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.
De L'Isle Dieu to Machault
(October 12, 1754)
De L'Isle Dieu in: Archives Nationales,
Ministere des Colonies, C11A
99:470-473 and in Pease and
Jenison, French Series,
III, pp. 907-911.
The latest news which I have received from the upcountry of this colony in the direction of our allies, the Illinois tribes, and higher up toward Detroit, the Beautiful River, and the Ohio is not favorable.
The Illinois tribes are continuously disturbed and molested, especially the Quapaw, by the Chickasaw and their allies who make frequent attacks on them in an extent of about one hundred leagues of country, uncultivated and uninhabited, which the Chickasaw frequent and often pass through to attack the Indian tribes, our allies, and to carry away the convoys which descend from the Illinois or ascend thither.
Long ago M. de Macarty, who commands at the Illinois, proposed to establish a fort fifty leagues away from the Arkansas in the direction of the Chickasaw, which would confine and pre- (page 908) vent them from ascending higher up in the direction of the other Illinois tribes, our allies, as well as from attacking them and carrying off their convoys.
Moreover (and this is M. de Macarty's observation) if the fort in question were established and we had a good garrison there and a storehouse with things necessary for the Chickasaw, we could trade with them, win them over, make them allies, and detach them from the English, with whom this policy has succeeded not merely with the Chickasaw but with the other tribes whom they have carried away with them. . . and religion and the colony will never be firmly established save by attaching to us and retaining the Indians, especially those on the lower river toward its mouth. As to this the example of the Choctaw is an unanswerable proof in view of services they have done us since the war with the Natchez.
The unrest which has recently appeared both on the side of Detroit and that of the Ohio River on the occasion of the new (page 909) fortifications which we have just made should make us fear even more the attempts of the English with their own forces and those of the Indian tribes their allies who appear alarmed and discontented that we oppose them with forts instead of with treaties of peace and of alliance. Here, Monseigneur, is what I am told by a letter of July 28 last from Quebec which is better informed as to the movements of Detroit and the Ohio River as far as the neighborhood of the Illinois than is the lower colony at New Orleans and especially on the courses and banks of the river.
"We are established on the Ohio River. There is a quite respectable fort there which the English will take at the outbreak of war, at least without strong protection from the Indians of these quarters. Last year it could not be entered. This year the English have summoned us, have declared war on us, and have told us that they would oppose our settlement. Early in the spring we penetrated here and drove out fifty English who were in a little fort that they had begun. We have built a fort, and on the news (page 910) that the English were on the march an officer was sent with thirty-four men to parley with them and to summon them, but they killed that officer and seven other persons and made the rest prisoners although the officer carried a flag of truce, tried to read his orders, and declared that he came to parley. This blow has irritate us, and in order to avenge him we have sent to the Ohio River a detachment of seven hundred men. We found five hundred English fortified in the fashion of the country. We killed fifty and mortally wounded one hundred, and then they capitulated. The capitulation was signed July 3. We have lost but three men and had but sixteen wounded." It is to be seen by this letter, Monseigneur, that the upper part of this colony from Detroit to the Illinois is not tranquil, and the other letters which I have received tell no less.
It is desirable for me to know the time when you will send off the first vessels for this colony in consideration of the Ursulines and the two Jesuits whom I wish to send in view of the need that there is for them.
I fear much, Monseigneur, that you may find my letter a little long, but it is difficult to compress it when one has many things to say, and especially when they are so important to the state and to religion which have equal need of favorable attention from you and of continued and sustained protection without which the evil will increase and the remedies will be only the more difficult to find.
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