USA > Louisiana > Historical memoirs of Louisiana, from the first settlement of the colony to the departure of Governor O'Reilly in 1770; > Part 7
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CHAPTER XXXI.
CONDUCT OF THE CHOCTAWS-THEIR DISCONTENT-COUNCILS REPEAT. EDLY HELD BY THE NATCHEZ.
FROM what I have said till now, it is natural to conclude that the Sieur Chopart was the sole origin and only cause of the misfortune which befell these two posts. The Natchez, who naturally loved our people at first, aimed only at him, and ro-
. Sec Historical Collections of Louisiana, vol. iii., p. 154, for another version of this incident, in all probability more correct, and drawn from the missionary's own account.
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solved to massacre all the French, only because they feared to draw on themselves a cruel war, if they only cut off the com- mandant. Besides, they hoped that the Choctaws would keep their word and destroy all the French down the river, and in this way they were convinced that after the execution of their design they had no enemy to fear.
They were soon undeceived; God did not permit so dark a plot to succeed to its full extent. When the Choctaws prom- ised the Natchez deputy to destroy the French down the river, they had agreed to make the attack on the same day, in order to secure the general massacre they intended, and it was to avoid missing this day that they exchanged bundles of little sticks. -
The first of December was to have been the fatal day. Every day after the formation of the plot the chief of each nation burnt one of the fatal sticks; but it happened that one day the great chief of the Natchez went to the temple, and after throwing one of the sticks into the fire according to custom, turned to speak to the guard of the temple. At this moment his little son whom he had brought with him, wishing to imitate his father, took two and threw them into the fire : and the Natchez thus anticipated, by two days, the period fixed for the general massacre, and began the attack on the 29th of November.
As for the Choctaws, among whom no such mistake had occurred, they were punctual in keeping their promise on the appointed day. On the first of December they came in sight of New-Orleans to the number of six hundred, and had only Lake St. Louis to cross in order to reach the city. They now sent a deputation to Sieur Pericr to ask leave to enter and present him the calumet. Notwithstanding the advantage apparently to be derived from accepting it, the commandant-
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general decmed it imprudent to admit so large a body of Indians into the capital, and refused to receive them. He simply told them, that if their chief would come with an escort of thirty, he should be welcome. This refusal of the com- mandant disconcerted the Choctaws, who, on their way back vented their spite by killing some of the cattle belonging to Sieur de Chaumont's concession at Pascagoulas.
Soon after, these same Indians sent a considerable party to the Natchez to present the calumet to the great chief; and at the stake dance, the presents were in their eyes too insufficient, consisting only of coarse shirts, kettles, looking- glasses, vermilion, &c., without guns, powder or balls. The deputies, who had learned what had happened, were loud in their complaints against the Natchez for anticipating two days the general massacre of the French, calling them dogs, that wished to keep all for themselves, without commu- nieating with those who had promised to help them, and that they had beyond all doubt been the cause why the great French chief would not let them pass to the capital. They threatened, too, to make them repent it.
After this first party of Choctaws came a second, who were not better satisfied with their presents than their predecessors. Hearing that the Natchez had killed a little French boy on the death of one of their children, and were even deliber- ating whether they should not kill all their slaves, as they were afraid they might cause a war with the Choctaws, the Choctaws striking the stake, forbid them to kill any of their slaves, women, girls, or boys, declaring'that if they did, they would have to settle with them. These threats arrested the fury and cruelty of the Natchez, who from that time were troubled, held frequent councils, uncertain what resolution or steps to take.
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CHAPTER XXXII.
THE NEWS OF THE DISASTER AT NATCHEZ REACHES THE CAPITAL .- THE CHEVALIER DE LOUBOIS MARCHES AGAINST THEM.
THE first who brought to the capital tidings of the disaster at Natchez was the Sieur Ricard, the storekeeper, and as he arrived, all terror-stricken and in a wretched condition, after the painful journey that he had just made, almost destitute of provisions, people believed, when he told his story, that he had lost his head, as no one could imagine that the massacre could have been as general as he said. But the confirmation of all that he had related soon came. Couillard, the master- carpenter, who had been at work with some men in a cypress grove near Natchez, hearing of what had happened, resolved to fly. They had two Natchez Indians who acted as hunters ; they began by killing these, and then loaded a large boat with provisions, their tools and all that belonged to them, and went down the river. As they passed the galley they were saluted by a volley of musketry from the Indians on board, but no one was hurt; and on the third of December they reached New-Orleans, and confirmed all that Sieur Ricard had related of the disaster.
As with such formal testimony there was no longer room for doubt, Perier immediately procceded to take measures to avenge so horrible a decd. With this view, he first sent to the Choctaws the Sieur de Lery, an officer who was per- fectly acquainted with all the Indian languages, to gain that tribe to his interests and induce them to join him. Dis- contented as they were with the reception given by the Nat- chez to their recent deputations, piqued too at their breach of
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promise in advancing the day of the massacre, the Choctaws easily entered into the commandant-general's plan of ven- geance. They promised to serve the French in the campaign with all their forces, and instantly began to prepare provisions necessary for their march.
As soon as Sieur Perier heard this, he formed a little army, composed of troops and some settlers, and gave the command to the Chevalier Loubois, king's lieutenant. These troops embarked in several boats, with the necessary provisions and ammunition, and ascending the river reached the Tonicas, where they were welcomed by the great chief of that nation, who had entirely recovered from the wound received in the last expedition. Here they found several Frenchmen who had escaped the general massacre and reached this place by land, finding a welcome from the Tonicas, who entertained them hospitably. After paying their expenses and satisfying the claims of their hosts, the Chevalier de Loubois enrolled them in his troops; and as he did not deem his force large enough to march against the Natchez alone, he built a fort at this place, and awaited with his army the arrival of the Choctaws.
Impatient however at hearing nothing of them, he looked around for some volunteers to send out as scouts to learn the march of his allies, and especially what was going on at Nat- chez. Five offered, namely: the Sieur Mespleix, who had already distinguished himself in the first war; Navarre, a soldier and settler at Natchez, who had married an Indian girl there; the Sieur de St. Amand, a good gentleman, and two army drummers. The Chevalier de Loubois gave them all they asked, and they went up the river in a little piragua till with- in three leagues of the great Natchez village. There they landed and slept; the next morning at daybreak, after break- fasting perhaps a little too early, they marched on and reached
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Terre-Blanche, where they found all the buildings in ashes. From this to the Great Village was only half a league, but instead of hiding or stealing noiselessly on so as not to be dis- covered, they advanced boldly, as though they had nothing to fear; accordingly they had not got within a quarter of a league of the village when they were surrounded by Indians. They then threw themselves into a ravine which formed a kind of entrenchment, and Navarre, who spoke the Natchez very well, harangued them as he fired on them, calling them dogs, unworthy to live: telling them that all the tribes were on the march to attack them, and that not one of them would escape. The Indians, who knew him, in vain called on him to sur- render; his only answer was an incessant fire, in which he was imitated by his companions. At last, the Indians, despair- ing of taking them alive, fired and wounded Navarre and Sieur Mespleix; but the former, wounded as he was, stubborn- ly refused to surrender, and continued reviling them, till tired of his invectives they fired again and stretched him dead on the ground. Then Mespleix and the other three threw down their arms and asked for quarter.
As soon as they were in the hands of the Indians, they were taken to the great chief, who, addressing Mespleix, asked what brought him into their land. The Frenchman replied that he came, on behalf of his general, to know of him whether he wished peace with the French. "But," replied the Indian, " people that come to treat of peace do not fire. See, thou art wounded, and Navarre is dead." Mespleix answered, "that Navarre had lost his head from drinking too much brandy ; that, for his own part, he had thrown down his arms as soon as Navarre was dead, so that he might learn of him, on behalf of his general, whether he wished peace with the French or not." The great chief replied " Yes," and ordered the four prisoners
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to be set at liberty. He then called Mme. Desnoyers, wife of the director of Terre Blanche, who had been killed on the day of the massacre, and ordered her to write to the French general " that if he wished peace, he must for each slave furnish so many quarts of brandy, so many ells of limbourg," &c. This savage raised his pretensions so high, that had they accepted his terms, all the storehouses of the company and all the mer- chants of the capital could not have met his demands. Mme. Desnoyers wrote all that he wished, and availed herself of the occasion to expose to the Chevalier de Loubois the sad state of slavery to which she and her companions were reduced. She then handed her letter to the great chief, who gave it to one of the drummers taken, with orders to deliver it to his general, and bring back an answer in three days. Never indeed was a commission more joyfully accepted ; the drummer started off at full speed, without ever looking behind him, and the same day reached the Chevalier de Loubois, whom he informed of all, and delivered the great chief's letter. That officer, as may be imagined, paid no attention to it, and consequently sent no answer. .
During the three days given by the great chief for the drummer to return, Mespleix and his two companions remain- ed among the French women, and were pretty well treated, always however kept in sight by the Indians, who were afraid they would escape. On the fourth day, however, the great chief receiving no answer to his letter, burst into a furious anger, and on the spot condemned them to death. They were at once stripped, blackened with charcoal and taken out of the village. The Sr. de St. Amand and the drummer had not much to suffer, and were soon out of misery ; but not so with Sieur Mespleix, who was recognized as having served in the first war. The Indians began by scalping him, and did it so adroitly as not to injure any of the bones; they then bound
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him to the frame to burn him with their ceremonies, their intention being to make him shed tears, so as to call him a woman and not a warrior ; but he disappointed their expec- tations, suffering the frightful torment with wonderful courage and without a tear. :
The Indians meanwhile were uneasy. One night they sent for a French woman who spoke their language. 'When she came into the cabin where they were, all armed with guns, clubs or axes, they began to question her, but she was so ter- rified that she could not answer them at first. At last, how- ever, she asked them what they wanted. The Indians told her that they wished to know if, after having fought with their enemies, the French became friends again ; she told them that war did not prevent their seeing and mingling with each other after the combat. "Well," they continued, "thou knowest that in the first war we gave the French the head of Oldhair, the White Apple" Chief: his death has not been avenged ; let them agree that the head of the French Chief of Fort Rosalie pass for his." The woman replied that this was a good idea. They then asked her whether it was true that the French were at the Tonicas, and why they did not come on ? She replied that they were there, and did not come because they feared to be treated like the rest. Apparently satisfied with her answers they sent her away.
The next day they had some sorceries performed by an old Indian woman, who passed for a great magician. After many ceremonies, such as these imposters use to deceive gross and ignorant minds, she told them, as a great mystery, what all the world could guess as well as she, that in a little while their vil- lage and fort would be surrounded by a great number of living men, adding that, during the previous day and night, there had been several spies among them. After all these meetings the Indians kept quict, although still anxious for the future.
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CHAPTER XXXIII.
ARRIVAL OF THE CHOCTAWS AT NATCHEZ .- WHAT THEY DID THERE.
IN the month of February, 1730, the Choctaws arrived at Natchez, to the number of about sixteen hundred, accompanied by the Sieur de Lery, both as allies of the French and to pun- ish the Natchez for not keeping their word. They appeared near the Great Village bearing the calumet aloft, but firing their guns; this warned the Natchez, who were dispersed here and there in cabins, to abandon them, and retire to the fort with their wives and children. The white woman, who was some dis- tance off, had only time to take what was most valuable, being obliged to leave all the French women, her slaves, in the cabin. The Choctaws finding them, entered, and having first made sure that there were no Natchez among them, stripped these poor slaves again, though they came as friends of the French, and actually took all they had been able to keep when taken the first time. At the same time, they found in the cabin an old Indian woman, who had been unable to follow the female chief; they scalped her, and, tying her to a bundle of dry canes, burnt her by a slow fire.
While one party of Choctaws were pillaging this eabin, others hovered around the fort of the Natchez, in hopes of killing or catching some one; the whole morning was spent in firing, though not a shot took effect, as they fired too far off. About three o'clock in the afternoon, wishing to retreat, a con- siderable body of the Natchez sallied out and fired; wounded one of the French women in the leg, though not so as to pre- vent her following. The Choctaws reached the ground where
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St. Catharine's concession had been, and remained there nearly a month, without undertaking anything against the enemy. There were only some skirmishes between them, which served to consume their powder.
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CHAPTER XXXIV.
ARRIVAL OF CHEVALIER LOUBOIS AT NATCHEZ .- SUCCESS OF HIS EXPE- DITION.
IN the following month of March the Chevalier de Loubois reached Natchez. As soon as the army landed, it encamped, and remained in the same place about five days, and then · marched against the enemy, who had shut themselves up in their fort with their wives, children, negroes, and the remaining French women. Four days were spent in going from the camp to the fort, on account of a piece of artillery that had to be drawn by hand, and was so heavy that it could hardly be moved. They at last arrived before the fort and opened trenches in form. A few days after, the Indians, who knew the ground much better than the French, having made a sally on the troops there, poured in so quick and sudden a volley that they abandoned their post in hot hastc. The officer in command in vain endeavored to rally and retain them; they would not hear him, and he, finding himself not supported, had to rejoin the main body. Meanwhile, a fire was kept up on the fort, though with little success, and there was small prospect of a speedy capture; for the Indians defended it stoutly, keep- ing up a galling fire, and even using the cannon taken from Fort Rosalie to fire on us, though it was not of much service to them, as they were not able to work it properly.
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There was in the army a very brave sergeant called Bien- ville, who directed our cannon. One day, provoked at the little harm done to the enemy's palisade, he filled his pockets with grenades, and taking a soldier as a companion, reached the fort, covered by the obscurity of the night. There he found that he had forgotten what was most essential, that is, means of striking fire, and sent his companion to get some; but the Chevalier de Loubois, hearing of their design, forbid them to go on, for fear that so many French women at Nat- chez might suffer by the grenades. Obliged to forego his plan, Bienville returned to the camp, and was shot during the firing the next day.
A few days after, an adventure occurred which enabled another soldier in the army to signalize himself. The Sieur Duparc, who had followed the Chevalier de Loubois as interpreter, took one of the standards of the army and planted it between the camp and the enemy's fort, intending to address the Indians, and urge them to surrender and become friends of the French, promising to grant them peace. But, either because they did not understand him, or slighted his promises and exhortations, they fired on him, and compelled him to retire with precipitation. At the same time, the Indians made a sally to carry the flag which he had planted and left, and several of the French women availed themselves of the chance to escape, and though fired on from the fort, they all reached the camp in safety. In this interval, a young soldier ran out of the ranks towards the flag, reached and carried it off, after which he came and presented it to the Chevalier dc Loubois, who made him a sergeant.
As among the French women who had escaped were some who had left children behind, and even babes at the breast, the Indians, to avenge themselves for the flight of the mothers,
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had the cruelty to drag these poor little creatures on their faces through the fort, and after stifling them, to fling their bodies over the palisades. Others in great numbers were impaled on the palisade itself, because, sleeping with their mothers in the open air and catching cold, their inces- sant coughing troubled the Indians and prevented their talking.
Meanwhile, the lines were drawn nearer the fort, and they had got quite near, without there being any hope of a surrender by the Indians, when one morning, after they had worked all night pushing on the cannon and arranging the sand-bags, they perceived that the enemy had lowered their flag, which showed a wish to capitulate. In fact, they had agreed among themselves to come to terms, and the great chief having summoned Mme. Desnoyers and explained his inten- tions, she was soon seen leaving the fort and crossing the plain to reach the general's tent, where she asked peace on behalf of all that nation. Her proposition was well received, and accepted on condition that the Natchez surrendered all the French women made slaves, with their children and all the negroes. After this answer Mme. Desnoyers returned to the fort to announce it to the great chief, who submitted to these conditions, merely asking that neither the French nor the Choctaws should enter the fort till the following day; this was granted. The auxiliary troops were then detached to receive from their hands the French women and children, and the negroes, with Mayeux and Lebeau, the two Frenehmen spared in the general massacre. After having thus withdrawn all the prisoners from the hands of the Indians, the Chevalier de Loubois, who had till then abstained from using grenades for fear of hurting these very prisoners, resolved to keep his word with the Indians as they had kept it with others, and early
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next morning prepared to renew the siege more vigorously than ever, when he found out that the Natchez had anticipated him and abandoned the fort by night, taking with them all that they had.
On the other hand, they had considerable difficulty in rescuing the prisoners from the hands of the Choctaws who were in possession and seemed ready to dispute it, as if they were their slaves. The dispute between the general and these Indians got so warm that they were on the point of coming to blows, when the great chief of the Tonicas appeased them, and induced them to take the goods offered in exchange for the prisoners. The Chevalier de Loubois gathered all he could find in the camp, and as even that did not meet the cupidity of the Choctaws, he persuaded them to wait till the next day, promising to deliver them the balance of goods required. By this means he succeeded in delivering from their hands all the French women and children, whom he gathered at the foot of the hill, and during the night put in vessels to go to the capital. The next morning the Choctaws, not seeing the prisoners, became much more tractable; they could not, however, be induced to give up some negro slaves, whom they still kept, and a little French boy, whom they carried off as hostages and security for the promises made them.
The Indians having, as I said, abandoned their fort,* it was fired, and the whole army decamped and returned to the spot
*I: is still a mooted point where this palisade fort of the Natchez was located. It has been placed by some persons on the plantation of "Fatherland;" and by others, upon the bluff just below the bend of St. Catharine's Creek, near the "Lynwood" plantation. As the latter place is susceptible of strong defence, and some appearance still exists of a fort having been once built there, I am in- c'ined to think it must be the spot where the brave Natchez made their last and valiant fight in defence of their rights, their liberty, and their country.
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where Fort Rosalie had been. There they began to raise a new fort of earth, with barracks for the soldiers and houses for the officers ; and as soon as it was in a state of defence, the Chevalier de Loubois, leaving there a hundred and twenty men, under the command of Chevalier Baron de Cresnay, with pro- visions and ammunition, embarked with his army and re. turned to the capital .*
CHAPTER XXXV.
RETREAT OF THE NATCHEZ .- CONTINUATION OF HOSTILITIES.
As soon as the French women who had been rescued from the hands of the enemy reached New-Orleans, the intendant or com- missary ordinator had them conducted to the hospital, where every care was taken to restore them to health, not only by good food, but also by all suitable remedies; and as they had been stripped of all they had, first by the Natchez and next by the Choctaws, the company was good enough to advance them all that they thought necessary to re-establish themselves. Some of them, instead of going to the hospital, went to taverns, or houses of friends. Some of these found husbands who had fortunately escaped and joined them, and the widows soon found new husbands. In the end, most of the survivors of the general massacre settled at Point Coupée, fifty leagues from the capital, about halfway between it and Natchez.
As for the Natchez Indians, after abandoning their fort to strike into the woods, they thought of going to settle else- where; and, leaving the right bank of the river, went near
* See the Dispatches of Perier and D'Artaguette, in Appendix.
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Black River, which empties into that of Naquitoches, called . by some Red River. There they built a village and fort on the model of that from which they had been driven, and another. three leagues further inland. Meanwhile, though they had apparently abandoned the grounds around Fort Rosalie and made peace with the French, they did not dis- continue acts of hostility to them and their property.
A new fort and buildings had, as I have said, been raised at Natchez. As they needed cypress bark to cover them, a party of twenty men, well armed and provisioned, were sent to a neighboring cypress grove, about a league and a half below the fort on the river. At first all was quiet ; but five or six days after they were surprised by a party of Natchez, who, attacking them unexpectedly, killed and scalped them all. In this catastrophe perished the soldier whom Loubois had made a sergeant for bringing back to the camp an abandoned flag, when the army lay encamped before the Natchez fort. The soldier who had escaped the first massacre by getting into an oven was here also, and again escaped by hiding in a hollow tree. He returned to the fort the next day alone, to announce the fate of his comrades.
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