USA > Louisiana > Louisiana : its history as a French colony. Third series of lectures > Part 3
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38
EXTENT OF THE NEW ORLEANS DISTRICT.
whether, from the observation of past events and its deductions, any practical lesson has ever been derived for the benefit of mankind.
On the 11th of May, in the year 1747, the Marquis of Vaudreuil, to put an end to the doubts which had arisen as to the precise extent of the New Orleans district, decreed that it began at the mouth of the Mississippi, including both banks up to the German Settlement exclusively, above New Orleans, and that it embraced also Bayou St. John, and that part of the country, back of the town, which was originally called Chantilly, from the princely seat of the Condés in France; but which, in our days, is known under the appellation of Gentilly, into which Chantilly has been gradually corrupted.
The fear of being attacked by the English still haunted the Marquis of Vaudreuil, and in a despatch of the 15th of May, he communicated to his govern- ment the precautionary measures of defence which he had taken. There being but seven or eight feet water over the Balize bar, which was rapidly filling up, he removed the guns from the fort which defended this mouth of the Mississippi, and withdrew two thirds of the garrison, leaving but one eight-pounder- and two four-pounders, with a detachment of fifteen soldiers and one pilot, to fire signal guns when necessary, for the benefit of the French ships. The officer who had the command of this detachment was instructed to be on the look-out, and to abandon his post and run up to New Orleans with his men, whenever he should descry together several ships of the enemy. De Vaudreuil considered that the East Pass was the one through which the English were likely to come, as it was seventeen feet deep, and the French ship, the Camel, had lately got over the bar with the greatest facility.
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39
CIVIL WAR AMONG THE CHOCTAWS.
" I send," wrote De Vaudreuil, "two plans and estimates for two forts, one of which is to be at the Plaquemine Turn, a situation which Lenormant still continues to extol. In addition to the reasons which I have already given against selecting that spot, I must say that the ground is only two feet and a half above the lowest water mark, and is covered with one foot water, when the river overflows. Moreover, it is probable that the ground is not sufficiently solid to bear up the works of fortification, and such is the opinion of the engineer, Devergès, whose knowledge is matured by long experience. At the English Turn, the ground is raised nine or ten feet above the lowest water mark, and can bear up the weight of any kind of work. It is urgent to determine, as soon as possible, on the choice of the site which is to be fortified."
Thus, the French government had the unpleasant prospect of additional expenses, to a large amount, to be incurred for the protection of Louisiana, when the current expenses of the colony, for 1747, had already, before the expiration of the year, exceeded those of the preceding ones, and had risen to 500,445 livres.
When the year 1748 dawned upon the colony, the apprehension of British invasion had not abated, and the insecurity of the colonists was made greater, by the feeling of enmity against the French, which had been gradually instilled into a considerable portion of the Choctaw nation. It will be recollected that, in 1746, Red Shoe had murdered the Chevalier de Verbois, and several traders, for which deed no satisfaction had as yet been given, in spite of the repeated demands and exertions of the Marquis of Vaudreuil. At the begin- ning of 1748, the animosity between the French and the English party among the Choctaws ran so high,
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OUTRAGES COMMITTED BY THE CHOCTAWS.
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that it broke into a civil war. The Choctaws of the English party were in the minority, and were there- fore called rebels. They divided into small bands to make excursions against the French, and they proved exceedingly troublesome. One of these bands attacked the German Settlement, above New Orleans, on the left bank of the river, killed a white man, wounded his wife, and made his daughter prisoner. They also carried away three black men and two black women. This attack spread such consternation, that most of the planters abandoned their houses, and came down to New Orleans with their negroes. To send them back, it was necessary to use threats, and to give them, as a guarantee of protection, a strong detachment of troops ' to escort them to their deserted homes. But, when
after a short stay, the detachment returned to New Orleans, rumors of danger began to be so rife again, that most of the planters, on the German Coast, who were on the left side of the river, crossed over to the right side, where they had to go through the laborious operation of clearing the ground of its timber and wild cane, whilst they had abandoned, through exag- gerated apprehensions, well cultivated lands, comfort- able dwellings, and a considerable number of cattle ; but their fear of the Indians had overcome all other considerations. Such was the alarm which prevailed, at that time, even in the very vicinity of New Orleans !
The Choctaw who, at the head of a small band, had attacked the German Settlement, was, on his return to his village, killed by his own brother and chief, who belonged to the French party ; and a brother of Red Shoe, who had been sent to Carolina to claim assistance from the English, was assailed at the Kaouitas and lost eight men. On the 14th of July, the Choctaws of the French party surprised a village
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RED SHOE KILLED.
of the English party and killed thirteen men, among whom were some distinguished chiefs. The Choctaws friendly to the English, being determined to have, their revenge, attacked in their turn, on the 16th of August, a village of the opposite faction. The fight was more obstinate than is generally the case in Indian warfare, and the losses were heavy on both sides, but the allies of the English were obliged to give way, and were hotly pursued a distance of nine miles. It was esti- mated that they left on the ground eighty men killed, and that their wounded, of whom several died sub- sequently, amounted at least to the same number. Several other battles, in which the French party always had the advantage, speedily followed; and the Choctaws, being made cooler and wiser by such copious and repeated bleedings, began to discover that they were annihilating their own nation for the ultimate benefit of the English and of the French, who were goading them on with mutual emulation and satisfaction. Their wise men held several councils, and it was at last determined to make away with Red Shoe, who was the chief obstacle to the restoration of peace. In consequence of this determination, this celebrated warrior was killed, as he was returning to his village with a convoy of English merchandise. This blow might have proved effective, if the goods and their English owners had also been destroyed with Red Shoe ; but such was not the case, and the English, availing themselves of the means they had on hand to bribe the Indians, gathered a goodly number of partisans, at the head of whom they placed a brother of Red Shoe, and succeeded in thus keeping up the civil war. The French establishments were again attacked, and some persons were killed. The English took advantage of the renewal of hostilities, to give more
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42
RENEWAL OF HOSTILITIES.
extension to their commerce. But Grand-Pré, who commanded at Tombecbee, having been informed that five English traders were preparing to depart from some of the Chickasaw villages, with sixty horses loaded with furs, posted himself in ambuscade with thirteen friendly Indians, and attacked the English, whom he defeated completely. One of them was killed, but the rest escaped, leaving all the horses of the convoy, with their rich loads, in the hands of Grand-Pré.
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. Whilst the French were obtaining these advantages on the Choctaw territory, they were exposed to great danger among the Illinois, who had been gained over by the English, and who had resolved to rise upon the French. Fortunately, the conspiracy was disco- vered in time ; and the Chevalier de Berthel, who com- manded in that district, acted with an energy which put a stop to the intended hostilities of the Indians. The Marquis of Vaudreuil, in transmitting to his government an account of all these disturbances among the Indians, said that they were to be attributed to the contempt which the red nations had conceived for the French, from seeing the smallness of their forces at their different settlements, and to the belief which had been impressed upon them by the English, that the King of France had no more ships to transport his warriors to Louisiana.
From this cause, or from another, the audacity of the Indians was daily on the increase. Some Frenchmen, who had gone in pursuit of game in the vicinity of New Orleans, were killed by some of those red marauders, and the Mobile settlement was thrown into such a state of alarm, that the Marquis of Vau- dreuil thought it requisite, to quiet those apprehen- sions by his presence, and paid a visit to that place.
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TIXERANT DISCOMFITED BY CHOCTAW HUNTERS.
Whilst at Mobile, he caused every house to be fortified with palisades, and stationed all the neighboring small nations on the avenues to the town, to guard it against surprise.
It was during the absence of Vaudreuil, that the sportsmen of whom I have spoken were murdered near New Orleans. Noyan, whom Vaudreuil had left in command during his absence, sent fifty men, one half of the line and the other half of the militia, to scour the country in search of the marauders. This detachment, commanded by Tixerant, met a party of Choctaw hunters, whom the French took to be the enemy they were looking after, and two men were sent to reconnoitre. But they were discovered by three Choctaws who were on the watch, and who uttered their customary shrieks, to give warning to the rest of their party. The two Frenchmen took immediately to their heels, and having joined their countrymen, communicated to them the panic with which they had been seized. The whole detachment retreated in haste, and did not think themselves safe, until they had put a bayou between them and what they supposed to be the enemy. Not satisfied with this natural protection, they set to work to fortify themselves. When the Indians saw the French retreat in a manner which resembled a flight, they, in the excitement of the moment, fired a few shots, which killed one soldier and wounded two. But the French and the Indians having come to a parley, the chief of the Indians apologized for what had taken place, and affirmed that the shots had been fired, not by his men, but by some runaway negroes whom he offered to deliver up to the French. Thus ended this affray ; but the Marquis of Vaudreuil, having heard of it, was highly incensed at the want of firmness exhibited by
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44 THE INDIANS ATTACK THE GERMAN COAST PLANTERS.
the French. He complained bitterly to his govern- ment of the conduct of Tixerant, their commander, whom he called a drunkard; and this officer was ignominiously dismissed from the army.
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At no time, since its foundation, had the colony been more harassed by the incursions of the Indians. Those attacks followed close on the heels of each other, and left little breathing time to the colonists. Thus, a short time after the happening of the events which I have related, a party of Indians made their appearance on the plantation of a man, called Cheval, at the German Coast, seized the arms of a number of Frenchmen and blacks who were working in the fields, and who, finding themselves destitute of all means of defence, fled to their boats and crossed the Missis- sippi, with the exception of two white men, named Bouchereau and Rousseau, who remained with two negroes, and who had the hardihood to attempt to drive the Indians out of a house which they were plundering. The two Frenchmen were soon killed, and the Indians sallied out to scalp them, but the two negroes fought so stoutly for the protection of the bodies of their masters, that they killed two Indians and drove the rest back into the house. The negroes clung to the battle-field, near the corpses, which, with ' touching fidelity, they were loath to abandon, until one of them was killed by a shot from the house, and the . . other had received several flesh wounds. It was only then that this brave man thought of retreat, and slowly moving towards the river, he plunged into the turbid stream. In spite of the loss of blood, he had swum more than half way across the Mississippi, when he was picked up by a boat.
The Indians, having no further resistance to over- come, issued out of their stronghold, and were going
BABY THE DANCING MASTER REPULSES THE INDIANS. 45
from one plantation to another in search of plunder, when they met a well known dancing master of New Orleans, named Baby. He was hyperbolically tall, thin, and sallow ; his sunken cheeks almost kissed each other under the arch of his curved nose, and his small twinkling grey eyes, under their shaggy and bushy brows, looked out with a melancholy expression, and squinted right and left, in an opposite direction to each other, as if they were both, each on its own account, anxiously in search of the lost substance belonging to the body of which they formed a part. The eccentri- cities of Baby's mind, as well as those of his physical organization, had made him famous in the colony, and the doleful mien with which he used to give his lessons, had gained him the appellation of the Don Quixote of dancing. Baby, when spied by the Indians, was mounted on a small creole donkey, as lean and uncouth as himself, and on which he held himself up, as majestically erect as if he stood ready to dance the court minuet ; his head was protected against the rays of the sun by a grey beaver as large as an umbrella; the heels of his long legs, armed with seven inch Mexican rowels, were almost sweeping the ground, so that it seemed as if both man and beast were walk- ing together, and it was doubtful which one carried the other, if carrying there was. The Indians, who are not prone to laughter, were, however, moved to it by this strange apparition, and resolved to take alive the quadruped and the biped. With eager competi- tion and with deafening shouts they rushed upon poor Baby, under the impression that he would be an easy prey, but they were soon undeceived. Baby had no other weapon than a hunting knife, but his long arm brandished it with so fearful a rapidity and action, his long and muscular legs gave such kicks, his elongated
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DEATH OF BABY-CLOSE OF THE YEAR 1748.
dagger-like spurs made such gashes, and his crane-like throat emitted such a variety of unearthly sounds, that the Indians shrank back in astonishment and affright, and Baby had time to take refuge, with his faithful donkey, in a house in which a young man, named Guil- laume, had barricaded himself, with ten or twelve black boys and girls whom he had gathered together, and who had been forgotten, when the white and black popula- tion had fled across the river. The house was strongly built, and Guillaume and Baby, although they had but one gun and little ammunition, defended themselves with such effect against the attacks of the Indians, that they drove them away, after having wounded one of them dangerously. But Baby received in the neck a mortal wound, of which he died, the next day, in the Charity Hospital of New Orleans, whither he had been transported.
De Vaudreuil, on being informed of this attack, sent immediately several detachments of regulars, militia, and friendly Indians, in all the directions which the retreating enemy was likely to take. The French met the Choctaws on the Bayou St. John, where a sharp encounter took place. All the booty, ammuni- tion, provisions, boats, and prisoners of the Indians fell into the possession of the French; and two only of these marauders, who dashed into the swamps and were lost sight of, could make their escape. " This is,". writes the Marquis of Vaudreuil, with some degree of contempt, " what has caused so much alarm! If the inhabitants of the German Settlement and those of New Orleans were to be believed, that troop of Indians was composed of two hundred of the most intrepid of the Choctaw warriors. But I have always thought that there were, at most, no more than from twelve to fifteen vagabonds, who, knowing the timidity
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47
. VIEWS OF THE GOVERNMENT ON COMMERCE.
of the Germans, had come to steal some of their negroes with the intention of selling them to the English."
The Marquis went on saying that a black woman, who had been made prisoner by these Indians, informed him that they were thirteen in number, as he had always presumed; and he complained of the want of energy showed by the. Chevalier D'Arensbourg, who commanded at the German Coast, and who, with a force of one hundred and twenty to one hundred and thirty men whom he had under his orders, could not act in time to check the depredations of a handful of Indians, or intercept their flight. Thus closed the year 1748. It proved a very unquiet and onerous one to the colony, the expenses of which amounted to 539,265 livres.
On the 2d of January, 1749, Maurepas, who was then at the head of the government in France, framed some instructions relative to the commerce of the colony, and addressed them to the Marquis of Vau- dreuil, and to Michel de la Rouvilliere, who had suc- ceeded Lenormant as Intendant Commissary. "I recommend you," wrote the minister, " to prevent, with great care, the carrying on between Louisiana and the English colonies of any contraband trade, which may enable the colonists, to the detriment of the King's interests, to sell their indigo to the English, and to receive in return other merchandise, negroes, or money: Let it be your special duty to prevent this, and it requires the more care and attention on your part, from the fact that English smugglers have for some time past found their way into the colony. I have even been informed that ships have been fitted out in Louisiana for Carolina. Should there be no end put to this state of things, the taste for this fraudulent
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VIEWS OF THE GOVERNMENT ON COMMERCE.
trade would strike deep roots in the colony. The will of the King is, that you should strictly prohibit all trading between Louisiana and the English. You must not, under any pretext, receive in the colony any of their ships, and those that attempt to penetrate into any of her ports must be confiscated. In a word, you must neither tolerate, nor allow to go on without punish- ment, any kind of trading with the English, and his majesty would admit of no excuse on your part. This applies also to trading with the Dutch."
It is evident that this system was not calculated to relieve the distresses and the necessities of the colony, nor to promote its commercial prosperity. In our days, and on the exuberantly fertile soil of Louisiana, teeming with every sort of produce, in her noble city of New Orleans, that Cybele of the western waters, rising in pride with her shining crescent of ships, if not with her tiara of towers, commerce is king, but a king who began with being the vericst of slaves. May, for the benefit of all nations, the shattered fetters for ever remain at the feet of the enfranchised sovereign, and may the trident of Neptune be for ever the sceptre of peace, extended throughout the world over the elements of discord !
If the government acted with short-sighted illiberality with regard to commerce, it seemed disposed to show more favor to the agricultural interest; and in order to give more extension to the production of wax from the Candleberry tree (Cyrca myrifica), it authorized the Marquis of Vaudreuil to purchase the whole crop of this kind of wax, for the account of the king, at the rate of ten to twelve livres a pound.
During the year 1749, no change happened for the better in the affairs of the colony, which continued to suffer greatly from the hostilities of the Indians. The
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ASCENDENCY OF THE FRENCH.
Marquis of Vaudreuil, in a despatch of the 22d of September, speaks of incessant attacks made by the several Indian nations throughout the extensive terri- tory of the colony, and describes the general alarm which existed from Natchez to New Orleans. "To destroy entirely the Indians," said he, " there could be nothing so effective as a force composed of the creoles of the country. They alone are able to scour the woods, and to make war after the fashion of these barbarians. But unfortunately there is not a sufficient . number of them."
The year 1750 brought some relief to the colony. The struggle which had continued so long among the Indians, between the partisans of the French and those of the English, seemed to be drawing to a close, and the ascendency of the French had prevailed. Of the thirty-two Choctaw villages then occupied by that nation, only two remained in the possession of the English party, and even in these two villages some of the warriors were wavering, and disposed to abandon their chiefs to make peace on their own account. The English party, however, showed a great deal of energy, and in the beginning of June, in a desperate fight in which they engaged, they lost one hundred and thirty scalps. This was a crushing blow ; and one still more effectual was struck, in September, by Grand-Pré, who, at the head of a party of the Choc- taws attached to the French, entirely subdued the English party, and forced them to sue for peace, which was granted to them on the following conditions :- Ist. That capital punishment should be inflicted on any Choctaw, be he a chief or a common warrior, who should kill a Frenchman; and that, if the friends or kinsmen of that chief or warrior should oppose the infliction of the penalty,. then that the whole nation
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TRANQUILLITY RE-ESTABLISHED.
should take up arms, and make these men share the fate of the culprit they had attempted to protect. 2d. That death should be the penalty incurred by any Choctaw, be he a chief or a common warrior, who should introduce an Englishman into his village; and that revenge for his death should never be sought by any one of the nation; and further, that the English- man thus introduced be put to death. 3d. That the whole Choctaw nation should continue to make war upon the Chickasaws, and should never cease to strike at that perfidious race (so called in the language of the treaty) as long as there should be any portion of it remaining. 4th. That in the villages of the rebels (as were designated the Choctaws of the English party), all the forts should be destroyed as speedily as possible, and that, on both sides, the prisoners and the slaves taken during the war should be restored. This was called the " Grand-Pre Treaty," and was intended as a curb and a bridle sufficiently strong to manage the Choctaws for the future.
Thus tranquillity was at last re-established in the colony. A detachment of troops was stationed at the German Coast, and another at the Tunicas, where, at the request of that nation, a fort was built by the French. Those Indians had long since prayed for the construction of a fort, to protect their women and children when their warriors were gone on war expeditions. With regard to the Chickasaws, they also, exhausted by their prolonged struggle against the French and Choctaws, had sucd for peace; and in token of their desire to bury the hatchet of war, and as the interpreter of their sentiments, they had sent to the Marquis of Vaudreuil a French woman and some children, whom they had, in the course of the pre- .ceding year, made prisoners at the Arkansas. The
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PAPER MONEY.
Marquis answered that he would take their petition into consideration, but that if they wished to obtain peace, it was necessary that they should behave better than they had done so far. The truth is that the French wanted no peace with the Chickasaws, who had been their implacable enemies since the foundation of the colony, and that they had resolved on their entire destruction. With them, for the accomplishment of this purpose, it was merely a question of time. On this subject, De Vaudreuil wrote to his government : " With regard to the Chickasaws, we must wait patiently. and postpone all action, until we are able to undertake another expedition against them. From the unsuccess- ful expeditions which took place from 1736 to 1740, the Indians have drawn the inference that we are not able to destroy or to subdue the red men. Until we have returned full retaliation for the failure of our past operations, and until the impression produced by that failure be entirely wiped off, we shall always be in an extremely critical situation."
It will be remembered that, in 1747,' the Intendant Commissary, Lenormant, had opposed a new emission of paper money ; but his successor, Michel de la Rouvillière, pursued a very different course. The expenses of the colony had greatly increased; its scanty resources had diminished ; and with almost a total absence of help from the mother country, it was very difficult for De Vaudreuil and Michel de la Rouvillière to carry on the colonial government. To relieve their necessities, and perhaps also to gratify the wishes of many, who looked with delight at the pros- pect ever offered to the greedy, by the manufacturing and throwing into the market of a quantity of paper money, these two high functionaries issued a joint ordi- nance creating notes of twenty to thirty livres, and of
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