Freeborn County, Minnesota - Chapter with an unread heading (no. 7 of those read), 1882

Chapter with an unread heading (no. 7 of those read)

Le Sueur Visits Lake Pepin. - Stationed at La Poinie. - Establishes a Post on an Island Above Lake Pepin. - Island Described by Penicaut. - First Sioux Chief at Montreal. - Ojibway Chiefs' Siteeches. - Speech of Sioux Chief. - Teeoskahtay's Death. - Le Sueur Goes to France. - Posts West of Mackinaw Abandoned - Le Sueur's License Revoked. - Second Visit to France. - Arrives in Gulf of Mexico witli D'Iberville. - Ascends the Mississippi. - Lead Mines. - Canadians Fleeing from the Sioux. - At the Mouth of the Wisconsin. - Sioux Robbers, - Elk Hunting. - Lake Pepin Described. - Rattlesnakes. - La Place Killad.- St. Croix River Named After a Frenchman. - Le Sueur Reaches St. Pterre, now Minne' sola River. - Enters Mankahto, or Blue Earth, River. - Sioux of the Plains. - Port L'Huillier Completed. - Conferences with Sioux Bands - Assinaboines a Separated Sioux Band. - An Indian Feast. - Names of the Sioux Bands. - Charlevoix's Account. - Le Sueur Goes with D'Iberville to France. - D'Iberville's Memorial. - Early Census of Indian Tribes. - Penicaut's Account of Fort L'Huil lier. - Le Sueur's Departure from the Fort. - D'Evaqe Left in Charge. - Return' to Mobile. - Juchereau at Mouth of Wisconsin. - Bonder a Montreal Merchant. - Sioux Attack Miamis. - Boudor Robbed by the Sioux.

Le Sueur -was a native of Canada, and a relative of D'Iberville, the early Governor of Louisiana. He came to Lake Pepin in 1683, -n'ith Nicholas Perrot, and his name also appears attached to the document prepared in May, 1689, after Perrot had re-occupied his post just above the entrance of the lake, on the east side.

In 1692, he 'was sent by Governor Frontenae of Canada, to La Pointe, on Leake Superior, and m a dispatch of 1693, to the French Govermneut, is the following : " Le Sueur, another voyageiu-, is to remain at Chagouamagon [La Pointe] to endeavor to maintain the peace lately concluded between the Saulteurs [Chippeways] and Sioux. This is of the greatest consequence, as it is i\ov,' the sole pass by -which access can be had to the latter nation, whose trade is very profitable ; the comitry to the south being occupied by the Foxes and Maskoutens, who several times plundered the French, on the ground they were carrying ammunition to the Sioux, their ancient enemies."

Entering the Sioux country in 1694, he established a post upon a prairie island in the Mississippi, about nine miles below the present to\A'n of Hastings, according to Bellin and others. Penicaut, who accompanied him in the exploration of the Minnesota, -writes, " At the extremity of the lake [PepinJ you come to the Isle Pelee, so called because there are no trees on it. It is on this island that the French fi'om Canada established their fort and storehouse, and they also -winter here, because game is very abundant. In the month of September they bring their store of meat, obtained by hunting, and .after having skinned and cleaned it, hang it upon a crib of raised scaffolding, in order that the extreme cold, -which lasts from September to March, may preserve it from spoiling. During the whole winter they do not go out except for water, when they have to break the ice every day, and the cabin is generally built upon the bank, so as not to have far to go. When spring arrives, the savages come to the island, bringing their merchandize."

On the fifteenth of July, 1695, Le Sueur arrived at Montreal with a party of Ojibways, and the first Ikikotah brave that had ever visited Canada.

The Indians -were much impressed with the power of France by the marching of a detachment of seven hundred picked men, under ChevaUer Cresafl, who were on their way to La Chine.

" That he was come to pay his respects to Onontio [the title given the Governor of Canada] in the name of the young warriors of Pomt Chagouamigon, and to thank him for having given them some Frenchmen to dwell with them; to testify their sorrow for one Jobin, a Frenchman, who was killed at a feast, accidentally, and not maliciously. We come to ask a favor of you, which is to let us act. We are allies of the Sciou. Some Outagamies, or Mascoutuis, have been killed. The Sciou came to mom-n with us. Let us act, Father; let us take revenge.

Explorebs And Pioneers Of Minnesota

Teeoskahtay, the Dahkotah chief, before he spoke, spread out a beaver robe, and, laying anotlier with a tobacco poudi and otter skin, liegan to weep bitterly. After drying his tears, he said:

" All of the nations had a father, who afforded them protection; all of them have iron. B'lthe was a bastard in quest of a father; he was come to see him, and hopes that he will take pity on him."

He then placed upon the beaver robe twentytwo arrows, at each aiTow naming a Dahkotah village that desired Frontenac's protection. Kesuming his speech, he remarked:

" It is not on account of what I bring that I hope him who rules the earth will have pity on me. I learned from the Sauteurs that he wanted nothing; that he was the Master of the Iron; that he had a big heart, into wliich he could receive all the nations. This has induced me to abandon my people and come to seek his protection, and to beseech bim to receive me among the number of his children. Take courage. Great Captain, and reject me not; despise me not, though I appear poor in your eyes. jXJI the nations here present know tliat I am rich, and the little they oiler here is taken from my lands."

Count Frontenac in reply told the chief that he would receive the Bahkotahs as his children, on condition that they would be obedient, and that he would send back Le Sueur with him.

Teeoskahtay, taking hold of the governor's knees, wept, and said: "Take pity on us; we are well aware that we are not able to speak, being children; but Le Sueiu', who imderstands our language, and has seen all our villages, will next year inform you what v\'ill liave been achieved by the Sioux nations represented by those arrows before you."

Having finished, a Dahkotah woman, the vnfe of a great chief whom Le Sueur liad purcliased from captivity at Mackinaw, approached those in authority, and, with downcast eyes, embraced their knees, weeping and saying: if he condescends to restore my children, now prisoners among the Foxes, Ottawas and llurous, I will return hither, and bring with me tlie twenty-two villages wlioin he lias just restored to life by promising to send tlieni Iron."

On the 14th of August, two weeks after the Ojibway chief left for his home on Lake Superior, Nicholas I'errot arrived witli a dciiulation of Sauks, Foxes, Menomonees, Sliamis of Maramek and Pottowatomies.

" I see that you are a young man; your nation has quite tmned away from my wishes; it has pillaged some of my young men, wliom it has treated as slaves. I know tliat your father, who loved the French, had no hand in the indignity. You only imitate the example of your father who had sense, when you do not co-operate with those of your tribe who are wishing to go over to my enemies, after they grossly insulted me and defeated the Sioux, whom I now consider my son. I pity the Sioux; I pity the dead whose loss I deplore. Perrot goes up there, and he )jill speak to your nation from me for the release of their prisoners; let them attend to him."

Teeoshkalitay never returned to his native land. "Wliile in Montreal he was taken sick, and in thirty-three days he ceased to breathe; and, followed by white men, his body was interred in the white man's grave.

Le Sueur instead of going back to ilumesota that year, as was expected, went to France and received a license, in l(i9", to open certain mines supposed to exist in ilinnesota. The ship in which he was returning was captured by the English, and he was taken to England. After liis release he went back to France, and, iu 1098, obtained a new commission for minhig.

AVhile Le Sueur was in Europe, the Dahkotas waged war against tlie Foxes and Miamis. In retaliation, the latter raised a war party and entered the land of the Dahkotahs. Finding their foes intrenched, and assisted by " coureurs des bois," they were indignant; and on their return they had a skirmish with some Frenchmen, who were carrying goods to the Dahkotahs.

Le Sueub Ascends The Missisippi Riveb

friendly Foxes. The Miamis, after this, were disposed to be friendly to the Iroquois. In 1696, the year previous, the authorities at Quebec decided that it was expedient to abandon all the posts west of Mackinaw, and withdraw the French from Wisconsin and Minnesota.

The voyageurs were not disposed to leave the country, and the governor wrote to Pontcbartrain for instructions, in October, 1698. In liis dispatch he remarks:

" In this conjuncture, and under all these circumstances, we consider it our duty to postpone, imtil new instructions from the court, the execution of Sieur Le Sueur's enterprise for the mines, though the promise had already been given him to send two canoes in advance to Missilimackinac, for the puiijose of purchasing there some provisions and other necessaries for his voyage, and that he would be permitted to go and join them early in the sprmg with the rest of his hands. What led us to adopt this resolution has been, that the French who remained to trade off with the Five Nations the remamder of their merchandise, might, on seeing entirely new comers arriving there, consider themselves entitled to dispense with coming down, and perhaps adopt the resolution to settle there; whilst, seeing no arrival there, with permission to do what is forbidden, the reflection they will be able to make duruig the winter, and the apprehension of being guilty of crime, may oblige them to retm-n in the spring.

" This would be very desirable, in consequence of the great difficulty there will be m constraining them to it, should they be inclined to Uft the mask altogether and become buccaneers ; or should Sieur Le Sueur, as he easily could do, furnish - them with goods for their beaver and smaller peltry, which he might send down by the retimi of other Frenchmen, whose sole desire is to obey, and who have remained only because of the impossibihty of getting tlieu- effects down. This would rather induce those who would continue to lead a vagaVxind life to remain there, as the goods they would receive from Le Sueur's people would afford them the means of doing so."

execution of the Ucense granted to the man named Le Sueur to proceed, with fifty men, to explore some mines on the banks of the Mississippi. He has revoked said license, and desu'es that the said Le Sueur, or any other person, be prevented from leaving the colony on pretence of going in search of mines, without his majesty's express permission."

Fortunately for Le Sueur, D 'Iberville, who was a friend, and closely connected by marriage, was appointed governor of the new territory of Louisiana. In the month of December he arrived from France, with thirty workmen, to proceed to the supposed mines in Minnesota.

On the thirteenth of July, 1700, with a felucca, two canoes, and nineteen men, having ascended the Mississippi, he had reached the mouth of the Missouri, and six leagues above this he passed the Illinois. He there met three Canadians, who came to join him, with a letter from Father Marest, who had once attempted a mission among the Dahkotahs, dated July 13, Mission Immaculate Conception of the Holy Virgin, in Illinois.

" I have the honor to write, in order to inform you that the Saugiestas have been defeated by the Scioux and Ayavois [lowas]. The people have formed an alliance with the Quincapous [Kicka-, poos], some of the Mecoutins, Eenards [Foxes], and Metesigamias, and gone to revenge themselves, not on the Scioux, for they are too much afraid of them, but perhaps on the Ayavois, or very likely upon the Paoutees, or more probably upon the Osages, for these suspect nothing, and the others are on their guard.

"As you -will probably meet these allied nar tions, you ought to take precaution against their plans, and not allow them to board your vessel, since they are traitors, and utterly faithless. I pray God to accompany you in all your designs."

Twenty-two leagues above the Illinois, he passed a small stream which he called the River of Oxen, and nine leagues beyond tliis he passed a smaU river on the west side, where he met four Canar dians descending the Mississippi, on their way to the Illinois. On the 30th of July, nine leagues above the last-named river, he met seventeen Scioux, in seven canoes, who were going to re- venge the death of three Scioux, one of whom liad been burned, and tlie others killed, at Tamarois, a few days before his arrival in that village. As he had promised the chief of the Illinois to appease the Scioux who should go to war against his nation, he made a present to the chief of the party to engage liim to turn back. He told tliem the King of France did not wish them to make this river more bloody, and that he was sent to teU them that, if tliey obeyed the king's word, they would receive in futiu'e all things necessary for them. The chief answered that he accepted the present, tliat is to say, that he would do as had been tuld liim.

From tlie SOth of July to the 2oth of August, Le Sueur advanced lifty-thiee and one-foiuth leagues to a small river which he called the Elver of the Mine. At the mouth it nms from the north, but it tiuns to the noitheast. On the right seven leagues, there is a lead mine in a prairie, one and a half leagues. The river is only navigable in high water, that is to say, fi-om early spring till the month of June.

From the 25th to the 27th he made ten leagues, passed two small rivers, and made himself acquainted vAih a inhie of lead, from which he took a supply. From the 27th to the SOth he made eleven and a half leagues, and met five Canadians, one of whom had been dangerously wounded in the head. They were naked, and had no ammunition except a miserable gmi, witli five or six loads of powder and balls. They said tliey were descending from the Scioux to go to Tamarois. and, when seventy leagues above, they perceived nine canoes in the Jlississippi, in which were ninety savages, who r<)bl)ed and cruelly beat them. Tliis party were gfiing lo war against the Scioux, and were composed of four different nations, the Outagamies [Foxes], Poutouwatamis [Pottowattamies], and Pnans [Winiiebagoes], \\\\o dwell in a country eiglil}' leagues east of the iiississippi from where Le Sueur then was.

The Canadians determined to follow the detachment, wliidi was composed of twenty-eight men. Tills day they made seven and a half leagues. On the 1st of September he passed the Wisconsin river. It nms into the Mississippi from the northeast. It is nearly one and a half miles wide. At about seventy-five le;igues up this river, on the right, ascending, there is a portage of more than a league. The half of tins portage is shaking ground, and at the end of it is a small river wliich descends into a bay called "Winnebago Bay. It is inhabited by a great number of nations who cari-y their furs to Canada. Monsieur Le Sueur came by the Wisconsin river to the Mississippi, for tlie first time, in 1GS3, on his way to the Scioux country, where he had aheady passed seven years at different periods. The Mississippi, opposite the mouth of tlie Wisconsin, is less than half a mile wide. From the 1st of September to tlie otli, our voyageur advanced fourteen leagues. He passed the river " Aux Canots." which comes from the northeast, and then the Quincapous. named from a nation which once dwelt upon its lianks.

From the 5th to the 9th he made ten and a lialf leagues, and passed the rivers Cachee and Aux Ailes. The same day he perceived canoes, filled witli savages, descending the river, and the five Canadians recognized them as the party who liad robbed them. They placed sentinels in the wood, for fear of bemg surprised by land, and when they had approached within hearing, tliey cried to them that if they approached farther they would fire. They then drew up by an island, at lialf the distance of a gun shot. Soon, foiu' of the principal men of tlie band approached in a canoe, and asked if it was forgotten that they were our brethren, and with what design we had taken arms when we perceived them. Le Sueur replied that he had cause to distrust them, since they liad lobbed five of his party. Nevertheless, for the surety of his trade, being forced to be at peace with all the tribes, he demanded no redress for the robbery, but added merely that the king, their master and his, wished that his subjects sliould navigate that river without insult, and that they had better beware how they acted.

The Indian who had spoken was sDent, but another said they had been attacked liy the Scioux, and that if tliey did not have pity on tliem, and give them a little powder, they should not be able to reach their villages. The consideration of a missionary, who was to go up among the Scioux, and whom these savages might meet, induced them to give two pounds of powder.

M. Le Sueur made the same day three leagues; passed a stream on the west, and afterward another river on the east, which is navigable at all times, and which the Indians call lied liiver.

Rattlesnakes On Shores Of Lake Pepin

On the 10th, at daybreak, they heard an elk whistle, on the other side of the river. A Canadian crossed in a small ScioiLX canoe, which they had found, and shortly returned with the body of the animal, which was very easily killed, " quand 11 est en rut,"' that is, from the beginnmg of September until the end of October. The hunters at this time made a whistle of a piece of wood, or reed, and when they hear an elk whistle they answer it. The animal, believing it to be another elk, approaches, and is killed with ease.

From the 10th to the 14th, JNI. Le Sueur made seventeen and a half leagues, passing the rivers Eaisin and Paquilenettes (perhaps the Wazi Ozu and Buffalo.) The same day he left, on the east side of the Mississippi, a beautiful and large river, which descends from the very far north, and called Bon Secours (Chippeway), on account of the great quantity of buffalo, elk, bears and deers which are fomid there. Three leagues up tliis river there is a mine of lead, and seven leagues above, on the same side, they found another long river, iu the \'lcinity of which there is a copper mine, from which he had taken a lump of sixty pomids in a former voyage. In order to make these mines of any account, peace must be obtained between the Seioux and Ouatagamis (Foxes), because the latter, who dwell on the east side of the Mississippi, pass this road coutuiually when going to war against the Sioux.

Penicaut, in his journal, gives a brief description of the Mississippi between the Wisconsin and Lake Pepin. He writes: "Above the Wisconsin, and ten leagues higher on the same side, begins a great jirairie extending for sixty leagues along the bank; this prairie is called Aux Ailes. Opposite to Aux Ailes, on tlie left, there is another prairie facing it called Paquilanet wliich is not so long by a great deal. Twenty leagues above these prairies is found Lake Bon Secours " [Good Help, now Pepin.]

In this region, at one and a half leagues on the northwest side, commenced a lake, which is six leagues long and more than one broad, called Lake Pepin. It is bounded on the "west by a chain of mountains; on the east is seen a prairie; and on the northwest of the lake there is another prairie two leagues long and one wide. In the neighborhood is a chain of mountains quite two hundred feet high, and more than one and a half miles long. In these are found several caves, to which the bears retire in winter. Most of the caverns are more than seventy feet in extent, and two hundred feet high. There are several of which the entrance is very narrow, and quite closed up with saltpetre, It would be dangerous to enter them in summer, for they are filled with rattlesnakes, the bite of which is very dangerous. Le Sueur saw some of these snakes which were six feet in length, but generally they are about four feet. They have teeth resembUng those of the pike, and their gums are f uU of small vessels, in which their poison is placed. The Seioux say they take it every mornin :, and cast it away at night. They have at the tail a kind of scale which makes a noise, and this is called the rattle.

Le Sueur made on this day seven and a half leagues, and passed another river, called Iliambouxecate Ouataba, or the Kiver of Flat Eock. [The Sioux call the Cannon river Inyanbosndata.]

On the loth he crossed a small river, and saw in the neighborhood several canoes, filled with Indians, descencUng the Mississippi. He supposed they were Seioux, because he could not distinguish whether the canoes were large or small. The arms were placed in readiness, and soon they heard the cry of the savages, which they are accustomed to raise when they rush upon their enemies. He caused them to be answered in the same manner; and after having placed all the men behind the trees, he ordered them not to fire until they were commanded. He remained on shore to see what movement the savages would make, and perceivmg that they placed two on shore, on the other side, where from an eminence they could ascertain the strength of his forces, he caused tlie men to pass and repass from the shore to the wood, in order to make them believe that they were numerous. This ruse succeeded, for as soon as the two descended from the eminence the chief of the party came, bearing the calumet, which is a signal of peace among the Indians. They said that having never seen the French navigate the river with boats like the felucca, they had supposed them to be English, and for that reason they had raised the war cry, and arranged themselves on the other side of the Mississippi; but havuig recognized their flag, they had come without fear to inform them, that one of their number, who was crazy, had accidentallv killed a

Explorers And Pioneers Of Minnesota

The Frenchman they brought was Deuis, a Canadian, and he reported that his companion was accidentally killeil. Jlis name was I.,aplace. a deserting soldier from Canada, who had ta^ieu refuge in this country.

Le Sueur replied, that Ononlio (the name they give to all the governors of Canada), being their father and his, they ought not to seek justification elsewhere than before him; and he advised them to go and see him as soon as possible, and beg him to wipe ofi: the blood of this Frenchman from their faces.

The party was composed of forty-seven men of different nations, who dwell far to the east, about the forty-fourth degree of latitude. Le Sueur, discovering who the chiefs were, said the king whom they had spoken of in Canada, had sent liim to take possession of the north of the river; and that he wished the nations wlio dwell on it, as well as those under his protection, to live in peace.

He made this day tlii-ee and three-fourths leagues; and on the 16th of September, he left a large river on the east side, named St. Croix, because a Frenchman of that name was shlpu'rcch'd at its mouth. It comes from the north-northwest. Four leagues higher, in gomg up, is found a small lake, at the mouth of which is a very large mass of copper. It is on the edge of the water, in a small ridge of sandy eailh, on the west of this lake. [One of La Salle's men was named St. Croix.]

From the 16th to the 19th, he advanced thirteen and three-fourths leagues. After ha\'ing made from Tamarois two hundred and nine and a half leagues, he left the navigation of the Mississippi, to enter the river St. Pierre, on the west side. By the 1st of October, he had made in this river forty-four and one-fourth leagues. After he entered lilue river, thus named on account of the mines of blue earth found at its mouth, he fomided liis post, situated in forty-four degrees, thirteen minutes north latitude. He met at this place nine Scioux, who told him that the river belonged to the Scioux of the west, the Ayavois (lowas) and Otoctatas (Ottoes), who lived a little farther off; that it was not their custom to hunt on ground belongmg to others, unless invited to do so by the owners, and that when they would come to the fort to obtain ijrovisions, they would be in danger of being killed in ascending or descending the rivers, v/hich were narrow, and that if they would show their pity, he must establish himself on the Jlississippi, near the mouth of the St. Pierre, where the Ayavois, the Otoctatas, and the other Scioux coidd go as well as they.

Having linished their speech, they leaned over the head of Le Sueur, according to their custom, crying out, "Ouaechissou ouaepanimanabo," that is to say, " Have pity upon us." Le Sueur had foreseen that the establishment of Blue Earth river would not please the Scioux of the East, who were, so to speak, masters of the other Scioiix and of the nations which will be hereafter mentioned, becaux they tcere the first with wham trade loas commenced, and in consequence of which they had already quite a number of guns.

As he had commenced his operations not only with a view to the trade of beaver but also to gain a knowledge of the mines which he had previously discovered, he told them that he was sorry that he had not known their intentions sooner, and that it was just, since he came expressly for them, that he should establish himself on their land, but that the season was too far advanced for him to return. He then made them a present of powder, balls and knives, and an armful of tobacco, to entice them to assemble, as soon as possible, near the fort he was about to construct, that when they should be all assembled he might tell them the intention of the king, their and his sovereign.

The Scioux of the West, according to the statement of the Eastern Scioux, have more than a thousand lodges. They do not use canoes, nor cultivate the earth, nor gather wild riee. They remain venerally on the prairies which are between the Upper Mississippi and Missouri rivers, and live entirely by the chase. The Scioux generally say they have three souls, and that after death, that which has done well goes to the warm country, that which has done evil to the cold regions, and the other guards the body. Polygamy is common among them. They are very jealous, and sometimes fight in duel for their wives. They manage the bow admirably, and have been seen several times to kill ducks on the whig. They make their lodges of a lumiljer of buffalo skins interlaced and sewed, and carry them wherever they go. They are all great smokers, but their mamier of smoking differs from that of other Indians. There are some Seioux who swallow all the smoke of the tobacco, and others wlio, after having kept it some time in their mouth, cause it to issue from the nose. In each lodge there are usually two or three men with their families.

On the third of October, they received at the fort several Seioux, among whom was Wahkantape, chief of the village. Soon two Canadians arrived who had been hunting, and who had been robbed by the Seioux of the East, who had raised their gims against the establishment which M. Le Sueur had made on Blue Earth river.

On the fourteenth the fort was finished and named Fort LTIuilher, and on the twenty-second two Canadians were sent out to invite the Ayavois and Otoctatas to come and establish a village near the fort, because these Indians are industrious and accustomed to cultivate the earth, and they hoped to get provisions from them, and to make them work in the mines.

On the twenty-fourth, six Seioux Oujalespoitons wished to go into the fort, but were told that they did not receive men who had lulled Frenchmen. This is the term used when they have insulted them. The next day they came to the lodge of Le Sueur to beg him to have pity on them. They wished, according to custom, to weep over his head and make him a present of packs of beavers, which he refused. He told them he was surprised that people who had robbed should come to him ; to which they replied that they had heard it said that two Frenchmen had been robbed, but none from their village had been present at that wicked action.

Le Sueur answered, that he knew it was the Mendeoucantous and not the Oujalespoitons ; " but," continued he, "you are Seioux; it is the Seioux who have robbed me. and if I were to follow your manner of acting I should break your heads; for is it not true, thft when a stranger (it is thus they call the Indians who are not Seioux) has insulted a Seioux, Mendeoucanton, Oujalespoitons, or others - all the villages revenge upon the first one they meet':"' to them, they wept and repeated, according to custom, " Ouaechissou ! ouaepanimanabo !'' Le Sueur told them to cease crying, and added that the French had good hearts, and tliat they had come into the country to have pity on them. At the same time he made them a present, saying to them, " Carry back your beavers and say to all the Seioux, that they will have from me no more powder or lead, and they will no longer smoke any long pipe until they have made satisfaction for robbing the Frenchman.

The same day the Canadians, who had been sent off on the 22d, arrived without having found the road which led to the Ayavois and Otoctatas. On the 25th, Le Sueur went to the river with three canoes, which he filled with green and blue earth. It is taken from the hills near which are very abundant mines of copper, some of which was worked at Paris in 1696, by L"IIuillier, one of the chief collectors of the king. Stones were also found there which would be curious, if worked.

On tlie ninth of November, eight Mantanton Seioux arrived, who had been sent by their chiefs to say that the Mendeoiicantons were still at their lake on the east of the Mississippi, and they could not come for a long time ; and that for a single village which had no good sense, the others ought not to bear the punishment ; and that they were willing to make reparation if they knew how. Le Sueur replied that he was glad that they had a disposition to do so.

On the loth the two Mantanton Seioux, who had been sent expiessly to say that all of the Seioux of the east, and part of those of the west, were joined together to come to the French, because they had heard that the Christianaux and the Assinipoils were making war on them. These two nations dwell above the fort on the east side, more than eighty leagues on the Upper Mississippi.

The Assinipoils speak Seioux, and are certainly of that nation. It is only a few years since that they became enemies, The enmity thus originated: The Christianaux, having the use of arms before the Seioux, through the English at Hudson's Bay, they constantly warred upon the Assinipoils, who were their nearest neighbors. The latter, being weak, sued for peace, and to render it more lasting, married the Christianaux women. The other Scioux, who had not made the compact, continued the war; and, seeing some Christianaux with the Assinipoils. biolve their heads. The Cliristianaiix furnished the Assinipoils with arms and merchandise.

On the 16th the Scioux returned to their village, and it was reported that the Ayavois and Otoctatas were gone to establish themselves towards the Missouri River, near the llaha, who dwell in that region. On the 26th the Mantantons and Oujalespoitons arrived at the fort; and, after they had encamped in the woods, Wah kantape came to beg Le Sueur to go to his lodge. He there found sixteen men with women and children, with their faces daubed with black. In the middle of the lodge were several buffalo skins which were sewed for a carpet. After motioning him to sit down, they wept for the fourth of an hour, and the chief gave him some wild rice to eat (as was their custom), putting the first three spoonsful to his mouth. After which, he said all present were relatives of Tioscate, whom Le Sueur took to Canada in 1695, and who died there in 1696.

At the mention of Tioscate they began to weep again, and wipe their tears and heads upon the shoulders of Le Sueur. Then Wahkan tape again spoke, and said tliat Tioscate begged him to forget the insult done to the Frenchmen by the Mendeoucantons, and take pity on his brethren by giving them powder and balls whereby they could defend themselves, and gain a living for their wives and children, wlio languish in a coun- try full of game, because they had not the means of killing them. " Look," added the chief, " Behold thy children, thy brethren, and thy sisters; it is to thee to see whether tlu)u wishest them to die. They will live if thou givest them powder and ball; they will die if thou refusest."

Le Sueur granted them their request, but as the Scioux never answer on the spot, espeeially in matters of importance, and as he had to speak to them about his establishment he went out of the Iodide witliout saying a word. The chief and all those witliin followed him as far as the door of the fort; and when he had gone in, they went around it three times, crying with all their strength, " Atheouanan! " that is to say, " Father. have pity on us." [Ate un>anpi, means Our Father.]

The next day, he assembled in the fort the principal men of both villages; and as it is not possible to subdue the Scioux or to hinder them from going to war, unless it be by inducing them to cultivate the earth, he said to them that if they wished to render themselves worthy of the protection of the king, tliey must abandon their ening life, and form a village near his dwelling, where they would be shielded from the insults of of their enemies; and that they might be happy and not hungry, he would give them all the corn necessary to plant a large piece of ground; that the king, their and liis chief, in sending him, had forbidden him to purchase beaver skins, knowing that this kind of hunting separates them and exposes them to their enemies; and that in consequence of this he had come to establish himself on Blue River and vicinity, where they had many times assured him were many kinds of beasts, for the skins of which he would give them all things necessary; that they ought to reflect that they could not do without French goods, and that the only way not to want tliem was, not to go to war with our alhed nations.

As it is customary with the Indians to accompany their word with a present proportioned to the affair treated of, he gave them fifty pounds of powder, as many balls, six guns, ten axes, twelve armsful of tobacco, and a hatchet pipe.

On the first of December, the Mantantons invited Le Sueur to a great feast. Of four of their lodges they had made one, in which were one hundred men seated around, and every one his dish before him. After the meal, Wahkautape, the cliief , made them all smoke, one after another, in the hatchet pipe which had been given them. He then made a present to Le Sueur of a slave and a sack of wild rice, and said to him, showing him his men: " Behold the remains of this great village, which thou hast aforetimes seen so numerous! All the others have been killed in war; and the few men whom thou seest in this lodge, accept the present thou hast made them, and are resolved to obey the great chief of all nations, of whom thou hast spoken to us. Thou onghtest not to regard us as Scioux, but as French, and instead of saying the Scioux are miserable, and have no mind, and are fit for nothing but to rob and steal from the French, thou shalt say my brethren are miserable and have no mind, and we must try to procure some for them. They rob us, but I will take care that they do not lack iron, that is to say, all kinds of goods. If thou dost this, I assure thee tliat in a little time the Mantantons will become Frenchmen, and they will have none of those vices, with which thou reproachest us."

Having finished his speech, he covered his face with his garment, and the others imitated him. They wept over their companions who had died in war, and chanted an adieu to their country in a tone so gloomy, that one could not keep from partaking of their sorrow.

Wahkantape then made them smoke again, and distributed the presents, and said that he was going to the Mendeoucantons, to inform them of the resolution, and invite them to do the same.

On the twelfth, three Mendeoucauton chiefs, and a large number of Inilians of the same village, arrived at the fort, and the next day gave satisfaction for robbing the Frenchmen. They brought four hundred pounds of beaver skins, and promised that the summer follo^^'ing, after their canoes were built and they had gathered their wild rice, that they would come and establish themselves near the French. The same day they returned to their village east of the Mississippi.

The Scioux Of The West

In the narrative of Major Long's second expedition, there are just as many villages of the Gens du Lac, or M'dewakantonwan Scioux mentioned, though the names are different. After leaving tlie Mille Lac region, the divisions evidently were different, and the villages known by new names.

Charlevoix, who visited the valley of the Lower iSIississippi in 1722, says that Le Sueiu: spent a winter in his fort on the banks of the Blue Earth, and that m the foUowmg April he went up to the mine, about a mile above. In twenty-two days they obtained more than thirty thousand pounds of the substance, four thousand of which were selected and sent to France.

On the tenth of February, 1702, Le Sueur came back to the post on the Gulf of Mexico, and found D'lberville absent, who, however, arrived on the eighteenth of the next month, wth a ship from France , loaded with suppUes. After a few weeks, the Governor of Louisiana sailed again for the old coimtry, Le Sueur being a fellow passenger.

On board of the ship, D'lberville wrote a memorial upon the Mississippi valley, with suggestions for carrying on commerce therein, which contains many facts furnished by Le Sueur. A copy of the manuscript was in possession of the Historical Society of Mimiesota, from which are the foUovrang extracts:

"If the Sioux remain in their o-mi coimtry, they are useless to us, being too distant. We could have no commerce vnth them exeept that of the beaver. M. Le Sueur, who goes to France to give an account of this country, is the proper person to make these movements. He estimates the Sioux at four thousand families, who could settle upon the Missouri.

" He has spoken to me of another which he calls the Mahas, composed of more than twelve hundi-ed families. The Ayooues (loways) and the Octoctatas, their neighbors, are about three hundred families. They occupy the lauds be- tween tiie ilississippi and the Missouri, about one huncked leagues from the IllLuois. These savages do not know tlie iise of arms, and a descent miglit be made upon tliem in a river, wUicli is beyond tlie Wabash on the west. * * *

" The Assinibouel. Quenistinos, and people of the north, who are upon the rivers which fall into the Mississippi, and trade at Fort Xelson (Hudson Bay), are about four hundred. We could prevent them from going there if we wish."'

" In four or five years we can establish a commerce witli these savages of sixty or eighty thousand buffalo skins; more than one hundred deer slcins, which will yiroduce. delivered in France, more tlian two million four hundred thousand livres yearly. One might obtain for a buffalo skin four or five pounds of wool, wliich sells for twenty sous, two pounds of coarse hair at ten sous.

In the tliird volume of the " History and Statistics of the Indian Tribes," prepared under the direction of the Commissioner of Indian affairs, by Mr. Schoolcraft, a manuscript, a copy of which was in possession of General Cass, is referred to as containing the first enimieration of the Indians of the Mississippi A'alley. The following was made thirty-four years earlier by D"Iberville:

The savage tribes located in tlie places I have marked out, make it necessary to establish three posts on tlie Mississippi, one at the ^Vrkiinsas, another at tlie Wabash (Ohio), and the third at the Missouri. At each post it would be proper to have an oflicer with a detachment of ten soldiers with a sergeant and corporal. All Frenchmen should be allowed to settle there with their families, and trade with the Indians, and they miglit eslabli.sli tanneries for properly dressing the buffalo and deer skins for transportation.

" Xo Frenchman shall be allmced to follow the Indians on their hunts, as it tends to keeji them hiinters, as is seen in Canada, and when they are La the woods, they do not desire to become tillers of the soil. *******

I have said nothing in this memoir of wliich I have not personal knowledge or the most reliable sources. The most of what I propose is founded uimn personal reflection in relation to what might Ije done for the defence and advancement of the colony. ***** * * * It ^\'ill be absolutely necessary that tlie king should define tlie limits of this country in relation to the govTsmment of Canada. It is important that the commandant of the ^Mississippi should have a report of those who inhabit the rivers that fall into the ^Mississippi, and principally those of the river Illinois.

The Canadians intimate to the savages that tliey ouglit nf)t to listen to us but to the governor of Canada, who always speaks to tliem with large presents, that the governor of Mississippi is mean and never sends them any thing. This is ti'ue, and what I cannot do. It is imprudent to accustom the savages to be spoken to by presents, for, with so many, it would cost the king more than the revenue derived from the trade. AVhen they come to us, it will be necessary to bring them in subjection, make tliein no presents, and compel them to do what we wish, (i.s if they were'Frenchmen.

Penicaut Describes Life At Fort Vhvillier

trade with them, and threaten to draw down the hostility of other Indians. We rectify the ditliculty by having missionaries, who will bring them into obedience secretly.

" The Illinois and Mascoutens have detained the French canoes they find upon the ]\Iississippi, saymg that the governors of Canada have given them permission. I do not know whether this is so, but if true, it follows that we have not the liberty to send any one on the Mississippi.

Penicaut's account varies in some particulars from that of La Ilarpe's. He calls the Mahkahto Green River instead of Blue and writes: " We took our route by its mouth and ascended it forty leagues, when we f ouud another river falling into the Saint Pierre, which we entered. We Dalled this the Green Eiver because it is of that color by reason of a green earth which loosening itself from from the copper mines, becomes dissolved and makes it green.

" A league up this river, we found a point of land a quarter of a league distant from the woods, and it was upon this point that M. Le Sueur resolved to build his fort, because we could not go any higher on account of the ice, it being the last day of Septemljer. Half of our people went hunting whilst the others worked on the fort. We killed foiu' hundred buffaloes, which were our provisions for the winter, and which we placed upon scaffolds in our fort, after havuig skinned and cleaned and quartered them. We also made cabins in the fort, and a magazine to keep our goods. After havmg drawn up our shallop within the inelosirre of the foi-t, we spent the winter in our cabins.

" "WHien we were working in our fort in the begmning seven French traders from Canada took refuge there. They had been pillaged and stripped naked by the Sioux, a wandering nation hving only by liuuting and plundering. Among these seven persons there was a Canadian gentleman of Le Sueur's acquaintance, whom he recognized at once, and gave him some clothes, as he did also to all the rest, and whatever else was necessary for them. They remained with us during the entire winter at our fort, where we had not food enough for all, except buffalo meat wlrich we had not even salt to eat with. We had a good deal of trouble the first two weeks in accustoming ourselves to it, havmg fever and diarrhoea and becoming so tired of it as to hate the smell. But by degrees our bodies became adapted to it so well that at the end of six weeks there was not one of us who could not eat six pounds of nieat a day, and drink four bowls of broth. As soon as we were accustomed to this kind of livuig it made us very fat, and then there was no more sickness.

" When spring arrived we went to work in the copper mine. This was the beginning of April of this year [1701.] We took with us twelve laborers and four hunters. This mine was situated about three-quarters of a league from our post. We took from the mine in twenty days more than twenty thousand pounds weight of ore, of which we only selected four thousand pomids of the finest, which M. Le Sueur, who was a very good judge of it, had carried to the fort, and which has since been sent to France, though I have not learned the result.

'-This mine is situated at the beginning of a very long mountain, which is upon the bank of the river, so that boats can go right to the mouth of the mme itself. At this place is the green earth, which is a foot and a half in tliickness, and above it is a layer of earth as firm and hard as stone, and black and burnt like coal by the exlialation from the mme. The copper is Scratched out with a knife. There are no trees upon this mountain. * * * After twenty-two. days' work, we returned to our fort. When the Sioux, who belong to the nation of savages who pDlaged the Canadians, came they brought us merchandize of furs.

"They had more than four hundred beaver robes, each robe made of nine skins sewed together. M. Le Sueur purchased these and many other skins which he bargained for, in the week he traded with the savages. * * * * We sell in return wares which come very dear to the buyers, especially tobacco from Brazil, in the proportion of a hundred cro'wis the pound; two little horn-handled knives, and foiu- leaden bullets are equal to ten crowns in exchange for skins ; and so with the rest.

earth that hail hvcu taken out of the river, and Willi tlie furs we liail tiaih'd for, of wliieli we hiul three canoes full. M. Le Sueur before going held council with M. D'Evaque [or Eraque] the Canadian jieutlenian, and the three great chiefs of the Sioux, three lirothers, and told them that as he had to return to the sea, he desired them to live in peace with M. D'Evaque, whom he left ill command at Fort L'lluillicr. with twelve Frenchmen. M. Le Sueur made a considerable pre.sent to the three brothers, chiefs of the savages, desiring them to never abanih>n the French. Afterward we the twelve men whom he had chosen to go down to the sea with him emliarked. In setting out, ^I, Le Sueur promised to M. D'Evaque and the twelve Frenchmen who remained with him to guard the fort, to send up munitions of war from the Illinois country as soon as he should arrive there ; which he did, for on getting there he sent off to him a canoe loaded with two thousand pounds of lead and powder, with three of our people iu charge.''

Le Sueur arrived at the French fort on the Gulf of Mexico in safety, and in a few weeks, in the spring of 1701, sailed for France, with his kinsman, D'Iberville, the first governor of Louisiana.

In the spring of the next year (17(i2) D"Eva<ine came to ^Mobile and reported to D"lberville, who had come back from France, that he had been attacked by the Foxes and jMaskoutens, who killed three Frenchmen who were working near Fort L'Huillier, and that, being out of powder and lead, he had been obliged to conceal the goods which were left and abandon the post. At the Wisconsin River he had met Jucherean, formerly criminal judge in ilontreal, with thirty-fiv>' men, on his way to establish a tannery for buffalo skins at the Wabash, and that at the Illinois he met the canoe of supplies sent by tjienville, D'lbervUle's brother.

La ^lotte Cadillac, in command at Detroit, in a letter written on August 31st, ITO.'i, alludes to Le Sueur's expedition in these w ords: " Last year they sent Mr. Boudor, a ^lontreal merchant, into the country of the Sioux to join Le Sueur. He succeeded so well in that journey he transported thither twenty-five or thirty thousand ])oimds of merchandize with which to trade in all the coinitry of the Outawas. This proved to him an unfortunate investment, as he has befu robbed of a part of the goods by the Outagamies. Tlie occiusion of the robbery by one of onr own allies was as follows. 1 speak with a full knowledge of the factsas they occurretl while I was at Michillimackianc. From time immemorial our allies have been at war with the Sioux, abd on my arrival there in conformity to the order of yi. Frontenac, the most able man who has ever come into Canada, I attempted to negotiate a truce between the Sioux and all om- allies. Succeeding in this negotiation I took the occasion to turn their arms against the Iroquois with whom we were then at war, and soon after I effected a treaty of peace between the Sioux and the French and theirallieswiiich lasted two years.

"At the end of tha time the SioiLX came, in great numbers, to the villages of the iliamis, under i)retense of ratifying the treaty. They were well received by the Miamis. and. after spending several days in their villages, 'departed, apparently perfectly satisfied with their good reception, as they certainly had every reason to be.

" The JSIiamis, believing them already far distant, slept quietly; but the Sioux, who had premeditated the attack, retiu-ned the same night to the principal village of the Miamis, where most of the tribe were congregated, and, taking them by surprise, slaughtered nearly three thousandC:') and put the rest to fiight.. *

"This perfectly infuriated all tne nations. They came with their complaints, liegging me to join with tliem and exterminate the Sioux. But the war we then had on our hands did not permit it, so it became necessary to play the orator in a long harangue. In conclusion I advised them to ' weep their dead, and wrap them up, and leave them to sleep coldly till the day of vengeance should come;' telling them we must sweep the land on this side of the Iroquois, as it was necessary to extinguish even their memory, after which the allied tribes could more easily avenge the atrocious deed that the Sioux had just committed uiion them. In short, I managed them so wellthat the affair was settled in the manner that I proposed.

"But the twenty-five permits still existed, and the cupidity of the French induced them to go among the Sioux to trade for beaver. Our allies complained bitterly of this, sa\ing it was injust- ice to them, as tbey had taken up arms in our quarrel against tlie Iroquois, while the French traders were carrying munitions of war to tlie Sioux to enable them to kiU the rest of our allies as they had the Miamis.

" I immediately informed M. Frontenac, and M. Champigny having read tlie communication, and commanded that an ordinance be publ ished at Montreal forbidding the traders to go into the country of the Sioux for the purpose of traffic under penalty of a thousand francs fine, the confiscation of the goods, and other arbitrary penalties. The ordinance was sent to me and faithfully executed. The same year [1699] I descended to Quebec, having asked to be relieved. Since that time, in spite of this prohibition, the French have continued to trade with the Sioux, but not without being subject to affronts and indignities from our allies themselves which bring dishonor on the French name. * * * I do notconsider it best any longer to allow the traders to carry on commerce with the Sioux, under any pretext whatever, especially as M. Boudor has just been robbed by the Fox nation, and M. Jucheraux has given a thousand crowns, in goods, for the right of passage through the country of the allies to his habitation.

" The allies say that Le Sueur has gone to the Sioux on the Mississippi; that they are resolved to oppose him, and if he offers any resistance they will not be answerable for the consequences. It would be well, therefore, to give Le Sueur warning by the Governor of Mississippi.

" The Sauteurs [Chippeways] being friendly with the Sioux wished to give passage through their country to M. Boudor and others, permitting them to carry arms and other munitions of war to this nation; but the other nations being opposed to it, differences have arisen betvsreen them which have resulted in the roljbery of M. Boudor. This has given occasion to the Sautem's to make an outbreak upon the Sacs and Foxes, killing thirty or forty of them. So there is war among the people."

Be'EsUbhshineut of Mackinaw. - Sieur do Louvigny at Mackinaw. - De Lignery at Mackinaw.- Louvigny Attacks the Foxes. - Du Luth's Post Bcoccupied. - Saint Pierre at 1a Poiuto on Lake Superior.- Preparations for a Jesuit Mission amoni; the Sioux. - Ia Perriere Boucher's Expedition to Lake Pepin. - Dc Conor and Guiguos, Jesuit Missionaries. - Visit to Foxes and Winnebagoes. - Wisconsin River Described. - Fort Beauharnuis Built.- Fireworks Displayed. - High Water at Lake Pepin. - De Conor Visits Mackinaw. - Boucherville, Montbrun and Guiguas Captured by Indians. - Montbrun's Escape. - Boucherville's Presents to Indians. - Exaggerated Account of Father Guiguas' Capture. - liispatches (.'oncerning Fort Beauhamois. - Sicur de la Jeineraye. - Saint Pierre at Fort Beauharnois. - Trouble between Sioux and Foxes - Sioux Visit Queliec. - De Lusignan Visits tlie Sioux Country. - Saint Pierre Noticed in the Travels of Jonathan Carver and Lieutenant Pike.

After the Fox Indians drove away Le Sueur's men, in 1702, from the ^Slakalito, or Blue Earth river, t\w mercliants of :si<)iitreal and Quebec did not encourage trade with the tribes beyond :Mac'liinaw.

D'Aigreult, a French officer, sent to inspect that post, in the summer of 1708, reported tliat he arrived there, on the 19th of August, and found tliere but fourteen or fifteen Frenchmen. He also wrote: " Since tliere are now onlj' a few wanderers at Micliilimaclcinack, the greater part of the furs of tlie savages of the north goes to the English trading posts on Hudson's Bay. The Outawas are unable to make this trade by themselves, because the northern savages are timid, and will not come near them, as they have often been plundered. It is, therefore, necessary that the French be allowed to seek these northern tribes at the mouth of theii- own river, which empties into Lake Superior."

Louis de la Porte, the Sieur De Louvigny, in 1690, accompanied by Nicholas Perrot, with a detachment of one hundred and seventy Canadians and Indians, came to ISIackinaw, jind until 1094 was in command, when lie was recalled.

In 1712, Father Joseph J. ISIarest the Jesuit missionary wrote, " If this country ever needs M. Louvigny it is now ; the savages say it is absolutely necessary that he should come for the safety of the country, to unite the tribes and to defend tliose wliom the war has caused to return to Michiliniaciiiac. ******

I do not know wliat course the Pottawatomies will take, nor even wliat course they will pursue who are here, if M. Louvigny does not come, especially if the Foxes were to attack them or us."

The next July, M. Lignery urged upon the authorities the establishment of a garrison of trained soldiers at Mackinaw, and the Intendant of Canada wrote to the King of France :

" Michilimackinac might be re-established, without expense to his Jilajesty, either by surrendering the trade of the post to such individuals as will obligate themselves to pay all the expenses of tw^enty-two soldiers and two officers; to furnish munitions of war for the defense of the fort, and to make presents to the savages.

Or the expenses of the post might be paid by the sale of permits, if the King should not tlihik proper to grant an exclusive commerce. It is absolutely necessary to know the -wishes of tlie King concerning these two propositions ; and as M. Lignery is at Michilimackinac, it will not be any greater injury to the colony to defer the re-estabment of this post, than it has been for eight or ten years past."

The war with England ensued, and in April. 1713, the treaty of Utrecht was ratified. Fniiice liad now more leisure to attend to the Inilian tribes of the "West.

Early in 1714, ^Mackinaw was re-occupied, and on the fourteenth of March, 1716, an expedition under Lieutenant Lou-vigny, left Quebec. His arrival at Mackinaw, where he had beeU long expected, gave confidence to the voyageurs, and friendly Indians, and with a force of eight hundred men, he proceeded against the Foxes in Wisconsin. He brought with him two pieces of cannon and a grenade mortar, and besieged the fort of the Fo.xes, wliich he stated contained five Inuidred warriors, and three thousand men, a declaration which can scarcely be credited. After

Desibe For A Nobiuern Route Jo The Pacific

The paddles of the bircli bark canoes and the gay songs of the voyageiirs now began to be heard once more on the waters of Lake Superior and its tributaries. In 1717, tlie post erected by Du Luth, on Lake Superior near the northern boundary of ilinnesota, was re-occnpied by Lt. llobertel de la None.

In view of the troubles among the tribes of the northwest, in the month of September, 1718, Captain St. Pierre, who had great mfluence with the Indians of Wisconsin and Minnesota, was sent with Ensign Linctot and some soldiers to re-occupy La Pointe on Lake Superior, now Bayfield, in the northwestern part of Wisconsin. The chiefs of the baud there, and at Keweenaw, had threatened, war against the Foxes, who had killed some of their nu mber.

When the Jesuit Charlevoix returned to France after an examination of the resources of Canada and Louisiana, he urged that an attempt should be made to reacli the Pacific Ocean by an inland route, and suggested that an expedition should proceed from the mouth of the Missouri and follow that stream, or that a post should be established among the Sioux which should be the point of departure. The latter was accepted, and in 1722 an allowance was made by the French Government, of twelve hundred Uvres, for two Jesuit missionaries to accompany those who should establish the new post. D'Avagour, Superintendent of Missions, in May, 1723, requested the authorities to grant a separate canoe for the conveyance of the goods of the proposed mission, and as it was necessary to send a commandant to persuade the Indians to receive the missionaries, he recommended Sieur Pachot, an officer of experience.

A dispatch from Canada to the French government, dated October 14, 1723, amiounced that Father de la Chasse, Superior of the Jesuits, expected that, the next spring, Father Guymoneau, and another missionary from Paris, would go to the Sioux, but that they had been hindered by the Sioux a few months before kiUing seven Frenchmen, on their way to Louisiana. The aged Jesuit, Joseph J. Marest, who had been on Lake Pepin m 1089 with Perrot, and was now in Montreal, said that it was the wandering Sioux who

On the seventh of June, 1726, peace was concluded by De Lignery with the Sauks, Foxes, and AVinnebagoes at Green Bay; and Linctot, who had succeeded Saint Pierre m command at La Pointe, was ordered, by presents and the promise of a missionary, to endeavor to detach the Dahkotahs from their alliance with the Foxes. At this time Linctot made arrangements for peace between the Ojibways and Dahkotas, and sent tw^o Frenchmen to dwell in the villages of the latter, with a promise that, if they ceased to figlit the Ojibways, they should have regular trade, and a "black robe" reside in their country.

Traders and missionaries now began to prepare for visitmg the Sioux, and in the spring of 1727 the Governor of Canada wrote that the fathers, appointed for the Sioux mission, desired a case of mathematical instruments, a universal astro nomic dial, a spirit level, chain and stakes, and a telescope of six or seven feet tube.

On the sixteenth of June, 1727, the expedition for the Sioux country left Montreal in charge of the Sieur de la Perriere who was son of the distinguished and respected Canadian, Pierre Boucher, the Governor of Three Rivers.

La Perriere had .served in aSTewfoimdland and been associated with Hertel de Rouville in raids into New England, and gained an unenviable notoriety as the leader of the savages, while Rouville led the French in attacks upon towns like Haverhill, Massachusetts, where tlie Indians exultuigly killed the Puritan pastor, scalped his loving wife, and dashed out his infant's brams against a rock. He was accompanied by his brother and other relatives. Two Jesuit fathers, De Gonor and Pierre Michel Guignas, were also of the party.

In Shea's " Early French Voyages" there was printed, for the first time, a letter from Father Guignas, from the Brevoort manuscripts, written on May 29, 1728, at Fort Beauharnois, on Lake Pepin, which contains facts of much interest.

He writes: " The Scioux convoy left the end of Montreal Island on the 16th of the month of Jime last year, at 11 a. m., and reached Michili- mackinac the 22d of the month of July. This post is two hundred and fift)'-one leagues from Itlontreal, almost due west, at 45 degrees 46 minutes north latitude.

" We spent the rest of the month at this post, in the hope of receiving from day to day some news from Montreal, and in the design of strengthening ourselves against the alleged extreme difficulties of getting a free passage through the Foxes. At last, .seeing nothing, we .set out on our march, the first of the month of August, and. after seventy-three leagues quite pleasant sail along the northerly side of Lake Michigan, running to the southeast, we reached the Bay [Green] on the 8th of the same month, at 5:30 p. 51. This post is at 44 degrees 43 minutes north latitude.

""We stopped there Iavo days, and on the 11th in the morning, we embarked, in a very great impatience to reach the Foxes. On the third day after our departure from the bay, (juite late in the afternoon, in fact somewhat in tlie night, the chiefs of the Puans [Winnebagoes] came out three leagues from their village to meet the French, with their peace calumets and some bear meat as a refresliment, and the next day we were received by that small nation, amid several discharges of a few guns, and with great demonstrations.

" They asked us with so good a grace to do them the honor to stay some time with them tliat we granted them the rest of the day from noon, and the following day. Tliere may be in all the village, sixty to eighty men, but all tlie men and women of very tall stature, and well made. They are on the bank of a very pretty little lake, in a most agreeable spot for its situation and the goodness of the soil, nineteen leagues from the bay and eight leagues from the Foxes.

" Early the next morning, the loth of the montli of August, the convoy preferred to continue its route, with quite pleasant weather, but a storm coming on in the afternoon, we arrived quite wet, still in the rain, at the --al)ins of tlie Foxes, a nation so much dreaded, and really so little to be dreaded. From all that we could see, it is composed of two hundred men at most, but there is a perfect hive of children, especially boys from ten to fourteen years old, well formed.

'- They are cabined on a little eminence on the bank of a small river that bears their name, extremely tortuous or wmding, so that you are constantly boxing the compass. Yet it is apparently quite wide, with a cliain of hills on both sides, but there is only one miserable little channel amid this extent of apparent bed, which is a kind of marsh full of rushes and wild rice of almost impenetrable thickness. They have nothing but mere bark cabins, without any kind of pahsade or other fortification. As soon as the French canoes touched their sliore they ran do«ii with their peace calumets, liglited in spite of the rain, and all smoked.

" "We stayed among them the rest of this day, and all the next, to know wliat were their designs and ideas as to the French post among the Sioux. The Sieur Reaume, interpreter of Indian languages at the Bay, acted efficiently there, and with devotion to tlie King's service. Even if my testimony, Sii', should be deemed not impartial, I must have the honor to tell you that Rev. Father Chardon, an old missionary, was of very great assistance there, and the presence of three missionaries reassured these cut-throats and assassins of the French more than all the speeches of the best orators could have done.

" A general council was convened in one of the cabins, they were addressed in decided friendly terms, and they replied in the same way. A small present was made to tliem. On tlieir side they gave some quite handsome dishes, lined with dry meat.

On the following Simday, 17th of the month of August, very early in the morning, Fatlier Chardon set out, with Sieur Reaume, to return to the Bay, and the Sioux expedition, greatly rejoiced to have so easily got over this difficulty, which had everywhere been represented as so insurmountable, got uiider way to endeavor to reach its journey's end.

" Never was navigation more tedious than what we subsequently made from uncertainty as to our course. No one knew it, and we got astray every moment on water and on land for want of a guide and pilots. ^Ve kept on, as it were feeling our way for eight days, for it was only on the ninth, about three o'clo'ck p. m., that we arrived, by accident, believing ourselves stiil far off, at tlie portage of the Ouisconsin, which is forty-five leagues from tlie Foxes, counthig ail the twists and turns of this abominable river.

Situation And Description Of Fort Beauharnois

" The Ouisi'onsin is quite a handsome river, but far below what we had been told, apparently, as those who gave the description of it in Canada saw it only in the high waters of spring. It is a shallow river on a bed of quicksand, which forms bars almi;st everywhere, and these often change place. Its shores are either steep, Ijare mountains or low points wi th sandy base. Its course is from northeast to southwest. From the portage to its mouth in the Mississippi, I estimated thirty-eight leagues. The portage is at 43 deg. 2-1 min. north latitude.

" The Mississippi from the mouth of the Ouisconshi ascending, goes northwest. This beautiful river extends between two chains of high, bare and very sterile mountains, constantly a league, three-quarters of a league, or where it is narrowest, half a league apart. Its centre is occupied by a chain of well wooded islands, so that regarding from the heights above, you would thmk you saw an endless valley watered on the right and left by two large rivers ; sometimes, too, you could discern no river. These islands are overflowed every year, and would be adapted to raising rice. Fifty-eight leagues from the mouth of the Ouisconsin, accordmg to my calculation, ascending the Mississippi, is Lake Pepin, which is nothmg else but the river itself, destitute of islands at that point, where it may be half a league wide. This river, in what I traversed of it, is shallow, and has shoals in several places, because its bed is moving sands, like that of the Ouisconsm.

"On the 17th of September, 1727, at noon, we reached this lake, which had been chosen as the bourne of our voyage. We planted ourselves on the shore about the middle of the north side, on a low point, where the soil is excellent. The wood is very dense there, but is already thumed in consequence of the rigor and length of the winter, which has been severe for the climate, for we are here on the parallel of 43 deg. 41 min. It is true that the difference of the winter is great compared to that of Quebec and Montreal, for all that some poor judges say.

"From the day after our landing we put our axes to the wood: on the fourth day following the fort v:as entirely finished. It is a square plat of one hundred feet, surrounded by pickets twelve feet long, with two good bastions. For so small a space there are large buildings quite distinct and not huddled togetlier, each thirty, thirty-eight and twenty-five feet long by sixteen feet wide.

" All would go well there if the spot were not inundated, but this year [1728], on the 15th of the month of April, we were obliged to camp out, and tlie water ascended to the height of two feet and eight inches in the houses, and it is idle to say that it was the quantity of snow that fell tills year. The snow in the vicinity had melted long before, and there was only a foot and a half from the 8th of February to the IStli of March; you could not use snow-shoes.

" I have great reason to think that this spot is inundated more or less every year; I have always thought so, but they were not obliged to believe me, as old people who said that they had lived in this region fifteen or twenty years declared that it was never overflowed. AVe could not enter our much-devastated houses until the 30th of April, and the disorder is even now scarcely repaired.

" Before the end of October [1727] all the houses were finished and furnished, and each one found himself tranquilly lodged at home. They then thought only of going out to explore the hills and rivers and to see those herds of all lands of deer of which they tell such stories in Canada. They must have retired, or diminished greatly, since the time the old voyageurs left the comitry; they are no longer in such great numbers, and are killed with difliculty.

"After beatmg the field, for some time, all reassembled at the fort, and thought of enjoying a little the fruit of their labors. On the 4th of November we did not forget it was the General's birthday. Mass was said for him [Beauharnois, Governor-General of Canada] in the morning, and they were well disposed to celebrate the day in tlie evening, but the tardmess of the pyrotechnists and the inconstancy of the weather caused them to postpone the celebration to the 14th of the same month, when they set off some very fine rockets and made the air rmg with an hundred shouts of Vive k Roy! and Vive Charles de Beauharnois! It was on this occasion that the wine of the Sioux was broached; it was par eoo-

-' What contributed much to the amusement, was the terror of some cabins of Indians, who were at the time around the fort. AVhen these poor people saw the fireworks in the air, and the stars fall from heaven, the women and children began to take flight, and the most courageous of the men to cry mercy, and implore ns very earnestly to stop the surprising pla\' of that wonderful medicine.

" As soon as we arrived among them, they assembled, in a few days, around the French fort to the number of ninety-five cal)ins. which might make in all one hundred and fifty men; for there axe at most two men in their portable cabins of dressed skins, and in many there is only oue_ This is all we have seen except a band of about sixty men, who came on the 26th of the month of February, who were of those nations called Sioux of the Prairies.

" At the end of November, the Indians set out for theii- winter quarters. They do not, indeed, go far, and we saw some of them all through the winter; but from the second of the month of April last, when some cabins repassed here to go in search of them, [lie] sought them in vain, during a week, for more than sixty leagues of the Mississippi. He [La PerriereV] arrived yesterday without any tidings of them.

" Although I said above, that the Sioux were alarmed at the rockets, which they took for new phenomena, it must not be supposed from that they were less intelligent than other Indians we know. They seem to me more so ; at least they are much gayer and open, apparently, and far more dextrous thieves, great dancers, and great medicine men. The men are almost all large and well made, Init the women are very ugly and disgusting, which does not, however, check debauchery among them, and is perhaps an effect of it."

In the summer of 172.S the Jesuit De Gonor left the fort on Lake Pepin, and, by way of Mackinaw, returned to Canada. The Foxes had now become very troublesome, and De Lignery and Beaujeu marched against their stronghold, to find they had retreated to the Mississippi Biver.

eleven in all. left Fort Pepui to go to Canada, by way of the Illinois River. They were captured by the Mascoutens and Kickapoos. ami detained at the river " Au Ba-iif,"" which st;;cam was probably the one mentioned by Le Sueur as twentytwo leagues above the Illinois River, although the sjmie name was g'ven liy Ilenneiuu to the Chippewa River, just below Lake Pepin. They were held as prisoners, with the view of delivering them to the Foxes. The iiight Viefore the delivery the .Sieur ^lontbrun and liis l)rother and another Frenchman escaped. !Montbnm, leaving his sick brother in the Illinois country, journeyed to Canada and informed the authorities.

Boucherville and Guignas reinaiueil prisoners for several months, and the former did not reach Detroit until .June. 1729, The account of expenditures made during his captivity is interesting as showing the value of merchandize at that time. It reads as follows:

" ;Memi>randuni of the goods that Monsieur de Boucherville was ol)liged to furnish in the service of the King, from the time of his detention among the Kickapoos, on the 12th of October, 172s. until his return to Detroit, in the year 1729, in the month of June. On arriving at the Kickapoo village, he made a present to tlie young men to secure their opposition to some evil minded' old warriors - Two barrels of powder, each fifty pounds

Four coats, braided, at twenty francs. . . 80 fr. Six dozen knives at foiu- francs the dozen 24 fr. Four hinidred flints, one hundred gimworms, two hundred ramnids and one

After the Kickapoos refused to deliver them to the Renards [Foxes] they wished some favors, and I was obliged to give them the following which would allow them to weep over and cover their dead:

The Kenards having betrayed and killed their brothers, the Kickapoos, I seized the favorable opportunity, and to encourage the latter to avenge themselves, I gave - Twenty-five poundsof powder, @ 30sous 37f.l()s.

In departing from tlie Kikapoos \illage, I gave them the rest of the goods for their good treatment, estimated at ... . SOf In a letter, written by a priest, at Xew Orleans, on July 12, 1730, is the followmg exaggerated account of the capture of Father Guignas: " We always felt a distrust of the Fox Indians, although they did not longer dare to undertake anything, since Father Guignas has detached from their alliance the tribes of the Kikapous and Maskoutins. You luiow, my Reverend Father, that, being in

Canada, he had the courage to penetrate even to the Sioux near the sources of the Mississippi, at the distance of eight hundred leagues from New Orleans and five hundi'ed from Quebec. Obliged to abandon this important mission by the unfortunate result of the enterprise against the Foxes, he descended the river to repair to the Illinois. On the 15th of October in the year 1728 he was arrested when half way by the Kickapous and Maskoutins. For four months he was a captive among the Indians, where he had much to suffer and everything to fear. The time at last came when he was to be burned alive, when he was adopted by an old man whose family saved his life and procured his liberty.

" Our missionaries who are among the Illinois were no sooner acquainted with the situation than they procured him all the alleviation they were able. Everything which he received he employed to conciUate the Indians, and succeeded to the extent of engaging them to conduct him to the ininois to make peace with the French and Indians of this region. Seven or eight months after this peace was concluded, the Maskoutins and Kikapous returned again to the Illinois coimtry, and took back Father Guignas to spend the winter, from whence, in all probability, he will return to Canada."

In dispatches sent to France, in October, 1729, by the Canadian government, the following reference is made to Fort Beauharnois : " They agree that the fort built among the Scioux, on the border of Lake Pepin, appears to be badly situated on account of the freshets, but the Indians assure that the waters rose higher in 1728 than it ever did before. When Sieur de Laperriere located it at that place it was on the assurance of the Indians that the waters did not rise so high." In reference to the absence of Indians, is the following :

" It is very true that these Indians did leave shortly after on a hunting excursion, as they are in the hal)it of doing, for their own support and that of their families, who have only that means of livelihood, as they do not cultivate the soil at all. M. de Beauharnois has just been informed that their absence was occasioned only by having fallen in while hunting with a number of prairie Scioux, by whom they were invited to occompany them on a war expedition against the MahaSj

" The interests of religion, of the service, and of the colony, are involved in the maintenance of this establishment, which has been the more necessary as there is no doubt but the Foxes, when routed, would have found an asylum among the Scicux had not the French been settled there, and the docility and submission manifested by the Foxes can not be attributed to any cause except the attention entertained by the Scioux for the French, and the offers which the former made the latter, of which the Foxes were fully cognisant.

" It is necessary to retain the Scioux in these favoraVile dispositions, in order to keep the Foxes in check and counteract the measures they might adopt to gain over the Scioux, who will invariably reject their propositions so long as the French remain in the country, and their trading post shall continue there. But, despite all these advantages and the importance of preserving that establishment, JI. de Beauharnois cannot take any steps imtil he has news of the French who asked his permission this summer to go up there with a canoe load of goods, and until assm-ed that those who wintered there lia\e not dismantled the fort, and that the Scioux continue in the same sentiments. Besides, it does not seem very easy, in the present conjuncture, to maintain that post unless there is a solid peace with the Foxes; on the other hand, the greatest portion of the traders, who applied in 1727 for the establishment of that post, have wthdrawn, and will not send thither any more, as the rupture with the Foxes, through whose country it is necessary to pass in order to reach tlie Scioux in canoe, has led them to abandon the idea. But the one and the other case might be remedied. The Foxes will, in all probability, come or send next year to sue for peace; therefore, if it be granted to them on advantageous conditions, there need be no apprehension when going to the Sioux, and another company could be formed, less numerous than the first, through whom, or some responsilile merchants able to afford the outfit, a new treaty could be made, whereby these difficulties woidd be .soon obviated. One only trouble remains, and that is, to send a commanding and sul>officer, and some soldiers, up there, which are absolutely necessary for the maintenance of good order at that post; the missionaries would not go there without a commandant. This article, which regards the service, and the expense of which must be on his majesty's accoimt, obliges them to apply for orders. They will, as far as lies in their power, induce the traders to meet that expense, which will possibly amount to lOoo livres or 1500 livres a year for the commandant, and in proportion for the officer luider him; but, as in the beginning of an establishment the exi)enses exceed the profits, it is improbable that any company of merchants will assume the outlay, and in this case they demand orders on this point, as well as his majesty's opinion as to the necessity of preserving so useful a post, and a nation which has already afEorded proofs of its fidelity and attachment.

" These orders could be sent them by the way of lie Royale, or by the first merchantmen that wiU sail for Quebec. The time required to receive intelUgence of the occurrences in the Scioux country, will admit of their waitmg for these orders before douig anything."'

Sieur de la Jemeraye, a relative of Sieur de la Periiere Boucher, with a few French, during the troubles remained in the Sioux country. After peace was established with the Foxes, Legardeur Saint Pierre was in comman<l at Fort Beauharnois, and Father Guignas again attempted to estabUsh a Sioux mission. In a communication dated 12th of October, 1736, by the Canadian authorities is the followmg: "In regard to the Scioux, Samt Pierre, who commanded at that post, and Father Guignas, the missionary, have written to Sieur de Beauharnois on the tenth and eleventh of last April, that these Indians a.\ypeared well intentioned toward the French, and had no other fear than that of being abandoned by them. Sieur de Beauharnois annexes an extract of these letters, and although the Scioux seem very friendly, the resultouly can tell whether this fideUty is to be absolutely depended upon, for the imrestrauied and mconsistent spirit which composes the Indian character may easily change it. They have not come over this summer as yet, but M. de la St. Pierre is to get them to do so next year, and to have an eye on their proceedings."

De Lusignan Visits The Sioux Countby

XV. dated Versailles, May 10th, 1737, was in these words : " As respects the Seioux, according to what tlie commandant and missionary at that post have written to Sieur de Beauluirnois relative to the disposition of these Indians, nothing appears to be wanting on that point.

" But their delay in coming down to Montreal since the time they have promised to do so, must render their sentiments somewhat suspected, and nothing but facts can determine whether their fidelity can be absolutely relied on. But what must still further increase the uneasiness to be entertained in their regard is the attack on the convoy of M. de Verandrie, especially if this officer has adopted the course he had informed tlie Marquis de Beauharnois he should take to have revenge therefor."

The particulars of the attack alluded to will be found in the next chapter. Soon after this the Foxes again became troublesome, and the post on Lake Pepui was for a time abandoned by the French. A dispatch in 1741 uses this language : " The Marquis de ISeauharuois' opinion respecting the war agamst the Foxes, has been the more readily approved liy the Baron de Longeuil, Messieurs De la Chassaigne, La Corne, de Lignery, LaNoue, and Duplessis - Fabert, whom he had assembled at his house, as it appears from all the letters that the C(-)unt has wril n for several years, that he has nothing so much at heart as the destruction of that Indian nation, which can not be prevailed on by the presents and the good treatment of the French, to live in peace, notwithstandmg all its promises.

" Besides, it is notorious that the Foxes have a secret understandmg with the Iroquois, to secure a retreat among the latter, in case they be obliged to abandon their villages. They have one already secured among the Sioux of the prairies, with whom they are allied; so that, shoidd they be advised beforehand of the design of the French to wage war against them, it would be easy for them to retire to the one or the other before their passage could be intersected or themselves attacked in their villages.''

In the summer of 17-13, a deputation of the Sioux came down to Quebec, to ask that trade might be resumed. Three years after this, four Sioux chiefs came to Quebec, and asked that a commandant might be sent to Fort Beauharnois ; which was not granted.

During the winter of 1745-6, De Lusignan visited the Sioux country, ordered by the government to hunt up the "cuureurs des bois," and witlulraw them from the country. They started to retiu'n with him, but learning that they would be arrested at Mackinaw, for violation of law, they ran away. While at the villages of the Sioux of the lakes and plains, the chiefs brought to this officer nineteen of their young men, bound with cords, who had killed three Frenchmen, at the Illinois. AVliile he remained with them, they made peace with the Ojibways of La Pointe, with whom they had been at war for some time. On his return, four chiefs accompanied him to Montreal, to solicit pardon for their young braves.

Reminiscences of St. Pierre's residence at Lake Pepin were long presei-ved. Carver, in 1766, "observed the ruins of a French factory, where, it is said, Captain St. Pierre resided, and carried on a great trade with the Nadouessies before the reduction of Canada."

Pike, in 1805, wrote in his journal: " Just below Pt. Le Sable, the French, who had driven the Uenards [Foxes] from Wisconsin, and chased them up the Mississippi, built a stockade on this lake, as a barrier against the savages. It became a noted factory for the Sioux."