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.
Raymond to La Jonquiere
(April 9, 1750)
Raymond in: Archives Nationales,
Ministere
des Colonies, C11A 95:383 and in
Illinois Historical Collections,
French Series, vol. III,
pp. 179-188.
|
By his letter of April 9, 1750 |
Monsieur:
Annexed is all that I have learned since the last accounts which I had the honor to send you of what happened at Great Miami River according to what was reported to me by the Indians and by the Sieur Roy, the interpreter of this post whom I sent to verify the Indians' reports, to look into everything, and to speak with La Demoiselle to know if he would return here as he had promised to do by the wampum belts which M. de Celoron sent you. This Indian and his band are very far from returning since he denies having promised by the belts that he had given to M. de Celoron to return to this post. He spoke very ill to the Sieur Roy and dealt with him harshly.
All the Indians of this country are more ill-intentioned than they have been hitherto. Those who are not as yet living with the English will not delay joining them. They conceal all the poison (page 180) of their treason by the pretense of fair promises and fidelity in order the better to attain their end. The English of Philadelphia who have spread themselves on the Sandusky River, Ohio River, and Great Miami River are working with more force than ever to corrupt all the tribes in the design which they have of making themselves masters of all the upcountry solely through the Indians.
. . .
Another means occurs to me of obliging the Indians who inhabit these rivers to leave them of their own accord. This means would be that Father de la Richardie1 and M. the commandant of Detroit might skilfully and secretly induce the Huron of Detroit to attack the Shawnee and the Miami of Great Miami River to avenge themselves on those Indians for having last winter (page 185) guaranteed the Flatheads a free and assured way of going to attack the Hurons. If they could succeed in making the Hurons strike the blow you would see La Demoiselle and Nicolas return each to his tribe. If the Five Nations were not traitors and wretches sold to the English, we could work by means of M. le Chevalier de Longueuil and de Noyan,2 who are adopted children of that tribe, to revive their old quarrel with the Shawnee. The latter would have been destroyed in 1743 by the former if M. de Beauharnois had not sent belts to M. de Joncaire to arrest their tomahawk which was lifted to strike the Shawnee. I commanded at that time at Niagara, and M. de Beauharnois sent me orders to speak on his behalf to the Iroquois who came there.
If we could succeed in kindling the fire of this
quarrel and making the Iroquois attack the Shawnee, the Wea and their allies (page 186) whose people have
been killed by warriors of Chartier's band would attack them also. This would
be another certain means of making La Demoiselle come here and Nicolas go to
Detroit as well as of securing the withdrawal of all the Iroquois renegades who
have abandoned their village to go off with the English who have spread
themselves on the Sandusky, Ohio, and Great Miami rivers.
_________
1 Father Armand de la Richardie, Jesuit.
2 (1, p. 185) Pierre-Jacques Payan de Noyan, Sieur de Chavois, baptized November 3, 1695, probably a brother of Gilles-Augustin Payen de Noyan [post, 282n.]. Ensign, 1712; lieutenant, 1722; captain, 1729. He is said to have been adopted by the Iroquois. Canadian Archives, 1899, supplement, 28. He was in command at Detroit, 1738-1742. W. H. C., 17:288, 298, 415. In 1744 he was awarded the Cross of St. Louis and in 1749 he became major of Montreal. Canadian Archives, 1905, volume 1, part 6, pp. 29, 118. See also Tanguay, Dictionnaire, 6:265.
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