Chapter XLIII: Act I: Scene I.--An Indian Trading House (8)

He sets down the number of white inhabitants at about seven hundred able to bear arms, though he says that it is impossible to form a just estimate, as they are continually going and coming to and from the Indian nations.]

[Footnote 458: Nicollet, _Historical Sketch of St. Louis_. See _Report on the Hydrographical Basin of the Upper Mississippi River_, 75.]

[Footnote 459: Laclede, the founder of St. Louis, died before he had brought his grand fur-trading enterprise to a conclusion; but his young assistant lived to realize schemes still more bold and comprehensive; and to every trader, trapper, and voyageur, from the frontier of the United States to the Rocky Mountains, and from the British Possessions to the borders of New Mexico, the name of Pierre Chouteau is familiar as his own. I visited this venerable man in the spring of 1846, at his country seat, in a rural spot surrounded by woods, within a few miles of St. Louis. The building, in the picturesque architecture peculiar to the French dwellings of the Mississippi Valley, with its broad eaves and light verandas, and the surrounding negro houses filled with gay and contented inmates, was in singular harmony with the character of the patriarchal owner, who prided himself on his fidelity to the old French usages. Though in extreme old age, he still retained the vivacity of his nation. His memory, especially of the events of his youth, was clear and vivid; and he delighted to look back to the farthest extremity of the long vista of his life, and recall the acts and incidents of his earliest years. Of Pontiac, whom he had often seen, he had a clear recollection; and I am indebted to this interesting interview for several particulars regarding the chief and his coadjutors.]

[Footnote 460: MS. Letter--_St. Ange to D'Abbadie_, Sept. 9.]

[Footnote 461: By the following extract from an official paper, signed by Captain Grant, and forwarded from Detroit, it appears that Pontiac still retained, or professed to retain, his original designs against the garrison of Detroit. The paper has no date, but was apparently written in the autumn of 1764. By a note appended to it, we are told that the Baptiste Campau referred to was one of those who had acted as Pontiac's secretaries during the summer of 1763:--

"On Tuesday last Mr. Jadeau told me, in the presence of Col. Gladwin & Lieut. Hay of the 6th Regiment, that one Lesperance, a Frenchman, on his way to the Illinois, he saw a letter with the Ottawas, at the Miamee River, he is sure wrote by one Baptist Campau (a deserter from the settlement of Detroit), & signed by Pontiac, from the Illinois, setting forth that there were five hundred English coming to the Illinois, & that they, the Ottawas, must have patience; that he, Pontiac, was not to return until he had defeated the English, and then he would come with an army from the Illinois to take Detroit, which he desired they might publish to all the nations about. That powder & ball was in as great plenty as water. That the French Commissary La Cleff had sold above forty thousand weight of powder to the inhabitants, that the English if they came there might not have it.

"There was another letter on the subject sent to an inhabitant of Detroit, but he can't tell in whose hands it is."]

[Footnote 462: MS. _Gage Papers_. MS. _Johnson Papers_. Croghan, _Journal_. Hildreth, _Pioneer History_, 68. _Examination of Gershom Hicks_, see _Penn. Gaz._ No. 1846.

Johnson's letters to the Board of Trade, in the early part of 1765, contain constant references to the sinister conduct of the Illinois French. The commander-in-chief is still more bitter in his invectives, and seems to think that French officers of the crown were concerned in these practices, as well as the traders. If we may judge, however, from the correspondence of St. Ange and his subordinates, they may be acquitted of the charge of any active interference in the matter.

"Sept. 14. I had a private meeting with the Grand Sauteur, when he told me he was well disposed for peace last fall, but was then sent for to the Illinois, where he met with Pondiac; and that then their fathers, the French, told them, if they would be strong, and keep the English out of the possession of that country but this summer, that the King of France would send over an army next spring, to assist his children, the Indians."--Croghan, _Journal_, 1765.

The _Diary of the Siege of Detroit_, under date May 17, 1765, says that Pontiac's nephew came that day from the Illinois, with news that Pontiac had caused six Englishmen and several disaffected Indians to be burned; and that he had seven large war-belts to raise the western tribes for another attack on Detroit, to be made in June of that year, without French assistance.]

[Footnote 463: _Diary of the Siege of Detroit_, under date June 9, 1764.]

[Footnote 464: Nicollet, _Report on the Basin of the Upper Mississippi_, 81. M. Nicollet's account is given on the authority of documents and oral narratives derived from Chouteau, Menard, and other patriarchs of the Illinois.]

[Footnote 465: MS. Letter--_St. Ange to D'Abbadie_, Sept. 9.]

[Footnote 466: D'Abbadie's correspondence with St. Ange goes far to exonerate him; and there is a letter addressed to him from General Gage, in which the latter thanks him very cordially for the efforts he had made in behalf of Major Loftus, aiding him to procure boats and guides, and make other preparations for ascending the river.

The correspondence alluded to forms part of a collection of papers preserved in the archives of the Department of the Marine and Colonies at Paris. These papers include the reports of various councils with the Indian tribes of the Illinois, and the whole official correspondence of the French officers in that region during the years 1763-5. They form the principal authorities for this part of the narrative, and throw great light on the character of the Indian war, from its commencement to its close.]

[Footnote 467: _London Mag._ XXXIII. 380. MS. _Detail de ce qui s'est passe a La Louisiane a l'occasion de la prise de possession des Illinois._]

[Footnote 468: MS. _Correspondence of Pittman with M. D'Abbadie_, among the Paris Documents.]

[Footnote 469: MS. Letter--_Campbell to Gage_, Feb. 24, 1766.]

[Footnote 470: By the correspondence between the French officers of Upper and Lower Louisiana, it appears that Pontiac's messengers, in several instances, had arrived in the vicinity of New Orleans, whither they had come, partly to beg for aid from the French, and partly to urge the Indians of the adjacent country to bar the mouth of the Mississippi against the English.]

[Footnote 471: Pittman, _European Settlements on the Mississippi_, 10. The author of this book is the officer mentioned in the text as having made an unsuccessful attempt to reach the Illinois.]

[Footnote 472: At all friendly meetings with Indians, it was customary for the latter, when the other party had sustained any signal loss, to commence by a formal speech of condolence, offering, at the same time, a black belt of wampum, in token of mourning. This practice may be particularly observed in the records of early councils with the Iroquois.]

[Footnote 473: MS. _Report of Conference with the Shawanoe and Miami delegates from Pontiac, held at New Orleans_, March, 1765. Paris Documents.]

[Footnote 474: MS. _Gage Papers._]

[Footnote 475: "The country people appear greatly incensed at the attempt they imagine has been made of opening a clandestine trade with the Savages under cover of presents; and, if it is not indiscreet in me, I would beg leave to ask whether Croghan had such extensive orders."--_Bouquet to Amherst_, 10 April, 1765, MS.]

[Footnote 476: Before me is a curious letter from Grant, in which he expatiates on his troubles in language which is far from giving a flattering impression of the literary accomplishments of officers of the 42d Highlanders, at that time.]

[Footnote 477: The account of the seizure of the Indian goods is derived chiefly from the narrative of the ringleader, Smith, published in Drake's _Tragedies of the Wilderness_, and elsewhere. The correspondence of Gage and Johnson is filled with allusions to this affair, and the subsequent proceedings of the freebooters. Gage spares no invectives against what he calls the licentious conduct of the frontier people. In the narrative is inserted a ballad, or lyrical effusion, written by some partisan of the frontier faction, and evidently regarded by Smith as a signal triumph of the poetic art. He is careful to inform the reader that the author received his education in the great city of Dublin. The following melodious stanzas embody the chief action of the piece:--

"Astonished at the wild design,
Frontier inhabitants combin'd
With brave souls to stop their career;
Although some men apostatiz'd,
Who first the grand attempt advis'd,
The bold frontiers they bravely stood,
To act for their king and their country's good,
In joint league, and strangers to fear.

"On March the fifth, in sixty-five,
The Indian presents did arrive,
In long pomp and cavalcade,
Near Sidelong Hill, where in disguise
Some patriots did their train surprise,
And quick as lightning tumbled their loads,
And kindled them bonfires in the woods,
And mostly burnt their whole brigade."

The following is an extract from Johnson's letter to the Board of Trade, dated July 10, 1765:--

"I have great cause to think that Mr. Croghan will succeed in his enterprise, unless circumvented by the artifices of the French, or through the late licentious conduct of our own people. Although His Excellency General Gage has written to the Ministry on that subject, yet I think I should not be silent thereupon, as it may be productive of very serious consequences.

"The frontier inhabitants of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, after having attacked and destroyed the goods which were going to Fort Pitt (as in my last), did form themselves into parties, threatening to destroy all Indians they met, or all white people who dealt with them. They likewise marched to Fort Augusta, and from thence over the West branch of the Susquehanna, beyond the Bounds of the last purchase made by the Proprietaries, where they declare they will form a settlement, in defiance of Whites or Indians. They afterwards attacked a small party of His Majesty's troops upon the Road, but were happily obliged to retire with the loss of one or two men. However, from their conduct and threats since, there is reason to think they will not stop here. Neither is their licentiousness confined to the Provinces I have mentioned, the people of Carolina having cut off a party, coming down under a pass from Col. Lewis, of the particulars of which your Lordships have been doubtless informed.

"Your Lordships may easily conceive what effects this will have upon the Indians, who begin to be all acquainted therewith. I wish it may not have already gone too great a length to receive a timely check, or prevent the Indians' Resentment, who see themselves attacked, threatened, and their property invaded, by a set of ignorant, misled Rioters, who defy Government itself, and this at a time when we have just treated with some, and are in treaty with other Nations."]

[Footnote 478: See _ante_, Vol. I. p. 136.]

[Footnote 479: MS. _Journal of the Transactions of George Croghan, Esq., deputy agent for Indian affairs, with different tribes of Indians, at Fort Pitt, from the 28th of February, 1765, to the 12th of May following._ In this journal the prophet's speech is given in full.]

[Footnote 480: MS. Letter--_Fraser to Lieut. Col. Campbell_, 20 May, 1765.]

[Footnote 481: _Harangue faitte a la nation Illinoise et au Chef Pondiak par M. de St. Ange, Cap. Commandant au pais des Illinois pour S. M. T. C. au sujet de la guerre que Les Indiens font aux Anglois._]

[Footnote 482: MS. Letter--_Aubry to the Minister_, July, 1765. Aubry makes himself merry with the fears of Fraser; who, however, had the best grounds for his apprehensions, as is sufficiently clear from the above as well as from the minutes of a council held by him with Pontiac and other Indians at the Illinois, during the month of April. The minutes referred to are among the Paris Documents.

Pontiac's first reception of Fraser was not auspicious, as appears from the following. Extract from a Letter--_Fort Pitt_, July 24 (_Pa. Gaz. Nos._ 1912, 1913):--

"Pondiac immediately collected all the Indians under his influence to the Illinois, and ordered the French commanding officer there to deliver up these Englishmen [Fraser and his party] to him, as he had prepared a large kettle in which he was determined to boil them and all other Englishmen that came that way.... Pondiac told the French that he had been informed of Mr. Croghan's coming that way to treat with the Indians, and that he would keep his kettle boiling over a large fire to receive him likewise."

Pontiac soon after relented as we have seen. Another letter, dated New Orleans, June 19, adds: "He [Fraser] says a Pondiac is a very clever fellow, and had it not been for him, he would never have got away alive."]

[Footnote 483: MS. Letter--_Aubry to the Minister_, 10 July, 1765.]

[Footnote 484: One of St. Ange's letters to Aubry contains views of the designs and motives of Pontiac similar to those expressed above.]

[Footnote 485: A few days before, a boy belonging to Croghan's party had been lost, as was supposed, in the woods. It proved afterwards that he had been seized by the Kickapoo warriors, and was still prisoner among them at the time of the attack. They must have learned from him the true character of Croghan and his companions.--_MS. Gage Papers._]

[Footnote 486: _Journal of George Croghan, on his journey to the Illinois_, 1765. This journal has been twice published--in the appendix to Butler's _History of Kentucky_, and in the _Pioneer History_ of Dr. Hildreth. A manuscript copy also may be found in the office of the secretary of state at Albany. Dr. Hildreth omits the speech of Croghan to the Indians, which is given above as affording a better example of the forms of speech appropriate to an Indian peace harangue, than the genuine productions of the Indians themselves, who are less apt to indulge in such a redundancy of metaphor.

A language extremely deficient in words of general and abstract signification renders the use of figures indispensable; and it is from this cause, above all others, that the flowers of Indian rhetoric derive their origin. In the work of Heckewelder will be found a list of numerous figurative expressions appropriate to the various occasions of public and private intercourse,--forms which are seldom departed from, and which are often found identical among tribes speaking languages radically distinct. Thus, among both Iroquois and Algonquins, the "whistling of evil birds" is the invariable expression to denote evil tidings or bad advice.

The Indians are much pleased when white men whom they respect adopt their peculiar symbolical language,--a circumstance of which the Jesuit missionaries did not fail to avail themselves. "These people," says Father Le Jeune, "being great orators, and often using allegories and metaphors, our fathers, in order to attract them to God, adapt themselves to their custom of speaking, which delights them very much, seeing we succeed as well as they."]

[Footnote 487: In a letter to Gage, without a date, but sent in the same enclosure as his journal, Croghan gives his impression of Pontiac in the following words:--

"Pondiac is a shrewd, sensible Indian, of few words, and commands more respect among his own nation than any Indian I ever saw could do among his own tribe. He, and all the principal men of those nations, seem at present to be convinced that the French had a view of interest in stirring up the late differences between his Majesty's subjects and them, and call it a beaver war."]

[Footnote 488: MS. _Gage Papers._ M. Nicollet, in speaking of the arrival of the British troops, says, "At this news Pontiac raved." This is a mistake. Pontiac's reconciliation had already taken place, and he had abandoned all thoughts of resistance.]

[Footnote 489: MS. _Johnson Papers._]

[Footnote 490: The Lords of Trade had recently adopted a new plan for the management of Indian affairs, the principal feature of which was the confinement of the traders to the military posts, where they would conduct their traffic under the eye of proper officers, instead of ranging at will, without supervision or control, among the Indian villages. It was found extremely difficult to enforce this regulation.]

[Footnote 491: MS. _Minutes of Proceedings at a Congress with Pontiac and Chiefs of the Ottawas, Pottawattamies, Hurons, and Chippewais; begun at Oswego, Tuesday_, July 23, 1766.

A copy of this document is preserved in the office of the secretary of state at Albany, among the papers procured in London by Mr. Brodhead.]

[Footnote 492: "It seems," writes Sir William Johnson to the lords of trade, "as if the people were determined to bring on a new war, though their own ruin may be the consequence."]

[Footnote 493: _Doc. Hist. N. Y._ II. 861-893, etc. MS. _Johnson Papers._ MS. _Gage Papers._]

[Footnote 494: Carver says that Pontiac was killed in 1767. This may possibly be a mere printer's error. In the _Maryland Gazette_, and also in the _Pennsylvania Gazette_, were published during the month of August, 1769, several letters from the Indian country, in which Pontiac is mentioned as having been killed during the preceding April. M. Chouteau states that, to the best of his recollection, the chief was killed in 1768; but oral testimony is of little weight in regard to dates. The evidence of the Gazettes appears conclusive.]

[Footnote 495: Carver, _Travels_, 166, says that Pontiac was stabbed at a public council in the Illinois, by "a faithful Indian who was either commissioned by one of the English governors, or instigated by the love he bore the English nation." This account is without sufficient confirmation. Carver, who did not visit the Illinois, must have drawn his information from hearsay. The open manner of dealing with his victim, which he ascribes to the assassin, is wholly repugnant to Indian character and principles; while the gross charge, thrown out at random against an English governor, might of itself cast discredit on the story.

I have followed the account which I received from M. Pierre Chouteau, and from M. P. L. Cerre, another old inhabitant of the Illinois, whose father was well acquainted with Pontiac. The same account may be found, concisely stated, in Nicollet, p. 81. M. Nicollet states that he derived his information both from M. Chouteau and from the no less respectable authority of the aged Pierre Menard of Kaskaskia. The notices of Pontiac's death in the provincial journals of the day, to a certain extent, confirm this story. We gather from them, that he was killed at the Illinois, by one or more Kaskaskia Indians, during a drunken frolic, and in consequence of his hostility to the English. One letter, however, states on hearsay that he was killed near Fort Chartres; and Gouin's traditional account seems to support the statement. On this point, I have followed the distinct and circumstantial narrative of Chouteau, supported as it is by Cerre. An Ottawa tradition declares that Pontiac took a Kaskaskia wife, with whom he had a quarrel, and she persuaded her two brothers to kill him.

I am indebted to the kindness of my friend Mr. Lyman C. Draper for valuable assistance in my inquiries in relation to Pontiac's death.]

[Footnote 496: "This murder, which roused the vengeance of all the Indian tribes friendly to Pontiac, brought about the successive wars, and almost total extermination, of the Illinois nation."--Nicollet, 82.

"The Kaskaskias, Peorias, Cahokias, and Illonese are nearly all destroyed by the Sacs and Foxes, for killing in cool blood, and in time of peace, the Sac's chief, Pontiac."--_Mass. Hist. Coll. Second Series_, II. 8.

The above extract exhibits the usual confusion of Indian names, the Kaskaskias, Peorias, and Cahokias being component tribes of the Illonese or Illinois nation. Pontiac is called a chief of the Sacs. This, with similar mistakes, may easily have arisen from the fact that he was accustomed to assume authority over the warriors of any tribe with whom he chanced to be in contact.

Morse says, in his _Report_, 1822: "In the war kindled against these tribes, [Peorias, Kaskaskias, and Cahokias,] by the Sauks and Foxes, in revenge for the death of their chief, Pontiac, these 3 tribes were nearly exterminated. Few of them now remain. About one hundred of the Peorias are settled on Current River, W. of the Mississippi; of the Kaskaskias 36 only remain in Illinois."--Morse, 363.

General Gage, in his letter to Sir William Johnson, dated July 10, 176--, says: "The death of Pontiac, committed by an Indian of the Illinois, believed to have been excited by the English to that action, had drawn many of the Ottawas and other northern nations towards their country to revenge his death."

"From Miami, Pontiac went to Fort Chartres on the Illinois. In a few years, the English, who had possession of the fort, procured an Indian of the Peoria [Kaskaskia] nation to kill him. The news spread like lightning through the country. The Indians assembled in great numbers, attacked and destroyed all the Peorias, except about thirty families, which were received into the fort. These soon began to increase. They removed to the Wabash, and were about to settle, when the Indians collected in the winter, surrounded their village, and killed the whole, excepting a few children, who were saved as prisoners. Old Mr. Gouin was there at the time. He was a trader; and, when the attack commenced, was ordered by the Indians to shut his house and not suffer a Peoria to enter."--_Gouin's Account_, MS.

Pontiac left several children. A speech of his son Shegenaba, in 1775, is preserved in Force's _American Archives, 4th Series_, III. 1542. There was another son, named Otussa, whose grave is on the Maumee. In a letter to the writer, Mr. H. R. Schoolcraft says, "I knew _Atoka_, a descendant of Pontiac. He was the chief of an Ottawa village on the Maumee. A few years ago, he agreed to remove, with his people, to the west of the Mississippi."]

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TRANSCRIBER'S AMENDMENTS

Transcriber's Note: The pages in this e-book have been renumbered, along with any references to that page number. Blank pages have been deleted. On pages that remain, some unnecessary page numbers may have been deleted when they fall in the middle of lists. Illustrations may have been moved. Footnotes (labeled FOOTNOTES:) have been moved to near the end. When a particular speaker's preference can be determined, we have rendered consistent on a per-word-pair basis the hyphenation or spacing of such pairs when repeated in the same grammatical context. Paragraph formatting has been made consistent. The publisher's inadvertent omissions of important punctuation have been corrected. Two lists of illustrations have been added.

The following list indicates any additional changes.

Page
10 Pontiac at Isle a la Peche[Peche].--Suspicious
17 is also sometimes tattoed[tattooed] on the body
26 the rich borders of the Genessee[Genesee],
422 most of whom, with his Wife, be[he] killed and scalped
518 and to those of the Riviere a[a] la Tranche
557 Beaujeau[Beaujeu], a French captain, leads a sortie
559 their character, 162[160];
560 Coureurs de bois," or bush-rangers, 68, 162[160];
564 Indians, their general character, 13[15];
564 their pride and self-consciousness, 14[15];
569 scalps his own Indian wife and several of her relations, 421[419]
571 the massacre in Lanscaster[Lancaster] jail

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