he hired a suffi- cient number of the Choctaws to transport the sacks of pow- der and balls, for the negroes were alrea ly laden with other things. Taking provisions with him to last twelve days, the governor began the march in the evening, and that night en- May 24 camped six miles from the depot. The rains which incom- moded him in his voyage up the river, did not forsake him on his march upon the present occasion ; for, scarcely had he formed his camp when a violent storm arose. The next day he passed three deep ravines,-the soldiers wading up to their waists,-and after gaining the opposite banks, shipping and falling constantly upon the slimy soil. Great difficulties were surmounted in transporting the effects of the army over these angry torrents. The banks on either side were covered with large canes, but Bienville took the precaution always to send spies in advance, to prevent surprise from ambuscades. Soon, however, the French were relieved by the appearance of the most beautiful country in the world. The prairies were stretched out wide before them, covered with green grass.
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CHAPTER flowers and strawberries, while forests of magnificent trees X. were to be seen in the distance. A breeze gently played over the surface of the lovely plains, and a May day's sun warmed all nature into life. The sleek cattle were every- where grazing upon these sweet meadows of nature. The nimble deer bounded along, and droves of wild horses, of every variety of color, with lofty tails and spreading manes, made the earth resound with their rapid tread. Alas! alas! to think that the inhabitants, whom the Great Spirit had placed in a country so lovely and so enchanting, were soon to be assailed by an army of foreigners, assisted by their own neighbors.
Drawing nearer and nearer to the enemy, Bienville finally encamped within six miles of their towns. His camp was formed upon the border of a delightful prairie, the view across which was not interrupted by trees, until it had reached far beyond the Indian houses. He had previously sent spies in all directions, to look for D'Artaguette and his troops, who were to have joined liim there. The bands, chiefly composed of Indians, returned without having heard any thing of that unfortunate officer. The governor was sorely disappointed, and could no longer hope for aid from that source, and he resolved to rely upon his own forces. Ilis intention, at first, was to march in a circuitous direction, around the Chickasaw villages, in order to attack the Natchez town which lay behind them, and which had recently been erected. But the Choctaws had become very impatient to assail an advanced village of the Chickasaws, which, they
May 24 1736
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insisted, could be easily taken, and which, they stated, con- CHAPTER tained a large amount of provisions. Their importunities x. were disregarded until strengthened by the entreaties of the . Chevalier Noyan, the nephew of the governor, and many other French officers, whose impetuous disposition made them eager for an immediate attack. The houses of the enemy stood upon a hill, in the prairie, and spread out in the shape of a triangle. After some consideration, Bienville 1736 May 26 resolved to give the French an opportunity of gratifying a long sought revenge, especially when it was made known to him that his camp was then pitched near the last water which his men could procure for miles in a western direction. At two o'clock, in the afternoon, the Chevalier Noyan was placed at the head of a column consisting of a detachment of fifteen men drawn from each of the eight French companies, a company of grenadiers, forty-five volunteers and sixty-five Swiss.
The Chickasaws had fortified themselves with much skill. and were assisted by Englishmen, who had caused them to hoist a flag of their country over one of their defences. The French troops, as they advanced, were not a little surprised to see the British Lion, against which many of them had often fought in Europe, now floating over the rude huts of American Indians, and bidding them defiance. The Chickasaws had fortitied their houses in a most defensive manner, by driving large stakes into the ground around them. Many loop-holes were cut through the latter, very near the ground. Within the palisades, entrenchinents were cut, deep enough to protect the
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CHAPTER
x. persons of the Indians as high as their breasts. In these ditches they stood, and when the battle began, shot through the loop-holes at the French. The tops of these for- tified houses were covered with timbers, upon which was placed a thick coat of mud plaster, so that neither ignited arrows nor bomb shells could set the houses on fire. What added still more to the security of the Chickasaws, was the po- sition of some of their houses, which stood in nearly opposite directions, so as to admit of destructive cross-firing. Bienville having previously learned that there were several of the Brit- ish in the village, had, with much humanity, as it may at that time have seemed, directed the Chevalier Noyan to give them time to retire before he brought on the attack. The divi- sion then marched briskly on. It was protected by move- able breastworks, called mantalets, which were now carried by the company of negroes. As their lives appear not to have been esteemed of as much valne as those of the French, these negroes were used in the same manner as shields are in battle. When the troops advanced within carbine shot of the village of Ackia, where waved the British flag, one of the negroes was killed, and another wounded. They all now threw down their mantalets and precipitately fled. The French, with their usual impetuosity, rapidly advanced. They entered the village. The grenadiers led. And now, no long- er protected by the mantalets, they received a severe fire from the Chickasaws, which killed and wounded many. Among the former was the gallant and accomplished Chevalier de Contre Cœur ; and when he fell dead it produced an mpka-
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