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
(May 14, 1750)
Raymond in: Archives Nationales,
Ministere
des Colonies, C11A 95:390 and in
Illinois Historical Collections,
French Series, vol. III,
pp. 188-193.
It has not come to my knowledge that the Iroquois have come to trade on this side, but there have been many among the English and the Miami of Great Miami River; there they have incited the Miami to attack the French and have offered services and support from the Iroquois tribes even from those at the Sault of Montreal.
There are actually ninety Piankashaw who have been with the Wea at the council at Great Miami River. After it has been held they are to bring the English to the Vermilion and to the Falls of the Ohio River to settle there. I am going to send Pacane thither tomorrow, and that they may not think that it is I who send him, I have ordered him to leave as if he were running away without my knowledge; to persuade them of this I have had him carry undressed deerskins which the English are glad to get and some other trifles on a horse belonging to the Indians. Perhaps I may discover what will be decided on at this council. I could not induce him to make the journey for less than 150 livres.
Words
of the widow of Le Jarret, mother of Le Gris, chief of the Miamis of the
village of Tippecanoe,
of April 28, accompanied by the chiefs, the old men, and the most important
people of the village.
"My father, we asked you last year to let us come closer to you. The season is too far advanced to make our villages and our wheat fields here. Our village is all made where it is. We are well off there; we beg you to leave us there. We do not wish to go elsewhere. We promise you we do not wish to abandon this post, we will always come here to supply our wants and to carry on our trade as we have always done, and we shall always be faithful as we have been. We are the true children of Onontio. We have always done his will, and we shall always do it. Whatever they may say to us, we shall never change.
My father, we beg you to have pity on us and to succor us in our need as the commandants who have been here before have always done. In very truth we deserve to be pitied. We beg you to assist us and help us to live. My son who has gone on the warpath is not sure if the Master of Life will bring him back. If any accident happens to him, he commends me and (page 192) all the people of our village to our father. He begs you to take pity on them and succor them as he has always done. You see our needs, my father; have pity on us.
We would much desire that the old traders who are here should remain. We know them. If new ones come we shall perhaps have trouble in getting used to them.
My father, here are two strings of wampum and a robe of beaver which we beg you to send to our father. It is my son who sends it to him to beg him to regard him and all the people of our village as his true children and to be pleased always to take pity on us and to permit us to remain where we are. Here by this robe of beaver always to hold by his hand these two strings of wampum. My son and all the people of his village will hold them by the other and without ever letting go so that our father and we may ever be but one."
What she know is what has been reported to me by the man called Chaperon at Great Miami River the seventh of this month. I had sent him with two Indians who are the son and son-in-law of Bourbonnais to continue the search for the militiaman named Jean Baptiste Emond, of this garrison, who left here to look for the king's cattle and who had been sought for for several days without our being able to find him. The two Indians mentioned had brought us his blanket which they had found on the trail to the Great Miami River. The said Emond returned by himself the first of the month after having been away for six days.
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