Chapter II (5)

[69] Rogers in his _Journal_ places this meeting with the Ottawas on the seventh instead of the fifth of November, and locates it at “Chogage” River (formerly supposed to be Cuyahoga, but now thought to be Grand River). Croghan’s account is more detailed, and probably written at the time; while Rogers’s was written or revised later. “Wajea Sipery” is probably Ashtabula Creek, which is sufficiently crooked in its course to make this name appropriate. This is the traditional meeting for the first time, with Pontiac, the Ottawa chief. Parkman’s well-known account of the haughty bearing and dignified demands of this great Indian contrast markedly with Croghan’s simpler and more literal account. In truth, it may be doubted whether this chief was Pontiac at all, as he here speaks of himself as an old man. Rogers’s _Journal_ makes no mention of any chief, and alludes but incidentally to meeting the Ottawa band; but in his _Concise Account of North America_, published in London (1765), when the exploits of Pontiac were causing much attention, Rogers represents himself as having encountered that chief on his way to Detroit, and that the latter asked him how he dared to enter that country without his (Pontiac’s) leave. This was probably a flight of the imagination, consequent upon his representing the Indian chief as the hero of the tragedy in the verses he was then preparing, known as _Ponteach, or the Savages of America_ (London, 1766). See Parkman, _Conspiracy of Pontiac_, i, p. 165, ii, appendix B. The plain, unadorned account of Croghan, and the begging attitude of the Ottawa chief, are probably more in accordance with historical verity than Parkman’s and Rogers’s more romantic accounts.—ED.

[70] The creek which Croghan calls “Onchuago” was Grand River, whose Indian name was “Chaeaga” (Sheauga), and which is thus designated on Evans’s map of 1755, and Hutchins’s map of 1778. Whittlesey, _Early History of Cleveland_ (Cleveland, 1867), thus identifies this stream. Baldwin, in his “Early Maps of Ohio and the West,” Western Reserve Historical Society _Tracts_, No. 25, thinks it is the Conneaut Creek; but that would be too far east to correspond with this description, and the present Geauga County takes its title from the Indian name of Grand River.—ED.

[71] Lieutenant Dietrich Brehm (Braam) was a German engineer who came to America in 1756 with the 32nd regiment (later the 60th or Royal Americans). Little is known of his military career, save that in the line of promotion he was captain in 1774, and major in 1783.—ED.

[72] Probably “Gichawaga” was Cuyahoga River, the site of the city of Cleveland, and a well-known rendezvous of the Ottawa Indians, who had a village some miles up its banks. Rogers speaks of it as Elk River, which by some geographers is placed east of Cuyahoga River; but Rogers’s list of distances, allowing for much tacking, would indicate that the expedition had by this time certainly come as far beyond Grand River as Cuyahoga.—ED.

[73] Stony Creek was the present Rocky River, about five miles west of Cleveland. Near this spot a part of Bradstreet’s fleet was wrecked in 1764. See Western Reserve Historical Society _Tracts_, No. 13.—ED.

[74] Marie François Picoté, Sieur de Bellestre, was born in 1719, and when about ten years of age emigrated with his father to Detroit. Entering the army, he held a number of commands—in Acadia (1745-46), and at the Western posts, especially at St. Josephs, where he had much influence over the Indians. In the Huron revolt (1748), his bravery was especially commended. During the French and Indian War he led his Indian allies on various raids—one to Carolina in 1756, where he received a slight wound; and again in New York against the German Flats (1757). Bellestre was present at Niagara about the time it was attacked; but Pouchot detailed him to retire with the detachments from forts Presqu’ Isle and Machault to Detroit, and he was commanding at this post when summoned to surrender to Major Rogers. After the capitulation of Detroit, he returned to Canada, and became a partisan of the British power, captured St. John, and defended Chambly against the Americans in 1775-76. He was made a member of the first legislative council of the province.—ED.

[75] The encampment for the night of November 15 seems to have been made between two small creeks that flow into the lake near together, in Dover Township, Cuyahoga County.—ED.

[76] Vermillion Creek or River retains its name. The river where the expedition encamped (“Notowacy Thepy”) was probably that now known as the Huron River, in Erie County, Ohio. Rogers’s _Journal_ mentions these rivers without giving names.—ED.

[77] Rogers names the lake here mentioned, as Sandusky. It is difficult to tell from this description whether or not the flotilla entered the inner Sandusky Bay. Probably the encampment for the nineteenth was on the site of the present city of Sandusky, at Mill or Pipe Creek.—ED.

[78] Médard Gamelin was the son of a French surgeon, and nephew of that Sieur de la Jémerais who accompanied La Vérendrye on his Western explorations, and died (1735) in the wilderness west of Lake Superior. Gamelin was born two years before this event. Emigrating to Detroit, he employed himself in raising and training a militia company composed of the habitants, which he led to the relief of Niagara (1759). There he was captured and kept a prisoner until released by the orders of General Amherst in order to accompany Rogers’s expedition, and pacify the settlers at Detroit. He took the oath of allegiance and remained in that city after its capitulation to the British, dying there about 1778.—ED.

[79] The present Cranberry Creek is east of Sandusky. The creek which Croghan mentions was some small tributary of Portage River (the Carrying-place), or directly beyond it. Rogers says they went “to the mouth of a river in breadth 300 feet,” which is evidently Portage River.—ED.

[80] Rogers’s _Journal_ (p. 191), gives his own speech. He indicates in his account that the Indians were preparing to resist the English advance; but Croghan does not mention any such suspicions.

General Jeffrey Amherst was an English soldier of much distinction, who after serving a campaign in Flanders and Germany, was commissioned by Pitt to take charge of the military operations in America (1758). His first success was the capture of Louisburg, followed by the campaign of 1759, when he reduced Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and moved upon Montreal, which capitulated the following year. He was immediately made governor-general of the British in North America, received the thanks of Parliament, and was presented with the order of the Bath. It was in obedience to his orders that Rogers undertook this westward expedition. Amherst’s later career was a succession of honors, emoluments, and high appointments in the British army. He opposed the cause of the colonies during the American Revolution. Late in life he was field-marshal of the British army, dying (1797) at his estate in Kent, as Baron Amherst of Montreal.—ED.

[81] Cedar Point is at the southeastern entrance of Maumee Bay. Rogers’s _Journal_ for November 23 says that an Ottawa sachem came into their camp; possibly this was Pontiac.—ED.

[82] From the distances given in Rogers’s _Journal_ it would appear that the expedition encamped the twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth in the entrance of Swan Creek, Monroe County, Michigan, a short distance north of Stony Point.—ED.

[83] Pierre François Rigault, Chevalier de Cavagnal, Marquis de Vaudreuil, was Canadian born, and entered the military service at an early age. In 1728 he was in the present Wisconsin on an expedition against the Fox Indians; some years later, he was governor at Trois Rivières, and in 1743 was sent to command in Louisiana, where he remained nine years, until appointed governor of New France, just before the outbreak of the French and Indian War. As the last French governor of Canada, his term of service was embittered by quarrels with the French generals, and disasters to French arms. After his capitulation at Montreal, he went to France, only to be arrested, thrown into the Bastile, and tried for malfeasance in office. He succeeded in securing an acquittal (1763); but, broken by disappointments and enmities, died the following year.—ED.

[84] The Potawotami Indians are an Algonquian tribe, being first encountered by French explorers on the borders of Green Bay; but later, they had villages at Detroit, St. Josephs River (southeast Michigan), and Milwaukee. They were devoted to the French interests, and easily attracted to the vicinity of the French posts. For the Wyandots (Hurons) and Ottawas, see _ante_.—ED.

[85] The French fort of St. Josephs was established early in the eighteenth century, on the right bank of the river of that name, about a mile from the present city of Niles, Michigan. Its commandant was the “farmer” of the post—that is, he was entitled to what profits he could win from the Indian trade, and paid his own expenses. After the British took possession of this fort, it was garrisoned by a small detachment of the Royal Americans. When Pontiac’s War broke out, but fourteen soldiers were at the place, with Ensign Schlosser in command. The fort was captured and eleven of the garrison killed, the rest being carried prisoners to Detroit. During the Revolution, Fort St. Josephs was three times taken from the British—twice by parties from the Illinois led by French traders (in 1777, and again in 1778); and in 1781, a Spanish expedition set out from St. Louis to capture the stronghold, and take possession of this region for Spain. See Mason, _Chapters from Illinois History_ (Chicago, 1901). The United States failed to garrison St. Josephs when the British forts were surrendered in 1796, and built instead (1804) Fort Dearborn at Chicago.

Ouiatonon (Waweoughtannes) was situated at the head of navigation on the Wabash River, not far from the present city of Lafayette, Indiana. The French founded this post about 1719, among a tribe of the same name (called Weas by the English); and kept an officer stationed there until its surrender to the English party sent out by Rogers (1761). The small garrison under command of Lieutenant Jenkins was captured at the outbreak of Pontiac’s conspiracy; but through the intervention of French traders their lives were spared, while the fort was destroyed by burning, and never rebuilt. See Craig, “Ouiatonon,” Indiana Historical Society _Collections_ (Indianapolis, 1886), v, ii. See also Croghan’s description when he passed here five years later, _post_.—ED.

[86] The speculation and corruption of the French officers at the Western posts, was notorious. Bellestre was not free from suspicions of taking advantage of his official position to exploit the Indian trade. See Farmer, _History of Detroit and Michigan_ (Detroit, 1884), p. 766.—ED.

[87] The French fort among the Miamis (English, Twigtwees) was situated on the Maumee River, near the present site of Fort Wayne. The date of its founding is in doubt; but the elder Vincennes was there in 1704, and soon after this frequent mention is made of its commandants. During the revolt of the French Indians (1748), the fort was partially burned. When Céloron passed, the succeeding year, he described it as in a bad condition, and located on an unhealthful site. About this time, the Miamis removed to the Great Miami River, and permitted the English to build a fortified trading house at Pickawillany. But an expedition sent out from Detroit chastised these recalcitrants, and brought them back to their former abode, about Fort Miami—which latter is described (1757) as protected with palisades, on the right bank of the river. The garrison of the Rangers sent out by Rogers from Detroit to secure this post, was later replaced by a small detachment of the Royal Americans, under command of Lieutenant Robert Holmes, who notified Gladwin of Pontiac’s conspiracy, but nevertheless himself fell a victim thereto. See Morris’s _Journal_, _post_. The fort destroyed at this time was not rebuilt. Croghan (1765) speaks of it as ruinous. In the Indian wars of the Northwest, Wayne, perceiving its strategic importance, built at this site the fort named in his honor (1794), whence arose the present city.—ED.

[88] The expedition of Major Rogers to relieve the French at Mackinac, failed because of the lateness of the season, and the consequent ice in Lake Huron. Rogers returned to Detroit December 21, and two days later left for Pittsburg, where he arrived January 23, 1761, after a land march of just one month. The fort at Mackinac was delivered over to an English detachment under command of Captain Balfour of the Royal Americans, September 28, 1761.—ED.

[89] The place here mentioned was a Wyandot town shown on Hutchins’s map (1778). Probably this was the village of the chief Nicholas, founded in 1747 during his revolt from the French. See Weiser’s _Journal_, _ante_.—ED.

[90] Croghan returned to Pittsburg by the “great trail,” a famous Indian thoroughfare leading from the Forks of the Ohio to Detroit. For a description of this route, see Hulbert, _Indian Thoroughfares_ (Cleveland, 1902), p. 107; and in more detail his article in Ohio Archæological and Historical Society _Publications_ (Columbus, 1899), viii, p. 276.

Mohican John’s village was on White Woman’s Creek, near the site of Reedsburg, Ohio. Beaver’s Town was at the junction of the Tuscarawas and the Big Sandy, the antecedent of the present Bolivar; for the town at the mouth of Big Beaver Creek, see Weiser’s _Journal_, _ante_.—ED.

[91] The manuscript of the journal that we here reprint came into the possession of George William Featherstonhaugh, a noted English geologist who came to the United States in the early nineteenth century and edited a geological magazine in Philadelphia. He first published the document therein (_The Monthly Journal of American Geology_), in the number for December, 1831. It appeared again in a pamphlet, published at Burlington, N. J. (no date); and Mann Butler thought it of sufficient consequence to be introduced into the appendix to his _History of Kentucky_ (Cincinnati and Louisville, 2nd ed., 1836). Another version of this journey (which we may call the official version), also written by Croghan, was sent by Sir William Johnson to the lords of trade, and is published in _New York Colonial Documents_, vii, pp. 779-788. Hildreth published a variant of the second (official) version “from an original MS. among Colonel Morgan’s papers,” in his _Pioneer History of the Ohio Valley_ (Cincinnati, 1848). The two versions supplement each other. The first was evidently written for some persons interested in lands in the Western country—their fertility, products, and general aspects; therefore Croghan herein confines himself to general topographical description, and omits his journey towards the Illinois, his meeting with Pontiac, and all Indian negotiations. The official report, on the other hand, abbreviates greatly the account of the journey and the appearance of the country, and concerns itself with Indian affairs and historical events. We have in the present publication combined the two journals, indicating in footnotes the important variations; but the bulk of the narrative is a reprint of the Featherstonhaugh-Butler version.

With regard to the circumstances under which the official journal was transcribed, Johnson makes the following explanation in his letter to the board of trade (_New York Colonial Documents_, vii, p. 775): “I have selected the principal parts [of this journal] which I now inclose to your Lordships, the whole of his Journal is long and not yet collected because after he was made Prisoner, & lost his Baggage &ca. he was necessitated to write it on Scraps of Paper procured with difficulty at _Post Vincent_, and that in a disguised Character to prevent its being understood by the French in case through any disaster he might be again plundered.”

The importance of this journal for the study of Western history has frequently been noted. Parkman used it extensively in his _Conspiracy of Pontiac_. Winsor in his _Critical and Narrative History of America_, v, p. 704, _note_, first pointed out in some detail the differences between the two versions. He errs, however, in confusing the letters Croghan wrote from Vincennes and Ouiatonon. Many secondary authorities also wrongly aver that Croghan on this journey went as far as Fort Chartres.—ED.

[92] Croghan arrived at Fort Pitt, February 28, 1765, and from then until his departure was constantly occupied with Indian transactions in preparation for his journey. See _Pennsylvania Colonial Records_, ix, pp. 250-264; also Withers’s _Early History of Western Pennsylvania_, app., pp. 166-179.—ED.

[93] Little Beaver Creek (near the western border of Pennsylvania) and Yellow Creek (in Ohio) were much frequented by Indians. On the former, Half King had a hunting cabin. Logan, the noted Mingo chief, lived at the mouth of the latter. Opposite, upon the Virginia shore, occurred the massacre of Logan’s family (April 30, 1774), which was one of the opening events of Lord Dunmore’s War. See _Withers’s Chronicles of Border Warfare_ (Thwaites’s ed., Cincinnati, 1895), p. 150, _notes_.—ED.

[94] The village here described was Mingo Town on Mingo bottom, situated at the present Mingo Junction, Ohio. It is not to be confused with the Mingo bottom opposite the mouth of Yellow Creek. The former town was prominent as a rendezvous for border war-parties in the Revolutionary period. From this point, started the rabble that massacred the Moravian Indians in 1782. Colonel Crawford set out from here, in May of the same year, on his ill-fated expedition against the Sandusky Indians. See Withers’s _Chronicles_, chap. 13.

Possibly the chief who joined Croghan at this point was Logan, since the former had known him in his earlier home on the Susquehanna, near Sunbury.—ED.

[95] Buffalo Creek is in Brooke County, West Virginia, with the town of Wellsburg located at its mouth. The first settlers arrived about 1769. Fat Meat Creek is not identified; from the distances given, it might be Big Grave Creek, in Marshall County, West Virginia, or Pipe Creek, nearly opposite, in Belmont County, Ohio.—ED.

[96] The “Long Reach” lies between Fishing Creek and the Muskingum, sixteen and a half miles in a nearly straight line to the southwest.—ED.

[97] The French called the Muskingum Yanangué-kouan—the river of the Tobacco (Petun-Huron) Indians. Céloron (1749) left at the mouth of this river, one of his plates, which was found in 1798, and is now in possession of the American Antiquarian Society, at Worcester, Massachusetts. Croghan had frequently been on the Muskingum, where as early as 1750, he had a trading house. The inhabitants at that time appear to have been Wyandots; but after the French and Indian War the Delawares retreated thither, and built their towns on the upper Muskingum. Later, the Moravian missionaries removed their converts thither, and erected upon the banks of this river their towns, Salem, Schönbrunn, and Gnadenhütten. In 1785, Fort Harmar was placed at its mouth; and thither, three years later, came the famous colony of New England Revolutionary soldiers, under the leadership of Rufus Putnam, which founded Marietta.—ED.

[98] The Little Kanawha was the terminus of the exploring expedition of George Rogers Clark and Jones in 1772. They reported unfavorably in regard to the lands; but settlers soon began to occupy them, and they were a part of the grant given to Trent, Croghan, and others at the treaty of Fort Stanwix (1768) as a reparation for their losses in the previous wars. About the time of Croghan’s visit, Captain Bull, a well-known Delaware Indian of New York, removed to the Little Kanawha, and in 1772 his village, Bulltown, was the scene of a revolting massacre of friendly Indians by brutal white borderers.—ED.

[99] Hockhocking is the local Indian name for a bottle-shaped gourd, to which they likened the course of this river. Its chief historical event is connected with Lord Dunmore’s War. Nine years after this voyage of Croghan, Dunmore descended the Ohio with his flotilla, and disembarking at the river with his army of regulars and frontiersmen—Clark, Cresap, Kenton, and Girty among the number—marched overland to the Scioto, leaving Fort Gower here to guard his rear. Signs of the earthwork of this fortification are still visible. At this place, on the return journey, the Virginia officers of the army drew up resolutions of sympathy with the Continental Congress then in session at Philadelphia.—ED.

[100] The “Big Bend” of the river is that now known as Pomeroy’s Bend, from the Ohio town at its upper point. Alum Hill was probably West Columbia, Mason County, West Virginia. See Lewis, _History of West Virginia_ (Philadelphia, 1889), p. 109.—ED.

[101] The Kanawha takes its name from a tribe of Indians who formerly lived in its valley, but they were destroyed by the Iroquois in the early eighteenth century. Céloron called it the Chinondaista, and at its mouth buried a plate which is now in the museum of the Virginia Historical Society, at Richmond. Gist surveyed here for the Ohio Company in 1752; later, Washington owned ten thousand acres in the vicinity, and visited the spot in 1774. That same year, the battle of Point Pleasant was fought at the mouth of the Kanawha by Colonel Andrew Lewis’s division of Lord Dunmore’s army; and the succeeding year, Fort Randolph was built to protect the frontiers. Daniel Boone retired hither from Kentucky, and lived in this neighborhood four years (1791-95), before migrating to Missouri.—ED.

[102] The word Scioto probably signified “deer,” although it is said by David Jones to mean “hairy” river, from the multitude of deer’s hairs which floated down the stream. The valley of the Scioto is famous in Western annals. During the second half of the eighteenth century it was the chief seat of the Shawnees whose lower, or “Shannoah,” town has been frequently mentioned in the Indian transactions which we have printed. The Shawnees, on their withdrawal up the valley, built the Chillicothe towns, where Pontiac’s conspiracy was largely fomented. These were the starting point of many raids against the Kentucky and West Virginia settlements. From these villages Mrs. Ingles and Mrs. Dennis made their celebrated escapes in 1755 and 1763 respectively. During all the long series of wars closing with Wayne’s victory in 1794, the intractable Shawnees were among the most dreaded of the Indian enemy.—ED.

[103] The result of this message in regard to the French traders, is thus given in the official version of the journal:

“26th. Several of the Shawanese came there & brought with them 7 French Traders which they delivered to me, those being all that resided in their Villages, & told me there was just six more living with the Delawares, that on their return to their Towns they would go to the Delawares & get them to send those French Traders home, & told me they were determined to do everything in their power to convince me of their sincerity & good disposition to preserve a peace.”—ED.

[104] Big Bone Lick, in Boone County, Kentucky, was visited by the French in the early eighteenth century. It was a landmark for early Kentucky hunters, who describe it in terms similar to those used by Croghan. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, scientists took much interest in the remains of the mammoth (or mastodon)—the “elephant’s bones” described by Croghan. Thomas Jefferson and several members of the American Philosophical Society, at Philadelphia, attempted to secure a complete skeleton of this extinct giant; and a number of fossils from the lick were also sent to Europe. Dr. Goforth of Cincinnati undertook an exploration to the lick at his own expense (1803), but was later robbed of the result. The store of huge bones is not yet entirely exhausted, specimens being yet occasionally excavated—the present writer having examined some there in 1894.—ED.

[105] It is a curious mistake on Croghan’s part to designate the Kentucky as the Holston River. The latter is a branch of the Tennessee, flowing through the mountains of Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia. Its valley was early settled by Croghan’s friends, Scotch-Irish from Pennsylvania. It is probable that, as the Kentucky’s waters come from that direction, he had a confused idea of the topography.—ED.

[106] One of the earliest descriptions of the Falls of the Ohio. Gist was ordered to explore as far as there in 1750, but did not reach the goal. Findlay was there in 1753. Gordon gives an account similar to Croghan’s in 1766. Ensign Butricke made more of an adventure in passing these falls—see _Historical Magazine_, viii, p. 259. An attempt at a settlement was made by John Connolly (1773); but the beginnings of the present city of Louisville are due to the pioneers who accompanied George Rogers Clark thither in 1778, and made their first home on Corn Island. For the early history of Louisville, see Durrett, _Centenary of Louisville_, Filson Club _Publications_, No. 8 (Louisville, 1893).—ED.

[107] Colonel Reuben T. Durrett, of Louisville, thinks Croghan “must have meant Salt River when he spoke of passing Pigeon River during his first day’s journey after leaving the Falls of the Ohio.” The Owl River he identifies with Highland Creek in Kentucky, between the mouths of the Green and Wabash rivers.

The Wabash River was early considered by the French as one of the most important highways between Canada and Louisiana. Marquette designates it on his map as the Ouabouskiguo, which later Frenchmen corrupted into Ouabache. The name was also applied to that portion of the Ohio below the mouth of the Wabash; but James Logan in 1718 noted the distinction. See Winsor, _Mississippi Basin_, p. 17. Croghan was probably the first Englishman who had penetrated thus far into the former French territory, except Fraser, who had preceded him to the Illinois.—ED.

[108] The Shawnees had formerly dwelt west and south of their habitations on the Scioto. The Cumberland River was known on early maps as the “Shawana River;” and in 1718, they were located in the direction of Carolina. Their migration east and north took place about 1730. The present Illinois town at this site, is still called Shawneetown.—ED.

[109] Being able to speak French, Lieutenant Alexander Fraser of the 78th infantry had been detailed to accompany Croghan. He went in advance of the latter, and reached the Illinois, where he found himself in such danger that he escaped to Mobile in disguise. See Parkman, _Conspiracy of Pontiac_, ii, pp. 276, 284-286.

Captain Louis St. Ange de Bellerive, was the son of a French officer who came to Louisiana early in the eighteenth century, and commanded in the Illinois country in 1722 and again in 1733. St. Ange had himself seen much pioneer service, having been placed in charge of a fort on the Missouri (1736), and having succeeded Vincennes at the post bearing the latter’s name. St. Ange remained at Vincennes until summoned by De Villiers, commandant at Fort Chartres, to supersede him there, and spare him the mortification of a surrender to the English. After yielding Fort Chartres to Captain Sterling (October, 1765), St. Ange retired to St. Louis, where he acted as commandant (after 1766, in the Spanish service) until his death in 1774.—ED.

[110] This man was in reality captured. See Parkman, _Conspiracy of Pontiac_, ii, p. 289, _note_.—ED.

[111] The Kickapoos and Mascoutins were allied Algonquian tribes who were first encountered in Wisconsin; but being of roving habits they ranged all the prairie lands between the Wisconsin and Wabash rivers. In 1712, they were about the Maumee and at Detroit. Charlevoix describes them (1721) as living near Chicago. Being concerned in the Fox wars, they fled across the Mississippi; and again, about the middle of the eighteenth century, were with the Miamis on the Wabash, where they had a town near Fort Ouiatonon. They were always somewhat intractable and difficult to restrain. The remnant of these tribes live on reservations in Kansas and Oklahoma.—ED.

[112] This branch of the Wabash is now called the Little Wabash River. The party must have taken a very circuitous route, else Croghan greatly overestimates the distances. Vincennes is about seventy-five miles from the point where they were made prisoners.—ED.

[113] The date of the founding of Vincennes (Post or Port Vincent) has been varyingly assigned from 1702 to 1735; but Dunn, in his _Indiana_ (Boston and New York, 1888), p. 54, shows quite conclusively that François Margane, Sieur de Vincennes, went thither at the request of Governor Périer of Louisiana in 1727, and founded a fort to counteract the designs of the English against the French trade. The French colony was not begun until 1735, and the next year the commandant Vincennes was captured and burnt by the Chickasaws, while engaged in an expedition against their country. Louis St. Ange succeeded to the position of commandant at Vincennes, which he continued to hold until 1764, when summoned to the Illinois. He left two soldiers in charge at Vincennes, of whom and their companions Croghan gives this unfavorable account. No English officer appeared to take command at Vincennes until 1777; meanwhile General Gage had endeavored to expel the French inhabitants therefrom (1772-73). It is not surprising, therefore, that they received the Americans under George Rogers Clark (1778), with cordiality; or that after Hamilton’s re-capture of the place, they were unwilling to aid the English in maintaining the post against Clark’s surprise (February, 1779), which resulted in the capture of Hamilton and all the British garrison. After this event, Vincennes became part of the Illinois government, until the organization of a Northwest Territory in 1787.—ED.

[114] A johannies was a Portuguese coin current in America about this time, worth nearly nine dollars. The Indians, therefore, paid over forty dollars for their pound of vermillion.—ED.

[115] The Piankeshaws were a tribe of the Miamis, who had been settled near Vincennes as long as they had been known to the whites.—ED.

[116] The entries from July 1 to 18, inclusive, are here inserted from the second (or official) version in the _New York Colonial Documents_, vii, pp. 781, 782; hiatuses therein, are supplied from the Hildreth version. See note 91, _ante_, p. 126.—ED.

[117] François Rivard dit Maisonville was a member of one of the first families to settle Detroit. He entered the British service at Fort Pitt as an interpreter, accompanying Lieutenant Fraser to the Illinois in that capacity. In 1774, Maisonville was Indian agent on the Wabash with a salary of £100 a year. When George Rogers Clark invaded the Illinois country (1778), Maisonville carried the first intelligence of this incursion to Detroit. The next year General Hamilton employed him on his advance against Vincennes; but on Clark’s approach he was captured, while on a scouting party, and cruelly treated by some of the American partisans. He made one of the party sent to Virginia as captives, and the following year committed suicide in prison.—ED.

[118] General Thomas Gage was at this time British commander-in-chief in America, with headquarters at New York. Having come to America with Braddock, he served on this continent for twenty years, in numerous important offices. After the surrender of Montreal he was made governor of that city and province, until in 1763 he superseded Amherst as commander-in-chief, in which capacity he served until the outbreak of the Revolution. His part in the initial battles of that conflict about Boston, where he commanded, is a matter of general history. After his recall to England his subsequent career was uneventful. He died as Viscount Gage in 1787.—ED.

[119] Major William Murray of the 42nd infantry succeeded Colonel Henry Bouquet as commandant at Fort Pitt, in the spring of 1765.

Major Robert Farmer was sent to receive the surrender of Mobile in 1763. For a description by Aubry, the retiring French governor of Louisiana, of Farmer’s character and manner, see Claiborne, _History of Mississippi_ (Jackson, 1880), p. 104. Late in this year that Croghan wrote (1765), Farmer ascended the Mississippi with a detachment of the 34th infantry, and took over the command of the Illinois from Major Sterling, being in turn relieved (1767) by Colonel Edward Cole. Farmer died or retired from the army in 1768.—ED.

[120] La Guthrie was the interpreter sent with Lieutenant Fraser. Sinnott was a deputy-agent sent out by Stuart, agent for the Southern department to attempt conciliation in the Illinois. His stores had been plundered, and he himself having escaped with difficulty from Fort Chartres, sought refuge at New Orleans. See _New York Colonial Documents_, vii, pp. 765, 776.—ED.

[121] We here again resume the first (Featherstonhaugh-Butler) version of the journal, which continues through August 17.—ED.

[122] This is the Auglaize River. On the site called the Forks, Wayne built Fort Defiance during his campaign against the Indians (1794).—ED.

[123] The rapids of the Maumee were famous in the later Indian wars. There, in 1794, the British built Fort Miami, almost within the reach of whose guns Wayne fought the battle of Fallen Timbers. Fort Meigs was the American stockade built here during the War of 1812-15; and this vicinity was the scene of operations during all the Western campaigns ending with Perry’s victory on Lake Erie, and the re-taking of Detroit.—ED.

[124] All that follows, until the conclusion of the Indian speeches, is inserted from the second (official) version of the journals, found in the _New York Colonial Documents_, vii, pp. 781-787.—ED.

[125] Although English born, Colonel John Bradstreet lived all his mature life in America, and distinguished himself for his military services in the later French wars. He was in the campaign against Louisburg (1745), and was promoted for gallantry, and given the governorship of St. John’s, Newfoundland. The outbreak of the French and Indian War found him at Oswego, where with great bravery he drove the French back from an attack on a convoy (1756). On the organization of the Royal Americans, Bradstreet became lieutenant-colonel, and served with Abercrombie at Ticonderoga (1758). His most renowned exploit was the capture, the same year, of Fort Frontenac, which severed the connection between Canada and its Western dependencies. After the close of the war, Bradstreet received a colonelcy. When the news of Pontiac’s uprising reached the East, he was detailed to make an expedition into the Indian territory by way of Lake Erie. His confidence in Indian promises proved too great; he made peace with the very tribes who went murdering and scalping along the frontiers as soon as his army had passed. Bradstreet was made a major-general in 1772; but two years later, died in the city of New York. The Indians whom Croghan found at Detroit were small bands from the north and west, who had not received Bradstreet’s message, in time to attend before that officer’s departure from Detroit.—ED.

[126] In the Hildreth version these names are spelled “Duquanee” and “Waobecomica.” The former was a Detroit habitant Dequindre, who had brought messages from the Illinois to Pontiac during the siege of Detroit. Waobecomica was a Missassaga chief, well-affected toward the English, whom Johnson had sent in the spring of 1765 with messages to Pontiac. See _New York Colonial Documents_, vii, p. 747.—ED.

[127] This was Lieutenant-colonel Alexander Campbell, formerly commander of the 95th regiment, who succeeded Major Gladwin in command of Detroit (1764). He is not to be confused with Captain Donald Campbell, the earlier commandant, who was killed by the Indians during Pontiac’s conspiracy.—ED.

[128] There were present at this treaty about thirty chiefs and five hundred warriors. A list of the tribes is given, and the names of the chiefs. This was the last public transaction in which Pondiac was engaged with the English. The year following, in a council with the Indians on the Illinois, this noted chief was stabbed to the heart, by an Indian who had long followed him for that purpose.—HILDRETH.

_Comment by Ed._—Hildreth is mistaken in calling this the last public transaction of Pontiac. He was at Oswego and treated with Johnson in the spring of 1766. See _New York Colonial Documents_, vii, pp. 854-867.

[129] The Saginaw Indians were a notoriously turbulent band of Chippewas, who had a village on Saginaw Bay. They had assisted in the siege of Detroit; and going to Mackinac to secure recruits to continue their resistance, they attempted to kill the trader Alexander Henry. See Bain (ed.), Henry’s _Travels and Adventures_ (Boston, 1901), pp. 148-152, an admirably-edited work, containing much valuable information.—ED.

[130] According to Parkman, Le Grand Sauteur was Pontiac’s chief coadjutor among the northern Indians in his attack on the English. His Indian name was Minavavana, and he was considered the author of the plot against Mackinac. This has been since attributed to Match-e-ke-wis, a younger Indian; but Le Grand Sauteur remained an inveterate enemy of the English, and was at length stabbed by an English trader. See Henry, _Travels_, pp. 42-47.—ED.

[131] Sir Thomas Stirling, Bart., obtained his company in July, 1757, in the 42d, or Royal Highland, regiment, which accompanied Abercromby in 1758, and Amherst in 1759 in their respective expeditions on Lakes George and Champlain; was afterwards detailed to assist at the siege of Niagara, and accompanied Amherst from Oswego to Montreal in 1760. _Knox._ Captain Stirling was appointed a Major in 1770, and Lieutenant-colonel of the 42d in September, 1771. He was in command of his regiment in the engagement on Staten Island, and in the battle of Brooklyn Heights, in 1776; was afterwards at the storming of Fort Washington and accompanied the expedition against Philadelphia. He became Colonel in the army in 1779, and was Brigadier, under Sir Henry Clinton, in the expedition against Charleston, S. C., in 1780. _Beatson._ He succeeded Lieutenant-general Frazer as Colonel of the 71st Highlanders, in February, 1782, and in November following, became Major-general. He went on the retired list in 1783, when his regiment was disbanded. In 1796 he was appointed Lieutenant-general; was created a Baronet some time after, and became a General in the army on the first of January, 1801. He died in 1808. _Army Lists._—E. B. O’CALLAGHAN.

[132] The entry for September 26, and the list of tribes following, are taken from the Featherstonhaugh-Butler edition of the journal.—ED.

[133] This letter is reprinted from _New York Colonial Documents_, vii, pp. 787, 788. It was evidently written after Croghan’s return from the West, and accompanied the official version of his journal, which Johnson sent to England November 16, 1765. See _New York Colonial Documents_, vii, p. 775.—ED.

[134] Fort Chartres was originally built as a stockade post in 1720; but in 1756 was rebuilt in stone, and became the most important French fortification in the West. It was an irregular quadrangle, with houses, magazines, barracks, etc., defended with cannon.—See Pittman, _Settlements on the Mississippi_ (London, 1770), pp. 45, 46. After its surrender by the French, the English garrisoned the stronghold until 1772, when the river’s erosion made it untenable. For the present state of the ruins, see Mason, _Chapters from Illinois History_, pp. 241-249.

The French trading post sixty miles above Fort Chartres, on the western bank of the river, was the beginning of the present city of St. Louis, which was founded in April, 1764, by Pierre Laclède. Upon the surrender of the Illinois to the English, St. Ange, with the garrison and many French families, removed to this new post, in the expectation of living under French authority. To their chagrin the place was surrendered to the Spanish the following year.—ED.