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 9
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We leave La Salle at Mackinaw to notice some of the occurrences that took place on the Illinois and St. Joseph after he had departed for Fort Frontenac. On this journey, as La Salle passed up the Illinois, he was favorably impressed with Starved Rock as a place presenting strong defenses naturally. He sent word back to Tonti, below Peoria Lake, to take possession of " The Rock " and erect a fortification on its summit. Tonti accordingly came up the river with a part of his avail- able force and began to work upon the new fort. While engaged in this enterprise the principal part of the men remaining at Fort Creve- cœur mutinied. They destroyed the vessel on the stocks, plundered the storehouse, escaped up the Illinois River and appeared before Fort Miami. These deserters demolished Fort Miami and robbed it of goods and furs of La Salle, on deposit there, and then fled out of the country. These misfortunes were soon followed by an incursion of the Iroquois,
* Parkman's "Discovery of the Great West."
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DEATH OF FATHER GABRIEL.
who attacked the Illinois in their village near the Starved Rock. Tonti, acting as mediator, came near losing his life at the hand of an infuriated Iroquois warrior, who drove a knife into his ribs. Constantly an object of distrust to the Illinois, who feared he was a spy and friend of the Iroquois, in turn exposed to the jealousy of the Iroquois, who imag- ined he and his French friends were allies of the Illinois, Tonti remained faithful to his trust until he saw that he could not avert the blow meditated by the Iroquois. Then, with Fathers Zenobe Membre and Gabriel Rebourde, and a few Frenchmen who had remained faith- ful, he escaped from the enraged Indians and made his way, in a leaky canoe, up the Illinois River. Father Gabriel one fine day left his com- panions on the river to enjoy a walk in the beautiful groves near by, and while thus engaged, and as he was meditating upon his holy call- ing, fell into an ambuscade of Kickapoo Indians. The good old man, unconscious of his danger, was instantly knocked down, the scalp torn from his venerable head, and his gray hairs afterward exhibited in tri- umph by his young murderers as a trophy taken from the crown of an Iroquois warrior. Tonti, with those in his company, pursued his course, passing by Chicago, and thence up the west shore of Lake Michigan. Subsisting on berries, and often on acorns and roots which they dug from the ground, they finally arrived at the Pottawatomie towns. Pre- vious to this they abandoned their canoe and started on foot for the Mission of Green Bay, where they wintered.
La Salle, when he arrived at St. Joseph, found Fort Miamis plun- dered and demolished. He also learned that the Iroquois had attacked the Illinois. Fearing for the safety of Tonti, he pushed on rapidly, only to find, at Starved Rock, the unmistakable signs of an Indian slaughter. The report was true. The Iroquois had defeated the Illi- nois and driven them west of the Mississippi. La Salle viewed the wreck of his cherished project, the demolition of the fort, the loss of his peltries, and especially the destruction of his vessel, in that usual calm way peculiar to him; and, although he must have suffered the most intense anguish, no trace of sorrow or indecision appeared on his inflexible countenance. Shortly afterward he returned to Fort Miamis. La Salle occupied his time, until spring, in rebuilding Fort Miamis, holding conferences with the surrounding Indian tribes, and confeder- ating them against future attacks of the Iroquois. He now abandoned the purpose of descending the Mississippi in a sailing vessel, and de- termined to prosecute his voyage in the ordinary wooden pirogues or canoes.
Tonti was sent forward to Chicago Creek, where he constructed a number of sledges. After other preparations had been made, La Salle
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HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST.
and his party left St. Joseph and came around the southern extremity of the lake. The goods and effects were placed on the sledges pre- pared by Tonti. La Salle's party consisted of twenty-three French- men and eighteen Indians. The savages took with them ten squaws and three children, so that the party numbered in all fifty-four persons. They had to make the portage of the Chicago River. After dragging their canoes, sledges, baggage and provisions about eighty leagues over the ice, on the Desplaines and Illinois Rivers, they came to the great Indian town. It was deserted, the savages having gone down the river to Lake Peoria. From Peoria Lake the navigation was open, and embarking, on the 6th of February, they soon arrived at the Mis- sissippi. Here, owing to floating ice, they were delayed till the 13th of the same month. Membre describes the Missouri as follows: "It is full as large as the Mississippi, into which it empties, troubling it so that, from the mouth of the Ozage (Missouri), the water is hardly drinkable. The Indians assured us that this river is formed by many others, and that they ascend it for ten or twelve days to a mountain where it rises ; that beyond this mountain is the sea, where they see great ships ; that on the river are a great number of large villages. Although this river is very large, the Mississippi does not seem aug- mented by it, but it pours in so much mud that, from its mouth, the water of the great river, whose bed is also slimy, is more like clear mud than river water, without changing at all till it reaches the sea, a distance of more than three hundred leagues, although it receives seven large rivers, the water of which is very beautiful, and which are almost as large as the Mississippi." From this time, until they neared the mouths of the Mississippi, nothing especially worthy of note occurred. On the 6th of April they came to the place where the river divides itself into three channels. M. La Salle took the western, the Sieur Dantray the southern, and Tonti, accompanied by Membre, followed the middle channel. The three channels were beautiful and deep. The water became brackish, and two leagues farther it became perfectly salt, and advancing on they at last beheld the Gulf of Mexico. La Salle, in a canoe, coasted the borders of the sea, and then the parties assembled on a dry spot of ground not far from the mouth of the river. On the 9th of April, with all the pomp and ceremony of the Holy Catholic Church, La Salle, in the name of the French King, took pos- session of the Mississippi and all its tributaries. First they chanted the " Vexilla Regis " and "Te Deum," and then, while the assembled voyageurs and their savage attendants fired their muskets and shouted " Vive le Roi," La Salle planted the column, at the same time pro- claiming, in a loud voice, "In the name of the Most High, Mighty,
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TAKING POSSESSION OF LOUISIANA.
Invincible, and Victorious Prince, Louis the Great, by the Grace of God King of France and of Navarre, Fourteenth of that name, I, this 9th day of April, one thousand six hundred and eighty-two, in virtue of the commission of His Majesty, which I hold in my hand, and which may be seen by all whom it may concern, have taken, and do now take, in the name of His Majesty and his successors to the crown, posses- sion of this country of Louisiana, the seas, harbors, ports, bays, adjacent straits, and all the people, nations, provinces, cities, towns, villages, mines, minerals, fisheries, streams and rivers within the extent of the said Louisiana, from the mouth of the great river St. Louis, otherwise called Ohio, as also along the river Colbert, or Mississippi, and the rivers which discharge themselves therein, from its source beyond the country of the Nadonessious (Sioux), as far as its mouth at the sea, and also to the mouth of the river of Palms, upon the assurance we have had from the natives of these countries that we were the first Europeans who have descended or ascended the river Colbert (Missis- sippi); hereby protesting against all who may hereafter undertake to invade any or all of these aforesaid countries, peoples or lands, to the prejudice of His Majesty, acquired by the consent of the nations dwelling herein. Of which, and of all else that is needful, I hereby take to witness those who hear me, and demand an act of the notary here present."
At the foot of the tree to which the cross was attached La Salle caused to be buried a leaden plate, on one side of which were engraven the arms of France, and on the opposite, the following Latin inscription:
LUDOVICUS MAGNUS REGNAT. NONO APRILIS CIO IOC LXXXII.
ROBERTVS CAVALIER, CVM DOMINO DETONTI LEGATO, R. P. ZENOBIO MEMBRE, RECCOLLECTO, ET VIGINTI GALLIS PRIMVS HOC FLVMEN, INDE AB ILINEORVM PAGO ENAVAGAVIT, EZVQUE OSTIVM FECIT PERVIVM, NONO APRILIS ANNI.
CIO IOC LXXXI.
NOTE .- The following is a translation of the inscription on the leaden plate:
" Louis the Great reigns.
"Robert Cavalier, with Lord Tonti as Lieutenant, R. P. Zenobe Membre, Recollect, and twenty Frenchmen, first navigated this stream from the country of the Illinois, and also passed through its mouth, on the 9th of April, 1682."
After which, La Salle remarked that His Majesty, who was the eldest son of the Holy Catholic Church, would not annex any country to his dominion without giving especial attention to establish the
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HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST.
Christian religion therein. He then proceeded at once to erect a cross, before which the "Vexilla" and "Domine Salvum fac Regem" were sung. The ceremony was concluded by shouting "Vive le Roi!"
Thus was completed the discovery and taking possession of the Mississippi valley. By that indisputable title, the right of discovery, attested by all those formalities recognized as essential by the laws of nations, the manuscript evidence of which was duly certified by a no- tary public brought along for that purpose, and witnessed by the sig- natures of La Salle and a number of other persons present on the occa- sion, France became the owner of all that vast country drained by the Mississippi and its tributaries. Bounded by the Alleghanies on the east, and the Rocky Mountains on the west, and extending from an undefined limit on the north to the burning sands of the Gulf on the south. Embracing within its area every variety of climate, watered with a thousand beautiful streams, containing vast prairies and exten- sive forests, with a rich and fertile soil that only awaited the husband- man's skill to yield bountiful harvests, rich in vast beds of bituminous coal and deposits of iron, copper and other ores, this magnificent domain was not to become the seat of a religious dogma, enforced by the power of state, but was designed under the hand of God to become the center of civilization,-the heart of the American republic,-where the right of conscience was to be free, without interference of law, and where universal liberty should only be restrained in so far as its unre- strained exercise might conflict with its equal enjoyment by all.
Had France, with the same energy she displayed in discovering Louisiana, retained her grasp upon this territory, the dominant race in the valley of the Mississippi would have been Gallic instead of Anglo- Saxon.
The manner in which France lost this possession in America will be referred to in a subsequent chapter.
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CHAPTER XI.
LA SALLE'S RETURN, AND HIS DEATH IN ATTEMPTING A SETTLEMENT ON THE GULF.
LA SALLE and his party returned up the Mississippi. Before they reached Chickasaw Bluffs, La Salle was taken dangerously ill.
Dispatching Tonti ahead to Mackinaw, he remained there under the care of Father Membre. About the end of July he was enabled to proceed, and joined Tonti at Mackinaw, in September. Owing to the threatened invasion of the Iroquois, La Salle postponed his projected trip to France, and passed the winter at Fort St. Louis. From Fort St. Louis, it would seem, La Salle directed a letter to Count Frontenac, giving an account of his voyage to the Mississippi. It is short and his- torically interesting, and was first published in that rare little volume, Thevenot's "Collection of Voyages," published at Paris in 1687. This letter contains, perhaps, the first description of Chicago Creek and the harbor, and as everything pertaining to Chicago of a historical charac- ter is a matter of public interest, we insert La Salle's account. It seems that, even at that early day, almost two centuries ago, the idea of a canal connecting Lake Michigan and the Illinois was a subject of consideration :
" The creek (Chicago Creek) through which we went, from the lake of the Illinois into the Divine River (the Au Plein, or Des Plaines) is so shallow and so greatly exposed to storms that no ship can venture in except in a great calm. Neither is the country between the creek and the Divine River suitable for a canal ; for the prairies between them are submerged after heavy rains, and a canal would be immedi- ately filled up with sand. Besides this, it is not possible to dig into the ground on account of the water, that country being nothing but a marsh. Supposing it were possible, however, to cut a canal, it would be useless, as the Divine River is not navigable for forty leagues together ; that is to say, from that place (the portage) to the village of the Illinois, except for canoes, and these have scarcely water enough in summer time."
The identity of the "River Chicago," of early explorers, with the modern stream of the same name, is clearly established by the map of Franquelin of 1684, as well, also, as by the Memoir of Sieur de Tonti.
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HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST.
The latter had occasion to pass through the Chicago River more fre- quently than any other person of his time, and his intimate acquaint- ance with the Indians in the vicinity would necessarily place his decla- rations beyond the suspicion of a mistake. Referring to his being sent in the fall of 1687, by La Salle, from Fort Miamis, at the mouth of the St. Joseph, to Chicago, already alluded to, he says: "We went in canoes to the ' River Chicago,' where there is a portage which joins that of the Illinois." *
The name of this river is variously spelled by early writers, " Chi- cagon," + "Che-ka-kou," + "Chikgoua."§ In the prevailing Algonquin language the word signifies a polecat or skunk. The Aborigines, also, called garlic by nearly the same word, from which many authors have inferred that Chicago means "wild onion." |
While La Salle was in the west, Count Frontenac was removed, and M. La Barre appointed Governor of Canada. The latter was the avowed enemy of La Salle. He injured La Salle in every possible
* Tonti's Memoir, published in the Historical Collections of Louisiana, vol. 1, p. 59. + Joutel's Journal.
Į La Hontan.
§ Father Gravier's Narrative Journal, published in Dr. Shea's "Voyages Up and Down the Mississippi."
| A writer of a historical sketch, published in a late number of "Potter's Monthly," on the isolated statement of an old resident of western Michigan, says that the Indi- ans living thereabouts subsequent to the advent of the early settlers called Chicago "Tuck-Chicago," the meaning of which was, "a place without wood," and thus in- vesting a mere fancy with the dignity of truth. The great city of the west has taken its name from the stream along whose margin it was first laid out, and it becomes im- portant to preserve the origin of its name with whatever certainty a research of all accessible authorities may furnish. In the first place, Chicago was not a place "with- out wood," or trees; on the contrary, it is the only locality where timber was anything like abundant for the distance of miles around. The north and south branches west- ward, and the lake on the east, afforded ample protection against prairie fires; and Dr. John M. Peck, in his early Gazetteer of the state, besides other authorities, especially mention the fact that there was a good quality of timber in the vicinity of Chicago, particularly on the north branch. There is nowhere to be found in the several Indian vocabularies of Sir Alexander Mackenzie, Dr. Edwin James, and the late Albert Gal- latin, in their extensive collections of Algonquin words, any expressions like those used by the writer in Potter's Monthly, bearing the signification which he attaches to them. In Mackenzie's Vocabulary, the Algonquin word for polecat is "Shi-kak." In Dr. James' Vocabulary, the word for skunk is "She-gahg (shegag); and Shig-gau-ga-win- zheeg is the plural for onion or garlic, literally, in the Indian dialect, "skunk-weeds." Dr. James, in a foot-note, says that from this word in the singular number, some have derived the name Chi-ka-go, which is commonly pronounced among the Indians, Shig- gau-go, and Shi-gau-go-ong (meaning) at Chicago.
An association of English traders, styling themselves the " Illinois Land Compa- ny," on the 5th of July, 1773, obtained from ten chiefs of the Kaskaskia, Cahokia and Peoria tribes, a deed for two large tracts of land. The second tract, in the description of its boundaries, contains the following expression : "and thence up the Illinois River, by the several courses thercof, to Chicago, or Garlic Creek;" and it may safely be as- sumed that the parties to the deed knew the names given to identify the grant. Were an additional reference necessary. "Wau Bun," the valuable work of Mrs. John H. Kinzie, might also be cited, p. 190. The Iroquois, who made frequent predatory excursions from their homes in New York to the Illinois country, called Chicago Kan- era-ghik; vide Cadwalder Colden's " History of the Five Nations."
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MISFORTUNES OF LA SALLE'S COLONY.
way, and finally seized upon Fort Frontenac. To obtain redress, La- Salle went to France, reaching Rochelle on the 13th of December, 1683. Seignelay (young Colbert), Secretary of State and Minister of the Marine, was appealed to by La Salle, and became interested and furnished him timely aid in his enterprise.
Before leaving Ameriea La Salle ordered Tonti to proceed and finish "Fort St. Louis," as the fortification at Starved Rock, on the Illinois River, was named. " He charged me," says Tonti, "with the duty to go and finish Fort St. Louis, of which he gave me the government, with full power to dispose of the lands in the neighborhood, and left all his people under my command, with the exception of six French- men, whom he took to accompany him to Quebec. We departed from Mackinaw on the same day, he for Canada and I for the Illinois .* On his mission to France La Salle was received with honor by the king and his officers, and the accounts which he gave relative to Louisiana caused them to further his plans for its colonization. A squadron of four vessels was fitted out, the largest carrying thirty-six guns. About two hundred persons were embarked aboard of them for the purpose long projected, as we have foreseen, of establishing a settlement at the mouth of the Mississippi. The fleet was under the command of M. de Beaujen, a naval officer of some distinction. He was punctilious in the exercise of authority, and had a wiry, nervous organization, as the portrait preserved of him clearly shows.t La Salle was austere, and lacked that faculty of getting along with men, for the want of which many of his best-laid plans failed. A constant bickering and collision of cross purposes was the natural result of such repellant natures as he and Beaujeu possessed.
After a stormy passage of the Atlantic, the fleet entered the Gulf of Mexico. Coasting along the northern shore of the gulf, they failed to discover the mouths of the Mississippi. Passing them, they finally landed in what is now known as Matagorda Bay, or the Bay of St. Barnard, near the River Colorado, in Texas, more than a hundred leagues westward of the Mississippi. The whole number of persons left on the beach is not definitely known. M. Joutel, one of the sur- vivors, and the chronicler of this unfortunate undertaking, mentions one hundred and eighty, besides the crew of the " Belle," which was lost on the beach, consisting of soldiers, volunteers, workmen, women and children .¿ The colony being in a destitute condition, La Salle,
* Tonti's Memoir.
+ A fine steel engraving copy of Mons. Beaujeu is contained in Dr. Shea's transla- tion of Charlevoix's " History of New France."
# Spark's "Life of La Salle."
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HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST.
accompanied by Father Anastius Douay and twenty others, set out to reach the Mississippi, intending to ascend to Fort St. Louis, and there obtain aid from Tonti. They set out on the 7th of January, and after several days' journey, reached the village of the Cenis Indians. Here some of La Salle's men became dissatisfied with their hardships, and determined to slay him and then join the Indians. The tragic tale is thus related by Father Douay : "The wisdom of Monsieur de La Salle was unable to foresee the plot which some of his people would make to slay his nephew, as they suddenly resolved to do, and actually did, on the 17th of March, by a blow of an ax, dealt by one Liotot. They also killed the valet of the Sieur La Salle and his Indian ser- vant, Nika, who, at the risk of his life, had supported them for three years. The wretches resolved not to stop here, and not satisfied with this murder, formed a design of attempting their commander's life, as they had reason to fear his resentment and chastisement. As M. La Salle and myself were walking toward the fatal spot where his nephew had been slain, two of those murderers, who were hidden in the grass, arose, one on each side, with guns cocked. One missed Mon- sieur La Salle ; the other, firing at the same time, shot him in the head. He died an hour after, on the 19th of March, 1687.
" Thus," says Father Douay, "died our commander, constant in ad- versity, intrepid, generous, engaging, dexterons, skillful, capable of everything. He who for twenty years had softened the fierce temper of countless savage tribes was massacred by the hands of his own domes- tics, whom he had loaded with caresses. He died in the prime of life, in the midst of his course and labors, without having seen their success."*
The colony which La Salle had left in Texas was surprised and destroyed by the Indians. Not a soul was left to give an account of the massacre. Of the twenty who accompanied him in his attempt to reach the Mississippi, Joutel, M. Cavalier, La Salle's brother, and four others determined to make a last attempt to find the Mississippi; the others, including La Salle's murderers, became the associates of the less brutal Indians, and of them we have no farther account. After a long and toilsome journey Joutel and his party reached the Mississippi near the mouth of the Arkansas. Here they found two men who had been sent by Tonti to relieve La Salle. Embarking in canoes, they went up the Mississippi, arrived at Fort St. Louis in safety, and finally returned to France by way of Quebec.
From this period until 1698 the French made no further attempts to colonize the Lower Mississippi. They had no settlements below the
* Father Douay's Journal, contained in Dr. Shea's "Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi."
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BILOXI AND MOBILE FOUNDED.
Ohio, and above that river, on the Illinois and the upper lakes, were scattered only a few missions and trading posts.
Realizing the great importance of retaining possession of the Mis- sissippi valley, the French court fitted out an expedition which con- sisted of four vessels, for the purpose of thoroughly exploring the mouth of the Mississippi and adjacent territory. Le Moyne Iberville was put in command of the expedition. He was the third of the eleven sons of Baron Longueil. They all held commissions from the king, and con- stituted one of the most illustrious of the French Canadian families. The fleet sailed from Brest, France, on the 24th of October, 1698. They came in sight of Florida on the 27th of January, 1699. They ran near the coast, and discovered that they were in the vicinity of Pensacola Bay. Here they found a colony of three hundred Spaniards. Sailing westward, they entered the mouth of the Mississippi on Quin- quagesima Monday, which was the 2d of March. Iberville ascended the river far enough to assure himself of its being the Mississippi, then, descending the river, he founded a colony at Biloxi Bay. Leaving his brother, M. de Sauvole, in command of the newly erected fort, he sailed for France. Iberville returned to Biloxi on the 8th of January, and, hearing that the English were exploring the Mississippi. he took formal possession of the Mississippi valley in the name of the French king. He, also, erected a small four-gun fort on Poverty Point, 38 miles below New Orleans. The fort was constructed very rudely, and was occupied for only one year. In the year 1701 Iberville made a settlement at Mobile, and this soon became the principal French town on the gulf. The unavailing efforts of the king in the scheme of colonization induced a belief that a greater prosperity would follow under the stimulus of individual enterprise, and he determined to grant Louisiana to Monsieur Crozat, with a monopoly of its mines, supposed to be valuable in gold and silver, together with the exclusive right of all its commerce for the period of fifteen years. The patent or grant of Louis to M. Crozat is an interesting document, not only because it passed the title of the Mississippi valley into the hands of one man, but for the reason that it embraces a part of the history of the country ceded. We, therefore, quote the most valuable part of it. The instrument bears date Sep- tember 12th, 1712 :
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