| PREVIOUS | NEXT | NEW SEARCH |
Relation of the voyages, discoveries, and death, of Father James Marquette, and the subsequent voyages of Father Claudius Allouez,Account of La Salle's Attempt to Reach the Mississippi by Sea and of the Establishment of a French Colony in St. Louis Bay
ACCOUNT
OF
LA SALLE'S ATTEMPT TO REACH THE MISSISSIPPI BY SEA,
AND OF THE
ESTABLISHMENT OF A FRENCH COLONY IN ST. LOUIS BAY,
BY
FATHER CHRISTIAN LE GIEROQ.
THE first design of the sieur de la Salle had been to find the long-sought passage to the Pacific ocean, and although the river Colbert (Mississippi) does not lead to it, yet this great man had so much talent and courage, that he hoped to find it, if it were possible, as he would have done, had God spared his life.
The Ilinois territory, and vast countries around, being the centre of his discovery, he spent there the winter, summer, and beginning of autumn, 1683, in establishing his posts. He at last left Monsieur de Tonty, as commandant and resolved to return to France to render an account of his fulfilment of the royal orders. He reached Quebec early in November, and Eochelle, France, on the twenty-third of December.
His design was to go by sea to the mouth of the river Ool-
1 r
I, ' I ll
! V,
186
NAKEATIVE OF FATHER LE CLEECQ.
> Illli' Kl'
;«¦:;¦:¦; i %)
bert, and there found powerful colonies under the good pleasure of the king. These proposals* were favorably received by Monsieur de Seignelay, minister and secretary of state, and superintendent of commerce and navigation in France, His majesty accepted them and condescended to favor the undertaking not only by new powers and commissions, which he conferred upon him, but also by the help of vessels, troops, and money, which his royal liberality furnished him.
The first care of the sieur de la Salle, after being invested with these powers, was to provide for the spiritual, to advance especially the glory of God in this enterprise. He turned to two different bodies of missionaries, in order to obtain men able to labor in the salvation of souls, and lay the foundations of Christianity in this savage land. He accordingly applied to Monsieur Tronçon, superior-general of the clergymen of the seminary of St. Sulpice, who willingly took part in the work of God, and appointed three of his ecclesiastics full of zeal, virtue, and capacity, to commence these new missions. They were Monsieur Oavelier, brother of the sieur de la Salle, Monsieur Chefdeville, his relative, and Monsieur de Maïulle,f all three priests.
As for nearly ten years the Kecollects had endeavored to second the designs of the sieur de la Salle for the glory of God and the sanctification of souls throughout the vast countries of Louisiana, depending on him from Fort Frontenac, and had accompanied him on his expeditions, in which our Father Gabriel was killed, he made it an essential point to take some one of our fathers to labor in concert to establish the kingdom of God in these new countries. For this purpose, he applied to the Rev. Father Hyacinth le Febvre, who
* See M. de la Salle's Memoir in Hist. Coll. of Louisiana, vol. i., p. 25. \ Called by Joutel Dainmaville. See Hist. Coll. of Louisiana, voL i., p.
ff
Mr!
Ilii
ill
DISCOVERIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
187
had been twice provincial of our province of St. Anthony, in Artois, and was then, for the second time, provincial of that of St. Denis in France, who, wishing to second with all his power the pious intentions of the sieur de la Salle, granted him the religious he asked : namely, Father Zenobius Membre superior of the mission, and Fathers Maximus Le Clercq and Anastasius Douay, all three of our province of St. Anthony, the first having been for four years the inseparable companion of the sieur de la Salle during his discovery on land ; the second had served for five years with great edification in Canada, especially in the mission of the seven islands, and Anticosti. Father Dennis Morguet was added as a fourth priest ; but that religious finding himself extremely sick on the third day after embarking, he was obliged to give up and return to his province.
The reverend father provincial had informed the Congregation de propaganda fide, of this mission, to obtain necessary authority for the exercise of our ministry ; he received decrees in due form, which we will place at the end of the chapter, not to interrupt the reader's attention here. His holiness Innocent XL, added by an express brief, authentic powers, and permissions in twenty-six articles, as the holy see is accustomed to grant to missionaries whose remoteness makes it morally impossible to recur to the authority of the ordinary. It was granted against the opposition of the bishop of Quebec, Cardinal d'Estrées having shown that the distance from Quebec to the mouth of the river was more than eight or nine hundred leagues by land.*
The hopes that were then justly founded on this famous ex-, pedition, induced many young gentlemen to join the sieur de
* Similar opposition compelled the first Jesuits in Louisiana to leave soon after their arrival with Iberville.
1, r ,
1," ,
i-v
188
NAEKATTVE OF FATHER LE CLEKCQ.
la Salle as volunteers ; he chose twelve who seemed most resolute ; among them, the sieur de Morangé, and the sieur Cavelier, his nephews, the latter only fourteen years of age.
The little fleet was fitted out at Rochelle, to be composed of four vessels the Joly, a royal ship, a frigate called the Belle, a storeship called the Aimable, and a ketch called the St. Francis. The royal vessel was commanded by Captain de Beaujeu, a Norman gentleman known for valor and experience, and his meritorious services ; his lieutenant was M. le chevalier d'Aire, now captain in the navy, and son of the dean of the parliament of Metz. The sieur de Ilamel, a young gentleman of Brouage, full of fire and courage, was . ensign. "Would to God the troops and the rest of the crew had been as well chosen ! Those who were appointed, while M. de la Salle was at Paris, picked up a hundred and fifty soldiers, mere wretched beggars soliciting alms, many too deformed and unable to fire a musket. The sieur de la Salle had also given orders at Rochelle to engage three or four mechanics in each trade ; the selection was, however, so bad, that when they came to the destination, and they were set to work, it was seen that they knew nothing at all. Eight or ten families of very good people presented themselves, and offered to go and begin the colonies. Their offer was accepted, and great advances made to them as well as to the artisans and soldiers.
All being ready, they sailed on the 24th of July, 1684. A storm which came on a few days later, obliged them to put in at Chef-de-Bois to repair one of their masts broken in the gale. They set sail again on the 1st of August, steering for St. Domingo ; but a second storm overtook them, and dispersed them on the fourteenth of September, the Aimable and the Belle alone remaining together, reached Petit Goave
DISCOVEKIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
189
in St. Domingo, where they fortunately found the Joly. The St. Francis being loaded with goods and effects, and unable to follow the others, had put in at Port de Paix, whence she sailed after the storm was over to join the fleet at the rendezvous ; but as during the night, while quite calm, the captain and crew thinking themselves in safety, were perfectly off their guard, they were surprised by two Spanish periaguas, which took the ketch.
This was the first mishap which befell the voyage ; a disaster which caused universal consternation in the party, and much grief to the sieur de la Salle, who was just recovering from a dangerous malady, which had brought him to the verge of the grave. They stayed, indeed, some time at St. Domingo, where they laid in provisions, a store of Indian corn, and of all kinds of domestic animals to stock the new country. M. de St. Laurent, governor-general of the Isles, Begon, intendant, and de Cussy, governor of St. Domingo, favored them in every way, and even restored the reciprocal understanding so necessary to succeed in such undertakings ; but the soldiers, and most of the crew, having plunged into every kind of debauchery and intemperance, so common in those parts, were so ruined and contracted such dangerous disorders that some died in the island, and others never recovered.
The little fleet thus reduced to three vessels, weighed anchor November 25th, 1684, and pursued its way quite successfully along the Cayman isles, and passing by the Isle of Peace (pines), after anchoring there a day to take in water, reached Port San Antonio, on the island of Cuba, where the three ships immediately anchored. The beauty and allurement of the spot, and its advantageous position, induced them to stay and even land. For some unknown reason the Spaniards had abandoned their several kinds of provisions, and
'"l
. ! i ¦i i
l ; i
4. ¦¦hb-......
m
¦mm-'m
il1* Mi;!* ^ï
190
NARRATIVE OF FATHER LE CLEECQ.
among the rest some Spanish wine, which they took, and after two days' repose, left to continue the voyage to the gulf of Mexico.
The sieur de la Salle, although very clear-headed, and not easily mislead, had, however, too easily believed the advice given him by some persons in St. Domingo ; he discovered, too late, that all the sailing directions given him were absolutely false ; the fear of being injured by northerly winds, said to be very frequent and dangerous at the entrance of the gulf, made them twice lie to, but the discernment and courage of the sieur de la Salle made them try the passage a third time, and they entered happily on the 1st of January, 1685, when. Father Anastasius celebrated a solemn mass as a thanksgiving, after which, continuing the route, they arrived in fifteen days in sight of the coast of Florida, when a violent wind forced the Joly to stand off, the store-ship and frigate coasting along, the sieur de la Salle being anxious to follow the shore.
He had been persuaded at St. Domingo, that the gulf-stream ran with incredible rapidity toward the Bahama channel. This false advice set him entirely astray, for thinking himself much further north than he was, he not only passed Espiritu Santo bay (Appalachee) without recognising it, but even followed the coast far beyond the river Colbert, and would even have continued to follow it, had they not perceived by its turning south, and by the latitude, that they were more than forty or fifty leagues from the mouth, the more so, as the river, before emptying into the gulf, coasts along the shore of the gulf to the west, and as longitude is unknown to pilots, it proved that he had greatly passed his parallel lines.
The vessels at last, in the middle of February, met at Espiritu Santo bay, where there was an almost continual
'l î
DISCOVEKIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
191
roadstead. They resolved to return whence they came, and advanced ten or twelve leagues to a bay which they called St. Louis bay (St. Bernard). As provisions began to fail, the soldiers had already landed, the sieur de la Salle explored and sounded the bay which is a league broad, with a good bottom. He thought that it might be the right arm of the river Colbert. He brought the frigate in without accident on the eighteenth of February; the channel is deep, so deep in fact, that even on the sand bar, which in a manner bars the entrance, there are twelve or fifteen feet of water at low tide.
The sieur de la Salle having ordered the captain of the store-ship not to enter without the pilot of the frigate, in whom he put all confidence, to unload his cannon and water into the boats to lighten his cargo, and lastly, to follow exactly the channel staked out; none of his orders were executed, and the faithless man, in spite of the advice given him by a sailor who was at the main-top, to keep off, drove his vessel on- the shoals where he touched and stranded, so that it was impossible to get off.
La Salle was on the seashore when he saw this deplorable maneuvre, and was embarking to remedy it, when he saw a hundred or a hundred and twenty Indians come; he had to put all under arms, the roll'of the drum put the savages to flight; he followed them, presented the calumet of peace, and conducted them to their camp, regaled them, and even made them presents ; and the sieur de la Salle gained them so that an alliance was made with them ; they brought meat to the camp the following days; he bought, some of their canoes, and there was every reason to expect much from this necessary union. Misfortune would have it that a bale of blanketing from
ii I
192
NAKKATIVE OF FATHER MEMBKE.
the wreck was thrown on shore ; some days after a party of Indians seized it, the sieur de la Salle ordered his men to get it out of their hands peaceably ; they did just the contrary ; the commander presented his musket as if about to fire ; this so alarmed them, that they regarded us only as enemies. Provoked to fury they assembled on the night of the 6th and 7th of March, and finding the sentinel asleep, poured in a destructive volley of arrows. Our men ran to arms, the noise of musketry put them to flight, after they had killed on the spot the sieurs Oris and Desloge, two cadets volunteers, and dangerously wounded the sieur de Moranger, lieutenant and nephew of the sieur de la Salle, and the sieur Gaien, a volunteer. The next day they killed two more of our men, whom they found sleeping on the shore.
Meanwhile, the store-ship remained more than three weeks at the place of its wreck, without going to pieces, but full of water; they saved all they could in periaguas and boats, when a calm allowed them to reach it. One day Father Ze-nobius having passed in a boat, it was clashed to pieces against the vessel by a sudden gust of wind. All quickly got on board, but the good father who remained last to save the rest, would have been drowned had not a sailor thrown' him a rope, with which he drew himself up as he was sinking.
At last Monsieur de Beaujeu sailed in the Joly with all his party on the twelfth of March, to return to France,* and the sieur de la Salle having thrown up a house with planks and pieces of timber to put his men and goods in safety, left a hundred men under the command of the sieur de Moranger,
* Le Clereq it ¦will be observed, is silent as to the misunderstanding between La Salle and Beaujeu, -which is mentioned by others, and borne out by letters of the latter. To him must in no small degree be ascribed the failure of La Salle'a attempt. For the detail of their disagreement see Sparks's excellent life of La Salle, and Joutel's journal in Historical Collection of Louisiana.
DISOOVBEIES IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
193
and set out with fifty others ; the sieur Cavelier and fathers Zenobius and Maximus intending to seek at the extremity of the bay, the mouth of the river, and a proper place to fix his colony.
The captain of the frigate had orders to sound the bay in boats, and to bring his vessel in as far as he could ; he followed twelve leagues along the coast, which runs from southeast to northwest, and anchored opposite a point to which the sieur Hurier gave his name ; he was appointed commander there ; this post serving as a station between the naval camp, and the one the sieur de la Salle went, on the second of April, to form at the extremity of the bay, two leagues up a beautiful river called Cow river, from the great number of those wild animals, they found there. Our people were attacked there by a party of Indians, but repulsed them.
On the twenty-first, holy Saturday, the sieur de la Salle -came to the naval camp, where the next day and the three following, those great festivals were celebrated with all possible solemnity, each one receiving his Creator. The following days all the effects, and generally all that could be of service to the camp of the sieur de la Salle, were transferred from those of the sieurs de Moranger and Hurier, which were destroyed. For a month the sieur de la Salle made them work in cultivating the ground ; but neither the grain nor the vegetables sprouted, either because they were damaged by the salt water, or because, as was afterward remarked, it was not the right season. The fort which was built in an advantageous position, was soon in a state of defence, furnished with twelve pieces of cannon, and a magazine under ground, for fear of fire, in which all the effects were safely deposited. The maladies which the soldiers had contracted at St. Domingo, were visibly carrying them off, and
13
lit
''1
nmm
lilt
194:
NAKRATIVE OF FATHER LE CLEKCQ.
a hundred died in a few days, notwithstanding all the relief afforded by broths, preserves, treacle, and wine, which were given them.
On the 9th of August, 1685, three of our Frenchmen being at the chase which is plentiful in these parts, in all kinds of game and deer, were surrounded by several troops of armed savages, but our men putting themselves on the defensive, first killed the chief and scalped him; this spectacle terrified and scattered the enemy, who nevertheless, some time after, surprised and killed one of our Frenchmen.
On the thirteenth of October, the sieur de la Salle seeing himself constantly insulted by the savages, and wishing, moreover, to have some of their canoes by force or consent, as he could not do without them, resolved to make open war on them in order to bring them to an advantageous peace.
He set out with sixty men armed with wooden corslets to protect them against arrows, and arrived where they had gathered ; in different engagements by day and night, he put some to flight, wounded several, killed some ; others were taken, among the rest some children, one of whom a girl three or four years old was baptized and died some days after, as the first fruits of this mission, and a sure conquest sent to heaven. The colonists now built houses, and formed fields by clearing the ground, the grain sowed succeeding better than the first. They crossed to the other side of the bay in canoes, and found on a large river a plentiful chase, especially of cattle and turkeys. In the fort they raised all kinds of domestic animals, cows, hogs, and poultry, which multiplied greatly. Lastly, the execution done among the Indians had rendered the little colony somewhat more secure, when a new misfortune succeeded all the preceding. The sieur de la Salle had ordered the captain of the frigate
II:
DISCOVERIES EST THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEF.
195
to sound the bay carefully as he advanced, and to recall all his men on board at nightfall ; but this captain and six of his strongest, stoutest, and ablest men, charmed with the agreeableness of the season, and the beauty of the country, left their canoe and arms on the sand at low-water, and advanced a gun shot on the plain to be dry ; here they fell asleep, and an Indian party espying them, surprised them, aided by their sleep and the darkness, massacred them cruelly, and destroyed their arms and canoe. This tragical adventure produced the greatest consternation in the camp.
After rendering the last honors to the murdered men, the
sieur de la Salle leaving provisions for six months, set out
with twenty men and ,1ns brother, the sieur Cavelier, to seek
the mouth of the river (Mississippi) by land. The bay which
he discovered to be in latitude 27° 45' ST., is the outlet of a
great number of rivers, none of which, however, seemed large
enough to be an arm of the river Colbert. The sieur de la
Salle explored them in hope that a part of these rivers was
formed further up by one of the branches of the said river ;
or, at least, that by traversing the country to some distance,
he would make out the course of the Missisipi. He was
longer absent than he had expected, being compelled to
make rafts to cross the rivers, and to intrench himself every
night to protect himself against attacks. The continual rains,
too, formed ravines, and destroyed the roads. At last, on
the 13th of February, 1686, he thought that he had found
the river ; he fortified himself there, left a part of his men,
and with nine others continued to explore a most beautiful
country, traversing a number of villages and nations, who
treated him very kindly; at last,returning to find his people,
he arrived at the general camp, on the 31st of May, charmed
with the beauty and fertility of the fields, the incredible
1 ,i
i
196
NARRATIVE OF FATHER LE CLEROQ.
quantity of game of every kind, and the numerous tribes he had met on the way.
The Almighty was preparing him a still more sensible trial than the preceding, in the loss of the frigate, his only remaining vessel in which he hoped to coast along, and then pass to St. Domingo, to send news to France, and obtain new succor. This sad accident happened from want of precaution on the part of the pilot. All the goods were lost irrecoverably ; the vessel struck on the shore, the sailors were drowned ; the sieur de Chefdeville, the captain, and four others, with difficulty, escaped in a canoe which they found almost miraculously on the shore. They lost thirty-six barrels of flour, a quantity of wine, the trunks, clothes, linen, equipage, and most of the tools. "We leave the reader to imagine the grief and affliction felt by the sieur de la Salle at an accident which completely ruined all his measures. His great courage even could not have borne him up, had not God aided his virtue by the help of extraordinary grace.
All these measures being thus disconcerted, and his affairs brought to extremes, he resolved to try to reach Canada by land ; he returned some time after, and undertook a second in which he lost his life by the cruelty of his men, some of whom remaining faithful, continued their route and reached France, among the rest Father Anastasius Douay. Although the detail of his remarks was lost in his many wrecks, the following is an abridgment of what he could gather from them, with which, perhaps, the reader will be better pleased than if I gave it in my own style.
¦IJ, It
Information about SGML version of this document.
| PREVIOUS | NEXT | NEW SEARCH |