USA > Pennsylvania > Erie County > History of Erie County, Pennsylvania, Volume One > Part 9
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It was in 1750, that Chabert Joncaire succeeded in obtaining a re- luctant consent from the Seneca Indians for the construction of a little trading post at the south end of the Niagara carrying place. It was obtained at "a little feast" to which he had invited their influential men, and at which "several pots of wine" had been duly investigated by those present. Upon the conclusion of the "little feast", Chabert lost no time in starting the construction of a post about a mile and a half above the Falls, on the east side of Niagara River, about half-way between the mouth of Gill Creek and Grass Island. The Old French Landing at the south end of the Portage was somewhat further down the river. The new post was variously called "Fort Little Niagara", "The Little Fort", and "Fort du Portage". The old portage road was consequently extended southward along the bank of the river to the new fort. Shortly thereafter a new and shorter roadway was located and cut by Daniel Hyacinth Mary Lienard de Beaujeu, who was then in command at Niagara, and who later was in command of the forces who defeated General Braddock.
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The north end of the portage, at Lewiston, was regarded by all as most laborious. Sometimes it is described as up three mountains; other times it is four mountains; the ascent up this escarpment was called by the Senecas "Duh-jih-heh, oh", signifying to walk on all fours, the atti- tude of a man climbing up a very steep path with a pack on his back. And yet, it was up such a place that the Indians and pioneers of old carried the canoes, the batteaux, and the merchandise, which the French found necessary to transport to the western settlements. From here a walk of some eight miles through the trail of the wilderness was had to the landing place above the falls. Later the French devised some sort of contrivance at Lewiston to raise the packages to the heights, probably by means of a windlass, or hoist of some kind.
After 1747, the colonies and traders in the west having grown to much larger numbers, the traffic over the Niagara Portage greatly in- creased in consequence. Due to Indian troubles, and danger of Indian attacks in transit, the transportation of government merchandise and supplies came to be gradually protected by armed details. A regular system came to be observed in the traffic, and private traders, travellers, and immigrants, as well as the government expeditions, were accustomed to wait for and join the main fleet with its armed escort. The government expeditions consisted of boats loaded by the government at Montreal with provisions, supplies, goods and materials for the western settlers, includ- ing building materials, arms and munitions, money, and other articles of use and luxury. The government's expedition therefore came more and more to be made up of larger numbers of boats and men; and with the private travelers who came more and more to join in with it, because of the protection offered, the periodical expedition grew to be a matter of considerable importance and notoriety, and was at length known as "The Convoy". The main sailing of this convoy was usually in August with goods for the winter supplies of the settlers and traders, and so many private travelers awaited its sailing that it became a thing of supreme moment in the life of the frontier. As many as 90 canoes were sent out annually, the average value of each is said to have been 7,000 livres, laden. They were provided with three, six, 12 and some of them with 24 places, the larger of these great freight carrying canoes carrying as much as 3,000 pounds weight. The course of the Convoy was one long festival of song, story, and especially strenuous labor. It was so great that all felt secure, and threw off all sense of caution. On arrival at the
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Niagara River, some most busy and laborious days ensued, in which the Indians at the Portage assisted in moving the great canoes and the bat- teaux, as well as their loads, up those toilsome steeps and over the long miles of the upper portage until they could be launched in the upper river and sent forward over the blue waters of Lake Erie, following the north- ern shores for Detroit and Michilimackinack. Many incidents of a more or less serious nature transpired in the passing of the portage, one of which was the dropping of the baby Nicolas Campeau, son of Etienne and Jeanne Cecile (Catin) Campeau into the Niagara River by one of the voyageurs ; but fortunately he was fished out again and lived many years to answer to the name of "Niagara Campeau".
Upon the signing of the Treaty of Aix-la Chapelle, Oct. 1, 1748, re- newed efforts were put forth by France and England for the control of the region west of the Alleghenies, known as the region of the "Beautiful River", and including all. of this portion of the state of Pennsylvania. England was sending her subjects and traders into the region in greater numbers. France realized that it was now or never for her to assert substantial claims to the country, and she chose a distinguished young officer, Celoron, to lead a force of 250 men, consisting of French and Cana- dians, with the usual complement of Indians, into the region in dispute. There are said to have been 8 subaltern officers, 6 cadets, 1 armorer, 20 French soldiers, 180 Canadians, 30 Iroquois, and 25 Abenakis. With them was Pierre Claude de Pecaudy, Sieur de Contrecoeur. Another notable person with them was one who was later to fall by an English bullet from a rifle of the Colonial forces of whom George Washington commanded a portion, and whose brother on July 4, 1754, received the same Washington in official surrender. His name was Joseph Coulon de Villiers, usually styled De Villiers, and often De Jumonville.
This militant force left La Chine on June 15, 1749, with its purpose to ascend the Niagara Portage, cross Lake Erie to its south shore, and then by ways and trails known practically to the Indian alone, to seek the head-waters of "The Beautiful River", float along down its stream, and to formally set up and establish monuments evidencing the ownership and physical possession of that debated country which was so much coveted by both English and French.
On July 16, 1749, the force had reached the mouth of a stream emptying into Lake Erie, which the French called "Riviere aux pommes", or Apple River, where they went ashore, secured their boats on the beach,
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and commenced the tedious toil of climbing through the hills and brush of the wilderness to Chautauqua Lake, 730 feet above the level of Lake Erie. The passage-way required to be cleared for the carrying of the boats and their loads. It was a most fatiguing work. On July 22 they reached the shores of "Chatakoin Lake", and about noon of the next day were all afloat for the Conewango Creek, at whose mouth they stopped
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and planted a great leaden plate, suitably inscribed as a notice of the French jurisdiction. At five other places were such leaden plates buried, while others were nailed upon the trees. One of the buried plates was discovered in 1846 by a boy playing along the Kanawha River, and which has found its resting place with the curios of the Virginia Historical So- ciety. Another was found by boys bathing at the mouth of the Musk- ingum in 1798, who found the lead in it good enough to use in making some bullets; the mutilated portion later was rescued by an antiquarian,
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and it became the property of the American Antiquarian Society at Wor- cester, Mass. A third was found at Venango (now Franklin), the inscrip- tion upon which reads as follows: "In the year 1749, in the reign of Louis XV., King of France, we, Celeron, commandant of a detachment by Monsieur the Marquis of Gallissoniere, commander-in-chief of New France, to establish tranquillity in certain villages of these cantons, have buried this plate at the confluence of Toradakoin, this 29th of July, near the River Ohio, otherwise beautiful river, as a monument of renewal of possession which we have taken of the said river, inasmuch as the pre- ceding kings of France have enjoyed this possession and maintained it by their arms and by treaties, especially by those of Ryswick, Utrecht, and Aix-la-chapelle."
Six of these plates were thus buried, the first at the mouth of the Conewago Creek at Warren; the second at Weningo (Franklin) at a spot about nine miles below the town by a great rock inscribed with pictured writings; the third at the junction of Wheeling Creek with the Ohio; a fourth at the junction of the Muskingum with the Ohio; a fifth where the Kanawha empties into the Ohio; and the sixth at the mouth of "Riviere a la Roche", now the Great Miami. These plates were 11 inches . long, 71/2 inches wide and 1/8 of an inch thick.
In this fashion did the astute French minds achieve the dominion over the region in which this county is located. While traveling upon this mission it is said that Celeron was amazed at the numbers of English traders he found industriously active throughout the region.
Of the actions of the French, the English received early, prompt and accurate information through Indian and other channels. And the news of the English attitude towards the pretensions of the French stimulated the French to devise still further measures with which to secure the great realm for which both countries were striving. And so we shortly learn that when the Marquis Duquesne, in the summer of 1752, assumed the governorship of Canada, he recalled the injunction of his king to build only such forts as were absolutely necessary upon the Ohio. He wisely saw that more active measures than any which had as yet been employed, would be imperative to prevent the loss of their vast empire. He imme- diately turned, therefore, to providing for such measures; and securing the services of the Chevalier Pierre Paul Marin (variously spelled Morang, Marin, etc.), who was a veteran captain of infantry; Michel Jean Hughes Pean, a dashing young officer who was named second in command, and the
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Chevalier Le Mercier, a thoroughly capable and noted French engineer, a formidable troop was gathered and organized into two sections; the first of which was under the command of Marin, who were outfitted with only the most necessary equipment, and rushed forward to locate a depot and fort where Barcelona, N. Y., now stands; and thence to construct a good portage road for the use of troops and future expeditions across to "Chatakoin" lake, where a continuous water route could be obtained into the very heart of the domain they were about to exploit. The other sec- tion was under Pean, and brought with it the more substantial supplies for the expedition.
The first expedition arrived at Niagara before the ice was out of the river in the spring of 1753, and in April reached the place to land and build the fort. Marin, coming up with them shortly after their work had commenced, provoked "a warm debate" on the unsuitableness of that spot for their purposes. He ordered Le Mercier to go west along the shore and look for a better location for their fort and depot. After three days he returned with the report that he had discovered a fine harbor per- fectly adapted to all purposes. He is, therefore, to be given the credit of being the first white man, of whom we have, at least, authentic record, to discover our expansive bay. Duquesne later called it "the finest spot in nature". And yet nowhere is there any testimonial or monument com- memorating the discovery or the discoverer. Even his name is known to but a very few of the residents of this county, although he seems to be have been the first white person, recorded by history, to have set foot on the soil of this county, or to have laid eyes upon the blue waters of our bay. He was not only the discoverer of the bay and the county, but to him belongs the further honor of being the man who laid out and constructed the first white man's building within the limits of this county. He it was, as engineer of the expedition, who laid out and built at the side of the bay, not far from the mouth of Mill Creek, the log fort which was to serve the French as a refuge, a monument of possession, an arsenal, and a trading post, in the years following this discovery of the harbor. This building was afterwards (Jan. 10, 1754) described by Mr. Stephen Coffin, who claimed to have been with the expedition as a sort of an im- pressed English subject, and who later escaped to the English colonies, as follows: "They fell to work and built a square fort of chestnut logs, squared and lapped over each other to the height of fifteen feet. It is about one hundred and twenty feet square, a gate to the southward, an-
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other to the northward, not one port-hole cut in any part of it. When finished, they called it Fort Presqu'isle."
In 1759, Thomas Bull, an Indian who was employed by the English as a spy in this region, described Fort Presqu'isle "as square, with four bastions. They have no platforms raised yet ; so they are useless, except- ing in each bastion there is a place for a sentinel. There are no guns upon the walks, but four four-pounders in one of the bastions, not mounted on carriages. The wall is only of single logs, with no bank within, a ditch without. There are two gates, of equal size, being about ten feet wide: one fronts the lake, about three hundred yards distant, the
CRUDE MAP OF PRESQUE ISLE BAY-1818
other the road to Le Boeuf. The magazine is a stone house covered with shingles, and not sunk in the ground, standing in the right bastion, next the lake, going from Presqu'isle to Le Boeuf. The other houses are of square logs. They have in store a considerable quantity of Indian goods, and but little flour. Twelve batteaux they were daily expecting from Niagara with provisions. No French were expected from Niagara, but about five hundred from a fort on the north side of the lake, in the Waweailunes country, which is built of cedar stockades. The French were to come with the Indians before mentioned. There were four batteaux at Presque isle, and no works carrying on, but one small house in the fort. Some of the works are on the decay, and some appear to have been lately built".
Thomas Bull adds a short description of the appearance and condi- tion of Fort Le Boeuf, which he describes "as of the same plan with
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Presqu'isle, but very small; the logs mostly rotten. Platforms are erected in the bastion, and loop-holes properly cut; one gun is mounted on a bastion and looks down the river. It has only one gate, and that faces the side opposite the creek. The magazine is on the right of the gate, going in, partly sunk in the ground, and above are some casks of powder, to serve the Indians. Here are two officers, a store-keeper, clerk, priest, and one hundred and fifty soldiers, and, as at Presqu'isle, the men are not employed. They have twenty-four batteaux, and a larger stock of provi- sions than at Presqu'isle. One Le Sambrow is the commandant. The Ohio is clear of ice (March 17, 1759), at Venango, and French Creek at Le Boeuf. The road from Venango to Le Boeuf is well trodden; and from
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thence to Presqu'isle is one half-day's journey, being very low and swampy, and bridged most of the way".
Further light upon the character and uses of the posts at Presqu'isle and at Le Boeuf is furnished by a letter written by Governor Duquesne from Quebec, July 6, 1755, in which he says "The fort at Presqu'isle serves as a depot for all others on the Ohio. *
* The effects are put on board pirogues at Fort Le Boeuf. *
* At the latter fort, the prairies, which are extensive, furnish only bad hay, but it is easy to get rid of it. * * * At Presqu'isle the hay is abundant and good. * * The quantity of pirogues constructed on the River AuBoeuf has exhausted all the large trees in the neighborhood".
Another description of Presque Isle is given by a prisoner who escaped from the Indians in 1756 who says "Fort Le Boeuf is garrisoned
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with 150 men and a few straggling Indians. Presque Isle is built of square logs filled up with earth; the barracks are within the fort, and garrisoned with 150 men, supported chiefly from a French settlement begun near it. The settlement consists of about one hundred families. The Indian families about the settlement are pretty numerous; they have a priest and school-master, and some grist-mills and stills in the settle- ment". The letter indicates that this settlement was on the east side of Millcreek a little back from the lake. From various sources it is computed that probably some 2,000 to 3,000 French and Indians must have passed through the post at Presque Isle during the season of 1753. The fact of there having been such a numerous settlement of the French at Presque Isle during that first season, is somewhat open to question; for only this one person seems to have made mention of it, when it would seem that others would surely have spoken of it had it been in existence. However, we give the reference for what it is worth.
In March of 1754 a Jean Baptiste Pidon, a French deserter, made a sworn statement at Philadelphia, that he was one of 1,600 men who were sent in the spring of 1753 to the "la Belle riviere"; and that "they went in bateaus through the Lake Ontario and the streight of Niagara, and · sailed six or seven days in Lake Erie, after which they landed and began to build a fort on an eminence about 100 yards from the bank of the lake, which they called Duquisne, the name of their general, the Marquis Du- quisne. Here the 600 men, who had left Canada in the winter, came to them. The army cut a way through the woods, eight French leagues at least, if not more, to the Riviere aux Boeufs, and there they began another fort. That he, among many others, was employed in felling and haling timber, and were compelled to do very laborious service; that there were victuals enough at the upper fort, but not always enough at the second fort. That numbers deserted, and Mr. Joncaire, the interpreter, who had the care of matters, did not mind it, but swore at the rest and bid them begone to the English, where they could get bread"". His statement in- forms us further that when, in August, he deserted, there were 1,200 men in garrison at the upper fort, and 500 in the second fort. Eight hundred had been sent back to Canada. But the French reports make those num- bers much smaller.
Another report about 1755 describes the surroundings at Presque Isle as favorable to the settlement here of the Indians, "as the soil is good, hunting and fishing is abundant". This writer states that the
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Mississagas who are wandering Indians in Lake Erie territories, have settled there voluntarily, assured of finding near the fort supplies which they do not easily secure at other places; that some Iroquois had been drawn here from the Conewango; but he frankly states that "to succeed in forming a settlement, a store is needed at Presqu' Isle, well supplied with goods for trade. He thought the portage privilege should be given exclusively to the Indians, although they were paid six livres for carrying a sack, for which labor the French received only three livres. The two
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chiefs who were devoted to the French and who made their home at Presqu'Isle, were Cacite, an Iroquois, and Mauramite, a Mississaga".
George Washington, who visited Fort Le Boeuf in December of 1753, tells of that place in his journal, and is of interest. He writes "It is situ- ated on the south or west fork of French (Le Boeuf) creek, near the water, and is almost surrounded by the creek and a small branch of it, which forms a kind of island. Four houses compose the sides. The bas- tions are made of piles driven in the ground, standing more than 12 feet above it and sharp at top with port holes for the small arms to fire
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through. There are eight 6-pound pieces mounted in each bastion and one piece of 4-pound before the gate. In the bastions are a guard-house, chapel, doctor's lodging, and the commander's private store, round which are laid platforms for the cannon and men to stand on. There are several barracks without the fort for the soldiers' dwellings, covered, some with bark and some with boards, made chiefly of logs. There are also several other houses, such as stables, smith's shop, etc."
A local tradition informs us that while the French were consulting as to their answer to be sent by him to Governor Dinwiddie, that Wash- ington used his opportunity to more particularly examine into the arrange- ments of the fort, by climbing a hemlock tree which stood on a rise of ground south of, and across the stream from the fort. This ancient tree is still a revered relic of the vicinity and may be seen still bravely stand- ing where it is supposed to have looked down into the fort to the north; upon the sparkling waters of the little circlet of lake which reflected the images of the stately forest trees, to the west of it; and not far to the northeast gurgled the clear waters of a most refreshing spring which had supplied the thirsty for untold generations of forest people. But George Washington must certainly have had a much better opportunity for examining into the size and conditions of the new French fort when · he called upon its commander within the stockade than he could have hoped to do from the branches of the hemlock; and we are somewhat loath to accept the tradition of the locality as to his arduous climb, al- though we are quite assured that he must have quenched his thirst some- where in the vicinity, and what more likely than from the waters of the ancient spring just east of the state highway. This spring, and the site of the ancient fort, must assuredly be accepted by the most critical as spots where the feet of our "First American" trod the soil of Erie County.
The French had, by Sept., 1753, transported practically all of their goods and merchandise over the Niagara Portage, and Pean hurried west to Presqu' Isle with 120 loaded canoes, where he found the new fort erected, and by inquiry learned that the one at Le Boeuf was well under way. It was then his problem to get his supplies transported through the woods to Fort LeBoeuf, a distance of "eight leagues", or as we now measure it, of 15 miles, over paths and ways full of roots, stumps, and stones; crossed by numerous streams and formidable creeks; and the track so cut up by previous traffic as to be all but impassable. In an effort to provide vehicles to facilitate the transportation, he had made
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"a large number of charettes a hommes", whatever they may have been. Other men labored at LeBoeuf making 200 dug-out canoes from the trunks of the forest trees to be ready against the arrival of the goods for trans- port down the great River aux Boeufs to the Ohio country. He states that fit trees for that purpose had to be sought through the forest far and near. This entailed an immense amount of labor in cutting the trees, hollowing them out and shaping their bodies for plowing the waters, and then moving them to the lake and creek where they would be ready for loading.
But the record affords us a further picture of the labors, the toils, the sufferings, the anguish and the deaths of the men who had been brought to this wilderness portage by the ambitions of the French. The road had been rendered well nigh impassable by the continued rains and the heavy traffic. It had turned into a road of almost bottomless mire. A new one had therefore to be prepared by its side, ten feet wide, supple- menting the road which they called "l'ancienne", evidently meaning that it was already an ancient trail used by the Indians between the two places. Consequently "the labor of our troops was excessive. The soldiers, sunk half-leg deep in the mud, and weakened by the recent fatigues of the first portage, succumbed under their burdens. It was impossible to use the few horses which remained. It was an affecting spectacle to behold these debilitated men, struggling at the same time against the bad season and the difficulties of the road, broken down by the weight of their weapons and of the loads which they had to carry. As the greatest possible expedition was necessary, officers were posted along the road to urge on each train of bearers. Pean was himself night and day on the road; he encouraged the men, shared their toil, gave his own funds for their relief and reward, and sacrificed both his repose and his health for the good of the service in this most critical conjunction".
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