USA > Indiana > Knox County > Vincennes > History of Old Vincennes and Knox County, Indiana, Volume I > Part 12
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He was also an epicure of fine discernment, a lover of flowers, trees and birds ; and, being possessed of independent means, upon his arrival in this city, purchased a large section of land on the south side, formerly known as Frenchtown, and now the present site of the Good Samaritan hospital, and built a comfortable and commodious residence, which subsequently be- came surrounded with tempting orchards and vineyards, where he dis- pensed a hospitality as lavish as it was graceful and gracious. He was married in 1850 to Margurite Campagniotte, grandniece of Pierre, Paul and Antoine Gamelin, all of whom rendered valuable assistance to Father Gibault and Francis Vigo in behalf of the American cause, pending the capture of Vincennes from the British. Paul Gamelin was the father of the mother of John B. La Plante, deceased, and great grandfather of Ed- mond B. La Plante, and quite a prominent figure in the judicial and mili- tary affairs of the northwest territory. Soon after taking up his residence here, Mr. Poullet was admitted to the Knox County bar, and, as an advo- cate of the law, his services were frequently called into requisition in ques- tions involving the old French claims, and his knowledge of French techni- calities was invaluable in this branch of his profession. He was a very successful practitioner, but retired early from active practice. He never, however, relinquished his friendship for members of the profession, and maintained to the last a close association with his legal brethren, his annual dinners tendered to members of the bar being among the marked features that characterized the social life of Vincennes. He died in 1884 at Indian- apolis, whither he had gone for treatment, leaving to mourn their loss his devoted wife and two children, Charles and Emile Marguirete, all of whom survive him. The latter was married in 1874 to John Burke, de- ceased, and their daughters, Marie Maurice and Claire Agnes (wife of Dr. Barney Dryfuss), both of New York city, are the eldest of a large family of children who represent an honored lineage of characters con- spicuous in the pioneer history of the northwest territory. The genealogy of the La Selles can also be traced to Gilles de la Celle, a distinguished man of letters of Savigny sur Orge, diocese of Paris, France, whose con- sort was Anne Beauregard; Jacques de la Celle, who married Angelique Gibault at Montreal, Canada, August 8, 1698; Jacques La Selle, who mar- ried Marie Anne La Lande at Montreal, February 16, 1733, died Novem- ber 17, 1778; Jacques La Selle, fils, married Therese Berthelet at La Chine, Canada, February 18, 1765, died at Detroit, Mich., about 1796; Hyacinthe Lasselle married Julie Ridday Bosseron, and was born at the Indian town of Quaitenon, near the present city of Fort Wayne, February 25, 1777, and died at Logansport, Ind., January 23, 1843. The La Salle-Busseron wedding, which occurred here February 8, 1805, was a notable social event, and joined together two of the most prominent families of the old post. The fruits of this union were ten children, all of whom were born at Vincennes, and of which only two are now living-Julie Francois, widow
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of Louis Chamberlin, and Caroline Victoria, widow of Cornelius Corn- well, both of Washington, D. C.
Through all the intervening ages Poste du Ouabache, with an air of Arcadian idealism ever present, extending back to the dark and mysterious days of centuries that have gone, has always been the small fount from which larger streams have flowed into the channels of history. Long be- fore Francois Morgane de Vinsenne, in whose honor it was named, ap- peared upon the scene, many years preceding the first preserved church records of St. Francis Xavier cathedral, telling of the happy nuptials, on April 21, 1749, of Madame Troittier, to be followed by the sad sequel a year later of the burial of the bride beneath her pew "on the gospel side," grandsires of the Racines, Duboises, Barrois, Deloriers, Bonneaux, Ma- lettes, Bordelcaus, La Deroutes, Brouillettes, Goderes, Chapeaus, Goim- ards, Levrons, La Violettes, Pagets, Pelletiers, Busserons, De Noyons, Villeneuves, Boyers, Cornoyers, Chapards, Racicaults, were very material factors in shaping the destinies and establishing the social codes of the northwest territory. They were of the people to whom General Gage, that gruff and bluff Englishman, with an elongated military title, issued an order in 1772 to quit this country without delay and to retire at their choice into some of the colonies of his majesty, the king of England, where they would be received and treated as other subjects of Great Britain, and to whom they sent back the plea that for seventy years their ancestors bad held the land under the king of France, registering a strong protest against dispossession. But the grasping Gage was unrelenting, and demanded cor- tified copies of deeds to titles. Alas, for the ravages of time! Few of the original concessions remained. It had been customary for past com- mandants to record them upon small scraps of paper which were deposited with a royal notary. Some did then, and always had, regarded long occu- pation as evidence of title, because they were honest in all dealings with their fellow-men, and were not all of that indolent, idle class, which Mr. Volney claims to have encountered. However, tangible proofs of rightful ownership were scattered, many destroyed. Some had been transferred to Fort Chartres, others had been carried away by an absconding notary, and still others had been "eaten by rats." There was a hasty recension, and from the "Noms des Habitans et Titre par leguel ils Reclament," for- warded to Gage there came no reply.
Connected, also, with the pioneers above mentioned, but not generally known by the present generation, were the Lagannierres, Perodeaus, Binet, and others, whose descendants' names have been changed in marriage, as Wetzel and Smock, descended of the Chapards, the numerous branches of the Bayard family from the De Noyons, and the La Salles of Logans- port, from the Busserons. A name prominent in the early affairs of the poste, conspicuously absent in the "recensement" to Gage, is that of John Baptiste Deroite de Richardville, who held no concessions of land from his sovereign. A nobleman of distinction, holding office under King Louis,
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he was sent to New France, and with Francois Morgane de Vinsenne, came to the Wabash country on a mission of treaty with the Indians. The independence and fascination of savage life so attracted him that he tarried, eventually fell in love with and married the chief's daughter. The news was received with resentment and disapproval by his family and at court. The young man was shorn of his possessions and ordered not to return to France. At once reconciling himself to his fate, he adopted the drifting life of a coureur de bois, trapping and hunting with his Indian brethren and making his home among his wife's people. But, unlike many others, he never forgot his early training, nor lost the bearing of an offi- cer or courtier. By his gentlemanly deportment he became a factor in the councils of governmental affairs, and in the everyday social life of the old post. At the close of the French possession, when the retiring com- mandant, St. Ange, was empowered to name a person "to maintain good order among the citizens of the poste, as also of the voyageurs and In- dians," he named Monsieur Deroite de Richardville to perform the func- tions of captain of militia. The latter did not live long after having been honored with this commission, death having come to his bed-chamber in the night time, wholly unannounced, where he had retired the same even- ing in the best of spirits to court a soothing slumber begotten by the knowledge of faithful performance of duties of the preceding day. His demise, as citizen and officer, was generally deplored, and at his obsequies the populace gave a universal expression of its grief. He was survived by his wife and only child, a son, who married Susan Vondrie. Five chil- dren were born of this union, of whom John Baptiste, the second son, was the first to marry. His wife was Victoria Levron, whose ancestors held a concession of land from Commandant St. Ange. Of their ten children, there are none now living, Celestine, wife of Felix Bouchie, deceased, who departed this life about ten years ago, being the last survivor of that im- mediate family. The Creole character-of which few types now remain- the product of the Indian settlements along the Wabash, seemed to be of a better grade than was developed among other localities where intermar- riages of white and red people produced this attractive genus homo. Al- ways a picturesque personality, the Creole of the Wabash country, com- bining the lithe, slender figure of the Indian with the vivacity and natural courtesy of the Frenchman, was also an interesting study, and were the secrets of his history revealed, there would be discovered in more instances than suspected strains of blood as blue as ever coursed through noble veins .*
* The foregoing paragraphs relating to the Pouflets and Richardvilles are adapted from the Evansville Pocket, a weekly publication of twelve years ago, edited by Mrs. Clotilde Pilard-Thomas (Mrs. Kehough), of Buenos Ayres, S. A., formerly of Vincennes, and retain the original trace of the talented editress' facile pen.
CHAPTER XI. THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY BECOMES DOMAINS OF THE BRITISH.
FRANCE AND ENGLAND'S FIRST DECISIVE CLASII OF ARMS ON THE AMERICAN CONTINENT-DEFEAT OF GENERAL BRADDOCK-THE FALL OF QUEBEC, AND DEATHS OF GENERAL WOLFE AND THE MARQUIS DE MONTCALM-THE TREATY BETWEEN FRANCE AND ENGLAND-PONTIAC, AND TIIE WILY CHIEF'S CONSPIRACY-OLD FORT CHARTRES AND ITS COMMANDERS-THE PIANKESHAWS AND OTHER TRIBES AT VINCENNES CONVEY MORE THAN THIRTY-SEVEN MILLION ACRES OF LAND-ST. MARIE AND THE HAPPY IN- HABITANTS AT TIIE OLD POST.
In dealing with St. Louis St. Ange Belle Rive-(in a preceding chapter) at a period when France and England were fully engrossed in a European warfare, of which the treaty of Aix-la-chapelle, in 1748, was the sequel- the reader's attention was diverted momentarily from the attitude toward one another of the French and British forces on the American continent. While that war to some extent involved the French and English colonies on the Atlantic coast, neither it nor the treaty which followed, by any means settled the dispute over the territorial boundaries of these respective nations in this country. England* sought to extend dominion over territory lying west of her possessions on the Atlantic coast, while France set up claim to the Mississippi valley in its entirety, and opposed with dogged determination, from 1748 to 1760, every effort put forth by Eng- land to establish settlements in any quarter west of the Allegheny moun- tains. In order to more successfully combat the French, the English, in 1748, concluded a treaty of alliance and friendship with the Twightwee Indians at Lancaster, in the province of Pennsylvania, which was the first attempt made by the English to win the good graces of the Miami confed- eration through treaty. The same year witnessed the formation of the Ohio Company, instigated by Thomas Lee of the king's council, of Vir- ginia, to whom the king granted a half million acres of land bordering on the Ohio, for the purpose of enabling the English to establish settlements west of the Allegheny mountains, through the agency of said company.
* Dillion, History of Indiana.
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France's opposition to England's efforts to establish trading posts west of the Alleghenies, and to extend her colonies to territory lying about the Ohio river, became so pronounced that in 1754 the French built Fort Duquesne, for the protection of the frontiers and to prevent the further advances of the armed forces of the British, who had been ordered by the British ministry as early as 1753 to settle all further disputes with France growing out of the possessions of territory west of the Alleghenies by the sword. And on July 9, 1755, when General Edwin Braddock, with his solid columns of British soldiers, was marching to attack Fort Duquesne, and when within seven miles of the fortification, he found himself sur- rounded by an army of about two hundred and fifty French and six hun- dred Indians (commanded by M. Beaujeu and M. Dumas) who had lain in ambush for two days. In the conflict that ensued Braddock was mor- tally wounded, after having three horses shot under him. On General Braddock's staff was Colonel Gage, of revolutionary fame, a gallant and brave officer, who, twenty years later, was humiliated by the fleeing of his cowardly brigade at the battle of Bunker Hill. General Gates, who be- came the future conqueror of Burgoyne, was also of Braddock's forces, as was General George Washington, who had four bullets pierce his coat and two horses shot under him. Of the occurrence, Mr. Dillon writes as follows :
"Notwithstanding the orders of the general to the contrary, the three companies of Virginia troops took positions behind trees and other coverts, and fought in the Indian manner. These troops 'showed a good deal of bravery, and were nearly all killed; out of three companies that were there, scarcely thirty men were left alive. Capt. Peyrouny and all his officers down to a corporal were killed. Capt. Polson had nearly as hard a fate, for only one of his men was left.' Many of the Indians, gain- ing confidence by the confusion of the British regulars, rushed from their coverts and carried on the carnage with their tomahawks. In the midst of the slaughter, Braddock himself, who was unwisely brave, struggled in vain to form his men into platoons and columns. In the meantime nearly all of his officers were killed or wounded. The whole number of officers in the engagement was eighty-six, of whom twenty-six were killed and thirty-seven wounded. Sir Peter Hallet fell by the first fire, at the head of his division. Col. Washington, who was one of the aids of General Braddock, escaped without a wound, though four bullets passed through his coat, and two horses were shot under him. Braddock had three horses shot under him; but his obstinacy seemed to increase with the danger, and he continued his efforts to maintain the conflict until at last he received a mortal wound from a musket ball which passed through his right arm and lungs. He was immediately carried from the field and the remnant of the army then retreated in a very disorderly manner across the Monongahela. The Indians, being attracted by the plunder which they found on the field, did not pursue the retreating forces, who continued their flight until they
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arrived at the camp of Col. Dunbar, where the unfortunate Braddock died on the 13th of July. All the stores except those necessary for immediate use were then destroyed; the provincial troops returned to their homes, and the British regulars were marched to Philadelphia, where they went into quarters. In this conflict the loss of English private soldiers, killed and wounded, amounted to seven hundred and fourteen. Of this number about one-half were killed. . The loss on the side of the French was, in the words of an imperfect return, 'three officers killed and four wounded ; about thirty soldiers and Indians killed, and as many wounded.' "
Immediately following the humiliating defeat of Braddock's forces, the kingdoms of both England and France sent reinforcements across the waters to all their American colonies. The French, elated and emboldened by the decisive victory which had been won with the aid of their Indian allies, at once assumed a position more on the offensive than the defensive, and for a period of three years maintained undisputed possession of Fort Duquesne; but toward the close of 1758, on learning of the contemplated invasion of General Forbes with seven thousand British soldiers,* dis- mantled the fort and 'to the number of about five hundred men' retreated to different French posts. The fortifications were hastily repaired by the English and garrisoned by four hundred and fifty men, chiefly pro- vincial troops from Pennsylvania, Virginia and Maryland, under command of Colonel Mercer, and the name of the post was changed to Fort Pitt. By the evacuation of the fort and their withdrawal from that part of the country. the French virtually gave England possession of the territory on the borders of the Ohio. The Indians realized that the military prestige of the French was on the wane, and nearly all the tribes between the Ohio and the northern lakes subscribed to treaties with their former foes, the English.
While engaging in no sanguinary battles, the French proved themselves foes worthy of English steel until the autumnal days of September, 1759, when Generals Wolfe, Monckton and Townsend with a gallant force of British soldiers stormed the French strongholds at Quebec, Canada, and from the Heights of Abraham, nobly defended by the Marquis de Mont- calm, amid the thunders of war were nttered, and are still repeated, the dying words of a British and a French officer, who gave to the world thril- ling examples of how heroically die soldier-patriots in the defense of their country.t While the heat of battle was fiercest, a leaden missile embedded itself in Wolfe's wrist. Hastily bandaging the wound with his handker- chief, he encouraged his men with renewed vigor to push forward. An instant later a shot entered his groin. This wound he sought to conceal, and would have been partially successful had it not been that, while ad- vancing at the head of a column of grenadiers, with their bayonets fixed, a third bullet struck his left breast, reaching a vital spot. Unable to
* Dillion, History of Indiana.
t Dillion.
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stand, and realizing that he had been mortally wounded, he supported him- self on the shoulder of a lieutenant, who had gone to his aid. This officer, seeing the French on the eve of retreat, exultantly exclaimed : "They flee ! they flee!" "Who flee?" anxiously queried the dying general, pain and doubt depicted on his countenance. When the lieutenant replied: "The French," Wolfe's face brightened with a smile as he exclaimed, "Then I depart content." Montcalm, brave and patriotic, had received a mortal wound in battle and died on the same day. When told, shortly before his death, of his approaching end, he calmly replied, "So much the better; I shall not then live to see the surrender of Quebec."
The crushing blow administered by the British to the French in this struggle demoralized and humiliated the latter power, and subsequently led to the treaty of 1763, which gave England possession of nearly all the territory in this country that was formerly under the dominion of France, and included also Nova Scotia, Canada, and their dependencies. For the purpose of preventing future disputes as to English and French possessions on the North American continent, an imaginary line of separa- tion was "drawn along the middle of the river Mississippi from its source to the river Ibberville, and from thence by a line drawn along the middle of this river, and the lakes Marepaus and Pontchartrain, to the sea." By the cessions made by France to England at this time, the river and port at Mobile, and all the territory possessed by the former power on the left side of the Mississippi, except New Orleans, became the domains of Great Britain. It was further stipulated that the navigation of the Mississippi from its source to the Gulf of Mexico, its entire length and breadth, was to be open to navigation at all times, affording a free and uninterrupted avenue for travel and traffic. France, however, had previously made a secret treaty with Spain, ceding that portion of Louisiana lying to the west of the Mississippi, which did not become generally known until a year after the treaty of 1763; and it was not until six years from the date last named that Spain took formal possession or began to exercise control over her new dominions .* It was on account of the Spanish government's acquisition of this new territory, or, rather, because of its attempt to es- tablish private ownership of the Mississippi river after the territory had been acquired, that came near involving Spain and the United States in war. The people in all sections of country west and north of Louisiana, felt out- raged, and justly so, upon being denied the use of the Mississippi for the purpose of entering southern ports with their merchandise.
The year following the fall of Quebec the Marquis de Vandreuil sur- rendered Canada and all her dependencies to the English General Amherst, commander-in-chief of the British army in North America. By the articles
* The province was to be delivered whenever Spain should be ready to receive it; but this was not officially announced to the inhabitants of Louisiana until April 21, 1764; nor did Spain receive possession until August 17, 1769. Dillion, History of Indiana, p. 78.
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of capitulation Kaskaskia, Detroit and Michilimackinac were included, but Vincennes not being considered as a Canadian dependency, was not, and St. Ange, the commandant at this post, was left in charge of affairs, and held possession of the fort for four years more, or until the year follow- ing the treaty of 1763, when he went to Fort Chartres to relieve Neyon de Villiers, a French commandant, who was merely awaiting the arrival of the English to deliver the fort to them. Major Robert Rogers had been sent forth, however, by General Amherst to take possession of Detroit and Michilimackinac. At the former place hie met the haughty Indian chief Pontiac, who called a halt on him and his troops, hitherto cordially received along their journey by all of the Indian tribes, who pretended to be de- lighted with the information that the French had surrendered the country to the English .* The Ottawa chieftain sent word to the English major and his forces to approach no further until he should visit their camp and see them with his own eyes, and for them to await his coming. Accordingly the troops were drawn into line, and soon afterward Pontiac appeared upon the scene. At the conclusion of formal salutations, the Indian demanded to know, with much emphasis, the mission on which Rogers and his men were bent, and by what authority they had entered his territory without obtaining his consent. Major Rogers, who has been referred to as a prudent officer and a cautious man, replied that they came for the purpose of displacing the French, whose presence had prevented the formation of closer ties of friendship between the English and Indians, and that in com- ing they meant good, instead of evil, to the red men.t While Rogers pre- sented Pontiac with several belts of wampum and received from him smaller presents in return, the great warrior remarked to the Major, "I shall stand till morning in your path," meaning thereby that, until permis- sion was granted, the English expedition must advance no further. Be- fore withdrawing Pontiac told Rogers that if his soldiers were in need of provisions they would be supplied by his braves. The offer was ac- cepted with thanks, the provisions furnished, and the Indians liberally paid for their trouble. While Pontiac feigned friendship for the English he hated them thoroughly, and was playing the hypocrite that he might more readily destroy them. The next day Pontiac went to Roger's camp and smoked the pipe of peace with him. Later he sent a hundred or more of his warriors with the English troops to Pittsburg to aid the British in driving herds of cattle from Fort Pitt to Detroit to be used by the English garri- son. The chief further freely consented to permit the English to pass to and fro over his domains to take peaceful possession of the forts that were still occupied by the French, ready for delivery upon the arrival of the English. But all these evidences of friendship were feigned, as shown in his intense hostility towards the English in 1762, which manifested it-
* Dillon.
+ Dillon.
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self with greater fierceness in 1763, when the secret of his conspiracy to murder all the inmates of the fort at Detroit was betrayed by a squaw, who informed an officer of the garrison of the dastardly plot, thus foiling the red-skinned and red-handed assassins. It took nearly the whole year of 1762 for Pontiac to embitter the Ottawas, Chippewas, Pottawattomies, Sacs, Foxes, Menomimies, Miamis, Shawnees and Wyandots sufficiently for an attack on all the British forts and trading posts in the country northwest of the Alleghenies, which attack was made simultaneously in May, 1763, resulting in the Indians taking possession of the posts of Michilimackinac, Green Bay, St. Joseph, Quiatenon, Miamis, Sandusky, Presq-Isle, Lebœuf and Venango. The British garrisons at Detroit and Fort Pitt resisted the attacks successfully. "Pontiac, early in May, 1763, appeared before De- troit with three or four hundred warriors" says Dillion .* "These Indians, who were accompanied by their women and children, encamped near the fort, without exciting at first, any suspicion in the mind of Major Glad- wyn, the commandant. The post was then garrisoned by one hundred and thirty men, including officers. There were block houses at the corners and over the gates. With a few exceptions the houses of the French inhabitants were situated within the enclosure; and an open space which was called by the French le chemin du ronde intervened. The fortifications did not extend to the river Detroit, but a gate opened in the direction of that stream, in which, near the fort, an armed English schooner, the Beaver, was moored. The ordnance of the fort consisted of two, six pounders, a few small brass pieces and three mortars.
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