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THE 


LAST  fre:^^ch  post 


THE  VALLEY  OF  THE  LITER  JHSSISSII'PI 


NEAR  FRONTENAC,  MINN.; 


WITH  NOTICES   OF  ITS   COMMANDANTS. 


EDWARD  D.   NEILL. 


^'^^^^i,^ 


SAINT  PAUL,  MINN.: 
The  Pionkkr  Press  Companv. 

1887. 


"They  who  make  researches  into  an- 
tiquity may  be  said  to  pass  often  through 
many  dark  lobbies  and  dusky  places,  be- 
fore they  come  to  the  Aula  lueia,  the  great 
hall  of  light;  they  must  repair  to  old 
archives,  and  peruse  many  moulded  and 
moth-eaten  records,  and  so  bring  light  as  it 
were  from  darkness,  to  inform  the  present 
world  what  the  former  did,  and  make  us 
see  truth  through  our  ancestors'  eyes." — 
Howell's  "Londinopolis,^^  London,  A.  D. 
1657. 


FRENCH  POST, 

Lake  Pepin,  Minnesota. 


The  recent  discovery  of  two  cannon  balls,  one  of  six-pound  and 
the  other  of  four-pound  calibre,  at  Frontenac  station,  near  Lake 
Pepin,  Minn.,  renders  desirable  a  notice  of  the  last  French  establish- 
ment in  the  valley  of  the  upper  Mississippi  river. 

The    department   of  trade    called    '•  La   Baye "     included    all    the 
French  posts  between  Green  Bay  and  the  Falls  of  Saint  Anthony. 
Bellin,  the  distinojuished  geographer  in  "Eemarques  sur  la  carte  do 
[   TAmeriqueSeptentrionale,"  published  in  1755,  at  Paris,  refers  to  those 
on  the  shores  of  the  river  Mississippi  and  its  tributaries,  and  men- 
tions "Fort  St.  Nichoks  at  the  mouth  of  the  Wisconsin;"  a  small 
fort  at  the  entrance  of  Lake  Pepin;  one  above,  on  the  opposite  side 
of  the  lake;  and  another  on  the  largest  isle  just  above  the  lake,  built 
in   1695,  by  Le  Sueur.     Nicholas   Perrot,  when   commandant  of  the 
■La  Baye".  district,  in  the  autumn  of  1685,  ascended  the  Mississippi 
,   and  passed  the  winter  at  "Montague  qui  tremps  dans  I'cau,"  just  be- 
l  yond  Black  river,  according  to  Franquelin's  map,  and  subsequent!}' 
J  built  the  fort  on  the  east  side  of  the  lake,  on  the  same  map  marked 
j  "Fort  St.  Antoine."     In    1689  Le  Sueur  was  one  of  his  associates  at 
I  Lake  Pepin,  and  Boisguillot,  for  a  time  in  charge  at  Mackinaw,  then 
;  at  the  post  on  the  Mississippi  just  above  the  mouth  of  the  Wisconsin. 
The  tirst  calling  of  the  lake,  as  Pepin  appears  in  tbe  journal  of  Le 
Sueur  in  1700,  and  was  perhaps  given  to  the  sheet  of  water  in  com- 
pliment to  Monsieur  Pepin^  who,  in  1679,  vvas  with  Du  Luth  on  the 
shores  of  Lake  Superior,  or  some  other  member  of  that  Canadian 
family. 

1.  Stephen  Pepin,  the  Sieiir  de  hi  Fond,  married  .^[a^ie  Boucher,  theaiint  of  theSieurde  la 
I'erriere. 


After  the  year  1703,  owing  to  the  hostility  of  the  Eenards  (Fox 
Indians),  the  French  abandoned  all  their  existing  posts  in  the  "La 
Baye"  district  of  the  upper  Mississippi,  and,  with  the  exception  of 
a  few  lawless  voyageurs  left  the  country.  B}'  the  treaty  of  Utrecht, 
in  1713,  France  yielded  to  Great  Britain  all  the  country-  around  Hud- 
son's ba}',  and  after  this  the  former  power  turned  its  attention  to  the 
region  west  of  Lake  Superior  and  the  discovery  of  a  route  to  the 
Western  ocean.  In  July,  1717,  Lieutenant  La  Noue'  was  ordered  to 
estal)]isli  a  post  at  the  extremity  of  Lake  Superior,  and  to  explore 
the  chain  of  lakes  westward,  and  Captain  Paul  Saint  Pierre'-  in 
1718,  was  ordered  to  Chagouaniigon  hay  and  Lake  Superior.  J*a- 
chot,  an  ensign,  at  the  same  time  was  sent  to  the  Sioux  to  persmule 
them  to  make  peace  with  the  Cristinaux.  Soon  after  Pachot's  return 
to  Saint  Pierre's  post  at  Chagouamigon,  the  Sioux  attacked  the  In- 
<lians  near  Kamanistigouya'  and  killed  seventeen,  which  so  alarmed 
the  Saulteurs  (Ojibwa\'s)  of  Chagouan)igon  bay  that  they  began  to 
prepare  to  go  to  war  against  the  Sioux.  Saint  Pierre  directed  the 
officers,  Pachot  and  Ijinctot,  to  visit  the  Sioux  and  censure  them  for 
their  hostility  to  the  Cristinaux,  but  they  found  that  they  had 
formed  an  alliance  with  the  Renards  (Foxes),  and  were  implacable. 

Pachot  in  a  letter  to  the  French  government,  dated  Quebec.  Oct. 
27,  1722,  suggested  that  as  the  Sioux  were  hostile  to  the  Lake  Supe- 
rior tribes,  a  trading  post  for  their  benefit  should  be  established  near 
the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony,  and  that  the  officer  of  the  post  Avith  the 
traders'  canoes  should  first  proceed  to  Chagouamigon  bay,  and  then 
to  the  Neouissakouete  (Bois  Brule)  river.  At  that  period  the  "Outa- 
batonha,"  or  "Sciouxof  the  Eivers,"  dwelt  in  the  valle}'  of  the  Sainl 
Croix  river,  fit'teen  leagues  below  Snake  river.  Charlevoix,  a  leai'ned 
Jesuit,  in  1721,  under  the  auspices  of  the  French  government,  visited 
Canada  and  Louisiana,  and  upon  his  return  urged  the  establishment 
of  a  trading  ])ost  and  sending  two  missionaries  among  the  Sioux  to 
learn  the  language,  in  the  belief  that  through  their  country  a  routi' 
to  the  Pacific  ocean  could  be  discovered.    ILs  suggestions  were  favoi-- 


1.  Killed  in  1734,  by  a  band  of  Irociuois. 

2.  Captain  Paul  Lcgardeur,  Saint  Pierre  was  the  son  of  J.  Baptiste  Legardeiir,  who  on  tlu' 
eleventh  of  .Tuly,  10r>(;,  married  Marguerite,  the  daughter  of  the  brave  explorer,  Jean  Nicolet,  tin 
first  white  man  who  in  lG;)4-.5  visited  (ireCn  Bay  and  vicinity  in  Wisconsin. 

3.  Also  written  (ianianetygoya  and  Kamanistignya.  Baraga  in  his  Ojibway  dictionary  de- 
fines Ningitawiligweiag  as  the  place  wliere  a  river  divides  into  several  branches. 


ably  considered  but  delay  ensued  in  carrying  out  the  project,  by  tiie 
hostility  of  the  Rcnards,  Avho  had  killed  several  Frenchmen,  and  also 
refused  to  allow  traders  to  pass  to  the  Sioux  through  their  country. 
De  Lignery  was  therefore  dispatched,  in  172G,  to  confer  with  the 
tribes  near  Crreen  Bay,  and  on  the  seventh  of  .Tune  made  a  treaty 
with  the  chiefs  of  the  Eenards  (Foxes),  Sakis  (Sauks)  and  Puans 
(Winnebtigoes). 

The  way  now  being  opened,  a  company  to  trade  with  the  Sioux  was 
formed,  and  among  the  associates  were  Jean  Baptiste  Boucher,  the 
Sieur  de  Montbrun,  Francois  Boucher  de  Montbrun,  and  Francois 
Campeau.  Campeau  was  a  blacksmith  and  armorer  and  in  the  arti- 
cles of  agreement  it  was  provided  that  upon  the  payment  of  four 
hundred  livres  in  coin  or  peltries  he  could  work  for  an}'  who  might 
wish  his  services. 

The  commandant  appointed  to  conduct  the  expedition  was  Rene 
Boucher,  the  Sieur  de  la  Perriere, '  and  a  i-elative  of  two  of  the  trading 
company.  The  chaplains  attached  were  the  Jesuits  Louis  Ignatius 
Guignas  and  De  Gonor.  The}'  left  Montreal  on  the  sixteenth  of  June, 
1727,  and  on  the  seventeenth  of  September  reached  the  enlargement 
of  the  Mississippi,  the  picturesque  Lake  Pepin.  Lnmediately  Bene 
Boucher,  the  Sieur  de  la  Perriere,  selected  a  site  upon  a  low  point, 
about  the  middle  of  the  lake  shore,  opposite  Maiden's  Rock  and 
ordered  the  erection  of  a  stockade  of  pickets,  each  twelve  feet  in 
length,  forming  a  square  of  one  hundred  feet,  with  two  bastions. 
Within  the  enclosure  was  a  log  house  for  the  commandant,  a  resi- 
dence for  the  missionaries,  and  a  storehouse,^  all  of  which  by  the  last 

].  The  Boucher  family  was  one  of  the  most  distinguished  in  Canada. 
Children  of  Gaspard,  the  immigranl: 
Pierre,  governor  of  Tliree  Rivers. 
Marie,  wife  of  Stephen  Pepin. 
Children  of  Pierre  of  Three  Rivers: 
Pierre,       born  A.  D.  1653. 

Marie,  "         "      165.5  ;  married  Rene  (Mialtier  Varennes. 

Jean,  "         "      1667;  Sieur  Montbrun. 

Rene,  "         "      1668;       "     de  la  Perriere. 

J.  Baptiste,  "         "      1673;       "     de  Niverville. 
Children  of  Rene: 
Tanguay  gives  as  children  of  Rene; 
Ren6,  born  Jan.  10,  16it9. 
Jean  Baptiste,  born  Aug.  10, 1700. 
Francois,  born  July  1-1,  1704. 
2  The  houses  were  all  sixteen  feet  in  width.    One  was  twenly-five  feet, one  thirty  feet,  and  the 
third,  thirty-eight  feet  long. 


6 

of  October  was  completed.  The  tort  was  named  "  Beauharnois,"  in 
compliment  to  the  governor  of  Canada;  and  the  missionaries  called 
their  mission  "St.  Michael  the  Archangel."  Father  Guignas  in  a  let- 
ter from  the  fort  writes:^  -'The  fourth  of  the  month  of  November 
we  did  not  forget  that  it  was  the  Saint's  Day  of  the  general.  The 
holy  mass  was  said  for  him  in  the  morning,  and  the}'  were  well  pre- 
pared to  celebrate  in  the  evening,  but  the  slowness  of  the  pyrotechnists 
and  the  variableness  of  the  weather  led  to  the  postponement  of  the 
celebration  to  the  fourteenth  of  the  same  month,  when  they  shot  off 
some  very  beautiful  rockets,  and  made  the  air  resound  with  a  hun- 
dred shouts  of  'Vive  le  Ro}^'  and  of  'Vive  Charles  de  Beauharnois.' 
*  *  *  *  That  which  contributed  a  great  deal  to  the  merry 
making  was  the  fright  of  some  Indians.  When  these  poor  people 
saw  the  fireworks  in  the  air,  and  the  stars  fall  from  the  sk}',  the 
women  and  children  fled,  and  the  more  courageous  of  the  men  cried 
for  mercy,  and  earnestly  begged  that  we  would  stop  the  astonishing 
play  of  that  terrible  medicine  (medecin)." 

On  the  fifteenth  of  April,  1728,  the  water  rose  so  high  in  the  lake  that 
for  several  weeks  it  was  necessarj^  to  abandon  the  fort.  During  the 
spring  the  commandant  ascended  the  Mississippi,  for  sixty  leagues, 
but  found  no  Sioux,  as  they  had  gone  to  war  against  the  Mahas 
toward  the  Missouri.  The  missionary  De  Conor  left  at  this  time, 
and  when  he  reached  Mackinaw  on  his  way  to  Montreal,  found  there 
Pierre  Gualtier  Varennes,'  the  Sieur  Verendrye  (Vcrandrie),  who  had 
been  in  command  at  Lake  Nepigon  and  desired  to  seek  for  the  west- 
ern ocean  by  way  of  Lake  Winnipeg. 

A  year  after  the  expedition  of  Sieur  de  la  Perriere,  on  the  fifth  of 
June,  1728,  the  Sieur  de  Lignery  left  Montreal  Avith  a  force  to  punish 
the  Renards  (Foxes),  who  continued  to  molest  traders.  During  the 
night  of  the  seventeenth  of  August  he  reached  Green  Bay,  and  the 
next  day  at  midnight  arrived  at  the  mouth  of  Fox  river,  where  Fort 
St.  Francis^  was  situated.     The  Renards  fled  at  the  approach  of  the 


1.  Margry.  Vol.  VI. 

2.  Hi.s  mother  was  a  sister  of  TSouchcr  de  la  Perriere.  He  was  a  cadet  in  1697,  and  in  1704 
served  in  an  expedition  to  New  Kngland,  and  the  ne.xt  year  was  in  New  Foiindland.  Desirous  of 
distinction,  he  went  to  France  and  was  connected  with  a  Hretagne  regiment.  He  attracted  atten- 
tion by  his  bravery  at  Malplncjuet,  in  Septomber,  1709,  where  the  Duke  of  Marlborough  defeated 
the  French.    After  he  returned  to  Canada  he  had  the  rank  of  ensign. 

3.  Fort  St.  Francis  is  the  name  given  in  Crespel's  Voyages. 


array,  abandoning  everything  in  their  villages,  and  retreating  to  the 
country  of  the  Aioues  (loway),  beyond  the  Missifssippi.  On  the 
twenty-fourth  of  the  month  he  reached  the  village  of  the  Puans 
(Winnebagoes),  who  had  also  run  away.  Upon  his  return  he  burned 
Fort  St.  Francis,  lest  the  Henards  should  return,  take  possession,  and 
make  war  ujion  the  Folles  Avoines,  who  were  allies  of  the  French. 
De  Beaujeu  was  the  second  in  command  of  this  expedition,  and  was 
not  satisfied  with  De  Lignery's  conduct. 

On  account  of  the  hostility  of  the  Indians,  the  post  on  Lake  Pepin, 
in  October,  1728,  was  left  in  charge  of  a  youth  twenty  years  old, 
Christopher  Dufrost,^  the  Sieur  de  la  Jemeraye;  and  twelve  persons, 
among  whom  were  the  Sieur  de  Bouc-herville,  Jean  Baptiste  Boucher, 
the  Sieur  Montbrun,  and  the  Jesuit  Guignas,  embarked  with  their 
goods,  in  canoes,  for  Montreal,  by  Avay  of  the  Illinois  river,  as  the 
hostility  of  the  Foxes  prevented  the  route  by  the  Wisconsin.  On  the 
twelfth  of  the  month,  twentj'-two  leagues  above  the  Illinois  river, 
they  were  captured  by  the  Mascoutens  and  Kickapoos,  who  Avere 
allies  of  the  Foxes. 

Among  the  manuscript  in  the  Parliament  library  of  Canada,  at 
Ottawa,  there  is  a  communication  of  De  Till}^  dated  April  29,  1729, 
which  mentions  that  '•  eleven  Frenchmen  and  Father  Guignase  hav- 
ing left  the  Fort  Pepin  to  descend  the  river  Mississippi  as  far  as  the 
Illinois,  and  to  go  from  thence  to  Canada,  were  captured  by  the  Mas- 
coutens and  Quicapous,  and  brought  to  the  Eiviere  au  Boeuf,  with 
the  intention  to  deliver  them  to  the  Renards,  and  that  the  fSieur  de 
Montbrun  and  his  brother,  Avith  another  Frenchman,  escaped  from 
their  hands  the  night  before  they  Avere  to  be  surrendered  to  these  In- 
dians. The  Sieur  de  Montbrun  left  his  brother  sick  among  the 
Tamaroides,'^  and  brought  the  intelligence  to  M.  le  General,  avoiding 
certain  posts  on  the  way  to  escape  the  Mascoutens  and  (Juicapous." 

Governor  Beauharnois,  on  the  tAventy-ninth  of  October,  wrote  to  the 
French  Government:  "  I  have  the  honor  to  report,  upon  what  has 
passed  upon  the  part  of  the  Kickapoos  and  Mascoutens  Avho  arrested 
the  French  coming  from  the  post  of  the  Sioux,  and  the  enterprise  ot 
Sieur  de  Montbrun,  after  his  escape  from  the  village  of  the  savages 


1.  He  was  the  son  of  a  naval  officer  who  in  H'.'.ts  was  in  comiuand  at  Fort  Frontenac.    His 
mother's  maiden  name  was  Marie  Gualtier,  and  on  Pec.  7,  1707,  he  was  born. 

2.  The  Tamarois  were  a  band  of  the  Illinois  Indians. 


8 

to  bring  us  the  news  of  tlit-  artair.  He  is  a  pei-son  zealous  in  the 
service  of  his  majesty,  and  I  can  not  refuse  the  request  he  has  made  ta 
write  to  you  to  procure  his  promotion.  He  is  cadet  of  the  troop  and 
a  most  excellent  officer. 

The  Sieur  de  la  Jemeraye,  who  remained  among  the  Sioux  with 
some  Frenchmen,  left  Lake  Pe])in  and  brought  the  Renards'  chief'  to 
the  River  St.  Joseph^  also  deserves  your  protection." 

Boucherville  and  Guignas  i-emained  ])risoners  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  merchandise  at  that  time.     It  reads  as  follows: 

"  Memorandum  of  the  goods  that  Monsieur  de  Boucherville  was- 
obliged  to  furnish  in  the  serviceof  the  king,  from  the  time  of  his  de- 
tention among  the  Kickapoos,  on  the  twelfth  of  October,  1728.  until  hia 
return  to  Detroit,  in  the  year  172D,  in  the  month  of  June.  On  arriv- 
"  ing  at  the  Kiekapoo  village,  he  made  a  present  to  the  young  men  to  se- 
cure their  oj^position  to  some  evil  minded  old  warriors — 
Two  barrels  of  powder,  each  fift}'  pounds  at  Montreal  price, 

valued  at  the  sum  of 150  liv. 

One  hundi'ed  pounds  of  lead  and  balls  making  the  sum  of 50  liv. 

Four  pounds  of  vermilion,  at  12  francs  the  pound 48fr. 

Four  coats,  braided,  at  twenty  francs SOfr. 

Six  dozen  knives  at  four  francs  the  dozen 24fr. 

Four  hundred  flints,  one  hundred  gun- worms,  two  hundred 

ramrods  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  files,  the  total  at  the 

maker's  prices 90  liv. 

After  the  Kickapoos  refused  to  deliver  them  to  the  Renards  (Foxes) 
they  wished  some  favors,  and  1  was  obliged  to  give  them  the  following, 
which  would  allow  them  to  weep  over  and  cover  their  dead: 

Two  braided  coats  @  20  fr.  each 40fr. 

Two  woolen  blankets  @  15  fr HO 

One  hundred  pounds  of  powder  @  30  sous 75 

One  hundred  pounds  of  lead  («)  10  sous 25 

Two  pounds  of  vermilion  @  12  fr 24 

1.  Governor  Beauliarnois,  in  a  coiiimunication  dated  May  fi,  17:!0,  alludes  to  the  defeat  of  the 
Renards  by  the  allied  Mcnoinonees,  Ojibways  and  Winncbagos,  and  writes:  "  It  is  also  confirnied 
by  the  journey  taken  since  this  last  adventure  by  the  great  chief  f'f  the  Renards  to  the  River  St. 
Joseph." 

2.  In  Michigan. 


Moreover,  given  to  the  Rcnuvds  to  cover  their  dea<l  tuid  pre- 
pare them  for  peace,  fiity  jwuiids  of  powder,  malting 75fr. 

One  hundred  pounds  of  lead  @  10  sous 50 

Two  pounds  of  vermilion  @  12  fr 24 

During  the  winter  a  considerable  party  was  sent  to  strike  hands 
with  the  Illinois.     Given  at  that  time  : 

Two  blue  blankets  @  15  fr 30 

Four  men's  shirts  @  6  fr 24 

Four  pairs  of  long-necked  bottles  @  6  f r 24 

Four  dozen  of  knives  @  4  fr Ifi 

Gun-worms,  files,  ramrods,  and  flints,  estimated 40 

Given  to  engage  the  Kickapoos  to  establish  themselves  upon  a 
neighboring  isle,  to  protect  from  the  treachery  of  the  Renards  — 

Four  blankets  @  15fr 60f. 

Two  pairs  of  bottles,  6fr 24 

Two  pounds  of  vermilion,  12fr 24 

Four  dozen  butcher  knives,  61  r 24 

Two  woolen  blankets  @  15fr 30 

Four  pairs  of  bottles  @  6fr 24 

Four  shirts  @  6fr 24 

Four  dozen  of  knives  @  4fr 16 

The  Renards  having  betrayed  and  killed  their  brothers,  the  Kicka- 
poos, I  seized  the  favoi-able  opportunity,  and  to  encourage  the  latter 
to  avenge  themselves,  I  gave  — 

Twenty-five  pounds  of  powder,  @  30  sous 37f.l0s. 

Twenty-five  pounds  of  lead,  @  10s 12f  lOs. 

Two  guns  at  30  livres  each 60f. 

One-half  pound  of  vermillion  6f. 

Flints,  guns,  worms  and  knives 20f. 

The  Illinois  coming  to  the  Kikapoos  village,  I  supjiorted  them 
at  my  expense,  and  gave  them  powder,  balls  and  shirts  val- 
ued at '^Of 

In   departing  from  the  Kickapoos  village,  I  gave  them   the 

rest  of  the  goods  for  their  good  treatment,  estimated  at 80f 

In  dispatches  sent  to  France,  in  October,  1729,  by  the  Canadian 

gvernment,    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, 

*2 


10 

tint  tlu'  Indians  assure  that  the  water  rose  higher  than  it  ever  did 
belbre,  and  this  is  credible  inasmuch  as  it  did  not  reach  the  fort  this 
year  [1729].  When  Sieur  de  la  Perriere  located  it  at  that  place  it  was 
on  the  assurance  of  the  Indians  that  the  waters  did  not  rise  so  high ; 
however,  he  could  not  locate  it  more  advantageously  in  regard  both  to 
the  quantity  of  land  suitable  for  cultivation,  and  to  the  abundance  of 
game.  *  *  *  As  the  water  might  possibly  rise  as  high,  this  fort 
could  be  removed  four  or  five  arpents  from  the  lake  shore  without  prej- 
udice to  the  views  entertained  in  building  it  on  its  present  site. 

"It  is  very  true  that  these  Indians  did  leave  shortly  after  on  a  hunt- 
ing excursion,  as  they  are  in  the  habit  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  accompany  them  on  a  war  expedition  against  the  Mahas, 
which  invitation  they  accepted,  and  returned  only  in  the  month  of 
July  following. 

"The  interests  of  religion,  of  the  service,  and  of  the  colony,  are  in- 
volved in  the  maintenance  of  this  establishment,  which  has  been  the 
more  necessary  as  there  is  no  doubt  but  the  Foxes,  when  routed, 
Avould  have  found  an  asylum  among  the  Scioux  had  not  the  French 
been  settled  there,  and  the  docility  and  submission  manifested  by  the 
Poxes  cannot  be  attributed  to  any  cause  except  the  attention  enter- 
tained by  the  Scioux  for  the  French,  and  the  offers  which  the  former 
matle  the  latter,  of  which  the  Foxes  were  fully  cognizant. 

"It  is  necessary  to  retain  the  Scioux  in  these  favorable  di8i)ositions, 
ill  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  countiy,  and  their 
trading  post  shall  continue  there.  But,  despite  all  these  advantages 
and  the  importance  of  preserving  that  establishment,  M.  de  Beauhar- 
nois can  not  take  any  steps  until  he  has  news  of  the  French  who 
asked  his  permission  this  summer  to  go  up  there  with  a  canoe  load  of 
goods,  and  until  assured  that  those  who  wintered  there  have  not  dis- 
mantled the  fort,  and  that  the  Scioux  continue  in  the  same  sentiments. 
Jiosides,  it  does  not  seem  very  easy,  in  the  present  conjuncture,  to 
maintain  that  post  unless  there  is  9>  solid  peace  with  the  Foxes;  on 


11 

the  other  hand,  the  greatest  portion  of  the  traders  who  applied  in 
1727  for  the  establishment  of  that  post  have  withdrawn,  and  will  not 
send  thither  any  more,  as  the  ruptui-e  with  the  Foxes,  through  whose 
country  it  is  necessary  to  pass  in  order  to  reach  the  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 ;  thei'efore,  if  it  be  granted  to  them  on  ad- 
vantageous conditions,  there  need  be  no  apprehension  when  going  to 
the  Scioux,  and  another  company  could  be  formed,  less  numerous  than 
the  first,  through  whom,  or  some  responsible  merchants  able  to  afford 
the  outfit,  a  new  treaty  could  he  made,  whereb}'  these  difficulties  would 
be  soon  obviated.  One  only  trouble  remains,  and  that  is,  to  send  a  com- 
manding and  sub-officer  and  some  soldiers  up  there,  which  are  abso- 
lutely necessary  for  the  maintenance  of  good  order  at  that  ]iost;  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  account,  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  1,000  livres  or  1,500  livres  a  year  for  the  com- 
mandant, and  in  proportion  for  the  officer  under  him;  but,  as  in  the 
beginning  of  an  establishment  the  expenses  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  ma- 
jesty's opinion  as  to  the  necessity  of  preserving  so  useful  a  post,  and 
a  nation  which  has  already  afforded  proofs  of  its  fidelity  and  attach- 
ment." 

The  Canadian  authorities  determined  to  send  an  expedition  against 
the  insolent  Eenards  and  their  allies.  In  March,  1730,  the  Sieur  Marin 
then  in  command  among  the  Folles  Avoines  (Menomonees),  with  a 
number  of  friendly  Indians,  moved  against  the  Eenards  and  had 
an  engagement  of  the  "warmest  character."  During  the  month  of 
September  of  the  same  year  a  force  under  Sieur  de  Villiers  vanquished 
the  tribe,  and  the  French  government  was  informed  that  "two  hun- 
dred of  their  wari'iors  have  been  killed  on  the  spot,  or  burned  after 
having  been  taken  as  slaves,  and  six  hundred  women  and  children 
were  destroyed." 

After  the  victor}'-  over  the  Eenards  steps  were  taken  to  rebuild  the 
post  on  a  more  elevated  spot  near  the  first  site  on  Lake  Pepin.     In 


12 

June,  1731,  Sieur  Linctot  was  appointed  commandant,  and  Sieur  Port- 
neuf  was  the  next  oflficer  in  rank.  Among  those  now  interested  in  trade 
with  the  Sioux  were  Francis  Campeau,  Joseph  and  Pierre  Le  Due, 
and  the  son  of  Linctot,  a  cadet.  A  new  stockade  was  ordered  to  be 
constructed  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet  square,  with  four  bastions, 
and  nccommodations  within  for  the  commandant. 

Linctot  passed  the  winter  of  17;U-2  at  Pcrrot's  first  establishment 
''Montague  qui  trempe  dans  lean."  In  the  spring  he  ascended  to  the 
site  of  the  post  on  Sandy  Point,  where  he  found  a  large  number  of 
Sioux  who  expressed  satisfaction  at  the  return  of  the  French. 

Upon  the  sixteenth  of  September,  1733,  the  Ilenards  (Foxes)  and 
Sakis  (Sauks)  appeared  at  Green  Bay,  but  were  put  to  flight  by  the 
son  of  Sieur  de  Villiers.  The  Sioux  and  Ayouais  (loway)  refused  to 
protect  them  and  they  were  obliged  to  descend  the  "Ouapsipinckam" 
river,  which  flows  into  the  Mississippi  above  Eock  Island. 

Black  Hawk,  the  celebrated  Sauk  chief  captured  in  1832,  told  his 
biographer  that  his  people  moved  to  that  vicinity  about  one  hundred 
years  before,  and  that  in  1768  he  was  born. 

At  the  request  of  the  elder  Linctot  he  was  relieved  of  the  command 
opposite  Maiden  Rock,  Lake  Po])in.  and  in  1735,  Legardeur  Saint 
i*ierre  took  command.  In  a  communication  dated  twelfth  of  October, 
1736,  by  the  Canadian  authorities,  is  the  following:  "In  regard  to 
the  Scioux,  Saint  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  appeared  well  in- 
tentioned  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  result 
only  can  tell  whether  this  fidelity  is  to  be  absolutely  depended  upon, 
for  the  unrestrained  and  inconsistent  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." 

Upon  the  sixth  of  May,  1736,  one  hundred  and  forty  Sioux  arrived 
at  the  fort,  and  said  they  were  taking  back  to  the  Puans  a  slave  who 
had  fled  to  them.  Saint  Pierre  told  them  that  he  thought  it  was  a 
large  guard  for  one  woman,  and  they  then  alleged  that  they  were 
going  to  hunt  turkeys  to  obtain  feathers  for  their  arrows.     Contin- 


13 

uing  their  journey  down  the  Mississippi,  they  met  and  scalped  two 
Frenchmen.  When  .Saint  Pierre  was  on  a  visit  up  the  river  to  see 
about  building  another  post,  the  hiwless  party  returned,  and  for  four 
daj^s  danced  the  scalp  dance  in  the  vicinity  of  the  fort. 

Two  canoes  of  Saulteaux  (Ojibways)  arrived  from  La  Pointe,  Lake 
Superior,  on  the  twenty-third  of  August  with  letters  from  Nolan, 
Legros  and  Bourassa,  conveying  the  startling  news  that  the  Sioux  of 
the  Woods  with  a  few  of  the  Sioux  of  the  Prairies  had  killed  a  num- 
ber of  Verendrye's  exploring  party,  at  the  Lake  of  the  Woods. 

On  the  fifteenth  of  August,  1731,  arrived  at  the  Grand  Portage, 
near  Pigeon  river,  the  northeastern  extremity  of  Minnesota,  on  the 
shore  of  Lake  Superior.  Pierre  Gualtier  Varennes,  the  Sieur  Veren- 
drye  (Verandrie),  with  an  expedition  in  search  of  a  route  to  the  Pa- 
cific ocean.  The  second  in  command  was  his  nephew,  the  brave 
youth  Christopher  Dufrost,  the  Sieur  de  la  Jemeraye,  who  for  a  time 
was  in  charge  of  Fort  Beauharnois.  During  the  autumn,  by  difficult 
portages  the  Sieur  de  la  Jemeraye  and  two  sons  of  Verendrye  reached 
JRainy  Lake,  and  established  a  trading  post,  called  Foi't  St.  Pierre. 

About  the  middle  of  July,  1732,  Fort  St.  Pierre  was  left,  and  the  ex- 
plorers ascended  to  the  Lake  of  the  Woods,  where  they  erected  Fort 
St.  Charles.  During  the  j-ear  1733  the  Sieur  de  la  Jemeraye  wont  to 
Montreal  to  attend  to  his  uncle's  business,  and  in  the  beginning  of 
March  a  party,  conducted  by  the  eldest  son  of  Verendrye,  moved 
westward  and  established  Fort  Maurepas,  near  the  entrance  to  Lake 
Winnipeg,  which  in  September,  1735,  was  in  charge  of  Sieur  de  la 
Jemeraye,  who  had  returned,  and  during  the  following  winter  two 
sons  of  Verendrj^e  remained  there.  During  the  spring  of  1736  Jeme- 
raye died  at  the  post.  Upon  the  eighth  of  June  Auneau,  the  chaplain, 
and  one  of  the  sons  of  Vereiulrye,  with  some  voyageurs,  left  the  post 
on  the  shore  of  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  to  go  to  Mackiiuuv,  and  while 
encamped  upon  an  island  in  the  lake,  seven,  leagues  from  Fort  St. 
Charles,  they  were  surprised  by  the  Sioux,  and  the  whole  party  of 
twenty-one  killed.  Some  days  after,  five  voyageurs  stopped  at  the 
island,  and  found  the  Jesuit  chaplain.  Auneau,  with  an  arrow  in  his 
brain.  The  son  of  Verendrye  was  lying  upon  his  back,  and  his  flesh 
hacked  by  tomahawks.  His  head  had  Itcen  removed  and  was  orna- 
mented with  garters  and  bracelets  of  porcupine  quills. 

The  sixteenth  of  September  there  came  to  the  Lake  Pepin  post  ton 


14 

Indians,  three  chiefs,  and  two  young  slaves,  bringing  a  quantity  of 
beaver  skins,  which  they  delivered  to  Saint  Pierre  as  a  pl«dge  of 
friendship,  and  declared  that  they  had  no  part  in  the  attack  at  the 
Lake  of  the  Woods.  They  were  then  asked  as  to  their  knowledge  of 
the  killing  of  two  Frenchmen  on  the  Mississippi.  The  next  day  a 
chief  came  with  three  young  men,  one  of  whom  wore  in  his  ear  a 
silver  pendant.  When  asked  by  Saint  Pierre  how  he  obtained  the 
ornament,  he  smiled  but  would  not  answer.  The  captain  tore  it  from 
his  ear,  and  found  it  was  similar  to  those  sold  by  the  traders,  and 
placed  him  under  guard. 

Thirty-six  men  and  their  families,  on  the  eighteenth  of  December 
arrived  and  passing  the  Fort,  visited  some  Puans  ( Winnebagoes)  en- 
camped in  the  vicinity.  Ouakantape  (Wah-kan-tah-pay)  was  the 
chief  and  quite  insolent,  and  some  of  the  party  burned  the  pickets 
around  the  garden  of  Father  Guignas,  the  chaplain. 

The  gates  of  the  post  were  opened  about  eight  o'clock  of  the  morn- 
ing of  the  twenty-fourth  of  January  1737,  to  admit  a  wood  cart, 
when  some  of  the  Sioux  pushed  in  and  defiantly  behaved.  Upon  the 
twentieth  of  March  thirty  Sioux  appeared  from  Fond  du  Lac  Supe- 
rior where  thej^had  scalped  an  Ojibwa}",  his  wife  and  child.  The  next 
May  a  war  party  of  Ojibways  came  and  wished  the  Puans  to  unite 
with  them  against  the  Sioux.  While  they  were  parleying,  five  Sioux 
came  to  the  Fort  to  trade,  and  were  protected  until  night,  when  they 
were  permitted  to  leave.  An  Ojibwa}' lying  in  an  ambush,  who  spoke 
Sioux,  arose  and  asked  "  Who  are  you  ?",  when  the  Sioux  fired  and 
escaped.  In  view  of  the  hostilit}^  of  the  Indians,  Saint  Pierre,  after 
conferring  with  Sieur  Linctot  the  second  in  command,  Father  Guig- 
nas, and  some  others,  on  the  thirteenth  of  May  1737,  burned  the  post, 
and  descended  the  Mississippi. 

Upon  the  eighteenth  of  June,  1738,  the  Sieur  Verendrye  left  Mon- 
treal to  continue  his  discoveries.  Ke  arrived  at  Fort  Maurepas  on 
twenty-third  of  September,  and  ])ushed  on  through  Lake  Winnij)eg, 
to  the  mouth  of  the  Assiniboine  liiver,  ascending  which  sixty  leagues, 
on  the  thii'd  of  October  stopped  and  built  Fort  La  Reine.  A  lit- 
tle while  before,  the  eldest  son  of  Verendrja^ '  built  a  post  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Assiniboine  and  Red  River  ol"  the  North,  which  was  soon  aban- 
doned.    On  a  maj)  of  the  tribes,  rivers  and  lakes  west  of  Lake  Supe- 


l.    For  an  account  of  a  tour  to  the  Uocky  >fountains  by  the  sons  of  Verendrye,  see  Appendix. 


15 

rior,  in  1737,  appears  Red  Lake  of  Minnesota,  the  Red  River,  and  the 
"  Bois  Fort,''  the  Big  Woods. 

A  few  days  after  Fort  La  Keine  was  established,  the  Sieur  de  la 
Marque,  whose  family  name  was  Marin,  arrived  with  his  brother  de- 
siring to  visit  the  countrj^  of  the  Mandans. 

The  Foxes  in  1740  again  became  troublesome,  and  the  post  on  Lake 
Pepin  was  for  a  time  abandoned  by  the  French.  A  dispatch  in  1741 
uses  this  language:  "The  Marquis  de  Beauharnois'  o]>inion  respect- 
ing the  war  against  the  Foxes,  has  been  the  more  rcadil3^  aj)proved  by 
the  Baron  de  Longeuil,  Messieurs  De  la  Chassaigne,  La  Corne,  de  Lig- 
nery,  La  None,  and  Duplessis-Fabert,  whom  he  had  assembled  at  his 
house,  as  it  appears  from  all  the  letters  that  the  Count  has  written  for 
several  years,  that  he  has  nothing  so  much  at  heart  as  the  destruc- 
tion of  that  Indian  nation,  which  can  not  be  prevailed  on  by  the 
presents  and  the  good  treatment  of  the  French,  to  live  in  peace,  not- 
withstanding all  its  promises. 

"  Besides,  it  is  notorious  that  the  Foxes  have  a  secret  understand- 
ing with  the  Iroquois,  to  secure  a  retreat  among  the  latter,  in  case 
they  be  obliged  to  abandon  their  villages.  They  have  one  already  se- 
cured among  the  Sioux  of  the  prairies,  with  Avhom  they  are  allied;  so 
that,  should  they  be  advised  beforehand  of  the  design  of  the  French 
to  Avage  war  against  them,  it  would  be  easy  for  them  to  retire  to  the 
one  or  the  other  before  their  passage  could  be  intersected  or  them- 
selves attacked  in  their  villages." 

In  the  summer  of  1743,  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  Avished  that  a  commandant 
might  be  sent  to  Fort  Beauharnois;  which  Avas  not  granted. 

During  the  winter  of  1745-6,  De  Lusignan  visited  the  Sioux  coun- 
try, ordered  by  the  government  to  hunt  up  the  "  coureurs  des  bois," 
and  withdraw  them  from  the  country.  The}^  started  to  return  with 
him,  but  learning  that  they  would  be  arrested  at  Mackinaw,  for  vio- 
lation 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.  While  he  remained  with  them  they  made  peace  with  the 
OJibways  of  La  Pointe,  with  whom  the}'  had  been  at  war  for  some 
time.  On  his  return,  four  chiefs  accompanied  him  to  Montreal,  to 
solicit  pardon  for  their  young  braves. 


16 

The  lessees  of  the  tradini^  post  lost  inimy  of  their  peltries  that 
winter  in  consequence  of  a  fire. 

In  November,  1745,  Legardeur  de  Saint  Pierre,  St.  Lucde  la  Corne, 
Marin  and  his  son  left  Montreal  to  attack  the  English  settlements  in 
New  York.  Passing  Fort  St.  Frederick,  at  Crown  Point,  on  the  thir- 
teenth of  the  month,  by  the  twenty-seventh,  the  French  and  Indians 
were  at  Fort  Edward.  On  the  next  da}'  they  crossed  Fish  creek,  a  trib- 
utary of  the  Hudson,  and  the  combined  forces  under  the  elder  Marin, 
attacked  the  settlement  of  Saratoga,  killed  Capt.  Philip  Schuyler 
and  many  others,  took  sixty  prisoners,  and  burned  nearly  all  the 
houses.  They  then  retraced  their  stei)S  and  on  the  seventh  of  De- 
cember returned  to  Montreal.  Upon  the  thirtieth  of  the  same  month 
Saint  Pierre  was  sent  again  to  Crown  Point  with  a  large  force  to 
surprise  the  frontier  settlements  of  New  York  and  New  England. 
He  passed  the  winter  in  alarming  the  English,  and  in  April  Avas  again 
in  Montreal.  During  the  latter  part  of  the  next  year  he  was  sent  to 
Mackinaw,  whither  he  was  accompanied  by  his  brother  Louis  Le- 
gardeur, the  Chevalier  de  Repentign}'. 

In  1749  the  Sioux  earnestly  entreated  the  elder  Marin  ^  to  use  his 
influence  with  the  governor  of  Canada  to  re-establish  the  post  at 
Lake  Pe])in.  The  next  year  Marin  was  sent  to  the  Sioux,  and  La  Jon- 
quiere,  the  governor  of  Canada,  directed  him  to  proceed  to  the  source 
of  the  Mississippi  river  to  see  if  some  stream  could  not  be  discovered, 
at  the  height  of  lands,  which  flowed  toward  the  western  ocean.  Ma- 
rin's son,  known  as  the  Chevalier  and  cajitain  of  the  militar}^  oi'der 
of  St.  Louis,  the  same  year  that  his  father  went  to  Lake  Pepin,  was 
ordered  to  "La  Pointe  de  Chagouamigon  "  of  Lake  Superior  and  re- 
mained two  3'ears,  and  in  1752  Covernor  La  Jonquiere  directed  him 
to  relieve  his  father  at  the  Lake  Pepin  post,  and  to  prosecute  discov- 
eries. He  remained  here  ior  two  years,  and  on  foot  journeyed  many 
leagues  both  in  Avintcr  and  summer.  Saint  Pierre  had  been  active  in 
the  service  front  the  time  that  he  evacuated  the  post  at  Lake  Pepin. 
After  the  death  of  Sieur  Verendr3'e,  in  December,  1749,  he  was  com- 
missioned by  the  governor  of  Canada  to  continue  the  explorations 
toward  the  western  ocean.     He  left  Montreal  in  June,  1750,   atid   on 


1.  Pierre  Paul,  son  of  Csesar  Marin,  and  his  wife,  who  was  the  daughter  of  De  Callieres,  gov- 
ernor of  Canada,  was  born  March  19,  1692,  and  from  his  youth  was  distinguished  for  his  boldness 
and  energy.    He  was  married  March  21, 1718,  to  Marie  Guyon. 


17 

the  twenty-ninth  of  September  reached  Ruiny  lake,  and  in  a  confer- 
ence with  the  Cristnaux  told  them  that  the  younger  Marin  had 
been  sent  to  the  Sioux,  and  that  he  now  hojied  the  war  between  the 
two  tribes  would  cease. 

During  the  winter  of  1751  he  Avas  at  Fort  La  Eeine  on  the  Assini- 
boine  river,  on  the  twenty-ninth  of  May  of  that  year,  sentBouchei- 
de  JSiverville,  with  two  canoes  and  ten  men,  to  ascend  the  Saskatchewan 
and  build  a  post  near  the  Rocky  mountains  which  was  called  La  Jon- 
quiere.  The  latter  part  of  this  3'ear  the  Assiniboines  and  other  tribes' 
toward  the  Rocky  mountains  showed  hostilities  to  the  French,  and 
Saint  Pierre  declared  that  during  the  thirty-six  years  he  had  been 
among  Indians,  he  had  never  witnessed  greater  perfid}'. 

Upon  the  twenty-second  of  February,  1752,  two  hundred  Assini- 
boines appeared  at  Fort  La  Reine,  passed  its  gates,  took  possession  of 
the  guard  house,  and  showed  a  disposition  to  kill  Saint  Pierre.  Dur- 
ing the  summer  he  abandoned  the  fort,  and  on  the  twenty-fifth  of  .luly 
arrived  at  the  Grand  Portage  of  Lake  Superior,  south  of  Pigeon  River- 
The  next  winter  he  passed  in  the  valley  of  the  Red  river,  where  hunt- 
ing was  good.  On  the  twenty-ninth  of  Februarj-,  1753,  he  received, 
a  letter  from  Marin's  son,  who  wrote  that  the  Sioux  of  the  rivers  and. 
lakes  deplored  the  attack  of  the  Sioux  of  the  prairies  upon  the  Cris- 
tinaux  the  year  before,  and  they  would  be  pleased  to  hold  a  confer- 
ence at  Mackinaw.  This  letter  was  not  received  by  Legardeur  Saint 
Pierre  until  the  twenty-sixth  of  May,  at  the  lower  part  of  the  river 
Ounepik  (Winnipeg),  and  on  the  twenty-eighth  of  July  he  and  Boucher 
de  Niverville  came  to  Grand  Portage,  below  Pigeon  river.  Lake  Su- 
perior. The  month  before,  the  elder  Marin  who  had  returned  ironx 
the  Sioux  country,  arrived  at  Presque  Isle,  Lake  Erie,  with  an  armj- 
of  French  and  Indians  to  prevent  the  advance  of  the  English  into  the 
valle}'  of  the  Ohio  river.  Cutting  a  road  thi-ough  the  woods  of  North- 
western Pennsylvania  to  a  branch  of  the  Au  Bceuf,  called  b}^  the- 
p]nglish  French  creek,  he  in  August,  built  a  stockade,  with  pickets- 
twelve  feet  high,  and  placed  before  the  gate  a  four-pound  cannon, 
and  in  the  bastions  six-pounders.  During  the  fall  he  was  attacked 
with  dysentery,  and  while  sick  a  messenger  came  from  Montreal, 
bearing  for  him  the  decoration  of  the  cross  of  the  military  order  of 
Saint  Ijouis.  He  was  too  ill  to  wear  it,  and  on  the  twenty-ninth  of 
October,  died. 


r    I 


18 

The  following  record^  has  been  preserved:  ''In  the  year  one  thou- 
sand seven  hundred  and  fifty-three,  on  the  twenty-ninth  day  of  Octo- 
ber, at  four  and  a  half  in  the  exening,  at  'Eiviere  aux  Boeuf'  called 
Saint  Peter,  Monsieur  Pierre  Paul,  Esq.,  Sieur  de  Marin,  chevalier  of 
royal  military-  order  of  Saint  Louis,  captain  general,  and  in  command 
of  the  army  of  Belle  Hiviere  (Ohio),  at  the  age  of  sixty-three  3'ears, 
after  having  received  the  sacraments  of  penance,  extreme  unction, 
and  the  viaticum.  His  remains  were  interred  in  the  cemetery  of 
said  fort,  and  during  the  campaign  of  the  ]k'lle  Riviere.  There  were 
pre.sent  at  his  interment  Monsieur  Repentigny,  commander  of  the 
above-mentioned  arm}-;  Messieurs  du  Muy.  lieutenant  of  infantr}- ; 
Bonois,  lieutenant  of  infantry;  de  Simblin,  major  of  the  above-men- 
tioned fort;  Laforce,  guard  of  the  magazine." 

The  register  is  signed  by  a  priest  of  the  Recollect  Franciscans, 
■chaplain  of  the  fort  Fr.  Denys  Baron. 

Saint  Pierre  arrived  at  Montreal  from  the  distant  west  on  the 
seventh  da}''  of  October,  and  on  the  third  of  N^ovember  the  Marquis 
du  Quesne  wrote  to  the  Minister  of  war  in  France  that  he  had  sent 
the  Sieur  de  Saint  Pierre  to  succeed  Marin  in  the  command  of  the 
Army  of  the  Ohio.  He  did  not  reach  the  stockade  at  French  creek 
until  the  first  week  in  December,  and  seven  days  after  his  arrival, 
■came  young  George  Washington  with  a  letter  from  Governor  Din- 
widdle, of  Virginia.  After  courteous  treatment  from  Saint  Pierre  for 
several  days  he  was  sent  back  with  the  following  note: 

'•Sir:  As  I  have  the  lionor  to  be  here  the  commander-in-chief  M- 
Washingtort  delivered  to  me  the  letter  which  y(ni  wrote  to  the  com- 
mandant of  the  French  troo])s.  1  should  have  been  pleased  that  you 
had  given  him  order,  or  that  he  had  been  disposed  to  go  to  Canada  to 
see  our  General  to  whom  it  better  belongs,  than  to  me,  to  set  forth 
the  evidence  of  the  incontestable  rights  of  the  King,  my  master,  to  the 
lands  along  the  Ohio,  and  to  refute  the  pretentions  of  the  King  of 
Great  Britain  thereto.  I  shall  transmit  your  letter  to  M.  the  Marquis 
■du  Quesne.  His  reply  will  be  law  to  me,  and  if  he  shall  order  me  to 
communicate  with  you,  you  may  be  assureil  that  I  shall  not  fail  to  act 
promptly. 

As  to  the  summons  you  send  me  to  retire,  I  do  not  think  I  am 
obliged  to  obey.  Whatever  may  be  j^our  instructions,  I  am  here  b}^ 
order  of  my  general,  and  1  beg  you  not  to  doubt  for  a  moment  but 
that  I  am  determined  to  conform  with  the  exactness   and   resolution 


1-    LambiDg's  Fort  Duqueme  Regitlers. 


19 

which  becomes  a  good  officer.  I  do  not  know  that  in  the  progress  of 
this  campaign  anything  has  passed  which  can  be  regarded  an  act  of 
hostilit}',  or  contrary  to  the  treaties  between  the  two  crowns,  the  con- 
tinuation of  which  pleases  us  as  much  as  it  does  the  English.  If  you 
had  been  pleased  to  enter  into  particulars  as  to  the  facts  which  caused 
your  complaint,  I  should  have  been  honored  to  give  as  full  and  satis- 
factory reply  as  possible. 

I  have  made  it  a  duty  to  receive  M.  Washington  with  the  distinc- 
tion due  on  account  of  your  dignity,  and  his  personal  worth.  I  have 
the  honor  to  be,  Monsieur,  your  very  humble  and  very  obedient  ser- 
vant, Legardeur  De  Saint  Pierre. 

At  the  Fort  of  the  Eiver  aux  Boeufs,  the  15  December,  1753. 

Eight  weeks  after  the  defeat  of  Braddock,  in  1755,  commenced 
another  struggle  between  the  troops  of  England  and  France.  In 
the  advance  of  the  latter,  at  the  head  of  the  Indian  allies  was  Le- 
gardeur de  Saint  Pierre.  On  the  eighth  of  September  a  battle  took 
phxce  near  the  bottom  of  Lake  George.  The  conflict  was  desjicrate, 
on  the  side  of  the  English  fell  Col.  Ephraim  Williams,  the  founder  of 
Williams  college,  Massachusetts;  while  upon  the  part  of  the  French 
Legardeur  de  Saint  Pierre  was  fatall3'  wounded.  His  last  words  were  : ^ 
■"Fight  on  boys,  this  is  Johnson  not  Braddock." 

In  1755,  Marin,  the  son  of  the  commander  who  died  at  French 
•creek,  Pennsylvania,  was  again  sent  by  Governor  Du  Quesne  to  com- 
mand the  department  "  La  Baye."  The  next  year,  with  sixty  Indians, 
he  was  fighting  the  English  in  New  York,  and  in  1757  was  engaged  in 
the  capture  of  Fort  William  Henry,  and  attacked  with  great  bold- 
ness Fort  hidward.     He  was  also  present  in  1758,  at  Ticonderoga. 

Louis  Legardeur  the  Chevalier  de  Kepentigny  was  the  brother  oi 
Captain  Saint  Pierre,  and,  in  17-19,  an  officer  under  him  at  Mackinaw. 
In  1750  he  built  a  trading  establishment  one  hundred  and  ten  feet 
square,  at  his  own  expense  at  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  and  also  began  a  farm. 
In  1755,  he  served  with  his  brother  at  the  time  of  his  death,  and  in 
1758  was  with  Montcalm  at  Quebec.  At  the  battle  of  Sillery,  1760, 
he  was  at  the  head  of  the  French  centre,  and  with  his  brigade  resisted 
the  English,  the  only  brigade  before  whom  the  foe  did  not  gain  an 
inch.  He  was  taken  prisoner  in  1762,  and  two  j'-ears  later  visited 
France.  From  1769  to  1778  he  was  commandant  at  Isle  of  Ehe,  and 
then  for  four  years  at  Guadeloupe.     After  this   ho  was  governor  of 

1.    stone's  Sir  Will.  Johnson,  vol  1,  page  51('i. 


20 

Senegal,  Africa,  and  on  the  ninth  of  October,  1786,  died  in  Paris  v.-hile 
on  furlough. 

St.  Luc  de  la  Corne  tookchargeof  the  posts  beyond  Lake  Superior, 
after  Saint  Pierre  was  recalled,  and  on  the  third  of  September,  1757,^ 
married  Marie  the  Avidow  of  his  predecessor. 

During  the  war  of  the  English  colonies  for  independence.  La  Corne, 
was  in  the  service  of  the  British  king.  Thomas  Jefferson,  in  a  letter 
to  John  Page,  of  Virginia,  dated  Philadelphia,  Oct.  1P>.  1775,  alludes  to 
him:  '-Dear  Page:  We  have  nothing  new  from  England,  or  the  camp 
before  Boston.  By  a  private  letter  this  day  to  a  gentleman  of  con- 
gress from  General  Moiitgomerv  we  learn  that  our  forces  before  St. 
John's  are  4,000  in  number,  besides  500  Canadians,  the  latter  of  whom 
have  repelled  with  great  intrepidity  three  different  attacks  from  the 
fort. 

"We  apjn-ehend  it  will  not  hold  out  much  longer,  as  Monsieur  St> 
Luc  de  la  Corne,  and  several  other  principal  inhabitants  of  Montreal^ 
who  have  been  our  great  enemies,  have  offered  to  make  terms.  This 
St.  Luc  is  a  great  Seigneur  amonst  the  Canadians,  and  almost  abso- 
lute with  the  Indians.  He  has  been  our  most  bitter  enemy.  He  is 
acknowledged  to  be  the  greatest  of  all  scoundrels.  To  be  assured  of 
this  I  need  onlj'  to  mention  to  you  that  he  is  the  ruffian  who,  during 
the  late  war,  when  Fort  William  Henry  was  surrendered  to  the  French 
and  Indians  on  condition  of  saving  the  lives  of  the  garrison,  had  every 
soul  "murdered  in  cold  blood." 

A  descendant  of  one  of  the  commandants  at  Lake  Pepin,  however, 
adhered  to  the  Americans.  Depe3'ster,  the  British  commander  at 
Mackinaw,  under  date  of  April  12,  1781,  wrote  to  the  Delaware  In- 
dians: '•  Send  me  that  little  balibling  Frenchman  named  Monsieur 
Linctot,  he  who  poisons  your  (y.xrs,  one  of  those  who  says  he  can 
amuse  you  with  words  ;  only  send  him  to  me,  or  be  the  means  of  get- 
ting him,  and  I  will  then  put  confidence  in  you.  *  *  *  *  sic 
If  you  have  not  the  opportunity  to  bring  me  the  little  Frenchman, 
you  may  bring  me  some  Virginia  prisoners.  I  am  pleased  when  I 
see  what  you  call  live  meat,  because  I  can  speak  to  it  and  get  infor- 
mation."' 

The  post  ojiposite  Maiden's  Kock,  Lake  Pepin,  was  never  occupied 
after  the  surrender  of  Canada  to  the  British.  The  first  English 
troops  entered  Minnesota  by  way  of  Lake  Superior.     Major  Thomp- 


21 

son  Maxwell,  in  his  jonrnal,  nionlions  that  in  May,  17G2,  he  an-ivcdat 
Grand  Portage,  now  in  Minnesota,  with  a  few  soldiers,  as  a  guard  to 
the  goods  of  traders.  Captain  Jonathan  Carver,  the  first  British 
traveler  in  Minnesota,  in  17G6,  observed  "the  ruins  of  a  French  fac- 
tor}'  where,  it  is  said,  Capt.  St.  Pierre  resided,  and  carried  on  a  very 
great  trade  with  the  Naudowessies  before  the  reduction  of  Canada." 

Lieut.  Z.  M.  Pike,  the  first  officer  of  the  U.  S.  Army  to  pass  through 
Lake  Pepin,  in  1805,  reached  "Point  du  Sable"  or  Sandy  Point,  on  the 
same  day  of  the  same  month  as  La  Perriere  in  1727  arrived.  lie 
writes  "The  French,  under  the  government  of  M.  Frontenac,  drove 
the  Eeynards  or  Ottaquamies  from  the  Wisconsin,  and  pursued  them 
up  the  Mississippi,  and  as  a  barrier  built  a  stockade  on  Lake  Pepin, 
on  the  west  shore  just  below  Point  du  Sable,  and,  as  was  generally 


the  case  with  that  nation  blentled  the  military  and  mercantile  profes- 
sions by  making  their  fort  a  factor}'  for  the  Sioux." 

The  point  in  the  engraving  without  a  house  is  Santly  Point.  A 
short  distance  from  the  point,  near  the  mouth  of  what  Pike  on 
his  map  calls  Sandy  Point  creek,  there  is  an  elevated  ]tlateau  from 
which  there  is  an  extensive  view.     There  is  evidence  that  there  has 


22 

been  lony;  ago  a  clearing  made  there,  and  as  it  is. the  most  suitable 
spot  in  the  vicinity  for  a  stockade,,  and  visible  to  any  one  coming  in 
a  canoe  from  the  direction  of  Lake  City,  it  was  probabl}-  the  site  of 
a  French  post.  The  Indian  trail  to  the  head  of  the  lake  ran  through 
the  valle}'  of  the  creek  and  passed  Frontenac  station,  where  the  two- 
cannon  balls  were  recently  found.  They  may  have  been  bui-ied  by 
the  Indians  as  "wakan"  or  supernatural. 


APPEXDIX. 


In  an  article  from  the  pen  of  the  writer  upon  Sieur  Verendrye  and 
sons,  published  in  1875,  there  were  some  erroneous  inferences.  Since 
then  the  itinerary  of  Verendrj^e's  sons  of  their  journey  to  the  Eocky 
mountains  has  been  published,  and  it  is  now  more  easy  to  trace  the 
i-oute  of  the  explorers. 

On  the  tenth  of  April,  1739.  Verendrye  sent  his  son.  the  Chevalier, 
to  look  out  for  a  site  for  a  fifth  post,  north  of  La  Reine,  at  the  Lake 
of  the  Prairies,  which  was  built  and  called  Fort  Dauphin,  and  at  a 
later  period  a  sixth  post  was  established  at  the  Saskatchewan  (Pas- 
koyac)  river,  and  named  Fort  Bourbon.  The  father  passed  the  sum- 
mer of  1740  at  Montreal  and  Quebec,  but  on  the  thirteenth  of  October 
returned  to  Fort  La  Reine. 

The  two  sons  of  Verondrye  left  Fort  La  Reine  on  an  exploration 
towai'd  the  Rocky  mountains  on  the  twenty-ninth  of  April,  1742,  and 
on  the  twenty-first  of  May  reached  the  Mandan  villages,  on  the  l)anks 
of  the  Missouri  river.  Here  they  rested  two  months,  and  from  thence 
traveled  for  twenty  days  west-southwest,  probably  in  the  valley  of 
the  Yellowstone  river.  Moving  south-southwesterly  about  the  mid- 
dle of  Sc])tember  they  arrived  in  a  village  of  Beaux  Ilommes,  and  re- 
mained Avith  them  until  the  ninth  of  November,  when  again  proceed- 
ing south-southwesterly,  on  the  twelfth  day  they  came  to  a  village  of 
Petite  Cerise.  From  thence  they  marched  to  a  Pioya  village,  and  con- 
tinuing southwesterl}- arrived  at  a  village  of  the  '•  Gens  des  Chevaux," 
which  had  been  destroyed  by  the  Snake  Indians.  Here  guides  were 
obtained  to  lead  them  to  the  "  Gens  de  I'Ai'C,"  and  on  the  eighteenth 


23 

of  November  they  reached  a  vlllace  of  "Gens  de  la  Belle  Riviere,"" 
and  three  days  later  found  the  Arcs. 

From  this  point  they  journeyed  generally  in  a  southwesterly  course, 
but  sometimes  moved  northwesterly.  On  the  first  of  January,  1743, 
the  first  view  of  the  mountains  was  obtained.  Under  the  guidance 
of  an  Are  chief  they  marched,  and  on  the  twelfth  day  halted  anion  ti- 
the mountains,  as  the  Arcs  were  unwilling  to  proceed  further  owinc 
to  the  hostility  of  the  Snake  Indians. 

Coquard,  a  priest  who  had  been  associated  Avith  Verendrye,  mentions 
that  his  sons  found  falls  of  water,  probably  the  Yellowstone  Falls,  and 
that  thirty  leagues  beyond  (au-dessus),  they  found  a  narrow  pass  ;  also 
between  the  mountains  and  the  Missouri  (Yellowstone  tributary?) 
there  is  the  outlet  of  a  lake. 

Bougainville  wrote  that  southwest  of  the  river  Wabick  or  La 
Coquile,  on  the  banks  of  La  Graisse  river  are  the  Hactanes,  or  Snake 
tribe  Avho  stretch  to  the  base  of  a  chain  of  mountains  which  has  a 
northeasterl}'  trend  and  that  south  of  this  is  the  Karoskiou  river  or 
Cerise  Pelee,  which  flows  toward  California. 

An  examination  of  anj"  good  modern  map  Avill  show  that  the  head 
waters  of  Green  river,  a  branch  of  the  Colorado  Avhieh  empties  into 
the  Gulf  of  Califoi'nia,  rise  near  Fremont's  Peak.  Some  of  the  Snake 
Indians  in  Texas  are  still  called  Hictans. 

Eeturning  from  the  Kocky  Mountains,  the  Verendr^-e  brothers  oi> 
the  ninth  of  February,  1743,  came  to  the  first  of  the  Arc  villages,  and 
on  the  fifteenth  of  March  they  met  some  of  the  Petite  Cerise  tribe, 
and  on  the  nineteenth  arrived  at  their  post  on  the  banks  of  the  Mis- 
souri. Upon  an  eminence  in  the  vicinit}'  they  placed  a  lead  plate 
with  the  arms  of  the  king  of  France,  and  over  it  stones  in  the  form 
of  a  pyramid  in  honor  of  the  governor  of  Canada.  Pursuing  a  course 
generally  to  the  northeast,  they  reached  the  Mandan  country  on  the 
eighteenth  of  Ma}",  and  on  the  twenty-seventh  passed  the  Butte  in 
the  Assiniboine  region.  To  the  joy  of  their  father,  the  sons  reached 
Fort  La  Peine  on  the  second  of  Julj'.