USA > Missouri > A history of Missouri from the earliest explorations and settlements until the admission of the state into the union, Volume I > Part 29
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43
Perhaps urged by the French government, at that time very
27 5 Margry, p. 409, " Relation de Penicaut.".
28 Ibid., p. 410.
29 66 Jesuit Relations, p. 291 (the Burrows Ed.), and 69 Jesuit Relations, p. 221, letter of Father Vivier.
31 Mason's Early History of Illinois, p. 228.
250
HISTORY OF MISSOURI
anxious to establish the American colonial empire of France on a firm foundation, Bienville, governor of Louisiana, in 1708 sent an expedition to explore the Missouri to its sources; but the details of this expedition have not been preserved. The names of the adven- turers are unchronicled. It is more than likely that the desire to find mines of precious ores was the main incentive which caused these expeditions to be equipped and sent out, as well as to anticipate the Spaniards, who were also very active in expanding their claims to territory. At any rate, the activity of the French on the Missouri at this time so impressed the Spaniards that decided action was nec- essary that in 1720 they sent an expedition from Santa Fe, "for the purpose of establishing a military post in the upper Mississippi Valley as a barrier to further encroachment of the French in that direction." Bienville, according to Dumont, was advised of this contemplated expedition, and sent information to La Harpe, then on the Arkansas river, by a party of Missouris. This Spanish expedi- tion or caravan, as it was called, consisted of upward of fifteen hundred people, if we are to believe Bossu's narrative, men, BOSSU women, children, and soldiers, accompanied by horses and cattle. The idea seems to have been to form a complete and permanent settlement, self-sustaining, as far as possi- ble, from the beginning. Perhaps, because known to be allied to the French, it was designed to destroy, or at least make war on the Missouris, and to form an alliance with the Osages. But this expedition, instead of reaching the Osages, came, without knowing it, into a village of the Missouris. The Spanish commandant presented himself to the great chief, and, offering a calumet, made him understand through an interpreter, believing himself to be speaking to the Osages, that they were the enemies of the Mis- souris and had come to destroy them; and, says Bossu,32 "the great chief of the Missouris concealed his thought upon this expedi- tion, showed the Spaniards great joy and promised to execute a design with them which gave him much pleasure. To that purpose he invited them to rest for a few days, after their tiresome journey, till he
32 Bossu's Travels in Louisiana, vol. i., pp. 150, 155.
25I
BOSSU
had assembled his warriors, and held council with the old men, but the result of the council of war was that they should entertain their guests very well and affect the sincerest friendship for them. They agreed together to set out in three days. The Spanish commandant imme- diately distributed fifteen hundred muskets, sabers, and hatchets; but the very morning after this agreement the Missouris came by break of day into the Spanish camp and killed them all, except the Jacobine (Dominican) priest, whose singular dress did not seem to belong to a warrior; they called him "magpie" and diverted them- selves in making him ride on one of the Spanish horses on their days for assembly. The priest, though he was caressed and well fed, was not without uneasiness, fearing that these jokes would end in sacrificing him to the "Manitou," or deity of the Indians; therefore one day, taking advantage of their confidence in him, he took measures to get away before their faces."
This story, given by M. Bossu, may well be doubted in many of its details. The fact that Bienville knew that this expedition was being equipped to dispute French authority on the Missouri and take possession of the country by establishing a fort or post, and that he promptly advised La Harpe of the fact, would seem to indicate that the Indians were counseled by the French how and in what man- ner to act, and that the whole scheme of destroying the expedition was arranged by the French. The influence of the French then was paramount among the Missouris, and the French traders could not have been indifferent to an expedition which, if successful, would have excluded them from the profitable fur trade on the upper Missouri.
Nor is the remainder of the Bossu narrative calculated to increase our confidence in its truthfulness. We are told that these Indians were ignorant of the use of horses, and that they took pleas- ure in making the priest, who had become their slave, mount horses and ride them, but that they themselves did not dare to do so, and that the priest finally, while riding one of the best horses for their amusement, disappeared from their sight. But Du Tisne reports that in 1719 the Osages, Missouris, and Panis traded in horses, 33 and Du Pratz 34 tells us that the Indians of the plains at that time generally went to war on horseback, covering their horses with dressed leather,
33 6 Margry, Les Coureurs des Bois, p. 31I.
34 Du Pratz's History of Louisiana, vol. i., p. 125. (London Ed. 1763.)
252
HISTORY OF MISSOURI
hanging down quite around them, thus securing themselves from darts. So that the statement that the Indians were afraid of horses, as given in Bossu's narrative, must be an error. It should also be remembered that, one hundred and fifty years before this time, Coronado and De Soto rode through a portion of this country on horses.
"All these transactions," says M. Bossu, "the Missouris them- selves related when they brought the ornaments of the chapel hither," that is to say, to Fort du Chartres. He further says: "They were dressed out in these ornaments; the chief had on the naked skin the chasuble, with the paten suspended from his neck, having driven a nail through it and making use of it as a breast-plate; he marched gravely at the head of all others, being crowned with feathers and a pair of horns. Those that followed him had more chasubles on ; after them came those who carried the stole; followed by those who had the scarfs about their necks; after them came three or four young Indians, some with albs and others with surplices on. They had hung," so he says, "not knowing the respect due to the sacred uten- sils, the chalice to a horse's neck, as if it had been a bell." They gave M. de Boisbriant, then in command of Fort de Chartres, the sacred ornaments, and in return received goods "more to their lik- ing." They also presented him some fine horses. They brought, too, the map which had guided or misguided the Spaniards.
The celebrated Jesuit, Charlevoix, who traveled through the Illinois country from Quebec to New Orleans in 1721, gives another account of evidently the same affair, and perhaps containing more truth. In his letter,35 dated Kaskaskia, July 21, addressed to the Duchess of Lesdiguierres, he says: " About two years ago some Span- iards coming, as they say, from Mexico, intending to get into the country of Illinois, and drive the French from thence, whom they saw with extreme jealousy approached so near the Missouri, came down the river and attacked two villages of the Octotatas (Otoes), who are the allies of the Ajouez (Iowas); and from whom it is said also that they are derived. As the savages had no firearms and were sur- prised, the Spaniards made an easy conquest, and killed a great many of them. A third village, which was not far off from the other two, being informed of what had passed, and not doubting that these con- querors would attack them, laid an ambush into which the Spaniards
35 Charlevoix's Travels, p. 204. (London Ed., 1763.)
253
CHARLEVOIX
heedlessly fell. Others say that the savages, having heard that the Spaniards were almost all drunk, and fast asleep, fell upon them in the night. However, it was, it is certain that they killed the greatest part of them. There were in this party two almoners, one of whom was killed directly and the other got away to the Missourites, who took him prisoner, but he escaped them very dextrously. He had a very fine horse, and the Missourites took pleasure in seeing him ride it, which he did very skilfully. He took advantage of this curiosity to get out of their hands. One day when he was prancing and exercising his horse before them, he got a little distance from them insensibly, then, suddenly. clapping his spurs to his horse, was out of sight." But Charlevoix says that it was not certainly known from what part of New Mexico these Spaniards came or what was their design.
Martin,36 says: "A large party of Spaniards from the neighboring provinces came to the Missouri, with a view of descending and attack- ing the French at Illinois. They fell on two towns of the Missouri Indians, and routed the inhabitants. But those at the mouth of the river, having had timely notice of the approach of the foe, collected in vast numbers, attacked and defeated it. They made a great slaughter, and tortured to death the prisoners they took, except two friars. One of these died soon after; the other remained awhile in captivity. He had a fine horse and was very skilful in the manage- ment of it. One day, as he was amusing the Indians with feats of horsemanship, he applied the spurs to the side of the animal and effected his escape." In another part of his work, Martin 37 says that "three hundred Spaniards had marched from Santa Fe to the upper part of the provinces, "and that "they were guided by Padoucah Indians, who directed them so northerly that they reached the river of the Canseys near the Missouri, where they fell among Indians, allies of the French, who destroyed them all, except their chief, the swiftness of whose horse secured his safety."
Bienville,38 under date of July 20, 1721, simply writes the council of regency that two hundred Spanish cavalry, accompanied by many savage Padoucahs of New Mexico, designing to attack the French of the Illinois country, were discovered by the Otoes, Houatoctotas,
36 Martin's History of Louisiana, vol. i., p. 207.
37 Martin's History of Louisiana, vol. i., p. 234.
38 6 Margry, Les Coureurs des Bois, p. 386.
254
HISTORY OF MISSOURI
and Panimahas, allies of the French, and surprised and destroyed by them; that from one of the Spaniards whose life was saved and delivered over to De Boisbriant, commandant of the Illinois country, the route by which the Spaniards came and the distance from New Mexico to the Missouri were ascertained.
The French version of this expedition, as given by Bossu, has generally been accepted as correct, no notice being taken of Bien- ville's report. The Spanish account of this affair is in harmony with the report of Bienville. According to Spanish reports, in 1720 the viceroy of Mexico ordered General Don Antonio Valverde Cosio, governor of New Mexico, to prepare and send out an expedition to the northeast, in order to establish commercial relations with the prairie Indians of Kansas, as well as to make a military reconnaissance of the direction in which the French were encroaching upon what was con- sidered Spanish territory. Don Pedro de Villazus was placed in command of a force of fifty armed men, and Jean l'Archeveque, or Archibeque, was a member of his staff. The latter was the same Frenchman, it would seem, who was implicated in the murder of La Salle and who afterward fled to New Mexico, and there obtained an honorable position. The expedition reached the Arkansas river on August 14, 1720, and there met a large force of the Panis (Paw- nees), who returned an evasive answer to a peaceful message of the Spanish commander. The suspicions of Villazus were aroused, and he recrossed the river, in order to have the river between himself and his presumed enemies. But during the night, the Indians swam the river, captured the Spanish guards, and in the morning, after the Spaniards had collected their horses and were about to mount, made a sudden attack upon them out of the high grass. The horses took fright at the very first shots which were fired from a very short dis- tance, mainly at the tent of the commander. The effect of the enemy's fire was so quick and murderous that nothing but flight was thought of, and the soldiers who succeeded in catching any of the horses used them to escape. Of the fifty armed men, only five or six escaped; the balance were all killed, among them the commander, Don Pedro de Villazus, and Jean l'Archeveque.39
It will be noted that, according to the Spanish account, this expe- dition only came as far north as the Arkansas; but if, as reported by Bienville, the Otoes and Panimahas, who were allied with the
39 Bandelier's Gilded Man, p. 299.
255
SPANISH VERSION
Missouris, defeated the Spaniards, it is certain that they came as far north as the Missouri. The Spanish account says that some French- men were with these Indians, and that the Indians used firearms. It is believed that at that time none of the Indians residing on the Arkansas had secured possession of firearms, although the Missouris, the Kansas, Otoes, and Panimahas, all allies of the French, had been provided with some guns.40
It is curious to note the many confused accounts that have grown out of this Spanish expedition. Evidently, the defeat of the Spanish enterprise was considered a very great victory by the Indians and the few Frenchmen that were associated with the Indians. Bossu, with more credulity than judgment, adopted the most exaggerated reports which were current at Fort de Chartres when he was there in 1755. Subsequent narratives were based on Bossu's accounts. Bienville's sober report was overlooked, and the Spanish account of the transaction has only been recently brought to light by Bandelier.
The first journey by land to explore the interior of the territory of what is now Missouri, of which we have any record, was under- taken by a Canadian named Du Tisne,41 in the summer of 1718, by order of Governor Bienville. Du Tisne first attempted to visit the Panioussas, going up the Missouri river, but was not permitted by the Missouris to go that way, and obliged to return.42 In his report to Bernard La Harpe, Du Tisne makes the observation that the Missouri river was a stream very difficult and troublesome to navigate, full of "d'embarras de bois et des grandes battures, avec
40 See, also, H.H. Bancroft's Arizona and New Mexico, pp. 236, 237, Sny- der's note; Prince's Sketches of New Mexico, p. 225.
41 Charles Claude Du Tisne, a Canadian, was one of the first officers that came to Louisiana with De Bienville. In 1714 he marched by land from Canada to Mobile through the unbroken wilderness, with a small squad of Cana- dians. He was frequently employed by De Bienville in making negotiations and alliances with the Indians. St. Denys, authorized to open trade with the Spanish province in 1716, placed a detachment of the French soldiers under his command at Natchitoches, and by his direction he built a fort there to establish a garrison among the Indians, and bulwark against the Spaniards. He was an officer at Fort Rosalie (Natchez) in 1723; in command of one of the ten companies that constituted the military establishment of Louisiana in that year; was placed in command of Fort de Chartres in 1725 by Du Boisbriant, and died, probably in 1730. Bossu met his son at Fort de Chartres in 1757, who also seems to have been an officer in the French service. He related the incidents of his father's life, which were preserved and published by him. Bossu spells the name Du Tissenett.
42 6 Margry, p. 313. See letter of Du Tisne to De Bienville, dated Novem- ber 22, 1719.
256
HISTORY OF MISSOURI
de forts courants ;" that, to reach the village of the Missouris, he took a course N. N. W., and that in going up the river it took him "tour du compass par les circonvallations." He mentions the forests of walnut, sycamore, and oak, and "very beautiful country and hills of rock." On the west side, he says, he passed the mouths of two very beautiful rivers, the first "la rivière Bleue, que n'est pas d'une grande consequence," probably referring to the Gasconade, but the second he names as the "rivière des Osage." Upon this river, he tells us, are situated the villages of the Osages, eighty leagues distant in a south- west direction. Returning from this unsuccessful attempt to go up the Missouri, Du Tisne started from the French settlement at Kas- kaskia, on the east bank of the Mississippi, and, crossing the river, traveled up the Saline creek, which empties its waters into the river not far from Kaskaskia. No doubt he followed a trading or warpath of the Osage Indians, which led him to the headwaters of the Osage river, going across the broken highlands of the Maramec, Gasconade, and numerous other streams tributary to the Missouri. On Sep- tember 27, 1719, he arrived among the Padoucahs west of the present limits of Missouri, where he took formal possession of the country in the name of his king, and erected a column emblazoned with the arms of France. On his return, he made a report to Bienville, from which it appears that the country he traversed was well timbered. Accord- ing to his reckoning, he traveled a distance of about three hundred and fifty miles. He found the principal village of the Osages located on a hill and containing about one hundred cabins, with nearly double that number of warriors. He further reports that the Indians spent but a small part of the year in their villages, but during a greater por- tion of the year hunted at a great distance from these villages. About one hundred and twenty miles west of the Osages, in a prairie country abounding with buffalo, he found the first village of the Padoucahs (Panionkes), which he reported to have about one hundred and thirty cabins, and about two hundred and fifty warriors. About four miles farther west, he found another village about as large, of the same Indians. These Indians owned about three hundred horses, which they valued greatly. The Pawnees were four hundred and fifty miles away, and a saline of rock-salt was found in the country of the Panoussas, who resided about fifteen miles from the Padoucahs. Near the Osage village, Du Tisne says, he found lead and other ores, and this seems to indicate that these Osage villages were near the
257
DU TISNE
southwest Missouri mineral region. Du Tisne also reports that the villages of the Missouris were then located about three hundred and fifty yards from the river of that name, and that some Osage villages were near the Missouri river at that time.
Bossu 43 relates several incidents in the life of Du Tisne, showing his ready wit and audacity. On one occasion, being together with some Frenchmen, among unfriendly Indians, who were there to barter goods, he found that the Indians meditated a hostile attack, and understanding fully their purpose, as he wore a wig, he took it from his head and threw it defiantly on the ground, saying from time to time, "You will have my scalp; take it up if you dare to do it." The astonishment of the Indians was inexpressible, for Du Tisne had had his head shaved a little before this happened. Afterward, he told them it was very wrong in them to attempt to injure him, because he only came to make an alliance with them; but that, if they compelled him, he would burn the waters in their lakes and rivers and thus hinder them from paddling their canoes, and also set fire to their forests. To demonstrate the truth of his power, he secured a little pot, put some brandy in it and set it on fire, and the Indians, not being then acquainted with brandy, were amazed. At the same time, he took out of his pocket a convex glass and set fire to a rotten tree by means of the sun. The Indians, really believing that he had power to burn their lakes and rivers and forests, caressed and loaded him with presents and accompanied him as an escort, so that no one might do him any harm.
A copy of a speech delivered by Assakipite, a Kaskaskia chief, highly esteemed, was sent to Monsieur de Vaudreuil, governor of Canada, at Quebec, from Fort de Chartres, in 1725. From this it appears that shortly prior to that time Du Tisne had been sent by de Boisbriant up the Missouri to make peace with the Iowas, who then had their habitat on that stream. The Illinois Indians charged that the Renards (Foxes) were lying in wait on the Missouri to attack Du Tisne, but did not dare to do so, because he was accompanied by soldiers. They further said: "We listen only to the French chief. It is for him to decide in peace or war. Our chiefs are all absent. When they return this spring the French chief, Monsieur Du Ti ne, will assemble us from all his villages. We shall listen to his word, and we shall do what he commands us." And again, "Monsieur
43 Bossu, Travels, vol. i., p. 202.
258
HISTORY OF MISSOURI
de Boisbrant has left us Monsieur Du Tisne; we listen to his word; we deliberate only in what he tells us in Ononthyo's behalf." 44 In the fall of 1724, Du Tisne reports that his son arrived from the Missouris, and brought his convoy (of furs) safely, and without ac- cident, to Fort de Chartes, thus showing that at that time the French traders of that place were operating on the Missouri river.
In consequence of the Spanish expedition in 1720, a French fort was established on the Missouri river near where the Missouri Indians then dwelt. The name of this fort was "Orleans, " and Sieur de Bourgmont, an old French colonial officer, located it. This fort must be considered as the first European establishment in Missouri. In a memoir, Sieur La Renaudiere says that, going up the Missouri. you find on the north side, emptying into this river, the "Grande rivière," and on it, he notes, the Indians report that they find pieces of copper. On this river a village of the Missouris was located about six leagues (eighteen miles) from its mouth, the village consisting of about one hundred cabins. "This is the place," says Sieur La Ren- audiére, "near which M. de Bourgmont 45 has established himself," and thirty leagues (ninety miles) above this fort on the Missouri, La Renaudière places the mouth of the "Rivière des Quans, belle rivière."46 The location of the fort is supposed to have been on an island, long since washed away, but which then existed, according to d'Anville's map, near the mouth of Grand river and not far from present city of Brunswick.
In the "Memoires Historique sur la Louisiane," usually attributed to Butel-Dumont,47 but really the work of Dumont de Montigny,
44 Wisconsin Historical Collection, vol. xvi., p. 453.
45 Etienne Venyard Sieur de Bourgmont (spelled also Bourmond, Boug- mont, Bourmont, Boumont, Bormond, Boismont, Bourmion) we first find mentioned as an officer (ensign) in command at Detroit in January, 1706, where he succeeded Tonty. He was a young man then, and had been sent from Que- bec to Detroit by land in the previous September. At Detroit he was guilty of irregular conduct and deserted, followed by a woman named La Chenette (or Tichenet), and, says Sieur D'Aigremont, "with whom he is living in the woods like a savage." With him there were some other deserters. Cadillac sent some soliders to break up this camp of deserters, but Bourgmont escaped and appears to have gone farther west, although at first it was thought that, with the Tichenet woman, he had gone to the English. Bourgmont was a strong and large man, and on one occasion, when his dog bit an Indian and he struck the dog, Bourgmont fell upon the Indian and beat him so severely that he died some time afterward. All of which gives us a pretty vivid idea of the character of this Bourgmont.
46 6 Margry, Endroit ou doit s'establir la Sieur Bourgmont, P. 392.
47 George Marie Butel-Dumont, born at Paris 1725, royal auditor and secre-
259
BOURGMONT
edited by the Abbé de Mascrier, an amusing account of the establish- ment of this fort is given. Since it relates to this earliest military post in Missouri, we will first give it here, in substance, because this account has been generally accepted as correct, and afterward will examine its general accuracy, in the light of such historical docu- ments as have since been published and are now accessible. Dumont de Montigny says, in substance, that an officer who well knew that any proposition that favored the advancement of the colony would find favor in France suggested that it would be advantageous to form a post "on the river of the Missouris," in the vicinity of the Indian tribe of that name. The project being approved, he was named commandant of the post. He repaired to New Orleans, and, - producing his orders, received three boat-loads of provisions necessary for the execution of his plans, and some soldiers to act first as boat- men and then as a garrison of the fort he was to build. They sailed up the Mississippi in 1720, and, arriving they were well received by the Missouris, who gave them a suitable place for their establish- ment. A palisade fort was erected on this site by the French, with a cabin for the commandant and officers, and another for the soldiers' barracks. The French soldiers lived in perfect peace and harmony with the Indians. The commandant, who had lived among the Indians, spoke their language very well, and it occurred to him that it would greatly promote the interest of the French to induce some of the natives to go with him to France, where, he told them, he would show them many fine and wonderful things. By dint of presents and promises, he succeeded in getting eleven Indians to follow him, together with the great chief's daughter, who, it was said, was his mistress. The voyage being decided upon, the commandant with his twelve Indians and a sergeant named Du Bois embarked in pirogues, leaving his lieutenant in command. Descending the Mis- sissippi, they arrived in due time in New Orleans, and thence embarked for France. Arrived in France, the commandant pro- ceeded in all haste to court with his Indians, and presented them to
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.