Wabash County, Indiana - Chapter with an unread heading (no. 2 of those read), 1914

Discoverers Of Upper Avabasu Valley

Did La Salle Asclnd the AVabasii? - CiHcrMsT.\XTL\L Evidence - A Line op Posts to Protect Trade - Daxcjerocs WAHAS!r-]\rAUMEE Route Abandoned - ]\riAMis Return to the Wahasii - Gateway to THE Upper AVahasii Opened - Claims of Fort Wayne, Lafayette and Vincennes - La Salle Built No Forts in Indiana - The Question OF Permanency - Pressure of English Traders - First ^Lvp OF THE AVabasii A'alley - First AIilitary Posts - Racial Amalgamation AViTHOUT Parallel - Fur Traders' Burden - Indian Conspiracies.

Till' autliciitic history of the L'pptT AVabash A^allcy eoinmeiiees witli tile explorations and discoveries of La SaUe, under the direction of the Fn-neli Government, in IGOO-Tl. The Iroquois had visited him personally at Iiis settlement above Alontreal and told him of that great pleasant valh-y which stret<-hcd toward the Southwest - our Ohio - and which promised to become the splendid gateway into a greater New h'l'aiice. So as an agent in tlie extension of that empire in tlie New Woi'ld. La Salle went forth, the details of his historic journey of two years, lieing gathered only from reports to the inteiidant of New France; and they were scant indeed.

It is oidy certain that, accompanied by an Iroquois guide, La Salle traveled across tlie country from the southern shore of Lake Erie, for a distance of some twenty miles, to a stream which finally led him to the Ohio; so called by the Iroquois because of its beauty. He descended the parent stream until met by a great fall, supposed to be the Falls of the Ohio at Louisville. Here the direct narrative (published in 1671 by the intendant in his report to the king of France) ends. There is no ri'cord of La Salle's journeyings from that time until his return to Canada in 1671, although strong circumstantial evidence tends to

A syjiopsis ui' this evicleiiee may be tlius -iveii: A i.iaiiuseript map published by the i-'ivueli ( .'(.verumeiit iii l(i7:i, and still preserved Jii Jts airhiv.s, deliues as the aiva oi' Frem-h diseoverv an extejit of c-ountry roii-hly delineated beyond the falls and a portion of Eastern aiid Xorthei., llHnois. At a later date, the Jesuit Fathers ^vho aeeompanied J.a .Sail.-, .Joliet and other French explorers and made the must faithful records extant of their discoveries in the famous "J^dations," added further evidence that La -Salle was the iirst white man to traverse the Wabash \'alley on his way toward the .Maumee and Lake Erie, h'ather Ileiuiepin was La Salle's special historian and in 1G77, six years after the Sieur's return from his first voyage of discovery in the Ohio \'alley, he spoke of La Salle's canoe-trade with the Lidians along tile "J^ivers I'yo, Oubach and others in the surrounding neighborhood," as of several years' standing.

The natural deduction is that if La Salle had traversed the Wabash with canoes in the progress of his trade, for several years befon; J(i77, he mu.st have traver.sed the Wabash Valley sometime during 1G(J:)-1G71.' if he was exploring and trading on the Wabash during that period, it is probable, as has been claimed, that he established a trading post' at Kedd-ang-a (Fort Wayne), the cntral village of the Miamis, and another at Ouiatenon (Lafayette), the chief town of the Weas, a branch of the :\Iiamis; that he transported his goods up the AVabash to the portage, across the carrying place to the .Alaumee, and thence to Lake Erie.

^ As early as 1G7L' a consideralde trade had grown up among the ^liamis and their allies in the territory watered by the St. Joseph's of LakeMichigan and the St. Mary's and :\Liumee adjacent to Lake Erie. The erection and maintenance of military posts by the Government for the pi'otection of this growing trade were the natural outgrowth of the situation, and, with the appointment of Count de h'rontenac as governor-gc-neral of New France this policy was soon being vigorously pushed. This was the underlying cause for the fii-st settlements along the AVabash-Maumee route from Lake Ei-ie to the Ohio Vallev.

" -Mcaiitinic the liTHjuois wrrc iiiakiii.u- warlike iiK-iirsions against the Miaiiiis and Ill!nf)is. l)ui'in<jr the progfcss of these expeilitions against tribes inhabiting the watered ))y the Waliash, Kankakee anil Illinois rivers to the southward of Lake Miehigan, tin? route of tlu; ineui-sionists lay along the southern shore of Lake Ki'ie i)i the direction of the nrineijtal village of the .Mianiis. While the Aliainis wei'e not the special objects of I I'otjuois cniuit\- they were undei-stood to be in alliance with the Illinois, and, as a conse((Uenee, subject to disti'ust. Not unfrtMiueiitly, therefoi'e, they sulTci'ed fr(Mn the aggressions of their formidable assailants. The situation induced a change in the line of conniiercial intercourse between the h'rench and their Indian allies with whnni the Ii'o(juois were at wai'. Jn order to avoid the coiuplications incident to the maintenanci- of a trading post on the line of warlike operations it was detenuiiied to ()ccu])y and foi'tify for the time being another ])Ositinii more I'cmote at the mouth of the Kiver St. Joseph's, at its entrance into ]>ak'e .Michigan.

"At a later date La Salle gave the reason for this change: 'I can no longer go to the Illinois but by the Lakes Huron and Illinois (Lake Mi<-higaii), because the other -ways which I have discovered by the head of Lal;e Erie and the southern coast of the same had l)ecome too dangerous by frequent t'licountei's with the Iricputis, who are always upon these coasts. Accoi'dingly in the month of November, 1G7!), a fort was erected by La Salle at the mouth of the St. Joseph's River."

Notwithstanding every effort i)Ut forth by the French to protect their trade in the Ohio ^'alley and its ureat noi'tlu-rn ti'ibutary, the Wabash, the pressure and incursions of the H'ocpiois were too nnich for all their pi'e('autions and bra\'ery, and when the fierce and audiitious Lasti'i'u confederacy declared fornud war on the ]\Iiamis in l(i82, that Indiau nation d-serted the AVabash Valley to join the Illinois and the other Western tribes gathered around V'oi't Saint Loins, on the Illinois River. There La Salle formed the confederacy which stood as a wall against the further spre;id of the Iro(pU)is jxtwei'.

The ri'turn of the Miamis to the cotnitry of the Wabash in 1712 was a clear indication that they considered it a safe I'csideiK-e, and the old trading route to Lake Li'ie was again opened. I'ntil that year the I'cported establishnu'iit of i)Osts and settlements is always subject to suspicion, as far as an\' pei'maiu'ucy is concerned, and some I'ven go so far us to claim that the first substantial i)ost t'ouiidt'd in what is now Indiana was that estal)lished at Ouiateuon (La I^'^ayi'tte) in 1720.

Xo clt'ort was ever made to plant a colony there, hut it became in time cjuite a pronnnent trading jjoint, for several good icasons. it was tlie largest vilhige (jf the Oiiiateiiou Indians, was the center of the Ijcavej- eonntry, and was easily accessible, being at the lu-ad of navigation on the Wabash. It was the gateway to the Uppei- Wabash Valley, midway idong which lies what we now know as Wal)ash (Jounty. It \vas at (Juiatenon that tlie (.-argoes liad to be transferred, owing to tlie ra]»ids in the river, from the lai'ge canoes which were used in tlie Lower Wabash to the smaller ones that were employed between Ouiatenon and the portage to the i\Iaumee.

The threatened inroads of the English made the establishment of other posts imperative and in 1725 tiiey were ordered by tlie Oovernment of New France. There is no direct record of when the post at Vincennes was estaljlished, Init it was probal.)ly in 1727. ,t

Historians of the AVabash Valley have written miK-li and earnestly on the claims for i)riority of the posts, or trading centers, established by the French at the places we now know as Fort Wayne, Lafayette and \'incennes. Jt seems i)robable that much confusion and considerable argument might have been avoided if the various champions for the several localities had stated whether they had in mind a simple trading post, or a military establishment of some permanency fixed by the Government of New France to protect her trade and Indian allies. - As stated, these subjects have been voluminously discussed by numerous writers, and perhai)S by none more thoroughly than William Henry Smith in his "Indiana." by S. C. Cox in his "Wabash Valley," and by Richard S. Peale in liis "Ilistorieal Atlas of Indiana." Witliout further comment we quote from the.se authors and publications, even at the risk of a little overlapping and repetition.

"It is highly i)i'ol)able that on La Salle's retui-n fi-om his lObO-71 journey he ascended the Wabash to the Portage and then crossed to the Alaumee. In fact, there can be little doubt remaining on that point.

History Op Wabash Count Y 17

'"Foi- several yeai-s La Salle eai-ried on a very lai'ye trade with the Lidiaiis on the Wa))ash and the Ohio, and that trade \vas intei'rui)ted liy the iiiinirsions of the iieree and Moody Iroquois, sought to drive the Miaiiiis from these favorite hunting and trai)jdng grounds. He did not, howevt'i-. tmild any forts or est;d)lish any pei'iuaneiit trading posts -within the limits of Lidiana. His ])rin(;ipal ])Ost was Fort St. Louis on the Jlliiiois Liver, and around that post he gathered the various triltes that had been driven from their homes on the AVabash and ]\Liuiiiee by the I roipiois. Li the midst of his great eares, and his gi'owing trafhe with the Indians, and his desire for gain, he never lost sight of his one great scheme to fully explore the .AI ississippi from its source to its mouth. He pursued that \\'ith unabated ardor, and under great discouragements, and linally lost his life. La Salle was the iii'st white man to skirt the southern border of Indiana, ^vllich he did in Kili'J, and also the lirst white man to make known to the woi-ld the eountry ai'ound the headwaters of the ^laumee.

"It is about as difticult to determine when the first actual settlement of the whites was made in Lidiana as to determiin' the exact time and routi' of the early explorers. For Foil Wayne it has been claimed that it had become an important trading post as early as 1672, and for A'iiiceiiiies several dates have been tixed for its first occupation, extending ovi'i- more than half a century. .Vccording to one tradition, French traders visited the site of \'incennes as early as 1(J90, and that many of them remained there, marrying among tlie Indians and raising families. Another tradition i)Uts the first arrival of the traders or explorers in KiSO. Still another is to the effect that a i)arty of French Canadians, in 1702, descendetl the Wabash River and established several posts, Vinceiines being one of them. The historians of the ^launiee valley claim that the first jxist was esta])lished on the present site of Fort Wayne. A part of the confusion Mhich exists as to Foi-t Wayne has been caused through the misa|)])rehension as to certain visits of the French missionaries. The missionaries left records of their work among the ]\Iiami Lidians, and as the main villages of the ]\liamis, when reconl history first begins, were around the headwaters of the ]\lauiiiee, it has been taken for gi-anted that the labors of the missionai'ies were at that point.

''As lias been already stated, the ma]is covering the explorations up to U)S4 show no settk-meuts an\-where in Indiana, imd tVoin the importance attached l)y tlie French (loveriniieiit to all such settlements, the conclusiDii is irresistible that i)rior to that time no such setth-ments existed." - Smith.

the Wabash near the i)resent site of Vineennes was an important Jiulian village known as Chip-kaw-kay, and it is highly i)robable that when the first l-'reiieli Settlers ai'rived they heard storii's of prior visits made by traders, and aftei' a lapse of time those traditions became transposed into facts relating to the hrst actual settlement. To liold their claim upon the Mississippi \-alley the h'reneh, in 1702, deternuni'd to esiablish soiiie posts along the ()hio and AIississip])i rivers, and M. fJuehereau did erect a fort at the moutli of the Ohio. Some writers have attempted to claim that Vineennes was the site of this fort, luit all the records oppose such a view.

"^I. de Denonville adds to the confusion. In a memoir on tiio French possessions in North AnKjrica, dated the 8th of Alarch, 1688, he says the French at that time had 'divers establishments' on the ^Mississippi, 'as well as on that ©f the Oyo, Oubaehe, etc., which flows into said River ]\Iississii)pi.' What he meant by the term 'divers establishments' is doubtful. That La Salle, and probably others, had, prior to that time, visited the Indian villages and traded with them, is well settled, and it is probable that AI. de Denonville had in mind only that those traders had made friendly relations with the Indians, whereby the various hunters ami trappers roaming the country could take to the villages their accumulations of peltries until such times as they could be ship])ed to Canada. He certainly could not liave meant that the French had established any permanent posts or colonies on the Wal)ash, or even on the Ohio. In fact, up to that time the AVal)ash country was in such a state of alarm from the incursions of the Iroquois that it would have been dangerous, if not practically impossible, to have attempted to make any settlements by the whites.

exclusive trade with tlie entire Ohio aih] ^Iississii)i)i valleys. He was oil frieiiilly terms v/ith the .Alianiis of Indiana and the Illinois of Illinois. The li'()(jiiois fi-diii !he Mast w.Te j iit ] la rinL' to war a.trainst the Illinois and the .Miaiiiis in UiSi', and La Salle used all his efforts to <(et those trilxs to form a eonfederation and settle ai'ouiid Kort St. Louis, on the- Illinois, and finall\- sueei cded in <i-ettin<;- all the Indians of Indiana to I'eiiiove to that |)laee. The Irocjuois would not trade with La Salle, and they only had I'oamin^' jtarties of wai-rioi's in Indiana and alone- the Wal)asli. The French could have had no settlements there without pvotcctin<r them with a heavy military furee. The Indians did not return to Indiana until ahout 1712. So it set'iiis that by the term 'divers establishments" -M. de Denonville did not mean permanent settlement or posts. "One of the last to investi,u-ate the ([Uestion of the date of the settlements on the AValiash was -Justin Wiiisor, lihrarian of Harvard Lni- \-ersity, \vho says in tlu' chaptei- on 'Tlu' ]\Iississippi liasin," in his XaiTative and Critical History of America. ])a;je 14S: 'Tlie territcn-y in disjiute between the Fi'eiich and JMmlish ti'aders was aloii^' the Wabash and up the Ohio and its lateral valhys. CharleNoix speaks of the region north of the Ohio a.s likely to become the g'ranai'y of Louisiana. Senex, the iMmiish cai-tonra])Iier, made it appear that through this rep^ion "of 12(1 lea^nies the Illinois hunted cows"' and he maynitied tiie trade in buffalo ])eltries. The wanin<j: power of the li'oquois and the eoiiuuu' of the Delawai'es and the Shawjiees into the Ohio valley bad pei-niitted the French to conduct more extensive explorations, and they had found themselves liable to confront all along the valley the equally adventurous English.'

"The .MississipjM Company had urged (September F"), 1720) the building of a foi't on the Wabash as a safeguard against the English, and the need of it had attracted the attention of Charlevoix. Some such ju'ecautioii, indeed, was ([uite as necessary to overawe the savages, for now that the \Vabash-.Maumi'e j)ortage was coming into favor the hidians bad lately been jirowling about it and murdering the passers. La Harpe, in 1724, feai'cd the danger of delay. In 1725 the necessity for such pi'otection alai'med liois])riant early in the year. The Carolina ti'aders had put up two l)Ooths on the AVabash, and rumoi's reached Kaskaskia of other stations whieli they bad e.stal)lished farther up the Ohio valley. These last intrudei's were ])robably Pennsylvanians - at least it is so assumed in the ti'eaty made at Albany in I7r)4. Tlie language of such treaties is rai'ely the ln'st authority, but it is certain that Van-

"At the hi'udiunnt^' of the eiyliteeiith century communication was opened iij) between Louisiana and Canada hy way of the .Maumet', Wabash, Ohio and Mississippi. Indeed, this I'oute had been traveled by a few, among' whom was Kobert La Salle some twenty >-eai-s before, or as early as KiSO. But with the beginning of the eighteenth century a geny eral communication was established. Witli this came the neeessit.y of forts or fortitication, to i)roteet tlie routi' against hostile Indians, and ,. also to further possess the country adjacent to it against the enci'oach- - ^ ments of the I'^nglish colonists, who, \uitil this jiei'lod and for sevci'al yeai-s after, wei'e content with a narrow strip of land on the Atlantic seaboai'd. Such became the policy of the h'rench Colonial (iovernment sometime between KiDO and ITOi), a decade during which the possibilities of establishing a jM'rnuinent bi'auch of the FreiKdi empii'c in the New ^Vorld was bright and pi-onusing.

"In 17(10 the Fi-ench d.-eided to establish this chain of fortifications without delay, and within the following year Fort Bontchartrain (Detroit) was established on the Detroit I\ivei'. During the four years following I'ude forts, or stockades, were erected at the head of the Mnuinee, near where the city of Fort AVayne now stands; on Wea Braii'ie neai- the Wabash in what is now Tippecanoe County; and at a point further down the AValtash, where Fort Knox was afterward established and where the tlourishing city of Mneennes now staiuls. The first was called I'ost -Miami, in rt's])ect to th.e Indian Confederac}- of that name, ^vhich had its ancit'ut ea]Mtal near the site; the second was called ()uiaten(ni: the thii'd, Bost \'incennes, in honor- of its founder.

"I am well awai'e that certain phases of these statements will be contradicted by j)ersons who have nuule considerable rt'search, pai'tieularly those points touching the exact date of the establishment of these posts; but it is necessary that such contradictions be acconipanied ])y satisfactory ])roof. A prominent gentleman of this state who has justly earned a wide reputation for historical information stated, in a conversaillSTORV OF WAIJASII COl'XTV 21 tioii with the writer only a few wet^ks ago, that tht.' tirst military occupation of \'iiicciiiics took place in 171G. (Iranting this, we give Post .Miami ( l''ort \Va\iu') an anti(inity I'xceeding \'inceinies by eleven years, for it is ceitain that a militai->' post was cstahlishecl at the former point in 17U.').

"IJiit in the absence of tlu:' records themselves, the date of the tirst I'^i-cnch militar\' settlements in Indinna can best be determined by observing tlie colonial policy nmler which thi-y wei'e uuule, as also the year in which that policy was executed. In many i)ortions of the Northwest, the tirst 1^'rench settlements were mendy the otfshoots of personal aud)ition, or missionary zeal, as was that at (li-een liay, Wisi'onsin, or that 11. 'ar the mouth of the St. .Josei)h of Lake :\lichigan. Tin- former affords us an illustration of ])ersonal aggrandizement, jiresented in the daring and [irivations of ^l. Longlade ; the latter a grand demonstration of the burning zeal of Fathers i)ablon, Allouez and others, early Jesuit missionaries of Xew I'h-anee. With regard to these and like settlenu'iits, there is ground for dispute as to the date of their origin.

"I5ut the lirst settlements in Indiana were not matle by ehance exjilorers, or roving fur-tradi'i's, or j)ious -Jesuits; they were made uiuler a tixed ])olie\- of the Frentdi (iovernmeiit - a policy frameil by the sagacious J^ia ^lotte ("adillae, the founder of Detroit. Near the close of the sevi-nteeiith centur\' this bold pioneer and statesman of New Franee ri'turned to his native country on a mission of greater importanee to ]''rench interests than was, at that time, I'ealized by his countrymen.

"Filled with patriotic zeal, he laid before the colonial minister, Count Ponehartrain, the tii'st map of the AVabash Valley ever made, executed by him own hands. He pointed out the new route that had been discovered by La Salle and his associates through the fertile vales of Indiana, and ui-gi'd the establishment of a chain of fortifications upon it for the i)rotection of travel. And we fancy Cadillac reasoned in this wise: He l)ointed out upon his rude ma|) the vast extent and richness of the counti-y adjacent to the route on either side, and indicated the Indiaii strongholds, suggesting their value as allies in ease of future contlicts with i-ival colonies. AVhatever his arguments were, they wei-e convincing, as the colonial minister at once entered u])on Cadillac's plans. ' Pontehartrain,' says a French writer, 'was delighted with his plan, and at once commissioned him to execute it.'

Cadillac ivtnnied to Canada and established D.'truit, as we have cilready sai.l, in ]701. It was under this general poliev that the tirst in.htary setthMuents were mad,, in Judiana. The missionaries undoubtedly visitrd \ mcennrs, as did thry also the site of Post Miami Ion-.- before .-uhtary posts were ere.-ted i., those j.hu-es, but no permanent missions were sfatione.l until after their o.-mipanry hy niilitary pouvr. This took place, aceordinn- to the JMvnch coloninl records, in ITo:,, ami as near as can be ascertaiiied there is not more than six numth's difference in the dates of the first establishment of Posts Miami, Ouiatenon and Vincennes. Certain it is that th.-y were all existing in the spring of ITlKi. That these posts were oft.Mi deserted and left witliout militai'y ^garrisons is un.loubtedly true, but we will ventuiv the assertion that the French Colonial archives will show that small garrisons weiv located at tlie three points indicated previous to 1706.

"Tlie history of these posts from their establishment until they were discontinued furnishes a narrative re])lete with thrilling incident. It carries the reader through all the interesting scenes of French and Indian intercourse, which presents many romantic. inu(|ue phases. In some of these phases we see Frenchmen <legi-aded instead of savages elevat.Ml. We see thousands of reckless men throwing oif all civilized restraint and plunging deliberately into barbarism. With the ritie an. I the scalping knife they go forth to wreak vengeance upon the whites, side bv side Avith red men, as if their destinies have become in.lissolubly united with those of their new allies. We see a type of amalgamation for which the Instory of the world furnishes no i)ai-allel - Frenchmen descending to the level of Indians in social economy, and, in many instances, dragging the natives down to a i>itch of degi-adation from which a half savage .sense of i)ropriety often recoiled with just pi-ide.

"And again, the history of these posts carries the i-eader through curious accoiuits of the fur trade, of th<' manners and custmus of the Courriers des l^ois, or wood rangvr.s - a set of half-brei-ds, with a lannnage and characteristics peculiar to tiiemsdves. In the light canoe they would float carelessly down tin- streams, basking idly in th,^ summer's sun. or gaily singing some French or Indian song. vVt night they slept upon the

again, tiie his1oi-y of these ])osts cai'i'ies us tlii-onuh the i)ious de\-outment of ('idholic missionaides. through accounts (d' Chiistian zeal, persecution, i)rivations for the Gospel's sake. We see missionary pri(^sts mingling with the savages, teaching them, supi)ing with them, pointing them to the cross. In wigwams oi- rude log huts, these pi'iests gathered anxious, curious puj^ils, and lahored to instruct them in a civilization and (Jhi'istianity that they eoidd never. ne\-er comi)rehend or appreciate. I'.ut the Jndians assented and applauded in theii' silent devotion, and the missionaries lahored on, in a hopeless cause, until a war of extermination ended th.'ir lal.ors.

"And, again, the history of these posts is tilled with thi'illing luirratives that carry the readei' tlii'ough Sandoskit's (Xieholas) consi)iraey, I'outiae's conspiracy, Teeumseh's war and the long desultory war that, foi- years, kept alive a feeling of alarm in the pioiu-er homes on the liortlers. We see the war clouds gatheriiu;'. as the voice of the mighty ]*oiitiac i-esounds through the foi'ests of the lake regions, and, as they bui-st in thunderous volleys of musketry, we belujld the massacres that charactei'izi-d the fall of the 'fated nine.' AVho shall paint the darkness and gloom that settled over the Western outposts iu 17(i8-4. when the giant of the Ottawas swayed, at his imperial command, all the Indian foi'ces of the Northwest. AVho shall tell us of the foul conspiracies ]tlotted in forest councils, where this jx'cjud Ottawa resided? AVhat pen shall de.seribe the hori'ors in the exi'cution of these eouspiraeies ? The mind tiu-n.s away from the scene at ]\[ieliilimaekinac, awed with its extremes of barbarity; the heai't sickens with a coutem])lation of A'anango ; whih' the fall of Holmes on a supposed errand of mei-cy at Post Aliami, and the cai)ture of deiikins at Oniateuon, present shameful incidmds (d"

FrL'iich cowaidicc and Indian treachery. But no .sooner did the storm of Pontiae's veiiji:eance suhside. than another junvat Indian state.siiian rose to dffeiid his race. Tecuuiseh gathered the scattei'ed. forces, and led the last .uivat struj^gle of the red men, until swallowed up in defeat and death.'" - Beale.