Heroes of the Middle West: The French

his vast valley that eventually brought on a life strugg

ng and brought in buffalo skins and meat; their women planted and reaped maize; children were born; days came and went; autumn haze made the di

FRENCH SE

ith his men, waded swamps to their necks, enduring more suffering than he had ever endured in his life before. This was in February of the year 1686. Finding it impossible to reach La Salle, who must be wandering somewhere on the Gulf of Mex

Salle from Fort St. Louis of Texas spent one winter at Fort St. Louis of the Illinois, bringing word that they had left their leader in

on his last determined search for the Mississippi. The eighteenth day of Mar

ones had been bleaching a year and a half before the news of his death reached his lieutenant. It was not known that La Salle received burial. The wretches who assassinated him

cluding Father Membré, who had been so long with him-perished by the hands of the Indians in Texas, in spite of Tonty's se

found near the great river's mouth that city which had been La Salle's dream. Fourteen years after La Salle's death, while D'Iberville was exploring for a site,

Le Moyne D'Iberville in th

f Le Moyne

one of the tribes. As other posts sprung into existence, Fort St. Louis was less needed. "As early as 1712," we are told, "land titles were issued for a common field in Kaskaskia. Traders had already opened a commerce in ski

(Sant' Come) journeyed from Canada in a party guided by Tonty.

dating others who from jealousy or desire to plunder opposed the voyage; not only doing the duty of a brave man but that

e Chicago River to the Desplaines, lost sight of him, and he was never seen again. Autumn grass grew tall over the marshy portage, but they dared not set it afire, though his fate was doubtless hidden in that grass. The party divided and searched for him, calling and fi

ve of his, Alphonse de Tonty, who got into disgrace at the post of Detroit. Little justice has been done to the memory of this man, who should not be forgotten in the west. So quietly did he slip out of life that his burial place is unknown. Some people believe that he cam

its buildings and arched gateway were like some medieval stronghold strangely transplanted from the Old World. White uniformed troops paraded. A village sprang up around it. Fort Chartres was the center of government until Kaskaskia became the first capital of th

Genevieve also was built in what is now the state of Missouri, on land which then was claimed by the Spaniards. There was a Post of Natchitoches on

nothing but prairie and clumps of wood as far as you can see. The Tamaroas are eight leagues from the Illinois." Chicago wa

ide of the Illinois River as you go down, elevated about thirty feet. The Indians say at the time of the gr

an unbroken wilderness. The English settlements on their strip of Atlantic coast, however, and the French settlements in the west, reached grad

ribe of Indians. "It was the common hunting and fighting ground of

This isolated post is said to have been founded by French soldiers and emigrants. Five thousand acres were devoted to the common field. De Vincennes, for whom it was named, was a nephew of Louis Jolliet. And while i

d waters of the Ohio, like a chain to check the English. Presqu' Isle,

urrounding it. Wooden walls were filled and daubed with a solid mass of what was called cat-and-clay, a mixture of mortar and chopped straw

father's yard; and so it went on, until with children and grandchildren a

ion of this field was given to each person in the village for his own, and he was obliged to cultivate it and raise food for his family. If a man

ettlement is not that dreadful story of continual wars with Indians which reddens the pages of eastern colonies. The French were gay people. They loved to dance and hunt and spend their time in amusements.

in November the buffaloes became so lean that only their tongues were eaten, swa

rdinary frontiersman in those days consisted of shirt, breech-cloth, and buckskin leggins, with moccasins, and neips, or strips of blanket wrapped around the feet for stockings. The voyageur so equipped could undertake any hardship. But in the settlements wooden shoes were worn instead of moccasins, and garments of texture lighter than buckskin. The women wore short gowns, or long,

laves, sold by their captors to the settlers, had long been members of these patriarchal households. Many of them had left th

and brick-colored heads above dusky-fringed buckskins following close after. This little army waved their hands and fire

guette and the Chevalier De Vincennes and

ge and Sieur Lala

xpedition! The Chickasaw nation may howl when they see this arra

rmy do not meet the Commandant D'Artaguet

res has Sieur D'Artaguette made mis

re D'Artaguette is as handsome as a woman. I have heard the southern tribes sacrifice their o

s. D'Artaguette knew as well as the early explorers that in dealing with savages it is a fatal policy to overlook or excuse their ill-behavior. They themselves believed in exact revenge, and despised a foe who did not strike back, their insolence becoming

ph of B

n the river, seeming to grow smaller, until

d then retreating. D'Artaguette, urged by his Indians, made the attack with such force as he had, and his brave array was destroyed. He and the Chevalier Vincennes, with Laland, Father Senat, and

Fort Chartres, starving and in rags, from wandering through swamps and woods. She was the last of a family arrived from France, and sought her sister, an office

s afterwards led troops as far east as the present state of Pennsylvania, and helped his brother, Coulon de Villiers, continue the strug

GAME

r Ca