The Conquest of Canada, Vol. 1

La Salle now set out with a party of forty-four men and three Recollets, to pursue his cherished object of exploring the course of the Mississippi. He descended the stream of the Illinois, and was charmed with the beauty and fertility of the banks: large villages rose on each side; the first, containing 500 wooden huts, they found deserted, but in descending the river they suddenly perceived that two large bodies of Indians were assembled on opposite banks, in order of battle. After a parley, however, the Indians presented the calumet of peace, and entertained the strangers at a great feast.

The discontents among his own followers proved far more dangerous to La Salle than the caprice or hostility of the savages. They murmured at being led into unknown regions, among barbarous tribes, to gratify the ambition of an adventurer, and determined to destroy him and return to France. They were base enough to tell the natives that La Salle was a spy of the Iroquois, their ancient enemies, and it required all his genius and courage to remove this idea from the minds of the ignorant savages. Failing in this scheme, they endeavored to poison him and all his faithful adherents at a Christmas dinner; by the use of timely remedies, however, the intended victims recovered, and the villains, having fled, were in vain pursued over the trackless deserts.

La Salle was obliged to return to the forts for aid, on account of the desertion of so many of his followers; but he sent Father Hennepin, with Dacan and three other Frenchmen, to explore the sources of the Mississippi, and left Tonti in the command of a small fort, erected on the Illinois, which he, however, was soon obliged to desert, in consequence of the hostility of the Iroquois. La Salle collected twenty men, with the necessary arms and provisions, and, unshaken by accumulated disasters, determined at once to make his way to the Gulf of Mexico down the course of the Mississippi. He passed the entrance of the swollen and muddy Missouri, and the beautiful Ohio, and, still descending, traversed countries where dwelt the numerous and friendly Chickasaw and Arkansaw Indians. Next he came to the Taencas, a people far advanced beyond their savage neighbors in civilization, and obeying an absolute prince. Farther on, the Natchez received him with hospitality; but the Quinipissas, who inhabited the shores more to the south, assailed him with showers of arrows. He wisely pursued his important journey without seeking to avenge the insult. Tangibao, still lower down the stream, had just been desolated by one of the terrible irruptions of savage war: the bodies of the dead lay piled in heaps among the ruins of their former habitations. For leagues beyond, the channel began to widen, and at length became so vast that one shore was no longer visible from the other. The water was now brackish, and beautiful sea-shells were seen strewn along the shore. They had reached the mouth of the Mississippi, the Father of Rivers.

La Salle celebrated the successful end of his adventurous voyage with great rejoicings. Te Deum was sung, a cross was suspended from the top of a lofty tree, and a shield, bearing the arms of France, was erected close at hand. They attempted to determine the latitude by an observation of the sun, but the result was altogether erroneous.

The country immediately around the outlet of this vast stream was desolate and uninteresting. Far as the eye could teach, swampy flats and inundated morasses filled the dreary prospect. Under the ardent rays of the tropical sun, noisome vapors exhaled from the rank soil and sluggish waters, poisoning the breezes from the southern seas, and corrupting them into the breath of pestilence. Masses of floating trees, whose large branches were scathed by months of alternate immersion and exposure, during hundreds of leagues of travel, choked up many of the numerous outlets of the river, and, cemented together by the alluvial deposits of the muddy stream, gradually became fixed and solid, throwing up a rank vegetation.370 Above this dreary delta, however, the country was rich and beautiful, and graceful undulations succeeded to the monotonous level of the lower banks.

After a brief repose, La Salle proceeded to re-ascend the river toward Canada, eager to carry the important tidings of his success to France. His journey was beset with difficulties and dangers. The course of the stream, though not rapid, perpetually impeded his progress. Provisions began to fail, and dire necessity drove him to perilous measures for obtaining supplies. Having met with four women of the hostile tribe of the Quinipissas, he treated them with great kindness, loading them with such gifts as might most win their favor. The chief of the savages then came forward and invited the French to his village, offering them the much-needed refreshments which they sought. But a cruel treachery lurked under this friendly seeming, and the adventurers were only saved from destruction by the careful vigilance of their leader. At daybreak the following morning, the Indians made a sudden attack upon their guests; the French, however, being thoroughly on the alert, repulsed the assailants, and slew several of the bravest warriors. Infuriated by the treachery of the savages, the victors followed the customs of Indian warfare, and scalped those of the enemy who fell into their power.

As they ascended the river they were again endangered by the secret hostility of the Natchez,371 from the effects of which a constant front of preparation alone preserved them. After several months of unceasing toil and watchfulness, with many strange and romantic adventures, but no other serious obstruction, the hardy travelers at length joyfully beheld the headland of Quebec.

Immediately after his arrival, La Salle hastened to France to announce his great discovery,372 and reap the distinction justly due to his eminent merits. [1682.] He was received with every honor, and all his plans and suggestions were approved by the court. Under his direction and command, an expedition was fitted out, consisting of four vessels and 280 men, for the purpose of forming a settlement at the mouth of the Mississippi, and thence establishing a regular communication with Canada, along the course of the Great River. At the same time, he received the commission of governor over the whole of the vast country extending between the lakes and the Gulf of Mexico. The little squadron sailed from La Rochelle on the 24th of July, 1684, along with the West India fleet, and having touched at St. Domingo and Cuba by the way, arrived in safety on the coast of Florida.

La Salle was involved in great perplexity by ignorance of the longitude of the river's mouth. Not having descended so far in his former expedition as to be able to judge of its appearance from the sea, he passed the main entrance of the Mississippi unawares, and proceeded 200 miles to the westward, where he found himself in a bay, since called St. Bernard's. Attracted by the favorable appearance of the surrounding country, La Salle here founded the fort which was to be the basis of his future establishment. But difficulties and misfortunes crowded upon him; the vessel containing his stores and utensils was sunk through the negligence or treachery of her commander, and a great portion of the cargo lost or seized by the Indians. The violent measures he adopted to compel restitution of the plundered goods kindled a deep resentment in the minds of this fierce and haughty tribe, the Clamcoets by name. They made a sudden midnight attack upon the settlement, slew two of the French, and wounded several, and whenever opportunity offered afterward, repeated their assaults. The tropical climate, however, proved a far deadlier foe than even the savage, and at length the spirit of the colonists gave way under accumulated difficulties.

Meanwhile Tonti, who had descended the Mississippi to join La Salle, sought him in vain at the mouth of the river, and along the coast for twenty leagues at either side. Having found no trace or tidings of the expedition, he relinquished the search in despair, and sailed upward again to the Canadian Lakes.

La Salle bore up with noble courage and energy against the difficulties that surrounded him. His subordinates thwarted him on every occasion, and at length broke out into a violent mutiny, which he, however, vigorously suppressed. But when he discovered that the settlement founded and sustained by his unceasing labors was not, as he had fondly supposed, at the mouth of the Great River, he experienced the bitterest disappointment. The surrounding country, though fertile, offered no brilliant prospect of sudden wealth or hopes of future commerce. He determined, therefore, once again to explore the vast streams of the Mississippi and Illinois, and to endeavor to gain a greater knowledge of the interior of the continent. He took with him on this expedition his nephew, a worthy but impetuous youth, named Moranger, and about twenty men. This young man's haughty spirit excited a savage thirst of vengeance in the minds of his uncle's lawless followers; they watched their opportunity, and in a remote and dreary solitude in the depths of the new continent, La Salle and Moranger were both slain by their murderous hands. Thus sadly perished, in a nameless wilderness, one of the most daring and gifted among those wonderful men to whom the discovery of the New World had opened a field of glory. His temper was, doubtless, at times, violent and overbearing,373 but he was dearly loved by his friends, respected by his dependents, and fondly revered by those among the Indians who came within his influence. His greatest difficulties arose from those who were placed under his command, abandoned and ungovernable men, the very refuse of society, and amenable to no laws, human or divine.

It has been already mentioned that La Salle had sent Dacan and Father Hennepin to explore the Mississippi, on his first return from the Illinois to Lake Michigan. They descended that great river almost to the sea; but their followers, becoming alarmed at the idea of falling into the hands of the Spaniards, compelled them to return without having perfected their expedition. They re-ascended the stream, and passed the mouths of the Illinois and Wisconsin, and even reached beyond those magnificent falls to which the adventurous priest has given the name of St. Anthony. Continual danger threatened these travelers, from the caprice or hostility of the Indians; they were held for a long time in a cruel captivity, forced to accompany their captors through the most difficult countries, at a pace of almost incredible rapidity, till, with their feet and limbs cut and bleeding, they were well-nigh incapable of moving any further. After some time Hennepin was adopted by a chief as his son, and treated with much kindness; when winter came on, however, and a great scarcity of provisions arose, the Indians, being unable any longer to support their captives, allowed them to depart. The father and his companions used this liberty to continue their explorations down the Mississippi. After many other perils and adventures, they at length met the Sieur de Luth, who commanded a party sent in search of them, and with further instructions to form a settlement on the Great River. Hennepin at first turned back with the sieur, but found so many obstacles and difficulties that he determined for the present to return to Canada.

The disasters attending the expeditions of La Salle and Hennepin for some time deterred others from venturing to explore the dangerous regions of the West, and the government totally neglected to occupy the splendid field which the adventure of those men had opened to French enterprise. It was left to the love of gain or glory, or the religious zeal of individuals, to continue the explorations of this savage but magnificent country. The Baron la Hontan was one of the first and most conspicuous of these dauntless travelers.374 He had gone to Canada in early life with a view of retrieving the broken fortunes of his ancient family, and had obtained employment upon the lakes under the French government. While thus occupied, he became intimately acquainted with the life and customs of the savages, and, from his intercourse with them, formed the idea of penetrating into the interior of their country, where the white man's foot had never before trodden. His actual discoveries were probably not very important, and his record of them is confused and imperfect; but he was the first to learn the existence of the Rocky Mountains, and of that vast ocean which separates the western coast of North America from the continent of Asia.375

CHAPTER XIV

An embittered disagreement between the governor general, Comte de Frontenac, and the intendant, M. de Cheneau, M. Talon's successor, rendered it necessary to recall both those officers from the colony. The French court attributed the greater share of blame to the governor, but the haughty and unbending disposition of the intendant was probably a principal cause of those untoward disputes. M. le Févre de la Barre and M. de Meules succeeded them in their respective offices, with special recommendation from the king to cultivate friendly relations with each other, and with M. de Blénac, the governor general of the French American islands.

New France had for many years remained in a state of great confusion, and had made but little progress in prosperity or population, and now the prospects of a disastrous war darkened the future of the colonists. Various causes had united to revive the hostility of the Iroquois, their ancient and powerful foes. Since New York had fallen into English hands, the savages found it more advantageous to carry their trade thither than to barter their furs with the privileged company of France. The falling off of commercial intercourse soon led to further alienation, which the death of an Iroquois chief by the hands of an Illinois, in the territory of the Ottawas, then allies of the white men, soon turned into open hostility. The Comte de Frontenac had failed in his attempts to negotiate with the savages; and on the arrival of his successor, an invasion of the colony was hourly expected. M. de la Barre at once perceived the dangerous state of affairs; he therefore summoned an assembly of all the leading men in the country, ecclesiastical, civil, and military, and demanded counsel from them in the emergency.

The assembly was of opinion that the Iroquois aimed at the monopoly of all the trade of Canada, by the instigation of the English and Dutch of New York, who were also supposed to incite them to enmity against the French, and that, consequently, those nations should be held hostile. It was also believed that the savages had only endeavored to gain time by their negotiations, while they either destroyed the tribes friendly to the colonists, or seduced them from their alliance. With this view they had already assailed the Illinois, and it was therefore the duty of the French to save that nation from this attack, whatever might be the cost or danger of the enterprise. For that purpose the colony could only furnish 1000 men; and to procure even this number, it was necessary that the labors of husbandry should be suspended. Re-enforcements of troops and a supply of laborers were therefore urgently required for the very existence of the settlements; and an earnest appeal for such assistance was forwarded to the king, as the result of the deliberations of the assembly. This application was immediately answered by the dispatch of 200 soldiers to New France, and by a remonstrance addressed to the King of Great Britain, who instructed Colonel Dongan, the English governor of New York, to encourage more friendly relations with his French neighbors.

While M. de la Barre pushed on his preparations for war against the Iroquois, he still kept up the hope of treating with them for peace in such a manner as not to forfeit the dignity of his position. In the mean time, however, he received intimation that a formidable expedition of 1500 warriors had assembled, ostensibly to wage war with the Illinois, but in reality for the destruction of the Miamis and Ottawas, both allies of the French. The governor promptly dispatched an envoy, who arrived at the village where the Iroquois had mustered on the evening of the day appointed for the beginning of their campaign. The envoy was received with dignity and kindness; and he succeeded in obtaining a promise that the expedition should be deferred, and that they would send deputies to Montreal to negotiate with the French chief. But the wily savages had promised only to deceive; and in the month of May following, the governor received intelligence that 700 of these fierce warriors were on their march to attack his Miami and Ottawa allies, while another force was prepared to assail the settlements of the French themselves. He attributed these dangerous hostilities to the instigation of the English.

The governor made urgent representations to the minister at home as to the necessity of crushing two of the Iroquois tribes, the most hostile and the most powerful. For this purpose, he demanded that a re-enforcement of 400 men should be sent to him from France as soon as possible, and that an order should be obtained from the Duke of York, to whom New York then belonged, to prevent the English from interfering with or thwarting the expedition.

The Iroquois found the free trade with the English and Dutch more advantageous than that with the French, which was paralyzed by an injudicious monopoly; but they were still unwilling to come to an open rupture with their powerful neighbors. They therefore sent deputies to Montreal to make great but vague professions of attachment and good will. For many reasons, De la Barre placed but little confidence in these addresses: their object was obviously to gain time, and to throw the French off their guard. He, however, received the deputies with great distinction, and sent them back enriched with presents. But a few months after this, however, a small detachment of Frenchmen was assailed by the Iroquois, and plundered of merchandise which they were bearing to traffic with the Illinois.

After this flagrant outrage, nothing remained for M. de la Barre but war. He had received intelligence that the Iroquois were making great preparations for an onslaught upon the French settlements, and that they had sent embassadors to the Indians of the south for the purpose of insuring peace in that quarter, while they threw all their power into the struggle with the hated pale faces. The governor promptly determined to adopt the bolder but safer course of striking the first blow, and making the cantons of his savage enemies the field of battle. As yet, few and small were the aids he had received from France, and a considerable time must elapse ere the further supplies he anticipated could arrive: he was, therefore, unwillingly compelled to avail himself of the assistance of his Indian allies. The native tribes dwelling around the shores of Lake Michigan entertained a deep and ancient jealousy of the powerful confederacy of the Iroquois or Five Nations, who aspired to universal dominion over the Northern Continent; they, therefore, held themselves equally interested with the French in the destruction of those formidable warriors. M. de la Durantaye, who commanded the fort on the far-distant shores of Lake Michigan, announced to his Indian neighbors that his countrymen were about to march against the Iroquois, and requested that all the native warriors friendly to the white men should meet them in the middle of August at Niagara. He was not, however, very successful in making levies, and with difficulty led 500 warriors to the place of meeting, where, to his dismay, he found that the French had not arrived: his followers were not easily reconciled to this disappointment.

In the mean time, M. de la Barre had, on the 9th of July, 1683, marched from Quebec to Montreal, where he appointed the troops to assemble for the expedition. No precautions to insure success were neglected. He dispatched a message to the English governor of New York to invite him to join in the attack, or, at least, to secure his neutrality. He also sent belts and presents to three of the Iroquois tribes, to induce them to refrain from joining in the quarrel of those among their confederates who alone had injured him and his nation. He arrived at Montreal on the 21st, with 700 Canadians, 130 soldiers, and 200 Indians: his force was organized in three divisions. After a brief stay he continued his march westward.

The governor had not proceeded far when he received intelligence that the other Iroquois tribes had obliged the Tsonnonthouans, his especial enemies, to accept of their mediation with the French, and that they demanded the Sieur le Moyne, in whom they placed much confidence, to conduct the negotiation. At the same time, he learned that the tribe he proposed to assail had put all their provisions into a place of security, and were prepared for a protracted and harassing resistance. His appeals both to the remaining Iroquois tribes and to the English had also failed, for the former would assuredly make common cause against him in case of his refusing their mediation, and the latter had actually offered to aid his enemies with 400 horse, and a like force of infantry. Influenced by these untoward circumstances, he dispatched M. le Moyne to treat, and agreed to await the Iroquois deputies on the shores of Lake Ontario. In the mean time, M. de la Barre and his army underwent great privations from the scarcity and bad quality of their provisions; they could with difficulty hold their ground till the arrival of the savages, and such was their extremity that the name of the Bay of Famine was given to the scene of their sufferings.

The savage deputies met the French chief with great dignity, and, well aware of the advantage given them by the starvation and sickness of the white men, carried their negotiations with a high hand. They guaranteed that the Tsonnonthouans should make reparation, for the injuries inflicted on the French, but at the same time insisted that the governor and his army should retire the very next day. With this ignoble stipulation M. de la Barre was fain to agree. On his return to Quebec, he found, to his chagrin, that considerable re-enforcements had just arrived from France, which would have enabled him to dictate instead of submitting to dictation. The new detachment was commanded by MM. Monterlier and Desnos, captains of marine, who were commissioned by the king to proceed to the most advanced and important posts, and to act independently of the governor's authority. They were further instructed to capture as many of the Iroquois as possible, and to send them to France to labor in the galleys. In this same year the Chevalier de Callières, an officer of great merit, was sent from France to assume the duties of governor of the Montreal district, as successor to M. Perrot, who had embroiled himself with the members of the powerful Order of St. Sulpicius.

In the year 1685, the Marquis de Dénonville arrived at Quebec as governor general in succession to M. de la Barre, whose advanced age and failing health unfitted him for the arduous duties of the office. The new governor was selected by the king for his known valor and prudence; a re-enforcement of troops was placed at his disposal, and it was determined to spare no effort to establish the colony in security and peace. Dénonville lost not a moment in proceeding to the advanced posts on the lakes, and, at the same time, he devoted himself to a diligent study of the affairs of Canada and the character of the Indians. His keen perception promptly discovered the impossibility of the Iroquois being reconciled and assimilated to the French, and he at once saw the necessity of extirpating, or at least thoroughly humbling, these haughty savages. But beyond the present dangers and difficulties of Indian hostility, this clear-sighted politician discerned the far more formidable evils that threatened the power of his country from the advancing encroachments of the hardy traders and fearless adventurers of the English colonies. He urged upon the king the advantage of building and garrisoning a fort at Niagara to exclude the British from the traffic of the lakes, and interrupt their communications with the Iroquois, and also to check the desertion of the French, who usually escaped by that route, and transferred the benefits of their experience and knowledge of the country to the rival colonies. The Northwest Company of merchants at Quebec earnestly desired this establishment, and engaged to pay an annual rent of 30,000 livres to the crown for the privilege of exclusive trade at the proposed station.