USA > Louisiana > Historical memoirs of Louisiana, from the first settlement of the colony to the departure of Governor O'Reilly in 1770; > Part 8
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The fact I am about to state shows how bent these Indians were on the ruin of our nation, when six of them dared to undertake the destruction of a whole garrison of more than a hundred men. A few days after, these Indians presented themselves at the gate of the fort, saying that they were Choctaws. As Indians are much alike, it is not easy to avoid mistaking them, unless you are aware of their distinc- tive marks, which for the most part consists merely in the manner of wearing their hair; these were taken for real Choc- taws, and, though armed, were.admitted.
As soon as they were in the fort they walked about like
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friends, caressing the French, shaking their hands, and show- ing great affection, but in about half an hour they changed tone and manner, fell on some soldiers who were off their guard, murdered them and killed the sentinel. The noise of this sudden attack alarmed the whole fort, all ran to arms, the doors were closed, but as the Indians had got possession of the guard-house, they defended themselves stoutly for two hours, when five were killed, and the sixth taken alive and burnt at the frame. As for the French, five were killed and several wounded. This accident taught the garrison to be more circumspect in future and better on their guard.
At this time it happened that a party of Tonicas, who, after all, were the only tribe really friendly to us, having taken a Natchez woman, brought her to New-Orleans and presented her to the commandant-general. He gave her back, telling them to dispose of her as they liked; they accordingly re- solved to show the French, in the treatment of this slave, how the Indians treat their prisoners taken in war. A frame was raised on an elevated spot near the river, between the city and the government house, and here the poor wretch was tied and burnt with their ceremonies, before the whole city, who flocked to witness the spectacle. She was burnt first on one side, then on the other, all down the body, but during that long and cruel torture never shed a tear. On the contrary, she seemed to deride the unskilfulness of her tormentors, insulting them, and threatening that her death would soon be avenged by her tribe.
Her prophecy was soon accomplished. A few days after this cruel execution, a large party of Natchez came to the Tonicas to present, as they said, the calumet to the great chief and make peace, not only with him but also with the French. The great Tonica chief thought it inexpedient to accept the
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deputation without first obtaining the permission of the com- mandant-general who gave it, telling him at the same time to cut the Natchez to pieces while engaged in the ceremony. But they anticipated him, for they had scarcely entered the cabin when they struck him down, scalped him, killed some more Indians and one Frenchman, taking a second with his wife prisoners, and with them returned in triumph. Thus fell the great Tonica chief, who with his son had become a Christian, and had, for his valor and devotedness to our cause, been honored by the king with a medal which he had sent him.
This success made the Natchez believe that, after having thus surprised and destroyed many of their enemies, it would be an easy. matter to cut off the French at Naquitoches, where there were only twenty settlers, and a garrison of forty soldiers, commanded by the Chevalier de St. Denys .* But this officer showed them that they had to deal with an able and vigilant commander, under whom all went on with strictness and punctuality, who was equally beloved and respected by the French, and esteemed by the neighboring Indians, who were entirely at his disposal. The Natchez set out from their new village to the number of a hundred and fifty or more, taking with them the French woman captured at the Tonicas; and having arrived within gunshot of Fort Naquitoches, they deputed three to the commander to ask permission to enter the fort, in order to present the calumet, and make him the umpire of a peace, by returning a French woman to his hands. The Chevalier de St. Denys, who spoke the Indian language well, replied to the deputies, that "if ten would
· This distinguished officer was related to Bienville. He came to Louisiana at a very early period of its history, and was employed in the most active service of the colony. As commandant of this post, he made himself so popular, that he led the life of a half barbaric and half-civilized potentate. His adventures form an interesting episode in the History of Louisiana, by Gayarre.
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come and present the calumet with the French woman he would receive them willingly and pay them well; but from their number he judged that they were only beggars and traitors, who sought to entrap him; but that, for all that, he would let them return to their party, on condition that they should bring him the French woman that very day, threatening them; if they failed, to show them whom they had to deal with."
The deputies immediately left the fort very ill pleased with the result of their mission, and having reported the answer given, the savages, furious at having missed their blow, turned all their rage on the French woman, whom they burnt on a frame in sight of the fort. After this fine exploit, instead of retiring, they dug a kind of intrenchment in the plain, and for- tified their position, hoping that, by lurking around the fort, they could cut off the supplies and force the garrison to sur- render. On his side, the Chevalier de St. Denys pretended to be afraid, and from time to time fired some cannon with blank cartridge to amuse them, while he sent to the great Naqui- toches chief to dispatch him forty of his bravest warriors. They reached the fort, and were brought in by night, and the commandant having armed them, sallied out at the head of his troop the next morning at daybreak, entered the Nat- chez entrenchment and fell upon them sword in hand. Many were killed; the rest, awakened by the noise, fled, but were pur- sued with muskets, and after killing about sixty of the savages, the commandant returned to his fort in triumph, without hav- ing had a single man wounded, giving the survivors liberty to return to their village and tell what reception they got at Naquitoches.
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CHAPTER XXXVI.
TROUBLE AT NEW ORLEANS .- THE COMMANDANT-GENERAL MARCHES AGAINST THE NATCHEZ.
WHILE these things were going on in the remote parts, the. capital itself was not tranquil. One day a woman, whose head was turned by the brandy she had been taking, came running into the city from the Bayou St. John with streaming hair, crying that the Indians had made a descent on the Bayou and massacred all the settlers there, and were actually pursuing her. This woman was joined by some others, about as wise, and the noise increasing, the alarm soon spread to all quarters. The muster was beat, all ran to arms, and assembled in the great square. Here they were formed into companies, and powder and ball delivered to each. The ladies meanwhile fled to the churches, or to the vessels moored before the town. The terror was general; all thought they were lost, without any- body's knowing on which side the enemy were. The com- mandant-general sent out a large scouting party to bring him correct information. This body at first advanced with great caution for fear of being surprised, but after a lapsc of two hours, it was found that it was all nothing, that this great trouble had no better foundation than two or three shots fired by some hunters in the woods.
Soon after this false alarm there was one much better founded, and which might have resulted seriously. For some time a secret plot had been brewing among the negro slaves. Excited underhand by the Indians, or perhaps wishing to imitate them and recover their liberty, they had formed the design of making away with their masters and butchering the garrison. The plan was bold, and they alone never could
LOUROTELT
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have succeeded, but who knows whether the Indians would not have lent a hand ? Be that as it may, they had already concerted the manner of executing their guilty project, and the plot was ready to be put in action, when a negress, belonging to a surgeon named Brosset, told her master, and discovered all about it. He prudently questioned her, learned the names of the chiefs in the conspiracy, and the manner in which they were to act. Their plan was for each first to kill his master at night as he was going to bed : then being masters of all the keys, they would soon have guns, powder and lead, which would enable them to get rid of the troops on guard without difficulty. After committing to writing all he could get from the negress, the surgeon communicated it to the commandant- general, who, on this information, immediately arrested the leaders in the conspiracy, with some negresses also denounced. They were put in dungeons, and separately examined ; and, on the avowal which they made of their dark design, were all con- demned, some to be broken on the wheel, others to be hung as examples for the rest.
Yet after this execution the commandant-general saw that it was not enough to have extinguished this first fire by the death of the most guilty, unless the probable consequences were also prevented; and as he could not discover whether the negroes had been excited by the Indians or not, he resolved to embroil them with each other to prevent all danger on that side. With this view he ordered most of the negroes before him, told them that they were all traitors, and that he was going to hang them all, as he had learned that they were in league with the Indians to exterminate the French. On this they protested innocence, cried for mercy, and offered, if permitted, to march themselves against the Indians and destroy them. The general having thus gained his end, armed them with
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hatchets, bayonets and knives, and let them attack a little tribe called the Chouachas, ordering them to kill only the men and to spare the women and children. His orders were ful- filled, the negroes attacked the village, killed seven or eight men whom they found there, the rest being at the chase. This single expedition rendered the Indians mortal enemies of the negroes.
At this moment there arrived at the capital a royal vessel com- manded by the Sr. Perier de Salverte,* brother of the command- ant-general, with a body of marines sent by the court on hear- ing of the disaster at Natchez. Sieur Perier thought he should profit by this reinforcement to march against the Indians. Of these marines, the company's troops and the colonial militia, he formed a little army, and, embarking in bateaux and partly in piraguas, he ascended the Naquitoches (Red) River, and turned up Black River, on which the Natchez lay.t
They were, however, ignorant of the exact position of their fort, and in this dilemma two soldiers, who had landed to seek some plants fit to eat, fortunately took an Indian boy fishing in a lake. He was taken to the general, who received him kindly, caressed him, gave him food and promised him his life if he showed the way to his village. The boy agreed, and the army marched on guided by the boy, and after a quarter of a league discovered the enemy's fort and village. Favored by the woods and silence they advanced as near the fort as possible, till they reached the open plain, then the troops advanced on the fort with drums beating and flags flying. The Indians, amazed to see the French thus pursue them in their
. Perier de Salverte arrived at the Balize on the 10th of August, 1730, with three companies of marines of sixty men each .- Martin.
t He ascended Red River, went into Black River, and from that into a stream called Silver River, and from Silver River, (now called Washita,) into a small lake which is at a short distance from Trinity, in the parish of Catahoula.
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retreat, shut themselves up, with their wives and children, re- solved to defend themselves to the last. They were summoned to surrender ; quarter and life were promised ; but as they were deaf to this, some pieces of artillery were landed, with a wooden mortar, and a trench was opened. The Indians held out courageously ; several of the French were wounded. But at last, on the third day, the enemy, driven either by thirst or by the fear which the mortar had inspired, struck their flag and asked to surrender. This was deferred till morning, as night was coming on. It was a dark one, accompanied by a slight rain and a dense mist, which enabled most of the Indians to escape .* The next morning they took about two hundred, more women than men, who were bound and sent to the boats; the troops then sacked and fired the fort, and embarking returned to the capital. On their arrival, the prisoners were confined, supported for some time, then shipped to Cape François in St. Domingo, where they were sold as slaves for the benefit of the company.
* The number of the Natchez that escaped the grasp of Perier at this time, has been put down by some writers at three hundred warriors. The nation now became scattered over the country, but was not conquered. Many of them found an asylum among the Washitas, Chickasaws and other tribes hostile to the French. They lost their nationality and their country, but the city of Natchez is their monument standing upon the field of their glory. In refinement and intelligence, they were equal, if not superior, to any other tribe on our continent. Their form was noble and commanding, and their countenance indicated more intelligence than is commonly found among savages. They believed in the immortality of the soul, and a state of rewards and punishments. Their tradi- tions state that they came from Mexico ; and it may be inferred from their sin- gular usages, that they were a branch of the Toltecan family. The obvious analogies between the Natchez and the Toltecans consist in the worship of the sun ; the practice of human sacrifices ; hereditary distinctions, and fixed institu- tions. Their singular custom of distorting the head by compression corresponds with the description of the Mexicans by Bernal Diaz. A custom, too, that was kept up by the Peruvians long after their subjugation by Pizarro.
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CHAPTER XXXVII.
ARRIVAL OF A NEW COMMANDANT AT THE CAPITAL .- NEW PREPARA- TIONS FOR WAR.
As soon as information reached France that war had broken out in Louisiana between the French and Indians, prompt relief was thought of. In 1730 the Western Company represented to the king the great loss just sustained at Natchez, and returned into his hands the privilege they had received for the colony. The country thus returned to his majesty's domain, and he, anxious for the restoration of peace, thought he could not do better than send out as commandant-general the Sieur Bien- ville,* the first who governed it under the company, as one
* Governor Bienville came to Louisiana with his brother Iberville, as a mid- shipman, in 1698 ; and four years after, on the death of Sauvole, he succeeded to the chief command of the province ; which he exercised with little interrup- tion until he was recalled in 1726, when he was succeeded by M. Perier.
" On his arrival in France he laid his defence before the French government. He stated that he had served his king thirty-four years, the greater part of which he had acted as governor of Louisiana. That as an officer of the navy he had served seven years, and had been present at all the sea-fights in Canada, with his brother Iberville. He had jointly with his brother Iberville discovered the mouth of the Mississippi, and established a colony in Louisiana.
" That seven of his brothers had died naval officers ; that three still remained in the navy, and that his father had died in the service of his country.
" He then reviewed his administration and the difficulties he had to contend with, which excited the jealousy and hostility of his adversaries ; and he labored to prove that all his acts had been in conformity with the laws and with the instructions of the king. Notwithstanding his able defence, he was removed, and the success of his enemies was so complete that they also caused his brother " Chateaugue," who was lieutenant-governor in the colony, to be removed ; and the two Noyans. his nephews, to be broken. The object of these measures was to gratify their malice, and to destroy his future influence in the colony.
"In 1734, Bienville was re-appointed by the king governor of Louisiana, in the place of Perier, who was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-general, as a re- ward for his services in the colony. The surrender of the western company's charter, and the return of Bienville gladdened the hearts of the colony, and gave high hopes of approaching tranquillity and permanent prosperity.
" In 1735-'36, he organized an expedition to march against the Chickasaws,
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best able to reduce the Indian foes. The new commandant reached New-Orleans in 1734, and the Sieur Perier resigning the government into his hands, immediately embarked for Europe.
Some months after Bienville's arrival, the Natchez, fearing lest the French should come and attack them again, resolved to abandon entirely the country on the banks of the St. Louis (Mississippi). They accordingly abandoned their new posts on the Black River, and retired further up to a numerous tribe called the Chickasaws, more friendly to the English than the French ; here they were received as brothers, and grounds given them to settle on. The new commandant, informed of this transmigration, believed that if he demanded of these Indians the enemies of the French, they would at once sur- render them; but he was mistaken, for, when the demand was made, the Chickasaws replied, " that they and the Natchez now formed one nation, and that they consequently could not give them up." Piqued at this reply, the general resolved to go after them, and immediately began preparations for this expedition, which occupied him for two years.
Meanwhile, he sent to Illinois five boats, one loaded with powder, the rest with goods, commanded by Captain Leblanc, to whom the general confided his orders for the commandant
which was followed by another, which terminated forever his military operations in Louisiana. He was succeeded by the Marquis de Vandreuil, and on the 10th of May, 1743, he returned to France. When he left Louisiana he had reached the age of sixty-five, and he carried away with him the regrets and the esteem of all the colonists, who styled him, " the father of the country." He died in 1767.
" Among the other most conspicuous names in the history of Louisiana, is that of Dartaguette, which disappears at the same time when Bienville retires from the colony. The royal commissary of that name, who came to Louisiana in 1708, and who filled in it several high offices until 1742, left behind him a long memory, which made his virtues, his talents and his deeds, familiar to succeeding generations. The fate of his younger brother, who fell into the hands of the Chickasaws in 1736, and was burned at the stake, has been pathetically told by Dumont."-Gayarre.
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of that post. His convoy was attacked on the way by a party of Indians, but no one was killed, and having safely arrived at Arkansas, the commander, for some reason I cannot conceive, landed the powder there, and proceeded to Illinois, which he reached in safety ; he then dispatched a boat for the powder left at Arkansas, but this boat on its way back was attacked and taken, with all the powder, by the Indians, who killed all . on board except the commander, Lieutenant du Tisinet, and Rosilie, a natural son of the Sieur de la Loire, of whom we have already had occasion to speak. These two were taken alive and made slaves.
Meanwhile, Captain Leblanc having reached Illinois, pre- sented the orders of the commandant-general to the Sieur Dar- taguette, the commander of the post, brother of the late Sieur Dartaguette, ex-director of the company, and comptroller of the household of his highness the Duke of Orleans. The orders of the commandant-general required him to be in the Chickasaw country by the tenth of May next, at the latest, with all the Illinois Indians, French troops and settlers he could muster, to join the army which he would lead in person against that nation.
At last, all preparations being made for this expedition, the commandant-general sailed early in 1736 for Fort Mobile, where he had invited the great Choctaw chief to meet him. There he unfolded to that Indian his design of making war on the Chickasaws for harboring his enemies, and induced him to join in the enterprise for a certain quantity of goods, part of which were delivered on the spot. After this he returned to New-Orleans, assembled his army, composed of French troops, some companies of militia and negro slaves, and embarked in boats and piraguas for Fort Mobile, the rendezvous of the troops, with necessary provisions and ammunition.
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CHAPTER XXXVIII.
FIRST EXPEDITION AGAINST THE CHICKASAWS .- ATTACK OF ONE OF THEIR FORTS.
ON the tenth of March in that same year, 1736, the whole army assembled at Mobile, and rested till Easter-day, the first of April, when it set out on their expedition. So considerable a force had never yet been seen on that river ; it was com- posed of more than thirty piraguas and as many bateaux, which ascended in a line by force of oars. About eight o'clock in the morning they stopped to breakfast, and about half-past eleven for dinner, and towards evening the boat that led the way chose a proper place to cabin or pitch their tents. The army then landed ; sentinels were posted in the woods to prevent surprise, others at the landing, before the general's tent, and thus they passed the nights.
In this way the army, by the 20th of April, reached a place* called Tombecbé, (Tombigby,) to which Bienville had sent a companyt of soldiers nine months before to build a fort and cabins, intending this as a resting-place for the army. On the way no accident happened but the upsetting of a piragua, woich caught in the branch of a floating tree. Two men were drowned.
Arriving at Tombecbe, the fort not being finished, and only some palisade and rustic cabins made, the army encamped in a beautiful plain, and immediately began to make earthen ovens and bake bread. Meanwhile, the Choctaws, having learned the
* This place, which is now called Jones's Bluff, is situated on the Little Tom- bigby, in Alabama.
t This company was commanded by the brave De Lusser, who afterwards fell in the attack on the Chickasaws near the village of Ackia.
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general's arrival at that post, came to present him the calumet ; they were very well received ; the rest of the promised goods delivered as their pay for serving the French as auxiliaries in the expedition, and they prepared to accompany the army. Continual rains with frost kept us at this post till the fourth of May, when we set out ; but a council of war was first held on four soldiers found in irons on our arrival. They were a Frenchman, two Swiss and a sergeant, accused of having attempted to kill the commander and storekeeper, and then to carry off the Sieur du Tisinet and Rosilie, who had escaped from the Indians, with the intention of restoring them to the Chickasaws, joining those Indians, fighting for them, and then going over to the English. They were tried, convicted, and condemned to be shot at the head of the troops.
On the fourth of May the army re-embarked, and proceed- ing again up the river, reached a fort called Tibia. All the way it had been forbidden to fire, in order to conceal from the enemy the march of our troops; but one of our Choctaws, see- ing a deer in range, fired and killed it, for an Indian has no idea of orders. The report threw the whole army into con- sternation, all ran to arms, and quiet was not restored till all was explained. At last, on the twenty-fourth of the month, they reached the place of disembarkation; the troops landed, threw up tents, and began to erect a large palisade fort, with a kind of shed to protect the goods which they had brought. The army spent the night here.
The next day, powder and balls were delivered to the troops, and leaving in the fort the sick, with some less experi- enced soldiers to guard the post, the army marched on, guided by a Frenchman, who knew the country quite well, having often visited it as a trader. They had seven leagues to march to reach the first Chickasaw village, and actually marched five
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and a half the first day in two columns in Indian file through the woods in silence, with the Choctaws on our flanks, to the number of about twelve hundred, commanded by their head chief. In the evening we halted in a plain surrounded by woods, where each supped on biscuit and pork, and slept in the open air. The general detached two men to reconnoitre, who returned at one o'clock in the morning, saying that they had been discovered by four Indians, but had not fired, as they had had no orders. Whether true or not, no semblance of credit was given their report; and the next morning very early the army was put in motion, and crossing a ravine, with water breast high, and a little wood, they entered a beautiful plain, at the end of which, about a quarter of a league distant, an Indian village was perceived, with a fort on a hill and cabins around it, with others apparently fortified at some distance be- low, and a little stream at the foot of the hill. As soon as our Choctaws perceived the enemy's fort they raised their usual yells and cries, and ran that way to try and shoot down some of the enemy.
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