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.
Beauharnois to the Minister
(July 31, 1733)
Beauharnois in "Report of a Battle at Fort Chartres,"
in: Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections,
Vol. 34, pp. 109-110.
p. 110.
on the 2nd of Novr. 1732 that he was detached from New Orleans with 15 soldiers to act as escort for the convoy of stores which was to go up to Fort de Chartres, made up of 145 settlers. Eight leagues1 on this side of the River of the Yazoux,2 they were attacked, between midnight and one o'clock in the night between the 4th and 5th of August, by a rabble of Natchez,3 Yazoux4 and Carroys; that they fought until break of day, and that the enemy were forced to retire- as it appeared, into the river of the Yazoux. Fifteen of our Frenchmen were wounded very slightly, including the Sr. de Tonty; the savages also had several of their men wounded which was shown by the blood which was seen on the grass. The Sr. St. Ange5 writes me the same.
Of the two slaves which the Sr. de Vincennes was to bring here, one escaped, and the other he has given to the Iroquois to induce them to go against the Chicachas. He brought me three scalps of that tribe, which were delivered to him by the Miamis.
The Sr. St. Ange writes me word that the Illinois, about the month of September, began to attack the Chicachas; that they brought him a scalp from that tribe and two others of the Natchez, with a slave of thirty five years of age, whom he had burnt. The Chicachas sent me a calumet by the Sr. de Vincennes (the same which was intrusted to Le Breton) to ask me for peace; terror has seized upon them since they have seen that the Lake tribes were in the field. I shall still continue to make war on them until I have news from M. de Bienville.
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I am with very deep respect, |
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Monseigneur, |
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Your most humble and most obedient Servant |
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Beauharnois |
Montreal, this 31st July 1733.
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1 The French league represents 2.42 English miles, but varies by different authors, reaching nearly 4 miles.
2 Yasoux, Yazoo river in Mississippi.-C.M.B.
3 A Maskoki tribe discovered in 1701 and chiefly destroyed by French in 1720.
4 Formerly on a river of that name and became extinct in 1770.
5 Jean de (originally Grosson dit) St. Ange de Bellerive was a veteran officer in the French troops, having served since at least 1685. It is probably he who escorted Charlevoix through the West in 1721; and in the following year, when commandant at Fort Chartres, cut to pieces a large body of Fox Indians. In 1724, he was major at New Orleans; and in 1773 (sic- 1733?) was again in command of Fort Chartres. His second son, Louis, was in charge at New Orleans in 1724, and at Kaskaskia in 1727; later he was in charge of a French post on the Missouri river, but in 1736 was sent as commandant to Post Vincennes, which office he held until 1764. In that year he took command of Fort Chartres, which he delivered up to the English on Oct. 14, 1765; he then removed to St. Louis (which had been founded in the preceding year by Pierre Laclede), and was commandant there until 1770 (in the Spanish service, after 1766). He died there, Dec. 26, 1774.0- Wis. His. Coll., Vol. XVI, p. 443.
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