USA > Arkansas > A pictorial history of Arkansas, from earliest times to the year 1890. A full and complete account, embracing the Indian tribes occupying the country; the early French and Spanish explorers and governors; the colonial period; the Louisiana purchase; the periods of the territory, the state, the civil war, and the subsequent period. Also, an extended history of each county in the order of formation, and of the principal cities and towns; together with biographical notices of distinguished and prominent citizens > Part 5
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On the 20th we arrived at the Taensas, by whom we were . exceedingly well received and supplied with a large quantity of provisions. M. de Tonti passed a night at one of their vil- lages, where there were about 700 men, carrying arms, assem- bled in the place. Here again a peace was concluded. A peace was also made with the Koroas, whose chief came there from the principal village of the Koroas, two (2) leagues dis- tant from that of the Natches. The two chiefs accompanied M. de La Salle to the banks of the river. Here the Koroa chief embarked with him to conduct him to his village, where peace was again concluded with this nation, which, besides the five (5) other villages of which it is composed, is allied to nearly forty (40) others.
On the 3Ist we passed the village of the Oumas without knowing it, on account of the fog and its distance from the river. On the 3d of April, at about 10 o'clock in the morning, we saw among the canes thirteen (13) or fourteen (14) canoes. M. de La Salle landed with several of his people. Footprints were seen and also savages a little lower down, who were fishing and who fled precipitatedly as soon as they discovered us. Others of our party then went ashore on the borders of a marsh formed by the inundation of the river. M. de La Salle sent two Frenchmen and then two savages to re- connoiter, who reported that there was a village not far off, but that the whole of the marsh, covered with canes, must be crossed to reach it ; that they had been assailed with a shower of arrows by the inhabitants of the town, who had not dared
(*) Monette thinks this indicates Lake Providence, where the Tensas river has its rise.
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
to engage with them in the marsh, but who had then with- drawn, although neither the French nor the savages with them had fired, on account of the orders they had received not to act unless in pressing danger. Presently we heard a drum beat in the village, and the cries and howlings with which these barbarians are accustomed to make attacks. We waited three or four hours, and as we could not encamp in the marsh, and seeing no one, and no longer hearing any thing, we embarked. An hour afterwards we came to the village of Maheoula, lately destroyed, and containing dead bodies and marks of blood. Two leagues below this place we encamped. We continued our voyage till the 6th, when we discovered three channels by which the river Colbert (Mississippi) discharged itself into the sea. We landed on the bank of the northwestern channel, about three (3) leagues from the mouth. On the 7th, M. de La Salle went to reconnoiter the shores of the neighboring sea, and M. de Tonti likewise examined the great middle chan- nel. They found these two outlets beautiful, large and deep.
On the 8th, we re-ascended the river a little above its con- fluence with the sea, to find a dry place beyond the reach of inundations. The elevation of the North Pole was here about 27 degrees. Here was prepared a column and a cross, and to the said column were affixed the arms of France, with the in- scription :
"Louis le Grand, Roi de France et Navarre, Regne le Neuvieme, Avril, 1682."
The whole party under arms chanted the Te Deum, the Exaudiat, the Domine Salvem fac Regem, and then, after a salute of fire-arms and cries of "Vive le Roi!" the column was erected by M. de La Salle, who, standing near it, said with a loud voice, in French : "In the name of the most high, mighty, invincible and victorious Prince Louis, the Great, by the grace of God, King of France and of Navarre, four- teenth of that name, this ninth (9th) day of April, one thou- sand six hundred and eighty-two (1682), I, in virtue of the
.
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FROM 1543 TO 1700.
commission of his Majesty, which I hold in my hand, and which may be seen by all whom it may concern, have taken, and do now take, in the name of his Majesty and of his suc- cessors to the crown, possession of this country of Louisiana, the seas, harbors, ports, bays, adjacent straits and all the na- tions, people, provinces, cities, towns, villages, mines, min- erals, fisheries, streams and rivers, comprised in the extent of the said Louisiana from the mouth of the great river St. Louis on the eastern side, otherwise called Ohio-Alighen, Si- pore (S-i-p-o-r-e) or Chukagona, and this with the consent of the Chaouanous (C-h-a-o-u-a-n-o-u-s), Chickachas and other people dwelling herein with whom we have made alliance ; as also along the river Colbert or Mississippi, and rivers which discharge themselves therein, from its sources beyond the coun- try of the Kious or Nadouessious, and this with their consents, and with the consent of the Motantees (M-o-t-a-n-t-e-e-s), Illi- nois, Mesigameas, Natches (N-a-t-c-h-e-s), Koroas, which are the most considerable nations dwelling therein, with whom also we have made alliance, either by ourselves, or by others, in our behalf, as far as its mouth at the sea, or Gulf of Mexico, about the 27th degree of the elevation of the North Pole, and also to the mouth of the river Palms, upon the as- surance which we have received from all these nations that we are the first Europeans who have descended or ascended the said river Colbert, hereby protesting against all those who may in future undertake to invade any or all of the countries, people or lands above described, to the prejudice of the rights of his Majesty, acquired by the consent of the nations herein named.
Of which and of all that can be needed I hereby take to wit- ness those who hear me, and demand an act of the notary as required by law.
To which the whole assembly responded with shouts of "Vive le Roi," and with a salute of fire-arms. Moreover, the said Sieur de La Salle caused to be buried at the foot of the
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
tree to which the cross was attached, a leaden plate on one side of which were engraved the arms of France and the fol- lowing Latin inscription :
LVDOVICVS MAGNVS REGNAT NONO APRILIS ANNO MDCLXXXII
ROBERIVS CAVELIER, CVM DOMINO DE TONTY, LEGATO, R. P. ZENOBIO MEMBRÉ RECOLLECTO ET VIGINTI GALLIS PRIMIS HOC FLUMEN, INDE AB ILLINEORVM PAGO ENAVIGAVIT EJVS QUE OSTIVM FECIT PER VIVM NONO APRILIS ANNI MDCLXXXII .*
After which the Sieur de La Salle said that his Majesty, as eldest son of the Church, would annex no country to his crown without making it his chief care to establish the Christian re- ligion therein, and that its symbol must now be planted; which was accordingly done at once by erecting a cross, before which the Vexilla and the Domine Saleum fac Regem were sung. Whereupon the ceremony was concluded with cries of "Vive le Roi."
Of all and every of the above, the said Sieur de La Salle having required of us an instrument, we have delivered to him the same signed by us and by the undersigned witnesses this ninth day of April, one thousand six hundred and eighty- two.
LA METAIRIE, Notary.
De La Salle,
P. Zenobius, Recollect Missionary,
Henry de Tonti,
François de Boisroudet,
Jean Bourdon, Sieur d'Autray,
Jacques Cauchois,
Pierre You,
Gilles Mencret,
Jean Michel, Surgeon,
Jean Mas,
Jean Dalignon,
Nicholas de La Salle."
(*) In the reign of Louis the Great, on the 9th of April, MDCLXXXII, Robert Cavalier with Sieur de Tonti, envoy ; Rev. Father Zenobius Membre, a Recollect Missionary and twenty Gauls (Frenchmen), the first in this river, thence from its first (highest) village, having explored even to its mouth, makes this witness (attestation) the 9th of April, in the year MDCLXXXII.
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FROM 1543 TO 1700.
Henry de Tonti also wrote a Memoir of the Expedition, found in French's Collection, embracing many of the partic- ulars stated above, from which the following are extracts.
Extracts from "MEMOIR, BY THE SIEUR DE TONTI."*
"After having been 8 years in the French service, by land and by sea, and having had a hand shot off in Sicily by a gren- ade, I resolved to return to France to solicit employment. At that time the late M. Chaviliere de La Salle came to court, a man of great intelligence and merit, who sought to obtain leave to discover the Gulf of Mexico by crossing the southern countries of North America. Having obtained of the King the permission he desired through the favor of the late M. Colbert and M. de Seignelae, the late Monseigneur, the Prince Conty, who was acquainted with him, and who honored me with his favor, directed me to him to be allowed to accompany him in his long journeys, to which he very wil- lingly assented. We sailed from Rochelle on the 14th of July, 1678, and arrived at Quebec on the 15th of September following.
Having arrived at Poatoutamus, an Illinois village, the cal- umet was sung, during which ceremony presents were given and received. There is a post placed in the midst of the as- sembly, where those who wish to make known their deeds in war, striking the post, declaim on the deeds they have done. This ceremony takes place in the presence of those with whom they wish to make friendship, the calumet being the symbol of peace Continuing our voyage about 60 leagues, we came to a place which was named Fort Prudhomme, be- cause one of our men lost himself there when out hunting, and was nine days without food.
As they were looking for him they fell in with the Chikasas savages, whose village was three days' journey inland. They had 2,000 warriors, the greater number of whom have flat
(*) The spelling of the name in these memoirs is Tonty. In this work the spelling usual in English, or Tonti, is followed.
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
heads, which is considered a beauty among them, the women taking pains to flatten the heads of their children by means of a cushion which they put on the forehead and bind with a band which they also fasten to the cradle, and thus make their heads take this form. When they grow up their faces are as big as a large soup-plate. All the nations on the sea coast have the same custom.
M. de La Salle sent back one of them with presents to his village, so that if they had taken Prudhomme they might send him back, but we found him on the tenth day, and as the Chikasas did not return, we continued our route as far as the village of Cappa, fifty leagues off. We arrived there in foggy weather, and as we heard the sound of the tambor, we crossed over to the other side of the river, where, in less than half an hour, we made a fort. The savages, having been informed that we were coming down the river, came in their canoes to look for us. We made them land, and sent two Frenchmen as hostages to their village ; the chief visited us with the calumet, and we went to the savages. They regaled us with the best they had, and after having danced the calumet to M. de La- Salle, they conducted us to their village of Toyengan (T-o-y- e-n-g-a-n), eight leagues from Cappa. They received us there in the same manner, and from thence they went with us to Toriman (T-o-r-i-m-a-n), two leagues further on, where we met with the same reception. It must be here remarked that these villages, the first of which is Osotonoy (O-s-o-t-o- n-o-y), are six leagues to the right, descending the river, and are commonly called Akancas (A-k-a-n-c-a-s). The first three villages are situated on the great river Mississippi.
M. de La Salle erected the arms of the king there; they have cabins made with bark of cedar ; they have no other wor- ship than the adoration of all sorts of animals. Their coun- try is very beautiful.
Having abundance of peach, plum and apple trees, and vines flourish there ; buffaloes, deer, stags, bears and turkeys
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FROM 1543 TO 1700.
are very numerous. They have even domestic fowls. They have very little snow during the winter, and the ice is no thicker than a dollar. They gave us guides to conduct us to their allies, the Taencas, six leagues distant."
Having taken possession of the country, La Salle ascended the river and returned to Fort Miami. Leaving his faithful Lieutenant, Henry de Tonti, in command at Fort St. Louis, in the country of the Illinois, La Salle departed for France in November of the year, to report his discoveries and bring back a colony, and reached Paris in the early part of 1683.
De Tonti remained at Fort St. Louis, or with his head- quarters there until 1685, when having learned that La Salle had set sail from France, he, in 1686, went to the mouth of the Mississippi to meet him, but received no intelligence of his chief. He sent two parties in canoes in search of La- Salle, one in the direction of Mexico and the other toward Carolina ; but after traveling about 90 miles, each party re- turned, unsuccessful in their search. Thereupon De Tonti gave up the search for the time and ascended the river to Fort St. Louis. In doing so he stopped on his upward journey at the village of the Bayou Goulas, also called Ounipassas, a tribe of Choctaw affinity, living along the Mississippi near the mouth of the Iberville river in Louisiana. There he left with the chief of the tribe a letter to La Salle, to be delivered to him as he came up the river.
On reaching the Arkansas river, some of the men desired to establish a post, and De Tonti granting the request, sent six of them to build a house there while the rest accompanied him to Illinois.
This was the first white settlement in Arkansas, and the date of it is 1686. The location of the place on Joutel's map of LaSalle's expedition, published in 1695, corresponds with the location of the present post of Arkansas.
The following is De Tonti's account of this expedition, as taken from his narrative:
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
Extract from Memoir by the Sieur de La Tonti :
"M. de La Barre was directed to deliver up to M. de La- Foret the lands belonging to the Sieur de La Salle, and which were occupied by others to his prejudice. He brought me news that M. de La Salle was sailing by way of the islands to find the mouth of the Mississippi, and had at court obtained a company for me. He sent me orders to command at Fort St. Louis, as Captain of Fort and Governor. We took meas- ures together, and formed a company of 20 men to maintain the Fort. M. de La Foret went away in the autumn for Fort Frontenac, and I began my journey to Illinois. Being stopped by the ice, I was obliged to halt at Montreal, where I passed the winter. When M. de La Foret arrived there in the spring, we took new measures ; he returned to Frontenac and I went on to the Illinois, where I arrived in June (1685) ; M. le Chavalier de Boyis retired from command, according to the orders I brought him from M. de La Barre. The Miamis having seriously defeated the Illinois, it cost us 1,000 dollars to reconcile these two nations, which I did not accom- plish without great trouble. In the autumn I embarked for
Misslimakinac in order to obtain news of M. de La Salle. I heard there that Monsieur de Denonville had succeeded M. de La Barre ; and by a letter, which he did me the honor to write me, he expressed his wish to see me, that we might take measures for a war against the Iroquois, and informed me that M. de La Salle was engaged in seeking the mouth of the Mississippi in the Gulf of Mexico. Upon hearing this, I re- solved to go in search of him with a number of Canadians, and as soon as I should have found him, to return back to execute the orders of M. de Denonville.
"I embarked, therefore, for the Illinois, on St. Andrew's Day (30th of October, 1685) ; but being stopped by the ice I was obliged to leave my canoe and to proceed on by land. After going 120 leagues, I arrived at the Fort of Chicagou, where M. de La Darantaye commanded, and from there I came to
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FROM 1543 TO 1700.
Fort St. Louis, where I arrived in the middle of January, 1686. I departed thence on the 16th of February with 30 Frenchmen, and five Illinois and Chawanons, for the sea, which I reached in Holy Week. After having passed the above named nations, I was very well received. Sent out two canoes, one toward the coast of Mexico, and the other toward Carolina, to see if they could discover anything. They each sailed about thirty leagues, but proceeded no farther for want of fresh water. They reported that where they had been the land began to rise. They brought me a porpoise and some oysters. As it would take us five months to reach the French settlements, I proposed to my men that if they would trust to me to follow the coast as far as Manhatte, that by this means we should arrive shortly at Montreal ; that we should not lose our time, because we might discover some fine country, and might even take some booty on our way. Part of my men were willing to adopt my plan, but as the rest were opposed to it, I decided to return the way I came.
"The tide does not rise more than two feet perpendicularly on the sea coast, and the land is very low at the entrance of the river. We encamped in the place where M. de La Salle had erected the arms of the king. As they had been thrown down by the floods, I took them five leagues further up and placed them in a higher station.
"I put a silver ecu in the hollow of a tree to serve as a mark of time and place. We left this place on Easter Monday. When we came opposite the Quinipissas village the chiefs brought me the calumet, and declared the sorrow they felt at the treachery they had perpetrated against me on our first voyage. I made an alliance with them. Forty leagues higher up, on the right, we discovered a village inland, with the inhabitants of which we also made an alliance. Those are the Oumas, the bravest savages of the river.
"When we were at Arkansas, ten (10) of the Frenchmen who accompanied me asked for a settlement on the river
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
Arkansas on a seignory that M. de La Salle had given me on our first voyage. I granted the request to some of them. They remained there to build a house surrounded with stakes. The rest accompanied me to Illinois in order to get what they wanted. I arrived there on St. John's Day, the 24th of June. I made two chiefs of the Illinois embark with me in my ca- noe to go and receive the orders of M. de Denonville, and we arrived at Montreal by the end of July."
La Salle never lived to rejoin De Tonti. He went to France, and upon making his discoveries known, was re- ceived with great favor by Louis XIV, and by a patent, dated April 14th, 1684, he was appointed Commandant of Louisi- ana, and a company of two hundred and eighty persons was made up to return with him as colonists, among whom were his brother and two nephews. Four ships were provided for his use; one of them, the "Belle," of six guns, was a pres- ent to him from the King. He sailed from La Rochelle with his expedition, July 24th, 1684, and directed his course to reach the mouth of the Mississippi. By mistake the expedition sailed too far to the westward and passed the mouth of the Mississippi in January, 1685. La Salle was convinced of the mistake, and wished to alter the course, but he was opposed by the sailing master, Beaujeu, who determined to keep on, and in January, 1685, a landing was effected near Corpus Christi, Texas. Endeavoring to rectify their mistake, the expedition set sail again, and proceeding up the coast eastward, made a landing on the Bay of San- Bernardo, now called Matagorda. In doing so the store ship of the expedition, the "Aimable," was driven upon an island and sunk. Soon after the sailing master, Beaujeu, sailed for France with two of the ships, the "Joli," and an- other, and thus La Salle was left with only one small vessel, "Belle," with which to prosecute his discoveries. In the course of the summer this ship was sent across the bay on an excursion, and meeting with an accident, was sunk near Dog
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FROM 1543 TO 1700.
Island, and thus La Salle was deprived of all means of return, or of making discoveries by water. He endeavored to main- tain himself on the land by building a fort, called Fort St. Louis, on the coast of Matagorda bay, and tilling the soil, but by January, 1687, so many of his colonists had been killed by Indians, or had died from disease, that the number was re- duced to less than forty. Leaving half of these at the fort, he set out January 12th, 1687, on a journey overland in search of the Mississippi. He was accompanied by his brother, M. Cavelier, two nephews, Moranget and a young cavalier, Father Anastasius Douay, Joutel, Duhaut, L'Archevêque de Raine, Hiens, a German, Lietot, a surgeon, Tessier, the pilot, Soget, and an Indian. When on the banks of the Trinity river in Texas, on the 20th of March, 1687, he, with Moranget, one of the nephews, was cruelly murdered by Duhaut and L' Arche- vêque. Of these Duhaut was shortly afterwards killed by Lietot, one of his fellow-conspirators, in a quarrel over the di- vision of certain spoils; and L'Archevêque, with the other mutineers, joined the Indians.
After the death of La Salle, his brother and the remaining nephew, under the leadership of Joutel, a commander in the expedition, and the historian of the party, with six others, pushed on overland. They presently encountered the Cenis Indians, by whom they were kindly received, and from whom they obtained horses and guides for their journey. They con- tinued their course, guided by the Indians, until they found the French post established by De Tonti's orders on the Arkan- sas river, which they reached July 24th, 1687, and where they found a hut tenanted by two Frenchmen, two of the six whom De Tonti had sent to establish the post. At a short distance before coming to the river on which the post was sit- uated, they met Indians with axes going to gather bark to cover their cottages. On coming to the river, as they ap- proached it from the south or Texas side, they discovered a large cross erected, and near it a house built in French fash-
5
1
1
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
ion on the other or north bank; and shortly afterwards two men, clothed, coming out, and who, on perceiving them, fired each a shot into the air as a salute. On coming to the river they found that the men were Frenchmen, named Couture and De Launay, from Rouen, France, and who had established the post there by De Tonti's directions. These two men then were two of the first six white men who ever made a settlement in Arkansas.
One of this party with Joutel was Father Anastase Douay, a Jesuit priest, and faithful friend of La Salle, who had been with him at the precise moment when he was shot down by the assassin Duhaut, and who had with his own hands dug the great explorer's grave and buried his body, planting a cross to mark the spot.
While on this journey Joutel found and rescued Rutel, a sailor from Lower Bretagny, who had been lost from La- Salle's party when that explorer descended the Mississippi in 1682, and who had lived since that time with the Cenis Indi- ans. Being accustomed to water navigation, he taught the Cenis to build boats and sail on the rivers, which they had not known how to do before, and having also aided them in a war with some neighboring tribes, and by his superior skill in the handling of boats having greatly aided them to overcome their adversaries, they looked upon him as a great chief, and were much grieved to see him go.
Joutel kept a diary or journal of this journey, wherein he recorded the events of each day. It was published in Paris in 1695. It is entitled : "A JOURNAL OF THE LAST VOYAGE PER- FORMED BY MONS. DE LA SALLE TO THE GULPH OF MEXICO TO FIND OUT THE MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. WRITTEN BY MONSIEUR JOUTEL, A COMMANDER IN THAT EXPEDITION."
The work in the original French is extremely rare, and even the English translations are very rarely to be found. But few copies exist in America, and even then only in great libraries, The following are extracts from this journal :
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FROM 1543 TO 1700.
"At the time when M. de La Salle was preparing for his last voyage into North America, I happened to be at Rouen, the place where he and I were both born, being returned from the army, where I had served sixteen (16) or seventeen (17) years.
"The reputation gained by M. de La Salle, the greatness of his undertaking, the natural curiosity which all men are pos- sessed with, and my acquaintance with his kindred, and with several of the inhabitants of that city who were to bear him company, easily prevailed with me to make one of the num- ber, and I was admitted as a volunteer.
"14th March, 1685. When M. le Beaujean was gone we fell to work to make a fort.
P. 130. "We set out the 12th of January, in the year 1687, being seventeen (17) in number, viz: M. de La Salle, M. Cavelier, the priest, his brother, Father Anastatuis, the Recol- lect, M. M. Moranget and Cavelier, nephews to M. de La Salle ; the Sieur Dehaut, the elder L'Archevêque, Hiens, Lietot, a surgeon, young Talon, an Indian, and a footman belonging to M. de La Salle, etc.
P. 143. 20th of March, La Salle murdered.
"24th March. We went on through a marshy country, never quitting a small path which led to the village of the Cenis till the 28th, when we rested on the bank of a river of the same name, though about 10 leagues distant from the village.
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