USA > New York > The documentary history of the state of New York, Vol. I pt 1 > Part 8
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TO HUNGRY BAY.
had been withdrawn at their request. Having made three assaults and been vigorously repulsed, they withdrew from before the said Fort the 29th of said month of March.
That Sieur de la Barre having seen these acts of hostility com- mitted in time of established peace and which Teganeout their Ambassador was coming to him to confirm, he might have adopted two courses, one to detain the said ambassador, and the other to wage war against them, not being able to endure a treachery of that description against the Christian name and French Nation.
That, things being in this condition, he could not believe that Colonel Dongan would interfere therein in any way, if it were not to unite with him in destroying these traitors and Infidels.
That the Mohawks and Oneidas, neighbours of Albany, have no part in all this war, and that he has envoys at Onontagué to see if they will take a part.
That his troops being assembled and on the march, he cannot postpone attacking the Senecas unless by losing the campaign.
That in despatches dated the 5th of August last, the King his master was pleased to communicate to him the information which he had received from the King of England, of the appointment of Colonel Dongan as Governor of New York, with express or- ders to maintain good understanding and correspondence with said Sieur de la Barre, who, on that account, could have no idea that he had any intention to protect a treachery and injustice similar to that committed by villains on Frenchmen.
Done at the Camp of Lachine the 21th July 1684.
Signed,
LE FEBURE DE LA BARRE.
And lower down by
M. REGNAUT.
GOV. DONGAN TO M. DE LA BARRE.
[Lond. Doc. V.]
1. It is not intended that I will justify the wrong the Indians have done to the French so farr to the southwest as 400 leagues from Mont Royall or in any other place whatsoever, though in all
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probability if we were to dispute these countreys so farr to the south west are more likely to be ours then the French haveing English Colonies much nearer them.
2. The pretences you make to that countrey by your 25 years possession, and sending Jesuits amongst them are very slender, and it may bee, you may have the same to other countries as for Jesuites living amongst them, how charitable soever it may bee it gives no right or title, and it is a great wonder that the English who so well know America should neither hear nor see in a long time the treaty you speak of
3. But if the matter in debate bee not concerning the land on the side of the lake of Canida, it is desired to know what it is concerning since the Indians offer to give satisfaction for what injuries can be prooved to bee cômitted by them as they say they have formerly done in such cases, and if they do not I never pro- mised them any countenance from this government.
I wonder that Monsr de la Barr should send for any Indians who ouned themselves under this Government to know whether they were friends or ennemies, since this Government at that time and at this present hath enjoyed for aught I know a full and per- fect peace with the Government of Canida ; as for the case of La Salle I am not concerned in it but wonder you should send him to France upon the bare complaint of the Indians
As for the injuries, affronts, insolencyes and robberyes comit- ted by the Indians upon the French, I have earnestly pressed them to make a submission and satisfaction, and that out of a true consideration of the misseryes that may happen by having a warr with such Savages.
I could heartily wish that the Sieur de la Barre had sooner given me notice of the act of hostility before he had detained Taganeout there Ambassadour, or made warr against them, that I might have used all just methods to prevent a warr that may be destructive to either party-
That the Governor of Canida does very well in believing what truly he ought that I will not interest myselfe in any manner to countenance such villanyes and if I did not think there was a middle way to compose that difference myselfe, I would be wil- ling to joyne against them
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I am glad you asured me that the neighbourghing Indians to Al- bany have no share in that warr, but I am sorry the troops are in soe great forwardness, that if my former advice had bin taken, there had been no absolute necessity to attaque the Indians or loose the campaigne.
That it is very true, I ought to have a good correspondence with the Sieur de la Barr, and it is not nor ever shall be my fault if I have not, and I againe must tell you that I have no thought or inclination to protect any villany whatsoever.
EXTRACT OF A LETTER ADDRESSED BY LOUIS XIV. TO MONSIEUR DE LA BARRE, THE 21st JULY, 1684.
[Paris Doc. II.]
Monsieur De la barre
I have seen by your letters of the 5th June last, the resolution you have taken to attack the Iroquois, and the reasons which moved you to it, and though it is a grave misfortune for the Co- lony of New France which will interrupt the trade of my sub- jects and divert them from the cultivation of the land and expose them to frequent insults on the part of the Iroquois Savages, who can frequently surprize them in distant settlements, without your being even in a state to succor them ; I do not hesitate to ap- prove your adoption of that resolution since, by the insult they offered the fifteen Frenchmen whom they pillaged, and the attack on Fort St. Louis, you have had reason to believe that they se- riously intended declaring war, and as I wish to place you in a position to sustain it, and bring it to a speedy termination, I have given orders for equipping the Ship L'Emerillon, on board which I have caused to be embarked three hundred soldiers quartered in the ports of Brest and Rochefort with the number of Officers and Marines contained in the lists which you will find annexed, and this reinforcement with that sent to you by the last vessels from Rochelle, and which you have learned from my preceding letters, will furnish you means to fight advantageously, and to destroy utterly those people, or at least to place them in a state, after
1
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DE LA BARRE'S EXPEDITION
having punished them for their insolence, to receive peace on the conditions which you will impose on them.
You must observe as regards this war that even though you prosecute it with advantage, if you do not find means to wage it promptly, it will not the less cause the ruin of the colony, the people of which cannot subsist in the continual disquietude of being attacked by the Savages, and in the impossibility in which they find themselves of applying themselves to trade and the cultivation of their farms. Therefore whatever advantage you may derive for the glory of my arms and the entire destruction of the Savages by the continuation of this war, you ought to pre- fer peace which restoring quietness to my subjects will place you in a condition to increase the Colony by the means pointed out to you in my preceding letters.
I write to my ambassador in England to procure orders from the Duke of York to prevent him who commands at Baston as- sisting the Savages with troops, arms or ammunition, and I have reason to believe that orders will be despatched as soon as repre- sentations on my part will have been made.
I am very glad to tell you that from every thing I learn of what has occurred in Canada, the fault which you committed in not punctually executing my orders relative to the number of twenty- five licenses to be granted to my subjects, and the great number you have sent on all sides, in order to favor persons belonging to yourself, appears to me to have been the principal cause of what has happened on the part of the Iroquois. I hope you will re- pair this fault by giving a prompt and glorious termination to this war ..
*
It appears to me also that one of the principal causes of the war arises from one Du Lhut having caused two Iroquois to be killed who had assassinated two Frenchmen in Lake Superior, and you sufficiently see how much this man's voyage, which cannot' produce any advantage to the Colony, and which was permitted only in the interest of some private persons, has contributed to disturb the repose of the Colony.
As it concerns the good of my service to diminish as much is:
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possible the number of the Iroquois, and as these Savages who are stout and robust, will, moreover, serve with advantage in my galleys, I wish you to do every thing in your power to make a great number of them prisoners of war, and that you have them shipped by every opportunity which will offer for their removal to France *
I desire likewise that you leave Fort Frontenac in the posses sion of Sieur de la Salle or those who are there for him, and that you do nothing in opposition to the interest of that man whom I take under my special protection.
MEMOIR OF M. DE LA BARRE
AS TO WHAT HAD OCCURRED AND HAD BEEN DONE REGARDING THE WAR AGAINST THE SENECAS.
[Paris Doc. II.]
Having been obliged to leave early in June, in conformity to the resolution adopted by the Intendant, the Bishop, the heads of the country and myself, to wage war against the Senecas for having, in cold blood, pillaged seven hundred canoes belonging to Frenchmen ; arrested and detained the latter to the number of fourteen, as prisoners for nine days, and finally attacked Fort St. Louis of the Illinois, where the Chevalier de Bangy gallantly defended himself, and having resolved, at the same time, to seize Teganeout, one of their chiefs and his twelve companions who had come to ratify the peace made last year, who left their coun- try before they heard of this attack, which circumstance would oblige me not to treat them ill, but merely to secure their per- sons, we considered three things necessary: First, to endeavour to divide the Iroquois among themselves, and for this purpose, to send persons expressly to communicate my sentiments to the Revd Jesuit Fathers who are Missionaries there and to request them to act ; the second, to send to the Outaouacs to engage our French to come to my assistance by the South, by Lake Erie and to bring as many as they could of the Savages, our allies ; and thirdly, to advise Colonel Dongan, Governor of New York of what we
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were obliged to do, whilst at the same time I would throw a considerable reinforcement of men into Fort Frontenac to secure it. Being arrived at Montreal the tenth of the said month, we sent for Mr. Dollier, Superior of the Seminary of said town and of the Mission to the Indians of the Mountain, and the Reverend Pere Briare, Superior of the Mission of the Sault Saint Louis, who having concurred with us, furnished seven Christian Iroquois, friendly to the French and pretty shrewd, two of whom we sent with some Belts of Wampum to the Mohawks, and two to the Oneidas, to say to them that we were resolved to observe the peace made with them-that we were very willing to live there as with friends, and that we requested them not to interfere in the war which we were about to wage against the Senecas, who had cruelty insulted us in the person of the frenchmen whom they had plundered and seized, and fort St. Louis which they had attacked, since, and in violation of the peace made last year at Montreal ; we sent the three others to Onontagué to explain the same things, and finally I despatched Sieurs Guillet and Hebert to the Outaouacs to advise Sieurs Ladurantaye and Dulhut of my design and of the need I had of their assistance, and sent my orders to the Rev. Father Enjalran, Superior of said Missions, to operate there and send orders to different quarters according to his usual zeal and capacity, whilst I despatched Sieur Bourbon to Orange or Manatte to notify Colonel Dongan of the insult the French had received from the Senecas, which obliged me to march against them, of which I gave him notice, assuring him that if he wished to revenge the twenty-six Englishmen of Meri- lande, whom they had killed last winter, I would promise him that I would unite my forces to his, that he may obtain satisfac- tion for it, or avenge them.
I next despatched Sieur Dutast, first captain of the King's troops, on the twentieth of the same month with five or six picked soldiers and six mechanics, carpenters and masons, with provisions and ammunition of war to throw themselves into Fort Frontenac and put it, in all haste, beyond insult ; after which, having caused all to embark at la Chine, I proceeded from Mont- real, on St. John's day, to return to Quebec where I had requested
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the Intendant to make out the detachments of Militia which should follow me to the war, without inconvenience to the Coun- try ; I arrived there on the twenty-sixth, having used great dili- gence on the route, and found the people ordered and some canoes purchased ; but as they were not sufficient for the embarcation of all, we caused fifteen flat (bottomed) pine batteaux, suitable for the conveyance, each, of fourteen or fifteen men, to be con- structed in a hurry.
I divided all my small force into three divisions, I placed my- self at the head of the first which I commanded to lead the van. I left the management of the second to Mr. D'Orvilliers, antient Captain of Infantry ; the third being composed of troops from the Island of Montreal and the environs, was commanded by Sieur Dugué, antient Captain of Carignan. Sieur D'Orvilliers had been, since the fore part of spring, reconnoitering Lake On- tario and the Seneca Country, to see where the descent should be made, and in what direction we should march to their two prin- cipal villages, of which he had made a faithful and exact plan. I selected, as Major of the Brigade which I commanded, Sieur de Villebon-Beccancour, formerly Captain of the King's Dragoons, so that acting in my place, as I was obliged to have an eye to all, I could confide in him ; he succeeded with all possible diligence and experience.
I left Quebec the ninth of July, at the head of Three hundred militiamen, accompanied by the said Sieur de Villebon, and ar- rived at Montreal the sixteenth, where I was joined by Sieur D' Orvilliers on the twenty-first, who brought me, in addition to two hundred and fifty militia, batteaux to embark the King's troops. Thus after having issued every possible order for the conveyance of provisions, in which I had much difficulty in consequence of the scarcity of canoes and of experienced persons to conduct them in the portages of the Rapids, I detached Sieur de Villebon to take the lead with my brigade, and the two companies of King's troops, and ordered them to pass the first and second portages, where I should join them, so that on the thirtieth I passed their encampment beyond the said second portage, and we marched next day, both brigades together, Sieur D'Orvilliers bringing up the
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rear with the third one day behind us, so that being, on the 1st of August in Lake St. Francis with about two hundred canoes and our fifteen batteaux, I was joined there by the Rev. Father Lamberville, Junior, coming on behalf of his Brother from On- ontagué, and by the Rev. Father Millet, from the Oneidas.
By the annexed letters from Onontagué, you will learn that these people having been joined by the Oneidas and Cayugas, had obliged the Senecas to make them Mediators as to the reparation suitable to be made to me for the insult which had unfortunately been committed against the French in the month of March; and prayed me to send Mr. le Moine to them, with whom they could terminate this affair. This obliged me immediately to despatch a canoe to Fort Frontenac in all haste, to send me from there the new bark which I had built in the winter, in order to freight her with the provisions I brought, and to send the canoes in which they were loaded to fetch others from la Chine.
We arrived, on the second, at the Portage of the Long Sault, which I found very difficult, notwithstanding the care I taken to send fifty men ahead thither, to cut the trees on the bank of the river and prevented those passing who were to drag the canoes and batteaux; because the stream being voluminous and the bank precipitous the people were in the water the moment they abandoned the shore, and were not strong enough to draw said batteaux ; this necessitated my sojourn at that place, where having been joined by the Christian Iroquois of the Sault and of Montreal, they undertook, for a few presents of Brandy and Tobacco, to pass the said batteaux and the largest canoes, which they fortunately accomplished in two days without any accident.
On the morning of the fifth I found the new bark arrived at La Galette where I had all the provisions discharged from the canoes before eight o'clock in the morning, and these despatched at the same time on their return to la Chine to reload there. The strong winds from the South West, which constantly prevailed all this time, and which obstinately continued during the remainder of the month, were the cause of the great diligence that the bark had made, and likewise delayed our march so much, that I could not arrive, at the fort, with my canoes alone, until the ninth. I was
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joined there by Father de Lamberville whom I. despatched next day to his brother at Onnontague whom I instructed to assure those of that Nation that I had so much respect for their request and for those of the other two, that I should prefer their media- tion to war, provided they made me a reasonable satisfaction.
Three things obliged me to adopt this resolution : the first, because it appeared by letters I had received from Colonel Don- gan, in answer to the message by the man named Bourbon, that he was very far from the good understanding of which His Ma- jesty had assured me ; but much disposed to interfere as our ene- my in this matter. The second, because I had few provisions, and I did not see that any effort was made to forward flour to me, with any diligence, from Montreal ; and the third, because the wind prevailed so strong from the South east, that my bark did not return from La Galette, and I could not despatch another to Lake Ontario, to notify the army of the South, which was to ar- rive forthwith at Niagara, of my arrival at Fort Frontenac with that of the North.
I afterwards reviewed all our troops, as annexed, and Sieur le Moine having overtaken me on the same day with the remainder of the Christian Iroquois who had not previously arrived, I des- patched him on the sixteenth to Onnontague and placed in his hands, Tegancourt, the ambassador from the Senecas, whom I had arrested at Quebec. Seeing the wind always contrary I sent on the preceding day, eight of the largest canoes that I had to the bark at La Galette to bring me ten thousand weight of flour, bread beginning to fail which caused me a good deal of uneasi- ness and created considerable murmurs among the troops and the militia. Finally on the 21st my canoes arrived with what I sent them for. I set to work immediately with all possible diligence to have bread and biscuit baked, and sent off forthwith, the King's troops, D'Orvilliers' and Dugué's two brigades, and two hundred Christian savages to encamp at La Famine [Hungry bay], a post favorable for fishing and hunting and four leagues from Onontagué, so as to be nearer the enemy and to be able to refresh our troops by fishing and the chase, whilst we were short 8
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of provisions, intending to join them, myself, with about three hundred Frenchmen whom I had remaining.
On the 25th the canoes which I had detached from La Galette to Montreal, arrived, but in far less number than I had looked for, and brought me but eight or nine thousand weight of flour, instead of twenty thousand which I expected, having left them ready for loading when I departed. I caused bread and biscuit to be immediately made of it for the support of our troops who were at the place called La Famine.
On the 27th at four o'clock in the afternoon, a canoe of M. Lemoine's men arrived from Onnontagué with Tegancourt who reported to me, that the Onnontagués had received orders from Col. Dongan which he sent by the person named Arnaud, for- bidding them to enter into any treaty with me without his ex- press permission, considering them the Duke of York's subjects, and that he had caused the Arms of the said Duke to be planted three days before, in their village ; that the Council had been convened at the said place of Onontague and Sieur Lemoine invi- ted to repair thither, in which the matter having been debated, these savages got into a furious rage, with some danger to the English delegate, saying they were free, and that God, who had created the Earth, had granted them theirs without subjecting them to any person, and they requested the elder Father Lamber- ville to write to Colonel Dongan the annexed letter, and the said Sieur Lemoine having well sustained the French interests, they unanimously resolved to start in two days, to conclude with me at La Famine. On the receipt of this news I immediately called out my canoes in order to depart and was accompanied by a dozen of others having caused six of the largest to be loaded with bread and biscuit for the army.
After having been beaten by bad weather and high wind, we arrived in two days at La Famine. I found there tertian and double tertian fever which broke out among our people so that more than one hundred and fifty men were attacked by it ; I had also left some of them at the fort, which caused me to despatch, on arriving, a Christian savage to Onontague to M. Lemoine, to request him to cause the instant departure of those who were to
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come to meet me, which he did with so much diligence, though he and his children were sick, that he arrived as early as the third of September with fourteen Deputies ; nine from Onnontague, three from Oneida and two Cayugas, who paid me their respects and whom I entertained the best manner I was able, postponing until the morrow morning the talk about business, at which mat- ters were fully discussed and peace concluded after six hours de- liberation, three in the morning and as many after dinner, Father Brias speaking for us and Hotrehonati and Garagonkier for the Iroquois; Tegancout, a Seneca present, the other Senecas not daring to come in order not to displease Col. Dongan, who sent to promise them a reinforcement of four hundred horse and four hundred foot, if we attacked them. The treaty was concluded in the evening on the conditions annexed, and I promised to decamp the next day and withdraw my troops from their vicinity ; which I was, indeed, obliged to do by the number of sick which had augmented to such a degree that it was with difficulty I found enough of persons in health to remove the sick to the canoes, be- sides the scarcity of provisions having no more than the trifle of bread which I brought them.
I allowed the Onontagues to light the Council fire at this post without extinguishing that at Montreal, in order to be entitled to take possession of it by their consent when the King should desire it and thereby exclude the English and Col. Dongan from their pretensions.
On leaving the Fort I had ordered one of the barks to go to Niagara to notify the army of the South to return by Lake Erie toward Missilimakinack. She had a favorable passage; found it arrived only six hours previously to the number of seven hundred men, viz : one hundred and fifty French and the remainder In- dians.
I departed on the sixth, having had all the sick of my troops embarked before day (so as not to be seen by the Indians) to the number of one hundred and fifty canoes and twelve flat batteaux and arrived in the evening of the same day at Fort Frontenac, where I found one hundred and ten men, of the number I had left there, already departed, all sick, for Montreal, and having
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given the necessary orders as to the number of soldiers to be left there for the security of that post, until the arrival from France of Sieur de la Forest, Major thereof, I started, about nine or ten o'clock in the morning, on my return. Shortly after my depar- ture, the bark arrived from Niagara with some French officers of the army who brought me news from it at night, and assured me . that the Chiefs of all the savages had accompanied them to the Fort, desirous to see me, and that they would visit me at Mont treal, where I should await them. The Rev. Father de Lamber- ville Sent came, likewise, with these Gentlemen on account of some difficulties which he was very glad to arrange for Onon- tague whither he returned. We worked some hours together ; I then sent him back to the fort with some of the arrived French ; the others being desirous to leave and come down again into the country.
After having waited some time for Messrs du Tast and de Ca- honet, to whom I gave one of my canoes and two of my atten- dants well acquainted with the navigation, to pilot their batteaux and troops in safety through the rapids, I resumed my journey down the river. I likewise took on board one of my canoes the Sieur Le Moine whose fever had seriously augmented, and who had served the King in this affair with so much zeal and affec- tion, aided by the intimate knowledge he had of the Iroquois language, that it may be said the entire Colony owe him a debt of eternal gratitude.
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