USA > Ohio > Pioneer history : being an account of the first examinations of the Ohio valley, and the early settlement of the Northwest territory ; chiefly from original manuscripts > Part 2
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* Logstown and the Shawanee village near the mouth of Scioto were exceptions.
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SHORES OF THE OHIO.
tive of corn, beans and squashes, could hardly be ima- gined; and yet no fire was kindled along its borders, save that of the warrior or the hunter. The mirth and revelry of "the feast of new corn," echoed not through its groves; and the silence of the forest was only broken by the moaning of the wintry winds, or the howling of wild beasts. This having been the condition of the country, we are led to inquire, why was it so? and what could have produced this abandonment of so desirable a region? There doubtless was a period, soon after the removal or destruction of that half-civilized race, who filled the coun- try with mounds and fortified cities, when their conquerors occupied the land, and lined the shores of the Ohio with their wigwams and villages, and nothing but some potent and irresistible cause could have led them to abandon it. From the traditions of the Indians themselves we find that cause to have been, the repeated and sanguinary invasions of a merciless enemy. Year after year the savage and warlike inhabitants of the north invaded the country of the more peaceable and quiet tribes of the south. Fleets of canoes, built on the head waters of the Ohio, and manned with the fierce warriors of the Iroquois, or Five Nations, annually floated down this quiet stream, carrying death and destruction to the inhabitants who lived along its bor- ders. All the fatigue and trouble of marching long dis- tances by land was thus avoided; while the river afforded them a constant magazine of food in the multitude of fishes which filled its waters. The canoe supplied to the Indian the place of the horse and wagon to the white man, in transporting the munitions of war. These they could moor to the shore, and leave under a guard, while the main body made excursions against tribes and villages, living at one or more day's march in the interior. If defeated their ca- noes afforded a safe and ready mode of securing a retreat, far more certain than it could be by land. When invading a country, they could travel by night as well as by day, and
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WATCH TOWERS.
thus fall upon the inhabitants very unexpectedly ; while in approaching by land, they could hardly fail of being dis- covered by some of the young hunters in time to give at least some notice of their approach. The battles thus fought along the shores of the Ohio, could they have been recorded, would fill many volumes. That much of the an- cient warfare carried on by that race of men, who occupied the country prior to the modern Indians, was done on and by means of the Ohio river, is rendered probable from the mounds, or watch towers, built on the tops of the highest hills near the shores. They almost invariably occupy points commanding an extensive view of the river, both up and down the stream. From these elevations the watchman could often give notice of the approach of a fleet, for some time before its arrival, merely by his eye; and if signal fires by night, and smoke by day, were used, the notice could be extended to many hours, or even days. That many of the river hill mounds were built for this pur- pose, there can be but little doubt.
These repeated invasions of the Iroquois discouraged the inhabitants of the valley of the Ohio from occupying its borders; and for many years before it was visited by any white man, they had retired to the distance of forty or sixty miles from its banks. Nearly all their villages and perma- nent places of abode were located at least thus far from the Ohio. This abandoned region was, however, still of use to them as hunting grounds, and probably more abounded in game from this circumstance.
The country bordering the Ohio river was in this condi- tion, when the almost unknown regions of the West were visited by La Salle, the first traveler who has given us any valuable account of the climate, soil, and productions of the great valley of the Mississippi. As early as the year 1668, fathers Marquette, and Allouez, Jesuit Missionaries, prepared a map of lake Tracy, or Superior, and parts of Huron and Michigan, or "lake of the Illinois." In 1673,
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JESUIT MISSIONARIES.
Marquette and Mons. Joliet, a merchant of Quebec, passed through the lakes, up Green Bay and Fox rivers, and down the Wisconsin to the river Mississippi, which they descended as low as the mouth of the Arkansas. But it was many years after this time, before any white man visited the shores of the Ohio river, above its junction with the Wa- bash-indeed the whole river was, for a long period after, known by the name of Ouabache.
Too little credit has been given to La Salle, by us Ameri- cans, for his discoveries ; travels which occupied several years, and in which he finally sacrificed his life. Many of the cotemporary statements have been treated as apoch- ryphal, and doubtless some of them are so, while others, relating to the productions of the country and the inter- course with the inhabitants, may be considered as inclining to the marvelous ; but the descriptions of the rivers, head- lands, and general geography of the country, are as correct as could have been expected from the hurried manner in which the region was passed over. Besides, we have no account of these discoveries from La Salle himself, and only from some of his companions. He doubtless had made notes of his travels and discoveries, which were in his possession at the time of his death, and had he lived, would have been published ; but dying as he did by the hands of traitors and assassins, his papers were all lost. Louis Hennepin, one of his subalterns, a monk of the order of Franciscans, who accompanied him in his expedition, attempted, some time after his death, to rob him of his right to the discovery of the country on the lower Missis- sippi, and appropriate the honor to himself. He wrote first a history of the discoveries on the upper Mississippi, which he really made. This work he afterwards enlarged, by ad- ding a fictitious account of a voyage to the mouth of the Great River.
In the actual voyage, the discoverers took with them arms and ammunition, and some merchandise to trade with
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LA SALLE'S DISCOVERIES.
the nations. This expedition started from the Illinois river, a little below Peoria, the 28th February, 1680. Hennepin's account of their voyage is said to contain many inaccura- cies. " Monsieur Cavelier de la Salle, a native of Rouen in Normandy, the chief undertaker of the discoveries in Northern America, which make the subject matter of this book, was a man of extraordinary parts and undaunted courage. He was the first that formed the design of trav . eling from the lake of Frontenac, or Ontario, in Canada, to the Gulf of Mexico, through a vast unknown country, in order to bring the inhabitants to the knowledge of the christian religion, and extend the dominions of the king of France." He was patronized by the king ; and Tonti, who had been an old soldier, happening then to be at court, was appointed his lieutenant. They left Rochelle, July 14th, 1678, accompanied by thirty men, and reached Quebec the 15th September. Count Frontenac was then Governor General of Canada. The following autumn was spent in visiting Fort Frontenac, near the outlet of the lake, one hundred and twenty leagues above Quebec, built by La Salle. The 18th November, they embarked on lake Fron- tenac in a vessel of forty tons, which was the first ship that ever sailed upon this fresh water sea. From contrary winds they were a month in reaching Niagara. " Niagara was the name of an Iroquois village, situated at the lower end of lake Conti, or Erie, above the falls."
Three leagues further up the lake, La Salle laid the foundation of a fort, but the Iroquois expressing their dis- like to it, he refrained, and secured his goods and merchan- dise by strong palisadoes. While lying here through the winter, he set his men to work to build a new ship, or great barque, but the winter was so severe, freezing the lakes all over, that the work progressed slowly. He also sent for- ward fifteen men to find out the Illinois Indians, while he himself returned by land to Fort Frontenac, to bring up more merchandise, their present stock being reduced in
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LA SALLE'S DISCOVERIES.
trading with the Indians for furs. "Our barque of sixty tons burthen, and named the Griffin, being finished, and every thing ready for our departure, we sailed towards the middle of August, 1679, and having happily crossed the Lake Herie, got into that of the Hurons, which is much larger than the other two. We met here with a dreadful storm, as great as any I ever heard of upon the ocean, or any other sea ; but we had the good fortune to find a good road called Missilimachinac. It is an isthmus or neck of land about twenty leagues broad, and one hundred and twenty long, between the lake of the Hurons and that of the Illinois."
This writer speaks in great praise of the fertility of the soil, and the abundance of game and fish to be found here. La Salle took a survey of the country, and laid the founda- tions of a fort for the security of his men. From this point Tonti was sent out to explore the country, and was absent eight days. On an elevated plain or headland, between the northern extremities of Lakes Huron and Illinois, he discovered a fine settlement belonging to the Jesuits, who, in 1671, had established a mission among the northern savages. Towards the end of September, La Salle sailed from Michillimackinac for the bay of Puans, or Green Bay, where he arrived the 8th of October. "This bay of the Puans is formed by an overflowing of the lake of the Illi- nois, occasioned by a great river which falls into this lake. This river, called Ouisconcing, comes from another lake about one hundred leagues distant, from which arises an- other river which falls into the Mississippi, and therefore this lake may be looked upon as a communication between Canada and the Gulf of Mexico, as one may see by the map."
From the bay of Puans, M. La Salle sent back his barque laden with furs to Niagara, while himself, with seventeen men and a Recollect, or Franciscan monk, embarked in canoes, and landed at the mouth of the river of the Miamis,
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ILLINOIS INDIANS.
the 1st of November, 1679. This river is now called St. Joseph's, and by its means the early discoverers and traders passed into the river of the Illinois, through a swamp or lake which united these two streams during the winter and spring months. At the mouth of this river he built a trading fort, called Fort Miamis. The beginning of December, La Salle commenced his journey for making discoveries on the river of the Illinois, carrying his canoes and equipage four days journey over land to the branch of the Illinois, now called the Kankakee, down which they proceeded to the Illinois. In six days of easy journeys, the better to observe the country, which he describes as very fertile and abound- ing in game, they reached an Indian village of several hun- dred cabins, but destitute of inhabitants, probably yet out on their fall hunt. Their cottages are described as made with great pieces of timber, interlaced with branches and covered with bark. The insides and floors covered with mats. Every cottage had two apartments, and under them a cave or cellar wherein they preserved their Indian corn. Of this they took a sufficient quantity, because they wanted provisions. About thirty leagues lower down, La Salle came into a lake, or pond, seven leagues long, where they caught plenty of excellent fish, and following the stream, fell again into the channel of the river. This lake or ex- pansion of the Illinois was what is now called "Peoria lake."
Just below Peoria they met with the first Illinois Indians. Like all other savages, they received them with demonstra- tions of hostility ; but, by the aid of their interpreter, they soon came to a friendly understanding, and passed several days in feasting. He describes them as far more friendly, and civil, than the Iroquois, with whom they are often en- gaged in war. Near their largest village he built a trading fort for the security of his goods and men. It was from this place that M. La Salle fitted out the expedition to make discoveries on the upper Mississippi, under Hennepin,
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IROQUOIS INDIANS.
previously noticed ; while he reserved for himself the right of discovering the mouth of that river, and the country along its borders. While Hennepin was carrying on his discove- ries in the district assigned to him, La Salle returned by land to Fort Frontenac, " to procure a new supply of men and ammunition, and likewise to view in what condition were his forts, magazines, &c." Tonti was left in com- mand of the fort, during his absence, with directions to build another. "The place La Salle had pitched upon was a rock, very high, the top of which was even and of a con- venient space, so that it commanded the river and the country round about." He had hardly commenced, however, before a mutiny among the men left at the first fort caused him to abandon it. La Salle's men appear to have been made up of the most base and vile individuals, and had a short time before nearly killed him by poisoning his food. During the residence of Tonti on the Illinois, the Iroquois invaded the country, with an army of five hundred men. The Illinois Indians were in great dread of them, from the circumstance of many of them having fire arms, which they had procured from the English traders from about Albany. The French were always cautious in the early settlement of Canada in selling fire arms to any of the tribes, as by that weapon they could only hope to main- tain their superiority. By the interference of Tonti, after a little skirmishing, a peace was established between them. From the manner in which the Iroquois are mentioned as the ancient and implacable enemies of the Illinois, there can be no rational doubt of their having been in the prac- tice of invading and warring with all the western tribes to the shores of the Mississippi, for many years before this time. Eighteen months more were spent by La Salle in passing back and forth between Michillimackinac and Fort Frontenac, trading and procuring merchandise and men, before he commenced his grand voyage for discovering the mouth of the Mississippi. At length, in November, 1681, La
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LA SALLE'S EXPEDITION.
Salle and Tonti joined each other, and upon the 5th or 6th of January, 1682, left the shores of Lake Michigan, and by the way of the Chicago river, passed to the Illinois,-car- rying their baggage on sledges. On the 6th of February, they were upon the banks of the Mississippi.
The events that next followed we relate, in the words of the notarial act prepared at the time, and first published by Mr. Sparks, in the appendix to his life of La Salle:
" On the 13th of February, all having assembled, we re- newed our voyage, being twenty-two French, carrying arms, accompanied by the Reverend Father Zenobe Mem- bré, one of the Recollect Missionaries, and followed by eighteen New England savages, and several women, Ilgon- quines, Otchipoises, and Huronnes.
" On the 14th, we arrived at the village of Maroa, con- sisting of a hundred cabins, without inhabitants. Proceed- ing about a hundred leagues down the river Colbert, we went ashore to hunt on the 26th of February. A Frenchman was lost in the woods, and it was reported to M. de la Salle, that a large number of savages had been seen in the vicin- ity. Thinking that they might have seized the Frenchman, and in order to observe these savages, he marched through the woods during two days, but without finding them, be- cause they had all been frightened by the guns which they had heard, and had fled.
" Returning to camp, he sent in every direction French and savages on the search, with orders, if they fell in with savages, to take them alive without injury, that he might gain from them intelligence of this Frenchman. Gabriel Barbie, with two savages, having met five of the Chikacha nation, captured two of them. They were received with all possible kindness, and, after he had explained to them that he was anxious about a Frenchman who had been lost, and that he only detained them that he might rescue him from their hands, if he was really among them, and afterward make with them an advantageous peace, (the
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LA SALLE'S EXPEDITION.
French doing good to everybody,) they assured him that they had not seen the man whom we sought, but that peace would be received with the greatest satisfaction. Presents were then given to them, and, as they had signified that one of their villages was not more than half a day's jour- ney distant, M. de la Salle set out the next day to go thith- er; but, after traveling until night, and having remarked that they often contradicted themselves in their discourse, he declined going further, without more provisions. Hav- ing pressed them to tell the truth, they confessed that it was yet four days' journey to their villages; and, perceiving that M. de la Salle was angry at having been deceived, they proposed that one of them should remain with him, while the other carried the news to the village, whence the elders would come and join them four days' journey below that place. The said Sieur de la Salle returned to the camp with one of these Chikachas; and the Frenchman whom we sought having been found, he continued his voy- age, and passed the river of the Chepontias, and the village of the Metsigameas. The fog, which was very thick, pre- vented his finding the passage which led to the rendezvous proposed by the Chikachas.
" On the 12th of March, we arrived at the Kapaha village of Akansa. Having established a peace there, and taken possession, we passed on the 15th, another of their villages, situate on the border of their river, and also two others, further off in the depth of the forest, and arrived at that of Imaha, the largest village in this nation, where peace was confirmed, and where the chief acknowledged that the vil- lage belonged to his majesty. Two Akansas embarked with M. de la Salle to conduct him to the Talusas, their allies, about fifty leagues distant, who inhabit eight villages upon the borders of a little lake. On the 19th, we passed the villages of Tourika, Jason, and Kouera, but, as they did not border on the river, and were hostile to the Akansas and Taensas, we did not stop there.
3 1833 02521 3882
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LA SALLE'S EXPEDITION.
" On the 20th, we arrived at the Taensas, by whom we were exceedingly well received, and supplied with a large quantity of provisions. M. de Tonty passed a night at one of their villages, where there were about seven hundred men carrying arms, assembled in the place. Here again a peace was concluded. A peace was also made with the Koroas, whose chief came there from the principal village of the Koroas, two leagues distant from that of the Natches. The two chiefs accompanied M. de la Salle to the banks of the river. Here the Koroa chief embarked with him, to conduct him to his village, where peace was again con- cluded with this nation, which, beside the five other villages of which it is composed, is allied to nearly forty others. On the 31st, we passed the village of the Oumas without knowing it, on account of the fog, and its distance from the river.
" On the 3d of April, at about ten o'clock in the morning, we saw among the canes thirteen or fourteen canoes. M. de la Salle landed, with several of his people. Footprints were seen, and also savages, a little lower down, who were fishing, and who fled precipitately as soon as they disco- vered us. Others of our party then went ashore on the borders of a marsh formed by the inundation of the river. M. de la Salle sent two Frenchmen, and then two savages, to reconnoitre, who reported that there was a village not far off, but that the whole of this marsh, covered with canes, must be crossed to reach it; that they had been assailed with a shower of arrows by the inhabitants of the town, who had not dared to engage with them in the marsh, but who had then withdrawn, although neither the French nor the savages with them had fired, on account of the orders they had received not to act unless in pressing danger. Pre- sently we heard a drum beat in the village, and the cries and howlings with which these barbarians are accustomed to make attacks. We waited three or four hours, and, as
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LA SALLE'S EXPEDITION.
we could not encamp in this marsh, and seeing no one, and no longer hearing any thing, we embarked.
" An hour afterward, we came to the village of Maheou- ala, lately destroyed, and containing dead bodies and marks of blood. Two leagues below this place we en- camped. We continued our voyage until the 6th, when we discovered three channels by which the river Colbert dis- charges itself into the sea. We landed on the bank of the most western channel, about three leagues from its mouth. On the 7th, M. de la Salle went to reconnoitre the shores of the neighboring sea, and M. de Tonti likewise exam- ined the great middle channel. They found these two out- lets beautiful, large, and deep. On the 8th, we re-ascended the river, a little above its confluence with the sea, to find a dry place, beyond the reach of inundations. The eleva- tion of the North Pole was here about twenty-seven degrees. Here we prepared a column and a cross, and to the said column were affixed the arms of France, with this incription :
LOUIS LE GRAND, ROI DE FRANCE ET DE NA-
VARRE, REGNE; LE NEUVIEME AVRIL, 1682. The whole party, under arms, chanted the Te Deum, the Exaudiat, the Domine salvum fac Regem; and then, after a salute of firearms and cries of Vive le Roi, the column was , erected by M. de la Salle, who, standing near it, said, with a loud voice, in French :-
"In the name of the most high, mighty, invincible, and victorious Prince, Louis the Great, by the Grace of God King of France and of Navarre, fourteenth of that name, this ninth day of April, one thousand six hundred and eighty-two, I, in virtue of the commission of his Majesty which I hold in my hand, and which may be seen by all whom it may concern, have taken, and do now take, in the name of his Majesty and of his successors to the crown, possession of this country of Louisiana, the seas, harbors, ports, bays, adjacent straits; and all the nations, people,
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LA SALLE'S EXPEDITION.
provinces, cities, towns, villages, mines, minerals, fisheries, streams, and rivers, comprised in the extent of the said Louisiana, from the mouth of the great river St. Louis, on the eastern side, otherwise called Ohio, Alighin, Sipore, or Chukagona, and this with the consent of the Chaouanons, Chikachas, and other people dwelling therein, with whom we have made alliance; as also along the river Colbert, or Mississippi, and rivers which discharge themselves therein, from its source beyond the country of the Kious or Nadou- essious, and this with their consent, and with the consent of the Motantees, Illinois, Mesigameas, Natches, Koroas, which are the most considerable nations dwelling therein, with whom also we have made alliance either by ourselves, or by others in our behalf ;* as far as its mouth at the sea, or Gulf of Mexico, about the twenty-seventh degree of the elevation of the North Pole, and also to the mouth of the river of Palms; upon the assurance, which we have re- ceived from all these nations, that we are the first Euro- peans who have descended or ascended the said river Col- bert; hereby protesting against all those, who may in future undertake to invade any or all of these countries, people, or lands, above described, to the prejudice of the right of his Majesty, acquired by the consent of the nations herein named. Of which, and of all that can be needed, I hereby take to witness those who hear me, and demand an act of the Notary, as required by law."
" To which the whole assembly responded with shouts of Vive le Roi, and with salutes of firearms. Moreover, the said Sieur de la Salle caused to be buried at the foot of the tree, to which the cross was attached, a leaden plate, on one side of which were engraved the arms of France, and the following Latin inscription :
* There is an obscurity in this enumeration of places and Indian nations which may be ascribed to an ignorance of the geography of the country; but it seems to be the design of the Sieur de la Salle to take possession of the whole territory watered by the Mississippi from its mouth to its source, and by the streams flowing into it on both sides.
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LA SALLE'S EXPEDITION.
LVDOVCIVS MAGNVS REGNAT. NONO . APRILIS CIO IOC LXXXII.
ROBETVS CAVALIER, CVM DOMINO DE TONTY, LEGATO, R. P. ZENOBIO MEMBRE, RECOLLECTO, ET VIGINTI GALLIS, PRIMVS HOC FLVMEN, INDE AB ILINEORVM PAGO, ENAVIGAVIT, EJVSQVE OSTIVM FECIT PERVIVM, NONO APRILIS ANNI CIO IOC LXXXII.
" After which the Sieur de la Salle said, that his Majesty, as eldest son of the Church, would annex no country to his crown, without making it his chief care to establish the Christian religion therein, and that its symbol must now be planted; which was accordingly done at once by erecting a cross, before which the Vexilla, and the Domine salvum fac Regum, were sung. Whereupon the ceremony was con- cluded with cries of Vive le Roi.
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