THE OHIO VALLEY-GREAT LAKES ETHNOHISTORY ARCHIVES: THE MIAMI COLLECTION
It is noted that the following work from the Miami Archives should be read and
considered within the historical context in which it was composed and printed.
The opinions expressed and the language used do not reflect the opinions or
standards of the Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology, but are, rather,
indicative of thought in that historical moment during which the document was
published.
History of the Savage Peoples who are Allies of New France
La Potherie: from his Historie de
l'Amerique septrionale, Paris 1753
Blair ed: Indian Tribes of the Upper Great Lakes Region, Volume II, pp. 63-73.
Chapter XIX
(p. 63)
Their trading being ended, the Frenchmen reembarked; they did so very opportunely, for the desperate frame of mind in which the Outagamis found themselves the next day, at tidings of the defeat of their people (p. 64) by the Nadouaissioux, would have made them forget the alliance which they had just renewed; in the sequel, they made that feeling sufficiently evident. The French arrived at a place a little below the village of the Maskoutechs, where they encamped. The chiefs, accompanied by their families, came to receive Perot on the bank of their river; they entreated him to enter a cabin; and by a package of beaver-skins they told him that they covered the dead whom their people had assassinated, including three Miami slaves who had escaped from the Iroquois. By another present, they begged that he would allow them to establish their village at the same place where the French were going to settle, saying that they would demonstrate to him their fidelity, and would trade with him for their peltries. Perrot told them that they had a right to settle wherever they pleased; but that, if he permitted them to come near the French, they must turn their war-clubs against the Iroquois only; that they must hang up the hatchet against the Nadouaissioux until the fire of the Iroquois (who was [formerly] his son)-- on account of the Miamis who had been slain at Chikagon, and could chastise the Nadouaissioux more easily than they were aware, when he saw that all his children were uniting their forces with his to destroy the common foe. On the next day they presented to the Frenchmen a buffalo and some Indian corn, and fire, [see footnote 23] which were of great assistance to them during the rest of their journey. He disclosed to (p. 65) them the project formed by all the tribes-- the Miamis, the Outagamis, the Kikabous, and many of the Islinois. All these tribes were to assemble at the Mississipi, to march against the Nadouaissioux. The Miamis were to command the army; the Maskoutechs also were under obligation to join them, in order to avenge the assassination of the Miami slaves. At that moment some Ouagamis brought the news of the defeat of their people by the Nadouaissioux; and they secretly tried to induce the Maskoutechs to unite with them against the French, who had furnished weapons to their enemies. The Maskoutechs were careful not to embroil themselves with the French; and the difficulty which they had already experienced in reinstating themselves in the good graces of the latter hindered them from undertaking any enterprise which would displease the French. These Outagamis, who had got wind of Perrot's sending to the bay a canoe loaded with peltries, went to inform their chief of it; he sent out some men to carry it away. The Frenchmen in the canoe, hearing at night the noise of paddles, and suspecting that the savages were going to capture them, hastily slipped among the tall reeds, which they traversed without being perceived.
Perrot reembarked, with all his men, in good order; he encountered at the [Fox-Wisconsin] portage a canoe of Frenchmen who were coming from the country of the Nadouaissioux. He warned them not to trust the Maskoutechs, who would plunder them; but his warning was in vain. Some of that tribe, discovering them, bestowed upon them every kindness, entreating them to stop and rest themselves, on their way, at their village; but the Frenchmen had no sooner arrived there than they were pillaged. The other Frenchmen reached the Mississipi; Perrot sent out ten men to warn, in behalf of (p. 66) Monsieur de Frontenac, the Frenchmen who were among the Nadouaissioux to proceed to Michilimakinak. Perrot's establishment was located below the Ouiskonche, in a place very advantageously situated for security from attacks by the neighboring tribes. [see footnote 24] The great chief of the Miamis, having learned that Perrot was there, sent him a war-chief and ten young warriors, to tell him that, as his village was four leagues farther down, he was anxious to sit down with Perrot at the latter's fire. That chief proceeded thither two days later, accompanied by twenty men and his women, and presented to the Frenchman a piece of ore from a lead mine. Perrot even reproached the Miami for a similar present by which he pretended to cover the death of the two Frenchmen whom the Maskoutechs had assassinated with the three Miami women who had escaped from an Iroquois village. The chief was utterly astonished at such discourse, since he knew of that affair, he would do whatever Perrot wished in the matter. The chief also assured him that, when the allies were assembled, he would make them turn the hatchet against the Iroquois; but that until they came to the general rendezvous it was necessary that he himself should be ignorant of their design, in order that he might be there with his tribe and be able to raise a large troop against the Iroquois. The ice was now strong enough to support a man; and the Maskoutech chiefs had sent him a warrior to inform him that the Outagamis were far advanced into the country of the Nadouaissioux, (p. 67) and prayed the Miamis to hasten to join them; but the latter had replied that they would do nothing without the Frenchman's consent.
The Tchiduakouingoues, the Ouaouiartanons, the Pepikokis, the Mangakekis, the Pouankikias, and the Kilataks, all Miami tribes, [see footnote 25] coming from all directions, marched by long stages to reach that rendezvous. The first five of these tribes were the first to arrive, with their families at the French post; if the Tchiduakouingoues had not been at hand with a good supply of provisions, the other bands would have perished from hunger; Perrot made them many presents, to induce them to turn their war-club aginst the Iroquois, the common enemy. They excused themselves from a general advance, asserting, nevertheless, that all their young men would go in various detachments to harass the Iroquois youth and carry away some of their heads. But, far from keeping their promise, they amused themselves for an entire month with hunting cattle; meanwhile, all the warriors who had joined the Outagamis and Maskoutechs were intending to march against the Nadouaissioux, while the old men, women, and children would remain with the French.
"The savage's mind is difficult to understand; he speaks in one way and thinks in another. If his friend's interests accord with his own, he is ready to render him a service; if not, he always takes the path by which he can most easily attain his own ends; and he makes all his courage consist in deceiving the enemy by a thousand artifices and knaveries. The French were warned of all (p. 68) the savages' intrigues by a Miami woman; all these hostile actions would have greatly injured Perrot's scheme that they should turn their weapons against the Iroquois-- who, moreover, were delighted that these peoples should be thus divided among themselves, for whatever discord could be aroused among them was the only way by which their plans could be made to fail. Perrot sent for the chief of the Miamis; he made him believe that he had just received a letter which informed him that the Maskoutechs -- jealous at seeing themselves obliged, by way of satisfaction, to join their war-clubs to that of their allies -- had won over the Outagamis, and that they would by common consent attack the Miamis while on the general march against the Nadouaissioux. The chief, believing Perrot's statement, did not fail to break up the band of his warriors, and sent them the next day to hunt buffalo; they also held a war feast, at which they saw the ruin of the Maskoutechs. The Outagamis, who had displayed more steadfast courage than did the other allies, finding that they were advanced in to the enemy's country, consulted the medicine-men to ascertain whether they were secure. Those jugglers delivered their oracles, which were that the spirits had showed them that the Sauteurs and the Nadouaissioux were assembling to march against them [see Footnote 26]. Whether the (p. 69) devil had really spoken to these men (as is believed in all Canada), or the Outagamis were seized with fear at finding themselves along, without assistance --however that might be, they built a fort, and sent their chiefs and two warriores to Perrot, begging that he would go among the Nadouaissioux to check their advance, and thus enable the Outagamis, with their families, to take refuge in their own village.
The Miamis would actually have engaged in battle with the Maskoutechs, if the Frenchman had not dissuaded their chief from doing so. They received the Outagami chief with all possible honors; he told them that their people were dead. Perrot asked him how many the dead were. He replied: "I do not know anything positively; but I believe that they all are dead, for our diviners saw the Nadouaissioux assemble together (p. 70) in order to come against us; they are very numerous, and we are greatly troubled on account of our women and children, who are with us. The old men have sent me to thee, to beg thee to deliver us from the danger into which we have too blindly rushed; they hope that thou wilt go among the Nadouaissioux to stop their advance." Perrot told him that they ought not to place any confidence in their jugglers, who are liars; and that it was only the Spirit who could see so far. "Not at all," replied the Outagami; "the Spirit has enabled them to see what they have divined, and that is sure to happen." The Miamis were strongly in favor of advancing. The Frenchman, who felt obliged by the orders that he had received from Monsieur de Frontenac to keep everything quiet among the allies, concluded that it would be best to avert an attack so fatal to the Outagamis; their destruction would have been very detrimental to the Frenchmen who happened to be in those regions, because the savages, who are naturally unruly, would have taken the opportunity to vent their resentment against them. He made them understand, however, that since the safety of a band of their tribe was concerned, he would go to make some attempt at ameliorating their situation. He encountered on the voyage five cabins of Maskoutechs, a village which was preparing to go to the French establishment to trade there for ammunition. He told them the reason for his departure, and warned them not to trust themselves with the Nadouaissioux.
Perrot finally arrived at the French fort, [see footnote 27] where he learned that the Nadouaissioux were forming a large war-party to seek out the Outagamis or some of their allies. As he was then in a place under his own authority (p. 71), he made known his arrival to the Naduouaisaioux, whom he found to the number of four hundred, ranging along the Missisipi in order to carry on some warlike enterprise. They would not allow his men to return to him, and themselves came to the fort, to which they flocked from all sides in order to pillage it. The commandant demanded why their young men appeared so frightned at the very time when he came to visit his brothers in order to give them life. A chief, arising, made the warriors retire, and ordered them to encamp. When their camp was made, Perrot summoned their leading men, and told them that he had come to inform them that the Miamis, the Outagamis, the Islinois, the Maskoutechs, and the Kikabous had formed an army of four thousand men to fight with them; that they were to march in three parties -- one along the Missisipi, another at a day's journey farther inland, but following the river, and third at a similar distance from the second. He told them that he had stayed this torrent that was going to carry them away; but finding them by chance in this locality, he exhorted them to return to their families them to return to their families and hunt beavers. They replied with much haughtiness that they had left home in order to seek death; and, since there were men, they were going to fight against them, and would not have to go far to find them. They exchanged some peltiries; when that was done, they sent to ask Perrot to visit their camp, and there manifested to him the joy that they felt at his saying that they would find their enemies, entreating him to allow them to continue their route. He tried all sorts of means to dissuade them from this purpose; but they still replied that they had gone away to die; that the Spirit had given them men to eat, at three days' journey from the French; and that Perrot had invented a falsehood to them, since their jugglers had seen great fires far away. They even pointed out the places where these fires were: one was on this side, and at some distance inland; another at some distance and farther inland; and a third, which they believed to be the fire of the Outagamis. All these statements were true, for the five cabins of the Maskoutechs were at three days' journey from the French establishment; their village was on one side, the fort of the Outagmis opposite, and the Miamis and Islinois at a considerable distance farther. It is believed that the demon often speaks to the savages; our missionaries even claim to have recognized him on several occasions . There was much truth in what the evil spirit had comunicated to the jugglers. Other expedients must be employed to stop them; to gain their attention, Perrot gave them two kettles and some other wares, saying to them with these:
"I desire you to live; but I am sure that you will be defeated, for your devil has deceived you. That I have told you is true, for I really have kept back the tribes who have obeyed me. But you are now intending to advance against them; the road that you would take I close to you, my brothers, for I am not willing that it should be stained with blood. If you kill the Outagamis or their allies, you cannot do so without first striking me; if they slay you, they likewise slay me; for I hold them under one of my arms, and you under the other. Can you then do them any wrong without doing it to me?"
He was holding the same calumet which they had sung to him when he first made discovery of their tribe; he presented it to them to smoke, but they refused it. The insult which they thus offered was so great that he flung the calumet at their feet, saying to them:
"It must be that I have accepted a calumet which dogs have sung to me, and that they no longer remember what they said to me. In singing it to me, they chose me as their chief, (p. 73) and promised me that they would never make any advance against their enemies when I presented it to them; and yet today they are trying to kill me."
Immediately a war chief arose, and told Perrot that he was in the right; he then extended it toward the sun, uttering invocations, and tried to return it to Perrot's hands. The latter replied that he would not receive it unless they assured him that they would lay down their weapons. The chief hung it on a pole in the open place within the fort, turning it toward the sun; then he assembled all the leading men in his tent, and obtained their consent that no hostile advance should be made. He then called Perrot hither, and sent for the calumet; he placed it before him, one end in the earth and the other held upright by a small forked stick. He drew from his war-pouch a pair of moccasins, beautifully made; then he took off Perrot's shoes, and with his own hands put the moccasins on the Frenchman's feet. Finally he presented to him a dish of dried grapes, and three times put some of the fruit in Perrot's mouth. After he had eaten these the chief took the calumet and said to him:
"I remember all that these men promised to thee when they presented to thee this calumet; and now we listen to thee. Thou art depriving us only that the Spirit had given us, and thou art giving life to our enemies. Now do for us what thou hast done for them, and prevent them from slaying us when we are dispersed to hunt for beaver, which we are going to do. The sun is our witness that we obey thee."
Footnotes
23: Thus in original (feu); it may be a misprint for some other word or it may mean a box containing smouldering cinder (for which "punk," or decaying wood, was often used) -- which would be a convenience to the French on their river voyage, even though they carried with them their own fire-steels.--Ed.
24: Although the exact location of this post is unknown, it probably was not far from the present Dubuque, Iowa -- where, and at Galena on the Ilinois side, were located the lead mines often mentioned by La Potherie; and later, by Charlevoix, as "Perrot's mines." See Wis. Hist. Colls., vol. x, 301. --Ed.
25: For account of the Miami tribes, see vol. I, note 212; cf. note 190 also. The Ouiatanon were generally called Wea by the English, which name is still applied to the present remnant of the tribe. The Piankashaw (Pouankikias) also are not quite extinct; but the other tribes named in the text are no longer known. --Ed
26: John R. Swanton, in Handbook Amer. Indians, art. "Shamans and priests."
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