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.
Gage to Halifax
(August 10, 1765)
Gage, Thomas in: Public Record
Office, Colonial Office, 5.83 f.
681 and in Alvord & Carter,
British Series, Vol. II,
pp. 68-72.
Our Affairs seem now very well settled with the several Nations and Tribes of Indians, everywhere, except about the Detroit and Missilimakinak. The French Traders have yet a free and open Communication from the Ilinois, with all the Nations, inhabiting the Country South-West of the Lakes; and they have spared neither Cost or Pains to prevent their treating with us, and to excite them to War. Belts importing the most notorious Falsehoods, are continualy carried amongst them, and they are plentifully supplied with Ammunition, and everything they stand in need of. The Indians in general find Belief, as fast as the French can invent storys, but the Pouteatamies of St. Joseph, and a Tribe of Chippewas of Saguinam, appear the most forward and ready to commit Hostilities. The Officer Commanding at Missilimakinak, has received Intimation of a Design to surprize the Fort; and thinks the Information so well grounded, as to deserve his Care and Attention to frustrate any Design of that Nature. By the latest Accounts we learn, that there was a very considerable Number of Indians at that Post, either on Account of Trade, or under Pretence of Trade; but the Officer is upon his Guard, And I trust he will make them repent, any Attempts they shall make upon his Garrison. Sir William Johnson has informed me, that some of the Canadian Traders are also suspected of spreading idle Reports amongst the Savages; I imagine with a lucrative View of hurting the British Traders, who now share with them the profits of the Furr Trade in the upper Coun- (page 70) try. It is no easy Matter to obtain Proofs sufficient to convict them, tho' all Endeavors shall be used, towards it.
A trader named Crawford, who went with Lieutenant Ross of the 34th Regiment from Mobile to the Ilinois, is lately arrived here; and has given the Account, which I have the honor to inclose, of their Journey, and what passed during their stay at Fort Chartres. Lieutenant Fraser who left Fort Pitt on the 22d of March, has not had it in his Power to send any Account of himself but from Crawford's Declaration, who saw his Party at New Orleans, we find that he met with a worse Reception than Lieut Ross, but that Pondiac had taken him under his Protection, and kept him at the Ilinois till Mr Croghan, Sir William Johnson's Deputy, who was to follow him, should arrive there. The French Commander at Fort Chartres, in a Letter to the Governor of New-Orleans dated the 20th of May, says, that Pondiac was pacifick, and had taken Lieutenant Fraser with him to Detroit; tho' it's most probable, that he will carry him to meet Mr Croghan at the Ouabache. Mr Croghan left Fort Pitt on the 15th of May, accompanied by several of the principal Shawnese. He was at the Sciota River on the 6th of that Month, and I have the honor to transmit Your Lordship an extract of his Letter to me from thence. From that Time No Account has been received of him. A great deal is expected from his Influence with the Western Indians, and that he will be able, with the Assisstance of the Shawnese, to being them all into our Measures: And the Resolutions lately adopted in our Favor by the Six Nations & other Indian Clans, with whom the Peace has been settled and fixed, will probably pacify those Western Tribes, who still shew so much Disaffection towards the English. Messengers have been dispatched in the Name of the whole to all the Western Nations, to demand the immediate Delivery of all the War-Belt's in their Possession, to exhort them strongly to Peace, and to tell them, if after this Warning given them, any of them shall notwithstanding, continue their hostile Dispositions, and occasion further Disturbances, they must not be surprised, if they in a Body, should join against them.
The Circumstance in Crawford's Declarations, relative to the Fort the French are building, at the Mouth of the Missouri, does not look (page 71) like ceding the Country to the Spaniards; and if it is not ceded, the erecting that Fort will be the best thing the French can do, to be a Check upon us, and extend their own Trade. They mean, no doubt, in this Case, to draw away as many Inhabitants & Indians as they can from the Ilinois, to form a new Settlement; and they must Naturaly for a long Time, retain an Influence with such French Inhabitants, that shall remain with the English; and the Vicinity of our Posts, will facilitate their Intrigues. The Position they have taken is a good one; It will protect their own Side of the Mississippi, and prevent our Trade going up the Missouri: The Ilinois River is also at Present open to them on our Side of the Mississippi, and we shall be obliged when we get to the Ilinois, to have a Post at the Mouth of that River or they will push their Merchandize in Spite of us into the Lakes, and trade under or Forts; which will not be difficult for them to do, as long as they can retain the Influence they now have, with the several Nations round the Lakes.
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