USA > Illinois > St Clair County > History of St. Clair County, Illinois. With illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 2
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De Soto founded no settlements, produced no results, and left no traces, unless it were that he awakened the hostility of the red man against the white man, and disheartened such as might desire to follow up the career of discovery for better purposes. The French nation were eager and ready to seize upon any news from this extensive domain, and were the first to profit by De Soto's defeat. As it was, for more than a century after the expedition, the west remained utterly unknown to the whites.
The French were the first Europeans to make settlements on the St. Lawrence river and along the great lakes. Quebec was founded by Sir Samuel Champlain in 1608, and in 1609, when Sir Henry Hudson was exploring the noble river which bears
his name, Champlain ascended the Sorelle river, and discovered, embosomed between the Green mountains, or "Verdmont," as the chivalrous and poetic Frenchman called them, and the Adi- rondacks, the beautiful sheet of water to which his name is indissolubly attached. In 1613 he founded Montreal.
During the period elapsing between the years 1607 and 1664, the English, Dutch, and Swedes alternately held possession of portions of the Atlantic coast, jealously watching one another, and often involved in bitter controversy, and not seldom in open battle, until, in the latter year, the English became the sole rulers, and maintained their rights until the era of the Revolu- tion, when they in turn were compelled to yield to the growing power of their colonies, and retire from the field.
The French movements, from the first settlement at Quebec, and thence westward, were led by the Catholic missionaries. Le Caron, a Franciscan friar, who had been the companion and friend of Champlain, was the first to penetrate the western wilds, which he did in 1616 * in a birch canoe, exploring Lake Huron and its tributaries. This was four years before the Pilgrims
"Moored their bark on the wild New-England shore."
Under the patronage of Louis XIII., the Jesuits took the ad- vance, and began vigorously the work of Christianizing the savages in 1632.
In 1634, three Jesuit missionaries, Brebeuf, Daniel, and Lal- lemand, planted a mission on the shores of the lake of the Iroquois (probably the modern Lake Simcoe), and also esta- blished others along the eastern border of Lake Huron.
From a map published in 1660, it would appear that the French had, at that date, become quite familiar with the region from Niagara to the head of Lake Superior, including consider- able portions of Lake Michigan.
In 1641, Fathers Jogues and Raymbault embarked on the Pene- tanguishine Bay for the Sault St. Marie, where they arrived after a passage of seventeen days. A crowd of two thousand natives met thein, and a great council was held. At this meet- ing the French first heard of many nations dwelling beyond the great lakes.
Father Raymbault died in the wilderness in 1642, while enthusiastically pursuing his discoveries. The same year, Jogues and Bressani were captured by the Indians and tortured, and in 1648 the mission which had been founded at St. Joseph was taken and destroyed, and Father Daniel slain. In 1649, the missions St. Louis and St. Ignatius were also destroyed, and Fathers Brebeuf and Lallemand barbarously tortured by the same terrible and unrelenting enemy. Literally did those zealous missionaries of the Romish Church "take their lives in their hands," and lay them a willing sacrifice on the altar of their faith.
It is stated by some writer that, in 1654, two fur-traders ac- companied a band of Ottawas on a journey of five hundred leagues to the west. They were absent two years, and on their return brought with them fifty canoes and two hundred and fifty Indians to the French trading posts.
They related wonderful tales of the countries they had seen, and the various red nations they had visited, and described the lofty mountains and mighty rivers in glowing terms. A new
* De Soto probably was at the lower Chickasaw bluffs. The Spaniards called the Mississippi Rio Grande, Great River, which is the literal meaning of the aboriginal name.
t De Biedna says there landed 620 men.
* Western Annals.
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HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
impulse was given to the spirit of adventure, and scouts and traders swarmed the frontiers and explored the great lakes and adjacent country, and a party wintered in 1659-60 on the south shore of Lake Superior.
In 1660 Father Mesnard was sent out by the Bishop of Quebec, and visited Lake Superior in October of that year. While crossing the Keeweenaw Point he was lost in the wilder- ness and never afterwards heard from, though his cassock and breviary were found long afterwards among the Sioux.
A change was made in the government of New France in 1665. The Company of the Hundred Associates, who had ruled it since 1632, resigned its charter. Tracy was made Viceroy, Courcelles Governor, and Talon Intendent .* This was called the Government of the West Indies.
The Jesuit missions were taken under the care of the new gov- ernment, and thenceforward became the leaders in the movement to Christianize the savages.
In the same year (1665) Pierre Claude Allouez was sent out by way of the Ottawa river to the far west, via the Sault St. Marie and the south shore of Lake Superior, where he landed at the bay of Chegoimegon. Here he found the chief village of the Chippewas, and established a mission. He also made an alliance with them and the Sacs, Foxes and Illinois, t against the formidable Iroquois. Allouez, the next year (1666) visited the western end of the great lake, where he met the Sioux, and from them first learned of the Mississippi river, which they called "Messipi." From thence he returned to Quebec.
In 1668 Claude Dablon and Jacques Marquette established the mission at the Sault called St. Marie, and during the next five years Allouez, Dablon and Marquette explored the region of Lake Superior on the south shore, and extending to Lake Michigan. They also established the missions of Chegoimegon, St. Marie, Mackinaw and Green Bay.
The plan of exploring the Mississippi probably originated with Marquette. It was at once sanctioned by the Intendent, Talon, who was ambitious to extend the dominion of France over the whole West.
In 1670 Nicholas Perot was sent to the West to propose a congress of all the nations and tribes living in the vicinity of the lakes; and, in 1671, a great council was held at Sault St. Marie, at which the Cross was set up, and the nations of the great North-west were taken into an alliance, with much pomp and ceremony.
On the 13th of May, 1673, Marquette, Joliet, and five voyageurs, embarked in two birch canoes at Mackinaw and entered Lake Michigan. The first nation they visited was the " Folles-Avoines," or nation of Wild Oats, since known as the Menomonies, living around the "Baie des Puans," or Green Bay. These people, with whom Marquette was somewhat acquainted, endeavored to persuade the adventurers from visiting the Mississippi. They represented the Indians on the great river as being blood-thirsty and savage in the extreme, and the river itself as being in- habited by monsters which would devour them and their canoes together. #
* The duties of Intendent included a supervision of the policy, justice, and finance of the province.
t The meaning of this word is said to be "Men."
#See legend of the great bird, the terrible " Piasa," that devoured men, and was only overcome by the sacrifice of a brave young chief. The rocks above Alton, Illin- ois, have some rude representations of this monster.
Marquette thanked them for their advice, but declined to be guided by it. Passing through Green Bay, they ascended the Fox River, dragging their canoes over the strong rapids, and visited the village, where they found living in harmony together tribes of the Miamis, Mascoutens* and Kikabeax, or Kickapoos. Leaving this point on the 10th of June, they made the portage to the " Ouisconsin," and descended that stream to the Missis- sippi, which they entered on the 17th with a joy, as Marquette says, which he could not express."t
Sailing down the Mississippi, the party reached the Des Moines River, and, according to some, visited an Indian village some two leagues up the stream. Here the people again tried to persuade them from prosecuting their voyage down the river. After a great feast and a dance, and a night passed with this hospitable people, they proceeded on their way, escorted by six hundred persons to their canoes. These people called themselves Illinois, or Illini. The name of their tribe was Peruaca, and their language a dialect of the Algonquin.
Leaving these savages, they proceeded down the river. Pass- ing the wonderful rocks, which still excite the admiration of the traveler, they arrived at the mouth of another great river, the Pekitanoni, or Missouri of the present day. They noticed the condition of its waters, which they described as " muddy, rush- ing and noisy."
Passing a great rock, # they came to the Ouabouskigon, or Ohio. Marquette shows this river very small, even as compared with the Illinois. From the Ohio they passed as far down as the Akamsca, or Arkansas, where they came very near being dc- stroyed by the natives ; but they finally pacified them, and, on the 17th of July, they commenced their return voyage.
The party reached Green Bay in September without loss or injury, and reported their discoveries, which were among the most important of that age. Marquette afterwards returned to Illinois, and preached to the natives until 1675.
On the 18th of May of that year, while cruising up the eastern coast of Lake Michigan with a party of boatmen, he landed at the mouth of a stream putting into the lake from the east, since known as the river Marquette. He performed mass, and went a little apart to pray, and being gone longer than his companions deemed necessary, they went in search of him, and found him dead where he had knelt. They buried him in the sand.
While this distinguished adventurer was pursuing his labors, two other men were preparing to follow in his footsteps, and make still further explorations, and, if possible, more important discoveries. These were the Chevalier Robert de la Salle and Louis Hennepin.
La Salle was a native of Rouen, in Normandy. He was edu- cated at a seminary of the Jesuits, and designed for the ministry, but, for reasons unknown, he left the seminary and came to Canada, in 1667, where he engaged in the fur trade.
16
Like nearly every intelligent man, he became intensely inte- rested in the new discoveries of the West, and conceived the idea of exploring the passage to the great South Sea, which by many was believed to exist. He made known his ideas to the Govern- or-General, Count Frontenac, and desired his co-operation. The Governor at once fell in with his views, which were strength- ened by the reports brought back by Marquette and Joliet, and
* Prairie Indians. t Marquette's journal.
# The grand tower.
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HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
advised La Salle to apply to the King of France in person, and gave him letters of introduction to the great Colbert, then Min- ister of Finance and Marine. Accordingly, in 1675, he returned to France, where he was warmly received by the King and nobility, and his ideas were at once listened to, and every possi- ble favor shown to him.
He was made a Chevalier, and invested with the seigniory of Fort Catarocouy, or Frontenac (now known as Kingston), upon condition that he would rebuild it, as he proposed, of stone.
Returning to Canada, he wrought diligently upon the fort uutil 1677, when he again visited France to report progress. He was received, as before, with favor, and, at the instance of Colbert and his son, the King granted him new letters patent and new privileges. On the 14th of July, 1678, he sailed from Rochelle, accompanied by thirty men, and with Tonti, an Italian, for his lieutenant. They arrived at Quebec on the 13th of Sep- tember, and after a few days' delay, proceeded to Frontenac. Father Lewis Hennepin, a Franciscan friar, of the Recollet sect, was quietly working in Canada on La Salle's arrival. He was a man of great ambition, and much interested in the discoveries of the day. He was appointed by his religious superiors to accom- pany the expedition fitting out for La Salle.
Sending agents forward to prepare the Indians for his coming, and to open trade with them, La Salle himself embarked, on the 18th of November, in a little brigantine of ten tons, to cross Lake Ontario. This was the first ship of European build that ever sailed upon this fresh-water sea. Contrary winds made the voyage long and troublesome, and a month was consumed in beating up the lake to the Niagara River. Near the mouth of this river the Iroquois had a village, and here La Salle con- structed the first fortification, which afterwards grew into the famous Fort Niagara. On the 26th of January, 1679, the keel of the first vessel built on Lake Erie was laid at the mouth of the Cayuga Creek, on the American side, about six miles above the falls.
In the meantime La Salle had returned to Fort Frontenac to forward supplies for his forthcoming vessel. The little barque on Lake Ontario was wrecked by carelessness, and a large amount of the supplies she carried was lost. On the 7th of Au- gust, the new vessel was launched, and made ready to sail. She was about seventy tons' burden.
La Salle christened his vessel the " Griffin," in honor of the arms of Count Frontenac. Passing across Lake Erie, and into the small lake, which they named St. Clair, they entered the broad waters of Lake Huron. Here they encountered heavy storm3, as dreadful as those upon the ocean, and after a most tempestuous passage they took refuge in the roadstead of Michilli- mackinac (Mackinaw), on the 27th of August. La Salle remained at this point until the middle of September, busy in founding a fort and constructing a trading-house, when he went forward upon the deep waters of Lake Michigan, and soon after cast anchor in Green Bay. Finding here a large quantity of furs and peltries, he determined to load his vessel and send her back to Niagara. On the 18th of September, she was sent under charge of a pilot, while La Salle himself, with fourteen men,* proceeded ap Lake Michigan, leisurely examining its shores and noting everything of interest. Tonti, who had been sent to look after
stragglers, was to join him at the head of the lake. From the 19th of September to the 1st of November, the time was occupied in the voyage up this inland sea. On the last-named day, La Salle arrived at the mouth of the river Miamis, now St. Joseph. Here he constructed a fort, and remained nearly a month wait. ing for tidings of his vessel ; but, hearing nothing, he determined to push on before the winter should prevent him. On the 3d of December, leaving ten men to garrison the fort, he started overland towards the head-waters of the Illinois, accompanied by three monks and twenty men. Ascending the St. Joseph River, he crossed a short portage and reached the The-a-ki-ki, since corrupted into Kankakec. Embarking on this sluggish stream, they came shortly to the Illinois, and soon after found a village of the Illinois Indians, probably in the vicinity of the rocky bluffs, a few miles above the present city of La Salle, Illi- nois. They found it deserted, but the Indians had quite a quantity of maize stored here, and La Salle, being short of provisions, helped himself to what he required. Passing down the stream, the party, on the 4th of January, came to a lake, probably the Lake Peoria, as there is no other upon this stream. Here they found a great number of natives, who were gentle and kind, and La Salle determined to construct a fort. It stood on a rise of ground near the river, and was named Creve-Cœur* (broken-heart), most probably on account of the low spirits of the commander, from anxiety for his vessel and the uncertainty of the future. Possibly he had heard of the loss of the "Griffin," which occurred on her downward trip from Green Bay ; most probably on Lake Huron. He remained at the Lake Peoria through the winter, but no good tidings came, and no supplies. His men were discontented, but the brave
adventurer never gave up hope. He resolved to send a party on a voyage of exploration up the Mississippi, under the lead of Father Hennepin, and he himself would proceed on foot to Niag- ara and Frontenac, to raise more means and enlist new men ; while Tonti, his lieutenant, should stay at the fort, which they were to strengthen in the meantime, and extend their intercourse with the Indians.
Hennepin started on his voyage on the last day of February, 1680, and La Salle soon after, with a few attendants, started on his perilous journey of twelve hundred miles by the way of the Illinois River, the Miami, and Lakes Erie and Ontario, to Frontenac, which he finally reached in safety. He found his worst fears realized. The " Griffin " was lost, his agents had taken advantage of his absence, and his creditors had seized his goods. But he knew no such word as fail, and by the middle of summer he was again on his way with men and supplies for his band in Illinois. A sad disappointment awaited him. He found his fort deserted, and no tidings of Tonti and his men. During La Salle's absence the Indians had become jealous of the French, and they had been attacked and harassed even by the Iroquois, who came the long distance between the shores of Lake Ontario and the Illinois River to make war upon the more peaceable tribes dwelling on the prairies. Uncertain of any assistance from La Salle, and apprehensive of a general war with the sav- ages, Tonti, in September, 1680, abandoned his position and re- turned to the shores of the lakes. La Salle reached the post on the Illinois in December, 1680, or January, 1681. Again
* The site of the work is at present unknown.
* Annals of the West.
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HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
bitterly disappointed, La Salle did not succumb, but resolved to return to Canada aud start anew. This he did, and in June met his lieutenant, Tonti, at Mackinaw.
Hennepin in the meanwhile had met with strange adventures. After leaving Creve-Cœur, he reached the Mississippi in seven days; but his way was so obstructed by ice that he was until the 11th of April reaching the Wisconsin line. Here he was taken prisoner by some northern Indians, who, however, treated him kindly and took him and his companions to the falls of St. An- thony, which they reached on the 1st of May. These falls Hen- nepin named in honor of his patron saint. Hennepin and his companions remained here for three months, treated very kindly by their captors. At the end of this time they met with a band of French, led by one Sieur de Luth, * who, in pursuit of game and trade, had penetrated to this country by way of Lake Su- perior. With his band Hennepin and his companions returned to the borders of civilized life in November, 1680, just after La Salle had gone back to the wilderness. Hennepin re- turned to France, where, in 1684, he published a narrative of his wonderful adventures.
Robert De La Salle, whose name is more closely connected with the explorations of the Mississippi than that of any other, was the next to descend the river in the year 1682. Formal posses- sion was taken of the great river and all the countries bordering upon it or its tributaries in the name of the King.
La Salle and his party now retraced their steps towards the north. They met with no serious trouble until they reached the Chickasaw Bluffs, where they had erected a fort on their down- ward voyage, and named it Prudhomme. Here La Salle was taken violently sick. Unable to proceed, he sent forward Tonti to communicate with Count Frontenac. La Salle himself reached the mouth of the St. Joseph the latter part of September. From that point he sent Father Zenobe with his dispatches to represent him at court, while he turned his attention to the fur trade and to the project of completing a fort, which he named St. Louis, upon the Illinois River. The precise location of this work is not known. It was said to be upon a rocky bluff two hundred and fifty feet high, and only accessible upon one side. There are no bluffs of such a height on the Illinois River answering the de- scription. It may have been on the rocky bluff above La Salle, where the rocks are perhaps one hundred feet in height.
Upon the completion of this work La Salle again sailed for France, which he reached on the 13th of December, 1683. A new man, La Barre, had now succeeded Frontenac as Governor of Canada. This man was unfriendly towards La Salle, and this, with other untoward circumstances, no doubt led him to at- tempt the colonization of the Mississippi country by way of the mouth of the river. Notwithstanding many obstacles were in his path, he succeeded in obtaining the grant of a fleet from the King, and on the 24th of July, 1684, a fleet of twenty-four ves- sels sailed from Rochelle to America, four of which were destined. for Louisiana, and carried a body of two hundred and eighty people, including the crews. There were soldiers, artificers, and volunteers, and also " some young women." Discord soon broke out between M. de Beaujeu and La Salle, and grew from bad to worse. On the 20th of December they reached the island of St. Domingo.
* From this man undoubtedly comes the name of Duluth.
Joutel * was sent out with this party, which left on the 4th of February, and traveled eastward three days, when they came to a great stream which they could not cross. Here they made sig- nals by building great fires, and on the 13th two of the vessels came in sight. The stream was sounded and the vessels were anchored under shelter. But again misfortune overtook La Salle, and the vessel was wrecked, and the bulk of the sup- plies was lost. At this juncture M. de Beaujeu, his second in command, set sail and returned to France. La Salle now con- structed a rude shelter from the timbers of his wrecked vessel, placed his people inside of it, and set out to explore the sur- rounding country in hope of finding the Mississippi. He was, of course, disappointed ; but found on a stream, which is named the Vaches, a good site for a fort. He at once removed his camp, and, after incredible exertions, constructed a fortification suffi- cient to protect them from the Indians. This fort was situated on Matagorda Bay, within the present limits of Texas, and was called by La Salle Fort St. Louis.
Leaving Joutel to complete the work with one hundred men, La Salle took the remainder of the company and embarked on the river, with the intention of proceeding as far up as he could. The savages soon became troublesome, and on the 14th of July La Salle ordered Joutel to join him with his whole force. They had already lost several of their best men, and dangers threatened them on every side. It would seem from the histo- rian's account of the expedition that La Salle began to erect another fort, and also that he became morose and severe in his discipline, so much so as to get the ill will of many of his people. He finally resolved to advance into the country, but whether with the view of returning to Canada by way of Illinois, or only for the purpose of making further discoveries, Joutel leaves in doubt. Giving his last instructions, he left the fort on the 12th day of January, 1687, with a company of about a dozen men, including his brother, two nephews, Father Anastasius, a Francis- can friar, Joutel, and others, and moved north-eastward, as is supposed, until the 17th of March, when some of his men, who had been cherishing revengeful feelings for some time, waylaid the Chevalier and shot him dead. They also slew one of his nephews and two of his servants.
This deed occurred on the 20th of March, on a stream called Cenis.
In 1687, France was involved in a long and bloody war. The League of Augsburg was formed by the Princes of the Empire against Louis XIV., and England, Spain, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, and Savoy took up arms, and Louis found himself bat- tling with nearly the whole of Europe, and only Turkey for an ally. This war ended with the peace of Ryswick in 1697.
No material change took place in America, but the colonists were harassed and many of their people killed or carried cap- tives to the Canadas. In 1688, the French possessions in North America included nearly the whole of the continent north of the St. Lawrence, and the entire valley of the Mississippi; and they had begun to establish a line of fortifications extending from Quebec to the mouth of the Mississippi, between which points they had three great lines of communication, to wit: by way of Mackinaw, Green Bay, and the Wisconsin River ; by way of Lake Michigan, the Kankakee and Illinois Rivers; and by way
* Joutel, historian of the voyage, accompanied La Salle, and subsequently wrcto his "Journal Historique," which was published in Paris, 1713.
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