La Salle, grieved and disappointed by the mutinous disposi tion of his followers, was almost in despair when he finally ascertained the distance of his colony from the Great River. With indefatigable enterprise, however, he resolved to explore the country, and accordingly started for the Mississippi, accompanied by his young nephew, Moranger, and about twenty men. Their journey soon found a fatal termination. Irritated by the haughtiness of this youth, his lawless followers, in the trackless recesses of the wilderness, murdered both him and their commander. Thus obscurely perished one of the bravest and most indefatigable of the many brave and unconquerable spirits, who, at the cost of their lives, have won renown as pioneers of the New World. His memory will always be associated with the great river which he explored and laid open to mankind. Hennepin, dispatched, as we have seen, on a tour of explor ation, ascended the river with his companions, to a great distance, and discovered those magnificent falls on which he bestowed the name of St. Anthony. After great suffering from travel and captivity among the Indians, he succeeded in regaining Canada, and published an account of his exploits. After the death of La Salle, he gave to the world another brochure, manifestly false, in which he claimed the honor of having first explored the Mississippi to its outlet. By this impudent fabrication, he secured to himself a reputation somewhat like that of Vespucius, whose fraudulent attempt (or that of his admirers) to wrest the glory from a true discoverer, obscures the renown of his real and meritorious achievements.* To the surveys commenced by these ardent and energetic travellers, was added ere long that of the brave and resolute Baron la Hontan, who, after a long residence among the In *So notorious were his attempts at deception, that his common epithet in Canada, was "Le Grand Menteur" (The Great Liar). The falsehood of his pretended journal is sufficiently evinced by the fact that he claims to have ascended the Mississippi from its mouth to the Illinois river, with two men, in a canoe, in twenty-two days! dians, penetrated deep into the West, and learned the exist ence of the Rocky Mountains and of that vast ocean which laves the shores of Oregon. CHAPTER III. FATE OF LA SALLE S COLONY-ENTERPRISE OF TONTI-D'IBERville's SETTLEMENTS-GREAT DISTRESS AND MORTALITY-GRADUAL SURVEY OF THE COUNTRY-LAW'S "MISSISSIPPI SCHEME 29 -ITS FAILURE GREAT DESTRUCTION OF LIFE-FOUNDING OF NEW ORLEANS-WAR WITH THE NATCHEZ AND CHICK- AFTER the departure of La Salle, the unfortunate colony he had founded soon became a prey to famine and Indian hostility. Many of the settlers perished, and two years after his death, the miserable remainder were seized by the Spaniards and taken to New Leon. The survivors of the party which he had commanded, after a quarrel, in which the two murderers were shot, directed their course northward, and seven of them, in July, 1687, arrived at the Arkansas. Here, to their surprise and joy, they found a fort and a Canadian settlement, planted by the indefatigable Tonti; and from this time, slow but continual emigration from the north rendered the Valley more familiar, and opened the way to communication between the two widely severed colonies of France. In 1699, M. D'Iberville, with the commission of governor, was sent out to found a colony in Louisiana. He entered the Mississippi, and searched in vain for the ill-fated settlement of La Salle. He finally landed his people at Old Biloxi, about twelve miles west of Pensacola Bay, on which the Spaniards had already established a small post. Despite his assiduous exertions, this settlement, and others planted under his auspices along the gulf, suffered terribly from the incapacity and folly of those who composed them. Continually expecting to discover mineral wealth, the improvident emigrants neglected that of the soil; many perished of actual hunger; and by the year 1705, the whole colony contained only an hundred and fifty persons. Considerable surveys of the country, however, had been made. Red River had been explored by enterprising adventurers, for nearly a thousand miles, and small settlements had been planted on the Washita and the Yazoo rivers. The Missouri had been ascended as far as the mouth of the Kansas, and the Indians there had proved friendly and hospitable. At this time, a petition from the Protestants was presented to the French king, (Louis XIV.,) stating that, if allowed the free exercise of their religion, more than four hundred families of them would remove from among the English, and settle in Louisiana. But that bigoted sovereign, with equal insolence and impolicy, replied: "that he had not expelled them from his kingdom to form a republic of them." After the death of D'Iberville, the colonies, though receiving frequent accessions, suffered wretchedly from mismanagement. By 1712, more than two thousand five hundred emigrants had arrived, few of whom had returned; yet at that time Louisiana contained only four hundred whites, and twenty negro slaves. Continual intrigues and bickerings with the Spaniards were kept up; both parties endeavoring to gain a priority in occupying the vast wilderness now known as Texas. In 1716, a settlement was made at Natchez, on the Mississippi; and in the following year, Crozat, who for several years had held the country by grant, relinquished it to the "Mississippi Company," projected by the celebrated John Law. Seven hundred persons, at this time, composed the entire population of the settlements. The history of that magnificent delusion, which consigned thousands to beggary in France, and equal numbers to starvation and wretchedness in Louisiana, is too long to be detailed in these pages. Instead of the rich mines and the wealth" monopoly of traffic anticipated by the sanguine projectors, there resulted to the mother-country utter loss, general ruin, and enormous encumbrance; while to the unfortunate colonists shipped, in multitudes, without adequate provision, to the new El Dorado, nothing but distress and destruction could have been expected to ensue. In the course of six years, as many thousand emigrants, (including slaves and convicts,) had been, with the rashest improvidence, sent out to Louisiana. Of these, many hundreds perished of sickness and starvation; and to such extremes were the settlements reduced, that, in 1721, the very soldiers of the garrisons were obliged to retreat into the Indian villages to avoid perishing of hunger. In the midst of this period of wretchedness and mortality (1720), were laid the slender foundations of New Orleans, selected, two years afterwards, as the capital of the country, and destined, in little more than a century, to become the fairest and wealthiest city of the whole Mississippi valley. With all this misery of individuals, the foundation of the colony was now firmly laid. The very multitude of the emigrants compelled them to distribute themselves over the country, and want of provision enforced the cultivation of the soil. Their greatest annoyance, for a long series of years, was occasioned by the intrigues and jealousy of the neighboring Spaniards, and a system of petty reprisal and predatory warfare, for some time, was carried on. Indian hostilities, brought on by the ill conduct of the French, at one period, assumed a most alarming aspect. The Natchez, who, in the time of famine and distress, had been their benefactors and supporters, in 1723, provoked by ill-usage, took up arms, and destroyed many of the colonists. The latter having, by a solemn treaty of peace, thrown the savages off their guard, retorted by a sweeping and indiscriminate massacre. After this treacherous triumph, the defeated nation, for several years, endured great oppression at the hands of the victors. Their wrongs, at last, were terribly revenged. On the 29th of November, 1729, provoked by fresh outrage, their chief, (the "Grand Sun,") with a number of warriors, repaired to Fort Rosalie, (at Natchez,) under pretence of bringing tribute. The gate was seized, and the Indians swarmed in. A general and simultaneous massacre took place in the fort and the adjoining village. Seven hundred of the French, mostly men, were cut off at a blow; many captives were taken, and the post, with all its property, fell into the hands of the Natchez. In this fort, the following year, they were besieged by a strong force of French and allied Indians. Finding the assailants too strong for them, they secretly crossed the Mississippi, and passed up Red river. There they built a fortification; but ere long were compelled, after the slaughter of many of their number, to surrender; and the survivors were reduced to slavery on the plantations, or were shipped to St Domingo. In a war with the Chickasaws, a few years afterwards, the French met with decided defeat, and their governor was compelled to make a disgraceful peace. Such were the principal native hostilities encountered in the Lower Mississippi valley, by the French-whose urbanity of disposition and ready assimilation to Indian peculiarities, in general, both there and at the north, secured to them the good-will and confidence of the aborigines. At a later date, excited by the gradual approach of the English or Americans from the east, scenes of Indian warfare, more serious and protracted, were destined to lay waste the upper regions of that vast tract, watered by the Great River and its tributaries. These, pertaining to our subject only in the obstacles which they opposed to the settlement and prosperity of the Valley, may be briefly dismissed. |