History of Chautauqua County, New York, Part 10

Author: Edson, Obed, 1832-; Merrill, Georgia Drew, editor
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Boston, Mass. : W.A. Fergusson
Number of Pages: 1068

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Sieur Marin, to whom was assigned the chief command of all the forces of France operating in the country of the Ohio arrived later with a force of 500 soldiers and 20 Indians and put a stop to the building of the fort, believ- ing 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 instructions, 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 then dispatched Chevalier Le Mercier, a captain of artillery, to whom was assigned the duties of engineer for the expedition, to explore the shore for a better point of departure from the lake. After three days' absence Le Mercier returned to Chautauqua and reported that about fifteen leagues to the southwest he had discovered a harbor where boats could enter with per- fect safety, and that it was a most favorable point for their purpose. The French immediately repaired thither, and found twenty Indians fishing in the lake, who fled on their approach. Here the French built a fort 120 feet square and 15 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 the city of Erie. . Upon the completion of this fort, Marin left Captain Derpontey, with 100 men to garrison it, and cut a wagon road to the southward through a fine level country, twenty-one miles to a point on the river La Boeuf, the site of Waterford, Pa. 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 to carry the bag- gage and provisions. Bite returned and reported the situation good but the river too low at that time for boats and that the Indians had forbid the building of the fort. When the fort Aux Boeufs was completed, Marin ordered his forces to return to Canada to remain through the winter, except- ing 300 men, retained to garrison the two forts and to prepare materials for the building of other forts in the spring. He also sent Coeur, an officer and

HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY, N. Y.

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.

Eight days before the French departed from Presque Isle, Chevalier Le Crake arrived from Canada in a birch canoe, with orders from Du Quesne to make preparations to build the next spring two forts in Chautauqua ; one at Lake Erie, and one at the end of the carrying place on Chautauqua lake. October 28, about 440 French under Captain Deneman set out from Presque Isle for Canada in twenty-two boats, followed in a few days by 760 men, the remainder of the French that were not left to garrison the forts in Pennsyl- vania. October 30, 1753. they arrived at Chautauqua, at or near Barcelona. Here within this county, this army encamped four days, and 200 men under Monsieur Pean,* eut the wagon road over the carrying place, from Lake Erie to Chautauqua lake. The French were satisfied with this route, and Novem- ber third set out for Canada, arriving at Niagara on the 6th. 1

The number of French engaged in this expedition was 1,500 men. Nine pieces of artillery were brought which were left in Fort Le Boeuf. These constitute the operations of the French in 1753 in this remote wilderness and they were deemed of great importance even in Paris, as appears in the correspondence of the French officials. 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, 500 miles to these wild and almost unknown regions, was an enterprise then regarded as of no small magnitude even by a goverment as powerful as France.

The official account of this expedition is in this interesting letter, dated August 20, 1753, from Du Quesne to M. de Ronville the French minister of marine and colonies.

"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,

... Hugues Pen" who superintended the building of this old Portage roads 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 Jonquiere. His wife was young, spiritual, mild, and obliging, and her conversation amming ; she suc- ceeded in obtaining considerable influence over the intendant M. Bigot who went regularly to spend his even- ing- with her. She became at length the channel through which the public patronage flowed. Pean in a short time saw him-elf worth fifty thousand crowns. Bigot, the intendant, requiring a large supply of wheat, gave Pean the contract. alot 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 realized an immense profit. obtained a seigniory, and became very wealthy." Collections of Quebec Literary and Historical Society. 1-35, pag. 65. " He was afterwards created a Knight of St. Louis." Smith's Canada, I., page 221.

tto Colonial History of N. Y.

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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 represented 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 Chinengue* and the river Aux Bœuf, 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 voy- ageurs which I acquired 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 zo 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 bateanx and canoes which were conveying the men and effects belonging to the detachment, presented themselves all tremb- ling 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 dav.

" It appears up to this time, that the execution of the plan of my enter- prise makes so strong an impression upon 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 oppo- sition 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.

* Chinengne, or Shenango, is laid down in Mitchell's map at the junction of the Conewango and Allegany, where Warren is now situated.

HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY, N. Y.

"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 induce 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.

"Sienr 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 Anx Bœuf, 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 prodi- gious number of bateaux 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 neces- sary to repair the loss.

"Everything annonces, my Lord, the successful execution of my pro- ject, unless some unforseen 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

THE OLD PORTAGE ROAD.

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 entrepot of provisions at Niagara, because that body of men would have assuredly advanced to the portage which I was desirous of occuping ; 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 opera- tions 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 any- thing contrary to the prudence of a person of my age, who has not the repu- tation 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 dis- patches, that I have ordered the construction of this vessel.

"I must not leave yon ignorant, my Lord, how much I am pleased with Sieur Marin, the commander of the detatchment, and Major Pean. The for- mer, 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 imagina- ble for detail and resources, and knows no other occupation than that of accomplishing the object he is intrusted with. He alone had charge of dis- patching all the canoes and batteaux, 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 Du Quesne's report we have a detailed and apparently authentic narrative of their operations in Chautauqua county and Pennsyl-

HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY, N. Y.

vania in 1753 in an affidavit made by Stephen Coffin before Sir William Johnson, January 10, 1754. Stephen Coffin was taken prisoner by the French and Indians February 11, 1747, at Minas in Nova Scotia, and detained in Lower Canada until January, 1752, when he was allowed to join the com- maud of Barbeer in this expedition. On the return of the French forces, the troops became fatigued from rowing all night upon Lake Ontario, and were ordered to land within a mile of the mouth of Oswego river for breakfast, when Coffin and a Frenchman escaped to the English fort of Oswego, and he afterwards made this affidavit :

*" Stephen Coffin, of full age, being duly sworn, deposeth and saith that he was taken prisoner by the French and Indiaus of Canada at Menis, in the year 1747, under the command of Major Noble, from whence he was brought to an Indian village called Octagonche, abont fifteen leagues to the westward of Chebneta, where he was kept three weeks prisoner, from thence he was carried to a French settlement called Beaubasin, where the French had a wooden fort then garrisoned with 25 men, remaining 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 25 French families, from which place he sailed two years to and from Quebec in a sloop carrying beaver and furs, salmon, etc., to Onebec, and in return brought back brandy, dry goods, etc. During the time of the deponent's residing at Quebec, he says, it was commonly talked or reported that they, the French, intended to settle as many families as they could to the west- ward to make up for the loss of two of their towns sunk in the West Indies 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 Orleans ; the north side of the former is the best navigation; the south side being very rapid and rocky, and the channel not above 200 yards wide, about 6 fathoms water ; whereas in the north channel there is 15 fathoms; at the northeast end of the latter begins two 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, 15 fathoms all the way.

" The deponent says there is no possibility of going up said river without the tide serves, or a strong northeast wind, especially at the two afore- mentioned islands. In September, 1752, the deponent was in Quebec, and endeavoring to agree with some Indians to convey him to his own country, New England, which the Indians acquainted the governor of, who innedi- ately ordered him to goal, where he lay three months; at the time of his releasement the French were preparing for a march to Belle Riviere or Ohio, when he offered his service, but was rejected by the govenor General Le Cain ; he, the said general, setting out for Montreal about the 3d of January, 1753, to view and forward the forces : the deponent applied to Major Ramsey for liberty to go with the army to Ohio, who told him he would ask the

kath Vol. V. S. State Col. Doc. p. S.

THE OLD PORTAGE ROAD.

lieutenant De Ruoy, who agreed to it, upon which he was equipped as a soldier and sent with a detatchment of 300 men to Montreal under the com- mand of Mon'r Babeer who set off immediately with said command by land and ice for Lake Erie ; they, in their way, stopped a couple days to refresh themselves at Cadaraghqui Fort ; also at Taranto on the north side of Lake Ontario ; then at Niagara Fort fifteen days ; from thence set off by water, being April, and arrived at Chadakoin on Lake Erie, where they were ordered to fell timber and prepare for building a fort there according to the govern- or's instructions ; but Monsieur Morang, coming up with 500 men and 20 Indians, put a stop to the erecting of a fort at that place, by reason of his not liking the situation, and the river of Chadakoins being too shallow to carry any craft with provision etc. to Belle Riviere.

" The deponent says, there arose a warm debate between Messrs. Babeer and Morang thereon, the first insisting on building a fort there agreeable to his instructions, otherwise on Morangs giving him an instrument in writing to satisfy the governor in 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 leagnes to the S. W. of Chadakoin ; they were then all ordered to repair thither. When they arrived there were abont twenty Ind- ians 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 height of fifteen foot ; it is about 120 feet square, a log honse in each square, a gate to the southward and another to the northward, not one port hole cent in any part of it ; when finished they called it Fort la Briske Isle. The Indians who came from Canada with them returred very much out of temper, owing, as it was said among the army, to Morang's dogged behaviour 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 false- hoods, which they said they had now found ont, and left them. As soon as the fort was finished they marched southward, cutting a wagon road through a fine level country, twenty-one miles to the river of Boeff, (leaving Captain Depontenay with a hundred men to garrison the Fort la Briske Isle.) They fell to work cutting timber, boards, etc., for another fort while Monsieur Morang ordered Monsieur Bite with fifty men to go to a place called by the Indians, Ganagarah'hare, on the banks of the Belle Riviere, where the river O Boeff empties into it ; in the mean time Morang had got large boats or battoes made to carry down the baggage and provisions, etc., to said place. Monsieur Bite, on coming to said Indian place, was asked what he wanted or intended ; he, upon answering it was their father the governor of Cana- da's intention to build a trading house for their and all their brethren's con- veinency, was told by the Indians that the lands were theirs, and they would not have them build upon it. The said Mr. Bite returning, met two Eng- lishuman traders with their horses and goods, whom they bound and brought prisoners to Morang, who ordered them to Canada in irons. The said Bite reported to Morang the situation was good, but the water in the river () Boeff too low at that time to carry down any craft with provisions, etc. A few days after the deponent says that about 100 Indians, called by the French Loo's, came to the fort La Riviere O Boeff to see what the French were a

HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY, N. Y.

doing, that Mons. Morang treated them very kindly and then asked them to carry down some stores, etc., to the Belle Riviere 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 those and other crosses, and finding the season of the year too far advanced 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 sea- son, and not being able to fulfill the same, was both afraid and ashamed to return to Canada, being sensible he had now forfeited the governor's favour forever.

"Wherefore, rather than live in disgrace, he begged they would take him (as he then sat in a carriage made for him, being very sick sometime) 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 regard for him, as he had behaved very ill to them all in general. The deponent further saith, that about eight days before he left Fort La . Briske Isle, Chev. Le Crake arrived express from Canada, in a birch canoe worked by ten men, with orders (as the deponent afterwards heard) from the governor Le Cain to Morang to make all the preparation possible again the spring of the year, to build them two forts at Chadakoin, one of them by Lake Erie, the other at the end of the carrying place at Lake Chadakoin ; which carrying place is fifteen miles from one lake to the other. The said chevalier brought for Mons. Morang a cross of St. Louis which the rest of the officers would not allow him to take until the governor was acquainted with his conduct and behaviour. The Chev. returned immedi- ately to Canada, after which, the deponent saith, when the fort La Riviere () Boeff was finished (which is built of wood stokadoed triangularwise, and has two log houses in the inside) Monsr. Morang ordered all the party to return to Canada for the winter season, except 300 men, which he kept to garrison both forts, and prepare materials against the spring for the building other forts ; he also sent Jean Coeur, an officer and an interpreter, to stay the winter among the Indians at Ohio, in order to prevail with them, not only to allow the building forts on their lands but also persuade them, if possi- ble, to join the French interest against the English.

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History of Chautauqua County, New York, Part 10

Author: Edson, Obed, 1832-; Merrill, Georgia Drew, editor Publication date: 1894 Publisher: Boston, Mass. : W.A. Fergusson Number of Pages: 1068

Author: Edson, Obed, 1832-; Merrill, Georgia Drew, editor
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Boston, Mass. : W.A. Fergusson
Number of Pages: 1068