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.
Speech of Miscouaky to Vaudreuil
(September 26, 1706)
Miscouaky, Chief of the Outaouas in: Michigan Historical
Collections, XXXIII, pp. 288-294.
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sary because of the fear we felt lest the Outaouas should insult us in their usual manner. We beg you, O our father, to give us powder and bullets that we may defend ourselves in case of attack as we return.
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SPEECH OF MISCOUAKY, CHIEF OF THE OUTAOUAS
TO MARQUIS DE VAUDREUIL
Endorsed- 26th of Sept. 1706.
The words of Miscouaky, brother of Jean le Blanc chief of the Outaoüas at Detroit, who came down from Michilimakina with Maurice Menard, to the Marquis de Vaudreuil on the 26th of September, 1706.
You will be surprised, My Father, at the evil matters I am about to inform you of, on behalf of Le Pezant and Jean le Blanc, concerning what has taken place at Detroit. I beg you my Father to open your door to me as to one of your children and to listen to what I have to say to you.
When I set out from Michilimakina, my Father, our old men did not think I should come so far as here, hoping you would still be at Montreal. I have but a short time left in which I can return; I beg you, my Father, graciously to hear me.
All the tribes of the Outavois that were at Detroit, the Kikakou, the Sinagault, and the Sand tribe, have been attacked; and the remnant which has got back to Michilimakina, has returned there in the last stage of wretchedness. It is the Miamis, my Father, who have fallen upon us.
The reason which compelled us to fight with the Miamis was that after we had set out on the war-path against the Sioux, in accordance with what we had told the Sr. de Bourmont, we were warned by a Poutouatamis, who had encamped near the fort of the Hurons, that the Miamis at Detroit had resolved to let us go, and get three days on our march, and after that they would attack our village and destroy our women and children.
We could not guess, my Father, and you yourselves will be surprised as well as we were, when you learn that Quarante Sols, who was employed by the Sieur de la Mothe to attract all the tribes to Detroit, availed himself of this pretext to give belts secretly, in order to induce them to destroy us.
I have not come here, my Father, to lie to you; I have come to tell you the truth. After that you will do whatever you please. We learnt from (page 289) a Poutouamis called* , who is married to a Miamis woman, that the Miamis were to devour our village. On this news, my Father, as we had already set out, the war chiefs of the three Outavois tribes held a council and came to the conclusion that they ought not to give any decision in a matter of this importance without the consent of Le Pezant and Jean le Blanc their principal chiefs, whom they sent for at once. When Le Pezant and Jean le Blanc had arrived, Le Pezant, after he had heard the news which had been told us by the man called* .........., decided, stamping with his feet that since the Miamis had resolved to fall upon us and boil us in their pot, we must be beforehand with them.
When Le Pezant said we must attack, we all saw clearly,- Jean le Blanc, first of all,- that he was going to do a wrong act, but no one dared to speak against it, both on account of his influence and because we should thereby have exposed ourselves to the scorn of the young men.
My Father, my brother and I said at the time, what is Le Pezant thinking of to attack while our people are divided? We have some at war with the Hurons, we have some at Montreal; what will the commandant at Detroit say on seeing us fighting at his door? This we said to Le Pezant, but he would not listen to us; it is he, my Father, who is the cause of all the evil that has happened.
Jean le Blanc, my Father, would have come here with me, but he was despoiled of everything and dared not come like a beggar, and he told me to come and learn your opinion. He would have come, my Father; but in accordance with our custom, whenever we have engaged in war, being at Detroit, he put all his belongings in the hands of the Sr. de Bourmont, thinking they would be safer even than in our fort, and they have all remained there in consequence of the troubles which have befallen us since our departure to go to war with the Sioux. He had not come, my Father, and all I can do is to offer you a belt on behalf of my tribe, which is all that I have, which I also draw from my bag on purpose.
According to the decision we had come to, to attack the Miamis, we took our way back to our fort; and, just as we came near to the fort of the hurons, we found eight Miamis chiefs who were going there to a feast. As we met them, Le Pezant said to us "There are our enemies; these are the men who want to kill us, for it is they who command the others; we must rid ourselves of them." On that he uttered a cry to serve as a signal, encouraging us not to let one of them escape. The first time no one moved; but Le Pezant having uttered a second cry, just as we were walking on both sides of the road while they were in the middle, they were fired at and only Pacamakona escaped, who withdrew to the French fort. I venture to tell you something, my Father, which I have not told anyone,- that, as he was a great friend of mine I signed to him before the firing to get away, and it was that which saved him.
After those had been killed our young men began running to carry off whatever might remain in the huts; and as Le Pezant and Jean le Blanc could not go as fast as the others, I was one of the first who got there, so as to prevent any misunderstanding from arising between the French and us, as the Miamis were encamped near their fort. On my arrival I found that the Miamis had withdrawn into the fort of the French, and that one of our young men was killed, who had been recognized as a chief two days before; while our young men in despair at his death were determined to burn the fort. I threw myself into their midst and wrested from several of them the arrows, on which they had put [du toudre*] to carry out their purpose, showing them that they must not do harm to the French who were not at all included in the quarrels we had with the Miamis. While this was going on I heard a voice shouting that "the yellow robe had been seized." I ran there and saw my brother, who was sending the Recollet Father back to the fort, having unbound him and begged him to tell the Sr. de Bourmont not to fire on us, and not to give the Miamis any ammunition, but to put them out of his fort and let us alone. We did not know until the next day, my Father, that the Recollet Father and the French soldier had been killed, for those who had fired at them did not boast of it. Then I reproached my brother severely for not having kept the Recollet Father, and he gave me, as his reasons for not doing so, that he thought he was doing well, and that he did not think he was safe at our fort because our young men were excited by the death of the chiefs whom we had lost.
Next day, my Father, my brother took a flag which you had given him, and we asked to speak to the Sr. de Bourmont, requesting that arms should be laid down on both sides, so that we might be able to explain matters to each other. He told us that he had no answer to make to us, but that the S. de la Forest, whom we had been expecting since the early spring with five boats, must very soon arrive, and we could tell him our reasons. Seeing that he would not listen to us, we were obliged to withdraw, and at night our young men having resolved to go and burn the fort, all our old men had great difficulty in preventing them from doing so, and we passed three whole days holding councils.
After we had been three days in council Jean le Blanc rose and said to Le Pezant, "What sayest thou now? It is thou who hast caused the troubles which have fallen upon us; what dost thou think? As for me, I say we are dead men, and it is we who have slain ourselves, by falling upon the Miamis at the palisade of the French." All the Kiskakous and the Sinago said the same.
As soon as the Sr. de Tonty left we knew well that troubles would arise; and we have had proofs of it in this last affair, for the Sr. de Bourmont, although he could have settled the whole matter would not (page 291) listen to us, putting us off always until the Sr. de la Forest arrived. Yet we had sure proofs that he desired to fight, for he uncovered his houses and fixed swords on the ends of poles. We continued for some time to hold conferences with him, and we went into the fort of the Hurons without fear, always reckoning them among our allies, but we never went except by boat, for fear of the Miamis.
My Father, the Hurons called the Sinago Outaouas and said to them: "My brothers, we have been brothers for a long time and have fought together against the Iroquois. In speaking to you, I speak to all the tribe of the Outavois, to the Poutouatamis, the Sakis the Sauteurs, and the Mississaquez. Here is a belt, my brothers which I produce to show to you; our old men have preserved it for a long time; six men have labored at this belt; this belt, my brothers, signifies many things, it never appears except when we wish to grant life, or deal death to those to whom we are speaking. I put it up again, and tell you on behalf of the French that they invite you to a feast; it will not be held in our dwellings as that might inspire you with fear, it shall be held in this meadow near here, where the French flag will be hoisted; it is there that you shall come to the feast.
On the morrow, which was the day on which the feast was to be held, Jean le Blanc, as his waste lands were close to the place where the flag was set up, came and walked there and saw a number of Frenchmen bringing Indian corn and spreading it on sail-cloths which had been stretched out in the meadow, the Huron women were doing the same,- bring Indian corn also and spreading it on the sail-cloths. Thereupon my brother believed that the Hurons had told the truth, and flattering himself that they were going to arrange matters satisfactorily; but, Le Pezant having joined them, they both reflected that, as the French had never been willing to speak to them, it might well be that, under the guise of this feast, the Hurons wished to betray them and to make it easy for the Miamis to attack them. While the women and children went for Indian corn, they determined to send to find out, and despatched four young men, who returned and reported that they had seen several trails entering into the woods and seeming to surround those who were to go for Indian corn. As some of our men had already started, we recalled them, seeing clearly that it was a snare that had been spread for us; and we knew henceforth that the scheme of the French and the Miamis, as well as the Hurons, was, that as soon as we had left our fort to go for the Indian corn which was upon the sail-cloths, where they believed we should go in large numbers, when they knew that we had done [so], the greater part of the Miamis and Hurons, who had gone into the depths of the woods, should come and take the fort, and that the rest of the French, Hurons and Miamis who had concealed themselves for that pur- (page 292) pose among the corn opposite the place where the flag was, should come and fall upon us.
As we had recalled our people, and no one went for the Indian corn, they were all of them much mistaken; and the Miamis who had gone into the woods, believing that at least a large part of our men had gone out of our fort, came with loud shouts to take it. Our young men who were in the bastions descried them from afar and we fired at each other all day long, and we lost one of our men, who was shot through an opening in the wall. In the evening the Miamis retired while we were unable to learn how many of their men we had killed. In retiring they met the man Catalibona and his brother, whom they killed, and scalped.
When the Miamis attacked our fort they took the precaution to separate into two parties, and, one of them being kept by the water's edge, they cast adrift as many of our boats as possible, in order to deprive us, in that way, of the means of escaping.
Next day, my Father, we knew for certain that the Hurons had joined the Miamis. They came together to attack our fort; and, on that day a man of much importance among the Miamis, who had escaped us on the previous day, was killed.
The next day they came back again to attack us, and the Hurons began to shout insults at us, calling out that we were nothing but women; that apparently we had no more powder left as we dared not fire any more; that we should get still less henceforward since Onontio had abandoned us, and had indeed done so for a long time past. It was the brother of Quarente Sols who said that to us. Thereupon our young men, angry at the insults the Hurons addressed to us, made a sortie, and we fought outside, against them and the Miamis; the Hurons stood their ground a long time, but the Miamis turned tail; there were four hundred of them.
That very day one of our men, who had been on the war path with the Hurons against the Flatheads, arrived at our fort, and told us that the others who had set out with them, and had all returned, lay bound in the French fort and that it was the Hurons who had bound them, and that they had sent him to inform us of it; that two of our people who were allies of the Hurons, remained a prisoners in their fort; and that the rest had been taken to the French fort, though he did not know why. Next day the Hurons and Miamis again came and attacked our fort; and it would appear that the Hurons lost some man of importance, for on their return they shot one of their prisoners, although he was their ally.
Some time after, the Hurons sent for the relatives of those who were bound at the French fort, saying that they remembered well what we had done to them, and that it was in retaliation that they had bound our men, but that they would not put them to death; that we must come and redeem them according to custom. Some of us repaired there to take coverings and they told us to come and seek them next day, pointing out (page 293) to us a place within gun-shot of the French fort where they fixed up poles, enjoining us to take presents there commensurate with the favor they were doing us. Our men, believing they were acting in good faith, returned there and, everyone having done his utmost, even the necklaces of our children were brought. Hardly had they placed on the poles ten beautiful porcelain necklaces, twenty kettles, two parcels of beaverskins, and in fact all they had brought, when, even while Quarente Sols was giving his hand to Jean le Blanc, Jean le Blanc was shot. At the same time they fired from the fort on all our men who, as they had gone in confidence and without arms, counting on the good faith of the French, were compelled to take flight. The Hurons and the Miamis having sallied forth, the remainder of the men in our fort came to the relief of those who were in flight, and the rest of the day passed in fighting on both sides. By this treachery we lost two men killed on the spot by the fire from the French fort, and five wounded.
The last attack, my Father, which was made upon us by the Miamis, was made in our waste lands by some young men. They killed one woman on the spot and took another prisoner; and when we sent afterwards to learn what they were doing with her, our people heard her cries from the French fort where she was being burned.
Hunger, and the toils of war, compelled our people to send Onabemamtou, one of our chiefs, to speak to the Oniatanous; formerly the Oniatanous had danced a calumet dance of peace with him; our people employed this man to go and speak with the Miamis. He said to them, my Father, that the Oniatanous had treated us like sons by dancing this calumet dance, my Father. "I am surprised that you continue so long to slay us around our palisade. Are you not weary of slaying us and of being slain yourselves? Have you no pity on your young men?" The Oniatanou replied that it was not they who did that, but the Hurons and the French who wanted to make them remain there until the autumn, so as to cause the Outavois to perish of hunger in their fort. And as the Oniatanous, after this parley resolved to return home, the slaves were divided; two of our men were given to the Oniatanou, two to the tribe of La Grüe, who are Miamis from the St. Joseph River, one was burnt in the French fort, and another shot, while the son of Koutache, a Mississaguez was granted his life by the intervention of the French commandant. There is one of our men, married to a Loup woman, whom we have no news of; the Sr. de la Mothe has sent back the other two to the Missisaguez. That is all that I know, my Father; and the old men have charged me to tell you that after all the treachery with which the Hurons have treated them, they will have great difficulty in preventing their young men from going on the war-path against them as long as they remain at Detroit, from which place we have withdrawn only so that we may no longer be exposed to it.
The two Outavois, my Father, who had been allotted to the Oniatanous (page 294) escaped on the way and have come to rejoin our people, and have told them that they have not been ill-treated by the Onitanous. They report that the Miamis lost fifty in killed and wounded; and we lost twenty-six, including the men who returned from war, whom the Hurons bound treacherously.
My Father, I speak in the names of all the Outavois tribes, the Poutouatamis the Sakis, the Outagamis, the Mastrowtins, the Kikapous, the Ouinipigos [?Winnipegs], the Malominys, the Sauteurs, the Mississaguez, all the people of the districts bordering on the lake; finally all our allies are indignant against the Hurons because of their treachery to us. They all beg you, by my mouth, to let us fight against them. I pray you, my Father, to tell me your opinion that I may tell it to our people and that we may do naught but your will.
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REPLIES
OF M. DE VAUDREUIL TO MISCOUAKY,
CHIEF OF THE OUTAOUAS.
Endorsed- Reply of M. de Vaudreuil to the Chief of the Outaouas: annexed to the letter of the 4th Nov., 1706.
Replies of the Marquis de Vaudreuil to Miscouaky, brother of Jean le Blanc chief of the Outaouas who were at Detroit, on the 28th of Sept. 1706.
I have listened quietly, Miscouaky, to all you have told me; and although I had already been informed of what took place at Detroit, I was surprised nevertheless at the account you gave me of it. I cannot give you a reply, for it does not appear to me that you have been sent by all the tribes, as you say you were, but only by your brother Jean le Blanc to sound me as to my opinion, and the proof of that is that you set out from Michilimakina with the intention of staying down here, and that it is only your brother's arrival which has made you desirous of going up again. However that may be, I am not sorry to have seen you, and I am very glad of what you have told me concerning your brother's conduct.
You wish to know my opinion, Miscouaky, you have begged me to tell it you; hearken to me well. I am a good father; and as long as my children listen to my voice, no evil ever befalls them. You have proofs of it in what has taken place at Detroit; for, if this man Pezant and Jean le Blanc had taken nothing in hand without learning my will, you would not have attacked the Miamis, you would not have killed my men, and you would not be in your present state of distress and want.
My men have been killed, Miscouaky; and,
until I see the tribes that I
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* Probably something to carry fire with the arrow when shot.- C. M. B.
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