USA > Alabama > History of Alabama, and incidentally of Georgia and Mississippi, from the earliest period, v. 1 > Part 23
USA > Georgia > History of Alabama, and incidentally of Georgia and Mississippi, from the earliest period, v. 1 > Part 23
USA > Mississippi > History of Alabama, and incidentally of Georgia and Mississippi, from the earliest period, v. 1 > Part 23
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1736 May 26
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sant feeling among those around him, by whom he was greatly CHAPTER esteemed. Upon his right and left soldiers lay dead, discol- x. 1736 May 26 oring the green grass with their hot blood. But the troops carried three fortified cabins, and reached several smaller ones, which they presently wrapped in flames. The chief fort, and other fortified houses, lay some distance in the rear of those they had in possession. The Chevalier Noyan was eager to advance upon them, but turning round to take a rapid survey of his forces, he was mortified to perceive that only the offi- cers, a dozen of the volunteers, and some grenadiers remained with him. Dismayed by the fall of Captain de Lusser,# who was now killed, and seeing a popular sergeant of grenadiers, and several soldiers, also fall, the troops retreated to the cab- ins which were first taken. In vain did the officers, who be- longed to the rear, endeavor to drive them on to the scene of action. A panic had seized them, and no exhortation, threats, 1736 May 20 promises of promotion, or hopes of military glory, could in- duce them to make the slightest advance from their cowardly position. But the officers resolved more than ever, to do their duty, and placing themselves at the head of a few brave sol- diers, essayed to storm the fort. But just at the moment of their contemplated charge, the brave Chevalier De Noyan, Grondel, an invincible lieutenant of the Swiss, D'Hauterive, a captain of the grenadiers, Montbrun, De Velles, and many
* It will be recollected that De Lusser, who was now killed, was the officer whom Bienville sent to construct Fort "Tombeebe," upon the site of the present Jones' Bluff.
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CHAPTER other officers and soldiers received severe wounds. The balls X. of the Chickasaws came thick, and whizzed over the prairies. The bleeding De Noyan stood his ground, and despatched his aid to assist in bringing up the soldiers, who still screened 1736 May 26 themselves behind the cabins; but as he left to perform the order, a Chickasaw ball put an end to his existence. The death of this officer, whose name was De Juzan, increased the panie which had so unfortunately seized upon the larger num- ber of the troops. A party of Indians, at this moment, rush- ed up to scalp Grondel, the Swiss officer, who had fallen near the walls of the fort. A brave sergeant, with four fearless soldiers, rushed to the rescue. Driving off the savages, they were about to bear him off in their arms, when a fire from the fort killed every one of these noble fellows ! But the bleeding Grondel still survived, although those who come to protect his head from the blows of the hatchet, lay dead by his side. Another act of heroism is worthy of record. Reg- nisse now rushed out alone, and making his way to the unfor- tunate Grondel, who still lay bleeding from five wounds, dragged him out from among the bodies of those who had just fallen in his defence, placed him on his back, and return- 173€ May 26 ed to the French lines, without receiving a solitary wound from the showers of Chickasaw balls. The almost lifeless Grondel received, however, another severe wound as he was borne off by the noble Regnisse .*
* This Grondel was an officer of indomitable courage. His life was full of romantic events. He had fought several duels at Mobile. He
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But where were the six hundred Choctaws, while the CHAPTER French were thus expiring in agony upon the prairie ? X. Painted, plumed, and dressed in a manner the most fantastic and horrible, they kept the plain, on either side of the French lines, at a distance where the balls of the enemy could not reach them, sending forth yells and shouts, and occasionally dancing and shooting their guns in the air. The brave Chickasaws maintained their positions in the forti- fied houses, and, from loop holes, riddled the French with their unerring rifles. They, too, yelled most awfully. The 1736 May 26 scene was one calculated to excite deep interest, for, added to all this, the looker-on might have viewed the flames rising up from the burning cabins, and sending above them volumes of black smoke, which a May breeze wafted to the far off forests.
The Chevalier De Noyan now ordered a retreat to the advanced cabins, and when he had arrived there, he des- patched an officer to Bienville, bearing an account of their critical condition. Noyan sent him word that, although severely wounded himself, he was determined to keep the position which he had just taken. He requested that a detachment should be sent to his assistance, to bear off the dead and wounded, and assist those who were alive to make a retreat, as, now, no further hope remained of storming the fortifications of the Chickasaws. Bienville was hastened in
1788 May 26
recovered from the wounds which he received in this battle, and was promoted to high military stations.
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CHAPTER his determination to send aid, by observing that a Chickasaw X. force on the flank, which had not yet participated in the battle, were about to sally from their houses, and immolate the French officers and the few soldiers who had remained with them. He then immediately despatched Beauchamp, with eighty men, to the scene of action. Arriving there he found the French officers huddled together, keeping their ground at the imminent peril of their lives. Beauchamp, in advancing, had already lost several men. The Chickasaws now redoubled their exertions, and made the plains resound with their exulting shouts. Beauchamp began the retreat, 1736 May 26 carrying off many of the wounded and the dead, but unfortu- nately was forced to leave some behind, who fell into the tiger clutches of the Chickasaws. When the French had retreated some distance, towards Bienville's head quarters, the Choctaws, by way of bravado, rushed up to the Chicka- saw fortifications, as if they intended to carry them by storm, but receiving a general volley from the enemy, they fled in great terror over the prairie.
The battle of Ackia had lasted three hours, and resulted in glory to the Chickasaws, and disgrace to the Frenchi. When the French troops arrived at the camp, proper atten- tion was paid to the wounded and the dying. It was not long before this brilliant and exciting scene was made to give place to one which presented an aspect at once quiet, calm and beautiful. The sun, in his retirement for the night, had just sunk to the tops of the trees in the far off' distance. A cool and delicious breeze was made sweet with the odour of
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wild flowers. The Chickasaws were as quiet as the boa-con- CHAPTER strictor after he has gorged upon' his prey. The cattle and X. horses, much disturbed during the fight, now began to move up and feed upon their accustomed meadows. What a contrast had been produced by the lapse of only two hours !
During this quiet scene, a collection of French officers were on one side of the camp, summing up the misfortunes of the day. Among them stood Simon, the commander of the negroes who fled from the field. Simon was a favorite with the officers, and had resolutely maintained his ground during the engagement. Some of them rallied him upon the flight of his company, which annoyed him excessively. At that moment, a drove of horses came down to the stream to slake their thirst, not far from the fortified houses of the Chicka- saws. The desperate Simon, in reply to those who made sport of his company, seized a rope and ran off towards the horses, saying: "I will show you that a negro is as brave as any one." IIe passed around the horses in full range of the Chickasaw rifles, from which balls were showered upon him, and making his way up to a beautiful white mare, threw a rope over her head, and thus securing her, passed it around her nose, mounted upon her back with the agility of a Camanche Indian, and pressed her with rapid speed into the French lines. He did not receive a wound,-and he was welcomed with shouts by the soldiers, and was no more jeered on account of the cowardice of his company .*
1730 May 28
* Dumont's Memoires Historique sur la Louisiane.
1736 May 26
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CHAPTER x. Bienville, pleased with the gallantry which Regnisse had displayed in bearing off the wounded Grondel, immediately from under the guns of the Chickasaws, had him brought to the marquee, complimented him upon the generous and heroic act which he had performed, and proposed to promote him to the rank of an officer. The brave Regnisse modestly replied that he had done nothing more than what could have been accomplished by any of his brother grenadiers, and stated that as he could not write, he was unfitted for an offi- cer ; therefore he declined the intended honor.
Night now shrouded the scene with its sable mantle, and the French troops reposed behind some trees which had been felled for their protection. The Chickasaws remained quiet within their intrenchments. At length day dawned, and exhibited to Bienville a painful sight. On the ramparts of the Chickasaws were suspended the French soldiers and officers, whom Beauchamp was forced to leave upon the field. Their limbs had been separated from their bodies, and thus were they made to dangle in the air, for the purpose of insulting the defeated invaders. Many of the officers wished to rush again upon the villages, but Bienville determined to retreat, as the Choctaws were of no assistance to him, and he was without cannon to batter down the fortifications. In the afternoon, at two o'clock, he began the retrograde march. The soldiers, worn down with the fatigue produced by the bat- tle and the mortifications arising from its disgraceful termina- tion, were unable, in addition to their heavy loads of baggage, to carry the wounded, who were placed in litters. Conse-
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quently night set in by the time Bienville had marched only four miles; here the camp was again made. The Choctaws were highly exasperated on account of this slow movement, and Red Shoes, who had long endeavored to wean his people from the French interest, now vociferously threatened to take with him the greater portion of the Choctaws, and thus leave the French to the mercy of the Chickasaws in this wild and distant region. Bienville was startled when he was informed of this determination. He sent for the main Chief of the Choctaws, and by his eloquence and the force of that myste- rious influence which he possessed, he succeeded not only in getting the Choctaws to remain with the army, but made them consent to assist in the transportation of the wounded. Red Shoes rebuked the head Chief, for consenting to such terms, in a manner so insulting, that the latter drew his pistol from his belt, and was in the act of shooting him, when Bienville seized his arm, saved the life of Red Shoes, and, for a while, put an end to an affair which threatened the most serious consequences. The next morning Bienville put his troops upon the march, and he arrived at the depot, upon the Tombigby, on the 29th May, after he had buried two of his men, on the way, who had died of their wounds.
Bienville was astonished to observe how much the river had fallen, and he hurried his effects into the boats, for fear that the delay of a day longer would leave him without a stream sufficient to convey him to Mobile. When the troops had embarked, the ropes which bound the boats to the banks were untied, and then the discomfited French party passed down
CHAPTER x.
1736 May 28
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CHAPTER
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X. the streamn. The channel of the Little Tombigby was here so crooked and narrow, that the boats had frequently to -stop until logs and projecting limbs were cut out of the way. If the Chickasaws had followed up the French, they could easily have destroyed Bienville's army at this time. At length the army reached Fort "Tombecbe," now Jones' Bluff. Bien- ville, sending on a portion of the troops, and the sick and wounded to Mobile, disembarked at the fort. He remained there, however, but one day, which he consumed in planning upon paper, and tracing upon the ground additions which he directed to be made to the defences. Then, leaving Captain De Berthel in command of Fort " Tombecbe," with a garri- son of thirty Frenchmen and twenty Swiss, provisions to last for the remainder of the year, and an abundance of merchan- dize intended to be used in a commerce with the Indians, the governor entered his boats, and continued the voyage until they were moored at the town of Mobile.
June 3
But where was the brave and unfortunate D'Artaguette ? Why did not his army join Bienville at the Chickasaw towns ? The reader will presently sce. That officer had assembled the tribes of the Illinois at Fort Chatres, and had made them acquainted with the plans of Governor Bienville. With these Indians, and others which De Vincennes had collected upon the Wabash, together with thirty soldiers and one hundred volunteers, D'Artaguette floated down the Mississippi river until he reached the last of the Chickasaw Bluffs. He had expected to have been joined by De Grandpré, who command- ed at the Arkansas, and that officer had sent twenty-eight
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warriors of that tribe to ascertain whether D'Artaguette was CHAPTER at Ecores à Prudhomme. These scouts were instructed to x. return with the necessary information; but upon arriving at that place, and finding that D'Artaguette had set out upon his expedition, they hastened to follow him into the enemy's country. Disembarking at the Chickasaw Bluffs, D'Arta- guette marched across the country, at a slow pace, hoping to be overtaken by De Grandpré, and also by Montcherval, who had been ordered to bring on his Cahokias and Mitchigamias. Pursuing the march in an eastward direction, D'Artaguette advanced among the sources of the Yalobusha, and there 1736 May encamped on the 9th May. He was but a few miles east of the site of the present town of Pontotoc, in Mississippi, near the place where he and Bienville were to have met each other, and not more than thirty miles from the spot where the latter, afterwards, moored his boats,-near the present Cotton Gin Port. D'Artaguette sought, in vain, for intelligence of the commander-in-chief. He was assisted by Lieutenant Vin- cennes, the young Voisin, and Senac, a holy father of the order of Jesuits, in arranging and conducting the spy com- panies, who roamed the forests in search of Bienville. But nothing could be heard of him until a courier brought to D'Artaguette a letter, in which he was informed that unex- pected delays would prevent Bienville from reaching the Chickasaw towns before the last of April. The red allies had become impatient, for, by this time, D'Artaguette had May 20 occupied his camp for eleven days. He now resolved to advance upon the Chickasaws, as his allies had threatened to
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CHAPTER abandon him if he did not soon bring on the attack. They x. represented to him that the advance town was inhabited by the refugee Natchez, and by taking it they could return to their encampment with an abundance of provisions, where they might remain entrenched until Bienville's arrival. This plausible proposition found advocates in the French officers. The allied forces consisted of one hundred and thirty French- men, and three hundred and sixty Indians. The French advanced within a mile of the village, on Palm Sunday. Frontigny was here left at the camp, with thirty men, in charge of all the baggage. D'Artaguette advanced rapidly to the attack, which he presently brought on with his accustomed gallantry. At that moment, thirty Englishmen and five hundred Indians, who were concealed behind an adjacent hill, rose up and fell upon the invaders with such impetuosity that the Miamis and the Illinois fled from the battle field. Indeed, all the Indians took to their heels, except a few Iroquois and Arkansas, who behaved in the bravest manner. The guns of the enemy brought to the ground Lieutenant St. Ange, Ensigns De Coulanges, De La 1736 Graviere and De Courtigny, with six of the militia officers. May 20 By this time the French were almost surrounded, but they still continued to keep their position. Presently, Captain Des Essarts was seen to fall, and also Lieutenant Langlois and Ensign Levieux. So great was the loss of the French, in this short, but desperate conflict, that D' Artaguette determined to retreat to the camp, for the double purpose of saving his baggage, and of being reinforced by the men he had left
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there. But the retreat could not be conducted with the CHAPTER least order, for the Chickasaws were close upon their heels, x. and at length again surrounded them. D'Artaguette now fell, covered with wounds, and was taken prisoner, together with Father Senac, Vincennes, Du Tisne, an officer of the regulars, a captain of the militia, named Lalande, and some soldiers, making nineteen in all. Not one man would have 1736 May 20 escaped the clutches of the brave Chickasaws, if a violent storm, which now arose, had not prevented further pursuit. It was a great victory ; all the provisions and baggage of D'Artaguette fell into the hands of the Chickasaws, besides eleven horses, four hundred and fifty pounds of powder and twelve hundred bullets. With this powder and these bullets they, afterwards, shot down the troops of Bienville, as we have already seen.
Voisin, a youth of only sixteen years of age, conducted the retreat for many miles, without food or water, while his men carried such of the wounded as they were able to bear. This noble youth,-one of the bravest that ever lived,-stood by the side of D'Artaguette iu all this bloody engagement. At length, on the second day of his painful retreat, he halted his men at a place, where Montcherval, who was following D'Ar- taguette with one hundred and sixty Indians, had encamped. The latter, collecting the fragments of the army, fell back to the Mississippi river.
At first, the unfortunate D'Artaguette and his equally uu- fortunate companions in captivity, were treated with kindness and attention by the Chickasaws, who dressed their wounds.
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CHAPTER
x. 1736 May
Hopes of a high ransom prompted this conduct, so unusual with Indians. They expected not only to receive money from Bienville, who was known to be approaching, but imagined that, by holding these men as prisoners, the governor would consent to leave their towns unattacked. But at length they received intelligence that Bienville had been defeated, and they now resolved to sacrifice the prisoners. They led them out to a neighboring field, and D'Artaguette, Father Senac, Vincennes, and fifteen others were pinioned to stakes and burned to death! One of the soldiers was spared to carry the news of the triumph of the Chickasaws, and the death of these unhappy men, to the mortified Bienville .*
The Chickasaws have never been conquered. They could not be defeated by De Soto, with his Spanish army, in 1541; by Bienville, with his French army and Southern Indians, in 1736; by D' Artaguette, with his French army and Northern Indians; by the Marquis De Vandreuil, with his French troops and Choctaws, in 1752; nor by the Creeks, Cherokees, Kicka- poos, Shawnees and Choctaws, who continually waged war
* MS. letters obtained from Paris. I have also consulted Gayarre's Histoire de la Louisiane, vol. 1, pp. 311-331, which contains the des- patches of Bienville to the French Court, in relation to these battles. Also, Dumont's Memoires Historiques sur la Louisiane-Bancroft's History of the United States, vol. 3-The South West by Alexander B. Merk, of Mobile-Martin's Louisiana-Stodart's Louisiana-Mo- nette's History of the Mississippi Valley, vol. 1, pp. 283-288-1.ouis- iana, its Colonial History and Romance, by Charles Gayarre : New- York, 1851 ; pp. 476-495.
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against them. No! they were "the bravest of the brave ;" and even when they had emigrated to the territory of Arkan- sas, not many years ago, they soon subdued some tribes who attacked them in that quarter.
Young men of North Western Alabama and North East- ern Mississippi! Remember that the bravest race that ever lived, once occupied the country which you now inhabit- once fished in your streams, and chased the elk over your vast plains. Remember, that whenever that soil, which you now tread, was pressed by the feet of foes, it was not only bravely defended, but drenched with the blood of the invaders. Will you ever disgrace that soil, and the memory of its first occu- pants, by submitting to injustice and oppression, and finally to invasion ? We unhesitatingly give the answer for you- " No-no -- never !"
CHAPTER X.
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CHAPTER XI.
BIENVILLE LEAVES THE COLONY-HIS CHARACTER.
CHAPTER XI.
1740 March
IN our investigations of the French Colonial History of Alabama and Mississippi, for a period of sixteen years from the conclusion of the campaigns of Bienville and D'Arta- guette, in the Chickasaw nation, we find but little to interest the reader. The same difficulties as heretofore, continued to exist with the Indian tribes, with the colonial authorities and with the English of Carolina. Bienville began, soon after his defeat near Pontotoc, to lose favor with the King and the . West India Company. To recover the ground which he had lost in their confidence, he exerted himself to organize another expedition against the Chickasaws; and having perfected it, he sailed up the Mississippi to Fort St. Francis, and disem- barking, brought his army to a place near the mouth of the Margot or Wolf river. Here his troops remained a long time, until, reduced by death from various diseases, and by famine, he was left with but few soldiers. Finally, with these M. Celeron was ordered to march against the Chickasaw
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towns. As he advanced, the Chickasaws, supposing that a CHAPTER large French army had invaded their country, sued for peace. XI. Celeron took advantage of their mistake, and immediately come to terms with them. The Chickasaws promised to expel the Eng- lish traders from their country, and, from that time, to remain true to the French interest. When the result of this expedition, which terminated forever the military operations of Bienville, became known in France, the governor began to receive des- patches dictated in a spirit of much harshness and censure. The pride of Bienville was wounded-his spirit was humbled; and, being too sensible a man to retain a position the duties of which it was believed he had failed creditably to perform, he now requested to be recalled. IIe wrote to the Minister 1743 March 26 as follows :-
" If success had always corresponded with my application to the affairs of the government and administration of the colony, and with my zeal for the service of the King. I would have rejoiced in devoting the rest of my days to such objects; but, through a sort of fatality, which, for some time past, has obstinately thwarted my best concerted plans, I have frequently lost the fruit of my labors, and, perhaps, some ground in your excellency's confidence :- therefore have I come to the conclusion, that it is no longer necessary for me to struggle against my adverse fortune. I hope that better luck may attend my successor. During the remainder of my stay here, I will give all my attention to smooth the difficulties attached to the office which I shall deliver up to hin; and it is to me
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CHAPTER a subject of self-gratulation that I shall transmit to him the
XI. government of the colony, when its affairs are in a better con- dition than they have ever been."*
Bienville was, unquestionably, not only a great and good man, but a modest one. We find in this letter none of that disgusting cant indulged in by American politicians and Ame- rican office holders, when they lose their places. In these days it is cominon for such men to say that they have been treated with ingratitude by the government, if they are re- moved from an office,-or by the people, if an opposing can- didate is elected to Congress, and to whine and complain- about having "grown gray in the service of their country," when, in truth, they have lived at their ease and feasted upon the contents of the public treasury, time out of mind. Some of these men have received over a hundred thousand dollars for occupying seats in the Senate and the House of Repre- sentatives, and much larger suns for filling the office of Presi- dent, and for foreign missions, and yet, after all these favors, from the government and the people, they complain of being treated with ingratitude, if they lose their position. The people who permitted them so long to hold these trusts, often to their own injury, should never be charged with the crime of ingratitude ; but the recipient of all these political favors
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