USA > Louisiana > The province and the states, a history of the province of Louisiana under France and Spain, and of the territories and states of the United States formed therefrom, Vol. I > Part 20
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* Thwaites's reissue of the Jesuit Re'ations and other Documents.
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man and two negroes escaping. The capture of this post served to intensify the bitterness of the French against the Natchez tribe. They must be severely punished. Immediate steps were taken to raise a large force, but considerable time elapsed, though finally all was ready.
The army was divided into three battalions, the marines under D'Salvert on the right, the militia under D'Benac on the left, and the Louisiana troops, the grenadiers and fusiliers under General D'Perier in the center, with D'Cresnay and D'Artaguette in sub- ordinate command. The Indians were in a command by them- selves, and the negroes were scattered through all the companies. There were five hundred and fifty whites and negroes, and about one hundred and fifty Indians. An advance corps of twenty- four under D'Coulenges and D'Beaulieu, sent to reconnoitre, was surprised by the Natchez and sixteen were killed or captured, including both of the commanders. This act roused the French to desperation. On January 4, 1731, the army reached the mouth of Red river, and on the 12th that of Black river, up which was the entrenched camp of the enemy. On the 20th their camp was reached and immediately attacked.
The battle was resumed on the 21st, with shells from wooden mortars, and during the day several were killed and wounded on both sides. Both the 22d and the 23d were repetitions of the 21st. On the 24th the Natchez raised the white flag, and hostilities ceased. A messenger came out with the calumet and offered to surrender all the negroes. Governor D'Perier insisted on talking with the head chief, but this was evaded during several interviews. Negroes to the number of nineteen were delivered, but the head chief still held back, with very good grounds.
D'Perier finally refused to talk longer with messengers, and sent word that unless the head chief came out that day no quarter would be shown the savages. The Natchez warriors to a man objected to the head chief's going out to meet D'Perier. They, of course, felt that he would be detained, and that was the deliberate intention of Governor D'Perier. At this point reingorcements with cannon arrived. Threats to use the cannon at once brought out St. Comé, the son of the Woman chief and successor to the Sun. He attempted to dissemble, but D'Perier again insisted on seeing the Sun himself, and refused any further negotiations until his demands were complied with. In half an hour out came St. Come, the head Sun and the Flour Chief, the latter being the real author of the Natchez massacre, though St. Come had tried pre- viously to conceal that fact. The Sun made an apologetic speech
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and promised good behavior in future. They were detained and placed under guard; but during the night, while it was raining, all attempted to escape, and the Flour Chief, the biggest rascal of all, succeeded. He was smart enough to see the inevitable, and accordingly, with eight or ten warriors and their wives and children, escaped from the fort the same night down an unguarded ravine. The next day about thirty-five warriors and two hundred women surrendered. The others refused, and during the suc- ceeding night many warriors likewise managed to elude the guards and escape. The captures the next day were swelled to forty men and three hundred and eighty-seven women and chil- dren. The same day, the 27th of January, the army left and on the 5th of February reached New Orleans.
But the Flour Chief and other leaders about as renowned as himself, with a force variously estimated at from two hundred to three hundred warriors, were far from being conquered. Pro- fessing friendship for the Tonicas and pretending to desire their good offices to form an alliance with the French, they treacher- ously fell upon them and killed their head chief and about a dozen of his warriors; but were dauntlessly held in check for five days by the war chief of the Tonicas, who remained master of his vil- lage. In this desperate encounter thirty-three of the Natchez were killed, and a few days later three who had been captured were burnt at the stake.
At this time Natchitoches was commanded by the brave D'St. Denis, who had at his disposal forty soldiers and twenty settlers. In order to crush him whom they greatly feared, more so than any other officer in the colony, the survivors sent against him a force of one hundred and fifty of their best warriors, among whom was the Flour Chief. They hoped to surprise him; but upon being discovered by his sentinels, they sent a deputation with the calumet and a message to the effect that, having had some trouble with the French below, they desired him to act as mediator to settle the difficulty, announcing that they had with them a French woman whom they desired to set free as an evi- dence of their good faith. D'St. Denis replied that he would be pleased to comply with their request if they would at once release the white woman under an escort of ten warriors only ; but the Natchez refused unless all their numbers were received. D'St. Denis, who knew the Indian tactics thoroughly and had suspected this large force from the start, replied that he was aware of their designs and knew that they meditated treachery, and offered to pay a ransom for the French woman. The answer
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of the savages was to burn the white woman in sight of the fort, capture a small Natchitoches village near by, and thoroughly intrench themselves against any attack that might be attempted by the French. But in D'St. Denis they had a foe who was more than able to cope with them, either in strategy or in battle. He resolved immediately to attack their camp. Leaving twenty sol- diers in charge of the fort, and taking with him twenty soldiers and twenty picked Natchitoches warriors, he struck their intrench- ments with great fury before daylight one morning, and so daring and unexpected was his attack that he carried all before him. He routed them, killed eighty-two and lost not a man, and many who were wounded were hotly pursued and tomahawked in the depths of the forests. The savage Flour Chief, as well became him, fell fighting with his face to his foe. This was one of the most notable of the victories of the French over the Indians in the annals of the Lonisiana colony, and it is doubtful if any other officer than D'St. Denis then in the colony would have had the boldness, hardihood and skill to accomplish so sweeping a victory over such a select and vigilant enemy.
There still remained in Louisiana fully one hundred warriors of the Natchez tribe, living in scattered bands along Red river and its branches. A little later they combined with the Yazoos and the Caraoes, and for a long time continued to harass the French settlements. After many years they were so decimated and reduced by the remorseless vengeance of the French, that the few survivors lost their identity and became merged with other tribes. All who had been captured were sent to St. Domingo and sold into slavery and the proceeds turned into the treasury of the company.
Thus perished the Natchez tribe, the most intelligent and civ- ilized of all the nations living in what is now the United States. They worshipped the great sun-kept a fire forever burning in his honor; indeed their highest ruler was called "The Sun." This alone was the highest form of nature worship, a recogni- tion in the savage heart of the power and glory of the sun. They surrounded their chief with guards, revered him, obeyed his lightest word, and lived in fixed habitations, which they kept serupulously clean, one of the best evidences of their superior civilization. At first their utmost hospitality was freely tendered to the visiting Frenchmen ; but the abuses of the latter soon alien- ated them. It was the old story of the Spaniards repeated -- hos- pitality and kindness repaid with impositions and grievous wrongs. The climax came when the French commandant, Cho-
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part, ordered the abandonment of their time-honored village site that it might be occupied by the white people. The sun and his chiefs remonstrated with respectful mien and language, but were cut short by the French bully and given a fixed time in which to comply with his commands. Seeing no escape, and being unwill- ing to surrender the homes of their fathers, they saw no better course than to destroy all the French in Louisiana, root and branch. The massacre followed. It was the natural and inevi- table result of oppression and outrage. Had the Natchez supinely submitted they would not now be renowned in history for their courage and enlightenment. But the French must win-must possess all the land; and therefore the Nachez must be crushed. D'Soto and Coronado robbed the Indians, and slaughtered them when they resented the robbery. After all, was the French treat- ment any better than that of the Spanish? Both sacrificed the Indians to gain their possessions. It matters little as to the means adopted.
The attitude of D'Bienville toward the Indians was always fair and humane; that of D'Perier was just the reverse. Ile vis- ited upon them the same atrocities they perpetrated upon the French, going so far on more than one occasion of burning them publicly in New Orleans and elsewhere. This attitude of severity was regarded as unwise by many of the colonists. Beauchamp wrote to the French ministry, "The evil is now without a remedy unless M. D'Bienville could come back. Perhaps he could suc- ceed in changing the state of things, on account of the considera- tion which the Indians have always had for him, and of the serv- ices which he has rendered them, particularly to the Choctaws." Beauchamp complained bitterly of the state of affairs and further said, "You see to what a state of things is reduced this colony, which has so long groaned under a harsh command (D'Perier's ). The colonists are in a miserably wretched condition, and are ill- supplied with the provisions and the merchandise they want. When flour is sent here the heads of the colony take hold of it, as they do with all the brandy and cordials which are imported, and they do not part with these articles except at exorbitant prices. It is, after all, what they do for every sort of merchandise." It is not at all improbable that the French commandant at Natchez, Chopart, did nothing more than he was directed to do by D'Perier in demanding that the savages should leave their village to the French, thus inciting the massacre of the whites at that post. Such an order was in accord with the policy of the governor toward the savages, and Chopart would hardly have issued so
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important an edict on his own responsibility. Beauchamp, com- manding at Mobile, further wrote, "Since the departure of D'Bienville all the Indians are spoiled. In spite of the augmenta- tion of merchandise we have to supply them with, and of the reduction in the quantity of furs which they give us back in return, they are not satisfied. On the contrary, they are insolent and less tractable. The Chickasaws had sent three emissaries to the Illinois to urge them to side against us, but tliese emissaries have been delivered into our hands, and M. D'Perier intends to have them burnt." The writer was emphatic in request- ing the return of D'Bienville; but there were other forces at work.
From 1717 to 1731, the company spent "in a profitless attempt to carry its charter into execution" $3,700,000. It had emitted a considerable number of bonds of its own known as billets de caisse, which were still in circulation at the latter date. Though such a course caused serious loss to many of the colonists, these bonds were withdrawn from circulation, upon an order of Gov- ernor D'Perier, in fifteen days, and a financial crisis was thus occa- sioned. This step was taken in closing up the affairs of the com- pany, which on the 23d of January, 1731, had asked to have its charter taken up by the king. The request was granted, and two commissioners, Bru and Brusle, were sent to the colony by the king to settle the accounts between the company and the govern- ment. Slowly the affairs were wound up, and the French gov- ermmnent assumed the direct management of the colony.
Thus ended the attempts of one of the worst monopolies ever instituted, to govern the colony of Louisiana. The Indians were usually mismanaged and always abused. Almost every murder of a Frenchman by them may be traced directly or indirectly to some outrageous act of the whites. The policy of Perier was extermination-the unjust and deliberate acquisition of the prop- erty of the Indians and their slaughter if they showed resentment or opposition. The official corruption and perfidy of the com- pany's agents were recognized by every settler. The exactions of the company under their charter annihilated commerce, and were the despair of the poor people who sought to keep their leads above the waves of destruction. The only ray of light shin- ing through the gloom was the large number of settlers sent out from 1717 to 1721, the most of whom were forced to remain and become nolens volens integral parts of the colony. This was the only factor which saved the colony from abandonment and extinc- tion.
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CHAPTER VI
Louisiana Under the French Cabinet
T' HE relinquishment of the charter of the Royal India Com- pany was the signal for the reorganization of affairs in Louisiana Province. The superior council was placed on a new basis by patent bearing date May 7, 1732. Louisiana was made no longer a dependency of New France, or Canada, and to it was attached the Illinois country. D'Perier was made governor, Salmon intendant, D'Artaguette and Loubois the king's lieutenant governors, and Fleuriau attorney general. Attention was paid to ecclesiastical affairs by the appointment of a vicar-general with residence at New Orleans. In order to revive commerce, all duty was removed from merchandise exported from France into the colony and from the produce of Louisiana imported into France. This at last was a step in the right direction, and it met an immediate response from the colonists and from the mer- chants of France. D'Perier served but one year under the new order, and was succeeded by D'Bienville upon the request of the colonists. The latter expected great relief from the new condi- tions and were not disappointed, though the many Indian wars hampered commercial transactions in the interior. Better protec- tion from the Indians was afforded to the outlying districts, and the currency circulating in the colony was improved. D'Perier retired with credit, but his departure was not mourned by the inhabitants. ITis treatment of the Indians could not have been worse, and all felt that a more pacific and conciliatory policy might have prevented many of the misunderstandings with the savages and saved many a French life. Public rejoicing accom- panied the reception of Governor D'Bienville. Pierre D'Arta- guette, brother of Diron, was appointed major-commandant of the district of Illinois, his headquarters being at Fort Chartres.
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In nearly all the wars with the Indians, the negroes were employed to swell the meager ranks of the French soldiers. This would not have been done at all had not dire necessity required it as a measure of safety. But it served to excite and embolden the negroes and in the end led to their insurrection. It became known to them that by turning against the French, they could secure their own liberty among the Indians. It thus came to pass that all the tribes hostile to the French had with them negroes who had gained their freedom owing to this circumstance. Sev- eral of the most crafty and hold of the runaway slaves among the Chickasaws secretly went among the negroes of the settlements along the Mississippi and succeeded in inciting the insurrection. At last a night was set, on whch it was determined to make the attempt to capture New Orleans, kill all the men, possess them- selves of the arms, ammunition and stores, and thus be enabled to conquer the whole colony. The plan was revealed by a negro woman and the leaders were promptly captured ; four of the nfen were broken on the wheel, their heads fastened on poles or posts at the gates of the city, and one woman was hung. This exam- ple, publicly executed, was sufficiently fearful and impressive to prevent any further uprisings.
In August, 1734, it was ordered by the king that two soldiers annually out of every company should be granted a furlough and a tract of land, a portion of which, to be designated by the gov- ernor, was to be cleared within three years. As there were in the colony six hundred and fifty soldiers, or thirteen companies, twenty-six grants were thus made annually alone to the soldiers. The Swiss troops were granted the same privilege. This act was the means of making in the end good farmers ont of the soldiers, and was a decided advantage to the colony. Annually the gov- ernor selected the men thus to become farmers. The scarcity of current money led to the emission of a card currency in 1735 to the amount of about forty thousand dollars, which needed act greatly stimulated commercial exchanges among the colonists. This act was distinctively a Louisiana measure, the cards being signed by the local officials and being a legal tender for all obliga- tions. But oppressive measures were still thought proper. The price of tobacco was arbitrarily fixed for 1733 at 35 livres per hundred pounds; for 1734 and 1735 at 30 livres; for 1736 and 1737 at 27 livres ; and for 1738 at 25 livres. But the colonists near the mouth of the Mississippi continued to be in sore straits, while those in the Illinois country had passed the crucial stage, had an abundance of provisions and clothing and were compara-
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tively safe and happy. The most extraordinary fact in connection with the Louisiana colony was that after the lapse of thirty-five years the colonists were not able to support themselves in the most fertile soil in the world, where nature provided in great abundance every necessity. That fact stands as a most fearful arraignment of either the management or the character and habits of the colonists.
It was in 1735 that steps were taken to confirm the titles to the various concessions and grants in the colony. . Complaints were made that the colonists were obliged to pay two hundred per cent more for the same articles than the traders; more negroes were called for. It is said that at the mouth of the Mississippi in 1733, the colonists were compelled to live for some time on the seeds and grains of reeds. This is a crushing commentary on some- body-on the management of course, because the poor people did as they must, or were told. At the same time they of the Illinois country were living on corn, wheat, pork, beef, vegetables, and a wonderful profusion of wild game. But very little went down the Mississippi at this time, however, owing to the fierce hostil- - ity of the Chickasaws. The old company of the Indies had a hard time to collect the debts due it, because the only tribunal was in the colony and in sympathy with the people and in all cases favored them. The colony cost the crown in 1734 over one hun- dred and sixty thousand dollars. D'Bienville wrote in 1735 that at Pointe Coupée one hundred thousand pounds of tobacco were made. Cotton began to appear in considerable quantity. Early in 1735 the river was so high that New Orleans was deep under water. The drouth was so severe for four months the succeeding summer that the river fell fifteen feet, "a circumstance which had never been seen before."
The Chickasaws, the terror of the south, had now become so troublesome that D'Bienville determined to try to crush them. They even tried to alienate the Illinois from the French, but were not successful. The project of an invasion of the Chickasaw country by a large army met the approval of the king of France, and preparations were accordingly made. As many Frenchmen as could be spared were sent down the river from Fort Chartres to assist him. In March, 1736, D'Bienville, with an army of about six hundred Frenchmen and negroes ( forty-five of the lat- ter) set out from New Orleans for the place of rendezvous, or Fort Mobile. On the Tombigbee river they were joined by about six hundred Choctaws. Arriving at the principal Indian strong- hold, at what is now the town of Pontotoc, Mississippi, they found
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the Chickasaws so well prepared to receive them that they were repulsed with the loss of thirty-two killed and sixty wounded. Greatly humiliated, D'Bienville retreated, leaving in the hands of the savages several prisoners. Previously, D'Artaguette, who had come down from the Illinois to join him, had fallen into the hands of the enemy. Ile had descended the Mississippi with thirty regular soldiers, one hundred volunteer Frenchmen and two hun- dred Indians of the Illinois and Missouri nations. At the third Chickasaw Bluff, or Fort Prudhomme, he met Sieur D'Vincennes with twenty Frenchmen and about one hundred and twenty-five Miamis, who had come down from the Wabash to join the army. Another detachment under Sieur D'Moncherval from the Illinois was expected. D'Granpré, commandant at the Arkansas, sent a body of warriors to his assistance. After due deliberation, D'Bienville not having arrived, Major D'Artaguette concluded to attack the Chickasaws in their stronghold, and accordingly set forth. Though partially successful, he was finally defeated, many of the leaders were captured, and the Illinois and Missouris assisting the French were fiercely pursued for more than one hundred miles by the unrelenting Chickasaws. The retreat was conducted by a young man of sixteen years named Voisin, and is said by writers to have been "a masterpiece of skill and bravery." He conducted his small force the whole distance without food, and handled them so well that there was no rout, nor was any of his wounded left in the hands of the enemy. He inflicted as much punishment on the Chickasaws as was imposed upon his force. His name deserves proudly to be told in story and sung in song. The French leaders who were captured were tortured at the stake over slow fires. Thus perished Father Senat, D'Artaguette, St. Ange, D'Vincennes, Courlonges, Dutisnet, D'Esgly, D'Tonty, Courcelas and other brave men distinguished in the early annals of the Louisiana Province.
Dating from the time the French first met them, the Fox nation of Indians proved hostile to the advancement of the whites. They usually refused to send peace envoys to the treaties, and often killed the whitemen who entered their domains, or the domains claimed by them. At last, in 1734, the French of Canada resolved to send an expedition against them. Many friendly Indians, principally the Iroquois, accompanied the expedition to assist in chastising their ancient enemy. Before this date, the Foxes had left their old haunts on the Wisconsin, and taken up their abode in Iowa, principally on the Des Moines river. Under the com- mand of Col. Nicholas D'Noyelle, the expedition marched over
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seven hundred leagues, starting from Montreal in August. They found the Foxes prepared for their reception, being thoroughly intrenched on or near the river Des Moines. The attack was only partly successful, for though many of the Foxes were killed, their intrenchments were not captured. However, it was a blow from which they did not soon recover, and one which they never for- got. The Sacs assisted the Foxes, and part of the punishment fell upon them. The following year, a treaty of peace was con- cluded with them, after a continuous war of twenty-five years .*
In 1727, as before stated, a party of Frenchmen under the com- mand of Boucher de la Perrière, marched from Montreal to the Mississippi by way of the Green Bay and Wisconsin route and built Fort Beauharnais at Lake Pepin on the west side of the river. Other buildings were constructed, and it was late in Octo- ber before all were comfortably housed. A great flood the fol- lowing spring forced them to abandon the buildings. The Sioux proving unfriendly, the party returned to Canada, but came again in 1731, erected buildings on higher ground, and succeeded in opening trade with the Indians. The post was finally abandoned in 1737 by Legardeur de Saint Pierre, who was then in command. This was an attempt made by a Canadian company to monopolize the fur trade among the Sioux .;
The Chickasaws now became more insolent and dangerous than ever. A second expedition was sent against them. Whether merited or not, the previous disasters had seriously injured D'Bienville's reputation with the French government. Smarting under the combined humiliation and criticism, he resolved to retrieve all the prestige he had lost, and having secured the approval of the colonial minister he began active and elaborate preparations in the spring of 1739. Every settlement in the prov- ince was called upon for assistance, and the point of rendezvous was fixed on the St. Francis river near its mouth and near the Mississippi. Here a temporary fort and a number of cabins were built for the protection of the supplies while preparations were under way. In August the army was moved up the river to a point opposite the present city of Memphis; and, having crossed the river, they built Fort Assumption, with strong fortifications, barracks for the soldiers, a small house for D'Aime, the com- mander, store-houses, ammunition houses, etc. Ilere the army. was reinforced until it aggregated about twelve hundred French-
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