Note 33 — Chapter I · The French and British Period

[1]“Kekionga” is said to mean “blackberry bush”, this plant being considered an emblem of antiquity because it sprang up on the sites of old villages. This theory rests on the statement of Barron, an old French trader of the area. However, the word “Kekionga” is more likely a corruption of Kiskakon. The Kiskakons or “cut tails” were the principal tribe of the Ottawas who lived on the Maumee at a very early time, for which reason this river was sometimes called the “Ottawa”. Archeological American, 1,278; “Relation of Sieur de Lamothe Cadillac, 1718” Wisconsin Historical Collections, XVI, p. 353.

[2]From Little Turtle’s speech at the Treaty of Greenville, quoted in H. S. Knapp’s History of the Maumee Valley, p. 357.

[3]Justin Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, IV, 224 lists the following:

a. Green Bay, Lake Winnebago and Fox River to the Wisconsin River and to the Mississippi.

b. From the upper end of Lake Michigan, the Chicago river, and a short portage to the Des Plaines, and Illinois rivers.

c. The St. Joseph of Lake Michigan, a portage to the Kankakee and so to the Illinois river again.

d. The St. Joseph river to the Wabash by a longer portage and then down to the Ohio and Mississippi.

e. The Miami of Lake Erie, a portage to the Wabash and down as above.

[4]H. S. Knapp, History of the Maumee Valley, pp. 9-10; Justin Winsor, Cartier to Frontenac, p. 224; Elbert J. Benton, “The Wabash Trade Route in the Development of the Old Northwest” John Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science, XXI, 12.

[5]Pierre Margry, Decouvertes des francais dans L’Amerique Septentrionale II, 98.

[6]Justin Winsor, Cartier to Frontenac, p. 256.

[7]Pierre Margry, op. cit., II, 296; see also, Beverley Bond, Foundations of Ohio, pp. 70-8. Bond holds that the Maumee-Wabash route was the original one intended to be used by LaSalle who then decided to establish his communication by means of the upper Ohio; due to the Iroquois, however, he fell back upon the Maumee-Wabash route as the best means of reaching the Mississippi, but was forced to abandon this also to the Iroquois. Later Cadillac was to adopt LaSalle’s Lake Erie-Maumee-Wabash route.

[8]Logan Esarey, History of Indiana, p. 12.

[9]Elbert J. Benton, op. cit., p. 17.

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[10]Otho Winger, The Last of the Miamis, p. 3.

[11]Pierre Margry, op cit., V, 359-62.

[12]Beverley Bond, op. cit., p. 76.

[13]Cadillac Papers, Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collection, XXXIII, 338.

[14]Charles Slocum, History of the Maumee River Basin, I, 86; H. S. Knapp, op. cit., p. 9; “Forts Miami and Fort Industry”, Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society Publications, XII, 120.

[15]New York Colonial Documents, IX, p. 676. This French officer was the elder Vincennes, the uncle of Francois Margane, Sieur de Vincennes. The younger Vincennes was the founder of the town of Vincennes on the lower Wabash.

[16]Archives des Colonies, c 11 117, 118, (Paris) Pierre Margry, op. cit., V, 178, 218, 225-8; 239-43; 256-8, 262-7; 271-3; 278; 280-283.

[17]New York Colonial Documents, Paris Documents, IX, 891.

[18]Archives de la Province Quebec, Vaudreuil to Council of Marine, Oct. 24, 1722.

[19]New York Colonial Documents, IX, 894.

[20]“Céloron Journal” Wisconsin Historical Collections, XVIII, 51.

[21]Archives de la Province Quebec, de Vaudreuil to Council of Marine, Oct. 24, 1722.

[22]The Jesuits Relations, ed. by Reuben G. Thwaites, LXIX, p. 189.

[23]Archives de la Province Quebec, de Vaudreuil to Council of Marine, Oct. 24, 1722.

[24]Archives des Colonies, c 11 117, 118.

[25]Letters of Governor Spotswood, II, 296.

[26]Norman Cadwell, The French in the Mississippi Valley, 1740-1750, p. 95.

[27]New York Colonial Documents, Paris Documents, IX, 894.

[28]Wisconsin Historical Collections, XVII, 211. Sieur Darnaud was in all likelihood Nicolas-Marie Renoud Davenne, born 1696, died 1743.

[29]Indiana Historical Society Publications, VII, 72. This post was a new settlement of the English from Carolina apparently on the upper Ohio River.

[30]Ibid., p. 72.

[31]Archives des Colonies, C 11 117, 118.

[32]Archives de Colonies, C 11 117, 118.

[33]Ibid.

[34]Wisconsin Historical Collections, XVIII, 175.

[34a]Archives des Colonies, C 11 118.

[35]Norman Caldwell, op. cit., p. 41.

[36]Ibid., p. 31.

[37]Ibid., p. 41.

[38]New York Colonial Documents, Paris Documents, X, 140.

[39]Wisconsin Historical Collections, XVII, 486-7.

[40]New York Colonial Documents, Paris Documents, X, 150.

[41]The Jesuit Relations, ed. by Reuben G. Thwaites, LXIX, 189.

[42]Norman Caldwell, op. cit., p. 95.

[43]Ibid., p. 95.

[44]The journal kept by Celoron on this expedition may be found in Margry, op. cit., VI, 666 ff.

[45]Jesuit Relations, ed. by R. Thwaites, LXIX, 189.

[46]Ibid., p. 189.

[47]Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society Publications, XII, 120.

[48]Mississippi Valley Historical Review, IX, 315.

[49]Francis Parkman, Montcalm and Wolfe, I, 87.

[50]Charles Slocum, op. cit., p. 99.

[51]Charles Lasselle, “Indian Traders of Indiana”, Indiana Magazine of History, II, Number 1, 4.

[52]A Narrative of Life on the Frontier, Henry Hay’s Journal, ed. by Milo Quaife, p. 261.

[53]See below, pp. [p 79

-80.]

[54]Marquis de la Jonquiere to Governor Clinton, Aug. 10, 1751, New York Colonial Documents, VI, pp. 731-34.

[55]Mitchell’s map was the best known of contemporary maps of North America. A reproduction of this map may be found in the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collection, XXXVI, 52-3.

[56]Beverley Bond, op. cit., pp. 153-154.

[57]For an interesting discussion of the French attempt during the peace negotiations at the end of the war to establish the Maumee and Wabash rivers as the new boundary between the two colonial empires, see Theodore Pease’s article, “Indiana in Contention between France and England” in the Indiana Historical Bulletin, XII.

[58]“Croghan’s Journal”, Early Western Travels, ed. by R. G. Thwaites, I, 122-23.

[59]Jesuit Relations, LXIX, 189.

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[60]Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections, XIX, 47.

[61]Ibid., p. 47.

[62]Francis Parkman, Conspiracy of Pontiac, I, 189.

[63]The Journal of Captain Morris as quoted in his Miscellanies in Prose and Verse has been reprinted in Early Western Travels, I, 301-ff.

[64]Captain Thomas Morris, op. cit., p. 312. This prohibition of the sale of liquor to the Indiana was not always as successful as Capt. Morris thought.

[65]“Croghan’s Journal”, Western Travels, I, 149-150.

[66]For the French philosopher Volney’s description of these French Creoles See Below, [p. 34

.]

[67]After LaBalme’s raid, a British force was stationed at Fort Miami for four months, See Below, [p. 16

.]

[68]Illinois Historical XVI, 60.

[69]Indiana Historical Society Publications, II, 435.

[70]Ibid., p. 439-40. The following names are listed: Capuchin, Baptiste Campau, Nicholas Perct, Pierre Barthe, Bergerson, Berthelemy, Dorien, Francois Maisonville, Laurain.

[71]As it turned out the people of Vincennes suffered a great deal for their friendship with the American cause.

[72]Charles Lasselle, loc. cit., p. 4.

[73]Wallace A. Brice, History of Fort Wayne, p. 102.

[74]Charles Lasselle, loc. cit., p. 4.

[75]DePeyster to Haldimand, Nov. 16, 1780, and Haldimand to DePeyster, June 6, 1781, Haldimand Papers relating to Detroit, 1772-84, II, British Museum. After his release from captivity by the Americans, Colonel Hamilton accused Beaubien of treachery for not following Hamilton’s orders during the campaign, cf. Hamilton’s account of the ill fated expedition against Vincennes, Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781, Haldimand Papers, II, British Museum.

[76]Hamilton to Haldimand, Sept. 26, 1778. Michigan Pioneer Collections, X, 449.

[77]Hamilton to Haldimand, July 6, 1781, Haldimand Papers, II, British Museum.

[78]Michigan Pioneer Collections, XIX, 699. For LaBalme’s dramatic speeches to the French, see the Illinois Historical Collections, II, p. xci. For other information concerning LaBalme, see the Virginia State Papers, I, p. 380. The complete papers of LaBalme were forwarded to the war ministry in London and together with the map carried by LaBalme at the time of his death are available in the Haldimand Papers, II, 13, British Museum (London).

[79]“LaBalme Papers”, Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections, XIX, 578-8.

[80]“Haldimand Papers”, Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections, XIX, 582.

[81]Capt. A. Thompson to DePeyster, Mar. 14, 1781, Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections, XIX, 589-600.

[82]DePeyster to Haldimand, Apr. 22, 1782, Haldimand Papers, II, British Museum.

[83]Wayne Steven, “The Northwest Fur Trade” University of Illinois Studies in Social Sciences, XIV, p. 513.

[84]Milo Quaife, op. cit., p. 209.

[85]Major Smith to Dorchester, Oct. 16, 1790, Public Records Office, (Colonial Series) CO-42 73, London.

[86]Dorchester to Grenville, October 17, 1790, Public Records Office, (Colonial Series) CO-42 73.

[87]Dorchester to Grenville, May 31, 1790, Public Records Office, (Colonial Series) CO-42 73.

[88]Leonard Helderman, “Danger on the Wabash, Vincennes letters of 1786-87” Indiana Magazine of History, XXXIV, 459.

[89]Logan Esarey, op. cit., I, 102.

[90]George Sharp to Paul Camelin, June 23, 1786, “Letters from Eighteenth Century Indiana Merchants” (the Lasselle Papers) ed. C.B. Coleman and published in the Indiana Magazine of History, V, 145-146.

[91]George Leith to Gray, Apr. 3, 1786, loc. cit., V, 144-145.

[92]John MacPherson to Gray, March, 1785, loc. cit., V, 142-143.

[93]Ironside to Gray, Apr. 15, 1787, loc. cit., V, 151-152.

[94]Ironside to Gray, Mar. 15, 1787, loc. cit., V, 150.

[95]Ironside to Gray, Feb. 16, 1787, loc. cit., V, 149. George Ironside was a leading trader in the Maumee valley. He was born in 1760 and died in 1830, at Amherstburg. For many years he was in the British Indian service. He was an M. A. of King’s College, Aberdeen and was known, even to the Americans, for his humanity and hospitality.

[96]A Narrative of Life on the Old Frontier, Henry Hay’s Journal from Detroit to the Mississippi River, edited by M. M. Quaife, p. 224.

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[97]Ibid., p. 221.

[98]Ibid., p. 241.

[99]Ibid., p. 240.

[100]Ibid., p. 260. Hay gives an interesting description of the “Natt”, the Indian symbol of war, carried about much like the Ancient Roman standards.

[101]above, [p. 23

.]

[102]Quaife, op. cit., p. 226.

[103]Ibid., p. 245.

[104]Ibid., p. 237.

[105]Ibid., p. 258.

[106]Ibid., p. 245.

[107]Ibid., p. 261.

[108]Indiana Historical Society Publications, VII, 360.

^[109]“Gamelin’s Journal”, St. Clair Papers, II, pp. 155-160; American State Papers, Indian Affairs, I, P. 37.

[109]St. Clair Papers, ed. Wm. Smith, II, 181.

[110]The Writings of George Washington, ed. Jared Sparks, IX, 80-81.

[111]St. Clair Papers, II, 181.

[112]Ibid., 193.

[113]Knox to St. Clair, Sept. 14, 1790, St. Clair Papers, II, p. 181.

[114]American State Papers, Indian Affairs, I, p. 104-5.

[115]Dorchester to Grenville, Nov. 10, 1790, including dispatches from A. McKee and others, Public Record Office (Colonial Series) CO-42; 73, London.

[116]For the accounts of the battles see Harmar’s report in ASP, Indian Affairs, I, pp. 104; also the “Military Journal of Major Ebenezer Denny” in Memoirs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, VII, 343-353. The heaviest action took place at Harmar’s ford at the end of Harmar Street. Here the regulars suffered severely while attempting to cross the Maumee in the face of the Indians’ fire.

[117]ASP, Indian Affairs, I, 112.

[118]Ibid., p. 112.

[119]“Knox’s Instructions to St. Clair”, Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections, XXIV, 197-8.