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.
Extract of a Memoir to Perier
(September 30, 1726)
Compagnie des Indes, "Extract of a Memoir to Perier,
Gov. of Louisiana," in: English Translation of
Margry, Vol. 6, pp. 658-660.
* * * *
III.
Steps to be taken by the Sieur de
Vincennes,
commandant near the upper waters of the
Wabash, to watch the proceedings
of the English.
________
(not identified)
Extract of a memoire from the Compagnie des Indes to Perier, Governor of Louisiana, 30th of September 1726.
________
A hundred and twenty leagues above the Akansas, the River Wabash falls into the Mississippi. It is formed by four other (page 659) rivers, one of which takes its rise near Lake Erie, and is called Saint-Jerosme or Wabash; another, called the Ohio, rises in the Iroquois country; and the other two, called the River of the Chaouanons, and the River of the Casquinamboux, take their rise near Virginia. The country watered by these rivers abounds in wild oxen, and is not yet occupied by any European nation.
As it is by the first of these rivers that communication is kept up between Louisiana and Canada, and this communication would be entirely destroyed if the English should settle at the confluence of one of the other three rivers, and at the same time the Illinois country would be laid open and all the upper part of the colony endangered, the Company has given orders for the establishment of a post on the River Wabash. It has also requested the Governor of Canada, for his part, to instruct the Sieur de Vincennes, who is in command among the Ouyatanons- Miamis settled near the upper part of the Wabash, to make arrangements with the commandant of the new post to bring that tribe nearer it, in order to protect the post and to watch the proceedings of the English and to drive them out in case they should approach.
From the attached copies of the letter written to M. de Boisbriant and the memorandum sent to the Comte de Beauharnois, M. Perrier will see what the Company considers should be done in this matter. M. de Boisbriant, in reply, writes that he has been prevented from sending to establish the said post by the lack of goods; and that he thinks it necessary to give the command of the post to M. de Vincennes, who is already a half-pay lieutenant of infantry in Louisiana, and will set the Miamis in action better than anyone else.
On the other hand, the Company learns from M. Desliettes, commandant in the Illinois country, that the Sieur de Vincennes came to him to tell him that the English had already formed a settlement on the upper part of the River Ohio; and that he sent back the Sieur de Vincennes with presents for the Indians, directing him to make sure of the truth of this news. If it is confirmed there will not be a moment to lose in inducing the Ouyatanons to occupy the lower part of the River Ohio, and the Wabash fort must then be established near the junction of the River of the Casquinamboux, putting an officer in command of it who can keep on good terms with the Sieur de Vincennes, whom it is not advisable to remove from the Ouyatanons if we would obtain the advantages we hope from them. M. Perrier will consider this matter carefully, and, in particular, whether by giving the said Sieur de Vincennes eight or ten soldiers and the Missionary intended for Wabash, he would not be able to protect the line of communication between Louisiana and Canada with the aid of Indians and to prevent the English from advancing into our colony, without obliging the Company to build a fort on the lower part of the River Wabash, the establishment of which together with the maintenance of the garrison would involve an expenditure of some importance.
In order to induce the Sieur de Vincennes to attach himself to the colony of Louisiana, M. Perrier will inform him that he has obtained for him from the Company an annual gratuity of three hundred livres, to be paid to him together with his half-pay as lieutenant.
________
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