USA > Louisiana > Historical memoirs of Louisiana, from the first settlement of the colony to the departure of Governor O'Reilly in 1770; > Part 5
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courage or sense enough to assemble and lay ambushes in some ravines, they could have cut the whole army off.
At last they got out of the woods and defiles, and the troops having entered a vast plain, the grass of which had been burnt, they discovered at a distance a hostile Indian armed with a gun, apparently on the look-out, examining our army. As soon as he was seen, a Frenchman named Maréchal earnestly begged the commandant to permit him to run on the Indian, which he refused; but at last, overcome by his importunity, he agreed. Marechal dashed off like an arrow, without his musket and with only a knife. The army, uncertain as to the issue, halted to witness the result. The Indian, seeing only one unarmed man approach, believed himself strong and skilful enough to meet him; he awaited him coolly, and, as he came within gunshot, fired, but missed him. He then fled across the prairie, pursued by his enemy, who at last over- took him and plunged his knife in his back. The Indian fell at the blow and the Frenchman on him; but, the next moment, the latter was up, and shouting the death-cry, scalped his enemy, and came in triumph to present the trophy to the general, who in return ordered some goods to be delivered to him.
Soon after, Redshoe, chief of the little Choctaw party that had followed the army, having perceived four women running away, pursued, took and brought them to the general. He questioned them, and by their answers learned that, half a league off, at the Jenzenaque Village, fifty Indians awaited us stoutly, resolved to conquer or die. On this the army wheeled about, and the Tonica chief took the lead, marching right on the enemy. Some time after, a strong cabin was discovered built on a height ; here it was believed the Indians were to be found. The drums beat at once and the fifes struck up, and the army, forming in a square battalion, advanced on the cabin.
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The Tonica chief who was at the head first reached the height ; he approached the cabin, examined it, but found it empty. The Indians had abandoned it, and so precipitately, that they had left behind some guns, balls, and horns full of powder. The Tonica chief taking a turn around the height perceived below him one of the enemy's chiefs, called " The Little Sun," or rather they both at the same instant saw each other, aimed and fired. The Tonica chief stretched his enemy dead on the spot, but fell himself dangerously wounded. The ball that struck him had entered his mouth, gone through his cheek, and, glancing along the breech of his gun, had broken his shoulder-blade.
The Indians seeing him fall and believing him dead, raised frightful crics and yells, but some Frenchmen running up found that he still breathed. They lifted him up and laid him on a litter, and putting him in the centre of the army, all marched back towards St. Catharine's ; but being surprised by night, had to encamp in a prairie, where each one lighted a fire to warm himself, for they had no tent or covering; they had not even brought provisions. About midnight the Indians began to fire some blank cartridges, as they always do when near an enemy, to show him that they are on their guard. Unfortu- nately, the Terre Blanche company, commanded by the Sieur de Liette, was unaware of this Indian custom, and believing it to be a sudden attack of the enemy, seized their arms and were already marching to the spot where the firing was, when the commandant, informed of the mistake, sent an aid-de-camp to order them back to their quarters.
The next morning at daybreak the army resumed its march, and at nine o'clock reached St. Catharine's, where a strong de- tachment was left to protect that settlement against the out- rages of the Indians; the rest of the troops retired to Fort
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· Rosalie, where De Liett's company was disbanded, and re- turned to Terre Blanche. The commandant meanwhile was thinking of bringing the war to a close, but he did not wish to do so without making it cost the Indians not poultry, as it did at first, but blood worth shedding. In this state he summoned the Stung-Serpent, and the latter having instantly presented himself, the commandant told him that he re- voked his promise not to attack the Great Village, as he learned that they harbored his enemies. To this the great chief, who was really our friend, made no answer, but a re- quest for peace. "I grant it," said the general, "but on these terms. You know that there is among your people a negro who formerly belonged to the French : bring me his head and that of Oldhair, chief of White Apple Village, and promise me ever to regard the French as your friends and brethren; on these two conditions, I will grant peace." Now, this negro, whose . head was demanded, was a free black, who, instead of settling among the French, had gone over to the Indians, and even made himself head of a party. It was justly feared that he would teach them our way of attack and defence, and it was thus absolutely necessary to get rid of him.
The Stung-Serpent submitted to all required of him, and asked only three days to perform it. This was granted; and two days after he brought Oldhair's head, and the negro's the day after. Then the commandant, seeing the war ended, left orders with the commandant of Fort Rosalie, and also for the great chief, and returned to the capital, after having restored peace and tranquillity in those countries .*
* See Memoirs of the first Natchez war in His. Coll. of La., vol. iii., p. 241.
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· CHAPTER XXII.
RECALL OF THE COMMANDER OF THE COUNTRY TO FRANCE-LOSS OF THE BELLONA.
DURING the Natchez war died the Sieur de la Tour, lieuten- ant-general and brigadier of engineers in Louisiana ; he was succeeded by the Chevalier de Loubois, who was sent to the province as king's lieutenant. Sometime after, that is, in 1725, the ship Bellona having arrived at New-Orleans, the captain delivered the dispatches, of which he was the bearer, to the commandant-general, who found them to contain an order from the company to return to France. He immediately pre- pared to embark, and having taken leave of his friends, went to Mobile, and thence to Dauphin Island, to await the same vessel, the Bellona, which was to take him to Europe. In fact, the ship had no sooner taken in her cargo, than she sailed out of the river, and anchored in the roadstead of Dau- phin Island. Here an accident at once befell her-her shallop upset in the Major's Hole; happily no one was drowned, and the shallop was saved ; but as this happened on Holy Saturday, their departure was postponed till Monday, on account of the great festival of Easter.
At daybreak on Monday, the shallop and canoe were let down to go to Dauphin Island, to bring on board the com- mandant, and his brother, who was to accompany him, as well as their baggage. They had hardly reached land, when they heard signals for help from the Bellona-two cannon fired in succession, followed, after an interval, by two others, this be- ing a usual signal at sea. The weather was delightful, there was not a breath of wind, yet the ship was going down, some
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planks having started near the keel. In this pressing danger, each sought to escape impending death ; some tied themselves to the yards and cordages, awaiting the return of the boats, others jumped overboard, and swam to the Heron Islands. A father was drowned trying to save his son. At last the ship went down, with all her cargo, no part of which could be saved. This was a serious loss for the company. After this accident the commandant returned to the capital, where he spent four or five months, and then embarked on the Gironde, leaving the direction of affairs in the hands of the Sieur de Boisbrant, captain of the Illinois country, whom the company had appointed as commander in his absence. Since the period of the Natchez war a change had also occurred in the council; the Sieur de Salmon was sent out from France as commissaire ordonnateur, in place of M. de la Chaise, who had died.
CHAPTER XXIII.
NEW TROUBLES WITH THE NATCHEZ INDIANS.
As the captains sent by the company to command in each post remain only as long as the commandant-general thinks fit, the Sicur de Barnaval, commandant at Natchez, was replaced by the Sieur de Liette, who was, in turn, succeeded by Sieur Broutin, as commandant of Fort Rosalic, and at the same time director of the Terre Blanche concession, where there were many workmen and negroes to superintend. Sicur Broutin, finding it impossible to be in both places at once, chose to re- main at the concession, and left me to command at the fort in his absence.
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The post was then in great tranquillity, and the Indians, after the last war, had begun to live on good terms with the French, when an accident happened, which, but for the pru- dence of the commander, might have caused new troubles. They had at Terre Blanche live stock of all kinds, oxen, cows, bulls, horses, &c., which went every day to graze in the plain. Now it happened one day that an Indian struck a mare on the left side with a lily-headed tomahawk, and as this did not satisfy him, cut off her tail. This is regarded among the In- dians almost as brave and valiant a deed as bearing off a scalp, and was consequently a declaration of war. The mare was fortunately found in this state, and brought to the conces- sion, where a veterinary surgeon cured her.
Sieur Broutin determined to have reparation for this act of hostility, and being not averse to sounding the intentions of the Indians, who might have attacked the mare only because he did not dare to attack the French personally, sent for the Stung Serpent. He came immediately, and when asked by the commandant whether he and his people were tired of liv- ing on good terms with the French, asked, in turn, why such a question was put to him. Sieur Broutin explained it, and even showed him the mare ; but the Stung Serpent protested . that the blow had not been struck by any one in his nation and even wished to lay it on the Little Tioux tribe, who lay , about two leagues west of the Great Village, and one south of Fort Rosalie. On this answer, Sieur Broutin at once dis- patched a messenger to Bamboche, who was considered the head chief of the Tioux, to summon him to speak with him. Ile came, but when the commandant stated what had hap- pened, and what the head chief of the Natchez said of his village, the Tioux chief, who was a rogue at bottom, main- tained that this could not have come from any Indian in his
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village, as no one had a tomahawk of that description, and that it was beyond a doubt the work of the Stung Serpent's own people, as they had many in their five villages. Offended at this answer, the Stung Serpent abruptly left, saying: "I see what it is ; I will set all right." He returned to his vil- lage, and assembled his chief men.
As soon as he was gone Sieur Broutin armed his troops, and sent a messenger to the fort to tell me what was going on. On this news I loaded the cannon of the fort, beat to arms, as- sembled all the settlers by firing a cannon, and warned them to be on their guard, and retreat to the fort, with their wives and children, as soon as the cannon was fired again. These precautions were, however, useless ; the Stung Serpent, hear- ing the cannon, at once imagined that the French were about to make an attack on his villages, and to prevent it, set out with his chief men to present the calumet of peace to the commandant of Terre Blanche. He at first declined, and told the great chief to return to his village, and that he would bring him another calumet there. At last, however, he yielded to the Indian's entreaty, as he earnestly begged him · to receive him and his people as friends; but in the address which he made, he asked whether it was right that the con- cession should lose a mare in that way. The Stung Serpent agreed that this was not fair, and to repair the wrong, he con- demned every cabin in all the villages of his tribe, including the Tioux, to furnish the concession a basket of corn, which was all brought in in a week. At the same time Sieur Brou- tin intimated to thic great chief that it was not enough to have made peace with him, unless he made peace also with his lieutenant, who commanded at the fort, and was no less dis- pleased than himself. This induced the Indians to come to Fort Rosalie, where I was similarly regaled with the
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calumet, the whole garrison being under arms while the cere- mony lasted. The corn, obtained by this contribution, would more than have paid for a whole regiment of cavalry, as there are only two baskets in a quarter of wheat, containing 120 pots, which then sold at thirty livres. Thus the prudence of the commander on this occasion prevented our nation's be- coming the sport of the Indians, who, at bottom, liked the French, and paid quite dearly for the fault of an individual.
Sieur Broutin did not remain long at Fort Rosalie after this event, but was recalled to the capital, and succeeded by Sieur de Tisinet, who, to acquire the friendship of the Indians, showed them how to build palisade forts, in the French fash- ion, acting here against my advice. This new commander re- mained not more than a year at Natchez, when he was suc- ceeded by Sieur de Merveilleux, who protected the inhabitants of the post, by whom he was equally loved, and under whose government the French always lived in perfect har- mony with the Indians.
CHAPTER XXIV.
ARRIVAL OF A NEW COMMANDANT AT THE CAPITAL-THE SIEUR · CHOPART SENT TO NATCHEZ.
BOISBRIANT had not commanded over a year in the coun- try, when a new commandant arrived, when least expected. Hle was a brave officer of the marines, a knight of St. Louis, by name Sieur Perier, in whose praise it may be said that he made himself equally dear to the troops and settlers, by his equity and beneficent generosity. Scarcely was he installed in his post, when all the country began to flourish more than
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ever. All vied in forming new establishments, the officers even, imitating the commandant, began plantations. The company having sent some negroes, as it did, from time to time, the Sieur Perier divided them with the greatest impar- tiality, without favoring any, and gave some to several set- tlers, who had never been able to get any since they came into the country. If a house was burnt, he was the first to lend a hand to rebuild it. If any dispute occurred between two settlers, he heard them apart, then face to face, and ren- dered justice without preference or distinction. In a word, he was at once beloved and feared throughout the country, ever ready to render a service to those who had recourse to him, and punishing with severity, when the fault deserved it.
Under so just a government, each one set about completing and improving his new establishments; and the settlements formed at Natchez, though a hundred leagues from the resi- dence of the new commandant, prospered more and more every day, by the care he took to supply the post with all that could render it solid and flourishing. This state would, un- doubtedly, have lasted, had they not at the same time recalled Sieur de Merveilleux, who, as I have said, then commanded . at Fort Rosalie. His successor was Sieur Chopart, who was no sooner in his post, than, instead of seeking to secure the friendship of the people, whom he came to direct, thought only of tyrannizing, ill-treating all whom he suspected of not being his friends, trampling on all justice and equity, always inclining the balance in favor of such as he wished to favor, despising even the royal ordinances, and neglecting the service to such a degree as to leave it in the hands of sergeants, who, sceing themselves no longer controlled by officers, abused the power given them.
There was, as I have said, at the Terre Blanche concession,
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then belonging to the Marshal Duke de Belle Isle, a company of soldiers, maintained to preserve the concession property, and defend the laborers engaged there. Sieur Chopart under took to draw them off on his mere authority, and leave only eight soldiers and a corporal. The Sieur Desnoyers, then di. rector of the concession, at first opposed his pretensions, but as Chopart told him, in an absolute tone, that he would have it so, and the director, as an officer of the company, being subordinate to the commandant, was forced to submit.
This was not the case with a lieutenant* of the fort garri- son, who had commanded at the post under Sieur Broutin, and who, witnessing the crying injustice done by the commandant to one of the settlers, opposed him resolutely. He thus drew on him indeed the anger of Chopart, who, by stratagem, put him in irons ; but the officer having managed to escape, reach- ed the capital, and laid his complaint before the commandant- general, who immediately summoned Chopart from Natchez to answer for his conduct. The affair having been brought on, the lieutenant had entire satisfaction in open council, where the commandant at Natchez was obliged to confess · himself guilty. He would even have been broken, and never returned to his post, had not the commandant-general been forced to pardon him by the pressing solicitations of persons who sided with him. He did not, however, send him back, till he promised to treat the settlers more favorably, and change his conduct entirely.
* The author of these memoirs.
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CHAPTER XXV.
SIEUR CHOPART'S CONDUCT .- ORIGIN OF THE LAST NATCHEZ WAR.
THIS little disgrace humbled, but did not correct Chopart. He did not, indeed, after his return to Natchez, ill-treat the settlers; his violence and injustice sought another object. He had brought from the capital some negro slaves, intending to form a permanent establishment at Natchez. His aim was to make a fortune in a little while; but this required a good ground ; the best was already taken, and he could not drive out the settlers already in possession, without exposing him- self to a reprimand at the capital. In this embarrassment he · struck on a means : it was to turn to the Indians, from whom he thought he had nothing to fear. In fact, one fine day, he went to begin his first plantation in White Apple Village, drove an Indian from the ground he occupied, and even from his house, in which he put some negroes to till the ground and a French woman to take care of them. The Indian came to complain, and some goods were given to pacify him, but in vain, as he . did not deem them enough. More was promised, but only to keep him in play, without any intention of giving anything.
Chopart did not stop here. One day he went to walk to the Great Village. The Stung-Serpent was no longer head chief of the Natchez nation: he had died, and his successor was a rela- tive of Oldhair, the White Apple Chief, whose head had been required by the French in the last war. Arriving at the village, Chopart remarked that the position was a fine one, being a beautiful plain, intersected by the little river St. Catharine, and immediately resolved to seize it for a plantation. It be- longed indeed to a friendly tribe, whom he would have to dis-
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possess, and by his violence make our enemies, but this was nothing. In this resolution the commandant returned to his house, which lay on the first level reached after ascending from the water's edge-a pretty rough hill by a winding road. Not far off was the house of Sieur Bailly, who had suc- ceeded De la Loire des Ursins, as judge and commissary at the port. The latter, finding himself thus put out of office, had chosen a place on a ground between Fort Rosalie and St. Cath- arine's, and had begun to build there.
The commandant, considering that the site of the Great Vil- lage just suited him for a country-seat, and that the fine plain around would give him a great income, resolved, as I have said, to seize it. With this view, he ordered the great chief to come and see him, and the latter came, accompanied by his chief men. The Sieur Chopart, by Papin, the interpreter, told him that the great chief of the French at New-Orleans, the Sieur Perier, had written to him to order the Natchez to leave their Great Village, as he needed it for some large buildings. To so astounding a proposition, the great chief and his council replied,. that " their nation had long been in possession of that village, and lived there ; that the ashes of their fathers reposed there, deposited in the temple which they had built ; that, moreover, the French had never yet taken lands by force; that, if they had settled on their lands, the nation itself gave them sites in hopes of obtaining protection and defence against their ene- mies, and even that many Frenchmen had given goods to the Indians in payment of the lands they occupied." But, just as their representations were, they made no impression on the commandant's mind, and could not change his resolution. He told the great chief that he cared little for his reasons : that the great chief of the French must be obeyed, so that they must instantly prepare to leave their village; that, if they thought
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fit, they might go and build another village a league fur- ther off.
The great chief knew well that his village was already too far from the river, as it was at least a league and a quarter from it, yet seeing that he could not move the commandant, he pretended to yield to his demands, and asked only two moons to have time, he said, to choose a fit place for their new village, and prepare it. This was granted; but, as all Chopart's views tended only to enrich himself by all kinds of means, he told them that as he had, of his own good will for the tribe, granted this delay, without the knowledge of the great French chief, who would perhaps be displeased at his not executing orders strictly, it was but fair to pay him for it ; and he named a certain quantity of poultry, pots of bear oil, baskets of corn, and skins, to be given him. The great chief, who now only wished to get out of his hands, agreed to all he asked ; and Chopart, whose head was turned by success, to assure all by frightening him, warned him not to fail, threaten- ing him that, in case he did, he would send him bound hand and foot to New-Orleans as soon as the boats came up to · Natchez. After this conversation, they parted, the Indians much displeased at what was demanded of them, and the French commandant resolved to have their land without its ·costing him either presents or goods.
CHAPTER XXVI.
CONDUCT OF THE NATCHEZ-THEIR RESOLUTION ON SIEUR CHOPART'S PROPOSITION.
As soon as the Indians returned to their village, the great chief, his warriors and great men, assembled instant- ly ; many secret councils were held to resolve on means
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to prevent both their lands being taken and the great chief being conducted as a prisoner to the capital. Several propo- sitions were made, but all rejected; at last, after weighing several plans, all of which might secure their property and liberty, they decided on the barbarous resolve of massa- cring not only the commandant at the fort, but even all the French, and ridding the country of them. After this they sent deputies in every direction to bear the calumet to the different Indian nations scattered through the colony, and portray the tyranny which the French wished to exercise over them by driving them from their land, and to ask their aid in repelling these acts of violence and usurpation. The Choctaws were the first and hottest in embracing their quarrel ; they undertook to destroy all the French on the lower part of the river, and for the execution of this design fixed the day which ended the two moons granted by the commandant; but as these people cannot count, they exchanged with each other as many little sticks or matches, as there were days, till that fixed for the bloody butchery. After this negotiation, which was kept very secret among the Indians, the deputies returned to their village, bearing the fatal bundle of sticks given them. These the great chief immediately carried to the temple, where they keep a kind of perpetual fire.
The Indians meanwhile remained tranquilly in their village, taking no steps to find another site ; a thing, which of itself, should have excited the suspicions of Sieur Chopart, had he been capable of prudence at all. Every morning the great chief went to the temple and cast one of the little sticks on the fire, the last of them being the signal for the day of the frightful massacre. It might have been general throughout the country, but God watched over the other posts, and seems
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