France and England in North America, Part III: La Salle, Discovery of The Great West
autumn, he left Tonty in command of the rock, bade farewell to his
savage retainers, and descended to Quebec, intending to sail for France.
On his way, he met the Chevalier de Baugis, an officer of the King's
dragoons, commissioned by La Barre to take possession of Fort St. Louis,
and bearing letters from the governor ordering La Salle to come to
Quebec,--a superfluous command, as he was then on his way thither. He
smothered his wrath, and wrote to Tonty to receive De Baugis well. The
chevalier and his party proceeded to the Illinois, and took possession
of the fort,--De Baugis commanding for the governor, while Tonty
remained as representative of La Salle. The two officers could not live
in harmony; but, with the return of spring, each found himself in sore
need of aid from the other. Towards the end of March the Iroquois
attacked their citadel, and besieged it for six days, but at length
withdrew discomfited, carrying with them a number of Indian prisoners,
most of whom escaped from their clutches.[259]
[Sidenote: LA SALLE SAILS FOR FRANCE.]
Meanwhile, La Salle had sailed for France.
FOOTNOTES:
[245] The boundaries are laid down on the great map of Franquelin, made
in 1684, and preserved in the Dépôt des Cartes of the Marine. The line
runs along the south shore of Lake Erie, and thence follows the heads of
the streams flowing into Lake Michigan. It then turns northwest, and is
lost in the vast unknown of the now British Territories. On the south,
it is drawn by the heads of the streams flowing into the Gulf, as far
west as Mobile, after which it follows the shore of the Gulf to a little
south of the Rio Grande; then runs west, northwest, and finally north,
along the range of the Rocky Mountains.
[246] Tonty, 1684, 1693.
[247] "Starved Rock" perfectly answers, in every respect, to the
indications of the contemporary maps and documents concerning "Le
Rocher," the site of La Salle's fort of St. Louis. It is laid down on
several contemporary maps, besides the great map of La Salle's
discoveries, made in 1684. They all place it on the south side of the
river; whereas Buffalo Rock, three miles above, which has been supposed
to be the site of the fort, is on the north. The latter is crowned by a
plateau of great extent, is but sixty feet high, is accessible at many
points, and would require a large force to defend it; whereas La Salle
chose "Le Rocher," because a few men could hold it against a multitude.
Charlevoix, in 1721, describes both rocks, and says that the top of
Buffalo Rock had been occupied by the Miami village, so that it was
known as _Le Fort des Miamis_. This is confirmed by Joutel, who found
the Miamis here in 1687. Charlevoix then speaks of "Le Rocher," calling
it by that name; says that it is about a league below, on the left or
south side, forming a sheer cliff, very high, and looking like a
fortress on the border of the river. He saw remains of palisades at the
top, which, he thinks, were made by the Illinois (_Journal Historique,
Let._ xxvii.), though his countrymen had occupied it only three years
before. "The French reside on the rock (Le Rocher), which is very lofty
and impregnable." (_Memoir on Western Indians_, 1718, _in N. Y. Col.
Docs._, ix. 890.) St. Cosme, passing this way in 1699, mentions it as
"Le Vieux Fort," and says that it is "a rock about a hundred feet high
at the edge of the river, where M. de la Salle built a fort, since
abandoned." (_Journal de St. Cosme._) Joutel, who was here in 1687,
says, "Fort St. Louis is on a steep rock, about two hundred feet high,
with the river running at its base." He adds that its only defences were
palisades. The true height, as stated above, is about a hundred and
twenty-five feet.
A traditional interest also attaches to this rock. It is said that, in
the Indian wars that followed the assassination of Pontiac, a few years
after the cession of Canada, a party of Illinois, assailed by the
Pottawattamies, here took refuge, defying attack. At length they were
all destroyed by starvation, and hence the name of "Starved Rock."
For other proofs concerning this locality, see _ante_, 239.
[248] This singular extemporized colony of La Salle, on the banks of the
Illinois, is laid down in detail on the great map of La Salle's
discoveries, by Jean Baptiste Franquelin, finished in 1684. There can be
no doubt that this part of the work is composed from authentic data. La
Salle himself, besides others of his party, came down from the Illinois
in the autumn of 1683, and undoubtedly supplied the young engineer with
materials. The various Indian villages, or cantonments, are all
indicated, with the number of warriors belonging to each, the aggregate
corresponding very nearly with that of La Salle's report to the
minister. The Illinois, properly so called, are set down at 1,200
warriors; the Miamis, at 1,300; the Shawanoes, at 200; the Ouiatnoens
(Weas), at 500; the Peanqhichia (Piankishaw) band, at 150; the
Pepikokia, at 160; the Kilatica, at 300; and the Ouabona, at 70,--in
all, 3,880 warriors. A few others, probably Abenakis, lived in the fort.
The Fort St. Louis is placed, on the map, at the exact site of Starved
Rock, and the Illinois village at the place where, as already mentioned
(see 239), Indian remains in great quantities are yearly ploughed up.
The Shawanoe camp, or village, is placed on the south side of the river,
behind the fort. The country is here hilly, broken, and now, as in La
Salle's time, covered with wood, which, however, soon ends in the open
prairie. A short time since, the remains of a low, irregular earthwork
of considerable extent were discovered at the intersection of two
ravines, about twenty-four hundred feet behind, or south of, Starved
Rock. The earthwork follows the line of the ravines on two sides. On the
east, there is an opening, or gateway, leading to the adjacent prairie.
The work is very irregular in form, and shows no trace of the civilized
engineer. In the stump of an oak-tree upon it, Dr. Paul counted a
hundred and sixty rings of annual growth. The village of the Shawanoes
(Chaouenons), on Franquelin's map, corresponds with the position of this
earthwork. I am indebted to the kindness of Dr. John Paul and Col. D. F.
Hitt, the proprietor of Starved Rock, for a plan of these curious
remains and a survey of the neighboring district. I must also express my
obligations to Mr. W. E. Bowman, photographer at Ottawa, for views of
Starved Rock and other features of the neighboring scenery.
An interesting relic of the early explorers of this region was found a
few years ago at Ottawa, six miles above Starved Rock, in the shape of a
small iron gun, buried several feet deep in the drift of the river. It
consists of a welded tube of iron, about an inch and a half in calibre,
strengthened by a series of thick iron rings, cooled on, after the most
ancient as well as the most recent method of making cannon. It is about
fourteen inches long, the part near the muzzle having been burst off.
The construction is very rude. Small field-pieces, on a similar
principle, were used in the fourteenth century. Several of them may be
seen at the Musée d'Artillerie at Paris. In the time of Louis XIV., the
art of casting cannon was carried to a high degree of perfection. The
gun in question may have been made by a French blacksmith on the spot. A
far less probable supposition is, that it is a relic of some unrecorded
visit of the Spaniards; but the pattern of the piece would have been
antiquated, even in the time of De Soto.
[249] The royal instructions to La Barre, on his assuming the
government, dated at Versailles, 10 May, 1682, require him to give no
further permission to make journeys of discovery towards the Sioux and
the Mississippi, as his Majesty thinks his subjects better employed in
cultivating the land. The letter adds, however, that La Salle is to be
allowed to continue his discoveries, if they appear to be useful. The
same instructions are repeated in a letter of the Minister of the Marine
to the new intendant of Canada, De Meules.
[250] _Lettre de La Salle à La Barre, Fort St. Louis, 2 Avril, 1683._
The above is condensed from passages in the original.
[251] _Lettre de La Salle à La Barre, Portage de Chicagou, 4 Juin,
1683._ The substance of the letter is given above, in a condensed form.
A passage is omitted, in which La Salle expresses his belief that his
vessel, the "Griffin," had been destroyed, not by Indians, but by the
pilot, who, as he thinks, had been induced to sink her, and then, with
some of the crew, attempted to join Du Lhut with their plunder, but were
captured by Indians on the Mississippi.
[252] _Lettre de La Barre au Ministre, 14 Nov., 1682._
[253] _Lettre de La Barre au Ministre, 30 Avril, 1683._ La Salle had
spent the winter, not at Green Bay, as this slanderous letter declares,
but in the Illinois country.
[254] _Lettre de La Barre au Ministre, 4 Nov., 1683._
[255] _Lettre du Roy à La Barre, 5 Août, 1683._
[256] _Mémoire pour rendre compte à Monseigneur le Marquis de Seignelay
de l'État où le Sieur de Lasalle a laissé le Fort Frontenac pendant le
temps de sa découverte._ On La Barre's conduct, see "Count Frontenac and
New France under Louis XIV.," chap. v.
[257] La Salle, when at Mackinaw, on his way to Quebec, in 1682, had
been recalled to the Illinois, as we have seen, by a threatened Iroquois
invasion. There is before me a copy of a letter which he then wrote to
Count Frontenac, begging him to send up more soldiers to the fort, at
his (La Salle's) expense. Frontenac, being about to sail for France,
gave this letter to his newly arrived successor, La Barre, who, far from
complying with the request, withdrew La Salle's soldiers already at the
fort, and then made its defenceless state a pretext for seizing it. This
statement is made in the memoir addressed to Seignelay, before cited.
[258] These are the statements of the memorial addressed in La Salle's
behalf to the minister, Seignelay.
[259] Tonty, 1684, 1693; _Lettre de La Barre au Ministre, 5 Juin, 1684;
Ibid., 9 Juillet, 1684_.
CHAPTER XXII.
1680-1683.
LA SALLE PAINTED BY HIMSELF.
Difficulty of knowing him; his Detractors; his Letters; vexations
of his Position; his Unfitness for Trade; risks Of Correspondence;
his Reported Marriage; alleged Ostentation; motives of Action;
charges of Harshness; intrigues against him; unpopular Manners; a
Strange Confession; his Strength and his Weakness; contrasts of his
Character.
We have seen La Salle in his acts. While he crosses the sea, let us look
at him in himself. Few men knew him, even of those who saw him most.
Reserved and self-contained as he was, with little vivacity or gayety or
love of pleasure, he was a sealed book to those about him. His daring
energy and endurance were patent to all; but the motive forces that
urged him, and the influences that wrought beneath the surface of his
character, were hidden where few eyes could pierce. His enemies were
free to make their own interpretations, and they did not fail to use the
opportunity.
The interests arrayed against him were incessantly at work. His men were
persuaded to desert and rob him; the Iroquois were told that he was
arming the western tribes against them; the western tribes were told
that he was betraying them to the Iroquois; his proceedings were
denounced to the court; and continual efforts were made to alienate his
associates. They, on their part, sore as they were from disappointment
and loss, were in a mood to listen to the aspersions cast upon him; and
they pestered him with letters, asking questions, demanding
explanations, and dunning him for money. It is through his answers that