USA > Indiana > Centennial history and handbook of Indiana : the story of the state from its beginning to the close of the civil war, and a general survey of progress to the present time > Part 2
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Socially, they were a gay. pleasure-loving peo- ple and perpetuated Gallic customs that look pic- turesque in the perspective. Marriage was the great event and was preceded by the publishing of bans and by the betrothal contract witnessed by relatives and friends, while the ceremony was celebrated by feasting and dancing that some- times lasted for several days. There was the charivari and even a so-called Mardi Gras pre- ceding Lent, which consisted of dancing and feasting and a trial of skill at the cooking of flap jacks. On New Year's day it was the custom for the men to go the rounds making calls in which it was their privilege to kiss the hostesses. Sometimes the young men masked on New Year's eve and went from house to house singing a carol, and a feature of this custom at one time was to take with them a cart and receive gifts of clothing and provisions, which were afterward given to the poor. One of the luxuries we hear of, which sounds oddly out of place in the Wa- bash wilderness, is that of billiards. Hamilton. in 1778, wrote that he intended to destroy all the billiard tables.
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Music of the French .- "Father Benedict Jo- seph Flaget, the French priest who came to Vin- cennes in 1792 and taught the first school in Indiana, appears also to have been the first music teacher. In Bishop Alerding's chapters on 'Tra- dition and History of the Diocese of Vincennes,' he says of Father Flaget: 'He also formed a class of singing and those of the children who had the best voices were exercised in singing French canticles. They sang the canticles not only in the school and in the church, but also while laboring in the fields.' These canticles were hymns taken from the Vulgate Bible and sung in the services of the churches. They in- cluded the Benedictus, the Benedicite, the Mag- nificat and the Nunc Dimittis.
"In the collection of the Charles Lasselle MSS., now in the State library, is a copy of a French song, entitled "La Guigniolet," sung on New Year's eve. The leader sang one or two lines, then stopped, and the same was repeated by the company. Before retiring a last song was sung." -Merica Hoagland.
The Early Fur Trade .- What may be called the first industry of the Mississippi valley, the fur trade, was one of such importance commer- cially as to be a chief cause of the friction be- tween France and England in America prior to the French and Indian war. Interest in territory for its own sake seems to have been remote and secondary, compared with the immediate interest in a traffic which contributed to national revenue and built up large private fortunes. This applies to no locality more than to Indiana, where one vast forest teemed with fur-bearing animals. The agents of the fur trade were the real explorers, and the recorded discoveries of the avowed ex- plorers were, doubtless, meager beside, the un- recorded ones of the men who traversed the streams wherever there was a chance of Indian trade. At one time during the French regime the annual trade at the post of Quiatanon alone is said to have been £8,000, and in the year 1786 the records of the custom house at Quebec showed an exportation amounting to £275,977 .* One of the early acts of William Henry Harrison as governor of Indiana Territory (in 1801-2) was to grant trading licenses, the local privileges of each trader being defined, and a list of forty
of these within the present limits of the State has been preserved .* A subsequent list extends the trade, as to time, to 1857, before which period it had ceased to be "Indian trade." The per- sistence with which wild animals continued to exist in face of this ruthless war of extermina- tion is illustrated by the fact that in the middle of the last century, at least a hundred and fifty years after the wholesale killing was inaugurated, the Ewing brothers, whose trading houses were at Fort Wayne and Logansport, are said to have amassed about two million dollars at the business.
The men employed as carriers by the early French traders were the famous coureurs des bois, a class of half-wild woodsmen which stands out picturesquely in history. The business, as conducted through the carriers of a little later period, is thus described by Dillon :
"The furs and peltries which were obtained from the Indians were generally transported to Detroit. The skins were dried, compressed and secured in packs. Each pack weighed about one hundred pounds. A pirogue, or boat, that was sufficiently large to carry forty packs required the labor of four men to manage it on its voyage. In favorable stages of the Wabash river such a vessel, under the management of skilful boatmen, was propelled fifteen or twenty miles a day against the current. After ascending the river Wabash and the Little river to the portage near Fort Wayne, the traders carried their packs over the portage to the head of the Maumee, where they were again placed in pirogues, or in keel- boats, to be transported to Detroit. At this place the furs and skins were exchanged for blankets, guns, knives, powder, bullets, intoxicat- ing liquors, etc., with which the traders returned to their several posts." Elsewhere the same authority tells us that the articles carried by the French traders were, chiefly. "coarse blue and red cloths, fine scarlet, guns, powder, balls, knives, hatchets, traps, kettles, hoes, blankets, coarse cottons, ribbons. beads. vermilion, to- bacco, spirituous liquors, etc." How profitable the trade was may be gathered from the state- ment that the value placed on bullets was four dollars per hundred and powder was priced at one dollar per pint by American traders.
* C. B. Lasselle, in Indiana Quarterly Magazine of History, vol. ii, No. 1.
* Dillon, p. 397.
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Names of the Wabash River .- The name Wabash is a relic of the Miami language, which has undergone various transformations. In a map giving the Indian names of our streams, pre- pared by Daniel Hough, and published in the Indiana Geological Report for 1882, the name is given as Wah-bah-shik-ka. On the later French maps it is usually given as Ouabache, with some earlier variants. This was the French attempt to spell the Indian pronunciation, the ou being equivalent to our w. When this, in turn, became Anglicized, it still was an attempt at the Indian form. At one time the French named the river St. Jerome, and it so appears on a few maps, but the change was short-lived. Wabi or Wapi, ac- cording to Dunn, is an Algonquin stem signifying white, and Gabriel Godfroy, a recent Miami, who retained the lore of his race, affirmed that the Wah-bah-shik-ka derived its name from the for- mation of white stone over which it ran in one part of its course.
White river also retains in part the Indian nomenclature, the original name being, as a French map gives it, Ouapikaminou, Ouapi sig- nifying white.
Early French Maps .- Among the valued pos- sessions of the State library are two large atlases, in which are mounted a chronological series of old maps of the Americas-Spanish, French, English and American, which, covering a period of more than two hundred years, reveal interest- ingly the growth of geographical knowledge of the western hemisphere. Those by French char- tographers, of or including the Mississippi valley, running from 1616 to the latter part of the eight- eenth century, are of special interest as connected with the French explorations and occupancy. The earliest of these, one by P. Bertius, 1616, gives the coasts of the continent in distorted out- line, and a very crude knowledge of the great lakes is revealed, but all the interior is, of course, one vast unexplored blank. Four by Guillaume Delisle, dated 1703, 1720, 1722 and 1733 (the latter date doubtful), show the slowly changing ideas during that span. In 1703 the Ohio, with- out its branches, is given as "Ouabache autrement appellee Ohio ou Belle Riviere." It rises in west- ern Pennsylvania in what appears to be a good- sized lake, called "L. Ouiasont," and, in its upper course, flows parallel with Lake Erie through what we would now describe as northern Ohio.
The Illinois and Kankakee rivers (not named; have their rise in two small lakes in northern In- diana. This and subsequent maps seem to indi- cate some knowledge of the lakes of Kosciusko county and the belief that the Kankakee was their outlet. By 1720 a very fair knowledge of all the great lakes, as to relative size, locations and shapes, and also of the Mississippi, Ohio and Illinois rivers, is revealed. In 1722 the Wabash is first given, though very incorrectly, it flowing almost parallel with the Ohio, west by south. The Ohio is so named in its upper course, but farther down is given as "Quabache." In 1733 the Wabash (unnamed) is quite different, being too far to the west and flowing from the north instead of northeast.
Another chartographer, of 1726, gives the Mau- mee and its branches imperfectly, but not the Wabash. One of 1742 gives the "Hohio." "Oubach" and Maumee (the latter unnamed ). The former still rises in its lake among the moun- tains of western Pennsylvania : the Wabash runs almost parallel, rising in a small lake in Ohio. As yet there is no indication that the map- makers knew of the portage between the Maumee and the Wabash. Branches are shown flowing into the Wabash from the north and west. but not from the south and east. A mountain-like elevation is shown in what appears to be about the center of Indiana. In 1746 the Wabash, given with greater accuracy, is first called the "R. de S. Jerome," and "F. des Miamis." at the Maumee. evidently indicates the old French fort of that name. The Kankakee is here given as "Ilua- kiki." In 1755 White river is first shown, with both its branches. M. Seutteri's map of 1720 (see page 11) is chiefly notable as the best one, showing the boundary lines between the English colonies and New France and the one separating the two great French provinces, Can- ada and Louisiana. This latter line. running eastward from the Mississippi to the Maryland border, cut through Indiana. One rather wons ders why the French should continue to make maps of the region after it- surrender to the British, but there are at least three of four . it that event. J. Leopold Imbert. 1777. 15 shows Fort Quiatanon, which is marked "For Francois," and a note it "Bok - Miami-" state- that it was built by the Freoch in 1750. c"Batit par les Francais en 1750.". A. this post appear-
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on the map of 1746, Imbert's date probably refers to the rebuilding of the fort after its destruction by fire. It is curious that none of the maps be- fore that of 1771, by Bonne, indicate the exist- ence of Vincennes. Even as late as 1806 we find it absent from that of E. Mentelle, though on this map are both "Weauteneau" and "Fort Miami" -the latter an anachronism, for before that time Fort Wayne had succeeded to Fort Miami.
Two curiosities among these maps are an Eng- lish revision of d'Anville's French map, of about the time of the French and Indian war, and a German production of 1821. The first has elab- orate notes, in which it is claimed that the Eng- lish were entitled to the country by early discov- ery, they having "thoroughly explored" to and beyond the Mississippi as early as 1654-64. In the German map the great lakes and the states of the northwest territory are strangely distorted. Lake Michigan touches Indiana east of its longi- tudinal center, and there are mountain ranges across northern Indiana and throughout Ohio.
Geologic Cause in French History .- An in- teresting geological story, apropos here, which illustrates how remote natural causes may some- times enter into human history, is given by Mr. Charles R. Dryer, in the Sixteenth Geological Report of Indiana (1888). The French in their intercourse with the Mississippi valley, as even the casual reader of history is supposed to know, passed into the interior valley from the basin of the great lakes by the rivers of the two systems, making the connections over various short port- ages at water-sheds where the navigable waters
of opposite-flowing streams almost met. There were six or seven of these trade routes, and one of the most direct, with a comparatively short and easy portage, was from Lake Erie up the Maumee to the point where Fort Wayne stands, thence about nine miles by level land to the Aboit, or Little Wabash, thence down the Wabash. An examination of the map reveals a peculiar nat- ural feature at this portage. The St. Joseph and St. Mary's rivers, flowing, respectively, from the northeast and southeast, unite at the point far- thest west, then, as the Maumee, double curiously on their previous courses and flow back to Lake Erie. The three, presenting a sagittate or arrow- head form, reach into the fork formed by the branches of the Wabash, thus bringing the waters of the two systems almost together at navigable points. This odd situation, Mr. Dryer explains in terms of glacial deposit, the explanation be- ing that vast lobes of ice in the glacial period crowding each other from north and east heaped up their ridges of morainic matter in such fash- ion as to determine the subsequent river valleys. In view of this theory it is not fanciful to say that the blind forces of nature, long before the advent of man, predetermined very definitely the little chapter of French history in the Wabash valley, and whatever relics of it may have sur- vived in our later history. More than that, it determined at a later day a very important trade route (the Wabash and Erie canal, which fol- lowed the Maumee and Wabash valleys) that played no little part in peopling and developing the Wabash valley.
CHAPTER II
ACQUISITION OF OUR TERRITORY-STORY OF CLARK'S CONQUEST
From the close of the French and Indian war until 1779 the country northwest of the Ohio river was under British rule, the occupancy by that nation consisting of small military forces planted at Detroit, Vincennes, Kaskaskia and two or three other points along the Mississippi river. The invasion of this region and its conquest by George Rogers Clark makes one of the heroic and romantic chapters of American history. But for such a leader in the right place at the right time there is little doubt that the vast territory in question, now comprising the five great States of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois and Wiscon- sin, would not have been ceded at the treaty of Paris, following the revolutionary war. England wished to retain it as a "buffer" territory to sep- arate her Canada possessions from those of the United States. In deciding the question it was a case where "possession was nine points of the law," and we had possession.
The Situation .- When the American colonies were fighting desperately for independence and a national future, Kentucky, a province of Vir- ginia, was the extreme western frontier. Be- tween it and Canada, where the English were firmly entrenched, stretched the territory in question, a harboring place for savage allies of the enemy who repeatedly threatened and terror- ized the Kentucky settlements.
The Need of a Leader ; George Rogers Clark. -The federal congress was not ignorant of or indifferent to this state of affairs in the far west. and it probably would, eventually, have moved in the matter when less distracted by other troubles, though how fatal too long delay might have been is a matter for guessing. However, it is a quite safe historical assumption that the embryo nation was fortunate in having on the endangered territory a man of initiative, states- manship, military ability and tremendous resolu- tion. This person was George Rogers Clark, a Virginian by birth, but a Kentuckian by adoption, who, by his strength of character, had become a leader in the new settlements, and who knew the
conditions much more intimately than did the government in the east. The elements that come into relief when we examine his famous cam- paign and its successful outcome are this un- erring, fundamental comprehension of conditions
Reproduction of Portrait of General George Roger- Clark. ( Property of Vincennes University.)
and men, a grim will that no obstacle could daunt and a sagacity that gave greatness to his leader- ship; and for this combination of qualities five great commonwealths of subsequent days owe him perpetual gratitude.
Clark's Idea and First Steps .- The idea that took possession of Clark was the invasion and appropriation of the great half-possessed land north of the Ohio. His purpose was defensive as well as acquisitive, for the reasons above given -the continual danger of Indian forays : but the difficulty of securing adequate support from the authorities made the proposition a hard one, and
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the first step was to create faith in his plans and get the support. Like most men who . elaborate schemes of magnitude he did not wear his heart on his sleeve. After the inception of his idea he digested it well, but shared it with few, one good reason for this being that the undertaking he con- templated must, for its success, fall as a surprise on the enemy. As revealing at once the slow in- cubation of his scheme and his thoroughness in preparing the way, as early as the summer of 1777 he sent two spies into the northern territory for the purpose of gathering more explicit infor- mation concerning the British in relation to the Indians. His plans finally thought out, his next move was to bring them before the powers that could give the necessary authority and backing, and to this end he went to Virginia, where he conferred with such men as Patrick Henry, then governor of Virginia ; Thomas Jefferson, George Mason and George Wythe. The boldness of Clark's scheme captivated while it challenged doubts. The hazard and chances of disaster were great, but the possible benefits to the country in the future, aside from the present question of annoyance and danger to the Kentucky country, after careful consideration, outweighed the risk, and in the end the Council of Virginia advised the appropriation of £1,200 for the purpose of an "expedition against Kaskaskia," to be undertaken "with as little delay and as much secrecy as pos- sible." This advice was acted upon by Governor Henry, and Clark was authorized to raise a force of three hundred and fifty men for the campaign.
Authority From Virginia; Letters of In- struction .- At this point the adventure takes on a truly dramatic character. With a view to the secrecy necessary to the hopefulness of the enter- prise, a set of instructions which was made pub- lic, the aim of which was "to divert attention from the real object," commanded Colonel Clark to enlist seven companies of men to act as militia ; the further language of the instructions convey- ing the idea that the purpose was for the pro- tection of Kentucky. Under cover of this bogus publication Clark received from Governor Henry a private letter of instructions which read as follows:
Virginia, Sct.
In Council, Wmsburg, Jany 2d, 1778. Lient. Colonel George Rogers Clark :
You are to proceed with all convenient speed to raise seven companies of soldiers to consist of fifty men each,
officered in the usual manner and armed most properly for the enterprise, and with this force attack the Brit- ish post at Kaskasky.
It is conjectured that there are many pieces of can- non and military stores to considerable amount [?] at that place, the taking and preservation of which would be a valuable acquisition to the State. If you are so fortunate, therefore, as to succeed in your expectation you will take every possible measure to secure the ar- tillery and stores and whatever may advantage the State.
For the transportation of the troops, provisions, etc., down the Ohio you are to apply to the commanding officer at Fort Pitt for boats, etc. During the whole transaction you are to take especial care to keep the true destination of your force a secret. Its success de- pends upon this. Orders are therefore given to Captain Smith to secure the two men from Kaskasky. Similar conduct will be proper in similar cases. It is earnestly desired that you show humanity to such British sub- jects and other persons as fall in your hands. If the white inhabitants at that post and the neighborhood will give undoubted evidence of their attachment to this State (for it is certain they live within its limits) by taking the test provided by law and by every other way and means in their power, let them be treated as fellow citizens and their persons and property duly secured. Assistance and protection against all enemies whatever shall be afforded them and the commonwealth of Vir- ginia is pledged to accomplish it. But if these people will not accede to these reasonable demands they must feel the miseries of war under the direction of that hu- manity that has hitherto distinguished Americans, and which it is expected you will ever consider as the rule of your conduct, and from which you are in no instance to depart.
The corps you are to command are to receive the pay and allowance of militia, and to act under the laws and regulations of this State now in force. The inhabitants of this post will be informed by you that in case they accede to the offer of becoming citizens of this com- monwealth a proper garrison will be maintained among them and every attention bestowed to render their com- merce beneficial, the fairest prospects being opened to the dominions of both France and Spain.
It is in contemplation to establish a post near the mouth of Ohio. Cannon will be wanted to fortify it. Part of those at Kaskasky will be easily brought thither or otherwise secured as circumstances will make nec- essary.
You are to apply to General Hand for powder and lead necessary for this expedition. If he can't supply it the person who has that which Captain Lynn brought from Orleans can. Lead was sent to Hampshire by my orders, and that may be delivered you. Wishing you success, I am, Sir, Your h'ble serv.
P. HENRY.
One who wishes to enter intimately into the romantic story of Clark's campaign should care- fully read this letter, as it fixes clearly and authoritatively the policy and program of the campaign-a program that was carried out with little deviation, although Governor Henry in pri- vate conversation with Clark implied that his written instructions might be construed with a certain latitude and discretion.
Recruiting a Military Force; Difficulties .- Thus empowered and provided with money for the expenses of the expedition Clark, with char-
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acteristic energy, proceeded to the execution of his plans. His first base of operations was a western settlement on the Monongahela river some distance above Pittsburg, known as Red Stone or Red Stone Old Fort. His officers were appointed and commissioned to raise recruits in western Pennsylvania, Virginia, Carolina and the Kentucky country, and in this preliminary busi- ness the first serious difficulty developed. It must be remembered that the real reason for this recruiting was not divulged. Secrecy, be it re- peated, was essential to success, and the instruc- tions made public by Governor Henry conveyed the impression that the force to be raised was for the protection of Kentucky. The proposition to draw off from other parts of the frontier "for the defense of a few detached inhabitants who had better be removed" met with an opposition that threatened to nip the whole scheme in the bud and that probably would have stopped short a less determined leader. As Clark himself ex- pressed it : "Many leading men in the frontiers combined and did everything that lay in their power to stop the men that had enlisted, and set the whole frontier in an uproar, even condescended to harbor and protect those that deserted. I found my case desperate-the longer I remained the worse it was."* Out of the men that Captains Joseph Bowman and Leonard Helm had succeeded in recruiting "two-thirds of them was stopped," we are told, those that were left numbering about one hundred and fifty. Clark, however, was not to be thwarted, and equipping himself with boats and supplies at Pittsburg he put down river with his little force, accompanied by several adventurous families from the Pennsylvania country, borrowing hope from the information sent him that one of his recruiting officers, Major William Smith, would join him at the falls of the Ohio with nearly two hundred men, from the Holston river country, in what is now eastern Tennessee. But he was doomed to bitter disappointment-a part of one company was all that ever appeared of Major Smith's two hundred men.
Military Base at Falls of the Ohio .- At the falls of the Ohio, Clark established his second base. of operations on a long, narrow island after- ward known as "Corn Island," that then lay
above the falls where the Pennsylvania railroad bridge now spans the river .* The falls, as be- ing the dividing place between the upper and lower river, was deemed the logical point for a permanent defensive post. Clark's reason for settling on the island, at least temporarily, was twofold-better protection from hostile bands of Indians and the more effective guarding against desertion, which danger would probably follow the announcement of the commander's real plans. The sagacity of the latter surmise was not at fault in this, as the sequel showed.
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