USA > Indiana > Allen County > Fort Wayne > History of Fort Wayne, from the earliest known accounts of this point, to the present period. Embracing an extended view of the aboriginal tribes of the Northwest, including, more especially, the Miamies with a sketch of the life of General Anthony Wyane; including also a lengthy biography of pioneer settlers of Fort Wayne. Also an account of the manufacturing, mercantile, and railroad interests of Fort Wayne and vicinity > Part 8
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44
PROGRESS OF FRENCH SETTLEMENTS.
Mary's, guarding with jealous eye all access to Lake Superior. A fourth was completed at Michillimackinac, which stood guard to the mouth of Lake Michigan. Soon a fifth appeared at Green Bay, and a sixth at St. Joseph, guarding the routes to the great Father of Waters, via the Wisconsin and Illinois rivers ; and two more,-, making eight-one, Fort Miamies, near the confluence of the St. Joseph and St. Mary's rivers, (in view of the present site of Fort Wayne,) the other, Fort Ouiatenon, on the Wabash, below Lafayette. Small settlements of French soon sprang up at Kaskaskia, Cahokia, and at other points, some in the territory of the Illinois Indians, along the Illinois river, while, here and there along the banks of the Mississippi, were to be seen, amid the thick jungle, long pecu - liar to this broad and beautiful river, an occasional stockade fort; while, upon reaching the present site of the city of Natchez, on the Mississippi, they were met by their kinsmen of Louisiana, extending their settlements to meet the voyageurs from the shores of Canada.
France was now a power in the great Northwest. Her military strength was seemingly complete. The great forest was hers, She amalgamated with the wild tribes of the land wherever she went, and thus became a part of the great family of natives at every point. This alliance grew into a warm attachment, and the Indians knew the king of the French as their Great Father, and long look- ed up to him, through his subjects on this side of the great waters, as a protector and aid in time of need. From the French they early obtained guns, powder, and balls, and from them soon learned their use in hunting, whereby the French obtained vast quantities of val- uable furs at such prices as they were pleased to dictate. The missionaries pursued their labors, and at every post were to be met with their crosses and symbols; many of them, in accordance with their peculiar school and ideas of religious zeal, were ready to suffer martyrdom, if need be, even at the hand of the savage.
Time wore on. The French settlements and forts had succeeded but poorly. They had sadly neglected agricultural pursuits. Spec- ulation had warped and twisted their better natures, and their for- mer sense of civilization had now become so strongly interwoven with those of the habits and customs of the red man, that they had well-nigh lost that higher feeling of mental and physical growth upon which the white raco had so long prided itself and sought to attain.
And as they were often wanting in sobriety and civic continuity, so the French Government at that period, because of its ambitious tendency and ardent desire for dominion and conquest, with other causes of a no less deleterious character about the French court, was but feebly prepared to render the necessary aid or give that impetus to her colonial settlements in America that would have secured at least a moderate expression of prolonged and energetic civil culture.
1748 atlength came, and France was still secure in her posses- "Soc Smith's History of Capede, I. 208.
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HISTORY OF FORT WAYNE.
·
sions in the New World. Her line of stockade forts were still main- tained. A new scheme had arisen in the mind of the somewhat acute Count Galissonniere* of bringing over to the New World ten thousand French peasants to be settled upon the regions bordering the Ohio, which, at that time, the French government was propos- ing to embrace within her already extensive domain. Many of these peasants were also to inhabit the lake borders. While thus passing their time in the castle of St. Louis, at Quebec,-civilians, soldiers, and men of State,-the English lion had been quietly looking about in search of prey, and now began to move cautions- ly along the beautiful valley of the Mohawk, and, soon issuing from the lowlands, he was heard to roar along the eastern slopes of the Alleghany Mountains. His march was still westward, and gradually onward he moved, until at length, he saw beyond, in the distance, where here and there an open spot was visible, small mov- ing objects; and the smoke of the Canadian hut continued for a time to curl peacefully away amid the surrounding forest and over the broad blue face of the great lakes of their dominion." Forests fell before the westward march of the English settlements ; "and while, on one side of the Alleghanies, Celeron de Bienville was burying plates of lead, engraved with the arms of France," says Parkman, "the ploughs and axes of Virginia woodsmen were enforcing a surer title on the other." The right of possession was soon to be tested. The two powers of the day were destined, ere many moons, to measure swords and struggle for supremacy on the new Continent.
The peculiar intimacy of the French with the Indians had long given them a strength of no mean consideration. The opposite was true of the English ; and often, instead of drawing the Indians about them in a spirit of amity and friendship, by making them many little presents of trinkets, &c., as did the French then and long before, the phlegmatic nature of the Englishman drove him sullenly away. The Jesuit missionaries, too, still exerted a wide influence, in their peculiar way, over the western tribes. The English had no missionaries. They were simply agriculturalists- desired to till the soil and pursue a moderate, though sure system of commerce. The French were principally fur traders, and their government had long been actuated by, and inflated with, a spirit of conquest and dominion. The one was heretic to the other-had long been so; and the bitter fends of the Old World were now about to take form and action upon the soil of the New. England was stern and resolute. The "Church of England " was the Eng- lishman's church, and his God was not the God of his rival. The " Church of Rome " was the church of the Frenchman of the day ; and his God was not the God of the Englishman. The contest was destined to be a bitter one, and the vantage ground seemed all on the side of the French. Time wore heavily on. 1749 came. The English had begun to make some inroads upon the French domin-
*Sde History of Canada, I, 914.
46
LEADING EVENTS IN THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR.
fons as traders; and it was in this year that La Jonquiere, then governor of Canada, made the discovery that a number of English traders had come to Sandusky,* and " were exerting a bad influence upon the Indians of that quarter." The Canadian Governor, says the account, " caused four of the intruders to be seized near the Ohio and sent prisoners to Canada." Events were now surely and successively " casting their shadows." The English, at that period being much disaffected and broken in their govermental relations, to awaken at New York, Philadelphia, Virginia, and other points, a policy that would attract the attention of, and draw the Indians to them, seemed most difficult indeed. Even the powerful Iroquois or Five Nations, then dwelling, for the most part, in the Province of New York, and who, from an ill-will unthoughtedly engendered by Champlain, in May 1609, in uniting, at Quebec, with a party of Algonquin Indians against them, causing their defeat and utter rout near the rocky promontory of Ticonderoga, and who, therefore; during many years subsequent, were a great source of trouble to the French settlements in Canada, well-nigh, at times, desolating the homes and fields of her interior provinces-even this formida- ble tribe, the English failed to win over to their cause. And "the cold and haughty bearing of the English officials," together with often depriving them, by unfair means, of their annual presents from England ; the habit of arranging negotiations with them through a class of rum dealers, persons looked upon with but little regard by this powerful tribe; with other causes of complaint aris- ing from neglect, t &c., are said to have quite disgusted " the proud chiefs" of the Iroquois.}
It is true, these causes and disquietudes did not wholly apply to all parts of the English Provinces. The Friends, and some other souls, were exceptions, mainly in a philanthropic sense ; but these bodies were usually small in numbers, and often ineffectual in their efforts. No such condition of affairs was anywhere visible among *His. of Canada. I., 214. +Massachusetts Historical Collection, Ist series, VII, 67. #Among the MSS. papers of the famous Sir Wm. Johnson, to the Board of Trade, London, dated May 24, and Nov. 13, 1763, was the following : " We find the Indi- ans, as far back as the very confused manuscript records in my possession, repeatedly upbraiding their provinee for their negligenee, their avarice, and their want of assist- ing them at a time when it was certainly in their power to destroy the infant colony of Canada, although supported by many nations ; and this is likewise confessed by the writings of the managers of these times."
" I apprehend that it will clearly appear to you, that the colonies had, all along: hegleeted to enltivate a proper understanding with the Indians, and from a mistaken notion have greatly despised them, without considering that it is in their power to lay waste and destroy the frontiers. This opinion arose from our confidence in our seat- tered numbers, and the parsimony of our people, who, from an error in polities, would not expend five pounds to save twenty." Sir William was a wise manager of Indian affairs, and from a long and close intimacy with many of the tribes of the North-East, at an early period, became remarkable for his knowledge of Indian character and the strong influence he exerted over them. His headquarters, known as Johnson's Hall, were long at Oswego, N. Y., where great numbers of Indians were more or less always about him, and whither various tribes, through their chiefs and sachems, often repaired to hold their eouneil fires and treaties. And the Indians ever knew him as their great father. Through his ageney the Troquois, in after years, became firm friends of the English.
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HISTORY OF FORT WAYNE.
the French of the time. Their relations and developements were widely different. So diligent and careful were they in their atten- tions to the chiefs and others of the different tribes, that often on the approach of such to their forts, the loud roll of the drum or booming of cannon would announce their coming ; and this attention was most pleasing to the red man, and made liim to feel that he was not only a power in the land, but welcome. At the tables of the French officers " they were regaled" and often bribed with medals and decorations,-scarlet uniforms, and French flags. Far wiser than their rivals, the French never ruffled the self-complacent dig- nity of their guests ; never insulted their religious notions ; nor ridi- culed their ancient customs. They met the savage half way, and showed an abundant readiness to " mould their own features after his likeness."* And it is noted that " Count Frontenac himself, plum- cd and painted like an Indian chief, danced the war-dance, and yelled the war-song at the camp-fires of his delighted allies." Such were the peculiarities of the French-such their wisdom and sense of harmony in so far as related to the wild aborigines of the new continent at that early period.
As little by little, the delicious fruit ripens, the flowers bud and blossom, or the tiny acorn expands into the mighty oak of the forest, so event followed event, as the leaves of Autumn whirl upon the passing breeze, and at length disrobe the thick forest.
The movements and apprehensions of the French steadily became more and more apparent to the English. Soon a French Priest, of the name of Piquet, made bold, in the midst of his opposers, to open a mission at the site of Ogdensburg, on the St. Lawrence,t mainly with a view to win the friendship of the Iroquois, in which he was highly successful, having at one time gained the heart and attention of a very large body of that famous confederacy, which gave the English great uneasiness. But Sir William Johnson soon began to exert a remarkable influence over the various tribes, and at length succeeded in gaining the attention of the Iroquois; and not only did this tribe become friendly, to a considerable degree, towards the English, but the Delawares, and the Miamies, dwelling along the Ohio, come to regard them with much favor ; while the mass of the other tribes lying to the North, West, and South, stood ready at the bidding of their French father.
Matters now began to assume a formidable attitude. The enmity of the rival colonies grew intense. Their hatred had assumed a double aspect of religious and national antipathy. Formerly the Indians had been the instruments of French aggressions upon the English settlements ; and "with them," says Parkman, "the very name of Canada called up horrible recollections and ghastly images; the midnight massacre of Schenectady, and the desolation of many
* Accounts of Adair, Post's Journals, Croghan's Journal, and MSS. of Sir Wm. Johnson, and others.
+History of New York, L., 423.
48
COMMENCEMENT OF THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR.
a New England Hamlet." A French fort had been erected at Crown Point, upon English territory. The treaty of Utretcht and confirmation of same at Aix la Chapelle; had made English ground of Acadia; but a doubt as to the limits of the province soon sprang up, and appointed commissioners, from both sides, failing to agree, belligerant attitudes between the soldiery of the two nations; soon became manifest on Acadian soil. Gist, surveyor, of the " Ohio Company," which had been organized in 1748, with a view to the formation of settlements west of the Alleghanies, had made his way to the falls of the Ohio. The Indians were startled. The French soon snuffed the discontented air of the red man, and before the surveyor and his party had scarcely begun their operations, the French confronted them, and the work ceased.
1753 came. The season of verdure had approached. The birds of the forest were already warbling their sweet notes of welcome to the spring. The French had made their way across Lake Erie, and Presque 'Isle had already become a fortification. From Presque 'Isle they strode rapidly towards the Ohio. The news soon found its way among the middle provinces, and Governor Dinwiddie, of Virginia; began at once to look calmly about him to select an efficient envoy to bear a message to the invaders, ordering their immediate evacua- tion of the soil. GEORGE WASHINGTON, then in his twenty-first year; was the one selected .. Months had gone by: Spring had passed. Another summer had ended-Autumn had left bear the trees, and the cold bleak of winter had come again. The winds moaned through the forest; and the fourth of December, 1753, saw Washington journey- ing along the banks of the Alleghany. Soon he reached the Indian village of Venango, at the mouth of French . Creek. The advanced post of the French was there. . The English trader, formerly at that point had departed, and the French flag was flying over his cabin. The French gave the young messenger a fair reception and hearing, and bade him see the commanding officer at Le Bœuf, still above Venango, on French Creek, whither Washington started and soon arrived. Upon communicating with Legardeur de St. Pierre, the commanding officer, he was told by the latter that he would send the message to the Governor-General of Canada ; that his orders were to hold possession of the country ; and that he would do it ".to the best of his ability." Washington returned. The ultimatum had been revealed, and, at the opening of another spring, a large body of the backwoodsmen of Virginia had formed themselves into a company under Trent, as Captain. Soon crossing the Alleghanies, and descend- ing to the point where now flourishes the city of Pittsburg, Pa., they began the erection of a fort. Le Bœuf and Venango soon got scent of it, and, sweeping down with a large body of French and Indians, the fort of the backwoodsmen was soon evacuated. Then followed. young Washington at the head of a second party. Reaching the Monongahela, he threw up a temporary fortification, and one dark, stormy night, M. Jumonville, with a French scouting party, was sud-
49
HISTORY OF FORT WAYNE.
denly surprised and all taken prisoners by Washington and his backwoodsmen. Soon evacuating this point, he made another halt at the Great Meadows, where, behind some former entrenchments, he was soon assailed by nearly a thousand French and Indians, whom they fought most valiantly, until the French beat a truce- parley, and presented terms of capitulation; and Washington and his men being free to move, soon began to recross the mountains. The Indians now began to wonder at these movements upon their soil-two foreign parties struggling for a territory that belonged to neither, had aroused their attention, and the red men soon began to see that, as one of their sagacious chiefs suggested, a few years later, the French and English were very much "like the two edges of a pair of shears," and that they, (the Indians) were "the cloth which was being cut to pieces between them."
The war dog now began to howi fiercer than ever. 1755 found the courts of London and Versailes still maintaining diplomatic relations, and while yet persisting in a desire for a peaceful adjust- ment of affairs, they were both arranging for a conflict of arms in the New World. Braddock, with a considerable English fleet, soon sailed from the harbor of Cork, in Ireland ; and, a little later, a French fleet put to sea from Brest, under command of Baron Dieskau. While the English fleet came safely over, and landed her troops as designed, the French were less fortunate, and lost two of their ves- sels by drifting, in a fog, too near the guns of a strong British fort, near the banks of Newfoundland, who took the vessels, after a short contest, and made prisoners of the crew. The British now ordered a general attack upon the French marine, and before the end of this year, had captured three hundred French vessels and some eight thousand of her sailors.
The French were discomfited, but not beaten. Braddock became commander-in-chief of the English forces in America. Negotiations were soon broken off between the two great powers, before which, however, the English ministry had hit upon a plan by which they proposed to strike a simultaneous and general blow against the French on the new continent, and thus, if possible, to sweep them from the land at once, as it were. The plan of attack was to move npon Acadia, Crown Point, Niagara, and Fort Du Quesne, (Pitts- burg)-Braddock, with his troops from the Old World, aided by two regiments of provincials, to secure the latter point. But he was a new comer in the land, and knew but little of the perils and diffi- culties to be encountered. He was not " the right man in the right place " for such a field of action at such a time, in so far, at least, as ultimate success was concerned. Having explained, however, to the several governors of the Provinces his intentions, he began, in a stern, austere, and rigid manner, the adjustment of his plans: which being consummated, he took up his line of march toward the borders of Virginia, and soon encamped at Fort Cumberland. Weeks passed away in preparation. The backwoodsmen know how to
50
BRADDOCK'S MARCH UPON FORT DU QUESNE.
sling an axe, but were little acquainted with the close drilling and sterner discipline of the Braddock school. He was often out of humor with them-abused his contractors, for obtaining bad horses, and said hard things of the country and its people generally. But the hour of march at length came. June, 1755, saw the army of Braddock on the move, with an immense baggage, for Fort Du Quesne,-the axemen felling the trees, and opening the way for the advancing forces. " Large bodies move slowly." The opening was rough, and all was tedious. Nearly a month had passed, and on the eighth of July, an advance body of some twelve hundred men, with the less cumbersome baggage and artillery, stood upon the bank of the Monongahela, about fifteen miles from Fort Du Quesne. A rocky barrier, and somewhat uneven ground, prevented a direct passage to the fort, and an order from the general to cross the river with a view to finding a better path, and then to reeross it again a few miles still lower down, was readily entered upon, and the army soon made the first crossing, and rapidly filed along the shore, all aglow with joy at the prospect of a speedy arrival at the fort.
Du Quesne was already in the hands of the French. Bands of Indians and French scouts had spied the approach of Braddock. The fort was all alive with preparation. Retreat was the first thought of Contrecœur, its commander. But Beaujeu, his captain, said fight. His suggestion was listened to and accepted ; he at once pro- posed to lead a band of Indians and French to waylay and intercept the further march of Braddock. The camps of the fierce Caughnaw- ages, Ottawas, Abenakis, Ojibwas, and Hurons, were near and soon reached by Beaujen, who assembled the warriors, and at once threw the hatchet on the ground before them .* All was hesitancy. Again he appealed to them, and still they were silent. At length he approached them with a stern resolution. "I am determined to go," he shouted. " What," continued Beaujeu, "will you suffer your father to go alone ? I am sure we shall conquer." He succeeded, and, on the morning of the ninth of July, word having reached them that the English were near, the chiefs collected their braves ; all painted their faces, greased themselves, whooped, danced, and " hung feath- ers in their scalp- locks." All was heroism and determination with them. Great quantities of gun-powder and bullets were given them, and, with some two hundred and fifty French soldiers, to bring up the rear, the savages, band after band, glided wildly away to the forest. A few miles brought them to a thick clump of woods, near a path leading to the river, which was close by, and where two ravines formed a most remarkable ambuscade, sufficient in extent to contain and conceal " at least ten thousand men ; "and the savages, with Beaujeu and his men, were here soon concealed, with guns all ready for action. The drums of the advancing army were beat- ing. It was midsummer. All was bright and beautiful. The sun * Which. if taken up by the Indians, meant that they would join i the fight.
HISTORY OF FORT WAYNE.
shone forth in all his splendor, and the wild flowers spangled the forest at every side, freighting the undulating currents with delicious odor. On came the army of Braddock. The fated spot was at hand. The army filed along the little road leading to the river, and began to re-cross. All over, they indifferently continued their march, with no scouts in front or at the side to give token of danger. Soon the ravine was neared. Upon every side there seemed a barrier of some kind-thick trees, close underbrush, high grass, and heavy fallon timber-and their progress was slow, while a rapid retreat, with such an army, would have been utterly impossible. Lo! a sud- den whoop from the savages, a volley of musketry from behind the ambuscade of the enemy, soon told the sad story. No one had seen the peril. The English grenadiers were confounded, and many fell. The survivors returned the charge. The resolute Beaujeu was kill- ed, and the Indians wavered, but his second, Dumas, rallied them to the charge, and in the front the Canadians and French poured a heavy volley, while the Indians did a similar execution on the right. and left. The whole body of the army soon felt the charge; dismay and disorder took possession of the soldiery. The advancing col- umns fell back upon the main body. The enemy was everywhere wholly or partially concealed. Few were to be seen. Yell upon yell resounded at every side. Every tree-every log-served as a place of concealment, and every shot told its own sad tale. The grena- diers had never seen or heard the like before. Huddling together in crowds, each seemed struggling to form a shield and barrier of the other. Their muskets were as often fired in the air as towards the enemy ; and many fell at the hands of their own comrades. The officers were generally brave and active. Braddock, though seeming- ly fearful in the onset, had five horses shot under him. The Virgin- jans, like the Indians, at length took to the trees. Braddock rallied them into the ranks again, and the enemy mowed them down with terrible effect ; and soon Braddock himself fell, and was borne from the field. Washington was there, as if taking his first great lesson in warfare. He rode heroically through the ranks. Two horses were killed under him, and four bullets pierced his clothes, says the account;" but he came off unhurt. Gates and Gage were there. The foriner was shot through the body-the latter, badly wounded. Out of eighty-six officers, but twenty-three escaped injury. Of the twelve hundred who crossed the Monongahela, seven hundred were ent down and wounded. The Virginians suffered much. Their bravery was great. The grenadiers quailed. The open fields of the Old World were not there. The work of death continued three hours. There was no relief but retreat, and the remaining body precipitately turned back and crossed the Monongahela. The enemy pursued only to the river. The rout was complete, and the field left to the enemy to plunder and scalp.
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