THE OHIO VALLEY-GREAT LAKES ETHNOHISTORY
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considered within the historical context in which it was composed and printed.
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published.
Henri Tonty Letters
(Due to length divided here into three parts)
Tonti, Henri de in: Delanglez, John,
Mid-America, 1939, vol. 21, pp. 209-238.
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gry with me because I accompanied the Gentlemen of the Foreign Missions to the Mississippi. Since M. d'Iberville is a great friend of mine, I did not want to come to an explanation as to the cause of his change; I was satisfied with telling him that when it was question of the king's service, I cared very little about what the whole of Canada would say. Since he believed it was to be of service to the king to fetch Englishmen, I would do my best to arrest him, but since I had only eight men, if I caught the Englishman, I would send him back with five men commanded by M. de la Ronde,(see II, fn. 4) garde-marine; afterward I would continue my journey with the rest [of my men] to join La Forest who must have arrived in the Illinois country. M. Le Sueur told me you presented a petition to the king on my behalf, and that the king answered you [illegible word, saying?] you should believe that nothing took place in this country without my participation. Hence you must not miss this opportunity. A fort has been built here [on the Mississippi]. If M. de Bienville, brother of M. d'Iberville, who is king's lieutenant of the one on the Bay of the Billochis,(see II, fn. 5) 27 leagues from here,* on the sea shore, remains commandant you would please me extremely if you could ask the commandantship [of Fort Mississippi] for me, with the pay [of a fort commandant]. What to do? [There is] no more trade since it has been forbidden by the Court.(see II, fn. 6) Write a petition and represent that my hand was blown away; the I was four years garde-marine in Sicily, being captain-lieutenant of M. de Vintimille; that I accompany M. de La Salle in the discovery [of 1682]; that in '85, I went to considerable expenses to meet him in the Gulf in order to help him at his arrival; that afterward I led 300 Indians to M. de Denonville; that I made several other expenses to harass the Iroquois according to the orders I received from M. de Denonville; that afterward I went to the Cenis, seven leagues† from the Spaniards to fetch the rem-
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4Louis Denys, Sieur de la Ronde, cf. L. Le Jeune, Dictionnaire
Général . . . du Canada, Ottawa, 1931, s. v.
*Fort Mississippi is 27 leagues from that of Billochi.
6Tonti is alluding to the royal declaration of May, 1696, which suppressed all trade permits.
†The Cenis 7 days journey from the Spaniards. It should be 7 days journey.
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nants of M. de La Salle's [men]; that when my men seized by panic abandoned me, I was obliged to go back, and that the Spaniards, 80 in number pursued* me as far as the Cadodaquios [village], which I had left 6 days before; that as soon as I knew that M. d'Iberville had entered the river, I came down for the third time to give him all possible information about this country; twenty coureurs de bois joined me 100 leagues from Fort St. Louis, they came [with me] hither [word illegible]; that my company was destroyed with the death of the men of M. de La Salle; that I never received any pay. I have no doubt that, by exposing all this properly, I shall get something from the Court and in order to give you some opening to speak of this country, here is an exact outline of what I know about it.
I begin with the sea (into which this Mississippi river)(see II, fn. 7) empties through three channels (mouths). The river is the most beautiful in the world, since it has 900 leagues(see II, fn. 8) without rapids from its mouth to the Falls of Saint Anthony, and without portages, with a fine width throughout and a deep bed. It winds very much, which renders it impracticable for ships, and it can only be ascended to the place called the English Turn 30 leagues from the sea,† where a small ship of that nation ascended this [i.e., last] autumn. Its banks are covered with canes, vast woods and admirable lands. This river overflows at places; the flood lasts about two weeks or a month. There are 18 leagues to the sea from the new fort situated on the right bank going up.‡ Below, the country is flooded. The spot here appears high enough,(see II, fn. 9) the land is admirable. Thirty-six leagues from here a fork is found,(see II, fn. 10) it goes down to the sea; going down this branch, on the
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*I suspect the original has: they pursued me for 80 leagues.
7The words in parentheses are taken from the copy made by Father Léonard, his extract begins here.
†Ships can only ascend the Mississippi 30 l. as far as the English turn.
10This distance 54 leagues makes 145 miles. Iberville
wrote: "Three leagues from their village [Bayogoula, which
was 64 leagues,
hence 180 miles from the Gulf], on the left, going up, there is a creek by
which they (con't.)
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left, there are three villages, the Ouaches (Acacha) [Washa], the Chitimacha [Chitimacha] and the Quisitou (Aynisitou) [Yagenechito];(see II, fn. 11) these three villages make about 250 men. This fork does not seem very considerable. The Indians settled on it (who are in the neighborhood) fish pearls, I gave three to M. d'Iberville.
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(10 con't.) go in canoe to the Outimachas [Chitimacha]
and to the Magnesito [Yagenechito], three days journey from here to the
west." Margry, IV, 172. Bayou La Fourche, Louisiana, is 210 miles from the
sea. Iberville is referring to some other "fourche" of the network of
bayous in Lower Louisiana, cf. the sketch, "Embouchure du
Mississippi," in AN, JJ, 75-244, the data of this sketch were embodied in
Delisle's map of 1701, SHB, C 4040-4. "Five leagues below the [Bayogoula]
village, we find on the north side a small arm of the Mississippi, which
Monsieur de la Salle mentions; he says that it has a depth of over 30 brasses
of water, and is very convenient for large vessels. But Monsieur d'Iberville-
who had the same inspected, and who caused soundings to be taken- did not find
water deep enough to float a launch," Gravier's Voyage, 1700, Jesuit
Relations, 65:159, cf. Journal of Paul Du Ru, 18. The small arm
spoken of by Father Gravier seems to be the "fourche" of Tonti, cf.
the sketch in AN, JJ, 75-249, "Croquis du Mississipi. . . Par Mr
de Tonti." The famous "fourche" so earnestly sought by Iberville
in his first voyage, is given in Tonti's first account, Margry, I, 604, as
being 84 leagues (82 leagues in the second) from the sea, this is the distance
from the Gulf to Plaquemine, Louisiana, 15 miles north of Bayou La Fourche, Le
Clercq, First Establishment of the Faith, 175, located the
"fork" at the same distance from the Gulf. It is likely that these
two- very probably interdependent- accounts, do refer to Bayou La Fourche. The
space at our disposal precludes all discussion of the consequences the belief
that Bayou La Fourche was a branch of the Mississippi was to have on the
subsequent history of the exploration of the river.
11Ethnographers hold as probable that the Yagenechito were a division of the Chitimacha, F. H. Hodge, Handbook of American Indians, Washington, D. C., 1907, s. v. From a reading of the accounts of explorers, some of which are still extant and others lost, Delisle seems to have understood the Chitimacha and Yagenechito to be subdivisions of the Washa, cf. the AN, JJ, 75-244 sketch. The sketch is found in Delisle's papers, although it is more probable that the geographer did not draw it he embodied the information in the maps he drew after 1700, cf. AN, JJ, 75-258; SHB, C 4040-4; ibid., 4049-32; ASH, 140-4. De Fer copied all this in his inaccurate maps of the Gulf Coast, cf. SHB, C 4044-45, "Ouache & nations ensemble," this drawing is a reproduction of SHB, C 4040-2, minus the lateral legends. The "Carte du Mississippi" of 1700, ASH, 138 bis-1-2, also a De Fer map has "Ouacha 2 nations" See SHB, 4040-5, another De Fer sketch copied by Father Gentil, BN, Ge DD 2632, p. 81, reproduced in Marcel, Reproduction de Cartes et de Globes. . ., Paris, 1893, Atlas, plate 17. The region is legended "les Ouachas" in Delisle's map of 1702, Ministère des Affaires Etrangères. Delisle was confirmed in his opinion after an interview with M. de Bouteville, a missionary who had spent several years in Louisiana, The French Jesuits in Lower Louisiana, 23. To the geographer's question Bouteville answered: "qu'il y avoit plusrs nations dans la fourche que faisoit le Missisipi avant que de se jetter dans la mer et qu'on les connoissoit toutes sous le nom d'Ouacha," ASH, 115-10:n. 17, Y. In the following decade when Delisle received his information from Lemaire, he omitted altogether the generic name for the three tribes, the Yagenechito are not found on the map of 1718, although the Lemaire sketch of 1715, ASH, 138bis-1-6, still has them. The three tribes are given in the following North-Southwest order, along the "fourche" in the two sketches based on Tonti's second letter: "Agnisitou, Chitimacha, Acacha." (con't.)
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Six leagues above the fork,* on the left, are found the Quinipissa [Acolapissa], Bayogoula (Bajougoula) [Bayogoula], Mongoulacha (Mongoulache) [Mugulasha], who together make about 180 men.(see II, fn. 12) From the fort to these villages, the land is almost always the same. From these villages to the Sablonniere [Red] River, there are 40 leagues.(see II, fn. 13) On the right [bank of the Red River] there are three villages together,‡ the Oisitas (Onositas) [Wichita], Nachitoche, Capiche,(see II, fn. 14) I am not giving you the number [of men], [for] since I was there, they may have diminished. I am not telling you how far they are from the mouth of the Sablonniere, for there is another Rochet[?] three leagues days journey from there going up the Mississippi to Canada, one finds the Canada [sic] on the right,(see II, fn. 15) and eight days journey
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(11 con't.)The order is inverted in Bureau's croquis:
"Akacha, Chitimacha, Agnisitou."
*The Quinipissa higher than the fork.
12"May 17, [1699], we arrived at the village of the Kinipissas. There are one hundred huts including the Bajogoula and the Mogoulacha who joined them and who make one village," Montigny to . . ., [August, 1699], BN, Mss. fr. n. a., 7485:128 v. In May, 1700, M. de Montigny learned that the Bayogoula chief had wiped out the Acolapissa and Mugulasha manfolk, Id. to . . ., July 17, 1700, Ibid., 129; more than 200 men were massacred, says Father Gravier, Jesuit Relations, 65:156.
13Tonti had estimated the distance as 30 leagues in his second account, Kellogg, Early Narratives, 301. If the mileage from the Gulf up to this point is added up, it is found to be 50 miles short of the actual distance. ". . . A la riviere Rouge que M. Dyberville nomme la riviere de Marne. . . le mesme jour [March 19, 1700] j'ay pris hauteur a l'emboucheure de ladite riviere et trouvé
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Extract from the letter of Le Sueur, BN, Mss. fr. n. a., 21395:11. This is remarkably accurate, being only a few minutes from the true latitude of the mouth of the Red River, 31o 2'.
‡And the Nasitas, Nachitoches and Nada.
14In his second memoir (Kellogg, Early Narratives, 314) Tonti calls these three tribes Ouasita, Nachicoche, and Capiche; they were branches of the Wichita, a confederacy of Caddoan stock. Neither the first name nor the last appear on the croquis; along the Red River, which is nameless, are found reading upward the Natits, the Nadao, and the Nachitoche, all on the north bank of the River. Father Léonard has in the same order along La Sablonniere, the Onasita, Nadao, and Nachitoche; Bureau lists the tribes as follows Onasita, Nachitoche, and Kapiche. M. de Montigny wrote: "They [Taensa] told us that the Natchez and the Kahapitch, who are nations 30 or 40 leagues distant from the Taensa, had come to see us; and that not having found us, they were soon to come back," Montigny to . . ., [August, 1699], BN, Mss. fr. n. a., 7485:126v. Three months earlier he had written: ". . . upon [the Red River] are found the Natchitoches, then farther up one finds the Nassonia and several other nations who are at war with the Spaniards of Mexico; these are near enough to these tribes." Montigny to . . ., May 6, 1699, ASH, 115-10:n. 13. When M. de Montigny wrote these words he had not gone below the Taensa, and had this information from Tonti.
15This seems to be a distraction of the copyist. In the margin he has (con't.)
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farther up [the Red River] are found the Nassonis (Nossonis) [Nasoni], Nachitoche and Cadodaquio. Leaving these three villages, and crossing the river, which is not a very large one,* on the left is found a road leading to the Cenis through a pleasant enough country where are good ash-trees, oaks, small hillocks and meadows.
From the mouth of the Sablonniere† to the Ommas (Oumas)
[Huma], four leagues.(see II, fn. 16) They number about . .
. [sic] (200) men(see II,
fn. 17) located on hillocks one league and a half from the [Mississippi]
river.(see II, fn. 18)
It can be said
that they have the best land. The stalks of [their] Indian corn are 20 feet
high. From this tribe to the Quinipissa, the country is the same as I described
before, except that one finds, going up, two places where are hillocks for
settlements.
From the Ommas (Oumas) to the Naché [Natchez],‡ 25 leagues,(see II, fn. 19) same banks. Their land is reached after crossing 50 leagues of hillocks.(see II, fn. 20) The tribe counts from 8 to 900 men. Their
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(15 con't.) the Nada; the name of the second tribe on
the Red River is Nadao, the first is Natita, the Nasitas of the marginal note,
probably the Natasi. The Nasoni are not on the croquis, nor are the
Kadohadacho. Bureau has three tribes on his sketch, Nosennis, Nachitoche, and
Kadodokico; he located them up the Red River. The Rochet sentence does not
make sense. A line seems to have been omitted, or the words "car j'en
trouve un autre Rochet a 3 lieües journees" have been added;
"lieües" was first written and the copyist forgot to cross it out
after writing "journees."
*Road from the Cadodaquios to the Cenis.
†The Ommas 4 l. from the mouth of the Sablonniere.
17"This [Huma] village numbers about one hundred huts. Their language is the same as that of the Chickasaw and of the Acolapissa and of several other nations, being one of the most widespread in these parts." Montigny to . . . [August, 1699], BN, Mss. fr. n. a., 7485:123. "There are 80 huts," in this village, wrote Gravier, Jesuit Relations, 65:146, after having made the round in company with Father de Limoges, the then missionary among the Huma, the Jesuit said: "I counted 70 huts in the village which I visited. . .," ibid., 148.
18"There is a good league and a half from the point of disembarkation to the village of the Huma,- over a very bad road, for one has to ascend and descend, and walk half bent through the canes. The village is on the crest of a steep mountain, precipitous on all sides." Gravier's Voyage, 1700, Jesuit Relations, 65:116. Cf. Journal of Paul Du Ru, 26.
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settlements are spread over 8 leagues of country;(see II, fn. 21) admirable land. Their chiefs are looked upon as spirits and called the . . . [sic](see II, fn. 22) (Niase). [They are] fed, lodged and supported at public expense. Thirty men are killed to accompany the chiefs when these die.(see II, fn. 23) They are on the right of the river.* I can say the same thing about the land as I have said before.
From the Natchez (Natché) to the Taensas [Taensa],† 23 leagues.(see II, fn. 24) They are located on a small lake. There is a portage of one league [from the Mississippi to the lake], and [then] three leagues by canoe [on the lake to their village].(see II, fn. 25) They are in a flat, very beautiful and very fruitful country.(see II, fn. 26) They make (more than) 400 men.(see II, fn. 27) Same customs as the Natchez. But now that M. de Montigny has his mission among them, it may be hoped that these two nations will change their cult, their customs, and will despise their temples.(see II, fn. 28)
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21Tonti gave 3,000 warriors in his second account,
Kellogg, Early Narratives, 301. In May, 1699, before he had gone to the
Natchez, Montigny said they numbered at least 2,000 souls. ASH, 115-10:n. 18;
in August after he had visited them, "This tribe is the most numerous of
those that are on the banks of the Mississippi. There are 10 or 12 villages . .
. very much scattered . . . They occupy 7 or 8 leagues of country. . . . They
numbered nearly 300 huts, and in each hut there are often two or three
families," Montigny to . . ., [August, 1699], BN, Mss. fr. n. a., 7485:125v.
"The Natchez are scattered over 8 or 9 leagues of country," wrote Le
Sueur, "they make about 8 or 900 men," BN, Mss. fr. n. a., 21395:12v.
"It is said that there are almost 400 of them [huts] and that they extend
for eight leagues hither and yon," The Journal of Paul Du Ru, 36.
22Apparently Tonti's crabbed handwriting defied the copyist; Father Léonard made out Niase.
23Cf. Thaumur de la Source, in Shea, Early Voyages, 82; The Journal of Paul Du Ru, 27; Gravier's Voyage, 1700, Jesuit Relations, 65:142.
*It is on the right side going up.
24The various accounts give from 16 to 20 leagues for this distance. In his two previous memoirs, Margry, I, 602, Kellogg, Early Narratives, 300, Tonti gives the only definite latitude observed, 31o, taken by La Salle with the astrolabe; the 32nd parallel crosses the small lake north of St. Joseph, near where the Taensa had their village. Iberville also took the latitude at the Taensa village, he found 32o 47', Margry, IV, 412.
25"The Taensa village is one league from the bank of the Mississippi, on a small lake six or seven arpents wide," Montigny to . . ., May 6, 1699, ASH, 115-10:n. 13; Thaumur de la Source gives three leagues, Shea, Early Voyages, 82; Gravier, Jesuit Relations, 65:136, and Du Ru, Journal, 41, say the same as Tonti.
26Cf. Journal of Paul Du Ru, 41.
27"The Taensa are only about 700 souls," Montigny, in Shea, Early Voyages, 76. "There are about 120 huts, making perhaps 6 or 7 hundred souls," Montigny to . . ., May 6, 1699, ASH, 115-10:n. 13. "There are scarcely a hundred cabins at the Taensa and they are by no means as well filled as those of the Natchez," Journal of Paul Du Ru, 42.
28M. de Montigny intended to take care of both tribes, Taensa and Natchez, until help came from Canada, Montigny to . . ., May 6, 1699, ASH, 115-10:n. 13, both tribes speaking the same language, cf. Jesuit Relations, 65:136. The missionary left the Taensa village a few weeks after Tonti wrote his second letter, cf. The Journal of Paul Du Ru, 44 ff. Com-(con't.)
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From the Taensas to the Tonicas [Tunica],* 20 leagues(see II, fn. 29) to the mouth of their river, [then] eight leagues up [the Yazoo River to their village]. Together the Tonicas, the Yazoos [Yazoo], and the Coroa [Koroa] make about 400 men.(see II, fn. 30) They are located in a very pleasant valley at the foot of high hills. M. Davion is their missionary.
It must be noted, (my dear brother), that there is no trading to be done with the tribes I just mentioned. They are all wretchedly poor and they hardly find fur animals to clothe themselves. These people are laborious(see II, fn. 31) and it would be no trouble at all to make artisans of them and to teach them to raise silkworms in quantity.
One finds then on the left at 60 leagues, the Tonty† (Tonti) or Akancea (Akansea) [Arkansas] River,(see II, fn. 32) given to me by M. de La Salle,(see II, fn. 33) which I settled, and where I had a house built, there the Sieur Cavelier was led by Divine Providence and was
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(28 con't.) pare Tonti's description of the Taensa
temple in Margry, I, 601, in Kellogg, Early Narratives, 299-300, with that of
Montigny, in ASH, 115-10: n. 13.
29The distance between the habitat of the Taensa and the mouth of the Yazoo River is 60 miles.
30"The first [Tunica] village is four leagues inland from the Mississippi on the bank of quite a pretty river; they are dispered in small village; they cover in all four leagues of country; they are about 200 cabins." Thaumur de la Source, in Shea, Early Voyages, 30. For the location of these Indians, cf. Margry, V, 401, n. 1, other details are in The French Jesuits in Lower Louisiana, 446-447. Montigny gives 200 huts of Tunica, totaling from 12 to 15 hundred souls; 36 huts of Yazoo and Koroa, 15 huts of Houspé [Ofogoula], the three last named villages having no more than 300 souls; "to tell the truth, there are other villages farther away, where they speak like the Tunica, namely, the Tiou, the. . . [sic], and perhaps still others about whom we have no information." Montigny to . . ., May 6, 1699, ASH 115-10:n. 13. The Tiou mentioned here are the "Siou" of Tonti's letter of 1693, printed in Pease and Werner, The French Foundations, 1680-1693, Illinois Historical Collections, XXIII, Springfield, Ill., 1934, 278.
31Cf. The French Jesuits in Lower Louisiana, 409.
†Riviere de Tonty ou des Akanseas.
33This seignorial grant is not mentioned in the various accounts of the expedition of 1682; Tonti himself does not mention it in his first memoir, nor in his letter of July 23, 1682, BN, Clairambault, 1016, 165-168v. This seignory is referred to by Tonti in an undated autograph signed document in the possession of the Chicago Historical Society, printed in The French Foundations, 396. In another autograph document signed, dated November 26, 1689, printed below, Tonti is granting a tract of land to the Jesuits on condition that they send a missionary to the Arkansas post, ASQ, Polygraphie, XIII, n. 33. From the latter document, it seems that as early as 1686, Tonti was making land grants along the Arkansas River. Cf. Kellogg, Early Narratives, 308, where he also speaks of his seignorial rights.
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