March, about Seven in the Morning, the two light Boats which I always Sent a head to look out, were attacked on the West side, all our Boats being on the Same Side, I had given Orders to the Boats in case any of them were Attacked, to Cross over to the other side; But these two Boats were Entirely Disabled the first Fire, for out of Fifteen men that was in both Boats, there was Six Killed and Four Wounded, so that they could not Cross over, but falling down the Stream to Us, we took them in tow, & Crossed over to the Other side; But finding the Savages were possessed of both Sides of the River, I Apprehended it was in Vain to proceed; for We could not See One of them, nor could we get on Shore, for the River was so high, that it Overflowed it's Banks, So that in many places the Trees were as thick in the River Fourteen or Twelve Yards from its Banks, as they were on the Land, besides, we Could not keep out of the reach of their Shot, the River not being Wide enough, & if it had, we could not Row against the Stream in the middle of it. I Therefore Ordered the Boats to Retire, & this was the Unanimous opinion of Every Officer with me; If the Savages had not fired on the first Boats, but have let them pass, & not attacked until our last Boat had come within their Party, they would have Killed one half of us, as by that means every Boat would have Received a fire, & we had not the least Cover, and were Obliged to keep as near the Shore as the Trees would allow us, to avoid the Strength of the Current; by a general fire they made on Seeing Us Retire, I Judged there could not be less, than Two Hundred1 of them, which was Enough to Stop Two Thousand Men in open Boats; I Returned to New Orleans, where, I was in hopes of getting all our Boats & Stores, overLand to the Bayou, in the Lake Portchartrin, a thing Commonly done there, and I had agreed with a Merchant there to Carry them over; in which Case, we could have proceeded to Mobile where I Intended to go, without danger, or any further Expence; But Mr D'Abbadie the Governour would not Allow it; Indeed I did not Expect any great favor here; For while we Remained before Orleans, Several of the Savage Chiefs who had Attacked Us, made their Publick Entry into the Town; I was therefore Obliged to find Some other Way, & fortunately One of the Transports that brought us from Mobile, was in the River; I sent an Officer down to Stop her, & take her into the 1 The French information was that there were only thirty. See ante, 230. Service; and I went down the River to the Belire with all our Boats & Stores, and putting as many Men & Stores on Board the Vessel, as She could Carry, Proceeded to Pensacola, as the most likely place to get Assistance. [Endorsed:] Extract of a Letter from Major Loftus Commanding His Majesty's 22d Regiment of Foot to His Excellency Major General Honble Thomas Gage, Dated at Pensacola; 9th April 1764 Giving an Account of their Repulse by the Indians on the Mississippi & their return to Pensacola. in Gen1 Gage's of 21st May 1764. Inclosure in No 4 Bunde B CHAPTER VI ACCOUNTS FROM THE ILLINOIS, APRIL 14, 1764-JUNE 29, 1764 GAGE REPORTS TO HALIFAX - DE VILLIERS SENDS NEWS OF PONTIAC HE WARNS LOFTUS - GAGE ASKS ABOUT THE NAVIGATION OF THE OHIO THE NEWS OF THE FAILURE OF LOFTUS REACHES THE EAST - CROGHAN TELLS THE LORDS OF TRADE ABOUT THE WEST PROPOSAL TO PLANT A COLONY - PITTMAN'S MISSION. GAGE TO HALIFAX, April 14, 17641 [P.R.O., C.O., 5.83, f. 289 — A.L.S.] NEW YORK April 14th 1764. MY LORD, Since my letter to your Lordship of yesterday, a Vessel is arrived from New-Orleans, which has brought me a letter from Major Loftus of the 26th Febry acquainting me that the 22d Regt, under his Command did not arrive at New Orleans till the 12th of that Month, and that notwithstanding the Delays He had met with in his Voyage thither from Mobile, the Boats were not ready on his Arrival, to transport Him up the Mississippi: But applying to the Governor Mons D'Abbadie, for his Assistance; He very civilly ordered the French King's Carpenters to work on his Boats and He hoped to set out for the Illinois immediately. Mons' D'abadie gave Him a very bad Account of the Disposition of the Indians toward us; and assured Him, unless He carried Some Presents to distribute Amongst them, that He would not be able to get up the River. Mons' D'Abadie has taken the Opportunity of this Vessel to write to Colonel Robertson; in which he intended to inclose a Copy of a Letter from Mons' Neyon, Commandant of Fort-Chartres at the Ilinois, but by Some Accident the Inclosure was omitted. Mons d'Abadies letter shews that it contained some particulars of the bad Intentions of the Savages; that 1 Printed in New York Colonial Documents, 7:619. Pondiac,1 the famous Chief of the Detroit, had declared his Designs to recommence Hostilities, and had made a Demand of supplys of Ammunition from Mons" de Neyon. From a Paragraph of Mons D'Abadie's Letter, there is Reason to Judge of Pondiac, not only as a Savage, possessed of the most refined Cunning and Treachery natural to the Indians, but as a Person of extraordinary Abilities. He says, that Pondiac keeps two Secretarys, one to write for Him, and the other to read the Letters He receives, and He manages them so, as to keep each of them ignorant, of what is transacted by the other. I propose to send Advice to Major Gladwin of Pondiac's Designs, that He may be upon his Guard, but I hope Mons' de Neyon has not given Him much Ammunition; He says that he had but a small Quantity in his Garrison. I am with the greatest Regard, Respect, and Esteem, My Lord Your Lordship's Most obedient, and most humble servant, THOS GAGE. RIGHT HONBLE EARL OF HALIFAX. [Endorsed:] New York April 14th 1764. Major General Gage. R May 16th Acquainting of the 22d Regt being at New Orleans to proceed up the Mississippi. Letter received from Mon D'Abbadie concerning the Indians & Pondiac. Bundle B N° 1 1 Pontiac was an Ottawa chief born about 1720 probably in the valley of the Maumee River. He rose rapidly to prominence among the Ottawa and it is supposed that he led the Ottawa and Chippewa at the defeat of General Braddock. He first appears prominently at his meeting with Major Robert Rogers in 1760, when the latter was on his way to take possession of Detroit. At this conference Rogers persuaded Pontiac to make no opposition to the British occupation of the lake region. There were many causes for the Indian war associated with his name, which broke out in 1763; but the principal reason was the fear entertained by the Indians that the Americans would extend their settlements westward and in the course of time drive the Indians from their hunting-grounds. Unquestionably the French traders did everything in their power to foster this belief. The Indian confederacy that was formed to drive the British from the West seems to have been principally the work of Pontiac. Almost simultaneously the various detachments of British troops scattered in the small French forts were attacked, but the uprising was unsuccessful because the principal forts, those at Detroit and at Fort Pitt, were not captured. The British campaign of 1764 easily brought the war to a close and peace was made in 1765. American Indians, art., "Pontiac." DE VILLIERS TO DABBADIE, April 20, 1764 Copie d'une lettre de M. de Neyon á M. Dabbadie. MONSR, FORT DE CHARTRES ce 20. avril 1764. J'ai l'honneur de vous rendre compte que le 14. du présent mois est arrivé le s' de volsey qui m'a remis les Paquets dont il etoit chargé, par lesquels vous m'apprenés le parti que Mrs les Anglois ont pris de venir ici par la voye du fleuve. j'en étois prévenu deux jours auparavant par l'arrivée de Pondiak. Les occuppations qu'ils me donnent ne me laisse [sic] ni jour ni nuit, il a sçu dans une heure détruire dans l'esprit de nos domiciliés ce que je croyois leur avoir inculqué en huit mois. Plusieurs pauvres habitans avant ces nouvelles se préparoient à descendre, mais la crainte qu'ils ont d'etre arrêtés soit par les anglois, ou les sauvages, a fait qu'ils ont pris le parti d'attendre l'arrivée des premiers. SIR: Suivant les nouvelles que j'ai reçues dernierement du Detroit, les [Translation] Copy of a letter from M. de Villiers to M. Dabbadie FORT DE CHARTRES, April 20, 1764 I have the honor to inform you that on the fourteenth of the present month there arrived M. de Volsey who has given me the packets with which he was intrusted, by which you inform me of the decision that the English have reached of coming here by way of the river. I was informed of this two days before by the arrival of Pontiac. The business which the Indians cause me leaves me in peace neither day nor night. He has succeeded in an hour in destroying in the hearts of our domestic Indians what I believed I had inculcated in eight months. Before the arrival of this news, several poor inhabitants were preparing to descend the river, but the fear, that they have, of being stopped either by the English or the savages has brought it about that they have decided to await the arrival of the former. According to the last news that I have received from Detroit, |