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 La Salle to a Friend
(Missilimakinac, October, 1682)
In Bibliotheque Nationale, fonds Clairambault 1016, fol. 148
and in Margry, microfilm, vol. II, pp. 287-301.
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I had authority under my commission to have forts built where I might think fit, the ownership of which was to remain in my hands on the same terms as Fort Frontenac. I have built one at the portage of the River of the Islinois, where I have left thirty men with the Sieur de Tonty. The desertion of my men, my losses and the war waged by the Iroquois against the Ilinois and the Miamy, have prevented me from building any others. It will be necessary to ask for confirmation for that, and for the grant of the River of the Ilinois, as far as the River Ouabache, to the east of the River Colbert, with a depth of ten leagues from the west side of the River, along the space between the Rivers Ouabache, as a seignory, with the higher jurisdiction and other rights as well as the governorship; also the River of the Acansa with a depth of ten leagues (page 294) on both sides of the river; six leagues' frontage and the like depth at the village of the Coroa; and a concession at the mouth of the river; or, at least, for the present, the fort at the Ilinois portage and the river of that name, with a five years' monopoly of the trade, as against all other persons, on the Great River and its affluents, on condition that I do not even go to Lake Huron, the Lake of the Ilinois or the other lakes where the Indians live who go to Montreal to trade, unless war with the Iroquois should compel me to go there; in that case it would be absolutely forbidden for me to trade there, and also for anyone else to do so on my lands, unless he is a settler there; that I shall be permitted to send to an from the said concession as many men and commodities or as much ammunition as I please by Lake Erie, but not to go elsewhere unless there is war with the Iroquois, in which case I shall be responsible for their acts
. . .(page 295). . .
For the rest, it is very desirable that this war between the Iroquois and the Ilinois should come to an end. If we had opposed it from the outset, the former tribe would not have become so presumptuous from the victory they have obtained. No it is rumoured that the Iroquois want to make war upon us; and it seems that those who should prevent it are bringing it about, by inciting the Indians who are our allies, among whom they are living, to begin the war, in the hope, either that the war would ruin me by putting an end to the trade of Fort Frontenac, or that it would enable them to have a constant pretext for complaints against me. For I should not then be able to go to the Ilinois country except by way of Lakes Huron and Ilinois, because the other routes which I have discovered by the end of Lake Erie and the Southern shore of that lake would become too dangerous, on account of frequent encounters with the Iroquois, who are always about those parts. Thus they would always be able to accuse my men of trading in some way at prohibited places; but in case war occurs I shall have the route by sea open to me, and thus I shall care nothing for these designs. They have perhaps yet another, which I have suspected in consequence of the reports in circulation that the Iroquois had a special grudge against me, being angry at my establishing (page 296) a post among their enemies,- the object being to cause my exploration to be looked upon as the occasion of that war, and to throw upon me the onus of the consequences which may proceed from it. Now, it is easy to reply that, even if the Iroquois had tried to oppose my going, it would have been most dishonourable and cowardly for me to put a stop to my enterprise on that account, and to place those savages in the position of arbiters of the enterprises we may wish to embark upon, as if the King's orders could not be carried out except with their approval; so that I should have been very wrong not to execute the orders committed to me, out of fear of the Iroquois.
In the second place, I prepared their minds on this subject three years ago, before I set out, and they agreed not to oppose it; and they never became uneasy about it until people explained it to them in a manner which they knew must disturb their minds, though without cause; for I have met some of them several times on my journeys when the odds were in my favor, and also a short time since on the River Colbert, and have shown them nothing but kindness. Moreover, you may reflect upon this fact, that the leader of the Iroquois, when they went against the Ilinois, was clothed in an old Jesuit robe, and was the bearer of the Jesuits' letters to the Reverend Father Allouez; and several of the Iroquois had letters to ensure them being claimed by the French if they should happen to be captured in war, by which they were strongly encouraged to make war. You may also observe that, whereas the war against the Ilinois had been vigorously carried on, when I arrived among that tribe, it was relaxed as soon as I became the neighbour of the Miamy; (page 297) and they, having at first had an understanding with the Iroquois for the destruction of their neighbors, found that the Iroquois were their enemies before the Ilinois had been destroyed, as soon as I built my fort near the village of the latter tribe, and the Miamy were immediately attacked by the Iroquois. People did not fail to tell the Miamy at once that I was there for the purpose of ruining them, as I had been the occasion of the overthrow of the Ilinois. This made it necessary for me to remain with them that winter in order to remove their fear that I was going to invite the Iroquois to come and destroy them, for that was rumoured among them when I left, and it obliged me to retrace my steps, fearing lest this rumour might make those tribes suspicious and place my post in danger. Moreover those reports were all spread abroad secretly. Such reports are first started by means of trusty Indians, against whom there is no remedy. They are sent, in consideration of a few presents, to any place that is thought advisable; and then the Frenchmen in those parts hear the reports from them, and thereupon publish abroad whatever comes into their heads, and no one can possibly discover the real source of the tale. It was in that way that a Kiskakon and a Ouinipeg were sent to the Ilinois country, two years ago, there to announce to M. de Tonty the report of my death; and the man Scortas, a Huron, to me, to assure me that the said Sieur Tonty had been burned by the Ilinois. From whom could these latter have learned, on the arrival of Father Allouez at their village, that I had a fort among the *Ilinois, (page 298) and that the said Sieur Tonty was an Italian and not a Frenchman, and that consequently they ought not to trust us?
But the fact which clearly proves that the origin
of this war, if it should come, ought not to be attributed to me is that it is
not the Iroquois who have begun it but, on the contrary, our allies the
Outaouais. They captured one last year, and he was murdered at the village of
the Kiskakons, who drank his blood and ate his entrails, and refused to make
reparation for this act,- as the Governor wrote to the Jesuits of
Missilimakinak, where the Kiskakons live; and the Count, anticipating that the
Iroquois would resent this, gave permission to these tribes to defend
themselves. This, together with what was said to them by a number of Frenchmen,
so convinced them that they were about to have war upon their hands, that some
of them have gone to begin it, while others, such as the Nepissirini and
Outaouacs of Manitoualint, have already forsaken the country; so that it cannot
now be said that it is I who have occasioned the war, but our allies, who have
begun it. . . .This rumour of war with the Iroquois imposes upon me heavy
expenses, to guard it [Fort Frontenac]; and as I fear lest M. de La Forest,
whom I have left in command there, and the men with him, may get frightened,-
which is perhaps the real object of all these commotions, in order that, by
frightening the men there and causing them to desert, they may accuse me of
leaving the fort denuded of men,- I have sent a petition to the Governor in
which I am begging him, in case the Sieur de La Forest should go to France, to
place a commandant there with whatever number (page 299) of soldiers he may
consider necessary, for which I will pay next Spring, on my arrival.
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