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.
De Guyenne to Vaudreuil
(September 10, 1752)
De Guyenne in: Huntington Library
Mss., Loudoun Coll., 312 and
in Pease and Jenison,
French Series, III,
pp. 712-725.
M. the commandant will indicate to you, Monsieur, his reasons for releasing the Illinois or Miami prisoners. It seemed cer- (page 713) tain that the greater part of that village which with the two chiefs had wintered on the Mississippi, had no knowledge of the latest movements of the Piankashaw, nor of their interviews with the Illinois who wintered with them. It is moreover quite doubtful if the party of Le Loup, to which these four prisoners belonged, was disposed to attack us. I have not yet fathomed that affair, but what seems most likely to me is that that party was followed by another, which included the two young men of this village- one of whom was killed- who affronted the French toward Fort de Chartres. I believe that Le Loup, who has twice prevented those of his people who were ill-affected from attacking the French, is blamable only for not warning M. Benoist of their dispositions, and for having communicated at the Mississippi with the second party.
Before taking winter quarters, our Illinois brought to M. Macarty three Frenchmen whose pirogues had been lost in the ice of the Ohio, and then Moreau, who though himself the sole survivor of his defeat on the same river. They had treated him, who (page 714) came among them almost naked, with all manner of humanity, feeding and clothing him well. M. Moreau thought, and everybody agreed, that it was not necessary to plunge people who did not seem blameworthy into a despair which might be fatal to us. He judged there was no likelihood that they could be constrained to make war on the Piankashaw, many of whose women and children they have in this village, and among whom many of their men have married. Moreover he could not be suspected of weakness, or of self-interest, since he had refused a slave offered to him by the relatives of the prisoners. All these considerations have induced him to turn over the two chiefs who brought in the Frenchmen, the two prisoners as a recompense for their love for our nation, and it has produced a very good effect. Until then I did not know what was to become of this village, which assuredly would have broken up. The two culprits have gone to thank M. the commandant at his dwelling, and have since been very quiet.
The Kickapoo, of which tribe Le Loup is a member, have come, backed by a recommendation of M. de Ligneris, who has but this one village in his region that has not declared against us, to obtain the fourth prisoner, who is a Wea. He had been refused when his father begged for him, as it was desired that the blame-worthy chiefs should come and acknowledge their fault. But he found the means to break one of his irons and to escape. Ten days alter, exhausted from hunger, he came by night to a cabin in the village, where they freed his hands and his foot of the irons and gave him a gun and a side of beef for his journey. Some days later two chiefs of the few Wea remaining at their old post came with letters from M. de Ligneris and asked for the prisoner. They told us that the tribes of Mackinac have made an attack on the village on the Great Miami. You know from M. the commandant that their estimate of the losses inflicted is much reduced; but their chiefs added that after the attack a mortally wounded Iroquois demanded speech with the Ottawa and Potawatomi. A Miami with a flag in his hand came up to them, (page 716) and after reproaching him because they had become the slaves and dogs of the French, who forced them to fight and destroy each other, the Ottawa had said it was the last time they would listen to the French, and that they had exchanged four Miami prisoners for seven Englishmen, one of whom, the blacksmith, had been shot in the fight and was dispatched on the spot, and the six others taken to Makinac. They also said they had sent two chiefs to this post to invite the chiefs of the tribes established here and those of other neighboring tribes to confer and to agree no longer to take arms against each other, which would imply a sort of league against the French.
It does not appear that the Piankashaw have thought seriously of atoning for their fault. The different invitations that the Illinois have sent them on their own account have been without effect. Either they despair of being pardoned, or else they rely on the protection of the English and of the various tribes who have taken refuge in that region. Their fear up to now (page 717) of the vengeance of the French has made them take every means of increasing their forces. They have spared neither lies nor threats to gain the Illinois, and in last summer's hunt a man from Vincennes used the brandy he had of M. the commandant to seduce seven or eight families whom he carried off to White River, where the Piankashaw and the Wea who followed them are still encamped. The English have twice come to seek them and have brought them goods. As yet they have no fort and almost no powder. There is still time to disperse them if one knew how to set about it.
The more moderate of the tribe have recovered from the great fright into which the Foxes and the language of the Miamis have thrown them; and a prisoner come back from among the Foxes has convinced them that the French knew nothing of the designs of these last. Nevertheless the continual arrival of soldiers, and the lack of a fort to which they could retire in case of alarm, the flight of several cabins who have withdrawn from the two villages to the Peoria and to the Piankashaw, their needs and the little apparent inclination to supply them, are causing a ferment which as I think will end in driving away next winter the most discontented and the most fearful.
As to the two chiefs of this village, Rouensa, elder brother of the one you have seen at the city, Monsieur, and Thomas: the latter is an honest man, has always been attached to the French and to religion; there is nothing to fear from him. The first named plays a part that is difficult to sustain. He would like to live on good terms with the French. He feels that it is to the interest of his village, of which he considers himself sole chief, to get on with them. But his eldest brother, brought up among the Miami, is with the Piankashaw, and he would like to protect him from the vengeance of our nation. This year he has made various fruitless overtures to him and to his party. He says he abandons them to their fate, and that he is ready to march against them. But whatever he may say, he seeks the means of reconciling them with us. To that end he dissimulates, he interprets, he softens all their messages, censoring all that might make them more odious and retard the reconciliation for which he hopes. He is a flighty man, but gentle, timid, and careful to please the Foxes. Only by marks of friendship, and of (page 720) confidence, and by wholesome lessons can we forestall the errors into which chagrin might carry him.
M. de Bertet, who knew him well, had succeeded by tempering kindness with force in keeping him and his village in dependence. He distributed his favors wisely. On occasion he gave the chiefs the wherewithal to maintain their prestige in the village, and with those who came to see them. He spoke always with much sang-froid and presence of mind, and was accordingly listened to, respected, and loved that the chiefs and prominent men brought their differences to him and abode by his decision. After him they liked M. Benoist, who perhaps gave too easily. But their successor is dreaded; and he has the king's interest so much at heart that he seems to recognize no others. Some proofs follow, knowledge of which, Monsieur, may be useful.
The Cahokia and Michigamea, after their reverse of June 1, went off to the settlement at Fort de Chartres. Six days later at Frenchman returning from Cahokia came with a tale of a second (page 721) hostile party stronger than the first. He asserted it to the commandant and to the Indians, telling them it was to complete their destruction. He was specific as to the place where he had seen them, the number of canoes, the number of men coming by land, the various tribes. He was believed, and without question the Indians were urged to take refuge at the French village of Kaskaskia. The attack was to take place next morning; so men, women, and children must needs set forth and go six leagues on a very cold and rainy night. Passing by here they gave the alarm to the whole village, which I had left the evening before. It was a Frenchman who had seen and spoken with the enemy, who had counted all the men, five hundred in the least. It was the French chiefs who bade them flee. There it was decided to follow, and at daybreak four to five hundred people reached the French village, most of them drenched with rain and perishing with cold. The interpreter and the principal inhabitants, touched by the misery of all these fugitives, spoke and interceded for them, (page 722) on my next visit to the French village. But I could get nothing for them. Accordingly the chiefs here say we are no longer afraid of them.
After the Foxes' attack the Michigamea, whose cabins had been burned, were without food, furniture, clothing or arms, but they were no way helped although intercession was made for them on all sides.
On their return from the winter hunt our people according to custom carried dried meat and grease to the commandant and asked for guns. They were answered that there were none and were put off until the next convoy. But they do not dare ask for them, and none are given them. Rouensa, who has none, and who came to speak with me, begged me to ask one for him. I did not dare undertake to do it. It is feared, so it is said, that they will give powder to the Miami which is the reason that during a year but fifty pounds has been given to the village. These petty annoyances make me uneasy and fearful lest these people take some evil course.
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