THE OHIO VALLEY-GREAT LAKES ETHNOHISTORY
ARCHIVES: THE MIAMI COLLECTION
It is noted that the following work from the Miami Archives should be read and
considered within the historical context in which it was composed and printed.
The opinions expressed and the language used do not reflect the opinions or
standards of the Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology, but are, rather,
indicative of thought in that historical moment during which the document was
published.
La Jonquiere to Rouille
(October 29, 1751)
La Jonquiere in: Archives
Nationales, Ministere
des Colonies, C11A 97:162 and in Pease
and Jenison, French Series,
III, pp. 417-422.
MONSEIGNEUR:
By my letter of the thirteenth of last month I had the honor of telling you that the orders that I had given M. de Celoron by my secret instruction had been by no means executed and that (page 418) I had given him new orders the exactness of which assured me that nothing could hinder him from getting possession of the fort of La Demoiselle by force of arms.
The contradiction which I have found in the accounts which M. de Celoron has sent me proves to me clearly that I may not count upon the expedition as it was planned. In effect, all the movements which he has made and all the precautions and the measures which he has taken to carry out my views reduce themselves to doing nothing. In whatever embarrassment M. de Celoron may be especially since he has no leggitimate excuse, I can say with truth that his distress will Never equal mine. It is impossible to express how chagrined I am at this affair. I do not sleep, and I am even sick over it.
It is annoying that I am under the necessity of complaining of it. If M. de Celoron commanded at Detroit by my order I would not have hesitated to relieve him the moment he neglected (page 419) to execute my first orders to the letter. That induces me, Monseigneur, to have the honor of representing to you that it would be for the good of the service not to establish anymore commandants in the posts of the King's commission.
It would take too long to make you a detailed narration of the measures that M. de Celoron First took and of the sudden change of all the fair appearances which he gave me. You will be perfectly informed of that by the letter which I wrote him the first of this month a copy of which I annex. By it you will see that I could not help checking over his movements and deprecating all his difficulties. This letter will reach him without delay. Perhaps it will make the impression upon him that it should, and he will decide at the end to follow out what I had previously directed him.
The Sieur de Belestre, whom I detached with fifty Algonking and Nipissing, has surmounted all the obstacles which arose before him at each instant. He left Detroit with seventeen men, the re- (page 420) mainder of the Indians having failed him. Annexed is a copy of his journal.
Several interesting facts result from his journal. First, an Ottawa informed the Nippissing and Algonkin chiefs that the day of the arrival of the Sieur de Belestre at Detroit a squaw left to go and warn La Demoiselle of what had happened. They were further told that the domiciled Indians of Detroit made fair promises to M. de Celoron only to amuse him and that if he went against La Demoiselle, he would only find his fort.
Second, some warriors who were returning from the country of the Flatheads reported that they had passed by La Demoiselle's village, that there were only squaws in the fort, that the fort was only half built, that all the warriors were away hunting, and that they were dying of hunger.
Third, the Sieur de Belestre told M. de Celoron that 150 men, in view of the small numbers of the Miami and the bad condition of their fort, were enough to make them give up or to take them back to the post of M. de Villiers.
Fourth, the Sieur de Belestre finally found no one in the Miami cabins they had gone off the night before. He could not attack the fort on account of the small number of men he had with him, but he detached four men to make prisoners who, failing in this, killed a man and a squaw whose scalps he has sent to me.
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