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.
Memorandum (con't.)
(February 13, 1731)
In "1731: Rivalry of the English; Conditions at
Upper Posts", in: Wisconsin Historical
Collections, XVII, pp. 131-134.
. . . That, nevertheless, the Miamis and Ouyatanons, amongst whom we maintain garrisons,1 take the greater portion of their furs to the English. This is due to the difficulty experienced by the French Voyageurs in going to those Nations on account of the various (page 132) portages.2 That therefore it might be advisable not to continue those two posts, That of Detroit being sufficient, since the savages, to whom the trouble of transportation costs nothing, could go thither.
The Ouyatanons were brought into the Government of Louisiana by the Sieur de
Vincennes who has completely removed himself from the jurisdiction of the
Government of Canada. In order to force that Nation to return to the Miamis to
obtain what it needs, Monsieur de Beauharnois had at first proposed to allow no
Voyageur to go in that Direction. This would have been carried out had he not
been compelled to grant such permission to certain Frenchmen to induce them to
convey Missionaries to the Tamarois who took a quantity of Goods which they
will trade at the old post in the usual way.3
_____________________________
1 (2, p. 131) The French post among the Miamis was erected about 1712, when these Indians migrated eastward and settled on the river that bears their name (Maumee). The fort was on the right bank, at the site of the present city of Fort Wayne, Ind. In the Indian revolt of 1748, the post was partially burned. After its surrender to the English (1760-61), Fort Miami was garrisoned by a small detachment, whose commander, Ensign Holmes, was massacred at the beginning of Pontiac's Conspiracy (1763), by being decoyed without the walls. The fort was not rebuilt until the Americans placed a garrison here, after the battle of Fallen Timbers (1794), named in honor of the victor, Fort Wayne.
The Ouiatanon post was on the site of an earlier trading-house at the mouth of Wea River. It was established as a military garrison between 1715 and 1718,m being located on the north bank of the Wabash, about four miles below the present city of Lafayette, Ind. No English garrison was maintained here, after its capture by Pontiac's warriors (1763). Relics of the old French fort have been found at this place. See Craig, "Ouiatanon," Indiana Historical Society Publications, ii, No. 8.- ED.
2 (1, p. 132) The route from Detroit followed the shore of Lake Erie to the mouth of the Maumee. On that river was a long portage at the rapids near the entrance of the Au Glaize River. The length of the portage from the headwaters of the Maumee to those of the Wabash depends upon the season; in dry times it was nine miles long, in wet season being sometimes reduced to two miles. See "Journals of George Croghan" in Thwaites, Early Western Travels reprints (Cleveland, 1904), vol. i.- ED.
3 (3, p. 133) Marginal note on MS.: "Approved."
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