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.
Letter to Maurepas
(New Orleans, August 20, 1735)
Bienville in: (AC, C13, vol. 20, Gen. Corr. of
Louisiana, pp. 152-159) and in Mississippi
Provincial Archives, vol. 1, pp.
264-269.
My Lord:-
The letters that I have received from the Illinois by the last convoy, dated June 15th, inform me that the nations established on the banks of the Missouri joined forces to march against the Foxes. (f. 152 v.) They set out last May to the number of five to six hundred men with a cadet of the Illinois garrison named Demorieres and twenty Canadian voyageurs. No news of their return had yet been received at the time of the departure of the boats, but it is morally certain that these Foxes will not find refuge with any nation of these regions inasmuch as the Iowas whom we considered the most suspicious have declared themselves their enemies by a scalp which they have taken from them. This is the fruit of the efforts of Mr. D'Artaguette.
One can assume that if Mr. Des Noyelles had taken a route through the Illinois, he would have had assistance and information which would have put him in a position to succeed independently of the dissatisfaction of the (f. 153) Iroquois whom he had with him, to whom he attributes the poor outcome of his enterprise. He felt apparently on his return the mistake he had made, for, when he was at the Illinois he asked Mr. D'Artaguette if he judged it expedient for him to return. To this the commandant replied that he was suprized at this proposal in view of the dissatisfaction of the Iroquois who had openly declared that they wished to return to Canada.
I am informed that two Illinois parties marched this last winter a short distance from each other against the Chickasaws; that the first captured twenty women and children from the enemy and the second sixteen and a man whom they burned; that the three villages are going to march en masse this autumn, and I do not (f. 153 v.) doubt that Mr. D'Artaguette will send several Frenchmen with them.
Mr. De Vincennes who commands at the fort of the Piankashaws has induced the Indians of his quarter to do the same thing, and has obtained from Mr. D'Artaguette an agreement to march with them with all the Frenchmen whom he can get together. As this officer has great influence over the minds of the Indians, I am convinced that he will induce them to do well. He sends me word that the English who are established on the upper part of the Ohio River are working incessantly to win nations to their side; that the Miamis of the portage and those of the Weas where Sieur Despervance is in command are determined to go this autumn and settle near them; that the others of his post (f. 154) have refused to accept the necklaces that were sent to them for the same purpose, (page 266) and adds that he is going to take measures to induce the Shawnees to leave the Ohio River, where they are settled, to come and make a village near our fort.
. . .
. . . receiving any news of it. In the meantime I received a letter from Sieur Ducoder written from a Chickasaw village which informed me that when he was half-way between the Arkansas and the Illinois he had put into the land to rest and refresh his crew; that during that time he had entered the woods to see if he could discover any tracks; that a little while afterwards he heard a discharge of more than two hundred gunshots accompanied by shouts which left him no doubt that his detachment was attacked; that he ran at once toward his boat where he was (f. 155) seized by several Indians; that the others were occupied either in plundering or in tying a sergeant and a soldier who alone remained alive. He informed me that this party composed of two hundred and forty Chickasaw and Natchez men was on the march to go and carry away the women that the Illinois had taken from them a short time before, or to get vengeance for this act; that they had been following him for several days to take him by surprise, but that hitherto he had always kept to the other side of the river; in fact if he had continued to observe this precaution, which was quite natural, he would have escaped from their pursuit. He adds that after these Indians had divided among themselves the cargo of the boat they abandoned the purpose of vengeance which had made them leave their villages (f. 155 v.) the journey to which they resumed, and that they arrived there without having received any (page 267) insult. This news made me decide to send immediately to the Illinois a boat loaded with powder to replace that which the enemies have taken from us, accompanied by all the voyageurs who had come down the river, so that this convoy is composed of about eighty Frenchmen and forty negroes and is in a position to fear nothing from our enemies. I have given the direction of it to the Chevalier de Contrecoeur. . . .
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