USA > Indiana > Montgomery County > History of Montgomery County, together with historic notes on the Wabash Valley; gleaned from early authors, old maps and manuscripts, private and official correspondence, and other authentic sources > Part 25
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# Aubry returned to Louisiana and remained there until after the peace of 1763. In 1765 he was appointed governor of Louisiana, and surrendered the colony, in March,
231
THE DOWNFALL OF FRENCH RULE.
The next day after Aubry's defeat, near Fort Niagara, the fortress surrendered.
After the surrender of Niagara and Fort Du Quesne, the Indian allies of France retired to the deep recesses of the western forests, and the English frontiers suffered no more from their depredations. Settlements were gradually formed on the western side of the Alle- ghanies, and they remained secure from Indian invasions.
In the meantime many Canadians, becoming satisfied that the conquest of Canada was only a mere question of time, determined, before that event took place, to remove to the French settlements on the lower Mississippi. "Many of them accordingly departed from Canada by way of the lakes, and thence through the Illinois and Wabash Rivers to the Mississippi."*
After the surrender of Quebec, in 1759, Montreal became the headquarters of the French in Canada, and in the spring of 1760 Mons. Levi, the French commander-in-chief, besieged Quebec. The arrival of an English fleet compelled him to relinquish his designs. Amherst and Johnson formed a junction, and advanced against Montreal. The French governor of Canada, Marquis Vaudreil, believing that further resistance was impossible, surrendered all Canada to the English. This included the western posts of Detroit, Mackinaw, Fort Miami, Ouiatanon, Vincennes, Fort St. Joseph, etc.
After this war ceased to be waged in America, though the treaty of Paris was not concluded until February, 1763, the most essential parts of which are contained in the following extracts :
"In order to establish peace on solid and durable foundations, and to remove forever all subjects of dispute with regard to the limits of the British and French territories on the continent of America, it is agreed that for the future the confines between the dominions of his Britannic Majesty and those of His Most Christian Majesty in that part of the world, shall be fixed irrevocably by a line drawn along the middle of the River Mississippi from its source to the River Iberville, and from thence by a line drawn along the middle of this river and the lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain, to the sea ; and for this purpose the most Christian King cedes, in full right, and guarantees to his Britannic Majesty, the river and port of Mobile, and everything which he possesses, or ought to possess, on the left side of the Mississippi, with the exception of the town of
1766, to the Spanish governor, Ulloa. After the expulsion of Ulloa, he held the government until relieved by O'Reilly, in July, 1769. He soon afterward sailed for France. The vessel was lost, and Aubry perished in the depths of the sea.
* Monette's Valley of the Mississippi, vol. 1, p. 305.
232
HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST.
New Orleans and of the island on which it is situated; it being well understood that the navigation of the Mississippi shall be equally free, as well to the subjects of Great Britain as to those of France, in its whole length and breadth, from its source to the sea."*
Thus Gallic rule came to an end in North America. Its downfall was the result of natural causes, and was owing largely to the differ- ence between the Frenchmen and the Englishmen. The former, as a rule, gave no attention to agriculture, but found occupation in hunting and trading with the Indians, acquiring nomadic habits that unfitted them for the cultivation of the soil; their families dwelt in villages separated by wide stretches of wilderness. While the able men were hunting and trading, the old men, women and children produced scanty crops sown in "common fields," or inclosures of a piece of ground which were portioned off among the families of the village. The Englishman, on the other hand, loved to own land, and pushed his improvements from the coast line up through all the valleys extending westward. Reaching the summit of the Allegha- nies, the tide of emigration flowed into the valleys beyond. Every cabin was a fort, every advancing farm a new line of intrenchment. The distinguishing characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon is consistency and firmness in his designs, and, more than all, his love for a home. In the trials and hardships necessarily connected with the opening up of the wilderness these traits come prominently into play. The result was, that the English colonies prospered in a degree hitherto unknown in the annals of the world's progress. And by way of con- trast, how little did the French have to show in the way of lasting improvements in the northwest after it had been in their possession for nearly a century !
However, the very traits that disqualified the Gaul as a successful colonist gave him a preeminent advantage over the Anglo-Saxon in the influence he exerted upon the Indian. He did not want their
* "On the 3d day of the previous November, France, by a secret treaty ceded to Spain all her possessions west of the Mississippi. His Most Christian Majesty made known to the inhabitants of Louisiana the fact of the cession by a letter, dated April 21, 1764. Don Ulloa, the New Spanish governor, arrived at New Orleans in 1766. The French inhabitants objected to the transfer of Louisiana to Spain, and, resorting to arms, compelled Ulloa to return to Havana. In 1769, O'Reilly, with a Spanish force, arrived and took possession. He killed six of the ringleaders and sent others to Cuba. Spain remained in possession of Louisiana until March, 1801, when Louisiana was retroceded to the French republic. The French made preparations to occupy Lousiana, and an army of twenty-five thousand men was designed for that territory, but the fleet and army were suddenly blockaded in one of the ports of Hol- land by an English squadron. This occurrence, together with the gloomy aspect of affairs in Europe, induced Napoleon, who was then at the head of the French republic, to cede Louisiana to the United States. The treaty was dated April 30, 1803. The actual transfer occurred in December of the same year." Vide Stoddard's Sketches of Louisiana, pp. 71, 102.
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FRENCH WAYS WITH THE INDIANS.
lands ; he fraternized with them, adopted their ways, and flattered and pleased them. The Anglo-Saxon wanted their lands. From the start he was clamorous for deeds and cessions of territory, and at once began crowding the Indian out of the country. "The Iro- quois told Sir Wm. Johnson that they believed soon they should not be able to hunt a bear into a hole in a tree but some Englishman would claim a right to the property of it, as being found in his tree."*
The happiness which the Indians enjoyed from their intercourse with the French was their perpetual theme ; it was their golden age. "Those who are old enough to remember it speak of it with rap- ture, and teach their children to venerate it, as the ancients did the reign of Saturn. 'Yon call us your children,' said an aged chief to Gen. Harrison, 'why do you not make us happy, as our fathers the French did? They never took from us our lands, which, indeed, were in common between us. They planted where they pleased, and cut wood where they pleased, and so did we; but now, if a poor Indian attempts to take a little bark from a tree to cover him from the rain, up comes a white man and threatens to shoot him, claim- ing the tree as his own.' "+
* Pownall's Administration of the Colonies.
+ Memoirs of Gen. Harrison, p. 134.
CHAPTER XXII.
PONTIAC'S WAR TO RECOVER THE NORTHWEST FROM THE ENGLISH.
AFTER the surrender of Canada to the English by the Marquis Vaudreuil, Sir Jeffery Amherst, commander-in-chief of His Majesty's forces in North America, ordered Major Robert Rogers to ascend the lakes and take possession of the western forts. On the 13th of September Rogers, with two hundred of his rangers, left Montreal. After weeks of weary traveling, they reached the mouth of Cuyahoga River, the present site of Cleveland, on the 7th of November. Here they were met by Pontiac, a celebrated Ottawa chieftain, who asked Rogers what his intentions were, and how he dared enter that coun- try without his permission. Rogers replied that the French had been defeated ; that Canada was surrendered into the hands of the British ; and that he was on his way to take possession of Detroit, Mackinaw, Miamis and Ouitanon. IIe also proposed to restore a general peace to white men and Indians alike. "Pontiac listened with attention, but only replied that he should stand in the path of the English until morning." In the morning he returned, and allowed the English to advance. He said there would be no trouble so long as they treated him with deference and respect.
Embarking on the 12th of November, they arrived in a few days at Maumee Bay, at the western end of Lake Erie. The western Indians, to the number of four hundred, had collected at the mouth of Detroit River. They were determined to massacre the entire party under Rogers. It afterward appeared that they were acting under the influence of the French commandant at Detroit. Rogers pre- vailed upon Pontiac to use his influence to induce the warlike Indians to disband. After some parleying, Pontiac succeeded, and the road was open to Detroit.
Before his arrival at Detroit Rogers had sent in advance Lieuten- ant Brehm with a letter to Captain Beletre, the commandant, inform- ing the latter that his garrison was included in the surrender of Canada. Beletre wholly disregarded the letter. He declared he thought it was a trick of the English, and that they intended to obtain possession of his fortress by treachery. He made use of every endeavor to excite the Indians against the English. "He
234
235
DETROIT SURRENDERED.
displayed upon a pole, before the yelling multitude, the effigy of a crow pecking a man's head, the crow representing himself, and the head, observes Rogers, 'being meant for my own.' ">
Rogers then sent forward Captain Campbell "with a copy of the capitulation and a letter from the Marquis Vaudreuil, directing that the place should be given up in accordance with the articles agreed upon between him and General Amherst." The French command- ant could hold out no longer, and, much against his will, was com- pelled to deliver the fortress to the English. The lilies of France were lowered from the flagstaff, and their place was taken by the cross of St. George. Seven hundred Indian warriors and their families, all of whom had aided the French by murdering innocent women and children on the frontiers of Pennsylvania and New York, greeted the change with demoniacal yells of apparent pleasure ; but concealed in their breasts was a natural dislike for the English. Dissembling for the present, they kept their hatred to themselves, for the late successes of British arms had awed them into silence.
It was on the 29th of November, 1760, that Detroit was given over to the English. The garrison, as prisoners of war, were taken to Philadelphia.
Rogers sent an officer up the Maumee, and from thence down the Wabash, to take possession of the posts at the portage and at Oui- atanon. Both of these objects were attained without any difficulty.
On account of the lateness of the season the detachment which had started for Mackinaw returned to Detroit, and all efforts against the posts on the upper lakes were laid aside until the following sea- son. In that year the English took possession of Mackinaw, Green Bay and St. Joseph. The French still retained possession of Vin- cennes and Fort Chartes. +
It always was the characteristic policy of the French to render the savages dependent upon them, and with that design in view they had earnestly endeavored to cultivate among the Indians a desire for European goods. By prevailing upon the Indians to throw aside hides and skins of wild beasts for clothing of European manufacture, to discontinue the use of their pottery for cooking utensils of iron, to exchange the bow and arrow and stone weapons for the gun, the- knife and hatchet of French manufacture, it was thought that in the course of one or two generations they would become dependent upon their French neighbors for the common necessaries of life. When
* Parkman's Conspiracy of Pontiac, p. 150.
+ This account of the delivery of the western forts to Rogers has been collated from his Journal and from Parkman's Conspiracy of Pontiac.
236
HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST.
this change in their customs had taken place, by simply withholding the supply of ammunition they could coerce the savages to adopt any measures that the French government saw fit to propose. The pol- icy of the French was not to force, but to lead, the savages into sub- jection. They told the barbarians that they were the children of the great king, who had sent his people among them to preserve them from their implacable enemies, the English. Flattering them, asking their advice, bestowing upon them presents, and, above all, showing them respect and deference, the French gained the good will of the savages in a degree that no other European nation ever equaled. After the surrender of the western posts all this was changed. The accustomed presents formerly bestowed upon them were withheld. English traders robbed, bullied and cheated them. English officers treated them with rudeness and contempt. But, most of all, the steady advance of the English colonists over the mountains, occupy- ing their lands, driving away their game, and foreing them to retire farther west, alarmed and exasperated the aborigines to the limit of endurance. "The wrongs and neglect the Indians felt were inflamed by the French coureurs de bois and traders. They had every motive to excite the tribes against the English, such as their national rancor, their religious antipathies, and most especially the fear of losing the profitable Indian trade." Every effort was made to excite and in- flame the slumbering passions of the tribes of the Northwest. Secret councils were held, and different plans for obtaining possession of the western fortresses were discussed. The year after Rogers ob- tained Detroit there was, in the summer, an outbreak, but it was easily quelled, being only local. The next year, also, there was another disturbance, but it, like the former, did not spread.
During these two years one Indian alone, - Pontiac, - compre- hended the situation. He read correctly the signs and portents of the times. He well knew that English supremacy on the North American continent meant the destruction of his race. He saw the great difference between the English and the French. The former were settlers, the latter traders. The French came to the far west for their beaver skins and peltries, while the English would only be satisfied with their lands. Pontiac soon arrived at the conclusion that unless the ceaseless flow of English immigration was stopped, it would not be many decades before the Indian race would be driven from the face of the earth. Well has time justified this opin- ion of the able Indian chieftain !
To accomplish his designs, Pontiac was well aware that he must induce all the tribes of the northwest to join him. Even then he
237
PONTIAC'S WAR.
had doubts of final success. To encourage him, the French traders informed him " that the English had stolen Canada while their com- mon father was asleep at Versailles ; that he would soon awaken and again wrest his domains from the intruders; that even now large French armies were on their way up the St. Lawrence and Missis- sippi rivers." Pontiac believed these tales, for let it be borne in mind that this was previous to the treaty of Paris, and late in the autumn of 1762 he sent emissaries with black wampum and the red tomahawk to the villages of the Ottawas, Pottawatomies, Sacs, Foxes, Menominees, Illinois, Miamis, Shawnees, Delawares, Wyan- dots, Kickapoos and Senecas. These emissaries were instructed to inform the various tribes that the English had determined to exter- minate the northwestern Indians ; to accomplish this they intended to erect numerous fortifications in the territory named; and also that the English had induced the southern Indians to aid them .* To avert these inimical designs of the English, the messengers of Pon- tiac proposed that on a certain day all the tribes, by concerted action, should seize all the English posts and then attack the whole English border.
Pontiac's plan was contrived and developed with wonderful secrecy, and all of a sudden the conspiracy burst its fury simultane- ously over all the forts held by the British west of the Alleghanies. By stratagem or forcible assault every garrison west of Pittsburgh, excepting Detroit, was captured.
Fort St. Joseph, on the river of that name, in the present state of Michigan, was captured by the Pottawatomies. These emissaries of Pontiac collected about the fort on the 23d of May, 1763, and under the guise of friendship effected an entrance within the palisades, when they suddenly turned upon and massacred the whole garrison, except the commandant, Ensign Slussee and three soldiers, whom they made prisoners and sent to Detroit.
The Ojibbeways effected an entry within the defenses of Fort Mackinaw, the gate being left open while the Indians were amusing the officer and soldiers with a game of ball. In the play the ball was knocked over within the palisade. The players, hurrying through the gates, seemingly intent on regaining the ball, seized their knives and guns from beneath the blankets of their squaws, where they had been purposely concealed, and commenced an indis- criminate massacre. +
* The Chickasaws and Cherokees were at that time, though on their own responsi- bility, waging war aginst some of the tribes of the northwest.
+A detailed account of this most horrible massacre is given by the fur-trader Alex-
238
HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST.
Ensign Holmes, who was in command at Fort Miami,* learned that to the Miamis in the vicinity of his post was allotted the de- struction of his garrison. Holmes collected the Indians in an assembly, and charged them with forming a conspiracy against his post. They confessed ; said that they were influenced by hostile Indians, and promised to relinquish their designs. The village of Pontiac was within a short distance of the post, and some of his ini- mediate followers doubtless attended the assembly. Holmes sup- posed he had partially allayed their irritation, as appears from a letter written ftom him to Major Gladwyn. +
On the 27th of May a young Indian squaw, who was the mistress of Holmes, requested him to visit a sick Indian woman who lived in a wigwam near at hand. "Having confidence in the girl, Holmes followed her out of the fort." Two Indians, who were concealed behind the hut, as he approached it, fired and " stretched him life- less on the ground." The sergeant rushed outside of the palisade to learn the cause of the firing. He was immediately seized by the Indians. The garrison, who by this time had become thoroughly alarmed, and had climbed upon the palisades, was ordered to surren- der by one Godefroy, a Canadian. They were informed, if they submitted their lives would be spared, otherwise they all would be massacred. Having lost their officers and being in great terror, they threw open the gate and gave themselves up as prisoners. Accord- ing to tradition, the garrison was afterward massacred .;
Fort Ouiatanon was under the command of Lieut. Jenkins, who had no suspicion of any Indian troubles, and on the 1st of June, when he was requested by some of the Indians to visit them in their cabins near by, he unhesitatingly complied with the request. Upon his entering the hut he was immediately seized by the Indian war- riors. Through various other stratagems of a similar nature several of the soldiers were also taken. Jenkins was then told to have the soldiers in the fort surrender. "For," said the Indians, "should your men kill one of our braves, we shall put you all to death."
ander Henry, an eye-witness and one of the few survivors, in his interesting Book of Travels and Adventures, p. 85.
* Now Fort Wayne.
FORT MIAMIS, March 30th, 1763.
+ Since my Last Letter to You, wherein I Acquainted You of the Bloody Belt being in this Village, I have made all the search I could about it, and have found it not to be True; Whereon I Assembled all the chiefs of this Nation, & after a long and trouble- some Spell with them, I Obtained the Belt, with a Speech, as You will Receive En- closed; This affair is very timely Stopt, and I hope the News of a Peace will put a Stop to any further Troubles with these Indians, who are the Principal Ones of Setting Mischief on Foot. I send you the Belt, with this Packet, which I hope You will For- ward to the General.
# Brice's History of Fort Wayne.
239
PONTIAC'S FAILURE.
Jenkins thinking that resistance would be useless, ordered the re- maining soldiers to deliver the fort to the Indians. During the night the Indians resolved to break their plighted word, and mas- sacre all their prisoners. Two of the French residents, M. M. Mai- gonville and Lorain, gave the Indians valuable presents, including wampum, brandy, etc., and thus preserved the lives of the English captives. Jenkins, in his letter to Major Gladwyn, commandant at Detroit, states that the Weas were not favorably inclined toward Pontiac's designs ; but being coerced by the surrounding tribes, they undertook to carry out their part of the programme. Well did they succeed. Lieut. Jenkins, with the other prisoners, were, within a few days afterward, sent across the prairies of Illinois to Fort Char- tres.
Detroit held out, though regularly besieged by Pontiac in person, for more than fifteen months, when, at last, the suffering garrison was relieved by the approach of troops under Gen. Bradstreet. In the meantime Pontiac confederates, wearied and disheartened by the protracted struggle, longed for peace. Several tribes abandoned the declining fortune of Pontiac ; and finally the latter gave up the con- test, and retired to the neighborhood of Fort Miamis. Here he remained for several months, when he went westward, down the Wabash and across the prairies to Fort Chartres. The latter fort remained in possession of a French officer, not having been as yet surrendered to the English, the hostility of the Indians preventing its delivery ; and by agreements of the two governments, France and England, it was left in charge of the veteran St. Ange.
The English having acquired the territory herein considered, by conquest and treaty, from France, renewed their efforts to reclaim authority over it from its aboriginal inhabitants. To effect this object, they now resort to conciliation and diplomacy. They sent westward George Croghan .*
After closing a treaty with the Indians at Fort Pitt, Croghan started on his mission on the 15th of May 1765, going down the Ohio in two bateaux. His movements were known to the hostile
* Croghan was an old trader who had spent his life among the Indians, and was versed in their language, ways and habits of thought, and who well knew how to flat- ter and cajole them. Besides this, Croghan enjoyed the advantage of a personal ac- quaintance with many of the chiefs and principal men of the Wabash tribes, who had met him while trading at Pickawillany and other places where he had trading estab- lishments. Among the Miami, Wea and Piankashaw bands Croghan had many Indian friends whose attachments toward him were very warm. He was a veteran, up to all the arts of the Indian council house, and had in years gone by conducted many impor- tant treaties between the authorities of New York and Pennsylvania with the Iroquois, Delawares and Shawnees. In the war for the fur trade Croghan suffered severely; the French captured his traders, confiscated his goods, and bankrupted his fortune.
240
HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST.
tribes. A war party of eighty Kickapoos and Mascoutins, " spirited up" to the act by the French traders at Quiatanon, as Croghan says in his Journal, left the latter place, and captured Croghan and his party at daybreak on the Sth of June, in the manner narrated in a previous chapter .* He was carried to Vincennes, his captors con- ducting him a devious course through marshes, tangled forests and small prairie, to the latter place. +
After Croghan had procured wearing apparel (his captors had stripped him well-nigh naked) and purchased some horses he crossed the Wabash, and soon entered the great prairie which he describes in extracts we have already taken from his journal. His route was up through Crawford, Edgar and Vermilion counties, fol- lowing the old traveled trail running along the divide between the Embarrass and the Wabash, and which was a part of the great high- way leading from Detroit to Kaskaskia ;; crossed the Vermilion River near Danville, thence along the trail through Warren county, Indiana. Croghan, still a prisoner in charge of his captors, reached Ouiatonon on the afternoon of the 23d of June. ยง Here the Weas,
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