ordered to explore as far as there in 1750, but did not reach the goal.
Findlay was there in 1753. Gordon gives an account similar to Croghan’s
in 1766. Ensign Butricke made more of an adventure in passing these
falls—see _Historical Magazine_, viii, p. 259. An attempt at a settlement
was made by John Connolly (1773); but the beginnings of the present city
of Louisville are due to the pioneers who accompanied George Rogers Clark
thither in 1778, and made their first home on Corn Island. For the early
history of Louisville, see Durrett, _Centenary of Louisville_, Filson
Club _Publications_, No. 8 (Louisville, 1893).—ED.
[107] Colonel Reuben T. Durrett, of Louisville, thinks Croghan “must
have meant Salt River when he spoke of passing Pigeon River during his
first day’s journey after leaving the Falls of the Ohio.” The Owl River
he identifies with Highland Creek in Kentucky, between the mouths of the
Green and Wabash rivers.
The Wabash River was early considered by the French as one of the most
important highways between Canada and Louisiana. Marquette designates
it on his map as the Ouabouskiguo, which later Frenchmen corrupted into
Ouabache. The name was also applied to that portion of the Ohio below
the mouth of the Wabash; but James Logan in 1718 noted the distinction.
See Winsor, _Mississippi Basin_, p. 17. Croghan was probably the first
Englishman who had penetrated thus far into the former French territory,
except Fraser, who had preceded him to the Illinois.—ED.
[108] The Shawnees had formerly dwelt west and south of their habitations
on the Scioto. The Cumberland River was known on early maps as the
“Shawana River;” and in 1718, they were located in the direction of
Carolina. Their migration east and north took place about 1730. The
present Illinois town at this site, is still called Shawneetown.—ED.
[109] Being able to speak French, Lieutenant Alexander Fraser of the
78th infantry had been detailed to accompany Croghan. He went in advance
of the latter, and reached the Illinois, where he found himself in such
danger that he escaped to Mobile in disguise. See Parkman, _Conspiracy of
Pontiac_, ii, pp. 276, 284-286.
Captain Louis St. Ange de Bellerive, was the son of a French officer
who came to Louisiana early in the eighteenth century, and commanded in
the Illinois country in 1722 and again in 1733. St. Ange had himself
seen much pioneer service, having been placed in charge of a fort on
the Missouri (1736), and having succeeded Vincennes at the post bearing
the latter’s name. St. Ange remained at Vincennes until summoned by De
Villiers, commandant at Fort Chartres, to supersede him there, and spare
him the mortification of a surrender to the English. After yielding Fort
Chartres to Captain Sterling (October, 1765), St. Ange retired to St.
Louis, where he acted as commandant (after 1766, in the Spanish service)
until his death in 1774.—ED.
[110] This man was in reality captured. See Parkman, _Conspiracy of
Pontiac_, ii, p. 289, _note_.—ED.
[111] The Kickapoos and Mascoutins were allied Algonquian tribes who were
first encountered in Wisconsin; but being of roving habits they ranged
all the prairie lands between the Wisconsin and Wabash rivers. In 1712,
they were about the Maumee and at Detroit. Charlevoix describes them
(1721) as living near Chicago. Being concerned in the Fox wars, they fled
across the Mississippi; and again, about the middle of the eighteenth
century, were with the Miamis on the Wabash, where they had a town near
Fort Ouiatonon. They were always somewhat intractable and difficult to
restrain. The remnant of these tribes live on reservations in Kansas and
Oklahoma.—ED.
[112] This branch of the Wabash is now called the Little Wabash River.
The party must have taken a very circuitous route, else Croghan greatly
overestimates the distances. Vincennes is about seventy-five miles from
the point where they were made prisoners.—ED.
[113] The date of the founding of Vincennes (Post or Port Vincent) has
been varyingly assigned from 1702 to 1735; but Dunn, in his _Indiana_
(Boston and New York, 1888), p. 54, shows quite conclusively that
François Margane, Sieur de Vincennes, went thither at the request of
Governor Périer of Louisiana in 1727, and founded a fort to counteract
the designs of the English against the French trade. The French colony
was not begun until 1735, and the next year the commandant Vincennes was
captured and burnt by the Chickasaws, while engaged in an expedition
against their country. Louis St. Ange succeeded to the position of
commandant at Vincennes, which he continued to hold until 1764, when
summoned to the Illinois. He left two soldiers in charge at Vincennes,
of whom and their companions Croghan gives this unfavorable account.
No English officer appeared to take command at Vincennes until 1777;
meanwhile General Gage had endeavored to expel the French inhabitants
therefrom (1772-73). It is not surprising, therefore, that they received
the Americans under George Rogers Clark (1778), with cordiality; or that
after Hamilton’s re-capture of the place, they were unwilling to aid
the English in maintaining the post against Clark’s surprise (February,
1779), which resulted in the capture of Hamilton and all the British
garrison. After this event, Vincennes became part of the Illinois
government, until the organization of a Northwest Territory in 1787.—ED.
[114] A johannies was a Portuguese coin current in America about this
time, worth nearly nine dollars. The Indians, therefore, paid over forty
dollars for their pound of vermillion.—ED.
[115] The Piankeshaws were a tribe of the Miamis, who had been settled
near Vincennes as long as they had been known to the whites.—ED.
[116] The entries from July 1 to 18, inclusive, are here inserted from
the second (or official) version in the _New York Colonial Documents_,
vii, pp. 781, 782; hiatuses therein, are supplied from the Hildreth
version. See note 91, _ante_, p. 126.—ED.
[117] François Rivard dit Maisonville was a member of one of the first
families to settle Detroit. He entered the British service at Fort Pitt
as an interpreter, accompanying Lieutenant Fraser to the Illinois in
that capacity. In 1774, Maisonville was Indian agent on the Wabash with
a salary of £100 a year. When George Rogers Clark invaded the Illinois
country (1778), Maisonville carried the first intelligence of this
incursion to Detroit. The next year General Hamilton employed him on
his advance against Vincennes; but on Clark’s approach he was captured,
while on a scouting party, and cruelly treated by some of the American
partisans. He made one of the party sent to Virginia as captives, and the
following year committed suicide in prison.—ED.
[118] General Thomas Gage was at this time British commander-in-chief
in America, with headquarters at New York. Having come to America with
Braddock, he served on this continent for twenty years, in numerous
important offices. After the surrender of Montreal he was made governor
of that city and province, until in 1763 he superseded Amherst as
commander-in-chief, in which capacity he served until the outbreak of
the Revolution. His part in the initial battles of that conflict about
Boston, where he commanded, is a matter of general history. After his
recall to England his subsequent career was uneventful. He died as
Viscount Gage in 1787.—ED.
[119] Major William Murray of the 42nd infantry succeeded Colonel Henry
Bouquet as commandant at Fort Pitt, in the spring of 1765.
Major Robert Farmer was sent to receive the surrender of Mobile in 1763.
For a description by Aubry, the retiring French governor of Louisiana, of
Farmer’s character and manner, see Claiborne, _History of Mississippi_
(Jackson, 1880), p. 104. Late in this year that Croghan wrote (1765),
Farmer ascended the Mississippi with a detachment of the 34th infantry,
and took over the command of the Illinois from Major Sterling, being in
turn relieved (1767) by Colonel Edward Cole. Farmer died or retired from
the army in 1768.—ED.
[120] La Guthrie was the interpreter sent with Lieutenant Fraser. Sinnott
was a deputy-agent sent out by Stuart, agent for the Southern department
to attempt conciliation in the Illinois. His stores had been plundered,
and he himself having escaped with difficulty from Fort Chartres, sought
refuge at New Orleans. See _New York Colonial Documents_, vii, pp. 765,
776.—ED.
[121] We here again resume the first (Featherstonhaugh-Butler) version of
the journal, which continues through August 17.—ED.
[122] This is the Auglaize River. On the site called the Forks, Wayne
built Fort Defiance during his campaign against the Indians (1794).—ED.
[123] The rapids of the Maumee were famous in the later Indian wars.
There, in 1794, the British built Fort Miami, almost within the reach of
whose guns Wayne fought the battle of Fallen Timbers. Fort Meigs was the
American stockade built here during the War of 1812-15; and this vicinity
was the scene of operations during all the Western campaigns ending with
Perry’s victory on Lake Erie, and the re-taking of Detroit.—ED.
[124] All that follows, until the conclusion of the Indian speeches, is
inserted from the second (official) version of the journals, found in the
_New York Colonial Documents_, vii, pp. 781-787.—ED.
[125] Although English born, Colonel John Bradstreet lived all his mature
life in America, and distinguished himself for his military services in
the later French wars. He was in the campaign against Louisburg (1745),
and was promoted for gallantry, and given the governorship of St.
John’s, Newfoundland. The outbreak of the French and Indian War found
him at Oswego, where with great bravery he drove the French back from an
attack on a convoy (1756). On the organization of the Royal Americans,
Bradstreet became lieutenant-colonel, and served with Abercrombie at
Ticonderoga (1758). His most renowned exploit was the capture, the same
year, of Fort Frontenac, which severed the connection between Canada and
its Western dependencies. After the close of the war, Bradstreet received
a colonelcy. When the news of Pontiac’s uprising reached the East, he was
detailed to make an expedition into the Indian territory by way of Lake
Erie. His confidence in Indian promises proved too great; he made peace
with the very tribes who went murdering and scalping along the frontiers
as soon as his army had passed. Bradstreet was made a major-general in
1772; but two years later, died in the city of New York. The Indians
whom Croghan found at Detroit were small bands from the north and west,
who had not received Bradstreet’s message, in time to attend before that
officer’s departure from Detroit.—ED.
[126] In the Hildreth version these names are spelled “Duquanee” and
“Waobecomica.” The former was a Detroit habitant Dequindre, who had
brought messages from the Illinois to Pontiac during the siege of
Detroit. Waobecomica was a Missassaga chief, well-affected toward the
English, whom Johnson had sent in the spring of 1765 with messages to
Pontiac. See _New York Colonial Documents_, vii, p. 747.—ED.
[127] This was Lieutenant-colonel Alexander Campbell, formerly commander
of the 95th regiment, who succeeded Major Gladwin in command of Detroit
(1764). He is not to be confused with Captain Donald Campbell, the
earlier commandant, who was killed by the Indians during Pontiac’s
conspiracy.—ED.
[128] There were present at this treaty about thirty chiefs and five
hundred warriors. A list of the tribes is given, and the names of the
chiefs. This was the last public transaction in which Pondiac was engaged
with the English. The year following, in a council with the Indians on
the Illinois, this noted chief was stabbed to the heart, by an Indian who
had long followed him for that purpose.—HILDRETH.
_Comment by Ed._—Hildreth is mistaken in calling this the last public
transaction of Pontiac. He was at Oswego and treated with Johnson in the
spring of 1766. See _New York Colonial Documents_, vii, pp. 854-867.
[129] The Saginaw Indians were a notoriously turbulent band of Chippewas,
who had a village on Saginaw Bay. They had assisted in the siege of
Detroit; and going to Mackinac to secure recruits to continue their
resistance, they attempted to kill the trader Alexander Henry. See Bain
(ed.), Henry’s _Travels and Adventures_ (Boston, 1901), pp. 148-152, an
admirably-edited work, containing much valuable information.—ED.
[130] According to Parkman, Le Grand Sauteur was Pontiac’s chief
coadjutor among the northern Indians in his attack on the English. His
Indian name was Minavavana, and he was considered the author of the plot
against Mackinac. This has been since attributed to Match-e-ke-wis, a
younger Indian; but Le Grand Sauteur remained an inveterate enemy of
the English, and was at length stabbed by an English trader. See Henry,
_Travels_, pp. 42-47.—ED.
[131] Sir Thomas Stirling, Bart., obtained his company in July, 1757, in
the 42d, or Royal Highland, regiment, which accompanied Abercromby in
1758, and Amherst in 1759 in their respective expeditions on Lakes George
and Champlain; was afterwards detailed to assist at the siege of Niagara,
and accompanied Amherst from Oswego to Montreal in 1760. _Knox._ Captain
Stirling was appointed a Major in 1770, and Lieutenant-colonel of the 42d
in September, 1771. He was in command of his regiment in the engagement
on Staten Island, and in the battle of Brooklyn Heights, in 1776; was
afterwards at the storming of Fort Washington and accompanied the
expedition against Philadelphia. He became Colonel in the army in 1779,
and was Brigadier, under Sir Henry Clinton, in the expedition against
Charleston, S. C., in 1780. _Beatson._ He succeeded Lieutenant-general
Frazer as Colonel of the 71st Highlanders, in February, 1782, and in
November following, became Major-general. He went on the retired list
in 1783, when his regiment was disbanded. In 1796 he was appointed
Lieutenant-general; was created a Baronet some time after, and became a
General in the army on the first of January, 1801. He died in 1808. _Army
Lists._—E. B. O’CALLAGHAN.
[132] The entry for September 26, and the list of tribes following, are
taken from the Featherstonhaugh-Butler edition of the journal.—ED.
[133] This letter is reprinted from _New York Colonial Documents_, vii,
pp. 787, 788. It was evidently written after Croghan’s return from the
West, and accompanied the official version of his journal, which Johnson
sent to England November 16, 1765. See _New York Colonial Documents_,
vii, p. 775.—ED.
[134] Fort Chartres was originally built as a stockade post in 1720;
but in 1756 was rebuilt in stone, and became the most important French
fortification in the West. It was an irregular quadrangle, with
houses, magazines, barracks, etc., defended with cannon.—See Pittman,
_Settlements on the Mississippi_ (London, 1770), pp. 45, 46. After its
surrender by the French, the English garrisoned the stronghold until
1772, when the river’s erosion made it untenable. For the present state
of the ruins, see Mason, _Chapters from Illinois History_, pp. 241-249.
The French trading post sixty miles above Fort Chartres, on the western
bank of the river, was the beginning of the present city of St. Louis,
which was founded in April, 1764, by Pierre Laclède. Upon the surrender
of the Illinois to the English, St. Ange, with the garrison and many
French families, removed to this new post, in the expectation of living
under French authority. To their chagrin the place was surrendered to the
Spanish the following year.—ED.
III
TWO JOURNALS OF WESTERN TOURS, BY CHARLES FREDERICK POST: ONE, TO THE
NEIGHBORHOOD OF FORT DUQUESNE (JULY-SEPTEMBER, 1758); THE OTHER TO THE
OHIO (OCTOBER, 1758-JANUARY 1759)
SOURCE: Proud’s _History of Pennsylvania_ (Philadelphia, 1798), ii,
appendix.
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
Christian Frederick Post, author of the following journals, was a simple,
uneducated missionary of the Moravian Church. His chief qualifications
for the perilous journeys herein detailed, were his intimate acquaintance
with Indian life and character, the belief of the tribesmen in his
truthfulness and honesty, and his own steadfast courage and trust in the
protection of a higher power. Born in Polish Prussia in 1710, Post early
came under the influence of the Moravians, whose remarkable missionary
movement was just beginning to germinate.
The first attempt of this church to christianize the American Indians
in Georgia having failed because of Spanish hostility, the Moravian
disciples removed to Pennsylvania (1739), and were granted land on
which to establish their colony at Bethlehem. Thither in 1742 came
Post, eager to join in evangelizing the Indians; for which purpose he
was sent the following year to assist Henry Rauch in his mission to the
Mohegans and Wampanoags. This mission had been established about 1740,
Count Zinzendorf, the great Moravian bishop, having visited its site at
Shekomeko (Pine Plains, Dutchess County, New York) and baptized three
Indians as its first fruits. The work spread to the neighboring Indian
villages of Connecticut, and Post was assigned to a circuit in Sharon
Township, Litchfield County, consisting of the villages of Pachgatgoch
and Wechquadnach. Here, in his zeal for the service, he married a
converted Indian woman (1743), and endeared himself to all the tribe.
But persecutions began to assail the humble brethren and their converts;
they were accused of being papists, arrested and haled before local
magistrates, by whom they were no sooner released than a mob of those
whose gain in pampering to Indian vices was endangered by Moravian
success, set upon them and rendered their lives and those of their new
converts intolerable. Post, who had been on a journey to the Iroquois
country (1745), was arrested at Albany and sent to New York, where he
was imprisoned for seven weeks on a trumped-up charge of abetting Indian
raids.
The situation made retreat necessary; therefore, in 1746, the Shekomeko
and Connecticut settlements were broken up, and the Christian Indians
with their missionaries moved in detachments to Pennsylvania, where,
after kindly entertainment at Bethlehem, a town called Gnadenhütten (huts
of Grace), was built for them, at Weisport, Carbon County. It was during
their stay at Bethlehem that Rachel, Post’s Indian wife, died (1747), and
there two years later he married a Delaware convert, Agnes, who lived
only until 1751.
Meanwhile, Post was employed as missionary assistant, going to Shamokin
in 1747 to aid the missionary blacksmith established there, to clear
and plant more ground. Again in 1749, he revisited the scene of his
early labors, and helped David Bruce to re-establish a mission among
the remnant left at Pachgatgoch. Two years later he was summoned to a
more distant field on the dismal shores of Labrador, where a company
of four Moravian brethren were sent to begin a mission to the Eskimos.
An untoward accident rendered this project futile; the major part of
the crew of the vessel which had transported them having been lost, the
captain impressed the missionaries to carry his ship back to England.
Thereupon Post again sought his home in Pennsylvania, dwelling
principally at Bethlehem, until called upon by the Pennsylvania
authorities to assist in public affairs. There is no certain information
of his introduction to the managers of Indian matters in Pennsylvania;
but several Christian Indians from his flock had been utilized as
interpreters, and the Friendly Association of Quakers, which was assuming
so large a rôle in treating with the natives, was well-inclined toward
the Moravian brothers.
The first mention of Post in the public records is in connection with
a message which he was employed to carry (June, 1758) in conjunction
with Charles Thomson to Teedyuscung at Wyoming.[1] On his return to the
settlements, he was immediately commissioned to go back to Wyoming with
a message from the Cherokee auxiliaries, who had come to join the army
of Forbes, and whose presence caused consternation among Pennsylvania’s
savage allies. With but five days’ respite, Post again started on a
journey beset with perils on every side, through the wilderness of
Northern Pennsylvania.[2] At Teedyuscung’s cabin he met two Indians from
the Ohio, who declared that their tribes were sorry they had gone to
war against the English; they had often wished that messengers from the
government would come to them, for then they should long before have
abandoned war.
On the receipt of this important information, the council at
Philadelphia debated to what use it might be put in furthering the plans
for Forbes’s advance. “Post was desired to accompany the Indians, and he
readily consented to go.”[3]
Antiquarians and historians have alike admired the sublime courage of
the man, and the heroic patriotism which made him capable of advancing
into the heart of a hostile territory, into the very hands of a cruel and
treacherous foe. But aside from Post’s supreme religious faith, he had a
shrewd knowledge of Indian customs, and knew that in the character of an
ambassador requested by the Western tribes, his mission would be a source
of protection. Therefore, even under the very walls of Fort Duquesne, he
trusted not in vain to Indian good faith.
The results of this embassy were most gratifying. The report of his
mission coming during the important negotiations at Easton, aided in
securing the Indian neutrality which made the advance of Forbes so much
less hazardous than that of Braddock.
But the work was only begun; and to complete it Post’s renewed
co-operation was necessary. This time he was not to venture alone.
Two militia officers, Captain John Bull and Lieutenant William Hays,
volunteered for the service,[4] and having joined Post at Reading, all
proceeded with Indian companions in their van, to overtake the army and
reach the Ohio in advance of the column.
Their mission was not in time to save the Indian ferocity at Grant’s
defeat; but it contributed to assure the French that aid from the
neighboring Indians was dubious, and that in retreat lay their only
safety. Through the simple narrative of Indian speeches and replies, one
feels the intensity of the strain: the French captain “looked as pale as
death;” “we hanged out the English flag, in spite of the French, on which
our prisoners folded their hands, in hopes that their redemption was
nigh.” Then the news came “which gave us the pleasure to hear, that the
English had the field, and that the French had demolished and burnt the
place entirely and went off.”
Of Post’s later life and its vicissitudes, we get but scattered glimpses.
For the two years succeeding these adventurous journeys, he served the
Pennsylvania authorities as messenger and interpreter, at the same time
begging to be allowed to go and preach to the newly-appeased Indians on
the Ohio. The last official act of Governor Denny was the affixing of
his signature to a passport for Post, of whose loyalty, integrity and
prudence he testifies to have had good experience.[5]
This desire to begin a mission to the Western Indians was consummated
in 1761, when Post proceeded alone to the Muskingum and built the first
white man’s house within the present limits of Ohio. The following
spring, he applied to the Moravian brethren for an assistant; whereupon
John Heckewelder was assigned to this service, and in his _Narrative_
describes their courteous reception by Bouquet at Fort Pitt, the restless
conditions among the Delawares and Shawnees, and the warnings against the
storm of fire and blood which was so soon to break over the frontier.
Heckewelder retreated in due season; Post barely saved himself by a
sudden flight.
In 1764, the ecclesiastical authorities saw fit to send this intrepid
missionary to the Mosquito Coast, where he stayed two years, making a
second visit in 1767. Toward the close of his life he retired from the
Moravian sect, and entered the Protestant Episcopal Church. His death
occurred at Germantown in 1785.