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.
Journal of Chaussegros de Lery
(1754-1755)
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de Lery, Chaussegros in: Stevens, Sylvester K., and Donald H. Kent, eds.Journal of Chaussegros de Lery, Northwestern Pennsylvania Historical Series, Pennsylvania Historical Commission, Harrisburg, 1940, pp. 67, 85-89, 92. |
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[September] 1st, |
Bright sunshine, the wind from S. 1/4 S.E. |
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[September] 2nd, |
Cloudy, the wind from S. 1/4 S.W. |
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[September] 3rd, |
M. Meziere left by land to take command of the Ouyatannons. He went by way of St. Joseph, from where he was to take the route to his post. Father Forget, priest at the Seminary of Foreign Missions, who was going to the Taimarois, left with him. He had come from Quebec with me. It was cold, the sun appeared, the wind from S.W. 1/4 S. |
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[September] 10th, |
The weather was fine, a small rain storm, cold north wind. |
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[September] 11th, |
M. Landrive, acting as commissary, left at 5 o'clock with Father Bonaventure, Recollect, with two canoes for Montreal. The commander saluted his flag with nine rounds of fireworks. |
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[September] 24th, |
A man named Forville, inhabitant of Detroit who had guided M. de Pan's detachment to Michillimaquinac, arrived. He reported that it had taken eight days to go there, that the detachment had remained seven days at the fort, which he had left the following day to return. Weather good, wind from east northeast. |
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[September] 25th, |
Jacques Laselle, voyageur arrived from Niagara where he had gone to get merchandise which he had left there. He brought some letters, nine for me. I found a barrel of wine had leaked out through worm holes. We had word from Fort des Miamis the 15th of this month that a band of Cha8anons had gone there to buy blankets and other merchandise but no munitions, as they had enough. Fine weather, the nights fresh, the wind from N.E. 1/4 N.E. |
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the precautions of preparing them in different ways, soaking some and planting others dry in hotbeds. |
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[February] 2nd, |
Sunday, a very violent S.W. 1/4 S. wind, it started to freeze at 10 o'clock in the morning and continued until midnight. There was no sign of carrying out the order to bring posts to the fort. I do not know if it is because the news indicated the ill-will of the savages or because I am anxious to see this work finished, which I consider very important during the present dispute between the English and us over Belle Rivire. Last summer, when I was at Presque Isle, I heard our men talking of the attachment the savages appeared to have for the English, despite the blow they had just received. I always thought the belt the Cha8anons had given the Hurons very mysterious, and I talked it over with the commander when he gave me an opportunity, but since he doubtless had more authentic news than any that I could tell him, he did not pay as much attention as I might have wished, and the work has made no progress. |
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[February] 3rd, |
Monday, it froze from midnight until noon. The S.W. 1/4 S. wind abated somewhat, at noon the sun appeared. |
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[February] 4th, |
Tuesday, it froze from midnight to half-past eight o'clock, a light S.W. 1/4 S. wind, which had blown since the second of the month, cast the ice onto the north bank of the river where it formed along the shore, but was not strong enough to hold up vehicles. At noon the wind turned to the south southwest. At three o'clock, a Frenchman and an Ouyatanons savage arrived. M. de Muy told me he brought no news, but according to what M. Belestre, commander of the Miamis, wrote to his sister, we were to question the savage in order to hear some interesting news. We learned from the said savage that the Cha8anons had sent belts to the Ouyatanons and to the Miamis to induce those nations to assist them in recalling the English to Belle Rivire. I believe this news more readily as I mistrust the savages since Mikinack, the Outa8ois chief, told the commander last autumn that he would not leave the fort because there would be plenty of news and a great deal happening before summer, and since that time the savages have been talking in riddles. |
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[February] 5th, |
Wednesday, the weather was mild during the night, the sun appeared at intervals during the day, light winds to the W. 1/4 S.W. and the weather mild. At 5 o'clock in the evening west wind, it froze from eight o'clock until midnight. M. de Rigauville to whom I wished to recount the news, told me he had heard it yesterday and had told the commander who did (page 86) not seem to think it important, and who told him that the commander of the Ouyatannons had written him that his savages were ready to march against the English at Belle Rivire, and that the commander of the Miamis told him that his savages were going to Belle Rivire more to trade with the English than for anything else. A man named de Peltaux worked at getting his posts in place, ready to set them out when it pleases the commander to order it done. M. Navarre sowed rye on his land. I learned in the evening that the commander, on hearing certain news from an Ouyatannons savage, had answered him that he was somewhat fearful because, as I have been informed, this officer had not told him of the belts brought to him [the Ouyatannons] by Latort, Cha8anons chief. I could not vouch for the truth of this indiscretion, although the Ouyatannons savage had said on arriving that the French chief who had been to see him had strongly urged him to tell the news to the chief at Detroit. |
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[February] 6th, |
Thursday, the wind west southwest. There was little sun and it did not thaw, around noon a little snow fell which melted on reaching the ground. M. de Rigauville told me that the commander had learned from a man named Berthe that the Cha8anons had given some belts as the Ouyatannons savage had reported. In the evening a man who was in irons escaped. Not having a sentry to guard him, they had locked him up in a house. At nine o'clock 45 men were commanded to form three detachments at daybreak. It froze hard during the night. |
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[February] 7th, |
Friday, the sun appeared at intervals, the wind S.W. 1/4 W., and it was cold. M. de Lamotte told me he had talked to the Ouyatannons savage to find out the news. The savage replied that the commander had forbidden him to talk about it. We found the man who had escaped from irons the evening before in the house of an inhabitant a quarter of a league from the fort. He had gone to bed there very quietly at six o'clock in the evening. The wind turned to west northwest, very violent and cold. Two thirds of the river was frozen over. We could not see very clearly as a light snow was falling. It stopped early. |
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[February] 8th, |
Saturday, northwest wind, but not so strong as the day before. The snow that had fallen did not cover the ground, and could hardly be seen except in places where it had been blown into drifts. The carts went along on the shore-ice. The sun appeared at intervals, and at three in the afternoon the weather became milder; at 10 in the evening a little snow fell. This would have been a good day to get the posts from the woods, but I had not heard that anyone did this. |
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[February] 9th, |
Sunday, the wind west southwest, it did not thaw but was not cold; at ten in the evening an inch of snow fell, the sun did not come out. |
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[February] 10th, |
Monday, weather mild the past 24 hours. The sun appeared about noon. Light northeast wind, one might almost say a breeze. A savage arrived from Rivire St. Joseph, M. de St. Ours, commander of said fort, informed M. de Muy that if he needed some of his savages in the spring, he would send some. Lamorigny, Jesuit Father, wrote that M. St. Ours had been ill for a long time. M. de Muy told me that the commander of the Ouyatannons wrote him that Forgeron, chief of a band of that nation, was ready to raise the hatchet against the English. |
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[February] 11th, |
Shrove Tuesday, the sun appeared, it was not cold, light W. 1/4 S.W. wind. Yesterday was the day appointed for those who had posts to furnish to bring them to the fort. No one had brought any since the 26th of last month when the commander's order was proclaimed, although the weather had been very favorable. An Outa8ois chief, named Acha8abem, arrived from Saguinan. The rumor had spread during the past month that the commander had sent a young Outa8ois to his winter camp to get him and to inform Mikinak, chief of the Outa8ois village of Detroit. Acha8abem reported that the Outa8ois and Sauteurs from Saguinaw intended to form a large party to make war on the Poute8atamis of Rivire St. Joseph. |
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[February] 12th, |
Wednesday, the sun shone and it thawed considerably, there was no snow on the ground, and ice only along the banks of the river. West wind until nine in the evening when it turned to the south; it did not freeze during the night. They began to prepare some posts for the fort. |
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[February] 13th, |
Thursday, wind to the south, not cold. They worked at preparing posts for the fort. I made two visits to show those working on the angles how to go about making the mortises. There were only four men at work. Four men left this morning to go to their winter quarters near Sandosk; they had come to the fort to enjoy the festival. At one o'clock in the afternoon the Ouyatannon savage, who arrived the 4th of this month, deserted. He returned with the Frenchman ________ (illeg.copy) the pirogues which were carrying goods to this post, and which had been left in the Rivire des Miamis. I had questioned this savage about the news that everyone was spreading either by letters or otherwise, and he told me the following which I am writing in my journal not as certain nor true, but as the belief of this savage who was said to have been at the council where the belts were given. I know one can not depend too much on Indian news, but I think it is wise to make a note of this. Speeches the Cha8anons gave to Latortue, of the Miamis nation, last autumn when the leaves began to fall: By a belt. Latortue, I formerly bound you to me with a belt, I release you now to go to your village. By a second belt. This belt, Latorte, is to remind you to try to learn the thoughts of the Miamis, Ouyatannons, Pianguichins, Kikapoux and Mascoutin, and to try to bring in the warriors of these nations, their women and children, in other words, their villages. By a third belt. If we speak true, my brothers, we considered the stem of the peace pipe we gave you in the past to be broken, but it is only bent, we can straighten it out and make good use of it. By a fourth belt. My brothers, here are the last belts I shall give you. You have always listened to your father, the French. Open your eyes today, my brothers, here is what troubled you, open your eyes and look at the sun, and you will see clearly. Fifth speech without belt. Onontio sent his son to speak to Latorte by two string of wampum which Latorte has kept secretly saying he did not receive them. Sixth speech without belt. By a very large belt, which the Loups have given to the Cha8annons, he invites them to take up their villages and come to them where there would be as many belts to receive them as two horses could carry. Seventh speech without belt. If all of you come to see us, my brothers, come when the grass is half way to your knees, so we may all assemble together. This is when the French and the English are to fight each other, and we shall see who is stronger. They assured me that Latorte, bearer of the preceding speeches was the one who, during the year of the war, carried belts to these same nations mentioned above, and incited them to kill the French. |
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[February] 14th, |
Friday, fair weather, the wind southwest, at 7 o'clock in the evening northwest, the sun appeared at intervals. They set out two rows of posts at the Royal bastion, proof that they could have done as much in places where they were needed if they had acted with more foresight. I set a peg, which had been pulled out last autumn, to mark the angle of the fortified curtain and the right flank of the Poute8atamis bastion, because they were getting the posts ready to set out there, and I did not want to keep them waiting. |
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compass, and the distance from one bank of the river to the other, taken almost on the square with the north bank of said river, and at high water, following the transversal line S.E. 1/4 E. 4 degrees south, is 115 perches of 18 standard feet, which makes 11 1/2 arpents. The channel of the river is nearer the south bank than the north one, and also at the former it is very near land. It is not the same on the north. I had it measured and found it eighteen perches away, taken at the point of the crossing and following the same line. The ice was solid, I think even horses could have gone over it, but as it was very uneven we thought it best not to risk it. At 2 o'clock in the afternoon two Frenchmen and two Iroquois arrived from Belle Rivire bringing letters from the commander of Fort Duquesne for the commander at Detroit, dated January 20th and 21st. The news, in substance was that the English were preparing to attack Fort Duquesne next spring, and advised him that he was to have the savages of his post ready to go to the aid of Fort Duquesne. To get them there in time, he was to send back the couriers informing him of the steps he intended to take and the approximate number of savages he would be able to send, so that the Fort Duquesne commander could send back said couriers to inform him when he should send them. That three days ago he had sent a courier to the general telling him the news, and the decision he had taken to send to Detroit, where some of our domiciliated savages are, to request the English not to advance any further. The general replied that we should bring all the savages to Lake Erie. The speeches given on both sides are given here, but not verbatim, as I omitted many of the points, now, however, what the English said to our resident savages by a belt- the Hurons, Miamis, Ouyatonnons, Cha8anons and Sauteurs are our brothers and strongly support us. We learned that the water had risen considerably at Fort Duquesne because of the flooding of Belle Rivire, which occurs frequently when there have been several days of rain. They say that M. Rouill had left the ministry, and it was he who succeeded M. de Machault, common counsellor to the Conseil Royal, controller general of the finances. |
pp. 85-87 may also be found in Dockett 317, Def. Ex. 109.
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