History of Chautauqua County, New York : from its first settlement to the present time : with numerous biographical and family sketches, Part 5

Author: Young, Andrew W. (Andrew White), 1802-1877; Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation. fmo; Huntington Free Library. fmo
Publication date: 1875
Publisher: Buffalo, N.Y. : Printing House of Matthews & Warren
Number of Pages: 948

USA > New York > Chautauqua County > History of Chautauqua County, New York : from its first settlement to the present time : with numerous biographical and family sketches > Part 5

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Du Quesne, during the winter, completed his preparations, which were hastened by false reports received from Joncaire, that the English had actually settled upon French creek, and at the junction of the Connewango with the Allegany, where Warren is now situated; which the French and Indians then called Chinengue. He in the early spring dispatched, from Montreal, an advance force of two hundred and fifty men, under Monsieur Barbeer, for Chautauqua, with orders to fell and prepare timber for the build- ing of a fort there .* Barbeer and his command pursued their winter march over land and ice to Fort Niagara, pausing on their way to refresh thom- selves at Cadaraqua fort and at Toronto. They remained at Fort Niagara

* The following account of the operations of the French during the spring and summer of 1753, we have mainly from an affidavit made before Sir William Johnson by Stephen Coffen, who 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 Barbeer 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 Ontario, and were ordered to put ashore within a mile of the mouth of the Oswego river for breakfast, when Coffen and a Frenchman escaped to the English fort of Oswego.

THE PORTAGE ROAD.

until the warmth of the early spring had sufficiently removed the ice from Lake Erie, and then pursued their way by water along the shore of the lake, arriving at the mouth of the Chautauqua creek in the month of April, 1753.

What progress Barbeer made in complying with the instructions given him by Du Quesne, to fell and prepare timber for a fort there, we are not in- formed. Sieur Marin, to whom was assigned the chief command of all the forces of France, operating in the country of the Ohio, having arrived with a larger force, consisting of five hundred soldiers and twenty Indians, put a stop to the building of the fort, as he did not like the situation, believing the river of Chadekoins, as the outlet of Chautauqua lake was called, too shallow to carry craft with provisions to the Ohio river. An altercation ensued; Barbeer insisting either upon building the fort according to his in- structions, or that Marin should give him a writing that would justify him in the eyes of the governor. Marin finally complied with Barbeer's demand, and gave him such a writing, and then dispatched Chevalier Le Mercier, a captain of artillery, and an able officer, to whom was assigned the duties of engineer for the expedition, to explore the shore for a better point of depart- ure from the lake. After an absence of three days, Le Mercier returned to Chautauqua, and reported that about fifteen leagues to the south-west he had discovered a harbor where boats could enter with perfect safety, and that it was a most favorable point for their purpose.

The French immediately repaired thither, and upon their arrival found twenty Indians fishing in the lake, who fled on their approach. Here the French built a fort one hundred and twenty feet square, and fifteen feet high, of chestnut logs. It had a gate on the north and south sides, but no port holes. The French called it Fort Presque Isle. It stood where now is situated the city of Erie, Pennsylvania. Upon the completion of this fort, Marin left there Captain Derpontcy, with one hundred men to garrison it, and immediately cut a wagon road to the southward, through a fine level country, twenty-one miles to a point on the river La Boeuf, the present site of Waterford, Erie county, Pa. Faint traces of this wagon road are still visible not far from the city of Erie. They built at Waterford, of wood, a tri- angular stockaded fort, within which two log houses were erected. While building this fort, Marin sent Monsieur Bite with fifty men to the Allegany river, where French creek empties into it, and Marin built ninety boats or batteaux, to carry down the baggage and provisions. Bite returned and reported the situation good, but the river too low at that time for boats ; and also that the Indians had forbid the building of the fort. When the fort Aux Boeufs was completed, Marin ordered all his forces to return to Canada, to remain there through the winter, excepting three hundred men, which were retained to garrison the two forts he had built, and to prepare materials for the building of other forts in the next spring. He also sent Coeur, an officer and interpreter, to stay during the winter among the Indians on the Ohio, and to persuade them not only to permit the building of forts, but to join the French against the English,

HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

About eight days before the French took their departure from Presque Isle, Chevalier Le Crake arrived express from Canada, in a birch canoe, propelled by ten men, with orders from Du Quesne to make all preparations to build, the succeeding spring, two forts in Chautauqua ; one at Lake Erie, and one at the end of the carrying place on Chautauqua lake. On the 28th of October, about four hundred and forty French, under Captain Deneman, set out from Presque Isle for Canada, in twenty-two batteaux ; followed in a few days by seven hundred and sixty men, being all the remainder of the French that were not left to garrison the forts they had built in Pennsylvania. On the 30th of October, 1753, they arrived at Chautauqua, probably at or near Barcelona. Here, within this county, this army remained encamped for four days, during which time two hundred of their number, under Monsieur Pean, cut the wagon road over the carrying place, from Lake Erie to Chautauqua lake .*

The French pronounced themselves satisfied with this route, and on the 3d of November set out for Canada, arriving at Niagara on the 6th.+

Besides the two hundred and fifty men composing the advance force under Barbeer, and the five hundred that soon afterwards came up under Marin, there came afterwards, during the season, other bodies of troops from Can- ada, with stores; making the whole number of French engaged in this expedition, 1,500 men. Nine pieces of artillery were brought with them, all of which were left in Fort Le Boeuf, where Marin commanded. These constitute the operations of the French in the year 1753, in this remote wilderness ; and they were deemed of great importance, even in Paris, as sufficiently appears in the correspondence between the French officials respecting them. To furnish an army of 1,500 men with supplies and munitions, and send them from Montreal, itself but a fortress in the depths of the forest, still farther to the west, through an untraversed wilderness, over inland seas, a distance of 500 miles, to these wild and almost unknown regions, was an enterprise then regarded as of no small magnitude, even by a government as powerful as France.

The difficulties experienced by the French in pushing forward this expe- dition, as well as many other interesting particulars respecting it, are set

* " Hugues Pean was a native of Canada ; his father had been adjutant, or town major of Quebec ; a situation to which the son succeeded, on the arrival of M. de Jonquire. His wife was young, spiritual, mild, and obliging, and her conversation amusing ; she succeeded in obtaining considerable influence over the intendant M. Bigot, who went regularly to spend his evenings with her. She became at length the channel through which the public patronage flowed. Pean in a short time saw himself worth fifty thousand crowns. Bigot, the intendant, requiring a large supply of wheat, gave Pean the contract, and even advanced him money from the treasury, with which the wheat was bought. The intendant next issued an ordinance, fixing the price of wheat much higher than Pean purchased it. The latter delivered it to the government, at the price fixed by the ordinance, whereby he real- ized immense profit, obtained a seigniory, and became very wealthy."-Collections of Quebec Literary and Historical Society, 1838, page 68. "He was afterwards created a Knight of St. Louis."-Smith's Canada, I., page 221.

1 10 Colonial Hist. of N. Y.

THE PORTAGE ROAD.

forth in a letter bearing date August 20, 1753, from Du Quesne to M. de Rouille, the French Minister of Marine and Colonies, in which he says :* " MY LORD :

" I have the honor to inform you that I have been obliged to alter the arrangement I had made, whereof I rendered you an account last fall.

" You will see, my Lord, by the extract of the journal hereto annexed, the reasons which compelled me to reduce to almost one half, the vanguard that I informed you consisted of 400 men, and those that determined me to prefer landing the troops at the harbor of Presque Isle on Lake Erie, which I very fortunately discovered, instead of Chataconit, 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 can enter loaded, and be in perfect safety. I am informed that the beach, the soil, and the resources of all sorts, were the same as repre- sented to me.

"The plan I send you of this place is only a rough sketch until it is corrected. I have given orders that this be proceeded with.

" The letter I received on the 12th of January last from M. de Joncaire, has obliged me to force to obtain provisions from the farmers, to enable me to oppose the projects of the English, who, he advised me, had sent smiths to Chinenguet and the river Aux Boeuf, where they were even settled ; and that there was a terrible excitement among the Indians, who looked upon it as certain 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 com- plete success. 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 race of which is getting scarce.

" I was not long in perceiving that this movement made a considerable impression on the Indians ; and what has thrown more consternation 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 curiosity to witness my operations, I would permit them to follow Sieur Marin, the commander of the detachment, whom they were well acquainted with, and in whom they have confidence. Of 200 whom I pro- posed to send forward, only 70 are sufficient for scouts and hunters.

" All the natives that came down to see me from the upper country, and who met the multitude of batteaux and canoes which were conveying 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 advantage of their terror to speak to them in a firm tone and menacing the first that would falter ; and instead of a month or five weeks that they were accustomed 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 execution of the plan of my enter-

* IO Doc. relating to Colonial Hist. of N. Y.

+ Chinengue, or Shenango, is laid down in Mitchell's map at the junction of the Conne- wango and Allegany, where Warren is now situated.

HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

prise makes so strong an impression on the natives, that all the vagabonds who had taken refuge on the Beautiful River, have returned to their village.

"I keep the five nations much embarrassed because they have not come down to Montreal, and the only step they have taken has been to send the ladies ( dames ) of their council to Sieur Marin to inquire of him by a belt, whether he was marching with the hatchet uplifted. He told them that he bore it aloft, in order that no person should be ignorant of the fact ; but as for the present, his orders were to use it only in case he encountered op- position to my will; that my intention was to support and assist them in their necessities, and to drive away the evil spirits that encompassed them, and that disturbed the earth.

" I was aware that the English of Philadelphia had invited them to general council, and that they had refused to attend to it. Further, I knew from a man worthy of credit, who happened to be among these Indians when the English arrived, that they had rejected the belts which had been offered to oppose the entrance of the King's troops into the river Ohio, since they had sold it to the English. They answered that they would not meddle with my affairs, and that they would look quietly on, from their mats, persuaded as they were, that my proceedings had no other object than to give a clear sky to a country which served as a refuge for assassins who had reddened the ground with their blood.

" This nation, which possesses a superior government to all others, allowed itself to be dazzled by continued presents, and did not perceive that the English are hemming it in, so that if it do not shake off their yoke 'twill soon be enslaved. I shall lead them to make this reflection, in order to in- duce them to pull down Choneganen, which is destroying them and will be the ruin of the colony.

"Should we have had to use reprisals, I would soon have taken that post. I have already forwarded to Fort Frontenac, the artillery and everything necessary to this coup de main.

"Sieur Marin writes me on the 3d instant, that the fort at Presque. Isle is entirely finished ; that the Portage road, which is six leagues in length, is also ready for carriages ; that the store which was necessary to -be built half way across this Portage, is in a condition to receive the supplies, and that the second fort, which is located at the mouth of the river Aux Boeuf, will soon be completed.

"This commandant informs me, moreover, that he is having some pirogues constructed ; whilst men are actually employed in transporting his stores; and he tells me that all the Delawares, Chauonanons [Shawnees] and Senecas, on the Beautiful River, had come to meet him, and that he had so well received them, that they were very zealously assisting with their horses that they have brought along with them in making the portage.

"There has not been, up to the present time, the least impediment to the considerable movements I have caused to be made ; everything arrived at its destination with greater celerity than I anticipated; and among the prodigi- ous 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 was precipitous for this country, that some of the provisions should be spoiled in open craft, despite all the precautions that could be taken, I have sent on as much as was necessary to repair the loss.

THE PORTAGE ROAD.

" Everything announces, my Lord, the successful execution of my project, unless some unforeseen accident has occurred ; and the only anxiety I feel is, that the River Aux Boeuf portage 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 by 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 inquietude; the famine which met me on my arrival at Quebec having reduced me, forwarding only 900 barrels of flour as the whole supply.

"From the knowledge I have acquired this winter, I would have composed my vanguard of 700 men, had I had an entrepôt of provisions at Niagara, because that 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 Jonquire's death, in consequence of the explorations that I caused to be made by some bark canoes, notwithstanding the color I wished to give these movements.

" I leave you to judge, my Lord, the trouble of mind I felt at the reduc- tion of this vanguard 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 inconveniences 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 fortune which I would not for all the world attempt 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 Niagara rapids for some place where a bark could remain to take in its load. Nothing would be of greater advan- tage 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 much flattered could I be able to announce to 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 imaginable for detail and resources, and knows no other occupation than that of accom- plishing the object he is intrusted with. He alone had charge of dispatch- ing all the canoes and batteaux, and acquitted himself of that duty with great order. Chevalier Le Mercier, to whom I assigned the duties of engi- neer, 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

HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

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."

This Portage road was cut by the French from Lake Erie to Chautauqua lake more than twenty years before the battle of Lexington, and was the first work performed by civilized hands within the limits of Chautauqua county, of which we are informed. It was known by the early settlers of the county, as the Old Portage or French road, and was one of the first highways of the county over which, in early days, much merchandise, including large amounts of salt from Onondaga county, were annually transported to Pittsburgh, and places on the river below.

The Portage road commenced on the west bank of Chautauqua creek, a little distance from its mouth, in the town of Westfield. Thence it passed up, on the west side of the creek, crossing the present Erie road at the Old McHenry tavern, where the historical monument stands, to a point above the woolen factory, about a mile from Westfield. Here the road crossed the creek ; still further on it crossed the present road leading from Mayville to Westfield, and continued most of the distance for the remainder of the way, on the east side of the present road, and terminated at the foot of Main street in Mayville. The original track and remains of the old log bridges were plainly to be seen as late as the year 1817 ; and even traces of this road remain to this day. Judge William Peacock, of Mayville, passed over this Portage road as early as July, 1800. He followed it from the mouth of Chautauqua creek, three miles up its west bank, and thence over the hills to Chautauqua lake. The road then had the appearance of having been used in former times. The underbrush had been cut out; and where this road crossed the Chautauqua creek, about three miles from its mouth, the banks upon each side had been dug away, to admit a passage across the stream. Towards Mayville, and near the summit of the hills, at a low wet place, a causeway had been constructed of logs.' Over this point the present high- way from Mayville to Westfield now passes. At the foot of Main street in Mayville, where the Portage terminated, was a circular piece of mason work of stone laid in sand and mortar, three or four feet high, and three or four feet in diameter. It was constructed, as Judge Peacock conjectured, for the purpose of cooking food. A piece of mason work, precisely like this in every respect, he saw standing at the other end of the Portage, at the mouth of the Chautauqua creek, opposite Barcelona. This mason work was seen as late as 1802 by William Bell, who, for over seventy years, resided in Westfield .*

The operations of the French in the West, during the spring and summer of 1753, were watched with interest and indignation by the English. Capt. Stodart wrote a letter to Col. William Johnson on the 15th of May, 1753, from

* See the Extract from Sir William Johnson's Journal, post.

· THE FRENCH WAR.

Oswego, informing him that over thirty French canoes, carrying a part of the French army, had passed them the day before for the Ohio ; also that he was informed by a Frenchman, who was on his way to Cajocka [probably Chau- tauqua], that the French under Marin were about to build forts at places convenient for them ; " that one fort was to be built at Ka-sa-no-tia-yo-go" [a carrying place], and another at Diontarogo." A copy of this letter was forwarded by Col. Johnson to Governor Clinton.

WASHINGTON'S JOURNEY TO FRENCH CREEK.

When information reached Governor Dinwiddie, of Virginia, of these proceedings by the French, he determined to ascertain their purpose, and to induce them to abandon their claim upon the valley of the Ohio. He ac- cordingly dispatched George Washington, then but twenty-two years of age, who set out from Williamsburgh, in Virginia, on the 30th day of October, 1753, and arrived at the place where Pittsburgh now stands, about three weeks afterwards. He then proceeded to Venango, where he arrived on the 4th of December, and had an interview with the celebrated Capt. Joncaire, but obtained no satisfaction. From Venango he pushed on up the French creek, to the post the French had established at Le Boeuf, now Waterford, where he arrived the Itth of December, 1753. The fort he found situated on the island on the west fork of French creek. It consisted of four houses, forming a square, defended by bastions made of palisades twelve feet high, pierced for cannon and small arms. Within the bastions were a guard-house and other buildings. Outside were stables, a smith forge, and a log house for soldiers. Washington found that the French were preparing at this place many pine boats and bark canoes to be ready in the spring, to descend and destroy the English posts on the Ohio river. Here Washington, over one hundred and twenty years ago, spent five anxious days, within but fourteen miles from the town of French Creek, in Chautauqua county, negotiating with the French commandant, St. Pierre. Having finished his business with the French, Washington set out on the 16th of December to return. His long journey through the wilderness was beset by many difficulties and dan- gers. French creek and the Allegany river were swollen and full of floating ice ; the snows were deep, and the cold intense. He arrived at Williams- burgh, January 16th, 1754; having performed a toilsome and perilous jour- ney of eight hundred miles, in two and one half months.

THE FRENCH WAR.

Immediately after Washington's return, the Ohio Company sent Captain Trent and a small body of men, to the junction of the Allegany with the Monongahela, where Pittsburgh is now situated. He arrived there in Feb- ruary, 1754, and commenced laying the foundations of a fort, which was completed prior to April 17th, 1754. This was the first occupation of the territory where Pittsburgh now stands. Against this post the French imme-

* 7 Doc. relating to the Col. Hist. of N. Y., 779.

HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY.

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