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 8
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" We, this day, the eighth of May, one thousand six hundred and eighty-nine, do, in the presence of the Reverend Father Marest of the Society of Jesus, mis- sionary among the Nadouessioux ; of Monsieur de Borie-
1 Green Bay, Wisconsin. 2 Dahkotahs.
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ny
the and ave hree self
Iro- ault of visit me . I the le in ths I htest
this arine 180." batch Iome sim- " he rould name ilbut, ents.
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144
HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
guillot,1 commanding the French in the neighbourhood of the Ouiskonche' on the Mississippi; Augustin Legar- deur, Esquire, Sieur de Caumont, and of Messieurs Le Sueur, Hebert, Lemire, and Blein : .
" Declare to all whom it may concern, that, being come from the Bay des Puants, and to the Lake of the Ouiskonches, and to the river Mississippi, we did trans- port ourselves to the country of the Nadouëssioux; on the border of the river St. Croix,3 and at the mouth of the river St. Pierre,4 on the bank of which were the Mantantans;5 and, farther up to the interior to the north-east of the Mississippi, as far as the Menchoka- tonx, with whom dwell the majority of the Songes- kitons, and other Nadouëssioux, who are to the north- east of the Mississippi, to take possession for, and in the name of the King, of the countries and rivers inhabited
0
1 Charlevoix writes Boisguillot.
? Wisconsin, (Fort St. Nicholas,) Ouiskonche, Mesconsing, Ouiscon- sing, Wiskonsan, are some of the former spellings of this word.
cause they had their village on Rice Creek, a stream which empties into the Mississippi seven miles above the Falls of St. Anthony. The sig- nification of the latter name is un-
" This is not ecclesiastical in its known. It is said that 'Ta-te-psin, associations, but named after Mons. Saint Croix, who was drowned at its pa, A-nog-i-na jin, Ru-ya-pa, and Ta- mouth .-- La Harpe's Louisiana.
" Nicollet supposes that this river bore the name of Capt. St. Pierre. . " The Dahkotahs have a tradition, that a tribe called Onktokądan, who lived on the St. Croix just above the lake, was exterminated by the Foxes.
Wa-su-wi-ca-xta-xni, Ta-can-rpi-sa- can-ku-wa-xte, whose names signify, respectively, Bounding-Wind, Bad- Hail, Black-Tomahawk, He-stands- both-sides, Eagle-Head, and Good- Road, are descendants of the Wa-kpa- a-ton-we-dan .- Wa-ku-te, Ta-o-ya-te- du-ta, Ma-za-ro-ta, Ma-rpi-ya-ma-za, Ma-rpi-wi-ca-xta, and Xa-kpe-dan, are said to be Ma-tan-ton-wans. The respective signification of their names is as follows: Shooter, His-scarlet-
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At an early date the Mde-wa-kan- ton-wan division of the Dahkotah tribe split into two parties, one of which was denominated Wa-kpa-a- ton.we-dan, and the other Ma-tan- people, Grey-Iron, Iron-Cloud, Sky- +ton-wan. The former name signifies, Man, and Little-six.
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-Those who-dwell-on-the-creek, he . ' M'daywawkawntwawns.
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145
FORT AT LAKE PEPIN. €
by the said tribes; and of which they are proprietors. The present act done in our presence, signed with our hand and subscribed."1.
The first French establishment in- Minnesota was on the west shore of Lake Pepin, a short distance above the entrance .? On a map of the year 1700, it was called Fort Bon Secours; three years later it was marked Fort Le Sueur, and abandoned;3 but in a much later map it is correctly called Fort Perrot.4 .
The year that Perrot visited Minnesota, Frontenac, who had been recalled seven years before, was recom- missioned as Governor of Canada. He issued orders that the Frenchmen in the upper Mississippi country should return to Mackinaw. "
Frontenac was dogmatic and overbearing, though deeply interested in the extension of the power of France. During the first term of office he had opposed the ecclesiastics, who deplored the ill effects of rum and licentious " coureurs des bois" upon the morals of the savages, and desired both excluded from the country. He had no interest in Christianity, and still less confi- dence in the Jesuits. In a communication to the government he bluntly said, to Colbert the minister, "To speak frankly to you, they think as much about the conversion of beavers as of souls. The majority of their missions are mere mockeries."".
Learning that Durantaye, the Commandant at Macki-
1 Then are given the names of those already mentioned. This're- North America. cord was drawn up at Green Bay, Wisconsin.
. 3 De l'Isle's Maps 1700, and 1703 This last name appears incorrect. .
See Jeffery's Map, 1762.
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2 Bellin's description of Map of
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ood gar- Le ing the ans- ;'on h of the the oka- iges- orth- the bited
2 Rice s into above he sig- iş un- e-psin, rpi-sa- nd Ta- ignify, , Bad- stands- Good- a-kpa- -ya-te- ma-za, pe-dan, 5. The names scarlet- d, Sky-
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" HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. - -
naw, was disposed to be friendly to missionary schemes, he superseded him by the appointment of Louvigny.
Perrot, who was on a .visit to Montreal, conducted the new commander to his post, where he found the Ottawas wavering, and about to carry their peltries to the English ; but by his uncommon tact, he regained their confidence, and a flotilla of one hundred canoes, with furs valued at one hundred thousand crowns,: started towards Montreal.
On the eighteenth of August, 1690, the citizens of that city perceived the waters of the Saint Lawrence dark- ened by descending canoes, and supposing that they were filled by the dreaded Iroquois, alarm-guns were fired to call in the citizens from the country ; but this terror was soon turned to joy, by a messenger arriving / with the intelligence that it was a party of five hundred Indiens, of various tribes near Mackinaw, who had come to the city to exchange their peltries. So large a number from the North-West had not appeared for years ; and, on the twenty-fifth, Count Frontenac gave them a grand feast of two oxen, six large dogs, two barrels of wine, and some prunes, with a plentiful supply of tobacco.
The Ottawas in council demanded the meaning of the hatchet Perrot had hung in their cabin. .
Frontenac told them that they were aware of the tidings he had received, that a powerful army was com- ing to ravage his country ; that all that was necessary to conclude was the mode of proceeding, whether to go and meet this army, or to wait for it with a firm foot; that he put into their hands the hatchet which. had been formerly given them, and had since been kept suspended
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LONG DESIRED PELTRIES ARRIVE AT MONTREAL. 147 for them, and he doubted not they would make good use of it.
He then, hatchet in hand, sung the war song, in which the Indians joined.
The increasing Iroquois and English hostility made . it a dangerous undertaking to transport in candes to or from, Mackinaw.
Lieutenant D'Argenteuil was despatched by Frontenac in 1692, with eighteen' Canadians on increased pay to Mackinaw, with an order to+Louvigny, the commander,, to send down all the Frenchmen that could be spared from the North-West, and the large amount of peltries that had accumulated at his post.
On the seventeenth of August two hundred canoes filled with Frenchmen and Ottawas arrived from the upper country at Montreal with the long-detained furs. · "The merchant, the farmer, and other individuals who might have some peltries there, were dying of hunger, with property they could not enjoy. Credit was ex- hausted, and the apprehension universal that the Eng- lish might seize this last resource of the country while .it was on the way. Terms sufficiently strong were not to be found to praise and bless him by whose care so much property had arrived."!
The Indians were: entertained at the governor's table, and on Sunday, the sixth of 'September, there was-a grand war dance. The next day they received presents, .A and during the week returned to their own country.
The French soon followed under the direction of Tonty, Commandant of the Illinois. La Motte, Cadil- lac, and D'Argenteuil shortly after were ordered to Mackinaw, Louvigny being recalled. Perrot was sta-
1 Paris Doc. vol, ix. N. Y. Cel. Hist.
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HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
tioned among the Miamis, at a place called " Malamek," in Michigan; and Le Sueur was sent to La Pointe of Lake Superior to maintain the peace that had just been concluded between the Ojibways and Dahkotahs.
The mission of Le. Sueur was important. As the * Foxes and Mascoutins had become inimical, the north- ern route to the Dahkotahs was the only one that could be used in transporting goods.
In the year 1695, the second post in Minnesota was built by Le Sueur: Above Lake Pepin, and below the mouth of the St. Croix, there are many islands, and the largest of these was selected as the site.1 The object of the establishment was to interpose a barrier between the Dahkotahs and Ojibways, and maintain the peaceful relations which had been created. Charlevoix speaks of the island as having a very beautiful prairie, and remarks that "the French of Canada have made it a centre of commerce for the western parts, and many pass the winter here, because it is a good country for hunting." . ,
On the fifteenth of July, Le Sueur arrived at Mon- treal with a party of Ojibways, and the first Dahkotah 'brave that had ever visited Canada.
The Indians were much impressed with the power of France by the marching of a detachment of seven hundred picked men, under Chevalier Cresafi, who were on their way to La Chine. .
On the eighteenth, Frontenac, in the presence of Callieres and other persons of distinction, gave them an audience.
The first speaker was the chief of the Ojibway band ät La Pointe, Shingowahbay, who said :-
* Bellin in his description of the Chart of North America.
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149
OJIBWAY AND DAHKOTAH CHIEFS' SPEECH.
" That he was come to pay his respects to Onontio,' in the name of the young warriors of Point Chagoua migon, and to thank him for having given them some Frenchmen to dwell with them; to testify their sorrow for one Jobin, a Frenchman, who was killed at a feast accidentally, and not maliciously .. We come to ask a favour of you, which is to let us act. We are allies of e Sciou. Some Outagamies or Mascoutins have been killed. The Sciou came to mourn with us. 'Let us act, Father; let us take revenge.
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"Le Sueur alone, who is acquainted with the lan- guage of the one and the other, can serve us. We ask that he return with us."
Another speaker of the Ojibway's was Le Brochet.
Tēeoskahtay, the Dahkotah chief, before he spoke, spread out a beaver robe, and laying another with a tobacco pouch and' otter skin, began to weep bitterly. After drying his tears he said :- -
" All of the nations had a father who afforded them protection ; all of them have iron. But he was a bas- tard in quest of a father; he was come to see him, and begs that he will take pity on him."
He then placed upon the beaver robe twenty-two arrows, at each arrow naming a Dahkotah village that desired Frontenac's protection. Resuming his speech, he remarked :-
" It is not on account of what I bring that I hope he who rules this earth will have pity on me. I learned · from the Sauteurs that he wanted nothing; that he was the Master of the Iron; that he had a big heart, into which he could receive all the nations. This has
1 The title the Indians always gave to the Governor.
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was the the oject veen ceful® eaks and it a nany y for
Mon- kotah
ower seven were
ce of m an band
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HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
induced me to abandon my people to come to seek his protection, and to beseech him to receive me among the number of his children. Take courage, Great Captain, and reject me not; despise me not though I appear poor in your eyes. All the nations here present know that I am rich, and the little they offer here is taken from my lands."
Count Frontenac in reply told the chief that he would receive the Dahkotahs as his children, on condition that they would be obedient, and that he would send back Le Sueur with him.
Tēeoskahtay, taking hold of the governor's knees, wept, and said :- " Take pity on us ; we are well aware that we are not able to speak, being children; but Le Sueur, who understands our language, and has seen all our villages, will next year inform you what will have been achieved by the Sioux nations, represented by those arrows before you."
Having finished, a Dahkotah woman, the wife of a great chief whom Le Sueur had purchased from captivity at Mackinaw, approached those in authority, and with downcast eyes embraced their knees, weeping and say- ing :-
"I thank thee, Father; it is by thy means I have been liberated, and am no longer captive."
Then Teeoskahtay resumed :-
" I speak like a man penetrated with joy. The Great Captain ; he who is the Master of the Iron, assures me of his protection, and I promise him that if he conde- scends to restore my children, now prisoners among the Foxes, Ottawas, and Hurons, I will feturn hither, and bring with me the twenty-two villages whom he has just restored to life by promising to send them Iron."
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DAHKOTAH CHIEF DIES IN CANADA ..
On the 14th of August, two weeks after the Ojibway chief left for his home on Lake Superior, Nicholas Per- rot arrived with a deputation of Sauks, Foxes, Meno- monees, Miamis of Maaramek, and Pottowattamies.
Two days after, they had a council with the governor, who thus spoke to a Fox brave :- .
" I see that you are a young man; your nation has quite turned away from my wishes; it has pillaged some of my young men, whom it has treated as slaves. I know that your father, who loved the French, had no hand in the indignity. You only imitate the example of your father, who had sense, when you do not co- operate with those of your tribe who are wishing to go over to my enemies, after they grossly insulted me, and defeated the Sioux, whom I now consider my son. I pity the Sioux; I pity the dead whose. loss I deplore. Perrot goes up there, and he will speak to your nation from me, for the release of their prisoners; let them attend to him." . .
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Tēeoskahtay never returned to his native land. While in Montreal he was taken sick, and in thirty- three days. he ceased to breathe; and, followed by white men, his body was interred in the white man's grave.
Le Sueur, instead of going back to Minnesota that year, as was expected, went to France, and received a license, in 1697, to open certain mines supposed to exist in Minnesota. The ship in which he was returning, was captured by the English, and he was taken to England. . After his release, he went back to France, and, in 1698, obtained a new commission for mining.
While Le Sueur was in, Europe, the Dahkotahs waged war against the Foxes and Miamis. In retalia-
his g the tain, poor that from
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nees, ware t Le n all have d by
of a tivity with I say-
have
Great es me onde- g the r, and s just
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HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
tion, the latter raised a war party, and entered the land of the Dahkotahs. Finding their foes intrenched, and assisted by "coureurs des bois," they were indignant ; and on their return they had a skirmish with some Frenchmen, who were carrying goods to the Dahko- tahs,
Shortly after, they met Perrot, and were about to - burn him to death, when prevented by some friendly Foxes. The Miamis, after this, were disposed to be friendly to the Iroquois. In 1696, the year previous, the authorities at Quebec decided that it was expedient to abandon all the posts west of Mackinaw, and with- draw the French from Wisconsin and Minnesota.
The "voyageurs" were not disposed to leave the country, and the governor wrote to Pontchartrain for ; instructions, in October, 1698. In his despatch he remarks :-
"In this conjuncture, and under all these circum- stances, we consider it our duty to postpone, until new instructions from the court, the execution of Sieur Le Sueur's enterprise for the- mines, though the promise had already been given him to send two canoes in advance to Missilimackinac, for the purpose of pur- chasing there some provisions and other necessaries for his voyage, and that he would be permitted to go and join them early in the spring with the rest of his hands. What led us to adopt this resolution has been, that the French who remained to trade off with the Five Na- tions the remainder of their merchandise, might, on seeing entirely new comers arriving there, consider themselves entitled to dispense with coming down, and perhaps adopt the resolution to settle there; whilst, seeing no arrival there, with permission to do what is
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LE SUEUR'S LICENSE TO MINE REVOKED.
forbidden, the reflection they will be able to make during the winter, and the apprehension of being guilty of crime, may oblige them to return in the spring. -
"This would be very desirable, in consequence of the great difficulty there will be in constraining them to it," should they be inclined to lift the mask altogether and become buccaneers; or should Sieur Le Sueur, as he easily could do, furnish them with goods for their beaver and smaller peltry, which he might send down by the return of other Frenchmen, whose sole desire is to obey, and who have remained only because of the impossibility of getting their effects down. This would rather induce those who would continue to lead a vaga- bond life to remain there, as the goods they would obtain from Le Sueur's people would afford them the means of doing so."
In reply to this communication, Louis XIV. answered that
" His majesty has approved that the late Sieur de Frontenac and De Champigny, suspended the execution of the license granted to the man named Le Sueur to proceed, with fifty men, to explore some mines on the banks of the Mississippi. He has revoked said license, and desires that the said Le Sueur, or any other person, be prevented from leaving the colony on pretence of going in search of mines, without his majesty's express permission."
Le Sueur, undaunted by these drawbacks to the pro- secution of a favourite project, again visited France.
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HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
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CHAPTER VIII.
FORTUNATELY for Le Sueur, D'Iberville, who was a friend, and closely connected by marriage, was appointed governor of the new territory of Louisiana.1
In the month of December he arrived from France, with thirty workmen, to proceed to the supposed mines in Minnesota.
On the thirteenth of July, 1700, with a felucca, two canoes, and nineteen men, having ascended the Missis- sippi, he had reached the mouth of the Missouri, and six leagues above this he passed the Illinois. He there met three Canadians, who came to join him, with a letter from Father Marest, who had once attempted a " mission among the Dahkotahs, dated July 13, Mission Immaculate Conception of the Holy Virgin, in Illinois,
" I have the honour to write, in order to inform you that the Saugiestas have been defeated by the Scioux and Ayavois (Iowas). The people have formed an alliance with the Quincapous (Kickapoos), some of the Mecou- tins, Renards (Foxes), and Metesigamias, and gone to revenge themselves, not on the Scioux, for they are too much afraid of them, but perhaps on the Ayavois, or very likely upon the Paoutees, or more probably upon
1 Charlevoix says that he was the father of the governor, perhaps wife's father?
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LE SUEUR MEETS A WAR PARTY.
the Osages, for these suspect nothing, and the others are on their guard. :
" As you will probably meet these allied nations, you ought to take precaution against their plans, and not allow them to board your vessel, since they are traitors, and utterly faithless. I pray God to accompany you in all your designs."
Twenty-two leagues above the Illinois, he passed a small stream which he called the River of Oxen, and nine leagues beyond this he passed a small river on the west side, where he met four Canadians descending the Mississippi, on their way to the Illinois. On the 30th of July, nine leagues above the last-named river, he met seventeen Scioux, in seven canoes, who were going to revenge the death of three Scioux, one of whom had been burned, and the others killed, at Tamarois, a few days before his arrival in that village. As he had pro- . mised the chief of the Illinois to appease the Scioux, who should go to war against his nation, he made a present to the chief of the party-to engage him to turn back. He told them the King of France did not wish them to make this river more bloody, and that he was sent to . tell them that, if they obeyed the king's word, they would receive in future all things necessary for. them. The chief answered that he accepted the present, that is to say, that he would do as had been told him.
From the 30th of July to the 25th of August, Le Sueur advanced fifty-three and one-fourth leagues to a small river which he called the River of the Mine.1 At the mouth it runs from the north, but it turns to the north-east. On the right seven leagues, there is a lead
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1 This is the first mention of the Galena mines.
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HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
mine in a prairie, one and a half leagues; the river is only navigable in high water, that is to say, from early spring till the month of June.
From the 25th to the 27th he made ten leagues, passed two small rivers, and made himself acquainted with a mine of lead, from which he took a supply. From the 27th to the 30th he made eleven and a half leagues, and met five Canadians, one of whom had been dangerously wounded in the head. They were naked, and had no ammunition except a miserable gun, with five- or six loads. of powder and balls. They said they were descending from the Scioux to go to Tama- rois ; and, when seventy leagues above, they perceived nine canoes in the Mississippi, in which were ninety savages, who robbed and cruelly beat them. This party were going to war against the Scioux, and were com- posed of four different. nations, the Outagamis (Foxes), Saquis {Sauks), Poutouwatamis (Pottowattamies), and Pauns (Winnebagoes), who dwell in a country eighty leagues east of the Mississippi from where Le Sueur then was.
The Canadians determined to follow the detachment, which was composed of twenty-eight men. This day they made seven and a half leagues. On the 1st of Sep- tember, he passed the Wisconsin river. It runs into the Mississippi from the north-east. It is nearly one and a half miles wide. At about seventy-five leagues up this river, on the right, ascending, there is a portage of more than a league. The half of this portage is'shaking ground, and at the end of it is a small river which descends into a bay called Winnebago Bay. It-is in- habited by a great number of nations who carry their furs to Canada. Monsieur Le Sueur came by the Wis-
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DAHKOTAHS ROBBED CANADIANS.
consin river to the Mississippi, for the first time, in 1683, on his way to the. Scioux country, where he had already passed seven years at different periods. The Mississippi, opposite the mouth of the Wisconsin, is less than a half mile wide. From the 1st of September to the 5th, our voyageur advanced fourteen leagues. He passed the river " Aux Canots," which comes. from the north-east, and then the Quincapous, named from a nation which once dwelt upon its banks.
From the 5th to the 9th, he made ten and a half leagues, and passed the Rivers Cachee and Aux Ailes. The same day he perceived canoes, filled with savages, descending the river, and the five Canadians recognised them as the party who had robbed them. They placed sentinels in the wood, for fear of being surprised by land; and, when they had approached within hearing, they cried to them that if they approached farther they would fire. They then drew up by an island, at half the distance of a gun shot. Soon, four of the principal men of the band approached in a canoe, and asked if it was forgotten that they were our brethren, and with what design we had taken arms when we . perceived them. Le Sueur replied that he had cause to distrust them, since they had robbed five of his party. - Nevertheless, for the surety of his trade, being forced to be at peace with all the tribes, he demanded no redress for the robbery, but added merely that the king, their master and his, wished that his subjects hould navigate that river without insult, and that they had better beware how they acted.
The Indian who had spoken was silent, but another said they had been attacked by the Scioux, and that if they did not have pity on them, and give them a little
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HISTORY OF MINNESOTA.
1 powder, they should not be able to reach their village. The consideration of a missionary, who was to go up among the Scioux, and whom these savages might meet, induced them to give two pounds of powder.
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