USA > Louisiana > Historical memoirs of Louisiana, from the first settlement of the colony to the departure of Governor O'Reilly in 1770; > Part 9
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. As for the army, after forming in a square battalion, it ad- vanced in good order, our soldiers, like Gideon's of old, gathering, as they crossed the prairie, bunches of strawberries, which our common mother lavished in abundance on all who came to pluck them.
In this order we approached and passed a little wood, leaving the enemy's fort on our left; and having halted, the general called the majors of the regulars and militia, and ordered them to form a strong detachment to carry the fort. A body of at least twelve hundred men was now detached, composed of, first a corps of grenadiers, then one of regulars, and then one of militia. Meanwhile, four or five Englishmen were espied on the height, doubtless among the tribe as traders, and
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the Indians even hoisted the English flag over their fort. The army again advanced by battalions ten deep, amid occa- sional shouts of "Vive le Roi." It was apparently intended to take the fort by a coup de main, as they had neither spades nor pickaxes. They reached the foot of the hill, and erossing the stream which skirted it, began to ascend the slope, during which one soldier was killed. And the lieutenant of our grenadiers, who was about a pistol-shot ahead of his company, in his ardor to reach the fort, entered a cabin, where he found three Indians, one of whom he killed, but the others escaped to the fort.
As soon as the troops had gained the top of the hill, they began by setting fire to some cabins on the wings, from which the enemy might have annoyed us; but avoiding one incon- venience we fell into another, for the smoke almost stifled us as long as they were burning. Some mattresses had been brought to shield the commandants, but they were of little service. The colonial militia, which were in the rear of the company's troops, wheeled right and left, intending to invest the fort, but the Sieur de Jusan, aide-major, checked the movement and sent the troops back to their post, intending for his own corps the glory of carrying the place, which now began a vigorous defence. Several militia men were already disabled, and the grenadiers in attempting to advance had one of their sergeants killed, the other wounded, as was also Cap- tain Renaud d'Hauterive, who was carried to the camp, whence the general was observing the result of the attack. It could not be more disadvantageous for our troops, who did not lack courage, but were obliged to fight without any shelter with an enemy whom they could not draw out, but who poured out a shower of balls from the fort which covered and protected them. This fort was, in fact, surrounded by a
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palisade more than a fathom thick, the intervals being closed by smaller piles, so arranged as to leave loop-holes through which they could fire without exposing themselves. It was besides covered with heavy oak planks, loaded also with earth, so that grenades were of no service. Meanwhile, Captain Lusser, Aide-Major de Jusan and Major-General de Noyan" had been wounded and carried back to the reserve, with the Sieur de Grondel, Lieutenant of the Swiss. Our troops had now spent their powder and ball in firing against the palisade, with- out having been able to make the slightest breach, when the general, perceiving the failure of the operation, ordered a re- treat, and sent a second detachment to cover it. This attack lasted from half-past one till five in the afternoon, and cost us thirty-two regulars and militia killed, and at least sixty wounded. The troops rejoined the rest of the army, leaving the dead on the field of battle, for they had been unable to carry them off.
In spite of the hardships of that hard day's work, the troops had scarcely had time to take a hurried meal, when they had to think of intrenching the camp and surrounding it with palisades, to be secure against a sudden attack of the enemy. They began accordingly by felling trees, and having with them blocked up every avenue of approach, passed the night as best as they could. While this was doing, a party arrived from another village, as they said, to present the calumet to the general, and a letter ; but Bienville, provoked by the
* The brave De Noyan was the nephew of Bienville. Grondel was a Swiss officer of distinction, who came to Louisiana in 1731. He made himself con- spicuous by his duels, his gallantries and his sociability of manners. He was em- ployed in several military expeditions and diplomatic negotiations with the Indians, in which he acquitted himself with credit. In 1753 he was rewarded for his services by the decoration of the Cross of St. Louis. He returned to France, was promoted to the rank of general, and lived long enough to see Louisiana become one of the United States of America.
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reverse of the day, refused to receive them, and even ordered our Indians to attack them; they did so, and killed four.
The enemy were not more idle than we that night; they de- stroyed some cabins not yet destroyed, which had been our intrenchments in attacking the fort, and uncovered the fort, lest we should set it on fire with our fireworks, such as we had used in destroying some of their cabins. Then, in a manner worthy of savages, finding on the field the bodies we had been forced to leave, they cruelly quartered them and exposed them on the palisades. This barbarous spectacle which met our eyes at daybreak filled our troops with rage and fury. They would have rushed on the enemy to avenge it or die, but the general withheld them.
The attack on the fort had taken place on the 26th of May ; the next day saw some skirmishes between the enemy and our Choctaws. Two of the latter were perceived at the foot of the hill where the fort stood, by a Chickasaw, who fired and laid one prostrate; the other fled. The Chickasaw, believing that he had killed his man, ran up to scalp him, but when he had got about ten steps from him the Choctaw sprang to his feet, gave his death-cry, cut him down, and performed on him the operation intended for himself; then, taking his gun and valu- ables, returned to his party in triumph.
At the same time a free negro named Simon, a captain in the black company attached to the army, distinguished himself by a singularly bold feat performed before the whole army. He started at a run on foot to the height on which the fort lay, and though the Indians sallied out, and balls were raining around him, he held on, and reaching a troop of horses at pasture, picked out a fine mare, sprang on her back, and rode back to the camp unscathed.
The same day, about eleven o'clock in the morning, a rumor
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was spread that D'Artaguette, commandant of the Illinois, was approaching, and some even thought they could descry his banners, but on examination the report was found to be unfounded .* They now thought only of retiring; the most severely wounded were put on litters; those slightly wounded were ordered to follow, and, the army being put in motion, they went and slept about a league from the enemy. During this march a party of our Choctaws ambushed in a little wood in our rear, fell on nine hostile Indians, who had come to scalp and search the dead, and killed them all.
The next day the army resumed its march, and bivouacked about a league from the landing-place, which they reached early next morning. There, while our troops were at their " meal, we were on the point of quarreling with our Choctaws, who, excited by Redshoe, were almost on the point of attack- ing us, when their great chief appeased them. He was so enraged that he would have blown out Redshoe's brains had he not been prevented by Bienville, who was establishing peace, after ordering his army to embark and proceed to Tibia, as it did. Meanwhile, he delivered to the Choctaws goods, powder and ball, and sent them off satisfied; after which, he joined the army again in a most critical moment; for, had they remained there twenty-four hours more, they would either have perished by famine in an enemy's country,
* It is not easy to justify Bienville's conduct in this expedition. The war was rashly brought and rashly conducted. He entered the enemy's country without any means of siege, made one attack on a fort, and then, without attempting by scouts to open a communication with D'Artaguette, whom he had ordered to meet him in the Chickasaw country on the tenth of May, or making any attempt to give him proper orders, without even taking one Chickasaw prisoner to get any information of Dartaguette's proceedings, he retreated, and ended the campaign disastrously. It is more than probable that if the forces of Bienville, D'Arta- guette, Montcherval and Grandpré, had united and attacked the Chickasaws at the same time, the result would have been favorable to the arms of France.
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or been compelled to return by land, as the water had dimin- ished greatly. In fact, Mobile River, which, after the winter rains, is a beautiful stream in spring, is a mere brook in sum- mer, especially at the part where we were, that is, not more than twelve leagues from its source, and about two hundred from the capital, which we reached however safely.
Some time after, a sergeant of the Illinois garrison reached us. He had been made a prisoner and slave by the Chicka- saws, but had so gained the good-will of his master, that he not only gave him his liberty and provisions, but had even shown him the road to take across the woods to Mobile. This sergeant stated, that "in obedience to the orders of the Com- mandant-General, D'Artaguette, commandant at Illinois, reach- ed the Chickasaws on the ninth of May, with fifteen hundred men, and encamped in sight of the enemy till the twentieth, without hearing anything of the general's arrival .* Meanwhile, the Indians in his army murmured, and wished either to return or to attack; he chose the latter, attacked the enemy, and forced them to abandon their village and fort; then attacked a second village with like success; but while pursuing the routed foe, he received two wounds. When his Indians knew this, they abandoned him. A Jesuit (Father Senat) and forty-eight soldiers remained (with Vincennes) true to him. These soldiers gathered around their commander to defend him and repulse the enemy, who attacked however so vigor- ously, that D'Artaguettet and his party were at last forced to
. It is stated by Gayarre that D'Artaguette received a letter from Bienville, in which he informed him that unexpected obstacles would prevent him from reach- ing the Chickasaws before the end of April, and that he must take measures accordingly. He thereupon held a council of war, and determined to attack the Chickasaws.
t This officer was the youngest brother of Diron D'Artaguette, who had long held office in the colony. He served with distinction in the Natchez war, and was rewarded for his bravery by promotion to the command of Fort Chartres. In
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surrender. Instead of ill treating them, the enemy conducted them to their village, and kept them as prisoners, hoping by sur- rendering them to obtain peace from the French, if they came to attack them; but when they learned that our troops had retreated from their territory,* they led them out to a plain, and tying them by fours to stakes, burnt them all with a slow fire, except himself, whom they spared on account of his master's affection for him.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
NEW EXPEDITION AGAINST THE CHICKASAWS .- PEACE MADE WITH THE INDIANS. .
MEANWHILE, the commandant thought of avenging this defeat and the deaths of the brave men who fell in the last expedition. With this view he prepared to march against the enemy again, not by the Mobile River, as before, but by the St. Louis (Mississippi), to escape the disadvantages of the other. As, however, he did not deem his forces sufficient for the enterprise, he wrote to France, and orders were sent to
compliance with the orders of Bienville he set out for the Chickasaw country with a large force of Indians, but being warned by the fate of Leseur, he slackened his march, and arrived at the place of rendezvous only on the eve of the very day that was appointed. He encamped in sight of the enemy, and Bienville not arriving in time, his Indian allies compelled him to attack the enemy, which resulted in his defeat and cruel death. The brave Vincennes also refused to fly, and he too, with Father Senat, perished at the stake.
* " The Chickasaws," says Pickett, "have never been conquered. They could not be defeated by De Soto with his Spanish army, in 1541 ; by Bienville with bis French troops and Indian allies, in 1736 and 1740; by Vaudreuil and his army, in 1752; nor by the Creeks, Cherokees, Shawnees and Choctaws, who had continually waged war against them at different times." Thus ended in a complete failure the expedition of Bienville, which brought a cloud of censure upon his military fame.
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Beauharnais,* Governor of Quebec and Canada, to assist him. The court at the same time sent out three royal vessels, com manded by the Chevalier de Kerlerec, and which brought a body of marines under the Chevalier de Noailles. While these vessels were on their way, the commandant-general wishing to have, as before, an intermediate station for his troops, sent off a large detachment to St. Francis River, to build a fort, and one was soon erected and put in a state of defence.
The royal squadron arrived before New Orleans in the month of May, 1739, and soon after the commandant-general sent to Fort St. Francis the first convoy under the Sr. de Noyan. He himself proceeded to that post towards the close of June, and the whole army assembled. It was composed of marines, troops from the capital, militia and negroes, and some neigh- boring Indians. The whole embarked, leaving a small detach- ment to garrison the fort, and proceeded to a little river called Margot,t where the general thought proper to land. This point was indeed twelve or fifteen leagues from the enemy, but there was here no danger of a fall in the water, which would compel a land-march. The army encamped at the foot of a hill in a very pretty plain, and as soon as all were settled the general proceeded to fortify his position. The troops were immediately employed in felling trees and raising palisades, so that they had soon erected a large and spacious fort, with a house for the commandant, barracks for the soldiers, store- houses and a bakery. It was called "Fort Assumption," because the army landed on that day. At the same time they began to clear the roads, make sleds and carts, to carry not only cannon, but the ammunition and supplies necessary for a siege.
* The father of the first husband of the Empress Josephine.
t This is now called Wolf River; and Fort Assumption was built on a bluff near the present city of Memphis.
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At this post the army was joined by the reinforcements ex- pected from the upper provinces. First, there arrived the Sieur de la Buissonière,* commandant of the Illinois, at the head of his garrison, and such Indians as he could gather of various tribes; he brought horses and many head of cattle. After him, came Captain de Celeron and Lieutenant de St. Laurent, followed by thirty cadets, sent by the Governor of Quebec, with a great number of Canada Indians, Iroquois, Hurons, Nipissings, Algonquins, &c.
These united troops made up a formidable army, t such as had never yet been seen in the country, both in numbers and in the variety of the nations composing it; all assembled to avenge the French on their enemies, the Natchez and Chickasaws. The troops remained encamped here without undertaking anything, from August, in that year, till March, 1740. Pro- visions were at first abundant, but at last became so scarce that they had to eat their horses, and sickness breaking out in the camp, carried off great numbers. In these circumstances, the general seeing himself reduced to the sad necessity of being able to use only his auxiliary troops, as his own were sick, and considering that, perhaps, these very Indians, then our allies, would one day reproach the French with having prevented their crushing the enemy, he resolved to use mildness, and prefer peace to war. In consequence of this resolution, to- wards the middle of March, he dispatched the Sieur de Cele- ron, with his thirty cadets and his Indian troops, to the Chick- asaws, with orders, in case they came to ask peace, to grant it in his name. What the general had anticipated took place. As soon as Celeron came in sight of the Chickasaw fort,
* La Buissonière had succeeded the unfortunate Chevalier d'Artaguette to the command of Fort Chartres.
t The army of Bienville numbered about twelve hundred white troops, and double that number of Indian and black troops .- Martin.
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the enemy, believing him followed by the whole army, gave up all hope and struck their flag; and, though a dangerous expedient, came to him to ask peace, and beg him to intercede with the general for them, protesting that they were friends of the French, alleging, in proof, that they had in their village two English but no French slaves. They, at the same time, offered to receive into their village such person as he chose to send, to witness with his own eyes the truth of what they said. Lieutenant de St. Laurent undertook this, and set out with a little slave of his, but soon repented committing himself some- what too lightly to the good faith of a nation of which they were not sure. Scarcely were they in the fort than all the Indian girls and women were clamorous for their heads; and they were actually conducted to a strong cabin and locked up there for an hour, while the chiefs and leading men were deliberating whether they should or should not make away with the Frenchman. They at last resolved to spare him, to obtain peace by his means; they then left the council, put on their ceremonial dress, and came dancing and singing, to pre- sent the calumet to the lieutenant, making him smoke and giving him presents, swearing that henceforward they would regard all Frenchmen as brothers. The Sieur de St. Laurent, charmed at the result, promised the same, on behalf of his countrymen, and they left the fort together to go and present the calumet to the Sieur de Celeron, who accepted it, and promised peace.
After remaining three or four days with these Indians, the captain set out for the army, with a considerable deputation of Chickasaws, who, on their arrival at the camp, cast themselves at the feet of the general and begged peace. They delivered into his hands their two English slaves, and swore to regard the French thenceforward as brethren. Thus were pacified
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the troubles with the Chickasaws in the month of April, 1740 .* The general then dismissed his auxiliary troops, after thank -: ing them, by presents in goods. Fort Assumption, now use- less, was razed, and the army re-embarked to return to the capital, which it reached in safety after an absence of more than ten months, destroying on their way back Fort St. Francis, row equally useless.
Thus peace seems to have restored calm in the province, so that now they can continue forming new settlements on its lands, which are, as we have seen, of the finest quality. Yet, it must be admitted, that if the Chickasaws have thus far kept their word, the Natchez have still continued to be trouble- some. They had retired from among those allies, who had re- ceived them so well, and roamed about the country without having any fixed abode. In June, two months after the conclu- sion of the peace, a boat, going from New-Orleans to Illinois, was attacked by them when almost at its destination, all on board killed, its cargo carried off, and the boat itself broken to pieces. In the boat was a girl of fifteen or sixteen, on her way from the Ursuline Convent at New Orleans, where she had been a boarder, to the Illinois post, where she had a sister married to the storekeeper. This young girl had the good fortune to escape from the Indians and to reach her sister, traveling through the woods and living only on wild herbs.
* This campaign closed the military career of Bienville in Louisiana ; and to crown the misfortunes of two disastrous campaigns against the Chickasaws, he was succeeded in the government of Louisiana by the Marquis de Vaudreuil, In 1741, Bienville returned to France, where he died at an advanced age. His martial but benignant countenance has been preserved in a well . executed portrait, which now adorns the family mansion of Baron Grant, of Longueil, Canada. The State of Louisiana should possess a copy of it.
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. CHAPTER XL.
NEGRO SLAVES.
Ir would be wrong to suppose the negroes I have so often mentioned to be natives of Louisiana. They are blacks, from the coast of Guinea, sent into the province by the company, and' distributed to the colonists at a thousand livres a-piece, payable in three years in colonial produce .* When a slave vessel arrived it was visited by surgeons, who separated the healthy from the sick, and put the latter under treatment. The former were then divided in this way: Such settlers as were named to have negroes went to the commissary-ordinator, and drew from a bag a ticket, whose number denoted the negro or negress that fell to them, each negro having a number around his neck. As for the sick, they were sold at auction, and as there were always settlers who could not get healthy ones, the biddings ran so high that the sick brought as much as the others.
These negroes are fed in their masters' houses, with rice, maize, or other food of the country. Some of these slaves can really rejoice at having fallen into good hands; but there are many, too, who suffer. They are sent to work at daybreak, either in the fields, or at something else; in the course of the
* In 1712 there were but twenty negroes in the colony, and, although Crozat's charter conferred the privilege of introducing them, it does not appear that he availed himself of it to any extent. The first large importation was made under the auspices of the Western Company in June, 1719 ; and during the existence of the company and or several years afterwards, their agents continued to sup- ply the demand at the rate of three to five hundred annually. The common [rice for a good negro man was about one hundred and fifty dollars ; and for a woman, about one hundred and twenty dollars .- Historical Collections of Louisi- ana, vol. iii., p. 64.
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morning they have half an hour for breakfast, and at half-past eleven they go to the house to get their dinner, and then work again from two till sunset, when they come home again, and then, sometimes, must break rice or Indian corn to make bread. Those who have many negro slaves, and are consequently looked upon as lords in the country, do not take the trouble to lead them to work themselves; for this purpose they hire a Frenchman, who manages and watches them. Sometimes a confidential negro holds, and he then carries a whip as a mark of distinction. The negresses go to work like the negroes; and when nursing children, carry them on their backs, and follow the rest.
Most of the slaves clear grounds and cultivate them on their own account, raising cotton, tobacco, &c., which they sell. Some give their negroes Saturday and Sunday to themselves, and during that time the master does not give them any food ; they then work for other Frenchmen who have no slaves, and who pay them. Those who live in or near the capital general- ly turn their two hours at noon to account by making faggots to sell in the city ; others sell ashes, or fruits that are in season. Some of these negroes have behaved so well as to gain their freedom, and have begun plantations in imitation of the French.
When a negro maroons, that is, runs away, he is flogged when taken. The punishment is inflicted in this way : he is laid flat on his face on the ground, his two legs kept together, and his arms extended and tied to two stakes so that he forms a letter Y. In this state he receives a hundred or sometimes two hundred blows of a carter's whip. While this is going on, a lighted brand must be kept ready to apply to his face when he does not cry ; for it often happens that in their rage at the punishment, negrocs have choked themselves by thrust-
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ing their tongue over their palate and actually sucking it in. When their skin is thus in shreds, it is rubbed with a sponge dipped in pepper and vinegar. At Cape St. Francis in St. Domingo, they use lemon juice and pimento. This is a pain- ful application, but a sovereign balm, for it cures their wounds in twenty-four hours. After this punishment they are put in irons and kept fasting until they promise to behave better. When a negro commits any crime punishable by death, he is punished in the usual way and his master loses him, but he does not bear the whole loss, the other inhabitants being obliged to contribute with him to make up the price of the negro .*
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