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1755] |
French Regime in Wisconsin |
savage nations are at war with one another. I have also discovered that several
of those nations had received collars and messages from the English. I have
given suitable orders to restore good order and police at every post. I have
likewise taken steps in connection with everything that might secure us the
loyalty of the nations without causing the King any expense. I have been
informed that they await my arrival with impatience. The Outaouas, folle
avoine, Sakis, and Renards chiefs have told me how pleased they were to see me.
They have informed me that the pleasure of the remotest nations would be equal
to their own. They wanted to undertake to go and tell them that they had seen
me to convince them that the English had wrongly boasted that they would capture
me on the sea, and that I should never come to this Colony. I flatter myself
that, next spring, I shall see the chiefs of all the nations, and that I shall
succeed in rendering their attachment to the French inviolable.
I have no doubt, Monseigneur, that you are aware of the excellence of the Lands at Detroit. That post is a considerable one, and is well populated, but three times as many families could easily be settled there as are now on the spot. Unfortunately we have not enough people in the Colony. I will make arrangements to promote the establishment of two sisters of the Congregation at that post to educate the Children without its costing the King one sol.
I remain with very profound respect, Monseigneur, Your very humble and very obedient servant,
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Vaudreuil |
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[Extract from a letter from Detroit, dated Oct. 18, 1755. Reprinted from N. Y. Colon. Docs., x, p. 401.]
By a letter from Detroit dated the 18th [October], all the Indians of that quarter appear inclined to attack the English. The Miamis and Poutouamis are equally so disposed. The latter have had parties out constantly, and have killed or captured, up to the date of this letter, 120 English.
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1756] |
French Regime in Wisconsin |
[1766. Fort Duquesne] We have now on the Continent [in this region] one
thousand French, seven hundred Delawares and Chouanons, besides a number of
Illinois, as many as three hundred French and Indians, under the care of Sieur
de Villiers, about 250 Miamis and Outagnons, under M. de Belestre, 300 from Detroit
and 700 from Michilimakinac, commanded by Chevalier de Repentigny, d'Anglade
and Hebert, Junior, amounting in all to 3,250 men. [We are] expecting to hear
whether M. Beaubassin, Commandant at the Point, will have brought the Sauteurs
belonging to his post;5 we shall soon learn the exploits of these
Nations.
[Aug. 8, 1856.] M. Dumas has likewise caused peace to be concluded between the Illinois, the Nations of the Bay, the Saulteux and Pouteouamis.
* * * * * * * *
Although the greatest portion of the Upper Nations have returned, through fear of the smallpox that prevailed at Niagara and subsequently at Presqu'Isle, which they have been equally apprehensive of catching at Fort Duquesne, M. Dumas' force consists nevertheless, of 810 men.
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5"Hebert Junior" is probably a misprint for "Herbin
Junior," for whom see ante, p. 137, note 81.
Pierre Joseph Hertel, Sieur de Beaubassin, belonged to a prominent Canadian family who had estates in Acadia. Born in 1715, he became ensign (1748). Having been very successful during King George's War in raiding in the neighborhood of Albany, he was sent by the governor of New France to arrange with the governor of New York for an exchange of prisoners. The latter remonstrated with La Jonquière for sending one known to have "committed cruel barbarities in the last war." His negotiations were, however, successful and he received a gratuity for his "zeal and industry," besides promotion in the army. In 1751 he married Catherine Jarret de Verchères, who became an especial friend of the Marquis de Montcalm. In 1756 he was made lieutenant, being stationed at La Pointe de Chequamegon, Wisconsin. In 1759, he came to Quebec, apparently from the eastward, bringing with him a detachment of Abenaki Indians. His services were in demand during the siege, and he likewise took part in the campaign of 1760, at its close retiring to France. - ED.
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1757] |
French Regime in Wisconsin |
by the other Nations. There issues from this post between eight hundred and a
thousand packages of peltry.
Post of the Miamis. - The post of the Miamis (Bellestre lieutenant) situated on the right bank of the river of that name with a fort of upright pickets, is the fort which stands at the beginning of the portage to the waters that flow to the southwest. This post is leased to the commandant for three years and the price of the lease is twelve hundred francs per year. He has the exclusive trade, the king gives neither certificates nor presents to the savages; the farmer is charged with these expenses as well as the wages of the interpreter; there is no gratification. The pay of the garrison is in powder and lead which the farmer takes to [from] Detroit; the savages who most commonly come to trade there are the Miamis and the Tepicomeaux.13 They can furnish a hundred and fifty warriors. In an ordinary year there issues from this post two hundred and fifty to three hundred packages; this is, then, a post removed from [free] commerce.
Ouyatanons. - The Ouyatanons (Camet Bayeul, ensign)14 is a post situated on the right bank of the river Ouabache or
__________
13Note by Margry - "Je ne connais pas ce nom" (I do not
know this name). It is, however, the name of one clan of the Miami, usually
written Tepicon; see N. Y. Colon. Docs., x, p. 246; also Jacob P. Dunn, Indiana
(Boston, 1888), p. 67, who derives the word Tippecanoe from this clan. Notice
also the divisions of the Miami in Wis. Hist. Colls., xvi, p. 152 -
Pepikokis (Tepikoki.) - ED.
14 Two officers of the Canadian army bore this title, both of them sons of Louis Audet, Sieur de Bailleul, who died in 1739 while lieutenant in the service. The one here mentioned was the younger, Pierre Audet, Sieur de Bailleul Canut, born in 1724 and married Jan. 17, 1757, to Charlotte, youngest daughter of Louis Denis de la Ronde, formerly commandant at Chequamegon. Bailleul the younger, while still a cadet was in command of parties of mission Indians who raided from Montreal in 1747. The following year he was at Crown Point on a similar errand. In 1750 he obtained his commisson as second ensign, not becoming full ensign until seven years later. Meanwhile, either he or his brother was with Villiers at the capitulation of Fort Necessity (1754). ln 1756 one of them accompanied Montcalm
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Wisconsin Historical Collections |
[vol. xviii |
Saint-Jérôme, a fort of upright pickets. This post is on the same footing as
that of the Miamis, the commandant is its farmer, and the price of the lease is
twelve hundred francs per year.
The savages who come to trade there are the Ouyatanons, the Kikapous, the Maskoutins, the Peanguichias,15 they can furnish three hundred and sixty warriors.
There comes from this post and those dependent upon it, in ordinary years, four hundred to four hundred and fifty packages.
Vincennes. - The post of Vincennes is a pretty village dependent upon New-Orleans which sends there the commandant.16 It has three horse mills, and about seventy-five habitants who till the soil and harvest grain.
The Peanguichias trade there. They must produce about eighty packages.
Post of the Illinois. - The Illinois, a post of which the principal entrepôt is Fort Chartres, is situated on the Mississippi; there are for all these posts six companies of garrison furnished as well as the commandant, by New-Orleans. This post is exploited by licenses whose price is six hundred francs per canoe, the voyageurs having three hundred francs weight in their canoes for the ordinary gratifications. And as they are not bound to convey provisions for the missionaries of the Tam-
__________
to Oswego, while the other was in command of a detachment of militia near
Montreal. Bailleul the younger appears to have returned from his post at the
Ouiatanon in 1759, and was employed in the transportation service, for which in
1767 he petitioned the government to reimburse him. Retiring to France after
the English conquest, he was pensioned by the French government in 1774, his
brother having seven years earlier been likewise pensioned for his wounds and
services. - ED.
15For these tribes see Wis. Hist. Colls., xvii, passim. - ED.
16For the founding of this post see Ibid., p 29. The commandant at this time was Louis St. Ange de Bellerive, for whom see ante, p. 109, note 58. - ED.
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Wisconsin Historical Collections |
[vol. xviii |
nor certificates, nor interpreters' wages; all the cost is at the expense of
the lessee.
The commandant (Coutrol, lieutenant) is an officer interested in the lease and who runs it for his own profit and that of his associates.28 He has two thousand francs of gratification. This post includes also the Sioux.29
The savages who come there for trade are the Folles-Avoines, Sakis, Outagamis or Renards, Puants, Maskoutens, Kikapous, Sioux-des-Prairies, Sioux-des-Lacs. There come from there, in an ordinary year, five to six hundred packages.
Saint Joseph River (Monsieur le Verrier)30 is a fort situated on the right of the river of that name, at twenty leagues from its entrance into Lake Michigan. This post is on the same footing as that of La Baye. The commandant is its farmer entirely or in part, at the pleasure of the governor general; it is supported at the expense of the former, he has two thousand
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28Hubert Couterot, born in Paris, came to Canada sometime before
1750, when he was made ensign in the Canadian troops. In 1755 he was promoted
to a lieutenancy after having married (1752) at Three Rivers, Marie Charlotte
Taschereau. He apparently took command at La Baye in 1756, for on July 19 of
that year he was in Mackinac, being registered as a godfather. Montcalm notes
his arrival in the colony from La Baye Oct. 11, 1758. In 1759 Rigaud mentions a
detachment under his charge proceeding from Three Rivers to Montreal, either on
the way to the upper country or to reinforce Lévis at Crown Point. Couterot
appears to have been the last French commandant at Green Bay. He remained in
Canada after the conquest, settling probably at Batiscan. - ED.
29The post among the Sioux appears to have been abandoned when the younger Marin, in 1756, retired thence. - ED.
30Louis le Verrier was the son of the procurator-general of the colony, and stepson of Marquis de Vaudreuil, governor of New France. Born in 1705, Le Verrier entered the army while still young, being successively second ensign (1722), lieutenant (1739), and captain (1754) In 1756 he accompanied Lévis to Lake Champlain, and appears to have taken command of Fort St. Josephs (1757), where he remained until the spring of 1759 when he was promoted to the majority of Quebec. He returned to France with Vaudreuil, and does not appear to have again been in Canada - ED.
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1757] |
French Regime in Wisconsin |
francs gratification and the interpreter five hundred francs. The price of the
lease is * * *
The savages who come there to trade are the Poutéwatamis, about four hundred men, and a few Myamis. There may come from there four hundred packages of the skins of cats, bears, lynx, otter, deer, stags.
The Sea of the West is a post that includes the forts Saint- Pierre, Saint-Charles, Bourbon, de la Reine, Dauphin, Poskoia, and des Prairies, all forts of upright pickets, respectable only against savages.31
Fort Saint-Pierre is situated on the left bank of Lake Tekamamiouen or Rainy lake, at five hundred leagues from Michilimakinak and three hundred from Kamanistigoyia or Three-Rivers, at the northwest of Lake Superior.
Fort Saint-Charles is sixty leagues from that of Saint- Pierre, situated on a peninsula, that juts far into the Lake of the Woods.32
Fort Bourbon is one hundred and fifty leagues from the former, situated at the entrance of Lake Ouimpeg.33
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31Bougainville doubtless obtained his information concerning the
Post of the Western Sea from Niverville and La Corne, Sieur de St. Luc. Both of
these had been commandants, successors of the explorer La Vérendrye, and both
of them were with Bougainville in the Lake Champlain campaign of 1757. La Corne
de St. Luc was, as far as known, the last French commandant of this post, which
he left in 1755. - ED.
32Fort St. Pierre, named in honor of the famous explorer, Pierre Gaultier de Varennes de la Vérendrye, was built in 1731 just above the discharge of Rainy River into the lake of that name, two miles east of the present Fort Frances. Some remains are yet visible.
The site of Fort St. Charles, built in 1732, named probably for Gov. Charles de Beauharnois, has recently (1902) been identified. It was on the north bank of the Inlet of the Northwest Angle, just west of Famine (or Buckett) Island, in the Lake of the Woods. The remains of the party massacred on an island in the lake in 1736, that were transferred to Fort St. Charles, were here discovered. - ED.
33Bougainville omits mention of Fort Maurepas, and has located Fort Bourbon upon the site of the former. For Fort Maurepas (Bas
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