USA > Louisiana > Historical memoirs of Louisiana, from the first settlement of the colony to the departure of Governor O'Reilly in 1770; > Part 4
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CHAPTER XVII.
FORT MOBILE.
I HAVE now only to speak of Fort Louis de la Mobile,* built by the French on a river of that name, which empties in the bay opposite Dauphin Island. The fort, which is only fifteen or sixteen leagues from that island, is built of brick, and fortified by four bastions, on Vauban's system, with half- 9 moons, a good ditch, a covered way and glacis. It contains a
storehouse, barracks for the numerous garrison always kept up here, and a pavilion for the commandant, who was, in 1735, the Sieur Diron Dartaguette, royal lieutenant of the province.
I confess that I do not understand why this fort was built, nor of what utility it can be ; for though it is a hundred and twenty leagues from the capital, descending the river, yet all that is needed for the support of the garrison must be brought from there, so poor and sandy is the ground on which it stands, producing only fir and pine, and a few vegetables, by no means of the best. There are, consequently, very few set- tlers there. The only advantage enjoyed by the post is a mild and healthy climate, and a facility for trading with the Spaniards, who are quite near. The winter is not very severe, and is the most convenient season, as game is then abundant. In summer, however, the heat is excessive, and while it lasts they live only on fish, which is very plentiful on the coast and in the rivers.
* The first fort of Louis de la Mobile was built at the mouth of Dog River, in 1702, where the remains of it, with some iron cannon, was seen by Bartram the botanist, in 1777. This site was afterwards abandoned, and another selected in 1711, by the French commandant, at the mouth of Mobile river, where the city is now built.
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Such are in general the French posts, first established by the nation, and manned by our troops. A new one was sub -. sequently formed at Pointe Coupee, of which I will speak hereafter. I now return to the affairs at the capital.
CHAPTER XVIII.
ARRIVAL OF THE ROYAL COMMISSARIES AT NEW-ORLEANS-ESTAB- LISHMENT OF A COUNCIL IN THAT CAPITAL.
WHILE the colony was thus endeavoring to extend and plant itself firmly in the province of Louisiana, by forming different posts and establishments, the capital daily increased by the number of new settlers, who came and took sites to build. At first, as I have said, very neat wooden houses were raised, brick was then used, but in general all are built sur sole. In a word, New-Orleans began to assume the ap. pearance of a city, and to increase in population, when two commissaries of the king arrived in 1722, sent by his majesty to dispense justice. They had left France in the ship Venus, which anchored at Ship Island, where a boat took the two commissaries on board, and brought them to the Bayou St. John, whence they came on foot to the city, and made their en- trance, accompanied by two Capuchin Fathers. Their coming being unexpected, occasioned considerable surprise. The two commissaries were the Sieurs du Sausoy and De la Chaise .* As soon as they reached their residence, which was merely a
. De la Chaise was the nephew of the celebrated Jesuit Father of that name. He was sent by the India company, in 1723, to exercise inquisitorial powers over the affairs of Louisiana, and to report on the conduct of the administrators of the colony to government .- Gayarre.
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wooden house, built with boards on the sides, and a roof of cypress bark, they received the felicitations of the com- mandant-general of the country and his whole staff; after which they immediately entered on the duties of their office. It is useless here to detail the innumerable complaints then brought before the tribunal; it is enough to state, to their credit, that they administered justice to all with most perfect impartiality. Among the rest the soldiers of the Yazoux gar- rison, where M. le Blanc and his associates had an establish- ment, felt its effects, for on their representation of the vex- ations, injustice, and monopoly practised by their commander towards them, they were not only reimbursed by a fine, which that officer was compelled to pay them, but he even had the mortification of being broken. In a word, all the colonists blessed God and his majesty for the arrival of the commissa- ries, and though their joy was damped by the death of one, the Sieur de Sausoy, who was carried off by the spotted fever, after an illness of three days, they were consoled by the health of the other, whose impartiality never wavered, and who, from Royal Commissary became Ordonnateur of the Council, enabled them, till his death, to enjoy the benefit of his equity. .
Soon after the arrival of the royal commissaries, the Galatée anchored before the capital, bringing from France several per- sons, intended to form the council about to be established. The chief were the Sieurs de Brusle, Perry, Fazende, and Fleuriau, the last of whom was both councilor and attorney- general. In the course of time some others arrived, so that insensibly the council filled up. Then nothing was wanting in the city but a lieutenant of police, who is absolutely necessary.
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CHAPTER XIX.
FIRST INDIAN HOSTILITIES AGAINST THE FRENCH-A PARTY OF CHICKASAWS SURPRISES A FRENCH CABIN.
IT was about this time, that is, 1722, that Indian hostilities broke out against the colonists. A hundred and sixty leagues from the mouth of the river St. Louis is a river called Yasoux, where M. le Blane and his associates had, as I have said, a concession lying five leagues above the mouth of that river. The post was very prettily situated, and a fort* had been built to defend it against the Indians. However, two sergeants of the garrison chose grounds in the neighborhood, which they improved on their own account, and even built cabins, where they persisted in sleeping, in spite of numerous warnings that some accident might befall them, thus out of the fort at night.
This misfortune happened but too soon for Sergeant Riter, one of the two, whose cabin was the more distant from the fort, and lay on a rising ground. While sleeping there onc night with his wife, and a son some fifteen or sixteen years old, a party of ten or twelve Indians glided noiselessly by the clear moonlight into his cabin, the door of which was closed by a mere curtain. They did not get in so quietly as to avoid awakening the sergeant; he immediately put his hand out of bed, and seized his gun, and after calling several times, "Who goes there ?" tried to fire when he received no answer; but, unfortunately, of seven or cight guns that he had, he had chosen the only one unloaded, so that the Indians seeing his arms useless, sprang on him before he had time to change,
. This fort was called St. Peter's. A short distance above the fort were the w !! 'grs of the Coroas, Offegoulas and Oatsees, built upon mounds artificially thule .- fhistorical Collections of Louisiana, vol. iii., p. 65.
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dragged him out of bed to the middle of his cabin, scalped him, and gave him in the back a blow, with a kind of toma- hawk, (casse tête à fleur de lys,) which went right through him. While some were engaged in treating the poor fellow thus, others seized his wife, and took her out of the cabin to a ra- vine, intending to carry her off to their village as a slave. Meanwhile the sergeant's son, awakened by the noise, got up in his shirt, and reaching the door, made for the fort, crying with all his might for help. One of the Indians perceiving it, pursued him and wounded him with an arrow, which went through his wrist. The boy fell, and the Indian sprang on him to scalp him, but as his skin was too tender and delicate to undergo the operation, it came off in strips ; he then tried to cut his throat, but fortunately only cut the skin. During all this cruel mangling the poor boy, either because he had fainted or pretended death, uttered no cry; this saved his life, for the Indian, supposing that he had killed him, left him weltering in his blood, and returned to the cabin.
On the other side, the sergeant's wife, when led to the ravine, seeing herself guarded only by two Indians, and believing her husband and son both massacred by the savages, resolved to avenge their death and expose herself to the fury of their murderers, rather than be carried off a slave. While leaving the cabin she had caught up a wood-cutter's knife, which she slipped up the sleeve of her chemise. At a moment when her guards least expected it, she drew it, and dealt one so furious a blow that he fell dead at her feet ; she drew it out and struck the other, but less successfully, giving him only a deep wound. At his cry, his companions ran up, and the brave woman fell, pierced with arrows.
This expedition was not gone through so quietly as not to awake Sergeant Desnoyers, who was asleep in his cabin, only
----. 4.
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a short distance from the scene of this bloody tragedy. He arose, and hearing a noise near Riter's cabin, fired a musket, . which alarmed the fort. A party of armed soldiers immedi- ately ran out, and on the way, found the sergeant's son, whom two carried back to the guard-house. Meanwhile, the musket which had been a signal for the soldiers to sally out, had warned the Indians to decamp ; they did so instantly, carry- ing off all they could from the cabin. When the soldiers got there, they found the poor sergeant on the ground stripped even of his shirt, and weltering in the blood which flowed from his wounds. They put him on a litter, and carried him to the fort to the guard-house, where his son was. The latter, seeing the eagerness of M. Bailly, the surgeon, to dress his father's wounds in spite of the state he was in, could not but exclaim : " Alas! help me first, my father is old, and cannot get over it, while I am young and may escape." The com- mandant of the fort would not let the surgeon probe their wounds nor apply any remedy, intending to be their Escula- pius himself. He had a kind of flesh-colored stone about the size of a nutgall, which he put for some time in warm water, till it had colored it; then, with this water, he syringed the wounds of both, and bound them up, and then, without removing the bandages, wet them with the same water every five hours. In a week both were perfectly cured, having nothing left of their wounds but the scars. The surgeon had no hand in this cure but the sewing up of the boy's throat.
Meanwhile, the detachment which had left the fort was in pursuit of the Indians, but with all their efforts could not overtake them. They were, too, overtaken by a storm and violent rain, which made them come back much quicker than they had gone. On the way the soldiers found many things taken from the sergeant's cabin, as stoves, kettles, &e., which
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the Indians had thrown down on the way. They also found several carved sticks scattered here and there on the ground, which showed that a Chickasaw party had struck the blow. Sergeant Riter's wife was also found, and near her the body of the Indian whom she had killed with her own hand ; but both bodies had been scalped by the Indians before their departure, leave no trophy to their enemies.
There was then an Illinois in the fort, who, seeing the French return without overtaking the enemy, undertook to avenge the blow. He asked the concession store-keeper for some powder and lead, and having got it, set out, and returned three days after with three scalps, which he had taken from three Indians whom he had killed in their way, that is, while asleep or off their guard. Of these three, one was the Indian wounded by Sergeant Riter's wife; and the others, two com- panions assigned to accompany him and help him to walk. The Illinois was rewarded for his bravery, and seemed quite satisfied with the presents, which he received on that occasion.
About a fortnight after this sad accident, which happened on Whitsun-ove, there came to the fort either the very Indians who had struck so treacherous a blow, or others of the same tribe, bringing the calumet and presents to the commandant. They were very well received, and were even shown the sergeant and his son, but either from the shock of such a visit, or from his wound opening at the approach of his assassins, he was taken with a violent fever which carried him off three days after. His son escaped, and by the protection of the illustrious master in whose concession he served, obtained entrance into the Invalides the next year.
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CHAPTER XX.
ONE OF THE DIRECTORS OF THE CONCESSION OF ST. CATHARINE' S WOUNDED BY THE NATCHEZ: INDIANS.
THIS act of hostility on the part of the Chickasaws was soon after followed by another accident, which showed that the Natchez were not better disposed towards us. The establish- ments formed among the Indians of that name were not got up in the same way as in the other cantons of the province, where, on choosing a site at pleasure, it sufficed to present a petition for it to the council, who never failed to sign it, after inserting certain clauses : this act supplied the place of a contract of sale, and was a title for lawful possession of the lands ceded.
On the contrary, those who first settled at Natchez bought the ground they intended to occupy of the Indians actually on the spot, who, by this trade, became attached to the French, and friendly towards them.
Things were in this state when the inconstancy or malignity of these Indians gave rise to an event, productive in its results of very sad consequences. It may be, too, that the Sieur Guenot drew on himself the misfortune which happened; at all events, it was suspected that he was attacked only because he he had in some way offended the Natchez Indians of the White Apple Village. He was one of the directors of the concession of St. Catharine's, and one day, when he had been to dine with the commandant of Fort Rosalie, he was wounded in the right arm by a musket-ball fired at him by an Indian, as he was crossing a wood on his way home. Happily the wound did not prostrate him ; he pushed on and reached the
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concession, where the Sieur de St. Hilaire, the surgeon, gave it a first dressing.
The Indians on their side, vexed at having missed their blow, turned all their fury against another Frenchman, a soldier in the garrison, by name La Rochelle, who lived in an isolated cabin a short distance from the fort, and who, believing that he had nothing to fear from the Indians, had even neglected to close it by a door. One night while he was asleep, they entered, killed and scalped him.
The French needed no more to see that the Indians had declared war against them. Guenot, justly apprehensive of falling into their hands, abandoned his house and returned to the capital, both to avoid a worse mishap and to have his wound cared for. It was in a good way and gave hopes of a speedy and perfect cure, but refusing to follow the surgeon's advice, to mortify his inclination and avoid drinking, gangrene set in and he died.
The commandant-general of the country was no sooner informed of these two acts of hostility committed by the Natchez Indians, than he resolved to avenge them. For this purpose he ordered a number of troops to embark in four boats under the Sieur Paillou, who was acting major-general in the colony. This little army reached Natchez, and was preparing to attack the Indians, when the Stung-Serpent, then great chief of the nation, came to present the peace calumet to the general, and in a harangue, assured him that he ought not to attribute the acts of hostility complained of to the Indians of the Great Village, nor those of Flour Village, but to those of Apple, Jenzenaque, or Gray Village. That besides the Indian who had committed the deed had lost his sense when he did it, that is, was drunk, and was not now in the village; that on the whole his people were friendly and well inclined to the
.
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French, so that it was useless to come and declare war upon them; that his nation did not wish a war with the French, and that he asked for peace.
The Sieur Paillou, learning from the people of St. Catharine's that the blow had in fact been struck by the Indians of White Apple Village, replied to the Great Chief, by Sieur Papin, the interpreter, that heliked his reasons, which appeared just.and legitimate, but that it cost a good deal to cure the wounded Frenchman, and that, if he wished peace, it was but right he should pay something as a compensation. The Stung-Serpent agreed; he taxed the three villages, White Apple, Jenzenaque and the Grays, to furnish a certain quantity of poultry per cabin, which were all brought in. As soon as they were put in the boats the troops re-embarked and returned to the capital. Thus ended the first expedition in a composition, which they preferred making with Indians, who still seemed to prefer their friendship to running the risk of an uncertain war.
CHAPTER XXI.
CONTINUATION OF INDIAN HOSTILITIES .- THE COMMANDANT MARCHES AGAINST THEM.
THIS peace was not of long duration; and I may almost say that the French general and his troops were scarcely at the capital, when the Indians resolved to repay themselves for so much poultry furnished against their will. This time indeed they did not go so far as to attack the French in person, but they ravaged St. Catharine's concession, killing the cattle and even the horses belonging to it, when they found any.
4
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This settlement had none to defend it but a small number of workmen and some negroes; so, seeing themselves daily ex_ posed to the persecution of the White Apple, Jenzenaque and Gray Indians, they applied to the commandant-general of the country, begging him to take them under his protection and defend them against these outrages of the Indians. That officer, wishing to establish order, resolved to go to the spot in person ; he chose of the colony such troops as seemed best to accompany him, armed five boats and some piraguas, and, set- ting out about the middle of October, reached Natchez at the end of the month. On its way up the St. Louis this little army stopped four days at the Tonicas, whose chief, a Chris- tian and a good warrior, joined the French with a party and followed them in the war.
It must be remarked, that the Terre Blanche concession, which had, as we have elsewhere said, been established at the Natchez, had, after first belonging to the Cleracs, been ceded to M. le Blanc and his associates, who had previously settled at the Yazoux. At the time we are speaking of, this conces. sion was commanded by a brave officer named the Sieur de Liette (Le Sueur).
As soon as the commandant-general arrived at the Natchez,* he procceded with his staff to Sieur Barneval's, who then com- manded Fort Rosalie, and supped there. After supper, he ordered several pieces of Rouen eloth, which he tore in strips and distributed to all the Indians attached to the army, with orders to tie them on the arm, so that the French who accom. panied them, and were ignorant of the distinctive marks
* This is what is called the second war of the Natchez. The expedition con- sisted of about seven hundred men, under the command of Bienville, who left New-Orleans for the Natchez country in the month of October, 1723 .- Gayarre.
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of the several nations, might by this mark at least recognize those of the friendly tribes. Besides the Tonieas I have men- tioned, the army had been joined by some Yazoux Indians and by a party of Chactas, commanded by Redshoe .*
In the morning, the commandant wishing to give the enemy no time to fortify or even escape, put his troops in march in two columns towards the concession St. Catharine's, the place assigned as a general rendezvous for the army. It was com- posed of the company's troops, soldiers of the Terre Blanche concession, several townsmen, Canadians and volunteers from the capital, and some of the Natchez settlers. The first column followed the high road leading from Fort Rosalie to St. Catharine's ; the other took a little path across the prairies and dales; the whole army having met at the rendezvous, passed the night there, sleeping in the open air under arms, awaiting the general who slept at the fort, where the Stung- Serpent soon came to ask pardon for his nation. He avowed that the people of White Apple, Jenzenaque and the Gray Village, were really in a state of insurrection, which he himself had been unable to put down. All that he could obtain of the commandant was, that his vengeance should extend only to those three villages, with a promise to spare his Great Village and the Flour (Corn) Village for his sake, as he knew that the latter had taken no part in the recent outrages.
The next day, the commandant having arrived, the army was set in motion towards White Apple Village, defiling across the woods by narrow paths, where the soldiers had to pass in Indian file. It was All-Saints'-Day. All the troops marched in silence, so as to succeed in surprising the enemy. On the way, they came to a cabin where three squaws were pound-
. In Poore's Documents, Boston, is a copy of an English captain's commis- sion to Redshoc.
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ing maize at the door to make sagamity. As soon as they perceived such a number of French in arms with Indians in war paint, they instantly left their work, and entering the cabin, closed the door. It was a mud-cabin, and there were inside three men, who, seeing by the loop-holes in the wall that they were the subjects of the French, seized their guns and began to fire through the openings; but as there were only three, the French arranged themselves so that no one was hurt. Meanwhile, a recent settler at Fort Rosalie, wishing to profit by the commandant's promise, that whoever took a squaw might keep her as a slave, in hopes of carrying off one of those he had seen, and without observing the risk he ran, left the main body and ran up to the cabin door. He seized it with one hand at the top to pull it down, but as it was merely of dry canes bounded and interlaced on two cross canes, one of the three men inside took aim at him across the canes and shot him through the heart. The Frenchman fell dead, dragging the door with him, and there leaving a free passage to any one who would avenge him. A settler, a good gentleman of Bearn, named the Sieur Mespleix, undertook it ; he entered the cabin at the moment when the Indian had fired, and instead of killing him; as he could have done with his musket, he ran up to seize him in hopes of having him as a slave, if he took him alive. The Indian not having time to reload, and seeing the Frenchinan approach, struck at him with the stock of his gun, but missed him, and the Sieur de Mespleix at the moment seized him around the body and carried him out of the cabin. When he got out, the command- ant ordered one of our Indians to kill and scalp him, having resolved to give no quarter to the male portion; at the same time he promised the settler to give him the first woman taken by our Indians. As for the other two Indians they were
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killed by some Frenchmen who had meanwhile entered the cabin. One of them, the Sieur Tisser, had caught two of the squaws, who had hid under a bed; the third was taken by another settler.
After this first expedition the army resumed its march on White Apple Village, but the shots fired had warned the Indians to decamp, and they had all dispersed in the woods or in the neighboring villages, so that on reaching there the army found but empty cabins. They halted in the village square, and the commandant, thinking that the Indians might go to the de- serted cabin and scalp the Frenchman, sent a party to burn cabin and body. He then set fire to the village, and as the day was waning, the army resumed the road to St. Catharine's.
'They arrived there at nightfall, and spent four days resting without anything new transpiring. On the fifth, the command- ant divided the army into two corps, and put the Sieur Paillou in command of one, with orders to take the same route as be- fore, and putting himself at the head of the other, he marched on the village of the Grays, which he reached by roads worse even and more difficult than those I have already mentioned. . No Indians were found there, but merely a temple and some scattered cabins, all which he reduced to ashes. Meanwhile, the troops were dying of thirst, and as each tried to find some water, a settler found accidentally a squaw, probably more than a hundred years old, as her hair was quite white, a thing very unusual with the Indians. He took her to the general, who, after questioning her and finding where the water was, abandoned her, as a useless burthen to the earth, to a little slave of his, who scalped and killed her. The army then con- tinued its march, meeting the same difficulty and fatigue, obliged every moment to cry out, "Halt in front," and the next, "Close up rear." Certain it is, that had the Indians had
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