USA > Minnesota > Dahkotah land and Dahkotah life [microform] : with the history of the fur traders of the extreme northwest during the French and British dominions > Part 10
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HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
Le Sueur, who goes to France to give an account of this country, is the proper person to make these movements. He estimates the Sioux at four thousand families, who could settle upon the Missouri ..
" He has spoken to me of another which he calls the Mahas, composed of more than twelve hundred families, the Ayooues (Ioways) and the Octoctatas their neigh- bours, are about three hundred families. They occupy the lands between the Mississippi and the Missouri,, about one hundred leagues from the Illinois. These savages do not know the use of arms, and a descent might be made upon them in a river, which is beyond the Wabash on"the west. * * *
"The Assinibouel, Quenistinos, and people of the North, who are upon the rivers. which fall into the Mississippi, and trade at Fort Nelson (Hudson Bay), are about four hundred men. We could prevent them from going there if we wish."
" In four or five years we can establish a commerce with these savages of sixty or eighty thousand buffalo skins; inore than one hundred deer skins, which will produce, delivered in France, more than two million four hundred thousand livres yearly. One might obtain for a buffalo skin four or five pounds of wool, which sells for twenty sous, two pound of coarse hair at ten sous. 1
" Besides, from smaller peltries, two hundred thou- sand livres can be made yearly."
In the, third volume of the "History and Statistics of the Indian Tribes," prepared under the direction of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, by Mr. Schoolcraft, a manuscript, a copy of which is in possession of General Cass, is referred to as containing the first enumeration
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EARLIEST CENSUS OF INDIANS OF MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.)173 €
of the Indians of the Mississippi Valley. The following was made thirty-four years earlier :-
"The Sioux, . Families, 4,000. Chicachas, . 2,000
Mahas, . .12,000 . Mobiliens and Chohomes, 350
Octata and Ayoues,
300 : Concaques, (Conchas) 2,000
Canses, (Kansas), 1,500* Ouma, (Houmas) 150
Missouri, 1,500
Colapissa, 250
Arkansas, &c., 200 :
Bayogoula, 100
Manton, (Mandan)
2,000
Counica, &c.,' (Tonicas) 300
Caensa, (Tãensa) 150
Illinois, of the great village and Camaroua (Tamaroa) 800
Nadeches,
1,500
5 Meosigamea, (Metchigamias) 200
Kikapous and Mascoutens, 450
Miamis, 500
4,000
Chactas,
"The savage tribes located in the places I have marked out, make it necessary to establish three posts on the Mississippi. One, at the Arkansas, another at the Wabash (Ohio), and the third at the Missouri. . At each post it would be proper to have an officer with a detachment of ten soldiers, with a sergeant and corporal .. All Frenchmen should be allowed to settle there with their families, and trade with the Indians, and they might establish tanneries for properly dressing. the buffalo and deer skins for transportation.
" No Frenchman shall be allowed to follow the Indians' on their hunts, as it tends to keep them hunters, as is seen in Canada, and when they are in the woods they do * * not desire to become tillers of the soil. * *
" I have said nothing in this memoir of which I have not personal knowledge or the most reliable sources. The most of what I propose is founded upon personal reflection, in relation to what might be done for the defence and advancement of the colony.
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Panis, (Pawnee)
100 1 . People of the Fork, 200
Belochy, (Biloxi) Pascoboula. 100
Total, 23,850
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174
HISTORY OF MINNESOTA ..
* It will be absolutely necessary that the king · should define the limits of this country, in relation to · the government of Canada. . It is important that the commandant of the Mississippi should have a report of those who inhabit the rivers that fall into the Mississippi, and principally those of the river Illinois.
" The Canadians intimate to the savages that they ought not to listen to us, but to the governor of Canada, who always speaks to them with large presents; that the governor, of the Mississippi is mean, and never sends them anything. This is true, and what I cannot do. It is imprudent to accustom"the savages to be spoken to by presents, for, with so many, it would cost the king more than the revenue derived from the trade. When they come to us, it will be necessary to bring them in subjection, make them no presents, and compel them to do what we wish, as if they were Frenchmen.
" The Spaniards have divided the Indians into parties on this point, and we can do the same. When one nation does wrong, we can cease to trade with them, and threaten to draw down the hostility of other Indians. We rectify the difficulty by having mission- aries, who will bring them into obedience secretly.
1
" The Illinois and Mascoutens have detained the French canoes they find upon the Mississippi, saying that the governors of Canada have given them permis- , sion. I do not know whether this is so, but, if true, it follows that we have not the liberty to send any one on the Mississippi.
"M. Le Sueur would have been taken if he had not been the strongest. Only one of the canoes he sent to the Sioux was plundered." * * * *
On the third of March, 1703, the workmen left at
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RETURN OF WORKMEN FROM MAHKAHTO.
Mahkahto returned to Mobile, having left Minnesota on account of the hostility of the Indians, and the want . of means.
Le Sueur, on his return from France, does not appear to have visited Minnesota. His name appears in the history of Louisiana as a leader of expeditions against the Natchez and other southern tribes. It is said that he died on the road while passing through the colony of Louisiana.1
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176
HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
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CHAPTER IX.
AT the commencement of the eighteenth century, the Dahkotahs were still dwelling at the Spirit Lake, east of. the Mississippi; but influences were beginning to operate, which eventually led to dislodgment from their ancient stronghold.
When the French traders first, visited Green Bay, they found the Sauks a fierce and haughty people, wandering about the country between the head waters of the Fox and Chippeway rivers. Below them, and ahove the Illinois, resided the Fox or Outagami nation,1 with whom they were closely allied by intermarriage. The French, from the first, seemed to be unsuccessful in obtaining their good-will, the early voyageurs having behaved themselves as bandits rather than civilized men.
In the year 1700 the Sauks and' Foxes were defeated in a contest with the Dahkotahs and Ioways; and
1 The Ojibways assert that the Foxes, before theirincorporation with the Sauks, spoke a different lan- guage, and they called them " O-dug- aum-eeg," or people of the opposite side.
A French memoir on the Indians between Lake Erie and Mississippi, prepared in 1718, confirms this
statement. "The Foxes are eighteen . leagues from the Sacs, they number five hundred men, abound in women and children, are as industrious as they can be, and have a different language from the Ottawas. An Ottawa interpreter would be of no use with the Foxes." Paris Doc. vii. in N. Y. O. H. vol. ix.
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177
ATTACK OF FOXES ON DETROIT.
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shortly after this they began to manifest open hostility against the French. Under the direction of the noted warriors Lamina and Pemoussa, they marched to the post at Detroit, which was the key to the commerce of the upper lakes, with the intention of exterminating the small garrison of thirty men, and delivering the post to the English, who, from the year 1687, had been looking wistfully towards the beautiful peninsula which now comprises the commonwealth of Michigan.
For days they prowled around the rude stockade, watching every opportunity for insult and murder.
To prevent the burning of the post, Du Buisson, the commander, ordered the chapel, storehouse, and other outbuildings to be destroyed. .
· After a few days De Vincennes and eight Frenchmen arrived, but brought no news that was cheering; and the commander, in his despatch to the governor of Canada, admits his alarm, and writes, " I did not know on what saint to call."
The hour now came for decided action. The gates' of the little fort were closed; the garrison divided into four companies ; arms and ammunition duly inspected ; two swivels, mounted on logs, loaded with slugs; all were waiting‹ with anxious impatience, for the attack to commence, when the commander, ascending the bastion, descried a friendly force of Osages, Missouris, Illinois, and other allies, issuing from the forest., The gates being thrown open, they were warmly greeted.
A moment's silence, a terrific war-whoop, that made the very earth tremble, and the battle began in earnest, and murderous missiles flew like hail-stones. To pro- tect themselves from the fire of the fort, the Sauks and Foxes dug holes in the ground, but they were soon'
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178
HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
besieged. After being surrounded for nineteen days, they succeeded in making their escape, on a dark and rainy night, after the attacking party were asleep. The discovery was not made till morning, when they were found at Presque Isle, near Lake St. Clair. The fight was here renewed, and the Foxes were thoroughly de- feated, losing about one thousand men, women, and children.1
Maddened by their want of success, they came back . with the portion of the Sauks who were their allies to their residence in Wisconsin, and revenged themselves by scalping every French trader they could find, and waging war on the Ojibways and other tribes who had. aided the French.
Travel to Louisiana by way of the Wisconsin river was entirely cut off; and in 1714 the governor of Ca- nada determined to subdue or exterminate thẻm. A force of eight hundred men marched to their villages, and the Foxes, under the pressure of necessity, formed a friendly alliance with their old foes, the Dahkotahs of Minnesota. The invading army found the foe, to . the number of five hundred men and three thousand women, strongly intrenched. De Louvigny, the com- mander, planted his field pieces and a grenade mortar, and began the attack ; but the Foxes soon capitulated, and six hostages were given by them as security for the presence of their deputies at Montreal, to perfect the terms of the treaty. . While at Montreal, Pemoussa, the great warrior, and others of the hostages, died of small- pox.
Fearing that this calamity might defeat the arrange-
1 This must be an exaggeration of the French report, from which the facts were obtained.
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179
PREDICTION IN RELATION TO ENGLISHI MASTERY.
ments for the final treaty, De Louvigny was sent to Mackinaw with one of the hostages, who had recovered from the small-pox with the loss of one eye. Arriving in May, 1717, he despatched the one-eyed chief with suitable presents to cover the dead. The Fox chiefs promised to comply with the provisions of the original capitulation, and the pock-marked warrior departed for Mackinaw, with the interpreter, but he soon eloped, and in a little while the truce-breaking Foxes were again shedding blood. They not only harassed the French, but leagued with the Chickasaws of the south, as well as the fierce Dahkotahs of the north.
For a number of years the French government had discountenanced traders dwelling with the Indians west of Mackinaw, and the old license system was abolished. But, in 1726, it was observed that the English were obtaining such an influence over the distant nations, that, to counteract it, the licensing of traders to dwell among the upper tribes was renewed.
A despatch on this point, made a prediction, which has been fully verified :-
" From all that precedes, it is more and more obvious, that the English are endeavouring to interlope among all the Indian nations, and to attach them to them- selves. They entertain constantly the idea of becoming masters of North America, persuaded that the European nation which will be possessor of that section, will, in course of time, be also master of all America, because.it is there alone that men live in health, and produce strong and robust children."
To thwart them it was proposed to restore the twenty- five licenses for trading, which had been suppressed, by which seventy-five "coureurs des bois" would proceed
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180
HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
annually to the upper tribes, and be absent eighteen months; also, to abolish the prohibitory liquor law, which . had been enacted through the influence of the mission- · aries. The argument in favour of this measure was in ' these words :-
"'Tis true, that the Indians are crazy when drunk, and when they have once tasted brandy, that they give all they possess to obtain some more, and drink it to . · excess.
" Missionaries will complain that this permission de- stroys the Indians and the religion among them. But, apart from the fact that they will always have rum from the English, the question is, whether it be better that the English penetrate into the continent by favour of that rum, which attracts the Indians to them, than to suffer the French to furnish them with liquor in order to preserve these nations, and to prevent them declaring eventually in favour of the English."1
In view of the troubles among the tribes of the north -. west, in the month of September, 1718, Captain St. Pierre, who had great influence. with the Indians of Wisconsin and Minnesota, was sent with Ensign Linctot and some soldiers to re-occupy La Pointe, on Lake Supe- rior, now Bayfield, in the north-western point of Wis- consin. The chiefs of the band there and at Keweenaw, had threatened war against the Foxes, who had killed . some of their number.
On the seventh of June, 1726, peace was concluded. by De Lignery with the Sauks, Foxes, and Winnebar ' goes, at Green Bay; and, Linctot, who had succeeded Saint Pierre in command at La Pointe, was ordered, by
+ Written May 7th, 1726.
181
LINCTOT AT LA POINTE.
presents and the promise of a missionary, to endeavour to detach the Dahkotah's from their alliance with the Foxes. At this time Linctot made arrangements for peace between the Ojibways and Dahkotahs, and sent two Frenchmen to dwell in the villages of the latter, with a promise that, if they ceased to fight the Ojib- ways, they should have regular trade, and a " black robe" reside in their country.
The Ojibways, after the treaty, came down to Mon- treal, and were thus addressed by Longeuil,1 the gover- nor :-
" I am rejoiced, my children of the. Sauteurs, at the peace which Monsieur De Linctot has procured for you . with the Sioux, your neighbours, and also on account of the prisoners you have restored to them. I desire him, in the letter which I now give you, my son Cabina, for him, that he maintain this peace, and support,the- . happy reunion which now appears to exist between the Sioux and you. I hope he will succeed in it, if you are attentive to his words, and if you follow the lights which he will show you.
" My heart is sad on account of the blows which the Foxes of Green Bay have given you, of which you have just spoken, and of which the commandant has written in his letter. It appears to me that Heaven has revenged you for your losses, since it has given you the flesh of a young Fox to eat. You, have done well to listen to the words of your commandant to keep quiet, and respect the words of your Father.
" It would not have been good to embroil the whole land in order to revenge a blow struck by people with-
1 The Baron Longeuil, was Charles, Le Moyne, a native of Canada. He died in 1729.
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orth- n St. ns of nctot Supe- Wis- enaw, killed ·
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182*
2
HISTORY OF' MINNESOTA.
out sense or reason, who have no authority in their own villages.
" I invite you by this tobacco, my children, to remain ' . in tranquillity in your lodges, awaiting the news of what shall be decided in the council at the bay (Green Bay), by the commandant of Mackinaw.
. " There is coming from France a new Father, who will not fail to inform you, as soon as 'he shall be able to take measures and stop the bad affair which the Foxes wish to cause in future.
" And to convince you, my children, of the interest I take in your loss, here are two blankets, two shirts, and two pairs of leggings, to cover the bodies of those of your children who have been killed, and to stop the blood which has been spilled upon your mats. I add to this, four shirts to staunch the wounds of those who have been hurt in this miserable affray, with a package. of tobacco to comfort the minds of your young men, and also to cause them to think hereafter of good things, and wholly to forget bad ones.
"This is what I exhort you all, my children, while waiting for news from your new Father, and also to be always attentive to the words of the French command- ant, who now smokes his pipe in security among you.".
The Foxes again proved faithless, having received belts from the English, and determined to attack the French. The authorities at Quebec now determined to send a regular army into their country. Their prepara- tions were kept secret; for, says Beauharnois, "they already had an assurance of a passage into the country of the Sioux of the Prairies, their allies, in such a man- ner, that if they had. known of our design of making war, it would have been easy to have withdrawn in
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183
FRENCHI RE-ESTABLISHED AT LAKE PEPIN.
that direction, before we could block up the way and attack them in their towns."
To hem in the Fox nation as much as possible, Fort Perrot, or a site a few miles above, on the shores of Lake Pepin, was re-occupied.1 Shortly after the arrival of the French, the Indians moved off, and joined the Dahkotahs of the Plains, in a war with the Omahaws.
The governor of Canada felt that the occupancy of this post was of vital importance. In a despatch to the French government he eloquently urges his views :- '
" The interests of religion, of the service, and of the ' colony are involved in the maintenance of this establish- ment, which has been the more necessary as there is no. doubt but the Foxes, when routed, would have found an. asylum among the Scioux, had not the French been set- tled there, and the docility and submission manifested by the Foxes cannot be attributed to any cause except the attention entertained by the Scioux for the French, and the offers which the, former made the latter, of which the Foxes were fully cognisant.
" It is necessary to retain the Scioux in these favour- able dispositions, in order to keep the Foxes in check,
1 "The fort the French built among Col. D. vol. ix., p. 1016. The fort the Scioux on the border of Lake seems to be higher up than Perrot's, Pepin, appears to be badly situated .on account of the freshets. But the Indians assure that the waters rose higher in 1727 than it ever did before; and this is credible, inasmuch as it did not reach the fort this year. *
and was built by Laperriere. Pike in his journal appears to have this fort in view, when he says: "Just below the (point of sand) Pt. de Sable, the French, under Frontenac, who had driven the Renards from the Wisconsin, and chased them up the Mississippi river, built a stockade
* * * As the waters might possibly 'rise as high as 1727, this fort could 1 be removed four or five arpents from . on this lake (Pepin), as a barrier the shore without prejudice to the against the savages. It became a views entertained in building it on noted factory for the Sioux." ita present site. Paris Doc. N. Y.
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184
HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
and counteract the measures they might adopt to gain over the Scioux, who will invariably reject their propo- sitions so long as the French remain in the country, and . their trading post shall continue there. But, despite all these advantages and the importance of preserving that establishment, M. de Beauharnois cannot take' any steps until he has news of the French who asked his permission this summer to go up there with a canoe load of goods, and until assured that those who wintered : there have not dismantled the fort, and that the Scioux continue in the same sentiments. Besides, it does not seem very easy in the present conjuncture, to maintain that post, unless there be a solid peace with the Foxes ; on the other hand, the greatest portion of the traders, who applied in 1727 for the establishment of that post, have withdrawn, and will not send thither any more, as the rupture with the Foxes, through whose country it is necessary to pass in order to reach the Scioux in canoe, has led them to abandon the idea. But the one and the other case might be remedied. The Foxes will, in all probability, come or send next year to sue for peace ; therefore, if it be granted to them on advanta- geous conditions, there need be no apprehension when going to the Scioux, and another company could be formed, less numerous than the first, through whom, or some responsible merchants able to afford the outfits, a new treaty could be made whereby these difficulties would be soon obviated. One only trouble remains, and that is, to send a commanding and sub-officer, and some soldiers up there, which are absolutely necessary for the maintenance of good order at that post; the mission- aries would not go there without a commandant. This article, which regards the service, and the expense of
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185
DE LIGNERY'S EXPEDITION AGAINST THE FOXES.
which must be on his majesty's account, obliges them to apply for orders. They will, as far as lies in their power, induce the traders to meet that expense, which will possibly amount to 1000 livres or 1500 livres a year for the commandant, and in proportion for the officer under him; but, as in the beginning of an establishment the; expenses exceed the profits, it is improbable that any company of merchants will assume the outlay, and in this case they demand orders on this point, as well as his majesty's opinion as to the necessity of preserving so useful a post, and a nation which has already afforded proofs of its fidelity and attachment.
"These orders could be sent them by way of Ile Royale, or by the first merchantmen that will sail for Quebec. The time required to receive intelligence of the occurrences in the, Scioux country, will admit of their waiting for these orders before doing anything."
On the fifth of June, 1728, an army of four hundred Frenchmen and eight or nine hundred savages, em- barked "at Montreal, on an expedition to destroy the Fox nation and their allies, the Sauks. De Lignery" was the head of the expedition-a man like Braddock at Fort Duquesne, who moved his army with precision and pomp, as if the savages were accustomed to fight in platoons, and observe the laws of war, recognised by all civilized nations.
On the seventeenth of August, in the dead of night, the army arrived at the post at the mouth of Fox river. Before dawn the French crossed over to the Sauk ,vil- lage, but all had escaped with the exception of four. Ascending the stream on the twenty-fourth, they came
' Taught by experience, he afterwards became an able officer. in the French war.
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HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
to a Winnebago village which was also deserted. Pass- ing over the Little Fox Lake, on the twenty-fifth, they entered a small river leading to marshy ground, on the borders of which there was a large Fox village. Here again was another disappointment, for the swift-footed savages had gone many miles on their trail long before the army came in sight.
Orders were then given to advance upon the last stronghold of the enemy, near the portage of the Wis- consin, and on their arrival they found all as still as the desert. On the return of the army from this fruit- less expedition, the Indian villages on the line of march were devastated, and the fort at Green Bay abandoned. The Foxes, having abandoned everything, retired to the country of the Ioways and Dahkotahs, and probably at this time they pitched their tents and hunted in the valley of the Sauk river in Minnesota.
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