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.
Report of Lieutenant Fraser
(Pensacola, May 4, 1766)
Fraser, Alexander in: Dunn, Jacob Piatt,
ed.,
"Documents relating to the French
Settlements on the Wabash,"
Indiana Historical Society
Publications, vol. 2,
1894, pp. 403-442.
(Translation.)
By virtue of the order of M. de Neyon, Major Commandant of the Illinois country, to name a person to attend to the police, and to maintain good order among the citizens of this post, as also of the voyageurs and the Indians- I, invalided Captain, being about to depart to the Illinois country according to the order of Monsieur de Neyon have named Monsieur Deroite de Richardville, performing the functions of captain of militia, jointly with Sr. le Caindre, soldier of the troops. Their first care should be to maintain good feeling among the Indians to prevent disorder so long as they are in charge. Whenever complaint shall be made to them against any one they will proceed to call an assembly of the more notable of the citizens of the place, where the matter shall be decided by a plurality of votes.
Messieurs Deroite de Richardville and de Caindre can not watch too carefully that the citizens keep up their fences, it being to the public interest that the cattle should not pass from the commons to the grain fields. They will check as far as they are able the disorders which occur too frequently, occasioned by drinking. Whenever any news shall come to them which may be of importance to the good of the service they will take care to apprise me of it. In conclusion, in all cases which I have not been able to foresee, I depend on their good management and their devotion to the public welfare.
Given at Post Vincennes the 18th of May, 1764.
|
ST. ANGE. |
________
REPORT OF LIEUTENANT FRASER.
SIR- A detail of the different occurrences of my late journey through the Indian Nations, cou'd neither be very entertaining, nor interesting to any others, but myself. At (page 409) our request Sir, I will endeavour to give you a discription of the countries through which I passed which is a thing however I should not attempt were I not confident that you will have the goodness to excuse any inaccuracies you may find in it whither occasion by hurry or proceeding from my incapacity.
I am very sensible that my pen can not do justice to the beauties and conveniences that nature has bestowed on the large tract of country lying hitherto uninhabited between Fort Pitt & the Illinois on both sides of the Ohio.
After traversing ninety miles of a beautiful country lying between New York & Philadelphia, and traveling from that place to Fort Pitt, distant 320 miles the greatest part peopled by very wealthy inhabitants I thought I cou'd see no other that cou'd excel it. I was soon convinced however of the contrary on my proceeding down the Ohio on my way to the Illinois. That river (very properly termed La Belle Riviere by the French which is the literal translation of the Iroquois name) is formed by the confluence of the Allegeny & Moningahila Rivers, at Fort Pitt where they lose their names as the Ohio does by falling into the Missisipe about forty leagues below Fort Charters & almost due West from Philadelphia after running about two thousand miles in a serpentine course through a country abounding with an incredible quantity of game & constantly presenting different agreeable prospects to the Travelers view.
Tho' this River is considerable at Fort Pitt for its size during the greatest part of the year, yet it is very much increas'd both in Depth and Width by the many Rivers that Discharge themselves into it. The most considerable of these are the Muskingum, whereon the Delaware live. The Canaway which comes from the back Frontiers of Virginia, the Scioto on whose Banks the Shawnise dwell, La Rivere de Rochers, which begins at a little distance (page 410) from the Miames, the Ouabache which comes from near the same place & the Cumberland & Cherokee Rivers which fall into it considerably lower. These lesser rivers are navigable for Batteaus during the greatest part of the year. From the middle of October to June, 8 months.
There are no Indian Nations living contiguous to the Banks of the Ohio, but those two I have just mentioned The Delaw & Shaw & the Mingos or Senecas who live a little above Fort Pitt- excepting those of Ouabache on which there are five nations, Ouiachtonons, Quicapous, Mascoutains, Piankishaw & Virmillion, settled besides a French Village called St. Vincent in which there are about sixty farmers who raise a considerable quantity of Wheat and Tobacco, and have a good stock of cattle.
Between this River and the Illinois are several very extensive plains on which there are always vast numbers of Buffaloe & Deer and every other species of game common in that country.
The soil in the Illinois settlements is not so good as at any of the places I have already named owing perhaps to the quantity of sand mixed with it by the Missisipe, the Inhabitants, suppose that the River overflowed formerly, all the land at present cultivated in that Colony & the situation with some other vestiges seem to give great probability to their conjecture.
The land however is capable to produce anything which one cou'd expect in so northerly a climate. They raise a great deal of wheat & Indian corn, they have also most kinds of European fruits and vegetables, tolerably good considering the little pains they give themselves in cultivating them. They have attempted to rear the European vines, which they say they cou'd not bring to any perfection, but I impute their having given it up of late more to the want of skill in those who planted them, or the Monarch's Injunctions prohibiting the raising any thing which (page 411) might interfere with the staple commodities of the Northern Country. They make however a very bad Wine, from the natural vine of the country which grows spontaneous in every part of that Colony, this Wine tho' seemingly very unhealthy is sold at a most exorbitant price, when they have none else to drink.
The Illinois Indians are about six hundred & fifty able to bear arms. Nothing can equal their passion for drunkeness, but that of the French Inhabitants, who are for the greatest part drunk every day while they can get Drink to buy in the Colony. They import more of this article from New Orleans than they do of any other, and they never fail to meet a speedy & good market for it. They have a good many Negroes, who are obliged to labour very hard to support their masters, in their extravagant Debaucheries. Any one that has had any dealings with them, must plainly see, they are for the most part transported convicts, or people who have fled for some crimes. Those who have not done it themselves are the offspring of such as those I just mentioned inheriting their Forefathers vices. They are cruel and treacherous to each other & consequently so to strangers. They are dishonest in every kind of Business & lay themselves out to overreach strangers, which they often do by a low cunning peculiar to themselves, and their artful flatteries with extravagant entertainments (in which they affect the greatest hospitality) generally favour their schemes.
There is a rich Lead Mine in that Colony from which they get all the lead, that is needed in the country, and a River the water of which (tho' fresh to the taste) they make a sufficiency of salt for the consumption of the Inhabitants. But these latter conveniences are unluckily on the Western or Spanish side of the River.
The trade of this Country is extremely considerable, till of late years it was wholy monopolized by the leading (page 412) men in New Orleans, but since the last peace, they have allowed any one that wou'd pay the fees of a passport to go to our side of the River and amongst our Indians. This was a very political scheme in them, as every trader became a Partizan for the French in the nations we traded to, or in other words, the introduced those traders, who are in general most unconciencious Rascals and made it their interest to debauch from us such Indians as they found well disposed towards us- and to foment & increase the animosity of such as the found otherwise; to this we shou'd alone impute our late war with the Indians, whom they unwarrantably supplied with ammunition and every other thing necessary for carrying it on. The N. O. Company for the Fur trade have confined their commerce to the Missouris River since, which falls in about five leagues above our most northern settlement in the Illinois, private traders are permitted to go every where else, and many of them come to our side to trade, particularly into the Illinois River from whence they get a great share of the trade of that Colony.
I discovered also a few days before I left the Illinois that many traders who are permitted by us to come up from Canada with small quantities of goods, on their arrival in the Indian Nations commissions great quantities of goods from the French Merchants at the Illinois with which they purchase skins in the neighbourhood of our Posts & transport them afterwards to the Illinois- but this I hope will be put a stop to when we have troops enough in that Colony to establish proper posts or enable the commander to send Detachments to detect any we may find committing such Frauds.
When our traders arrive from the Post they can undersell those of the French at least 25 per cent for which reason you may depend Sir that they will use all their endeavours to create us as many enemies as possible as (page 413) they will have the whole trade of every Nation they can engage in a war against us. They have an astonishing sway over the Indians, and they will not fail to put it to the proof, to procure themselves Profit. In short Sir it is my humble opinion that our Countrymen at the Illinois will never have a real peace while they are rivals with the French in Trade.
The French Commandments have always been sharers in the Profits of the New Orleans Company and do everything in their power to promote their common Interest. They will make eternal professions of Friendship and good Offices with every Englishman with whom they have the least intercourse, but their double manner of acting shou'd put us on guard to trust them as little as possible & to suspect them of doing us every harm possible in private. I have the honor to assure you of this Sir, from my own experience not from conjecture, and such as have had any business with them regarding his Majesty's Service must have met the same- if any shou'd pretend to say the contrary it must proceed from their having mistaken their flattering protestations for sincirity so far as to overlook their cunning designs. I have on many occasions been flattered by them & had compliments paid me that I had no tittle to a consciousness of the smallness of my own merit convinced me that they were covers for some hidden designs & the Commander in Chiefs gave me sufficient precautions on this head, to keep me always on my guard & to supply my want of Penetration.
You will think Sir from my account of the French in that new Colony that his Majesty has not made very valuable acquisition if we consider only the number of new Subjects he has got in that Colony, and I assure you Sir that we would be as well quit of them, if the Troops in that country unfortunately depend on them in a great measure for their provisions.- You have heard Sir how the (page 414) greatest part of those who inhabited our side of the River abandon it on our getting possession of the Colony.- Their desertion was undoubtedly occasion'd by the reports spread to pain the English government in as bad a light as invention cou'd frame it, but it is to be hoped, they will see how they have been imposed on and that so many will come back as will be able to supply our Troops plentifully.
The French have had Besides Fort Charters a small Fort at Cascaskias and another at Coake, there was a third called Assomption on the Bank of the Ohio opposite to the mouth of the Cherakee River, besides two Forts on Ouabach the one called the great Ouiachtonon was dependant on Canada & the other at little Ouiachtonon or St Vincent- dependant on Orleans all those excepting fort Charters are intirely in ruins, some of them that you can scarce see any appearance of they did not seem to me of any great consequence were they even on a better footing as they were situated. The Fort of the Natchez is little better, the Barracks and everything in them seem to have been destroyed through wantonness. I am much surprised that we have not inquired of the French their Reasons for abandoning them so abruptly, without giving us Regular possession of them. I took upon myself to ask their reasons for so doing but I could never obtain any answer, perhaps owing to the difficulty of giving a proper one, or perhaps they did not look upon me as a person of sufficient consequence to inquire into those matters.
I forgot to mention Sir the number of Inhabitants at the Illinois and it is a thing which is very difficult to assertain as they are going & coming constantly to & from the Indian Nations, as others are from New Orleans to the Illinois, but there are in general about seven hundred white men able to bear arms.
It remains only now to mention something of the In- (page 415) dians in general. What can be said of one, may be apply'd to all, there is great a similitude between them.
The Indians are cruel, treacherous, and cowardly unless they can surprise their enemy without probability of suffering any loss themselves, but in that case they attack often ten times their own number. They are in general great Drunkards. I must except the Ozages nor are the Akansa or Chicasas so passionately fond of drink as other Nations are. These two are extremely like each other and are more remarkable for their attachment to the white people than any other.
As the Chicasases have ever been faithful to us they shou'd be distinguished by our favours to them before any other Nation, and showing a partiality for them before other Indians might inspire others with a resolution of imitating their fidelity. Drink is the occasion of all our troubles amongst them and it were much to be wished that the assemblies or councils of the neighbouring Provinces would restrict the sending of it, as has been done to the Northward. I am persuaded Sir, when you well learn the licentious methods of carrying on the trade amongst them, that you will use your endeavours to prevent the fatal consequences we shou'd dread from it. I know no body so proper to inform you Sir minutely regarding it as Mr. John McIntosh commissary of the Chickasaws you need not expect to come at the truth from any Trader, but you may safely trust to his information, as I know him to be a man of such honesty that nothing could make him conceal anything which regards his Majestys Service or which you would be desirous to know.
I know no place (as I had the honour formerly to tell you Sir) where we shou'd establish a Fort at sooner than opposite to the mouth of the Missouris River which would give us the command of that River, shou'd we find it hereafter beneficial & wou'd also put a stop to French trading (page 416) up the River, a Post at he mouth of the Ouabache wou'd also be necessary to command the navigation of that river and the Ohio, & as a store to secure provisions or goods in coming from Fort Pitt, shou'd it be thought hereafter more expedient to go from thence by land to Fort Charters.
I think also that he mouth of the Yasou is a more proper place for a Post or Settlement than any other place on the Missipi, as it is the common route of the Creeks and Chactaws going to New Orleans.
I beg leave to Inform you Sir that I think if we could prevail on a few Indians to live at the Iberville with the detachment we get there, might be very servicible in killing game for the Troops, and their wives & children wou'd always be good pledges for their Peaceable Behaviour.
I have the honour to be with true respect Sir your most humble Servant
|
ALE FRASER. |
Pensacola 4th May 1766.
P. S. The Commandants of the French Troops in the Illinois were always impowered to prohibit the exportation of any provisions from the Illinois till the Kings Magazines shou'd be first supplyed. This however the comdts often permitted in consequence of pecuniary considerations from those who exported them I think Sir that your Instructions on this head to your Commanding officer there would be necessary. The Inhabitants might otherwise export their grain and sell it at a lower price to the French that we might offer them for it. I know their antipathy to our Nation would make them embrace with great cheerfulness any sufferings or loss should they in any manner tend to distress us.
In consequence of Monsr Auburys intercession I understand by a letter from General Gage to him, that there are no reprisals to be made on the Indian Alibamons who lately, so grossly insulted us at the Iberville- as the Tonicaws have not been punished either for having beat back the
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