USA > Mississippi > A history of the Mississippi valley, from its discovery to the end of foreign domination. The narrative of the founding of an empire, shorn of current myth, and enlivened by the thrilling adventures of discoverers, pioneers, frontiersmen, Indian fighters, and homemakers > Part 5
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There "he found himself famous. He, the poor boy, the ignoble by birth, was presented to Louis XIV
45
A History of the
amid all the splendors of the court. That Jupiter among the Kings of the earth had a smile to bestow upon the humble subject who came to deposit at the foot of the throne the title deeds of such broad domains."
An expedition of four ships was fitted out to make a permanent settlement near the mouth of the Missis- sippi. There were material for forts, and men for gar- risons; materials for plantations and men to work them; a marquis for social elegance and girls to marry the young men-very attractive girls, too, it would seem, for the marquis wanted to marry one of them, later on, in spite of her ignoble birth.
The ambition of La Salle-the one man who stands forever conspicuous in the New France of his day- seemed realized.
Nevertheless the fates had in his hour of triumph, tangled the lines of his life. It was only after much bickering that the expedition sailed. In the West Indies La Salle was stricken with fever, one of his ships was captured by the Spanish and his men were debauched by the buccaneer hordes. Worse yet, when he recovered and sailed on, the squadron overstood the mouth of the Mississippi, and landed in a bay-supposed to be Matagorda-on the coast of Texas.
La Salle was now, at last, fatally enmeshed. A store ship was stranded and lost because her captain persisted in coming into the harbor under sail contrary to orders. There are good reasons for supposing he deliberately wrecked her. Another small store ship was brought into the harbor, but she, too, was lost. The last one, a frigate, sailed away to seek a harbor with sufficient depth of water in which some needed supplies,
46
Mississippi Valley.
then stowed down under all, might be broken out, and brought back to La Salle, but she was unable to re- turn.
As theretofore, in the face of every discourage- ment, La Salle continued to work. He built his fort and planned his settlement. He went exploring to find at what point the great river entered the bay and learned that the river was nowhere in the region. His people were as a whole the scum of Paris. Many died and the living became mutinous. Their clothes wore out and were replaced by others made of the sails of the last ship that was wrecked.
Finally at the end of 1686 it was seen that a jour- ney to France for another outfit must be made, else all would die there in the wilderness, and La Salle de- termined to go by the way of Quebec. On January 7, 1687, he left his fort with sixteen white men and two Indians, hoping to find his way to the Mississippi, and then by way of the Illinois, where Tonti was yet in command, to the St. Lawrence. He left behind twen- ty people of whom seven were girls who had come hop- ing to find husbands and homes in the New World.
The company on leaving France had comprised 100 soldiers. "thirty volunteers including gentlemen," "several families as well as a number of girls," and six priests. Only thirty-seven, all told, were now left, and seventeen of these, in suits made of skins and old sails, were starting on the long journey to Quebec, though they did not know anything about the country between them and the Mississippi, and had only an indefinite idea of the direction.
Until the month of March they struggled on their
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way and finally reached the Trinity river. A mutinous spirit had grown steadily, and on March 15, while en- camped on the Trinity, some of the men quarreled over marrow bones and other choice bits of two buffaloes killed by a small hunting party that was camped at some distance from the main body. It was a quarrel, naturally, between men who were friendly to the leader and those who were not, and on the night of the 17th of March the friends of La Salle, (three in number, in- cluding Nika, an Indian,) were murdered while they slept.
This party should have returned to the main camp on the night of the 17th, and their failure to do so caused La Salle no little uneasiness during the next day. To his Lieutenant, Joutel, a fellow townsman, and the historian of the expedition, La Salle showed a marked "presentiment of what was to take place," as Joutel writes. "He asked me if I had heard of any machinations against them, or had noticed any bad design."
On the morning of March 19, 1687, La Salle started to find the wandering hunters. He took with him Fath- er Anastase Douay and an Indian. On the way "he spoke to me of nothing but matters of piety, grace and predestination ; enlarging on the debt he owed to God, who had saved him from so many perils during more than twenty years of travel in America. Suddenly I saw him overwhelmed with a profound sadness, for which he himself could not account. He was so much moved that I scarcely knew him," wrote the priest.
But that feeling passed wholly away when he ar- rived near the camp of the mutineers. One of them
48
Mississippi Valley.
had been placed in view as a decoy while two hid in the grass. The decoy replied "with a tone of studied in- solence" when La Salle hailed him.
Full of anger La Salle started forward to punish the scoundrel, but when he was passing the ambushed conspirators they fired, and La Salle fell dead, shot through the brain.
No praise of La Salle is so sincere and emphatic as that of his enemies, unwitting though it has been always. The traders who from the safe shadows of the St. Lawrence forts jeered him; the Jesuits who sent the Iroquois to destroy the Illinois Indians about Fort Crevecoeur ; the assassins who shot him from am- bush-all these stand forth in history and say :
"There was a man."
For not one of them, nor all combined, ever dared to oppose him, face to face, man fashion.
Six of La Salle's party of seventeen eventually reach- ed Quebec, whence five sailed to France. Two of the three who ambushed La Salle were shot by their com- panions in a quarrel over the trade goods La Salle had carried, the third lived to reach the Spaniards in Mex- ico. The remainder of the party were nearly all killed by the Indians, but "Gravier's Voyage" as found in the Jesuit "Relations" (vol. 1xv) says that two of them were delivered to the Spaniards and were after- ward able to reach "fort Bilocchi." The fort built by La Salle at Matagorda Bay was raided by the Indians, and fourteen out of the twenty that remained in it were killed. Two of these who were spared were the child- ren of a man named Talon, and these eventually reached France.
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A History of the
In all fourteen of La Salle's party are accounted for in the settlements of the French, and of these seven returned to France. All the others died on the way or perished in the wilderness.
50
JEAN BAPTISTE LE MOYNE, SIEUR DE BIENVILLE. Governor of Louisiana, 1718.
IV
FROM LA SALLE TO NEW ORLEANS.
Work of a Backwoods Naval Officer-Tales of a Blue Capote, a Piece of Speaking Bark and a Red Tree Trunk-When the Frown of the King's Favorite Sent a Prime Minister Waltzing Into Outer Dark- ness-The Notable Journeys of Henri de Tonti-A Story of Misplaced Love-Starving, Though Lo- cated on the Richest Land in the World-The Found- ing of New Orleans.
In the journal of the Jesuits for October 26, 1645, is this paragraph :
An order was given at the same time to Monsieur de Chesne, uncle of Charles le Moyne, for 20 ecus, which we were giving his nephew for four years' service rendered among the Hurons. He was clothed and decently supplied with linen, and was sent to Three Rivers as soldier and interpreter.
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A History of the
This Charles le Moyne, then twenty-one years old, is to be remembered here, because he was afterwards the father of fourteen children, "most of whom achieved distinction in military or civil affairs," and among whom were Iberville and Bienville, who gave to France the undisputed de facto possession of the lower end of the vast territory of the Mississippi Valley, to which the work of La Salle had given her the legal right of pre-emption. If Bienville is to be regarded as "the father of New Orleans," Charles le Moyne was its grandfather.
La Salle's plans for settling the lower end of the Louisiana territory did not die with him. Tonti, who remained in command at the fort on Starved Rock, on the Illinois, (a "privileged character," he, and "re- spected by Indians and whites"), applied in 1694, for a commission to carry on the work, and failed to get it. Two other officers made further application in 1697 without success, but in 1698, when Le Moyne d'Iberville offered to plant a colony in Louisiana, his plans were accepted.
For this youth from the backwoods of Canada had become a noted man. He had entered the French navy, and by good work, had risen, until at the end of the Seventeenth Century he ranked as a post captain. While in command of the frigate Pelican, of but forty-four cannon, he met in Hudson's Bay the British frigate Hampshire, of fifty-two guns, the Daring, of thirty-six guns and the Hudson's Bay of thirty-two- a fleet rated at 120 guns to his forty-four. In spite of the odds, this man, who had been trained in the back- woods of North America, cleared for action, ranged up
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A History of the
This Charles le Moyne, then twenty-one years old, is to be remembered here, because he was afterwards the father of fourteenchildren, "most of whom achieved distinction in military or civil affairs," and among whom were Iberville and Bienville, who gave to France the undisputed de facto possession of the lower end of the vast territory of the Mississippi Valley, to which the work of La Salle had given her the legal right of pre-emption. If Bienville is to be regarded as "the father of New Orleans," Charles le Moyne was its grandfather.
La Salle's plans for settling the lower end of the Louisiana territory did not die with him. Tonti, who remained in command at the fort on Starved Rock, on the Illinois, (a "privileged character," he, and "re- spected by Indians and whites"), applied in 1694, for a commission to carry on the work, and failed to get it. Two other officers made further application in 1697 without success, but in 1698, when Le Moyne d'Iberville offered to plant a colony in Louisiana, his plans were accepted.
For this youth from the backwoods of Canada had become a noted man. He had entered the French navy, and by good work, had risen, until at the end of the Seventeenth Century he ranked as a post captain. While in command of the frigate Pelican, of but forty-four cannon, he met in Hudson's Bay the British frigate Hampshire, of fifty-two guns, the Daring, of thirty-six guns and the Hudson's Bay of thirty-two- a fleet rated at 120 guns to his forty-four. In spite of the odds, this man, who had been trained in the back- woods of North America, cleared for action, ranged up
52
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alongside the Hampshire and sank her. Then he cap- tured the Hudson's Bay, and drove the Daring into a flight that belied her name.
The record says the Hampshire sank because of the shot she received between wind and water. Iber- ville had taught his gunners how to aim their guns, and history shows that naval officers who have done that have achieved, as well as earned, fame whenever opportunity came to them; it shows further that, with rare exception, only naval officers with backwoods ex- perience have fully understood the value of accuracy of aim.
And yet the success of Iberville in obtaining a Louisiana commission but deepens the gloom about the heroic figure of La Salle. For the Le Moyne family had been among the most powerful of his opponents. While La Salle's bones lay scattered on the Texan plain, one of his persistent enemies was to reap where he had, by infinite labor and with life itself, prepared the ground and sowed the seed.
Iberville, in his Louisiana work, had international conditions in his favor. Spain had reached out to settle the Gulf coast, and a company had been formed in London to establish a colony on the Mississippi. A rumor prevailed that a company of Pennsylvanians had settled on the Wabash. The French Government cared very little about the territory for itself, but to prevent its becoming English territory Iberville was sent to colonize it. French jealousy of the English has had much influence on American affairs.
With the war ships Badine and Marin, and a num- ber of transports, Iberville sailed from Brest on
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October 24, 1698. On December 4 he arrived at Cape Francois, San Domingo. There he added some buc- caneers to his crew, (the notable career of the buc- caneers was then just ending), and he was joined by the fifty-gun frigate Francois.
After sailing thence along the south side of Cuba and north past Cape San Antonio, the coast of Florida was seen on January 23, and on the 26th they dis- covered two Spanish ships in Pensacola harbor. The Spanish "had not been settled [there] for more than three weeks," according to Gravier's Voyage. But the first settlement they made there was in 1696. Leaving the Spaniards unmolested Iberville continued his west- ward course until, on February 10, he furled sail in what is now the well known road behind Ship Island ; and they gave the Island its name because it afforded a safe anchorage.
From this place Iberville and his men went explor- ing the region in small boats. They found one island well strewn with human bones and named it Massacre Island, but afterwards changed the name to Dauphin. They found another island thickly inhabited by rac- coons and named it Cat Island.
On March 2 Iberville's boats rowed into a strong current of fresh muddy water sweeping across the salt sea from among the marshes. Up this current the explorers hastened as well as they could, eventually finding banks more or less firm, and finally some In- dians, among whom was one who had a blue hooded cloak. He said a white man had given it to him. At a village of 200 cabins built around a temple, they found a glass bottle left by the man who had owned
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Mississippi Valley.
the blue capote. They saw also a red tree trunk on which the Indians had made rude pictures of a bear and a fish. This red tree marked the boundary between two tribes, and Baton Rouge, (i. e., a red staff or stake used by surveyors) is the name of the city stand- ing where the tree stood.
On returning down the river Iberville sent his younger brother Bienville back by the main stream, and the young man found an Indian who had a piece of "speaking bark." A most wonderful medicine the In- dian thought it, but Bienville bought it for a hatchet. It was a letter written by Henri de Tonti to La Salle.
Thirteen years before while in charge of fort St. Louis, on the Illinois, Tonti had heard that La Salle had sailed from France to form a settlement at the mouth of the Mississippi. As soon as possible there- after he started to visit his friend-to travel in a canoe from Utica, Illinois, to the Gulf of Mexico, in spite of the physical hardships and the hostilities of Indians along the route-that he might make a friendly call on an old comrade. He reached the Gulf while La Salle was struggling in the Fates' mesh on the plains of Texas, but there was no way for Tonti to learn where La Salle was, and after a weary wait, he gave the chief of a near-by Indian village some presents, (among the rest the blue capote), and a letter to be delivered to La Salle whenever the expedition should arrive. It is a picture of early life in the great valley that is worth preserving.
From the Mississippi, Iberville himself returned by the way of Bayou Manchac and Maurepas and Pont- chartrain, naming these lakes as he came. Both lakes
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A History of the
were named for families that produced prime ministers of France. Some Cyclopedias omit the name of Pont- chartrain but all contain that of Maurepas. He was a "nimble old man, who for all emergencies has his light jest; and even in the worst confusion will emerge, cork-like, unsunk," until "fixed in the frost of death," in 1781. His name is "fixed" in the cyclopedias for a number of reasons. He was not only a prime minister of France, but a most capable writer of literature of the class now excluded from the mails. He wrote a description of Madam Pompadour in this vein, and she was so much offended that the king, Louis XV., dis- missed him from office. Recalling the conditions pre- vailing in the court of old France helps toward a com- prehension of the history of New France; to see "a lightly-jesting, lightly-gyrating M. de Maurepas" sent waltzing into outer darkness by the frown of the king's favorite explains much-as shall appear in more detail further on. This is not to say that the lake was named for the "nimble old" Maurepas. It was named for his family.
It is well to note here that Iberville's instructions commanded him "to seek out diligently the best places for establishing pearl fisheries." He was also to "look for mines," the finding of which would be "the great business." (Parkman)
Iberville finally settled where Biloxi now stands, choosing that location partly because of the lovely little bay, and partly because the Biloxi Indians (a stray fragment of the great Sioux family), from whom the bay was named, were a very friendly people. "On the east side, at the mouth of the bay, there is a slight swell-
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JEANNE ANTOINETTE POISSON, MARQUISE DE POMPADOUR.
Mississippi Valley.
ing of the shore, about four acres square, sloping gent- ly to the woods in the background, and on the right and left of which, two deep ravines run into the bay." Here, in April, 1699, the French built a palisaded fort and log houses. Sieur de Sauville, a brother of Iber- ville, was placed in command, with another brother, Bienville, then a youth of 18, as second, after which Iberville sailed for France to get further supplies and more colonists.
Bienville was then once more sent exploring the re- gion, and he learned soon that the English from the Atlantic coast were in constant communication with the Chickasaw Indians, the most aggressive tribe of the region. The Chickasaws even came to Lake Pont- chartrain, soon after the French settled at Biloxi, and with the aid of Englishmen fought a battle with other Indians there. It was an ominous piece of news, ex- ceedingly ominous if considered in connection with the English goods that Joliet had found among the Indians on the banks of the Mississippi during his exploration. The tide of English enterprise had risen so high as to find the passes through and around the Alleghany range of mountains.
A little later Bienville saw some of the English. While floating around the sharp bend of the Mississippi where it passes near to and just west of Lake Borgne he met an English ship commanded by one Louis Bank, (or Bar, as Gayarre writes it). Bank said he was bringing a company of Englishmen and French Hu- guenots to settle on the Mississippi, and that another detachment of the settlers was coming overland from the sea under the guidance of the Chickasaws. Bien-
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ville protested. He said that this river valley had been settled by the French for many years, and that a large force was near at hand. In proof of his assertion he called attention to the fact that he was there roaming about in a row boat. The Englishman blustered a lit-
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tle but turned back to the Gulf; and that bend in the river has been known as the English Turn ever since.
When, in the following December, Iberville re- turned and heard of this incident he immediately de- termined to build a fort on the river bank. Leaving Biloxi on this errand on January 8, 1700, he began work on the fort at a spot about 18 miles below the
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present site of New Orleans-perhaps on the Scarsdale plantation. He named the fort La Boulaye.
While engaged in this work Henri de Tonti came paddling down the river. He was still in command on the Illinois, where he held the privilege of sending two canoe loads of beaver a year to Montreal; but he thought he might find a better market by way of the mouth of the Great River, as La Salle had hoped to do. He had come down to see about the matter. A canoe journey of more than 1,500 miles through the wilder- ness, in the interest of trade, was no more to him than a ten-mile trolley ride is to a modern commercial trav- eller.
Iberville and Bienville were so glad to meet their old friend that when he started home, three days later, they went along as far as the village of Natchez In- dians, standing where Natchez, Mississippi, is found now. As it happened a thunder storm was raging, when they arrived, and the lighting had just set fire to the temple wherein these Indians worshipped the sun. The Indians were insane with fear and excitement, for they believed the disaster was due to the anger of their god, and to appease him, five infants were thrown alive into the flames, at the commands of the medicine men. The incident seems to have given the Frenchmen a strong prejudice against these Indians.
In the year of 1700 a notable voyage was made on the Mississippi by one La Sueur, a man who had led an adventurous life on the great lakes, and had come to Louisiana with Iberville in December, 1699. With a felucca, a small two- masted coaster, rigged with lateen sails, and
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a crew of 25 men, he made his way up to Lake Pepin. There he built a fort, killed 400 buffaloes, lived on the flesh all winter, drove a good fur trade with the Indians, and carried back a cargo of earth stained blue with silicate of iron, thinking it a valuable ore. It was this blue earth that gave a name to Blue Earth River. And the Sueur's felucca was the first decked and ship-built vessel to make a voyage on the Mississippi.
In 1701 Iberville moved the larger part of his col- ony to Mobile Bay (named from a clan of Indians), and placed Bienville in command of the colony, Sau- ville having died meantime. Settlements had already been made on Dauphine and Ship Islands. The Span- ish at Pensacola protested that Florida extended to Mexico, but the matter was referred home to the two Governments, and the Spanish King yielded the land to his uncle, Louis XIV.
As the King's colony these settlements existed until 1712. For about two-thirds of this time Bienville was Governor and was second in command during the re- mainder of the time. A few extracts from the records will sufficiently portray the ways of life in those days.
In 1705 the arrival of a party of seventeen Canadi- ans is mentioned in the records as a matter of import- ance because they "came with the intention of making a permanent settlement, and had provided themselves with all the implements of husbandry." All the other settlers had come hoping to get rich quickly and then return to France. It is reasonable to infer that the Canadians raised considerable crops of corn, for in 1706 one of Bienville's despatches says :
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Mississippi Valley.
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