and that his efforts were only for the good of the service. He filled out the three year term, it is said, without learning of the king's refusal to ratify his appointment, and after retiring from Detroit he joined Verendrye on an expedition to discover a water route to the Pacific Ocean.

Pierre Jacques Payan de Noyan, Sieur de Chavois, the appointee of the king for the post at Detroit, did not take up the duties of his command until the spring of 1739. He was born at Montreal, November 3, 1695, the son of Pierre Payan, Sieur de Noyan, and Catherine Jeanne Le Moyne. He entered the service of the marine department, rising to the rank of captain and later major before his appointment to the command of Detroit. Payan was serving with his uncle, Sieur de Bienville, governor of Louisiana, when the latter was recalled to France to explain his actions, Payan accompanying his uncle to aid him in his mission. Their explanations were unsatisfactory, however, for the court was already strongly prejudiced against Bienville. Returning to America, Payan married Catherine Daillebout on November 17, 1731, and of the four children born to the couple, Pierre Louis was born at Detroit. A surgical operation in the fall of 1738 prevented him from taking his post but in the spring of 1739 he arrived at Detroit to take the place of Desnoyelles, who had held the position only through sufferance of the governor. Payan rendered himself unpopular with certain classes of the residents at Detroit by attempting to prohibit the sale of liquor to the Indians. In 1740 he returned to Montreal to secure an order prohibiting the sale of intoxicants to Indians and came back to Detroit in time to finish off the last few weeks of his term in 1842. Seven years later he became major and governor of Montreal, probably his last work in the public service.

Pierre Joseph Celoron, Sieur de Blainville, took command at Detroit on July 6, 1742. He was the eldest son and the fifth child of Jean Baptiste Celoron and his wife, Helene Picote de Belestre. He elected to follow a military career and in 1734 was placed in command of the garrison at Michilimackinac with the rank of lieutenant. After assisting the French settlers of Louisiana in the war against the Chickasaw Indians he was appointed commandant of Detroit, remaining here until June, 1744, when he was sent to Niagara. The ensuing six years were occupied with missions for the French Government, and in 1847 he again came to Detroit in charge of the convoy bringing supplies to this post. He it was who led the expedition down the Ohio to plant leaden plates setting forth France's claim to the territory, and so successful and thorough was his work in this connection that he was again appointed commandant of Detroit in 1750, the affairs of which he administered until the opening of the French and Indian war. In 1755 he commanded the Canadian militia that made the attack on Lake George, and while the war was still in progress he was appointed major of Montreal, the city in which he died on April 12, 1759. Celoron's second term was signalized by the attempt of the governor to encourage settlement at Detroit by loaning tools, rations for two years, and farming implements, in addition to a small farm to all

whom would make their residence at the post. Since so many of the newcomers were unmarried men, Celoron wrote asking girls to come to Detroit to be wives to the young farmers. Celoron was married December 30, 1724, to Marie Madeleine Blondeau, by whom he had three children. Following her death, he married Catherine Eury de La Parelle at Montreal on October 13, 1743. To this union were born nine children of whom three were born at Detroit. His widow became Sister Marie Catherine Eury La Parelle of the Grey Nuns of Montreal in 1777, and his daughter Marie Madeleine joined the same order of nuns.

Paul Joseph Le Moyne, Chevalier de Longueil, was appointed in 1743 to succeed Celoron a few months before the close of the latter's first term as commandant of Detroit. He was born at Longueville, September 19, 1701, a son of Charles Le Moyne, Baron de Longueville. Exactly a month to the day after his twenty-seventh birthday, Paul Joseph Le Moyne married Marie Genevieve de Joybert at Quebec, they becoming the parents of eleven children, although none of them were born at Detroit. During the next fifteen years, he was engaged in various responsible undertakings for the Canadian Government, and in 1743 was appointed to head the post at Detroit. His term expired in 1748 when he was made second in command of the same post. In the French and Indian war, he played an active part and in 1757 was sent as an emissary to the Six Nations to ask their aid against the British. Soon after the close of that war, he went to France, dying in Tours, May 12, 1778.

Jacques Pierre Daneau, Sieur de Muy, probably succeeded Celoron in 1754 although the date of his appointment is not definitely known. His father was Nicholas Daneau, Sieur de Muy, a Chevalier of the Military Order of St. Louis, who was once governor of Louisiana and died at Havana, Cuba, on January 25, 1708. Jacques, Daneau was born in 1695, and on January 30, 1725, he married Louise Genevieve Dauteuil at Montreal, to them being born six children. He occupied the post of commandant of Detroit during troublous times, and since he was more of a diplomat than a soldier, the military phases of the government of the post he entrusted to the army officers stationed there. He held his office until his death, which occurred May 18, 1758.

Jean Baptiste Henri Beranger, was second in command at Detroit at the time of De Muy's death and apparently he assumed charge of affairs until the arrival of the newly appointed commandant, when he again took his old place of second in command until the surrender of the post to the British on November 29, 1760. Beranger was born in France and was a son of Guillaume Beranger, Sieur de Pougemont. When he was still a young man, Beranger came to America where he was married on May 21, 1750, to Catherine Madeleine Fafard dit Laframbois at Three Rivers. One of their daughters, Marie Magdeleine, was born at Detroit, February 9, 1760.

Francois Marie Picote, Sieur de Belestre, was one of the most distinguished commandants to direct the affairs of Detroit. Holding the respect and implicit faith of his superiors in his abilty, he was entrusted with many matters of considerable weight. He fought against the Indians in 1739, accompanied Celoron to Detroit in 1747, was actively engaged in the French and Indian war in which he commanded a part of the troops at the defeat of Braddock, and was commandant at St. Joseph. Belestre was born at Montreal in 1719 and there he married Marie Anne Nivard on July 28, 1738. To this union were born six children, and on January 29, 1753, he married Marie Anne Magnan.

The father of Belestre was Francois Marie Picoté de Belestre and it is doubtful, whether or not he ever served as commandant at Detroit. He might have occupied that position temporarily during the absences of Tonty but no official records survive to substantiate the supposition. He was born in 1677 and was twice married, his first wife being Anne Bouthier, who died in 1710, and his second wife was Marie Catherine Trotier, a widow. Two children were born to this second marriage, one of them becoming the commandant as above stated. Belestre died at Detroit, October 9, 1729.

Louis de la Porte, Sieur de Louvigny, is a name that had been put forward by some authorities as one of the commandants at Detroit, it having been stated that he succeeded Tonty in 1728. Records, however, fail to show that he was ever at Detroit in such a capacity, although he might have served as temporary commander during the absences of Tonty. Louvigny was born in France but had come to Canada sometime before the year 1682. He succeeded Durantaye as commandant at Michilimackinac in 1690 and remained there until he was followed by Cadillac in 1694. In 1700 Louvigny was commandant of Fort Frontenac, a post at which the commander was forbidden to trade with the Indians. It so happened that a party of Iroquois came to the post with a quantity of furs which, they said, they were going to sell in Albany to the British. Louvigny thereupon purchased the furs for 60,000 livres and sent them to Quebec. The Jesuits, learning of the illegal transaction, informed the government and Louvigny was relieved of his command, his furs being confiscated by the colonial government. In 1701, however, he was appointed major of Three Rivers and after two years came to Detroit as an officer under Cadillac but did not remain long. He headed a large expedition against the Fox Indians in 1716, the operations being highly successful, relatively speaking, and was the first movement of the long war of extermination carried on by the French against the Wisconsin tribe. On his way to Wisconsin to prosecute the war, he passed through Detroit and at that time reported that the post was the most strongly fortified one in the west. He was appointed lieutenant-governor of Canada while he was on this expedition and assumed the duties of that office when he returned from the Wisconsin country. He died in a shipwreck at Louisburg, August 27, 1725.

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CHAPTER IV

DETROIT UNDER BRITISH RULE

HE struggle between the French and the English for supremacy on the North American continent came to a close in 1760 with the British controlling the lands that had formerly been claimed by France. Quebec had fallen before Wolfe, and with the principal stronghold of the French in possession of English troops, the capitulation of the more western posts of New France came as a matter of course. Detroit, as one of the strongest French posts in the west, was one of the first objectives of the English.

On September 8, 1760, Marquis de Vaudreuil, governor of New France, surrendered Montreal and all its dependencies to the English, and four days later, Major Robert Rogers, commander of a body of men known as the "Rangers," received orders from Amherst to proceed against Detroit with a force sufficiently large to take that post, Michilimackinac, and all the Northwest and to administer the oath of allegiance to the inhabitants of the captured territory. On September 13, 1760, Rogers at the head of 200 men of the Eightieth Regiment left Montreal. He was joined at Presque Isle by a small detachment of troops under Captain Croghan and by Captain Campbell's Royal Americans, an organization composed of American colonists. Rogers and the main body traveled by water from Preque Isle, while Captain Brewer and a small force marched overland along the shore of Lake Erie driving a herd of cattle.

Sieur de Belestre, commandant at Detroit, was so firm in his belief that New France could not be defeated, that he refused to credit the report of the Indians that a large force of English troops had arrived at the mouth of the Detroit river. He asked time to consider as a matter of form and in the meantime erected a post at the top of which was the figure of a man's head being pecked by a crow, signifying what De Belestre expected to do to the English if they ever came to Detroit. Major Roberts then sent another message to the fort setting forth the terms of capitulation and sending a copy of Vaudreuil's letter of instructions to the Detroit commandant. This second message brought Belestre to his senses, and he in turn dispatched a message of surrender which reached the British when they had arrived within half a mile of the fort.

Lieutenants Leslie and McCormick with thirty-six men of the Royal Americans were sent forward by Rogers to take over the fort. The French troops marched out of the fort, laid down their arms, and the Canadian militia was disarmed and declared disbanded, many of them immediately taking the oath of allegiance to the British Crown. The French flag was lowered with military honors and the English marched into the fort and raised the banner of the crosses of St. George and St. Andrew to the top of the pole which

for fifty-nine years had proudly borne the lilies of France. This day, November 29, 1760, marked the end of French dominion over Detroit and Michigan, although Michilimackinac was not invested by the English until some time later.

The letter of Governor Vaudreuil stated that all persons, including the soldiers, were to retain their property, including real and personal property and peltries; that the soldiers were to be allowed to delegate to some person the care or sale of their property to either French or English; or that they might be allowed to take with them their portable property. The soldiers were to agree not to bear arms again during the war. The prisoners were sent to Philadelphia and thence to France. On the condition that they take the oath of allegiance to the British throne, the French inhabitants of Detroit were permitted to retain their property, most of them doing so, although during Pontiac's Conspiracy many French aided the Indian insurrection against the English. But three officers and thirty-five enlisted men comprised the garrison at the time of the surrender.

Captain Campbell writing to Colonel Henry Boquet three days after the English took possession of the fort at Detroit said: "The inhabitants seem very happy at the change of government, but they are in want of everything. The fort is much better than we expected. It is one of the best stockades I have seen, but the commandant's house and what belongs to the King are in bad repair."

Rogers remained in command of the post until December 23, 1760, when he turned the command over to Captain Campbell and went to Fort Pitt. Although nearly two years elapsed since the capitulation of Detroit, the treaty of Fontainebleau, by which France ceded to Great Britain all of Canada, the posts on the Great Lakes, and Louisiana east of the Mississippi river, was not concluded until November 3, 1762. This preliminary treaty was ratified by the Treaty of Paris of February 10, 1763, leaving England undisputed master of North America east of the Mississippi river.

Major Robert Rogers was born in Dumbarton, New Hampshire, in 1727, a son of James Rogers, an Irishman who was one of the first settlers of Dumbarton. Frontier life, with its attendant hardships and dangers from Indian raids, were the boyhood lot of Robert Rogers who early entered the service in protecting the English colonists agaist the depredations of the Indians. In 1755 he was commissioned captain by General William Johnson, superintendent of Indian affairs, and was ordered to recruit and drill a company of rangers. The company, in charge of which Rogers was placed, was composed of thirty-five volunteers from the regular infantry, fifteen Royal Americans, and six men selected by Rogers for their knowledge of frontier life and of the woods. The "Rogers' Rangers" sprang into prominence with their work in the military operations in eastern New York, the engagements at Crown Point and Ticonderoga bringing forth such acts of daring bravery with but few casualties as to illicit the admiration of the officers in