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.
Macarty to Vaudreuil
(September 2, 1752)
Macarty in: Huntington Library
Mss., Loudoun Coll., 376 and
in Pease and Jenison,
French Series, III,
pp. 654-699.
The thirteenth of the same month I received a letter from M. (page 660) de St. Ange, who informed me that the Piankashaw were as yet making no advances to peace. The rebel chiefs felt themselves to be too blameworthy and feared to appear here to give satisfaction. Their way of acting indicates that they had found neither an asylum nor much help in the direction of Great Miami River; of this however he is not sure. Two Illinois Indians who carried the letter told me that the rebels had sent a deputation to the English to induce them to come and bring them goods, and that this deputation had not returned.
June 24 two medal chiefs of the Kickapoo and Mascoutens, called Sappingouate, the son of Ouzchione, arrived here, and after their compliments of affection assured me that Le Loup was not concerned in the ill affairs. It was only the jealousy of the other Piankashaw chiefs of his affection for the French which had involved him in the affair of December 8. They gave me to understand that since he was a Kickapoo and his mother Mascouten the two tribes asked me to pardon him.
On that I told them what I though, M. de Ligneris having made me perceive by two letters the need of obliging these two tribes, the only ones on which he could count. I said that the good I had heard and seen as to the actions of Le Loup induced me to yield to their demands; some time before I had released him from his irons. His younger brother was with his chiefs, one of the four who had that winter brought me the letters of M. de la Jonquiere. I made them a small present. They thanked me for restoring them Le Loup, saying that they had never in any case intended to abandon the French, but that they would have had much difficulty in eating their meat.
They remained here some days. Le Loup again assured me that he had never agreed to betray the French, that he knew nothing of the blow struck the eighth of December, that he was and always would be grateful to the French. He counted on dwelling with the Kickapoo, his tribe, as the most faithful and would never again see the Piankashaw, save to reproach them with their perfidy.
M. de Ligneris informs me that this has had a very good effect. The Pinakashaw have done all they could do to draw the Kickapoo and Mascoutens from their course; a part of the Wea had been with them at White River. These tribes had received a wampum belt from the Miami this spring to join together. M. de Ligneris also informs me that Indians coming from White River learned of the defeat and capture of some French by the Delaware. He judges that they were our deserters of February 28, which was verified some time after; the Delaware having discovered tracks above the Falls of the Ohio River, gave chase to these deserters, killed ten, and took the rest prisoners.
M. de Portneuf left July 4. I recommended to him to be tactful with the Missouri tribes and to induce them and the Osage to send some war parties against the Miami without passing here.
July 9, three Pinakashaw came in with a flag and a letter of that officer, under pretext of having come to learn of the affairs (page 668) of the Cahokia and Michigamea. The bearer of the letter was called La Petite Biche; and as he began to visit the Indian villages, I suspected he had some design. I warned the interpreter who put La Puce to work to fathom why they had come. La Biche being with him, said, "L'Homme Noire told us to beware of you." (This L'Homme Noire is a fugitive from our domiciled Indians.) He answered, "It is true I was formerly attached to the French, but today I reject them." La Petite Biche answered, "Since you are as we, we can talk. We have sent for the chiefs of your villages by a Chickasaw. We have appointed them a meeting at the father's mills, where you may come also." He told him meanwhile, "There are many English on White River who have brought two cannons, and many guns. They brought three hundred horses. The Delaware, half the Shawnee, La Demoiselle's people, a great part of the Wea, and our people are there. They have built two forts. The English have given a large belt, two feet and a half long and one wide, and several small belts to distribute to the tribes." A man of each of these tribes had (page 669) entered Vincennes by night and was shown the large belt that had been brought, and given the small ones to go and invite the Illinois to withdraw from the neighborhood of the French. It was the French who caused them to be eaten by the tribes, but the tribes also wished to eat the French in return. They also invited the Michigamea and Cahokia not to be ungrateful for their corn or their villages which did not tell them to abandon them forever for the English would bring them back there. The Pinakashaw of St. Ange's post saw the rebels at night, without the knowledge of M. de St. Ange. They had two forts two days away from the post of M. Ligneris; it was recommended to them to spy out the environs of our places; there were many English assembled and almost six hundred Indians. The Ottawa and Chippewa had struck the Miami of the post in last days of June, and had wounded three people, one of whom was dead. And If did not learn a part of these things until after he had left.
The eleventh the two Illinois chiefs came to see me. They told me they were come with the French who brought letters from (page 670) the convoy; one of their Indians had been in search of them to have them speak before me to three Pinakashaw, but since these three Indians had left they had not seen them. They thought that since these Pinakashaw had not spoken that their design was to draw the Illinois to them; but the two chiefs would have no more to do with ill affairs against the French.
I told them that I knew all; that they should take care that I learned nothing save from them of what might be going on. As usual they made protestations.
July 26 La Puce warned me that La Petite Biche spoke ill. He had remained with them until the twenty-fourth on the jour- (page 671) ney or on their hunting grounds, where the brother of Papachigauoyat came with many young men to the number of seventeen cabins and after many exhortations said, "You have convinced me. Tonight, tonight."
He said, "I have spoken" said La Biche, "differently to the French, than I might have spoken to the French chiefs and to M. de St. Ange in the design I had formed of coming to seek you immediately on my arrival. Our people only await my return to attack the post of Vincennes." He had related that there were but thirty soldiers, and that they alone were ninety men. He left at night with seven cabins which made me send two couriers at once to travel day and night to inform M. de St. Ange of what is happening in these parts.
That same day, the twenty-sixth, there came a Michigamea prisoner from the Peoria who had fallen into the hands of the Sauk. The chief known as Le Chat Blanc had granted their lives to him and to the women of whom I already spoke, there being still six women of the Cahokia and Michigamea whom he is to (page 672) give back to Pepachegouyee and Chicagou. Le Chat Blanc asked them to come and seek their prisoners, and secretly told the prisoners that it was the French who were the cause of the attack. The Michigamea adds that M. Marin has arrived from Mackinac, where he had been since early spring, and that he found much fault with them for the attack that they made on the Illinois. He threatened them that if they did not set the prisoners at liberty that he would break with them. The Michigamea also reports that the Foxes burned three of their people on the march; that a part of the Foxes have separated, in particular the band of Boigens, from those who made the attack; that the Sauk were to come near Starved Rock as soon as they had, by means of presents, got the rest of the slaves from the hands of the Foxes.
The twenty-eighth I sent the interpreter to the hunting ground where the chiefs were to inform them of the return of this prisoner, having them told that the commandant of the Peoria had written by Le Gros Bled to the French among the Sauk to induce that tribe to return the prisoners. They were very well content and confirmed to the interpreter the departure of the (page 673) seven cabins that had been with the Miami and that spoke ill. The interpreter could see they were rendered uneasy by the troops who came up by our convoys. The chiefs sent to those who had withdrawn to return to their villages. The same day, the twenty-eighth, arrived from his hunting ground and saw with pleasure the return of the Michigamea prisoner, who told him his adventures. He begged me not to abandon him, and to get him his prisoners again. I promised him I would do what I could.
The night of August 2-3, the Pinakashaw prisoner who remained to us, escaped with irons on his feet and hands by the negligence of the corporal and the sentinel of the guard who let him sleep outside on account of the great heat. The two leg irons were found next day near a picket he had broken. It is presumed some persons helped him. We sought him without success. Two Illinois assure us that they met four men in flight, one of whom did not have his scalp lock dressed.
The ninth and tenth the Illinois returned to their villages. (page 674) The medal chiefs came to thank me for writing to the Sauk to return their prisoners. They asked my opinion, whether I wished them to go to the Sauk in search of the prisoners; they would do as I wished. They had promised me no longer to relate the evil messages; they had rejected them. Some cabins had gone to rejoin the madmen; for their part they were resolved to die with us. I encourage them to keep themselves in the paths of uprightness; I would write on their behalf.
The night of the tenth the couriers I had sent to M. de St. Ange arrived with a letter which informed me that part of what La Petite Biche had said was false; that July 15 Le Chat Blanc, being on a hunt above the post, met four young men of the rebel Pinakashaw, who gave him a message from Le Gros Bled, his uncle, to be given on behalf of Le Gros Bled to M. de St. Ange. It consisted of a laced capot and a white shell, telling him that Le Gros Bled asked pardon for himself and his band. He wished (page 675) to draw near the French. Since the spring he had stopped several parties that wished to attack the French; in doing this he had stripped himself of all his possessions. He was very sorry for all that had happened.
That officer refused his message and told Le Chat that it was not for young men to carry such a message, but for chiefs. They should come here, if they were indeed repentant for the evil devices and treacheries they had inflicted upon us. They should labor to atone for their fault. They had been too long in recognizing it. He refused to see the young men.
As to the location of their tribe the young men told Le Chat they were two short days' journeys from the post of M. de Ligneris; they said that the majority of their people wished to come to an understanding with the French. The others would not hear of it. They had suffered much for want of food. Some English brought them goods, but very little. The English had led them to hope that they would furnish them abundantly and that in (page 676) a little while they would want for nothing. A great part of the Wea were with them on White River.
These four Piankashaw also said that some days before their departure, messengers had come from Great Miami River to ask help of them, their villages having been attacked by a large party of various tribes; twenty of their people and as many Wea had set off with some Delaware among them.
M. de St. Ange informs me that the Piankashaw who are at his post are always in fear lest we take occasion to destroy them, which has induced two cabins to decamp with the messengers and join the rebels, and that he puts no reliance whatever on those who remain, although they protest much attachment. La Petite Biche had not yet appeared at the post with the Illinois families which followed him, which made him believe that they have joined the rebels.
August 15 I received a letter from M. Adamville by four voyageurs who left the Mackinac convoy at Chicago, not being able to pass for want of water. Two canoes only made the (page 677) portage. The others had very little food, scarcely water to drink. That officer informs me that the Peoria stayed on their hunt only a very short time, the Sauk having warned them that the Chippewa were coming upon them five hundred in number; this leaves them dying of hunger; moreover as a result of the great drought they have little hope for the corn.
The chiefs gave him notice that they would take refuge in his fort if the enemy came. He tells me he is not in a situation to defend it, the fort being all decayed; for want of transport it is impossible to get it repaired by the voyageurs, the woods being a long way off. He cannot compel them, as it is impossible to have the pickets carried by two men over bad paths. The fort could be turned over to some one and the voyageurs made to pay him. (I wrote him to arrange with the voyageurs.) He is continually besieged by the Peoria with request for powder, bullets, and other things.
M. Mercier informs me that an Indian named Pana reported to him that he had learned by a Peoria that the Miami had (page 678) been attacked by a party of Ottawa and Chippewa. The attackers had killed some thirty among whom were some English; the Wea had abandoned the English to go back to the French; the Piankashaw were resolved to make war on us; the Sauk had not kept their word given to the Peoria to meet them at the hunting grounds and give back their prisoners; a number of Potawatomi and Mascoutens are going to the Peoria to sing the calumet in order to try and learn their sentiments as to the attack made on the Michigamea by the Foxes and Sauk; they fear the Peoria will in reprisal make attacks on them.
They were that same day to sing the calumet with the Kaskaskia and the Michigamea, to whom they gave much in horses and peltry. I learned that on leaving they had had a quarrel with the Michigamea over the women. The Illinois have wished to induce the Osage to come closer to us in order to sustain them against their enemies. On that request the Osage have given them a horse for a message. It appears that the Illinois are trying to renew their alliances with the tribes, being always in fear of some surprise from us.
August 28 arrived L'Houtarde and Varinna, Cannissa, a considered person among the Wea, with chief's medals and letters from M. Celoron of July 13. He wrote me that a party of 260 Chippewa and Ottawa attacked the village of Great Miami River by which blow they killed thirty-two men, both English and Indian, pillaged the possessions of the former, and carried off six prisoners. The Indians were positive they had killed two Piankashaw, one Wea, and a Delaware. They have killed two Iroquois and two Shawnee. They are not detailed in their (page 681) account as the party has not yet arrived. They lost four Chippewa and two Ottawa.
M. the commandant general, who doubtless is M. de Longueuil, informed M. Celoron that at end of the summer he would send off Monsieur his brother with four hundred Canadians to winter at the Miamis in order to pursue the rebel tribes. He adds that next spring he will send off six hundred men by the Ohio River to join Monsieur his brother. . .
(page 682). . .At the beginning of May a party appeared to go against the Piankashaw. After being equipped for that and told not to attack any of our allies they might meet on their way, they took (page 683) four scalps at M. de Villiers' post, two men and two women. The fear M. Celoron was in lest that officer or the French be embarrassed by this attack, caused him to send forty men, some Ottawa, Potawatomi, and Chippewa to atone for that affair, obliging the war chiefs and young men to carry their bodies there to atone for their treachery. MM. de Courtemanche and Celoron commanded this detachment, of which there is no news. At that time all these tribes were aroused to attack La Demoiselle. This contretemps has changed their dispositions. The tribes that have gone with M. de Courtemanche to the Miami of the Portage intend to try to bring back La Demoiselle and his partisans to live in the Kickapoo villages, and intend to strike if he will not consent.
The three Wea who carried M. Celoron's letters came with the design of reclaiming from me the prisoner who escaped me the second of the month, according to what M. le Borgne tells me, the father of this prisoner being a Wea. His three Illinois (page 684) Indians report that the affair with the Miami of the Portage was settled by dint of goods; in effect the hostile bands have two forts, the Piankashaw having a separate one. They are 140 men, the others eighty, and there are but two English among them without cannon or artillery as La Petite Biche reported. He reports that after the Ottawa attacked the Great Miami River village, the village raised flags, saying, "Whoever attacks us, we clearly see it is the French who make you do it." To this the Ottawa answered raising their flag, "It is long since they have been among us, and they have won us." The Ottawa, having captured four Miami women, proposed to give them up in exchange for English. This the Miami did, giving up seven English, one of whom was wounded; these the Ottawa killed and pillaged. The Miami promised not to return and attack the Chippewa saying, "I do not know how our father will act. We have lost many people, and he is the cause. We do not say that we will not return."
Father de Guyenne wrote me yesterday that the three Wea have said to several Illinois that the chiefs of all the tribes were invited to meet together in the spring to deliberate on the means of defending themselves, and avenging themselves for the tyranny of the French who stirred them up against each other to their destruction. To that end they have sent deputies from their villages to Mackinac. They have not named the place of meeting. I sent back after the Wea who had already left. They denied having reported the things in question; if they had told anything, they would have told it to M. de Ligneris, who would have informed me, their chiefs being at St. Joseph for good ends; whenever they learned anything, they would inform me.
You see, Monsieur, by the details which I give you as to the various tribes, the small reliance that should be place on them. I might even have been overwhelmed; the Illinois have kept themselves so to speak penned up during four days with their wives and children. Whatever they are told they are in no wise reassured as to the number of French who are coming up to us by (page 687) our convoys. It is still suspected that some families wish to go to the Osage and Peoria; part of the Cahokia after the attack of June 1 went to the latter. The hostile bands have gone in the direction of the Piankashaw and I think few are left who are not attached to the French by necessity and habit. I devote myself to rewarding the good, and will listen only to the chiefs who have come several times to assure me of their fidelity; and if the enemy approached this place or made any attack, they would be the first to strike.
As to the course M. de la Jonquiere had taken to get the tribes to take scalps, I think they would have cost the king less if his orders could have been carried out. But the tribes on that side are too much allied by blood even to our domiciles for it to be expected that they should attack each other; moreover there is the profusion and good quality of the merchandise which the English give them, so to speak. It seem the Missouri tribes have much difficulty in going so far, having several rivers to (page 688) cross, and not knowing the country. They took the tomahawk this spring and have as yet done nothing. They show all possible good will but without results. I do not mean by that that they have not raised some parties, but they will never be strong enough to destroy the hostile tribes.
That is the course M. de Longueuil appears to have taken. The four hundred men who are to winter at the Miamis, and six hundred who will descend by the Ohio River next spring appear to me sufficient to dispose of 220 men according to what the Wea report. It is true that they may have help from their allies. I count that the tribes of the lakes who have already stuck, and those who are undecided as to which course they will take, will decide in our favor. We can furnish our contingent according to the arrangement taken and according to the strength of the convoys which will come up to us this autumn, and the disposition of our domiciled Indians who exert themselves to give us proofs of their attachment to us.
You see, Monsieur, by Lalande's story that the English not (page 689) merely wish to draw the Indians but also the traders by the greed for clear profits. . .
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