USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > The city of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922, Vol. I > Part 11
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of this post. I am, as yet, unaware what means you wish to be employed and the methods you preseribe for me, the Marquis de Beauharnois not having done me the honor to inform me of them."
It seems that the writer of this letter had been appointed commandant of Detroit in the place of Desnoyelles, but his acceptance of the position was delayed on account of a surgical operation, as the intendant wrote to the Paris government in the fall of 1738 that "he has recovered from the operation that was performed last spring on his left breast and he counts on being able to take up his appointment at Detroit next spring. M. de Beauharnois will give him orders to do so. He will therefore then be installed as commandant."
Payan was born at Montreal on November 3, 1695. His father was Pierre Payan, Sieur de Noyan, and his mother was Catherine Jeanne Le Moine (or Le Moyne), a member of the celebrated family of that name that furnished so many men prominent in the annals of Canada and Louisiana. Previous to his appointment as commandant of Detroit, he served as captain of a company in the marine department and later as major. In 1726, while serving with his unele, Sieur de Bienville, then governor of Louisiana, the latter was removed from his office as governor and summoned to Paris to explain his official conduct. Payan accompanied his uncle, but their explanations were not satisfactory to the court, which was already prejudiced against Bienville. They returned to America and on November 17, 1731, Payan married Catherine Daillebout. Of their four children, Pierre Louis was born in Detroit.
Payan assumed his duties as commandant in the spring of 1739 and rendered himself unpopular with certain elements on account of his efforts to check the sale of liquor to the Indians. In 1740 he went to Montreal to obtain an order to that effect, but returned to Detroit in 1742 to finish the remainder of his term -only a few weeks. In 1749 he was made major and governor of Montreal, which was probably his last public service.
PIERRE JOSEPH CELORON
Pierre Joseph Celoron, Sieur de Blainville, the fifth child and eldest son of Jean Baptiste Celoron and his wife, Helene Picote de Belestre, was one of the most noted of Detroit's commandants. Following the example of so many young men of that period. he chose a military career and in 1734 was commandant at Michilimackinac with the rank of lieutenant. He was sent to New Orleans to assist the French settlers of Lonisiana in their war with the Chickasaw Indians. IIe was appointed commandant at Detroit on July 6, 1742. He served there until in June, 1744, when he was sent to Niagara. During the next six years he was employed on several important missions for the Canadian Gov- ernment. In 1747 he convoyed a quantity of provisions from Quebec to De- troit, and in 1749 he led an expedition down the Ohio River to plant the leaden plates setting forth France's claims to the country. This work he performed so well that in 1750 he was again appointed commandant at Detroit. Burton's "Early Detroit" says:
"During Celoron's second term, the governor of Canada offered, as an in- ducement to people to settle at Detroit, to assist them with articles necessary to sustain them for two or three years. Each head of a family was given a farm, of the usual size, rations for the members from the military stores, tools and implements of husbandry. Many families came up and settled here under these inducements, and yet the plan was not very popular. The materials
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furnished these farmers in the way of tools and stock were not gifts but loans, and were expected to be repaid when the people became permanently settled. A full list of these emigrants has been preserved, containing the names of fifty- four heads of families. Many of the newcomers were young men without wives and young women were so scarce that Celoron wrote to ask for girls to become wives to the young farmers."
Celoron served as commandant until the beginning of the French and Indian war. In 1755 he was in command of the Canadian militia that attacked the British post at Lake George. He was appointed major of Montreal while the war was in progress and died there on April 12, 1759. Celoron Island, at the mouth of the Detroit River, bears his name.
On December 30, 1724, Celoron married Marie Madeleine Blondeau, who bore him three children. After her death he married Catherine Eury de La Parelle at Montreal on October 13, 1743. Of the nine children of this union, three were born at Detroit. His widow survived him and in 1777 became a member of the Grey Nuns of Montreal, under the name of Sister Marie Cather- ine Eury La Parelle. A daughter, Marie Madeleine, was also a member of the same order.
PAUL JOSEPH LE MOINE
In 1743, a few months before the conclusion of Celoron's first term as com- mandant, Paul Joseph Le Moine (or Le Moyne), Chevalier de Longueil, was appointed as his successor. He was a son of Charles Le Moine, Baron de Longue- ville, and was born at Longueville on September 19, 1701, when the settlement at Detroit was not quite two months old. The Le Moine family was one of the most illustrious in the annals of Canada and Louisiana. Says Parkman : "Charles Le Moyne, son of an inn keeper of Dieppe and founder of a family the most truly eminent iu Canada, was a man of sterling qualities, who had been long enough in the colonies to learn to live there. He had ten sons who made themselves famous in the history of their times."
The ten sons were: Charles, Baron de Longueville; Jacques, Sieur de Ste. Helene; Pierre, Sieur d'Iberville; Paul, Sieur de Maricourt ; Francois, Sieur de Bienville; Joseph, Sieur de Serigny ; Louis, Sieur de Chateauguay; Jean Baptiste, Sieur de Bienville; Gabriel, who died at sea while serving in the ma- rine guard; Antoine, governor of Cayenne. A daughter, Catherine Jeanne, married Pierre Payan, Sieur de Noyan, as previously mentioned.
On October 19, 1728, Paul Joseph Le Moine and Marie Genevieve de Joy- bert were united in marriage at Quebec. They became the parents of eleven children, none of whom was born during their residence in Detroit. Between the time of his marriage and his appointment as commandant at Detroit, Le Moine was employed in various positions of responsibility in connection with Canadian affairs. At the expiration of his term at Detroit in 1748, he was made second in command at that post. He took an active part in the French and Indian war and in 1757 was sent as an emissary to the Six Nations of Indians to enlist their cooperation in the war against the English. Soon after the close of that war he went to France and died in Tours on May 12, 1778.
SIEUR DE MUY
The date of the appointment of Jacques Pierre Daneau, Sieur de Muy, as commandant of Detroit is not certain, but he probably succeeded to the office
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upon the retirement of Celoron in the spring of 1754. Little can be learned of his life, farther than that he was a son of Nieolas Daneau, Sieur de Mny, a Chevalier of the Military Order of St. Louis, at one time governor of Louisi- ana, who died at Havana, Cuba, on January 25, 1708.
Jacques was born in 1695 and married Louise Genevieve Dauteuil at Montreal on January 30, 1725. Six children were born to them. He held the office of commandant at Detroit until his death on May 18, 1758. Events during his term were of a rather tempestuous nature, owing to the French and Indian war, the history of which is given in another chapter. Sieur de Muy was more of a student and diplomat than a soldier, and during these stirring times depended largely upon the officers of his garrison to carry out the plans and wishes of his superiors.
JEAN BAPTISTE HENRY BERANGER
Prior to the death of Sieur de Muy, Beranger had occupied the position of second in command at the post of Detroit. A few days after the funeral, his name appears in the records as "lieutenant in the troops of His Majesty and commandant for the king in this village." He remained in that position until the arrival of the regularly appointed commandant chosen to succeed de Muy, after which he again took up his old place as second in command until the sur- render of Detroit to the British on November 29, 1760.
Beranger was a native of France and a son of Guillaume Beranger, Sieur de Rongemont. He came to America while still a young man and on May 21, 1750, married Catherine Madeleine Fafard dit Laframbois at Three Rivers, where she was born on August 23, 1723. A daughter of this marriage, Marie Magdeleine, was born at Detroit on February 9, 1760.
PICOTÉ DE BELESTRE
The last French commandant at Detroit was Francois Marie Picote, Sieur de Belestre, a son of the man of the same name, who was acting commandant at times during the term of Pierre Alphonse de Tonty, when his superior was absent. His mother was the widow of Jean Cuillerier. The name is sometimes written "Bellestre," but the last commandant always signed his name with one "1."
In some respects Belestre was the most conspicuous of the French com- mandants. He was an efficient and energetic officer, fully enjoying the con- fidence of his superiors, and was frequently entrusted with important missions. In 1739 he was engaged in the war with the Indians; was with Celoron in 1747 to convoy provisions to Detroit ; was an active participant in some of the carly engagements of the French and Indian war, commanding a body of British and Indians at the time of General Braddock's defeat on July 9, 1755. Previous to his coming to Detroit he had served as commandant at St. Joseph. At the time of his appointment to the Detroit post he held the rank of lieutenant. The same year he was promoted to captain. After the transfer of Canada to Eng- land he occupied several important positions under the new government. His death occurred at Quebec in May, 1793. For many of the events that occurred at Detroit while he was in command, including the surrender to the English, see the chapter on the "French and Indian War."
Belestre was born in Montreal, where on July 28, 1738, he was united in marriage with Marie Anne Nivard. At the time of this marriage he was about
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twenty years of age, having been born in 1719. Six children were born to this union. His second wife, to whom he was married on January 29, 1753, was Marie Anne Magnan.
FIFTY-NINE YEARS' PROGRESS
When Cadillac came in 1701, the country about Detroit was uninhabited, being a sort of neutral zone between the Five Nations and the western tribes. The soil was first cultivated by the French, whose methods were so superficial that only moderate crops were raised. There was no incentive to raise more than they did, because their market was limited to the villagers and Indians, and most of the former had gardens of their own. Voyageurs convoying goods to the upper posts were occasional customers. Wheat and Indian corn were the principal crops. The price of wheat varied from three to twenty-five livres (60c to $5.00) per minot or bushel, as the crop was abundant or scarec. Bread was usually baked by the public baker.
Until about 1727 the commandant controlled the trade of the post. This system gave rise to so much dissatisfaction that, about the time Deschaillons became commandant, trade was made free. At that time there were only about thirty families in the village and its environs. In fact, the post had fallen so low that it was officially proposed to abandon Detroit, if the owners of the trading licenses would surrender them for 500 livres. A report on conditions at that time says: "We shall have a post, abandoned, 300 leagues from Montreal, with no provision made for the garrison, the maintenance of which will fall on the king again, contrary to his will."
Under the free trade policy an improvement was soon noticeable. The first records, those of St. Anne's Church, were destroyed by fire in 1703. Later vital statistics were kept by the notary, Robert Navarre. From these two sources it is learned that between the years 1701 and 1730 there were 143 baptisms, 26 marriages and 72 deaths. The next decade showed 156 baptisms, 27 marriages and 73 deaths, more of each than during the first twenty-nine years of the town's existence. During the entire period of the French regime there were 998 baptisms, 147 marriages and 475 deaths.
Vol. I-8
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CHAPTER VIII BRITISH DOMINATION: 1760-1796
CONDITIONS AT DETROIT IN 1760-MAJ. ROBERT ROGERS-CAPT. DONALD CAMPBELL- MAJ. HENRY GLADWIN-COL. JOHN BRADSTREET-LIEUT .- COL. JOHN CAMPBELL -CAPT. GEORGE TURNBULL-FIGHT OVER ILE AUX COCHONS-CAPT. GEORGE ETHERINGTON-MAJ. HENRY BASSETT-THE QUEBEC ACT-JOHN CONNOLLY- RICHIARD BERINGER LERNOULT-ARENT SCHUYLER DE PEYSTER-JEHU HAY- MAJ. WILLIAM ANCRUM-CAPT. THOMAS BENNETT-CAPT. ROBERT MATTHEWS- MAJ. PATRICK MURRAY-MAJ. JOHN SMITH-COL. RICHARD ENGLAND.
The period of British domination over the post of Detroit, as well as the other western posts, begins with the siege of Quebec by General Wolfe, fol- lowed by the battle of the Plains of Abraham, where Wolfe and Montcalm met their deaths, the surrender of Montreal and the moving westward of British troops to take possession of the garrisons like Detroit which had come to them, the victors, as the spoils of war. Detroit was occupied by Maj. Robert Rogers, the "New England Ranger," and a detachment of English soldiers, on No- vember 29, 1760, in pursuance of the articles of capitulation of September, 1760, though the final treaty of peace between England and France was not concluded until February 10, 1763. Major Rogers came directly to Detroit from Niagara, some of his men arriving in bateaux by the river route, while another portion of the force marched along the southern shore of Lake Erie, driving a herd of cattle with them. This force of men which accompanied Rogers to Detroit was composed of a portion of the Royal American Regiment, made up of British colonists, and part of the Eightieth Regiment.
Thus, Detroit changed from a French colony to a British trading-post. The French had always been amicable with the Indians, but the English came in with the intention of driving out the Indian, also those of the French who were not amenable to their customs and rule. This was followed naturally by the uprising of the Indians under Pontiac, the siege of Detroit, the battle of Bloody Run and other historical incidents before an era of tranquillity and peace was to settle down over Detroit under British government.
When the English took possession they found in storage furs worth ap- proximately half a million dollars. For many years there had been an intense rivalry between the French and English for the control of the fur trade about the upper lakes. With the surrender of the French posts, the English took steps to increase the trade and within a few years about two hundred thousand skins were marketed annually. During those days the Detroit River was a great channel of commerce, even as now, but in the place of the lengthy freighters one sees now, there were numerous, gaudily-decorated canoes, manned by the red men and white traders. These canoes came down the river to Detroit loaded with valuable skins, which were bartered at the post. At night these canoes were pulled upon the shore, turned upside down, and under them the red or
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PLAN DU FORT DU DETROIT Echelle de Sourante Toises
5 10
20
30
40
50
A. Logement du Commandant
Rue
Saint
Joseph
B. Corps de Garde
c. l'Eglise
1) Magasin à Poudre
C
Rue
Jacques
E. Logement de I Aumonter
Anne
Sainte
Rue
Jardin du Roy
Louis
Saint
Rue
A
Boucherie
Detroit in 1760 from Dellin's atlas of 1764.
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white owner reposed. The English trader, it may be mentioned in this con- nection, was the source of the greater part of the trouble which arose between the English and the Indians. He was an unscrupulous fellow, utterly without principle, and his methods in business practice soon aroused the hatred and ire of the savages.
This condition, with the military despotism, usurpation of authority by civil officers, and the general unrest under the British domineering influence, caused many a year of turmoil before prosperity succeeded poverty. These features, military and official, are narrated at length in other chapters of this work.
MAJ. ROBERT ROGERS
Maj. Robert Rogers was born at Dunbarton, New Hampshire, in 1727. ITis father, James Rogers, was an Irishman and one of the first settlers of Dunbarton. From boyhood Robert was inured to the hardships of frontier life and assisted in protecting the New England settlements against Indian depredations. In 1755 he was commissioned a captain by Sir William Johnson, superintendent of Indian affairs, to drill a company of men as rangers. The company was formed of volunteers from the regulars to the number of thirty-five, also fifteen Royal Americans and six men selected by Rogers. Under the leadership of their dashing commander, "Rogers' Rangers" played an important part in the military operations in eastern New York, particularly about Crown Point and Ticonderoga. They performed many reckless feats, yet so skilfully were their movements conducted that they suffered few casualties. Rogers won the con- fidence of his superior officers and was promoted to major. A few days after the surrender of New France to the British, Gen. Jeffrey Amherst, commander of the English forces at Quebec, ordered him to take a force of some two hun- dred men and occupy Detroit. (See chapter on the French and Indian War.)
Major Rogers remained in Detroit but a short time, leaving on December 23, 1760, for Fort Pitt. He then joined General Grant's expedition against the Cherokee Indians, after which he went to London. He was a man of some education and while in England arranged for the publication of his "Journals," one edition of which was published in London and another in Dublin. He returned to America and on July 29, 1763, while Detroit was besieged by the Indians under Pontiac, he came to the relief of the post, bringing supplies and reinforcements for the garrison. While in Detroit on this occasion he took part in the Battle of Bloody Run.
Ou January 10, 1766, he was appointed commandant at Michilimackinac. . It seems that Gen. Thomas Gage wrote to Sir William Johnson about this time to learn something of Major Rogers' character. Sir William replied, telling how he had made Rogers an officer in the army, and added :
"He soon became puffed up with pride and folly, from the extravagant encomiums and notices of some of the provinces. This spoiled a good Ranger, for he was fit for nothing else. * * * He has neither understanding nor principles, as I could sufficiently show."
Notwithstanding this adverse report, Rogers assumed command at Michili- mackinac in August, 1766. The Indians were not friendly to the English and at that time the post was almost deserted by white men. It was not long until Rogers got into trouble by incurring expenses without authority, drawing orders upon the government which afterwards went to protest, etc. He was also
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charged with a design to plunder the post and desert to the French at New Orleans. He was arrested and sent to Montreal for trial, the principal witness against him being a Colonel Hopkins, whose own loyalty was not above suspicion. Rogers was acquitted of the charge of treason and soon afterward went again to London.
In 1775 he returned to America and wrote a letter to General Washington, offering his services to the cause of the colonists in the war with Great Britain. His offer was not accepted and many thought he was really a British spy. He then accepted a commission as lieutenant-colonel in the Queen's Rangers and became active in the English eause. On October 21, 1776, most of his command was captured at Mamoranee, Long Island Sound, and Rogers barely escaped. In 1778 the New Hampshire Legislature passed an act banishing him from the colony, but his estate was not confiscated. After his defeat at Mamoranee, Rogers again went to London and died there in 1800.
About the time Rogers entered the army he married Miss Elizabeth Browne, of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. After his arrest at Miehilimackinac she ob- tained a divorce and married John Roche. She died May 11, 1811.
Says Parkman: "An engraved portrait of Major Rogers was published in London in 1776. He is represented as a tall, strong man, dressed in the costume of a Ranger, with a powder horn slung at his side, a gun resting in the hollow of his arm, and a countenance by no means prepossessing."
CAPT. DONALD CAMPBELL
The territory embracing the post at Detroit was at this time under the control of Sir William Johnson and Gen. Thomas Gage, who were lieutenants of Sir Jeffrey Amherst, governor-general of the British colonies. Although Major Rogers and Colonel Croghan, who led the British troops to Detroit, were his superior officers, Capt. Donald Campbell was the first appointed eom- mandant at this post pending the settlement of peace. IIe was a "eanny Scot," who had seen military service in His Majesty's army for several years before coming to Detroit. IIe succeeded Major Rogers on December 23, 1760, and soon afterwards was promoted to major. At the time the British took posses- sion, the fort occupied about four bloeks of the present eity, sneh as might be bounded on the north by Larned Street, east by Griswold, south by Wood- bridge, and on the west by a line near Wayne Street. Early in the year 1761 Captain Campbell wrote to General Amherst as follows:
"The fort is very large and in good repair; there are two bastions toward the water and a large bastion toward the inland. The point of the bastion is a cavalier of wood, on which there are mounted the three-pounders and the three small mortars or coehorns. The palisades are in good repair. There is seaffolding around the whole, which is floored only toward the land for want of plank; it is by way of a banquette. There are seventy or eighty houses in the fort, laid out in regular streets. The country is inhabited ten miles on each side of the river and is a most beautiful country. The river is here about nine hundred yards over and very deep. Around the whole village, just within the palisades, was a road which was called the 'Chemin de Ronde.'"
Campbell was instructed to reeoneile the Indians to the change in gov- ernment, and presents were sent to him for distribution among them. He was also directed to disarm the French inhabitants, but as many of them were hunters or trappers, to have disarmed them would have been to deprive
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them of their means of earning a living. The order was then modified so as to apply only to those whose loyalty to the English order of things was sus- pected.
This was the first step toward the monopolization of the fur trade. Within a few years the English completely controlled the trade in furs, and the Ca- nadians, as the French were termed, were driven either to live on their farms or to join the Indians in the chase. They did both. During the spring and summer months they cultivated a small patch of ground, but when the hunting season opened they left their little crops to be taken care of by the women and children. Even in the summer, a large part of the farm work was performed by the women, the men spending their time in fishing, or in associating with the Indians, with whom most of them were on intimate terms.
About two weeks before he became commandant, Captain Campbell wrote to Col. Henry Boquet, commandant at Fort Pitt: "The inhabitants seem very happy at the change of government, but they are in great want of everything." Boquet undertook to supply the means of providing for this want by giving a permit to Thomas Colhoon to take a stock of goods to Detroit and open a trading establishment. Colhoon embraced the opportunity with enthusiasm, but before he was ready to start the weather grew so severe that he gave up the enterprise. Hamback and Van Der Velder, two Dutch traders, were then licensed by Boquet and they arrived in Detroit in January, 1761, with six horses and the first stock of goods brought to the post after the beginning of British rule.
Major Campbell was superseded as commandant by Maj. Henry Gladwin in July, 1762, but remained at Detroit as second in command. He was cruelly murdered by the Indians in July, 1763, an account of which is given in the chapter on Pontiac's Conspiracy. He was universally respected by both the Indians and the white men and the settlement at Detroit prospered while he was commandant.
MAJ. HENRY GLADWIN
The Gladwin family traces its descent back to Thomas Gladwin, who was born in Derbyshire, England, about 1605. Maj. Henry Gladwin was born in that shire in 1730, entered the army at an early age, and in 1753 was com- missioned as a lieutenant in Colonel Dunbar's regiment, with which he took part in the campaign that ended in the defeat of General Braddock at Little Meadows in July, 1755. He was then made a captain in the Eightieth Regi- ment of foot, in which he served until June 22, 1761, when he was promoted to major by General Amherst. Captain Gladwin was sent to relieve Niagara in 1760.
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