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 21
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* See Hubbard's "Wisconsin Under the Dominion of France."
t Memoire de Beauharnais, 1 738.
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men and double that many Indians, together with a few negroes. Two hundred Frenchmen and three hundred Indians under Capt. Alphonse D'Buissoniere came down from the Illinois -- from Fort Chartres. Captain D'Celoron arrived from Canada with thirty cadets and many Indians. For some reason not wholly clear, the command of this army had been intrusted to M. D'Noailles D'Aime instead of D'Bienville, which necessarily occasioned jeal- ousy between those two valuable officers. The result might have been anticipated. The army remained at Fort Assumption for six months, doing nothing, yet suffering everything until the men were reduced to horse-flesh for food and were stricken with a terrible sickness which swept so many off, that by March, 1740, there were probably not to exceed three hundred white men fit for active duty. In this extremity, the heroic D'Bienville was in despair. It was seen that not only must the expedition be given up, but Fort Assumption must be' abandoned, a step likely to be fraught with serious consequences. At this juncture D'Aime seems to have been superseded in supreme command by D'Bien- ville. Finally, Capt. D'Celoron, with as large a body of the well men as could be spared, was sent to reconnoitre the Chickasaw camp. Observing his advance, and believing he was followed by the main army, the Indians opened negotiations for peace. As this had been hoped and provided for, terms were soon reached. This finality was much better than had been expected at one time. After the peace treaty had been concluded, D'Bienville dismantled , the fortifications at Memphis and on the St. Francis river, sent the volunteers to their homes, and with the regulars sailed down the Mississippi to New Orleans. This second failure to crush the Chickasaws so impaired the reputation of D'Bienville that he was retired and the Marquis D'Vaudreuil-Cavagnal was sent to govern the province in 1742. But the Chickasaws were quieted by this display of force, and the French colonists enjoyed another peaceful breathing spell.
On the upper Mississippi, many years had elapsed and large settlements been made.in the Illinois country east of the river, before any strong and permanent colony was formed west of the river. About the year 1735 a few families located across the river opposite Kaskaskia for the purpose of being near the salt works established there, where the men were employed. This little village was located on the bottom lands and was called Misére, because of the annual overflow of the river and the conse- quent distress. After many years, or about 1785, the village was removed to higher land near, or on, the present site of St. Gene-
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LOUISIANA UNDER THE FRENCH CABINET.
vieve, Missouri. As the years flew by the place seemed to absorb the strength of the settlements east of the Mississippi above the mouth of the Kaskaskia; because, while they slowly died, it stead- ily flourished and ere long became the center of French people of that vicinity. It even yet retains its Gallic characteristics. Descendants are yet living there whose ancestors were among the first to settle in the upper Mississippi valley. French manners and speech, with perennial and Parisian vivacity and freshness, may be observed on the streets of this ancient village.
In 1736 Father Jean Pierre Aulnean was among the Sioux and the Kristinaux or Krees. He had come out with the Verendrycs, but was finally slain by the Prairie Sioux, together with a party of about twenty Frenchmen, who seem to have been surprised in the night, as they were not tortured, but all had their heads cut off. This occurred very close to the northern boundary of Min- nesota, perhaps south of the boundary.
In 1737 an ordinance was issued by the French government exempting from duty for ten years the productions exported to the French West Indies and the productions of those island imported into Louisiana. Considerable tar and pitch was made at this time-six or seven thousand barrels. The production of cotton was not very profitable, owing to the difficulty of getting rid of the seed. From thirty to thirty-five thousand pounds of indigo were produced annually. The manufacture of tobacco had increased, but the productions lacked an outlet. In 1741 several very severe hurricanes destroyed nearly all the crops of the lower Mississippi, so that the people there were reduced almost to the point of starvation. In July, Loubois wrote, "There are many families reduced to such a state of destitution that fathers when they rise in the morning do not know where they will get the food required by their children." Flour was not to be had at any price. A cask of common wine sold for nearly one hundred dol- lars in Spanish money, or one hundred and forty-eight dollars in the currency of the colony. Starvation was avoided by bringing in produce from adjacent districts. The reason why provisions did not come down from the Wabash or the Illinois is shown by the following incident: A party of twenty-four French traders and trappers, accompanied by a woman and a young girl, were attacked by a force of one hundred and fifty Natchez and Chick- asaws at or near Point Coupée, and for six hours presented a stern and successful defense. Both women showed great brav- cry, venturing out and cutting off the powder-horns of those who
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had fallen. They were both finally shot. Sixteen of the men perished, but the others cut their way out and, though some of them were wounded, effected their escape.
The expenses of Louisiana in 1741 amounted to $59,091, and in 1742 to $59,686. At this time there is noticed a steady advance in all the functions of civil and colonial government. Law began to be enforced more than ever before in the colony. Increase of trade occasioned commercial friction, and friction was followed by suits at law. D'Bienville, the "father of Louisiana," sailed back to France, never again to set foot on the soil where so many years of his active life had been spent. Vaudreuil took the reins, but had many difficulties to encounter. Metallic money had wholly disappeared, and card currency had considerably depreciated. Little relief was experienced by the emission of treasury notes and the strengthening of the treasury at New Orleans.
In 1740 Capt. Benoist D'St. Clair became major commandant in place of Captain D'Buissoniere of the post of the Illinois; but was himself succeeded three years later by the Chevalier D'Ber- thel, who remained in command until 1749. The settlers along the Missouri and its affluents and in the present State of Missouri along the Mississippi were under the jurisdiction of these officers, being a part of the district of Illinois. The settlements in Mis- souri were built up largely from those along the Illinois river and along the Kaskaskia delta. No doubt some came directly from Canada and from New Orleans. According to Father Louis Vivier, the five French villages of the Kaskaskia delta, or between the Kaskaskia and the Mississippi rivers, contained in 1750 about eleven hundred whites and about three hundred negro slaves and sixty Indian slaves. Sieur D'St. Clair under a reappoint- ment, served as major commandant of the Illinois from 1749 to 1751. He was then succeeded by Major Macarty, who after nine years surrendered the command to Capt. Neyon D'Villiers. In February, 1753, M. D'Kerlerec succeeded D'Vaudreuil as gov- ernor of the Province of Louisiana. The latter was appointed governor-general of Canada. The former served until June, 1763, when M. D'Abbadie assumed the reins of government of the Prov- ince as director-general.
New Orleans was beginning to have a steady trade with the other Gulf cities and with Europe. Large quantities of food sup- plies, such as corn, flour, pork, etc., flowed down from the upper Mississippi country ; in fact New Orleans could not get along without such shipments. As for the French settlers of the upper country, it may be said that New Orleans was their only market,
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and was absolutely indispensable. Life in Louisiana at this time was extremely picturesque. Everywhere the soil was cultivated ; mining and adventure had been largely given up. Hunting and trading were extensively carried on. Many Spanish horses began to arrive from the West. Large convoys or flotillas descended the Mississippi loaded with the products of the upper country. These voyages down were usually made from December to Feb- ruary ; as soon as the cargoes had been sold, such boats as were needed were filled with sugar, tobacco, rice, cotton, tea, coffee, . etc., and the tiresome journey up the river was begun. In New Orleans the jaunty and effeminate airs of Parisian society were to be observed at all social functions. Vaudreuil, himself a court favorite, encouraged the introduction of European fashions and social conduct. The English were not only crowding into the Mississippi valley, but were stirring up the Chickasaws to war on the French. Perhaps they also incited the Sioux to threaten so seriously Fort Beauharnais at Lake Pepin on the Mississippi that the French garrison there abandoned the post for a time. About this time the Mississippi between Kaskaskia and New Orleans was actually captured by the Choctaws, and the communi- cation was cut off with the upper country. All this indicated the influences of the English, and was a prelude to the Seven Years' War which began in 1755. But the French were aroused and commenced to fortify all the exposed points. Fort Chartres later became the most powerful post in America, thanks to Governor D)'Kerlerec. By 1750 the French had eight intrenched posts in Louisiana outside of New Orleans, among which were those at Natchitoches, Pointe Coupee. on the Mississippi near the mouth of Red river, one at the mouth of the Arkansas, and one at Saint Genevieve, Missouri. Regardless of the claims and protests of the French, the Ohio Company received a grant of 600,000 acres on the south side of the Ohio river. Christopher Gist had pene- trated this country for them in 1750. When Captain D'Aubrey evacuated Fort Duquesne ( Pittsburg) at the commencement of the Seven Years' War, he retreated down the Ohio to Fort Massac, and thence up the Mississippi to Fort Chartres.
As early as 1724 when Fort Orleans was built in the Missouri country, that portion of the Province began to be called "Mis- souri," in distinction to the Illinois country proper. Its trade had become very large and valuable, but prior to 1745 had not been subjected to many official annoyances. Beginning on the ist of January, 1745, Governor Vaudreuil, following the old and per- nieions custom of granting monopolies in order to secure revenues
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for the crown, gave the exclusive right of trading on the Mis- souri and its branches and all the territory drained by them for the term of a little more than five years to M. D'Rousseau. The grantee was required to build a fort in the Missouri country, sup- ply the garrison with subsistence, pay its chief officer annually $360, maintain peace with the Indians of the district at his own expense, keep on hand enough merchandise to supply the wants of the Indians, and to transport to the fort the supplies needed by its commander. Vaudreuil regarded this monopoly as a wise step, because it would restrict the illicit trading with the natives and force the colonists to cultivate the soil. He even deprecated the introduction of negroes into the Missouri country, believing that their absence would compel the inhabitants to go to work for themselves. He was a believer in the value of the mines of the upper country, and spent considerable crown money uselessly in that direction. The following was the estimated population of · the Province in 1744:
White male inhabitants. Some soldiers
Blacks of botlı sexes.
At the Balize
30
New Orleans
. 800
300
German Coast
100
200
Pointe Coupée
200
400
Natchitoches
60
200
Natchez
8
15
Arkansas
12
10
Illinois
300
600
l'etit Ougas
40
5
Missouri
200
IO
Pascagoulas
IO
60
Mobile
150
200
Totals
1,880
2,030
Women and children estimated
1,500
Total
3,380
'Troops
800
Grand Total
4,180
2,030
4.
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In 17.13 Governor Vaudreuil issued an ordinance requiring all planters along the Mississippi to put their levees in safe condition within a given time upon pain of forfeiting their plantations to
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the crown. The card currency which had been issued to take the place of the depreciated money of the India Company, became itself so depreciated within ten years that it required three dollars to equal one of coin. In April, 1744, these card promises were ordered retired on the basis of two and a half to one of coin, and the holders were paid in drafts of the treasury of France, suffer- ing again a severe shave or discount.
Owing to the war with England, preparations to defend the mouth of the Mississippi were made by Governor Vaudreuil. He built two forts, one on each side of the river, at English Turn, and at Plaguemine Turn, down the river from New Orleans, "of mud and facines, with epaulments, the shelving sides of which are to be fenced and secured with hurdles, according to the plans and drawings of Deverges. For the construction of these fortifica- tions, I have ordered, jointly with Mr. Lenormant, the inhabitants of New Orleans and of the neighboring country to send in the fifth of their negroes during six weeks. I hope that in ten days there will be a battery of ten eighteen-pounders in each fort." He further said, "With regard to the forces of the colony, I can dispose of four hundred white men, five or six hundred Indians belonging to the small nations, and from two to three hundred negroes who are to be relied upon. But we are wanting in arms and ammunition." As no attack by the British was anticipated on the upper Mississippi country, no attempt to fortify any post there was considered. In 1746 a terrible hurricane destroyed the crops of the lower country to such an extent as to threaten famine for that portion of the colony ; it was saved by shipments from the Illinois. Governor Vaudreuil wrote, "We receive from the Illi- nois flour, corn, bacon, hanis both of bear and hog, corned pork, wild beef, myrtle and beeswax, cotton, tallow, leather, tobacco, lead, copper, buffalo, wool, venison, poultry bear's grease, oil, skins, fowls and hides. Their boats come down annually in the latter part of December and return in February." But the set- tlers of the upper country were forced to come down in convoys in order to withstand the attacks of the alert and savage Chicka- saws.
By 1747 the expenses of the colony amounted to $92,582. At this time Chevalier D'Berthel was commander of the Illinois dis- trict, which embraced all the Missouri country. All the tribunals of the upper country were subordinate to the superior council at New Orleans. The period of exemption from duty on exports and imports was extended beyond the fixed term of ten years, and was re-extended. A little later the granting to the Olio Com-
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pany of an immense tract in the Ohio valley filled all Louisiana with excitement and forebodings. Conflicts began to occur between the French and the English traders, in which the Indian tribes became involved. In 1750 there were at the command of the governor eight hundred and fifty soldiers, divided into seven- teen companies. The government agreed to take all the tobacco raised in the colony at $5.50 per hundred. British agents, it was thought, were busily at work among the savages, because at no time in the history of the colony were so many attacks made upon the French settlements from Quebec to the Balize. The Seven Years' War had already commenced in America. Even the tribe of the Illinois was on the point of joining the English against the French. About this date sugar cane was introduced into the col- ony from Cuba for the first time by the Jesuits, and the first crop was grown by them in the St. Mary suburb of New Orleans. Wax for candles from berries was quite a "fad." Owing to the numerous attacks of the Indians and to the threatened invasion by the English, the colony in 1751 was supplied with better protec- tion than ever before, there being here two thousand regulars, of whom 975 were at New Orleans, 300 in the Illinois, and 50 each at the Arkansas, Natchitoches, Pointe Coupée and the German Coast. 'The commander at the Arkansas was Ensign Delino. Serious complaints were forwarded to France against the corrup- tion existing in the colony under the administration of Governor Vaudreuil, and the latter was openly accused of dishonorable con- duct. In 1751 the last shipment of poor girls to the colony was made, there being sent over sixty, and the most of them were married to soldiers who were honorably discharged, under the rule previously mentioned. Upon their marriage, they were given a start in life by the government. The Illinois district was at this time placed under the command of Lieutenant Macarty, and embraced six villages: Fort Chartres, Kaskaskia, Cahokia, St. Philip, Prairie de Rocher and St. Genevieve. The upper country was in an exceedingly prosperous condition. They raised from three to five times as much produce as they could find a market for. The lower country was also in better condi- tion than ever before.
Probably through British influence the Chickasaws from 1747 to 1752 renewed their attacks on the French settlements and on the fleets of pirogues which descended the Mississippi to New Orleans with the produce of the upper country. Again the sit- uation became unbearable, and again it was resolved to send an expedition against them. In 1752, Governor D'Vaudreuil, with
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a force of seven hundred Frenchinen and a large number of Choc- taws, advanced up the Mobile and Tombigbee rivers, but the Chickasaws evaded him. Having destroyed many of their vil- , lages and improvements and left a detachment of soldiers at Fort Tombigbee to check their marauding expeditions against the Mississippi convoys and the French settlement, he returned and disbanded his army. But they were again subdued and quieted for a term of years.
Much of the trouble between the Iroquois and the western tribes was due to the intrigues and wars between the French and the English. Both countries struggled to secure an alliance with the powerful Six Nations, but the English were successful, owing to their proximity. The French secured the friendship of nearly all the western nations. As a result, all wars between France and England were followed by wars between the Iroquois on one side and the western tribes on the other. The friendship of the Indians was sought for the purpose of obtaining their fur trade, as well as a claim to the soil occupied by them. At a later day, the English, through their treaty with the Iroquois, claimed all the Ohio and Wabash valleys as a part of the Iroquois domain. This contention cut an important figure at a later date-when the all-important time came to draw the lines of demarkation between the two countries in America. The Iroquois claimed, as a matter of fact, the Ohio valley as far as the Mississippi, and persistently permitted the English traders to reach that river through their territory. But the right of the English to any part of the Mis- sissippi bank was emphatically denied by the French, and in real- ity was wholly unfounded. Even on the rights of the Iroquois, their claims were unsound, because that consolidated tribe did not conquer the country to the Mississippi. Through the Iro- quois, the English ever tried to induce the western tribes to break with the French but their efforts were not often successful.
The explorations of Pierre Gaultier Verendrye and his sons in the northwest were very important to the interests of France in that quarter. With a small company of Canadian boatmen and hunters and a Jesuit missionary, he left Montreal in June, 1731, and in due time reached Lake Superior. They went to Pigeon river, now part of the boundary between Canada and Minnesota, ascended the same till they came to Rainy Lake, and there built a fort and passed the winter. This fort was called St. Pierre. The following year they passed on up the rivers and in July built Fort St. Charles on the Lake of the Woods, locating it on the west side. Here they passed the winter of 1732-3.
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Their large supply of peltries was sent to Montreal. In 1734 Verendrye sent one of his sons and a number of Frenchmen to Lake Winnipeg where they built Fort Maurepas and from this point they again sent to Canada an immense quantity of peltries. In 1735 one of his sons died at Fort St. Charles on the Lake of the Woods, from wounds inflicted by the Sioux. In 1736 they built Fort Rouge at or near the mouth of Assiniboine river. So bad was the outlook in 1737, that it seemed likely they would be forced to leave the country. Only the forts and the guns of the Frenchmen prevented the massacre of the whole party by the Sioux. The next year they became quieter, whereupon Veren- drye went further into the Sioux country and built Fort de la Reine on the water course near Lake Manitoba. During all their . stay in this country they had often heard of the Mandans, a nation of very intelligent Indians living far to the southwest. Late in 1738 Verendrye determined to seek them. Taking with him about twenty Frenchmen and about thirty friendly Indians, he pushed westward to what is thought to have been Turtle moun- tains. On November 28, he reached the Mandan outposts and on the 3d of December entered their villages. He left two men among them, with their consent, to learn their language, took possession of the country in the name of France, and returned to Fort de la Reine, arriving February, 1739. In this year Fort Dauphine was built near Lake Manitoba by a party under the orders of one of the two remaining sons of Verendrye. While here the son went out and explored the Saskatchewan country. In this year, also, Verendrye returned to Canada for a supply of merchandise, but came back in 1741.
The stories which the two men mentioned brought to Veren- drye after a year or two, concerning the western country, deter- mined him to make another attempt to reach the mountains. He sent his eldest son Pierre and two other men to the Mandans, but as they could procure there no guides they were forced to return. In 1742 another attempt was made. Pierre and his younger brother, accompanied by two of the bravest and best Canadians in the West, went to the Mandans, and, having procured horses, marched in a westerly direction across the plains. They crossed the Little Missouri, thence marched to the headwaters of Tongue river, and, still advancing westward, reached a spur of the Big Horn mountains. They now turned back, but passed farther to the south, reaching probably the Black Hills, whence they marched almost directly eastward to the villages of the Sioux on the Missouri. They rejoined their companions at Fort La Reine
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on the 2d of July. The object of finding the great divide between the Missouri basin and the Pacific slope was not accomplished.
The explorations of Verendrye were continued in the north- west by Legardeur D'St. Pierre, who went out in 1750; but after three years he had accomplished nothing more than his predeces- sor. He sent an expedition to the Saskatchewan under Chevalier D'Niverville, and a fort called La Jonquiere, was built on that river three hundred miles from its mouth; but it was soon aban- doned and the party fell back to Fort La Reine. It was in 1745 that the British parliament offered a reward of twenty thousand pounds to the discoverer of a practical northwest passage. It was at this time, also, that England put forth her strongest claims to the Ohio and the Wabash valleys, based principally upon the treaties with the Iroquois many years before and with the Miamis in 1748. In addition it was claimed that the English colonial traders had entered the Wabash valley as early as the year 1723; but this claim made no weight against the French who had been there for many previous years.
While the French explorations in the West under government auspices were ostensibly undertaken for the purpose of discov- ering a water route to the South Sea, the participants usually lost sight of that object. Father Nau writing to Father Bonin in 1735 said, "The western sea would have been discovered long ago, if people had wished it. Monsieur, the Count D'Maurepas, is right when he says that the officials in Canada are looking not for the western sea, but for the sea of beaver."
The prices of American commodities did not vary greatly from year to year. A silver fox was worth six beavers, twenty sols being the price of one beaver. Marten, otter, and bear cubs were worth the same price as the beaver. A black fox was worth twenty or more beavers. Father Vivier said in 1750: "In for- mer years when eight or ten ships entered the Mississippi, that was considered a great number; this year over forty entered ; mostly from Martinique and San Domingo." At this period the largest settlement on the Mississippi above New Orleans was at the German coast. A palisaded fort stood at Pointe Coupeé. In this vicinity were more than sixty residences strung along the river for five or six leagues, according to Father Vivier. At Natchez was a garrison and a fort. Near the mouth of the Arkansas was also a fort and a garrison. This fort was a famous resort of the convoys which descended the river and stopped here to rest and secure fresh provisions. They likewise received pro- tection here from the Chickasaws to the cast. In 1748 a large
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