USA > New York > Chautauqua County > Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Chautauqua County, New York : with a historical sketch of the county > Part 87
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out jovi ou du jovir les precedents rois de France, et qu'ils s'y sout maintenvs par les arms et par les traittes, specialement pav ceox de Reswick a Utrecht et d'Aux la Chapelle."
The following is a translation of the writing upon the plate ;
"In the year 1749, of the reign of Louis the 15th, King of France, we Celoron, commander of a detachment sent by Monsieur the Marquis de la Galeissonicrc, Governor General of New France,to re-establish tranquillity in some Indian villages of these cantons, have buried this plate of lead at the confluence of the Ohio and the Chautauqua, this 29th of July, near the river Ohio, otherwise Belle Riviere, as a monument of the renewal of the possession we have taken of the said river Ohio, and all those which empty into it, and of all the lands on both sides as far as the sources of the said rivers as en- joyed or ought to have been enjoyed by the kings of France preceding, and as they have then maintained themselves by arms and by treaties, especially those of Reswick, Utrecht and Aix la Chapelle."
The inscription on the leaden plate, the speech of the Indian Sachem, and that of Sir William Johnson, serve to show the jealous attitude the English and French bore towards each other, and also the relations they held with the Indians, better than any extended account. They also serve to show the arts used by each of these nations, to establish an alliance witlı then. The Indians however, notwithstanding the efforts of the French and English, by their sagacity and firmness, preserved their freedom of action, maintained absolute independence, and held the possession of their hunting grounds for more than a century.
The word " Tchadakoin " written upon the leaden plate, is the first record we have of the name Chautauqua .* In the journal kept of
Celoron's expedition, it is spelled "Chatakouin" and "Chatacoin." Upon the map of Father Bonnecamps who accompanied Celoron it is spelled "Tjadakoin." In the letters of Du Quesne to the French Government, in 1753, it is spelled "Chatacoint." In the "History of the French and English Wars in North America," written by Captain Ponchob in French, and on the map accompanying it, it is spelled " Thatacoin." In the affidavit of Stephen Coffin, an English soldier made pris- oner by the French, who accompanied the expe- dition that constructed the wagon-road from Lake Erie to Chautauqua Lake, it is spelled "Chadakoin." Mitchell in 1755, writes it " Chadocoin," and on Crevecœur's map of 1758, it is written "Chatacouin." These are obviously different spellings of the same Indian word. The lake and its outlet were located wholly within the territories of the Iroquois. The nearest Indian villages were those of that people. They fished in its waters and hunted along its shores, and their trails threaded the dark forests where it lay. Its name would naturally be a word in the Iroquois tongue, one which the French would be most likely to adopt and engrave upon the leaden plate. It will be observed that these words pronounced according to the rules of French orthography, are not very unlike the word "Chautauqua" as now pronounced. It is not remarkable that when the English succeeded to the domain of the lakes, that this name should acquire a some- what different pronunciation, and that in time it should be still further changed. On Lewis Evans' map, 1758, and Pownall's map of 1776, it is written "Jadaxqua ;" by Sir William Johnson in 1766, "Jadaghque ;" by General William Irvin who visited the lake previous
* The identity of the name "Chautauqua" with the word "Tchadakoin," and the various modifications it has under- gone in pronunciation and orthography since it was writ-
ten upon the leaden plate, was discovered by the writer of this sketch. Attention was afterwards called to it by him, in the "History of Chautauqua anterior to its Pioneer Settlement," contributed by the writer to "Young's His- tory of Chautauqua County." See pages 35, 36 and 37.
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OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.
to 1788, " Iadaqua ;" and Cornplanter, accord- ing to Alden, pronounecd it "Chaud-dauk-wa." On the map made by the Holland Land com- pany in 1804, it is spelled "Chataughque." After the settlement of the county, until 1859, it was spelled "Chautauque," when it was changed by a resolution of the Board of Super- visors of that eounty to "Chautauqua." These small changes are due to the various tongues, white and Indian, in which it has been succes- sively rendered. Even in the various dialects of the Iroquois language, it was uttered differ- ently. The Senecas called it "Cha-da-queh ;" the Cayugas, "Cha-da-qua ;" the Onondagas, " Cha-da-quä ;" the Tuscaroras, " Cha-ta-qua ;" and the Mohawks, " Jä-dá-qua."
THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR .- The French having declared their intention to claim all the territory lying in the valley of the Mississippi, through the formal act of Celoron in the burial of the leaden plates, now prepared to establish dominion there, more effectually, by erecting a line of forts extending from their possessions in Canada to their settlements in Louisiana, and thus carry out the plan con- ceived by La Salle three quarters of a century before. In 1753, fonr years after Celoron vis- ited Chautanqua lake, the Marquis Du Quesne, being governor-general of Canada, dispatched a force which opened a portage road from Erie to Le Bœuf on French Creek, and built forts there. This force the same season, also opened another road from the mouth of the Chautau- qna Creek near Barcelona, to the head of Chau- tauqua Lake at Mayville. Thus was commun- ication established by the French between Lake Eric and the headwaters of the Ohio.
These acts are memorable for the reason, that they constituted the immediate causes, that led to one of the most famous wars of modern times. It was known in this country as the French and Indian war; a contest that extend- ed over Continental Europe, and even to Asia and Africa. These events should be recorded
in this history, being so intimately connected with Chautauqua Lake and county. The de- tails of these events cannot fail to be entertain- ing to one interested in the history of this region.
Du Quesne, in the fall of 1752, rendered an account of the arrangements that he had made to carry out the designs of the French, in a letter to the French Minister of the Marine and Colonies, in Paris, in which he stated, that he would begin his posts at a point near Barcelona in this county, and at the mouth of the Chau- tauqua Creek, which he called Chat-a-co-nit. It is evident from this letter, that Du Quesne fully believed, from the information that he had, that the carrying place between this point, and the head of Chautauqua Lake was the shortest and most practicable that could be found between the waters of the lakes and the Ohio. The carrying place between Erie and Le Bœuf, was discovered afterwards. The im- portance that Du Quesnc attached to the selec- tions of the best carrying place between these waters, is evident from the language used by him, in his communications to the French gov- ernment.
Du Quesne, during the winter, completed his preparations, which were hastened by false reports received by Joucaire, that the English had actually settled upon French Creek, and at the junction of the Conewango with the Alle- gheny, where Warren is now situated ; which the French and Indians then called Chinengue. He, in early spring, dispatched from Montreal, an advanced force of two hundred and fifty men, under Monsieur Barbecr, for Chautauqua, with orders to fell and prepare timber for the building of a fort there. We will give some extracts from his letter to the French Minister of Marine, bearing date August 20, 1753, to explain the reasons which had led him to change his mind, and adopt the route between Presque Isle and Le Bœuf as the carrying place, instead of that between Barcelona and
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Chautauqua Lake, and also to show the diffi- eulties that attended the prosecution of the undertaking :
" MY LORD :- I have the honor to inform you, that I have been obliged to alter the ar- rangement I had made, whereof I rendered you an account last fall.
" You will see, my lord, by the extraet of the journal hereto annexed, the reasons whieh compelled me to reduce almost to one-half the vanguard that I informed you consisted of four hundred men, and those that determined me to prefer landing the troops at the harbor of Presque Isle on Lake Erie, which I very fortu- nately discovered instead of Chataeonit, where I informed you I would begin my posts.
" This discovery is so much more propitious, as it is a harbor, which the largest barks ean enter loaded, and be in perfeet safety. I am informed that the beach, the soil, and the re- sources of all sorts, were the same as represented to me.
" The plan I send you of this place, is only a rough sketeh until it is correeted. I have given orders that this be proceeded with.
" The letter I received on the 12th of Janu- ary last from M. de Joueaire, has obliged me by foree, to obtain provisions from the farmers, to enable me to oppose the projeets of the English, who, he advised me, had sent Smithis to Chinengue and the now Aux Bœuf, where they were even settled ; and that there was a terrible exeitement among the Indians, who looked upon it as eertain, that the English would be firmly settled there in the course of this year, not imagining that my forces were capable of opposing them. This fear which made me attempt the impossible, has had hitherto, the most complete suceess. All the provisions have arrived from without, after a delay of fifteen days, and I had them transported with all imaginable diligence, into a country so full of difficulties, in consequence of the great number of voyageurs which I required to
ascend the rapids, the raee of which is getting searee.
" I was not long in pereeiving that this move- ment made a considerable impression on the Indians ; and what has thrown more eonsterna- tion among them is, that I had no recourse to them ; for I contented myself with telling our domiciliated tribes, that if there were eight or ten from each village who had the euriosity to witness my operations, I would permit them to follow, Sieur Marin, the commander of the detachment, whom they were well aquainted with, and in whom they had confidenee. Of 200 whom I proposed to send forward only 70 are sufficient for scouts and hunters.
. " All the natives that eame down to see me from the upper county, and who met the multi- tude of batteaux and canoes which were eonvey- ing the men and effects belonging to the detachment, presented themselves, all trembling before me, and told me that they were aware of my power, by the swarm of men they had passed, and begged me to have pity on them, their wives and their children. I took advan- tage of their terror, to speak to them in a firm tone, and menaeing the first that would falter ; and instead of a month or five weeks, that they were aeeustomed to remain here, consuming the king's provisions, I got rid of them on the fourth day.
" It appears up to this time, that the exeeu- tion of the plan of my enterprise, makes so strong an impression on the nations, that all the vagabonds who had taken refuge on the Beauti- ful river, have returned to their village. . . . Sieur Marin writes me on the 3d instant, that the fort at Presque Isle is entirely finished ; that the Portage road, which is six leagnes in length, is also ready for earriages; that the store which was necessary to be built half way aeross the Portage, is in a condition to receive the supplies, and the second fort which is located at the mouth of the river Aux Bœuf will soon be completed.
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OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.
"This commandant informs me, moreover, that lie is having some pirogues constructed ; whilst men are actually employed in transport- ing his stores; and he tells me that all the Delawares, Chanonanous, (Shawnecs) aud Senecas on the Beautiful river liad come to meet him, and that he had so well received them, that they were zealously assisting with their horses that they have brought with them, in making the portage.
" There has not been, up to the present time, the least impediment to the considerable move- ments I have caused to be made ; everything arrived at its destination with greater celerity than I anticipated ; and among the prodigious number of batteaux or canoes, that have passed the rapids, only one has upset, drowning seven men.
" As it is impossible in a movement as vast as it is precipitous for this country, that some of the provisions should be spoiled in open craft, despite all the prceautions that could be taken, I have sent on as much as was necessary to repair the loss.
" Everything announces, my lord, the suc- cessful execution of my project, unless some unforeseen accident has occurred ; and the only anxiety I feel is that the River Aux Bœuf por- tage will delay the entrance of our troops into the Beautiful River, as it is long, and there is considerable to carry, and the horses I have sent thither have arrived there exhausted with fatigue. But I hope this will be obviated by those the Indians have brought thither, and that the mildness of the climate will admit of the completion of the posts. The extreme boldness with which I have executed a project of so much importance, has caused me the liveliest in- quietude; the famine which nict me on my arrival at Quebeck having reduced me, for- warding only 900 barrels of flour as the whole supply.
of 700 men, had I had the entrepot of provi- sions at Niagara, because the body of men would have assuredly advanced to the portage, which I was desirous of occupying ; having to fear some opposition on the part of the Indians of the Beautiful River at the instigation of the English, my'plan having been discovered, and bruited abroad since M. de la Jouquire's death, in consequence of the explorations that I caused to be made by some bark canoes, notwithstand- ing the color I wished to give these move- ments.
" I leave you to judge, my lord, the trouble of mind I felt at the reduction of this van- guard to 250 men, which I was obliged to send like what is called in the army a forlorn hope, when dispatched to explore a work. On the other hand, I should proceed at a snail's pace could I continue my operations only with the assistance derived from the sea, the inconveni- ences of which I understood. In fine, my lord, if there be any merit in doing anything contrary to the prudence of a person of my age, who has not the reputation of being devoid of that virtue, the enterprise in question would be entitled to very great credit ; but necessity having constrained me to it, I do not adopt it, and attribute its success to singular good for- tune which I would not for all the world at- tempt again.
" The discovery I have made of the harbor of Presque Isle, which is regarded as the finest spot in nature, has determined me to send a royal assistant pilot to search around the Niag- ara rapids for some place where a bark could remain to take in its load. Nothing would be of greater advantage in the saving of transport, and the security of the property of the new posts and of Detroit ; but it is necessary to find a good bottom, so that the anchors may hold ; for it could safely winter at Presque Isle, where it would be as it were in a box. I impatiently await the return of this pilot, and I would be
" From the knowledge I have acquired this winter, I would have composed my vanguard much flattered could I be able to announce to
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you in my latest dispatches, that I have ordered the construction of this vessel.
" I must not leave you ignorant, my lord, how much I am pleased with Sieur Marin, the commander of the detachment, and Major Pean. The former, who has an experienced capacity, manages the Indians as he pleases ; and he has, at his age, the same zeal and activity as any young officer that may enter the service. The second is endowed with all the talent imagin- able for detail and resources, and knows no other occupation than that of accomplishing the object he is intrusted with. He alone had charge of dispatching all the canoes and bat- teaux, and acquitted himself of that duty, with great order. Chevalier Le Mercier, to whom I assigned the duties of engineer, and who is also intrusted with the distribution of the provisions, is an officer possessing the rarest talent. Sieur Marin expresses himself to me in the highest terms of all those who are under his orders, and who vie with each other in diligence.
"I am, with the most profound respect, my lord, your most humble and most obedient servant, " DU QUESNE."
In addition to the account given of the doings of the French in this quarter that is con- tained in these letters from Du Quesne, we have a very full and apparently authentic nar- rative of their operations in Chautauqua county, and in Pennsylvania in the year 1753, in an affidavit made by Steplien Coffin, before Sir William Johnson, January 10, 1754. Stephen Coffin was taken prisoner by the French and Indians in 1747, and detained in Lower Canada until January, 1752, when he was allowed to join the command of Barbeen in this expedition to the Ohio river. On the return of the French forces in the fall of that year, the troops became fatigued from rowing all night upon Lake On- tario, and were ordered to put ashore within a mile of the mouth of the Oswego river for breakfast, when Coffin and a Frenchman es- caped to the English fort of Oswego, and after- 1
wards made his affidavit before Sir William Johnson, of which the following is a full copy :
" Stephen Coffin of full age, being duly sworn, deposeth and saith, that he was taken prisoner by the French and Indians of Canada at Menis, in the year 1747, under the command of Major Noble, from whence he was brought to an Indian village called Octagouche, about fifteen leagues to the westward of Chebucto, where he was kept three weeks prisoner, from thence was carried to a French settlement called Beau-basin, where the French had a wooden fort, and garrisoned with twenty-five men, remained there two months ; from thence they took him to Gaspey, a considerable fishing place in the Gulf of St. Lawrence near to the entrance of the river ; there are about 300 families settled there, they kept him there working near four years, then he was brought to a place called Ramonski, inhabited by about twenty-five French families, from which place he sailed two years to, and from Quebec, in a sloop car- rying beaver and furs, salmon, etc., to Quebec, and in return, brought back brandy, dry goods, etc. During the time of deponent's residing at Quebec, he says it was commonly talked or reported, that they, the French, in- tended to settle as many families as they could to the westward, to make up the loss of two of their towns sunk in the West Indias by an earthquake. The deponent further saith, that the navigation up the river St. Lawrence, is very dangerous, particularly so at the Isle aux Coudres, and the Isle of Orleans, the North side of the former is the best for navigation, the south side being very rapid and rocky, and the channel not above two hundred yards wide, about six fathoms water; whereas in the north channel there is fifteen fathoms, at the north- east end of the latter begins sand banks, which extend a league down said river ; the channel is between both banks, and pretty near the middle of the river, from thence to the town of Quebec good navigation, being fifteen fathom all
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OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.
the way. The deponent says, there is no pos- sibility of going up said river, without the tide serves, or a strong northeast wind, especially at the two forementioned islands. In September 1752, the deponent was in Quebee, and en- deavoring to agree with some Indians, to eon- vey him to his own country, New England, which the Indians acquainted the governor of, who immediately ordered him to jail where lie lay three months ; at the time of his releasement the French were preparing for a mareh to Belle Riviere or Ohio, where he offered his serviee, but was rejected by the Governor General Du Quesne ; he the said General setting out for Montreal about the 3d of January, 1753, to view and forward the forees, the deponent ap- plied to Major Ramsay, for liberty to go with the army to Ohio, who told him he would ask the Lieutenant Du Roy, who agreed to it, upon which he was equipped as a soldier, and sent with a detachment of three hundred men to Montreal, under command of Monsieur Barbeen, who set off immediately with said eommand, by land and ice, for Lake Erie; they on their way stopped a couple of days to refresh them- selves at Cadaraghquie fort; also at Toronto, on the north side of Lake Ontario; then at Niagara fort for fifteen days ; from thenee set off by water, being April, and arrived at Chadakoin (now Bareelona, Chautauqua eounty, New York) on Lake Erie, where they were ordered to fell timber, and prepare for building a fort there, aceording to the governor's instrue- tion ; but Monsieur Morang coming up with five hundred men and twenty Indians, put a stop to the erecting of a fort at that plaee, by reason of his not liking the situation, and the river of Chadakoin being too shallow to earry any eraft with provisions to Belle River. The deponent says, there arose a warm debate between Messrs. Barbeen and Morang thereon, the first insisting on building a fort there, agreeable to his instrnetions, otherwise on Morang giving him an instrument in writing
to satisfy the governor on that point, which Morang did, and then ordered Monsieur Mercie who was both commissary and engineer to go along said lake and look for a good situation; which he found, and returned in three days, it being fifteen leagues to the southwest of Chadokoin ; they were then all ordered to repair hithier ; when they arrived, there were about twenty Indians fishing in the lake, who immediately quit it on seeing the French ; they fell to work and built a square fort, of chestnut logs, squared and lapped over each other, to the length of fifteen feet ; it is about one hundred and twenty feet square, a log house in each square, a gate at the southward and another to the north ward, not one port hole eut in any part of it ; when finished they called it Fort La Presque Isle.
The Indians who came from Canada with them returned very much out of temper, owing, as it is said among the army, to Morang's dogged behavior and ill usage of them ; but they, the Indians, said at Oswego it was owing to the French's misleading of them by telling them falsehoods, which, they said, they had now found out, and left them. As soon as the fort was finished, they marched southward, eut- ting a wagon road through a fine level country, twenty-one miles to the River Le Bœuf (leav- ing Captain Depotiney with a hundred men to garrison the fort at La Presque Isle); they fell to work eutting timber boards, etc., for another fort, while Mons. Morang ordered Mons. Bite, with fifty men, to go to a plaee ealled by the Indians Ganagaralehare, on the banks of Belle river, where the river Le Bœuf empties into it. In the mean time Morang had got large boats or batteaux made to carry down the bag- gage and provisions to said place. Mons. Bite, on coming to said Indian plaee, was asked what he wanted or intended ; he, upon answer- ing it was their father, the governor of Can- ada's intention to build a trading-house for them and all their brethren's convenieney, was told by the Indians that the lands were theirs,
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and they would not have them build upon it. all the preparations possible again the spring He said Mr. Bite, returning, met two English- men, traders, with their horses and goods, whom they bound and brought prisoners to Morang, who ordered them to Canada in irons. He said Bite reported to Morang the situation was good, but the water in the river La Bœuf too low at that time to carry down any craft with provisions, etc. A few days after, the deponent says that about one hundred Indians called by the French Loos came to the fort at the river Le Bœuf to see what the French were doing ; that Mons. Morang treated them very kindly, and then asked them to carry down some stores to the Belle river on horseback for payment, which he immediately advanced them on their undertaking to do it. They set off with full loads, but never delivered them to the French, which incensed them very much, being not only a loss, but a great disappointment.
Morang, a man of very peevish, choleric disposition, meeting with these and other crosses, and finding the season of the year too far ad- vanced to build the third fort, called all his officers together, and told them that as he had engaged and firmly promised the governor to finish the three forts that season, and not being able to fulfil the same, was both afraid and ashamed to return to Canada, being sensible he had now forfeited the governor's favor forever; wherefore, rather than to live in disgrace, he begged they would take him (as he then sat in a carriage made for him, being very sick some time), and seat him in the middle of the fort, and then set fire to it, and let him perish in the flames, which was rejected by the officers, who, the deponent says, had not the least re- gard for him, as he had behaved very ill to them all in general. The deponent further saith that about eight days before lie left fort Presque Isle, Chev. De Crake arrived express from Canada in a birch canoe, worked by. ten men, with orders (as deponent afterwards heard) from Governor Du Quesne to Morang to make
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