178

Condition of Illinois.

1762 to 1777.

those volumes; a few of them we refer to below.* Among those referred to, that on page 108, is a very able and full argument in favor of the Illinois and Wabash Companies, (which had been united in 1780,)—a paper probably prepared by Robert Goodloe Harper.

In Hutchins' Topography of Virginia, &c., we find it stated that Kaskaskia contained SO houses, and nearly 1000 white and black inhabitants; the whites being a little the most numerous. Cahokia is stated at 50 houses and 300 white inhabitants, with 80 negroes. He also estimates east of the Mississippi, 300 white men capable of bearing arms, and 230 negroes. This last calculation is made for 1771, and although Hutchins did not publish his work until 1778, we presume his calculations all apply to a period anterior to the commencement of the Revolutionary War.

From 1775 until the expedition by Clark, we find nothing recorded, and know nothing of the condition of the Illinois settlements beyond what is contained in the following extract from a report made by a committee to Congress in June, 1788.

Near the mouth of the river Kaskaskies, there is a village which appears to have contained nearly eighty families, from the beginning of the late revolution. There are twelve families in a small village at la Prairie du Rochers, and near fifty families at the Kahokia village. There are also four or five families at Fort Chartres and St. Philip's, which is five miles further up the river.t

Such were the posts against which Clark was to march. But in the immediate neighorhood of those posts was the young and promising, though while under Spanish rule by no means thriving, colony of which St. Louis‡ was the central point; a brief history of which, (drawn almost entirely from the report of J. N. Nicollet made to Congress, in 1843,) seems also appropriate at this point.

The country west of the Mississippi was secretly given over by France to Spain, November 3, 1762, the order on the French Governor, Mons. D'Abbudie, to deliver up his command, was drawn on the 21st of April, 1764. Meantime a company of mer

* See American State Papers, xvii. 123 to 240. 108. 253. xviii. 551. 611. See also case of Johnson vs. McIntosh. Wheaton's Reports, viii. 543.

+ See Land Laws, 393. [Volney, (view, 381,) says that Colonel Sargent, in 1790, estimated the French families in Illinois at 150.]

Or Pancore, see Volney's View, 381.

1762-1777.

Condition of Missouri.

179

chants, headed by a Mr. Laclede, had obtained the monopoly of the Indian fur-trade on the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, and an expedition was fitted out to form establishments, and open commercial relations with the natives. Says Nicollet:

Mr. Laclede, the principal projector of the company, and withal a man of great intelligence and enterprise, was placed in charge of the expedition. Leaving New Orleans on the 3d of August, 1763, he arrived at St. Genevieve three months afterwards-namely, on the 3d of November.

*

*

At this time, the French establishments were on the east side of the Mississippi, particularly those made in Illinois. The small village of St. Genevieve alone was on the right side, in which Mr. Laclede could scarcely find a house of sufficient size to store a fourth part of his cargo. On the other hand, the director general of Louisiana had received orders to deliver up the territory on the west side of the river; so that the British authorities might be expected at any moment, presenting themselves to take possession of it. In the midst of these difficulties, Mr. Laclede, greatly embarrassed under the new aspect of things, found himself, however, relieved when the commanding officer, Mr. Neyon de Villiers, allowed him the use of the store at Fort Chartres, until the final surrender of the place. Laclede gladly accepted the offer, and lost no time in apportioning his squad and distributing his flotilla along the rivers, so as to render them most effective either for defence or for trade.

Having accomplished that preliminary arrangement, it became necessary to look out for the position of a central establishment. The left bank of the river no longer presented any fit situation, since the whole territory of Illinois had been passed over to the British Government; the village of St. Genevieve, on the right bank, being his only alternative, and this situated at too great a distance from the mouth of the Missouri. Mr. Laclede, therefore, left Fort Chartres, on a voyage of exploration to the junction of this river with the Mississippi, and was not long before he discovered that the bluff upon which St. Louis now stands was the spot that would best answer the purposes of the company.

Deferring, for the present, a more particular account of the geological situation of St. Louis, it may be remarked in this place that the hill upon which the city is situated is composed of limestone rocks, covered by a deep deposite of alluvial soil of great fertility. The limestone bluff rises to an elevation of about eighty feet over the usual recession of the waters of the Mississippi, and is crowned by an upland, or plateau, extending to the north and west, and presenting scarcely any limit to the foundation of a city entirely secure from the invasions of

189

Condition of Missouri.

1762-1777.

It was on this spot that the prescient mind of Mr. Laclede foresaw and predicted the future importance of the town to which he gave the name of St. Louis, and about which he discoursed, a few days afterward, with so much enthusiasm, in presence of the officers at Fort Chartres. But winter had now set in, (December,) and the Mississippi was about to be closed by ice. Mr. Laclede could do no more than cut down some trees, and blaze others, to indicate the places which he had selected. Returning afterwards to the fort, where he spent the winter, he occupied himself in making every preparation for the establishment of the new colony.

Accordingly, at the breaking up of winter, he equipped a large boa!, which he manned with thirty hands. It is proper to mention, in this place, that Mr. Laclede was accompanied by two young creoles of New Orleans, Auguste and Pierre Chouteau, of high intelligence, in whom he reposed the greatest confidence, and from whom he derived much assistance. These two young men, who never afterwards quitted the country of their adoption, became in time the heads of numerous families; enjoying the highest respectability, the comforts of an honorably acquired affluence, the fruit of their own industry, and possessed of a name which to this day, after a lapse of seventy years, is still a passport that commands safety and hospitality among all the Indian nations of the United States, north and west. Mr. Laclede gave the command of his boat to Auguste, the elder of the two brothers, who died in 1826; and it is with mixed feelings of veneration and filial affection that, at the moment of recording these events, (1842,) I have the satisfaction of believing that my respectable and esteemed friend, Pierre Chouteau, is still alive, in the full enjoyment of his faculties, at the ripe old age of 86 years.

Auguste Choteau, who had accompanied Mr. Laclede in his first excursion, was directed to carry out his plans; and on the 15th of February, 1764, had arrived at his point of destination, with all his men, whom he immediately set to work. The present old marketplace of St. Louis is the spot where the first tents and log cabins were pitched, upon the site of this now important city of the West. Mr. Laclede being detained at Fort Chartres in the settlement of his private affairs, and in anticipation of the arrival of the British troops, thought it necessary, however, to pay a visit, early in the ensuing month of April, to his pioneers; and, finding every thing in good train, contented himself with leaving such instructions as were best fitted to develop the resources of the location, and returned to Fort Chartres, with the intention of removing thence the goods belonging to the company.*

For some time, however, as the English did not appear, M. Laclede remained at Fort Chartres, from the vicinity of which Nicollet's Report, pp. 75-77.

1762-1777.

Condition of Missouri.

181

many of the French, during the summer of 1764, removed to St. Louis. This emigration was soon checked, however, by the news of the secret cession to "His Catholic Majesty,"* which news left the unfortunate and simple hearted French† of Illinois, deserted by their own monarch, to choose between the dominion of England and Spain. The troubles which followed the attempt of Spain to take possession of Lower Louisiana, for some time left the upper settlements in the hands of the French: it was not, indeed, till 1770, that Spain obtained final possession of St. Louis. Meanwhile other towns were rising.

Of the state of St. Louis and its neighboring towns, about 1771, we may form some conception from the facts and estimates given by Hutchins. At St. Genevieve he says there were 208 whites and 80 negroes, capable of bearing arms; and at St. Louis, 415 whites and 40 blacks. He further tells us there were 120 houses in the town last named, mostly of stone, large and commodious and the whole number of people he places at 800, besides 150 negroes; the whites being chiefly French. The population of St. Genevieve, he puts at 460, besides blacks.‡

In 1767, a man by the name of Delo Detergette settled upon a splendid amphitheatre on the right bank of the Mississippi, six miles south of St. Louis. He was soon followed by others; but, as they were not overburdened with wealth, they used to pay frequent visits to their kinsfolk of St. Louis, who, on seeing them approach, would exclaim, "Here come the empty pockets,"—" voila les poches vides qui viennent." But, on some occasion, a wag remarked, "You had better call them emptiers of pockets," les vide-poches; a compliment which

Nicollet says (p. 82) that news of this cession reached New Orleans, April 21, 1764; that was the date of the king's order, which was printed at New Orleans, in the following October. See Land Laws, 976.

+ The following story, told by Nicollet, is very characteristic.

"A genuine Missourian, it is related, was hovering for some time around the stall of a negro dealer, situated on the bank of the Mississippi, in Lower Louisiana. The dealer was a Kentucky merchant, who, observing him, asked him if he wished to purchase any thing? Yes,' said the Missourian, 'I should like to buy a negro.' He was invited to walk in, made his choice, and inquired the price. Five hundred dollars,” said the dealer, but, according to custom, you may have one year's credit upon the purchase.' The Missourian, at this proposition, became very uneasy, the idea of such a load of debt upon him for a whole year was too much. No, no,' said he, 'I'd rather pay you six hundred dollars at once, and be done with it. Very well," said the Kentuckian, any thing to accommodate." "

+ Hutchins' Topographical description of Virginia, (we have lost the pages of this reference.) There is no additional information on the subject in his pamphlet on Louisiana, though published several years later.

182

Siege of St. Louis.

1780. was retaliated by these upon the place of St. Louis, which was subject to frequent seasons of want, by styling it Pain-court-short of bread. The village, being still nameless, retained the appellation of Vide poche until 1776, when it was changed into that of Carondelet.

In 1769, settlements were made on both shores of the lower portion of the Missouri river. Blanchette, surnamed "the hunter," built his log-house on the hills called les Petites Cotes; being the first dwelling of the beautiful village that, in 1784, received the name of St. Charles.*

François Borosier Dunegan commenced the village of Florissant; which name it still popularly retains, although more lately called by the Spaniards St. Ferdinand.

About the same time, François Saucier originated the establishment of the Portage des Sioux, on the bank of the Mississippi, seven miles above the mouth of the Missouri.

And here, anticipating a little, we give Nicollet's account of the attack on St. Louis by the British and Indians usually assigned to 1778, but by Nicollet said to have been in May, 1780; a date made probable by the fact that Spain did not side with the United States until June 16th, 1779, and that act of hers must have been the provocation to the attack referred to.†

The garrison, says Nicollet's report, consisted of only fifty to sixty men, commanded by a certain Captain Lebas,‡ (a Spaniard, and not a Frenchman, as his name might lead one to suppose.) But, whatsoever his origin, he deserves nothing but public contempt. This Lebas, during the first three years that the Spaniards occupied the country, had commanded a small fort somewhere towards the mouth of the Missouri perhaps at Belle Fontaine-and afterwards received the command of St. Louis, as a successor to Cruzat, who himself had succeeded Piernaz. The only means of defence for the place at that time, was a stone tower erected near the village on the bank of the Mississippi, and some weak palisades. There were not more than 150 males in the place, of whom not more than 70 could be relied upon as efficient to repel an enemy numbering, according to the best authorities, 900 combatants; though, by some, their number is represented to have been from 1,400 to 1,500. It would have been useless to propose a capitulation, the conditions of which the Indians, (as has been unfortunately too often experienced,)

* Hall (Sketches, i. 171,) says, 1804.

Nicollet had the papers of Colonel Auguste Chouteau.-For the date of Spain's action see Pitkins' United States, ii. 72.

Spelt Leyba by Hall. whose account of the transaction, see Sketches, i. 171. Judge Hall's spelling of the name is probably correct, if the man was a Spaniard.