History of Old Vincennes and Knox County, Indiana, Volume I, Part 9

Author: Green, George E
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Chicago, S.J. Clarke Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 636

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CHAPTER VII.

THE ARRIVAL OF MORGANE DE VINSENNE AT THE OLD POST

PEACE AND QUIETUDE OF TIIE ANCIENT VILLAGE-HISTORIANS FIND TIIE PROBLEM OF DE VINSENNE'S ORIGIN DIFFICULT OF SOLUTION-BATTLE WITH THE CHICKASAW INDIANS-DE VINSENNE AND FATHER SENAT BURNED AT THE STAKE-DE VINSENNE'S MILITARY CAREER-THREE BROTHERS OF THE RICHARDVILLE FAMILY KILLED BY THE CHICKASAWS- THE FOURTH BROTHER, WOUNDED, TAKEN PRISONER-ESCAPES AFTER NEARLY TWO YEARS' CAPTIVITY.

Save for occasional incursions of the savages, who left blood trails in their wake remote from this post, the sylvan serenity of Old Vincennes until 1779 was undisturbed by any tragic occurrences of great moment. In 1717 Sieur Juchereau returned to Canada, and was succeeded as command- ant of the fort by Lieut. Leonardy, who was the immediate predecessor of Morgane de Vinsenne ;* but when Leonardy gave up his command or whither he went have never been stated with any degree of authenticity. It was at some period in the year 1732 that Vinsennet came here, but the exact date has never been fully established, historically, any more than has the identity of the individual himself. And, is it not strange, that the delvers into the mists forming the haze that veils the mysterious past have been unable to trace the genealogy of such a distinguished personage ?#

* At what time he took possession here is not exactly known ; probably somewhere about the year 1732. There is nothing on our records to show but an act of sale made by him and Madame Vinsenne, the daughter of Monsieur Philip Longprie, of Kaskas- kia, and recorded there. * * * Law, Colonial History of Vincennes, p. 21.

t De Vinsenne came and erected a fort in 1702, but he did not remain. He sub- sequently returned here and remained in the command of the fort until 1736. That he returned here after building the fort and his northern campaign in 1704, there is abundance of evidence to be found remaining in the official records of Kaskaskia. Cauthorn, Brief Sketch of Vincennes, 1884, p. 17.

* * * * A letter written by Morgan de Vinsenne, March 7, 1733, and was in answer to his superior officer, asking what progress he had made in establishing a post at this place, he having been ordered here through an edict of the French Gov- ernment, which was dated Paris, France, 1731. * * * In his answer to his supe-

HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY

It certainly is to be regretted that the identity of a man in honor of whom Vincennes was named-whose heroism and valorous deeds should be en- shrined in the hearts of liberty-loving people and commemorated on im- perishable tablets-should be enveloped in a cloud of doubt. But, the claims of contentious historians as to the genealogy of the man can never dim the halo of glory the heroism of his deeds has cast around his mem- ory. Morgane de Vinsenne was an officer in the service of the King of France, ranking as an ensign in the celebrated Carignan-Salières regiment, which was the first military organization sent by France to America. The regiment was first organized at Savoy by the Prince of Carignan and won undying fame at the battle of Porte St. Antoine, on the bloody fields of the Fronde, prior to the peace of Pyrenees. At the termination of this treaty the Prince, feeling himself no longer able to sustain it, gave it over to the charge of the King. Subsequently it was incorporated by His Christian Majesty into the armies of France, and the same year (1664) distinguished itself by playing an important part with the combined forces of France in carrying on the Austrian campaigns against the Turks. The year fol- lowing the successful conquests over the Musselmen the regiment, which, in the meantime, had been consolidated with a fragment of a regiment com- posed largely of German soldiers, was placed in charge of Colonel de Sal- ières as commander and ordered by the king to the shores of America, to protect the interests of His Most Christian Majesty in this country, and to lend encouragement to the spread of the Catholic religion. It was probably as early as 1710 or 1711 when de Vinsenne* was commissioned an officer

rior he stated that he had built a fort and two houses, but needed a barracks, thirty more soldiers and an officer. This statement made in March, 1733, indicates the erec- tion of the fort the previous year, and that the year 1732 is, no doubt, when the first fort was built. Smith, Historical Sketches Old Vincennes, p. 57.

* At the time Morgane de Vinsenne came into the Wabash country, and several years before taking command at the Old Post, the territory along the Wabash and up the Ohio and its lateral valleys was already in dispute between the French and Eng- lish. "Charlevoix," says Winsor (The Mississippi Basin, pp. 148, 149), "speaks of the region north of the Ohio as likely to become the granary of Louisiana. Senex, the English cartographer, made it appear that through this region 'of one hundred and twenty leagues the Illinois hunt cows,' and he magnified the reports of the trade in buffalo peltries. The waning power of the Iroquois and the coming of the Dela- wares and Shawnees into the Ohio Valley had permitted the French to conduct more extensive explorations, and they had found themselves liable to confront all along the valley the equally adventurous English. The Mississippi Company had urged (Sept. 15, 1720) the building of a fort on the Wabash as a safeguard against the English, and the need of it had attracted the attention of Charlevoix. Some such precaution, indeed, was quite as necessary to overcome the savages, for now that the Maumee-Wabash portage was coming into favor, the Indians had lately been prowl- ing about it and murdering the passers. La Harpe, in 1724, feared the danger of delay. In 1725, the necessity for some such protection alarmed Boisbriant early in the year. The Carolina traders had put up two booths on the Wabash, and rumors reached Kaskaskia of other stations which they had established farther up the Ohio Valley. These last intruders were probably Pennsylvanians-at least it is so assumed in the

HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY

in the ranks of this famous military organization. At any rate, in 1712, he went "for the King" to Detroit to safeguard the French interests at that post. At this period a syndicate of English gentlemen in New York, having sympathy for Great Britain at heart, but more directly concerned in the advancement of British interests on this continent, and for the pur- pose of accomplishing their own selfish ends, concocted a scheme of a most damnable character, the prime object of which was the destruction of the fort at Detroit. For this purpose the aid of two Indian villages, in proxi- mity to the fort, had already been secured. Bright and early on the morn- ing of May 13th Francis Morgane de Vinsenne arrived with a small detach- ment of Frenchmen from Quebec. Soon after his arrival a Huron warrior came, as a delegated messenger to announce that a Pottawattomie chief de- sired a conference with the French officers and would meet them at the old Huron fort, which was independent and remote from the villages of the Mascoutins and Outaganires, who were the allies of the English. Vin- senne responded to the request of the messenger and repaired to the Hu- ron fort where he was informed by the Pottawattomie chief that a band of six hundred braves from the villages along the banks of the St. Jerome (Wabash) were en route to Detroit to aid the French in defense of the garrison. Upon his return Vinsenne reported to Jean Dubussion, the com- mandant, what he had learned from the Pottawattomie chief. Thereupon the fort was put in order and all preparations made for the beginning of a siege. At the peep o' day on the following morning Dubussion ascended a bastion of the fortifications and, casting his eyes across the prairies towards the woodlands, beheld in the shadows of the trees the advanc- ing lines of his friendly hosts from the Wabash, in whose ranks were the Illinois, the Missouris, Osages, and other nations, whose wigwams were far remote from the fields of carnage towards which they were marching. The battle between the Mascoutins and the French began immediately upon the arrival of the French's red allies from the Wabash, and was the first and most deadly conflict in which the Mascoutins were ever engaged. After four days and nights of fierce fighting, the Mascoutins surrendered,

treaty made at Albany in 1754. The language of such treaties is rarely the best au- thority; but it is certain that Vaudreuil, in Quebec, believed it at the time. He reported to his home government that the English were haunting the upper waters of the Wabash and trading among the Miamis. As a result, we find the Company of the Indies (December, 1725 instructing Boisbriant to beware of the English, and to let M. Vincennes, then among the Miamis, know that these rivals were moving in that direction. The next year the company informed Périer (Sept. 30, 1726), of their determination to be prepared, and authorized him, in concert with Vincennes, to repel the English if they approached. Vincennes had already been reconnoitring up the Ohio Valley, to see if any English were there. Here, on the Ohio, the claims of au- thority again clashed. The region which Vandreuil wished to protect on the upper Wabash was held by him to be within Canada. But there was a very uncertain line separating it from the lower regions on the same river which Vincennes was urging the government of Louisiana to strengthen."

HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY

their ranks almost depleted, with the exception of the women and chil- dren, who were spared. A survey of the field, after the smoke of battle had lifted, showed that the loss to the allies was about sixty Indians killed and wounded and seven French wounded, while the enemy lost more than a thousand braves. For bravery and gallantry displayed upon this occasion, which were an inspiration to his followers, and the direct result of such an overwhelming victory, de Vinsenne was not only restored to a rank he had previously forfeited by a slight act of insubordination, but received at the hands of the king a promotion from ensign to general commander for the Illinois country. Shortly after receiving his commission, however, M. de Vaudreuil, the governor of Canada, acting by consent of the king, ordered him to Sault Ste. Marie, at which place, and Michilimacinack, he remained until 1732-at intervals making expeditions into the Wabash country-when he was ordered by Governor Longueville, "for the King," to assume military charge at Vincennes. And this movement proved to be the initial step in a journey which subsequently led to his torturous death at the stake in a Mississippi wilderness. However, immediately upon his arrival here he began the enlargement of the primitive fort and its fortifica- tions, removing the frail palisades and constructing new and more formi- dable defenses. The boundaries of the old fort were also extended beyond their original limits and made to embrace the territory which is now bounded on the north by Vigo street, on the east by that portion of Second street that parallels the west side of the cathedral grounds, on the south by Bar- net street, and the west by the river. Small cannon, implements of war- fare with which the fort had not been hitherto supplied, were transported from Canada and mounted, their menacing mouths amazing as well as terrorizing some of the natives. De Vinsenne* remained as the com- mandant of Poste du Ouabache for four years, during which period the peaceful inhabitants, in whose behalf he manifested more than ordinary interest, experienced no discomfiture from the invasion of savages or for- eign foes, and were less prone to profligacy.

* Vincennes [Vinsenne] was won over from Canada to Louisiana, and with a few soldiers proceeded to build a little palisade fort at the Indian village lowest on the river and nearest the English, which was the Piankeshaw town of Chippecoke or Chipkawkay. The exact date of the establishment is not known, but it was probably in 1727, for in October of that year the names of "Vinsenne" and "St. Ange fils," his lieutenant, were inscribed on the parish records of Kaskaskia in witness of the marriage of Joseph Lorrin and Marie Phillippe. The next known documentary trace of M. de Vincennes is in a deed by him and his wife, dated January 5, 1735, and recorded at Kaskaskia. In this he is styled commandant paste du Ouabache. His wife, who was at the post at the time, was the daughter of Philip Longprie, then the wealthiest trader at Kaskaskia. The date of their marriage cannot be given, as there is a gap in the Kaskaskia marriage record from June 7, 1729, to January 7, 1741, but it was probably in 1733, as in that year is dated the acknowledgment by Vincennes of the receipt of 100 pistoles given by his father-in-law as dowry. [Dunn, Indiana, Commonwealth Series, p. 55.]

HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY

About this time, however, other French settlements between the Illi- nois country and New Orleans were greatly annoyed and retarded in growth and advancement by the Chickasaws, who were obstinately oppos- ing every step taken by the white man in the direction of civilization. The hostility of these Indians was carried on to such an extent that it made regular and safe communication between Canada and the southern settle- ments of Louisiana utterly impossible. There was, therefore, no other recourse left for the French authorities of these provinces but the concen- tration of the northern military forces with those of the south in the coun- try of the Chickasaws, to whip this defiant tribe into subjugation. Accord- ingly, Major D'Artuguiette, who had succeeded Morgane de Vinsenne as "commandant-general for the king for the province of Illinois,"* left the place of rendezvous in the Illinois country in 1736, having mustered about two hundred French and four hundred Indians, to pass down the Missis- sippi, for the purpose of joining the forces of Bienville,t who had recruited and concentrated his forces in the south. De Vinsenne and his recruits, among whom were Father Senat, pastor of St. Francis Xavier's cathedral, accompanied the expedition and formed a conspicuous part of D'Artugui- ette's soldiery. The troops of Bienville, having failed to arrive at the time and place designated, D'Artuguiette and Vinsenne began hostilities by attacking the inhabitants of several Indian villages and applying the torch to the cabins of the savages. And still Bienville did not arrive. Hosts of Chickasaw warriors soon gathered upon the scene. While their advances were frequently repulsed, the savages eventually came out vic- torious; and, at the end of the conflict, the result of which would have been reversed had Bienville been permitted to have kept his appointment, the dead bodies of forty Frenchmen and eighty of their Indian allies lay upon the battlefield. Many others were taken prisoners and transported from the scene of battle to subsequently undergo the tortures of burning at the stake-a ceremony which was deferred by the red fiends until Easter Sunday. Besides the gallant and brave D'Artuguiette, those singled out as victims to feed with their flesh the torturing flames that brightened the darkened shades of a Louisiana ( Mississippi) forest were Morgane de Vinsenne and Father Senat, both of whom died the deaths of martyrs- a soldier of the sword and a soldier of the cross.# De Vinsenne, of whom

* Dillion, History of Indiana.

t In 1736 came a call to arms on the Louisiana side. A part of the Natchez Indians, after their defeat and dispersion by the French, had taken refuge with the Chickasaws, who, urged on by English traders, also committed some acts of hostility. Bienville, who had been reappointed Governor in 1733, determined to crush them. He repelled all proposals for peace, and ordered the forces of Illinois to unite with him in the Chickasaw country. [Dunn, Indiana, Commonwealth Series, p. 59.]

+ Mr. Edmond Mallet, in a splendid work-that displays a knowledge of history and bears evidence of intelligent and laborious research-published at Indianapolis, in 1897, under the auspices of the Indiana Historical Society, says: "A century and a half of learning in American colonial history has left, in neglected obscurity, the

HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY

it is said by Charlevoix, the historian, who learned the fact from an In- dian witness of the tragedy, might have escaped, but he preferred to die by the side of his priest and four other companions, whom he "ceased not until his last breath to exhort to behave worthy of their religion and their country."

Engaged with de Vinsenne and D'Artuguiette in battle against the Chick- asaws was a band of Iroquois Indians, to the number of about forty, who fought with such desperation as to prevent the annihilation of de Vin- senne's command. These Indian allies of the French came from Canada and were commanded by John Deroite de Richardville, the younger of four brothers of that family, all of whom were officers of the militia and had charge of squads composed of both Frenchmen and Indians. The cruel tomahawks of the Chickasaws had been swung in battle with death dealing effect, and three of the Richardville boys lay dead upon the field. John, while wounded, made his escape, but was afterwards captured, and taken a prisoner before the great sachem of a Chickasaw village called Jan- tilla, and placed under guard in the cabin of the chief. For six months or more he lay upon a bed of pain, carefully watched by young warriors, whose sympathies he incited and whose friendships he won. After becom-

identity of the founder of the first settlement in one of our great states, who was a valiant soldier as well as a chivalrous Christian hero, devoted to his God and his country." Referring to a vast amount of data, ably and systematically compiled, and appearing in the publication ("Sieur de Vincennes"), Mr. Mallet observes: "The above excerpts and notes contain the only statements, serving to lead to the identity of our hero, that are accessible or known to this writer, and from these it must be confessed, that it is not any easy matter to determine his true name or establish his family connections. Archbishop Spalding and Rev. Mr. Alerding, on the authority of Bishops Brute and Hailandrière of the diocese of Vincennes, regard him as of Irish extraction; Judge Law, the historian Dillon, Archbishop Spalding and Rev. Mr. Alerding gave him the name of Morgan, a prominent Irish name; the historians, Charlevoix, Bancroft, Bibaud, Shea, Ferland, Daniel, Margry, Lossing, Sulte, Roy and Dunn, the Ambassador Poussin, the genealogist Tanquay and the Editor of Ap- pleton's Cyclopædia of Biography, call him a Canadian ; Shea, Ferland, Daniels, Tan- quay, Margry, Lossing, Sulte and Roy give his family name as Bissot; Shea, Tanquay, Sulte and Roy believed him to have been Jean Baptiste Bissot, son of Francois Bissot; Margry finds that he was the son of Jean Bissot; Sulte-very probably through a typographical error-gives the name of an officer named Coulanges Bissot as burned at the stake with de Vincennes; Thomas and the joint authors Goodrich and Tuttle print his name as Saint Vincennes or Saint Vincent; Dunn observes that his name must not be confounded with those of the Saint Vincent family; Shea, Tan- quay and Dunn, after recent researches, agree that Margane de la Valtrie is the correct name; Tanquay finds the name to be Pierre Francois Margane, Sieur Des Forets; Shea concludes it to be Pierre Margane; Dunn adheres to Francois Morgan, the form of the name used by western writers during the last half century, but con- nects it, generally, with the Canadian family of Margane de la Valtrie; he was a half-pay lieutenant in 1726, according to a memorial of the Royal Company of the Indies, whilst Daniel, from his compilation of Canadian documents, finds that he was ensign in 1732, and aged forty-four years. What are we to think of all these discrep- ancies and contradictions?"

HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY

ing convalescent he was treated as one of the tribe, and pretended to be wholly content with his surroundings, going and coming with entire free- dom, and accompanying his newly-made friends on fishing and hunting expeditions, following the chase and displaying a prowess that provoked the envious feelings of his red companions. Having met an English trader on one of his jaunts alone through the woods, more than a year and a half after his captivity, he sought the Englishman's aid to escape from his cap- tors. Having wandered many miles through a mountainous country of dense forests, without seeing a human being, and regaled only with the sight and cries of savage beasts, he came on to a camp of British traders, to whom he gave an account of his adventures, awakening their interest and gaining their good will. His newly-formed friends provided him with comfortable quarters for the night and on the following day took him into the august presence of the governor of Georgia, Mr. Oglethorpe, who paid his ransom to a party of Chickasaw Indians, who had evidently been fol- lowing upon his heels, for they made their appearance before the executive almost simultaneous with that of their escaped prisoner. The governor very generously provided Mr. Richardville with means to return to Canada, and he went on his way rejoicing, arriving at his destination, Montreal, in June, 1739, after an absence of nearly three years, only to again return to the Wabash country a few years later and become the central figure of an Indian tribe and one of the prominent officials of the village of Vincennes.

The forces of the Chickasaws began to multiply in the south, and Bien- ville, soon after the invasion of his expedition in that region, was forced to sue for peace. For at least twelve years after the treaty was concluded, the quiet and peaceful conditions prevalent in all the French settlements of the western country remained undisturbed. And, when the war between England and France broke out in 1744, and was unrelentingly waged until after the treaty of Aix-la-chapelle, in 1748, only the French and English colonies lying along the borders of the Atlantic coast were involved, while the isolated settlements of the Wabash and Illinois countries lay in peace- ful repose, feeling no tremors of war from the remote battle fields.

The name of "Vinsenne" was not applied to the old post until some con- siderable time after the death of our hero (M. de Vinsenne), when the ap- pellation, in 1749, for some reason that has never been fully explained, was changed to "Vincennes." This alteration in orthography gave rise to the er- roneous impression, in the minds of some people of the younger generations, that the town had been named after a city in France-formerly a suburb, but now a part of Paris. The substitution of the c for the s in the second syllable, and the addition of the s in the final syllable, do not, however, alter the pronunciation of the word (according to the native French), but really makes it easier to pronounce, which probably accounts for the change in spelling, a change that should have never been permitted, but which, alas!

HISTORY OF KNOX COUNTY

it is now too late to remedy. This particular instance is one where the oft- repeated question of Hamlet-"What's in a name?"-would meet with a contradictory and negative response, while the other appellations of the old town-"Ancient Post," "Le Poste," "Au Poste," "Poste du Ouabache," "Post St. Francis Xavier," "Post St. Vincent"-like the rose, to which the melancholy Prince refers, "would smell as sweet"-or, words to that effect.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE ADVENT OF THE OLD POST'S FOURTH COMMANDANT.

ARRIVAL OF ST. ANGE BELLE RIVE FROM FORT CHARTRES-HIS FAITHFUL AND BENEFICENT ADMINISTRATION-IMPROVES TIIE FORT, CHURCH AND VIL- LAGE-SPECIMEN OF LAND GRANTS ISSUED BY HIM-WABASH INDIANS SIIOW A STREAK OF HOSTILITY-PONTIAC INTERVIEWS ST. ANGE-BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF THE OLD COMMANDANT-HIS DEATH IN ST. LOUIS.

Soon after the tragic death of Morgane de Vinsenne, there came out from Fort Chartres, on the Mississippi, within twenty miles of Kaskaskia, at the behest of M. de Bienville, Governor General of Louisiana, St. Ange Belle Rive, to assume military and civil control of affairs at Vincennes .* Like that of his predecessor, upon arrival, his attention was first directed to the fort, which he at once proceeded to strengthen and improve, as well as to make alterations in the surrounding territory. He likewise repaired and enlarged the primitive church Father Mermet had dedicated, procuring at his own expense a bell-the same one that is now suspended in the upper gallery of the cathedral steeple and which has proclaimed the Angelus for one hundred and sixty years. To open and extend Second (St. Honore) street from the church grounds to Broadway (St. Peter) street, into the very confines of the Piankeshaw village, was another improvement the new commandant lost no time in executing. He established a school and issued an edict akin to a compulsory educational law. His very presence seemed to imbue the inhabitants with confidence and arouse their latent energies to action. He exerted a wonderful influence over the Indians, especially the Piankeshaws-a powerful tribe of the Miami confederacy, which had

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History of Old Vincennes and Knox County, Indiana, Volume I, Part 9

Author: Green, George E Publication date: 1911 Publisher: Chicago, S.J. Clarke Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 636

Author: Green, George E
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Chicago, S.J. Clarke Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 636