Early Voyages up and down the Mississippi, by Cavelier, St. Cosme, Le Sueur, Gravier, and Guignas. With an introduction, notes, and an index by J. G. Shea. L.P

Front matter

1/ r< -i i J A ■i •i -ai I r- S TJ> i 77 £# J r EARLY VOYAGES UP AND DOWN THE MISSISSIPPI. iKuttfieU's M tatoritctl Series* Sso* UKM* EARLY VOYAGES UP AND DOWN THE MISSISSIPPI, BY CAVELIER, ST. COSME, LE SUEUR, GRAVIER, AND GUIGNAS. With an Introduction, Notes, and an Index, By JOHN GILMARY SHEA. ALBANY: JOEL MUNSELL. 1861. TO THE MICHIGAN, WISCONSIN, AND IOWA HISTORICAL SOCIETIES, AS A TOKEN OF MEMBERSHIP, this volume is offered BY JOHN GILMARY SHEA.

Preface

. ®£^|y|psS|^ _£/.___. Narratives collected in this Volume form a Sequel to IIP^I. t^l0se already publijhed of ®j0r the Explorations under Marquette and La Sa/le, and refer chiefly to the Moment of the permanent French Occupation of the Lower Mississippi. They are derived from various Sources. The fournal of Mr. "John Cavelier, La Salles Brother^ though spoken of by Joutel, remained unpublished till Mr. Francis Parkman allowed me to Print it from a Manuscript in his Possession. The Letters of Mr. de Montigni of the Se minary of and his Associates, I owe to Preface. the Kindness of the fame Friend. Le Sueur s Voyage is taken from Benard de la Harpe, already in Print. The Voyage of Gravier is from the limited Edition printed from the Manuscript in the Professed House in Paris. The Letter of Father Guignas, detailing as it does the EJiablissment of Fort Beauharnais at Lake Pepin, was furnissed to me by the Kindness, of J. Carson Brevoort, Esq. While this Volume was printing, Col. Delafield sent me Tomassys Geologie Pra tique de la LouijQane, which I had been unable to procure here in Season, and from it I extra&ed the^ Letter of La Salle's given in the Appendix, and which refers dire&ly to the first Article.

New York, CONTENTS. Page. Preface, -- - - - - _-5 Introduction, _______ j I. Cavelier's account of La Salle's Voyage to the Mouth of the Mississippi ; his landing in Texas and march to the Mississippi, 13 II. Voyage down the Mississippi in 1699, by the Rev. Messrs. Montigny, St. Cofme, Davion and Thaumur de la Source, - - 43 III. Le Sueur's Voyage up the Mississippi in 1 699-1 700, ----- 87 IV. Gravier's Voyage down and up the Mississippi in 1700, - - - - 113 V. Guignas's Voyage up the Mississippi, 165 Appendix, Letter of La Salle from Texas, 177 B

Introduction

. M^^^P^^M ANY a river lives embalmed in W^lfozfrÆ^M^ History and in historick verse. iTO „ . (Jim The Euphrates, the Nile, the Jordan, the Tiber and the Rhine ■(j|§^*agjw||p typify the course of empires and 1^_^^^§^S% dynasties. Countries have been described per flumina, but these streams possess renown rather from some city that frowned on their currents, or some battle fought and won on their banks. The great River of our West, from its immense length and the still increasing importance of its valley, possesses a history of its own. Its discovery by the Spanish adventurers, a Cabeza de Vaca, a de Soto, a Tristan, who reached, crossed, or followed it, is its period of early romance, brilliant, brief, and tragick. Its exploration by Marquette and La Salle follows, work of patient endurance and Introduction.

VIII investigation, still tinged with that light of heroism that hovers around all who struggle through difficulty and adversity to attain a great and useful end. Then come the early voyages depicting the successive stages of its banks from a wilderness to civilization. The death of La Salle in Texas in his attempt to reach Illinois closes the chapter of exploration. Iberville opens a new period by his voyage to the mouth of the Mississippi, which crowning the pre vious efforts gave the valley of the great river to civilization, Christianity and progress. The river had become an object of rivalry. English, French and Spanissi at the fame moment sought to secure its mouth, but fortune favored the bold Canadian, and the white flag reared by La Salle was planted anew. Here our narratives begin.

Cavelier's is a page ot the previous chapter; with strange details and doubtful authenticity, marked, like every other ac count of La Salle's career, with a note of suspicion, yet curious and strange. Did La Salle actually reach the Mississippi prior, to his death, as here asserted ? We may doubt it. After Cavelier and Joutel reached Illinois to de ceive Tonti by representing La Salle as alive, that Introduction. IX noble veteran descended the river to relieve his commander, but in vain. Traders then doubtless drifted down to barter for furs, but we have no narrative till that of the mis sionary party led by M. de Montigny, who in 1698 set out to evangelize the tribes of the lower Missis sippi. Impetuous, ardent, but easily discouraged, the leader soon lost heart, and involved in disputes which he did not foresee, sought a remote field in Asia for his zeal, to be plunged in troubles even more vexatious.

But his companions remained to labor on the banks of the Mississippi, St. Cosine to die at last by the hand of the red man, Davion and de la Source to labour and to wait. Iberville arrives. His narrative would here find a place, but it is a volume in itself. The news of his landing spread from tribe to tribe. The northern nations, led by the golden promises of La Salle, expected all blessings from this step. The Illinois prepared to move in a body to the lower Mississippi. Gravier checks their mad project and floats down in his canoe to see how matters are. His journal, like the letters of St. Cosine and his companions, describe the river and the tribes upon it, as he found them at this important moment in the history Introduction. X of the river. His next voyage down was to seek in the new colony surgical assistance for wounds which the medicine men had inflicted, and which baffling the skill of the physician proved fatal to the missionary.

Besides Iberville's own account and as a pendant to it, comes the voyage from the mouth of the Mississippi to the Blue Earth, effected in canoe by the intrepid Le Sueur. Fortunately Benard de la Harpe has preserved this, and it blends with the others to give a complete picture of the river. Then for some years itineraries of the Mississippi fail us, and we have accounts of portions only. The Urlulines describe briefly the voyage to New Orleans, others do the fame ; an officer in the Chickasaw war details day by day the march up the river to Fort Assumption. The letter of Guignas follows in part the track of Le Sueur, and records the planting of Fort Beauharnais. At the moment when these narratives take us to the valley of the Mississippi that immense territory presented a strange contrast to its present condition.

From its head waters amid the lakes of Minnesota to its mouth ; from its western springs in the heart of the Rocky mountains to its eastern cradle in the Introduction. XI Alleghanies, all was yet in its primeval state. The Europeans had but one spot, Tonty's little fort; no white men roamed it but the trader or the missionary. With a sparse and scattered Indian population, the country, teeming with buffalo, deer and game, was a scene of plenty. The Indian has vanished from its banks with the game that he pursued. The valley numbers as many states now as it did white men then ; a busy, enterprising, adventurous population, numbering its millions, has swept away the unprogressive and unassimilating red man. The languages of the Illinois, the Quapaw, the Tonica, the Natchez, the Ouma, are heard no more by the banks of the great water; no calumet now throws round the traveller its charmed power ; the white banner of France floated long to the breeze, but with the flag of England and the standard of Spain all dis appeared we may say within a century.

For fifty years, one single flag met the eye, and appealed to the heart of the inhabitants of the ffiores of the Missis sippi. Two now divide it : let us hope that the altered flag may soon resume its original form, and meet the heart's warm response at the mouth as at the source of the Mississippi. I. CAVELIER'S ACCOUNT OF LA SALLE'S VOYAGE TO the MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI, HIS LANDING IN TEXAS, AND MARCH TO THE MISSISSIPPI. RELATION OF M. CAVELIER.' You have here the Relation /6US'^ -fMpli of the Voyage undertaken by my lllif :Jtt,l_fe-sV uro__ler2 to discover in the Gulf H of Mexico the Mouth of the Gjffltt Miffissipy. An unexpected and tragical death having prevented his completing it, and reporting to your Lordship, you will, I trust, approve of my taking his place. ing in this he retired to Rouen, to the house of his siller, Mary Mag dalen Cavelier, wife of the Sieur Fortin or Le Forestier, Secretary to the King, and died there after I 7 1 7. 1 The Rev. John Cavelier, brother of La Salle, was born at Rouen.

Of his early life and en trance into the community of St. Sulpice, I find no account. After the death of his brother, he with Joutel and Father Anastatius made his way to Canada, and thence to France, concealing the fate of La Salle, it is said, for upwards of two years. He applied to the Court to fend out a new expedition, and fail- *"• Robert Cavelier de la Salle, was born at Rouen in Normandy, of a rich and ancient family, and after receiving a good education entered the King's service. The statement made by the late edii6 July. 1684. La Salle s Lafl Voyage. In the month of July, 1684,3 we left la Rochelle in four vessels with very fine weather. The season seemed to promise us a continuance thereof, and should not in all probability lead us to fear either tions of Hennepin, that he entered the Society of Jesus and thus lost his mare in his father's estate, seems, like other statements of that work, unreliable.

An examination of all the annual catalogues of all the French provinces of the epoch, shows no such name among the novices or scholastics. The preceding note and this narrative men tion all his relatives of whom any account is given. He came to Ca nada about 1668, and an apparently apocryphal account makes him soon after discover and descend the Ohio (seeDussieux, Le Canada sous le domination Francaise). As a trader he voyaged extensively on the Lakes, and built a trading house at La Chine, which owes its name to him, an index of his desires. His first official employment was to visit the Senecas, and invite them to a general Congress of the tribes. He had gained the good will of Frontenac and proposed to him vast plans of discovery and trade, which received his sanction. The French Court in 1675, granted him Fort Frontenac and the seigneury, on condition of keeping it in repair, maintaining a garrison and clearing the land.

He obtained also a pa tent of noblesse. For a time he pushed forward trade and coloniza tion at Fort Frontenac (now King ston) and built the first vessel that ever ploughed the surface of Lake Ontario. Obtaining new grants in 1678, he pushed on to Niagara, built a vessel there, and again the pioneer of western navigation, failed through Lakes Erie, St. Clair and Huron to Mackinac. Sending ba:k his vessel with a load of furs, he proceeded in canoes to the Illinois country, building a fort on the St. Joseph's river, and another on the Illinois, whose name, Crevecceur, records his despondency at receiving no tidings of his bark or supplies from Frontenac. Left unsupported, he returned by land to his fort on Lake Ontario ; but while absent his party were driven from the Illinois by the Senecas, and La Salle on his arrival at Fort Crevecceur found it deserted.

After some search he joined Tonty at Mackinaw. Here reorganizing his party he descended the Illinois :o the Mississippi, and followed that river to its mouth, which he reached April 9, 1682. Returning to France, he sought to make the mouth of the river by sea. He failed to discover it, was abandoned in Texas, and in an attempt to reach Canada, was killed by his own men, March 19, 1687. See his Life by Sparks, vol 1. N. S. American Biography, " The Dis covery and Exploration of the Mis sissippi," &c. 3 In another Memoir he gives the date as July 23 or 24. July, 1684. a calm or great heats. Nevertheless the close of the month brought a storm, which dismasted the vessel4 my brother was in, and compelled us all to put back to the port from which we had started.5 We set fail again, and a few days after a second storm dispersed our little fleet ; the St. Francois6 was taken by Spanish cruisers, and the other three got together only at Petit Goave in St. Domingo.

I will not give your Lordssiip the detail of our course or manœuvres to that point, as that is not my profession. If these unfortunate accidents damped the ardor of our adventurers, the conduct of Mr. de Beaujeu, Captain of a ssiip of the line,7 who commanded one of the ships of the fleet, did so no less; and if your Lordssiip takes pains to examine, you will find that that officer, jealous of my brother's having the principal authority and the direction of the enter prise, so traversed it, that the failure may be attributed to him.8 4 This vessel was le Joli, com manded by Mr. de Beaujeu, the Commander of the fleet, whose per verseness caused the ruin of all con cerned. Joutel, p. 15, and Cave lier, in another Memoir, hint that the breaking of the foremast was planned. 6 This Ketch contained provi sions and agricultural implements for the colony, and the loss was consequently a serious one. 7 Joutel and Cavelier, in ano ther Memoir, dilate on the trouble with Beaujeu, and Cavelier there in troduces a particular account of La Salle's dangerous illness at St. Do mingo. 5 Joutel fays they put in at Roche fort, p. 15.

Father Le Ciercq fays at Chef-de-bois, which agrees with Cavelier ; Chef-de-bois being the roadstead before la Rochelle. '5' 8 The French distinguifli as different ranks Captain of a frigate and Captain of a man-of-war or ship of the line. Last Voyage. i8 J«iy, 1684- 1685 ■ Feb. 4, We made some stay at Petit Goave to give our crew a little refressiment and to prepare to carry out the project conveniently. There Mr. de Beaujeu began to employ all means that he could invent to prevent my brother from going further; nevertheless we set fail towards the latter part of November, intending to reconnoitre the land ten or twenty leagues north of the mouth of the river, but head winds having forced us to put back several times ; my brother at last determined to explore Florida, whatever point we made, but Mr. de Beaujeu did not follow him.

He abandoned us, under pretext of having been surprised by a squall. On the sixth of January,9 we made the coast of Florida, and supposing ourselves north of the mouth of the river, we sailed southerly along the coast, crowding sail, for fear of being forced by the cur rents into Bahama channel. Some days after, on taking the altitude, we found ourselves fifty leagues south, which obliged us to turn back and retrace our steps. Still coasting along, wea discovered Espiritu Santo Bay,10 where we found Mr. de Beaujeu ; my brother had a long conference with him there, at the close of which the three vessels set fail to pur sue the search. The next morning Mr. de Beaujeu sent his long boat to my brother to tell him that he had sailed fifty leagues since he left Espiritu Santo Bay, and that discovering inland, a kind of gulf or river, it 9 Joutel, p. 34, makes them reach 10 Joutel fays January 8. land in December. *9 might be the Mississipy, and that he had no orders February. to go any further; my brother allowed himself to be persuaded that this might be one of the arms of that river; and having sent out his boat to sound, he found three and a half fathoms of water in the ssiallowest part of the channel, and entered with his vessel.

He ordered the pink to unload as much as possible, and to wait till he sent a pilot to bring her in, but this was so badly done that ssie struck on a sand bar and could not get off." Meanwhile Mr. de Beaujeu, who had anchored off, wrote to my brother, and sent the letter by his lieutenant.'*1 He told him, that having reached the mouth of the Mississipy he believed that he had sufficiently fulfilled his duty ; that having seen the pink perissi before his eyes, he did not think it proper to risk entering the river with his ssiip, for fear of a like missiap : that having no more provisions or refressiments, he was determined to return to France, and he begged him to fend his letters for the Court, with his exoneration from all the accidents that had happened, or might thereafter happen. My brother most generously granted all.

Monsieur de Beaujeu having accordingly hoisted sail for France,'3 my brother undertook to do three March 14. 11 Joutel, p. 79, and Le Clercq in- Dainmaville and some others, and clineto think the loss of the Aimable refused to give La Salle the cannon intentional on the part of thecaptain. and cannon balls in his hold. 1 2 The Chevalier d'Aire. Beau- ! 3 Le Clercq fays the 1 2th; Joutel Jeu took with him the captain and from recollection, the 14th. crew of the Aimable, Rev. Mr. Loss Voyage. 20 March, things at once : one was to make a storehouse on 1685. & . . more to lay up his ammunition and provisions, merchandise and other things ; the other was to go himself with thirty or forty men to select a suitable place for a settlement at the end of the bay; and the other to bring his vessel as far as he could into the bay.

All this was executed ; for the vessel was brought up to the mouth of a river to which the name of Vache1* (Cow) was given, on account of the number of that animal found there, and here he built a little fort of fourteen guns, with small but pretty convenient houses, and storehouses sufficient to contain all that we had.'5 Meanwhile my brother, originally under the idea that the river we were in was one of the. arms of the Mississipy, on account of the quantity of reeds it bore down to the sea, at last saw his error and formed the design of discovering it by land ; but unable to leave his fort without exposing it to the insults of the nearest Indians, who were waging ten Tm« "tilth a cruel war on us,6a (believing us Spaniards), he arrows. endeavored to gain their confidence and friendssiip.

HAfterwards called by the Spansissippi, p. 207) both describe this iards La Vaca river, which name it Fort as St. Louis. According to still retains, the only name in Texas the former it was at 270 N., two of La Salle's. The Vache here leagues from the Bay, near the banks evidently means the Bison, though of La Vaca river, which lay north of in Canada the Vache Sauvage was it, a marsh and hill lying between the Moose. Joutel (p. 113) calls them. it, Riviere aux Bœufs. 16 Joutel mentions two by name, 1 5 Joutel (p. 126) and Father Messrs. Oris and Defloges. Anastasius (Discovery of the Mis- Your Lordssiip knows that he has an admirable *f^c5h' tact for that. He employed it so adroitly in this conjuncture, that before the close of July we mu tually visited each other; we often went to their village,13 '7 which was quite near our fort (which we will in future call Fort of St. Louis Bay),'8 and Bracamos. one day they offered to guide my brother to a neighboring nation, their ally, only about fifteen leagues off, to ssiow him, they said, curious things.

My brother accepted their offer, thanked them for the friendssiip they testified, and made them some presents ; after which setting out'9 to the number of twenty-four, accompanied by a troop of Indians, we arrived at a large village, surrounded by a kind of wall made with potter's clay and sand, fortified with little towers at intervals, where we found fastened to a post the arms of Spain engraved on a copper plate, dated 1588. The people welcomed us and ssiowed us some hammers and an anvil, two small pieces of iron cannon, a small bronze culverine, spearheads, old sword blades and some volumes of Spanissi comedies; and leading us thence to a little fishing hamlet about two leagues off, they ssiowed us a second post 17 These Bracamos are not menmentions the Bahamos and sjuinets tioned by name by Joutel.

He as hostile nations. elsewhere speaks of the Hebahamos; ,«c. t • d n j : it, ■/->/■ <-• 1 lSSt. Louts Bay was called by and Barcta (Lntayo Cronologico, , c ■__■/■■■ c n , , V / , ■ _ the Spaniards Espiritu Santo Bay, p. 2QX) s.ivs that the fort was in the , „ A _ t e n • v ?t ' _ . , , , , but the part where La Salle was, is territory or the Ouelanhubecnes and , /. i\/r . j r> t, 1 ' T7 l \ a r rr\r ["e present Matagorda Bay. Bahamos. Father Anastasius (JJilr a i covery of the Mississippi, p. 209) '9 In October, apparently. D Last Voyage. 22 March. 1685. also bearing the arms of Spain and some old chim neys.20 All this convinced us that the Spaniards had been there before. They also gave us to un derstand by signs that the Missisipy River was very difficult to find, because its mouth could not be per ceived a league off.

They then drew vessels with coal, and gave us to understand that many passed along their coast. Having taken leave of these Indians, to whom we made some presents and courtesy for courtesy, we returned to our fort at St. Louis Bay, where we made some stay to cultivate more and more the confi dence and friendssiip of our Bracamos (so is the Indian nation called that dwells near our fort), in order to leave protectors to the people whom we would have to leave in the fort while we went overland to seek the Missisipy. We observed during our stay, that the east winds generally prevail by day, and west winds by night; that the least speck of cloud forebodes a violent gale, which will last an hour at most ; that the north winds (which the Spaniards there dread im mensely) are not so violent as the west winds which the fishing smacks stand in winter time on the Banks of Newfoundland ; and lastly that the tide rises here but very slightly.

We saw quantities of salt, formed naturally in various spots, which led us to infer that it would be easy to make successful salt works. 2° Father Morfi in his very full silent as to any Spanish occupation manuscript History of Texas, is of so early a date. Having then provided for the security of the M"ch> fort by the friendssiip of the neighbouring Indians, by arms and ammunition, and for the subsistence of the people whom we left there by the provisions and goods which remained, and after my brother had recommended vigilance, patience, and devotion to the King's service, we set out on the first of No- Nov. ,. vember, accompanied by thirty men, carrying only ysz£x^lJs our arms, ammunition for game, and some trifling to discover the articles for the Indians. rive'r'by und. a Ten or twelve days after, we found a very popu lous village, where the men and women wore large pearls hanging from the cartilage between the two nostrils.

I bought a few in order to ssiow your Lordssiip. I have already shown them to Catillon, lapidary at Paris, who allured me that they were of the finest water in the world, but imperfect in shape. We tried to learn from these Indians the place whence they drew this precious merchandise, but being able to understand us only by signs, we could only presume that they got them from the sea when they went to catch filh, for they ssiowed us large pirogues and nets which apparently were solely for this use. We have since learned that many small rivers which pass through their country empty into St. Louis Bay. Having left this nation, we ran for two months December and in search of our river with no hope of finding it, January* finding only Indians whose manners kept us in perpetual distrust ; we did not dare to make any stay in any place for fear of some surprise.

The Lafl Voyage. 24 Fib68sry' continual marching, the rigour of the season, and the fears that we had conceived from the reserved and distrustful manners of the Indians, made us undergo hardssiips, that it would be difficult for me to express. February, In the beginning of February we came to a pretty large river, which my brother thought might be the Missisipy, although its course was just the opposite ; our sentiments were different, we followed its banks for two days, without meeting man or beast. Some days after, having perceived a village, we deemed proper to fire a volley before entering, in order to alarm the Indians and put them to flight, so as to take from their cabins what Indian corn we needed ; this having been executed, we left them the payment on the spot, after which we left to continue our search.

We had scarcely made a league when we perceived two Indians running after us. We first thought the villagers, charmed with the beauty of the knives, scissors and needles that we had left in payment, had deputed them to bring us back, but we were greatly surprised when we saw these Indians fall on my brother and almost stifle him by their embraces in the transport of pleasure which they experienced on seeing him again. They were two Shawnees, of three whom my brother lost when he descended to the mouth of the Missisipy by the Ilinois river. They told us that their com it was in rade was sick in the village, to which they begged us to return, assuring us of the humanity and good faith of the people. My brother was sincerely Feb^g°'' pleased to find them again, and in hopes of learning from them what he desired, he made no difficulty of resolving to follow them.

They took us first to their cabin, where we found their comrade. They made us take up our quarters there, while a larger cabin was preparing for us near by. They told us, that having gone out to hunt while in my brother's service, they were surrounded and taken by thirty or forty warriors of the village where we were, who carried them there without binding them; that the whole nation, and even their allies, had greatly honoured them and held them for something more than men, on account of the power of their guns ; that they wondered to see them kill a bison a hundred paces off, and several turkeys at a single ssiot, but that when their ammunition failed, these people pressed them to make more and ridiculed them because they had not the secret of making it. They also told us that they had married in this village, and that they had had no difficulty in learning the language.

They then took us to a large cabin where we were conveniently lodged. It was from these three Indians that we learned that we were only forty leagues from the sea; that the Indians among whom we were made war on others who had intercourse with the Spaniards, distant about 1 30 leagues from the sea ; that there was a river — leagues from us, more beautiful than the 30 l. Th«y Missisipy, and two others fifteen or twenty leagues, £""'. the Rio • La Salle's Last Voyage. in which gold was found in large grains and in dust ; that the Indians used it only to make collars and bracelets, but that they valued it less than certain red stones which they put to the fame use. itistheshaw- They added : We have been to war against the nees that speak. nat-Qn interC0UI-fe with the Spaniards and took some prisoners who were neatly dressed in silk.

They told us that the Spaniards furnissied them their clothes and many other things in exchange for certain stones which they prized highly. They directed us to the spot whence they took these precious stones, and as we could pass by it, without deviating much from the route we had to take back to our village, we easily persuaded our troop, as curious as ourselves, to go there. The prisoners acting as guides, we reached a hill which may be two c Mr. Cavelier o ' J took some to leagues long, where they ssiowed us some holes bo'dy'of'goMmade by the Indians, from which we tookc some sh'ths bassayhd -~Pecimens °f stone which we have kept. This hill King's order, lies about forty leagues from our village, and is h"wassogoiddohr" near a little river which empties in a larger one,d hhifwhstdon'y wh'ch coming a great distance and passing between dRio Bravo, two ranges of hills empties into the Gulf of Mexico.