One of the most striking figures on the stage of early Texas history, undoubtedly, is the Sieur Louis de Saint Denis, called Huchereau de St. Denis for the first time by Yoakum in his History of Texas.
The writer of these lines had for ten years been investigating the career of the Sieur Louis Juchereau de St. Denis, the founder of Poste Juchereau on the Wabash (or lower Ohio) river, when he came across the aforementioned statement in Yoakum.
From the collation of documentary evidence I am led to believe that the Sieur de St. Denis who plays such an important and interesting part in early Texas history is confounded by the writers on this topic with Juchereau de St. Denis; for, not once in all his correspondence does the Texas St. Denis sign himself Juchereau (or Huchereau), nor is there a single piece of documentary evidence to bear out the assertion that he bore that name. For, though Yoakum, in his History of Texas, calls him Huchereau, and quotes in evidence the Testimonio de un Parecer, from the Archives of Bexar, the original document as reprinted in the Appendix calls him Don Luis de San Denis. 36 All subsequent writers on the subject, such as French in his Historical Collections of Louisiana and Florida, Lanier, H. S. Thrall, John H. Brown, have failed to produce or quote any authority for the name of Huchereau.
When Anthony Crozat obtained the charter to farm the revenues of the Province of Louisiana, he directed the newly appointed Governor of the Province, Lamothe Cadillac, to establish a trade with Mexico. To carry out these orders he selected Louis de St. Denis, who had been an efficient officer in the French colonial army, but having failed to receive any salary, had retired to his plantation (of Ile St. Jean). Pursuant to the orders of Governor Cadillac, St. Denis set out from Mobile to Natchitoches, where he left “a few men to form a settlement. With twelve men and some friendly Indians,” says Yoakum, “he continued his journey, and in August, 1714, reached the mission of St. John the Baptist on the Rio Grande. They were received with hospitality by Villescas, the commandant of the post; and, making known the object of their long journey, were requested to wait till their business was communicated to Don Gaspardo Anaya, the Governor of Coahuila, and an answer returned. The Governor, for reply, sent a guard, who seized St. Denis and Jallot, his friend and surgeon, and conveyed them to the capital of the province! Here they remained in prison till, by the order of the viceroy, they were conducted to Mexico, and there imprisoned. At the end of six months they were released, or, as some say, escaped, and after two years returned to Mobile, the then capital of Louisiana. St. Denis having courted and married the daughter of the commandant of the mission of St. John, it is likely that he made arrangements for smuggling. The influence acquired by St. Denis over the Texan Indians was considerable; and when the Spaniards under Ramon, the uncle-in-law of St. Denis, established themselves at Adaes, the Indians were alike friendly with them. This all goes to sustain the assertion of Du Pratz, that the Spaniards were introduced there by St. Denis for illicit trade.” 37
The subsequent history of St. Denis is related by Brown, in his History of Texas, in the following words:
“It has been said that he had great magnetic power. This was acknowledged to a wonderful degree by the Indians. He had been appointed to command the fort at Natchitoches, and was brought in contact with them far and near, and could at any time on short notice command the willing services of 6000 or 7000 warriors.
“The Natchez particularly feared him, and after the massacre of the French settlers in Louisiana by that tribe on the 28th of November, 1729, the chiefs, believing that he would collect his friendly Indian forces and exterminate them, sent 200 warriors to entrap him. These, upon arriving near the fort (garrisoned by 30 soldiers) were discovered by the guards. The Natchez warriors sent a delegation to him, addressing him as `big chief,' and begged him to make up the quarrel between him and the French. As proof of their desire for peace they proposed to surrender to him a French woman whom they had long held a prisoner. To this St. Denis agreed, stipulating only that but ten warriors must come within the fort to surrender the woman. The Indians retorted that to refuse to receive them all showed a lack of confidence in them that they did not deserve. He persisted, and ordered them to instantly surrender the prisoner, for whom he promised to pay a ransom.
“The Natchez, suspecting the real condition of the fort, thereupon began fortifying their camp, and erected in front of their tents a funeral pyre, upon which they bound the woman. St. Denis hastily sent messengers to his friendly Indians, and with twenty men from the fort at once made a furious attack upon the Natchez. At the first onslaught all of his men but eight were killed. For two hours he fought against desperate odds, hoping that reinforcements would arrive. `He was seen,' says an historian of the time, `springing like a lion among the crowd of warriors, forcing them back. He looked like an angel of vengeance accomplishing his work of destruction, invincible himself in the terrible fray. He fell at last, hit by three bullets in the head and two arrows in his breast.' There were but two survivors. The Natchez ceased firing and retired.” 38
In spite of these statements, St. Denis was still living five years later, for on Christmas day, 1735, he writes to the lieutenant general at Adaes, the ensign Joseph Gonzales. 39
My chief object in presenting these thoughts to the notice of investigators of Texas history was to open the question as to St. Denis' identity to discussion and investigation, and by this means to arrive at a solution of the question. The chief point to be borne in mind, is to find Documentary Evidence. Flashes of intuition may brighten up the pages of history; they will seldom be the truth. And yet, if history is to be investigated and studied from a scientific point of view, truth must be the ultimate result sought for in our researches.
The facts relating to Louis Huchereau de St. Denis are embodied in an article published by the author several years ago. 40
In the fourth chapter of his history, Dillon, the father of Indiana history, says: “The wars in which France and England were engaged, from 1688 to 1697, retarded the growth of the colonies of those nations in North America; but soon after the peace of Ryswick, Louis XIV determined to send a large number of colonists to Louisiana, and to maintain garrisons among them, for their protection. Lemoine D'Iberville was appointed governor of Louisiana, and M. de Bienville was commissioned as lieutenant-commandant of the province. Under the direction of these officers, a number of adventurers emigrated from France, in 1698; and, in the course of the succeeding year, formed a settlement at Biloxi, on the northern shores of Lake Borgne, between Mobile Bay and Lake Pontchartrain.
“The early efforts which were made by France to establish colonies in the valley of the Mississippi, from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, excited the jealousy and roused the fears of the English statesmen of those times. In the year 1698, Dr. D'Avenant, inspector-general of the customs, published some discourses on the public revenues and trade of England. In one of these discourses he said: `Should the French settle at the disemboguing of the River Mississippi, they would not be long before they made themselves masters of the rich province, which would be an addition to their strength very terrible to Europe, but would more particularly concern England; for, by the opportunity of that settlement, by erecting ports along the several lakes between that river and Canada, they may intercept all the trade of our northern plantations.'
“During the period that elapsed between 1700 and 1712, the hostility of the Five Nations, or Iriquois confederacy, defeated the attempts which were made by the French to establish trading posts in the regions which lie adjacent to the southern shores of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie; but, in the month of June, 1701, Antoine de Lamotte Cadillae, accompanied by a missionary and one hundred men, left Montreal, and, in the month of July, arrived at the site of Detroit, where the party formed a permanent settlement.
“As early as 1705, Louis XIV invested Lamotte Cadillae with power to grant, or concede, the lands about Detroit, in small lots, to actual settlers.” 41
It was the idea of France to withdraw all the Indians from the influence of the English, who were encroaching on the western territory; and, for the same reason, France did not strive to establish any posts along the Ohio or the Wabash. The route to Louisiana lay almost along the lines of Father Marquette's original return voyage of discovery from Michillimackinas to Dakansea. Penicaut, who lived for twenty-three years in the lower colony [1698-1722], writes, in 1700, that the Ohio leads to Canada, but that it is by the Illinois that one goes to Canada. The subsequent establishment of a post at the mouth of the Ohio, or Ouabache as it was then called, and the descent of the Sieur Juchereau by the above route confirm this statement; while among the many documentary relations, published by Margry and others, we learn that this was invariably the route chosen from which they set out on their western discoveries, either from Louisiana or the Upper Province. Henri de Tonty, who had accompanied La Salle in his exploration of the Mississippi, had already demanded a concession of the Arkansas country, and the government of a post on the Wabash. 42
In a letter to Jerome Pontchartrain, dated Paris, 27 February, 1700, the Sieur Juchereau de Saint-Denys writes:
“Monseigneur:— I have the honor to send your lordship the memoirs which you demanded, agreeable to your intentions of establishing a colony on the Mississippi. The last article will show you that the general permission to go there can but augment the revenues of the king, and reimburse him for the expenses of the establishment.
“If, for the execution of this project, your Excellency is desirous of employing my services, I will strive to render my experience useful, and show you that I have not in vain applied myself during twenty years in learning to know what can establish and render a colony flourishing.” 43
Jerome Pontchartrain, in a letter dated Versailles, 4 June, 1701, to MM. de Callieres and de Champigny, announces authorization of Juchereau de Saint-Denys to go to the Mississippi, with twenty-four men:
“The king being favorably inclined towards the enterprise by which he is assured he may profit by the discovery of the Mississippi, has listened to the proposition made by the Sieur Juchereau de Saint-Denys, to establish tanneries there under certain conditions, of which he sends him a copy. His Majesty advises that this establishment give no occasion for any abuse, and that he be exactly informed of anything that may come to their notice on this subject.” 44
The Concession itself is dated Marly, June, 1701, worded as follows:
“Concession accorded to the Sieur Juchereau to establish a tannery on the Mississippi.
“His Majesty having accepted of the proposition made by the Sieur Juchereau, lieutenant-general of the jurisdiction of Montreal, of establishing tanneries in the lands occupied by the French on the lower Mississippi, has accorded him the following conditions:
1.“His Majesty permits him to pass from Canada to the Mississippi, with twenty-four men, who may take eight canoes, while he may choose in that colony two trustworthy persons, to aid him in the successful issue of his enterprise, deciding that he be, during the period of three years, commissioned to exercise judicial powers at his place, provided he be accepted and approved by the Sieur de Champigny, intendent of Justice, Police and Finances in New France.
2.“In case he thinks it advisable not to go to the Mississippi in person, his Majesty, nevertheless, permits him to send those twenty-four men and two trustworthy persons.
3.“He may take along in those canoes all the tools and utensils necessary to the workmen he may send, and all merchandise of which he may be in need, except rum, of which he shall not carry more than he may need for the Frenchmen in his employ, his Majesty forbidding him to sell any to the savages.
4.“His Majesty permits him to establish tanneries in the places he may deem fit, and for this purpose may also put up all the store-houses and buildings he may need.
5.“He may send during the first three years of his establishment, three canoes each of the three years to Montreal, to get those things of which he may be in need.
6.“To trade and buy all sorts of skins which can be tanned, or raw hides, with the exception of beaver skins, in which his Majesty will not suffer him to traffic, neither directly nor indirectly, declaring him forfeited of all the privileges and conditions, mentioned herein, if he violates his intentions in this matter.
7.“His Majesty also grants permission to work the lead and copper mines, should he discover such.
8.“He shall be obliged to have an almoner, for saying mass and administering the sacraments to his workmen. His Majesty gladly permits that he himself choose the one, but he shall not send him before he has been accepted by his lordship the bishop of Quebec, or in his absence by his vicar-general.
“His Majesty commands and ordains the said Sieur de Callieres, governor, and his lieutenant-general in New France, and to the said de Champigny, to see that this concession be executed.” 45
The Chevalier de Callieres and M. de Champigny wrote to the minister on the 5th of October, 1701, begging that France rather than the colony make this establishment; that the colony of the Ouabache be limited, and expressed the fear that the beaver trade, which was one of the chief sources of revenue for Canada, would be drawn into other channels.
“The permission,” continued the letter, “which has been accorded the Sieur Juchereau, to take from this place to the Mississippi twenty-four men in eight canoes, under pretext of there establishing a tannery, will consummate our ruin, since he will not fail to carry away, in going, all the beaver and smaller furs which he may find, and will thus have the better share of the trade of the country at the exclusion of the colony. For, if he had not this design in mind, what reason could he have of carrying merchandise to the Mississippi by way of Canada, the expense being enormous, being able to obtain them at much better bargains from the vessels that come direct there from France? Nor does it seem likely that the said Sieur Juchereau comes here to seek persons who are fit to go with him to establish a tannery, since those who have establishments in this country are obliged to bring them over from France to work here. Hence it is obvious that they have nothing else in view than the trade in beaver skins and other furs, which at present are the sole income of Canada. In the meanwhile we will follow out the instructions which you have given the Sieur Juchereau, and the Sieur de Callieres will permit him to depart whenever he asks.”
They then requested that the new colony be limited to the River “Ouabache,” “where our allies the Miamis hunt, that we may establish several posts to prevent any one from going by this route to the English.” 46
In the meanwhile, the directors of the company framed the following petition:
Copy of a request presented to Monsieur the Governor-General of Canada, and to Monsieur the intendant by Messieurs the directors of the company of Beaver-Castors, against the enterprise of the Sieur Juchereau for the commerce in leather on the Mississippi.
To Monsieur the governor-general and to Monsieur the intendant:
“The undersigned directors-general of the company of the colony of France, humbly show that they have received information that M. de Juchereau, lieutenant-general of Montreal, has obtained permission from the king to make an establishment on the Mississippi River, and to send there twenty-four men in eight canoes, or to take them with him to establish tanneries; and that he may send three canoes to Montreal every year to bring him those things which he may need. On which the said directors most humbly beg to remark that Sieur Le Sueur obtained permission to go to the same place for the discovery of mines, should there be any in those regions. He was forbidden, as is the said Sieur Juchereau, to traffic in beaver skins, which commerce he has now carried on for more than three years, since he received the aforesaid permission, without having done anything at all towards the exploitation of said mines, having devoted himself solely to the traffic in pelts, which he has sent to his correspondents at Montreal. But if the said Le Sueur has caused great hurt by this commerce, the said Sieur Juchereau will cause considerably more, since, leaving Montreal with eight canoes, he will obtain the best bargains in the trade with the savages, buying the better furs, which he will send back immediately to Montreal, if he be permitted, as he is in fact permitted, to send three canoes every year. And, if such grants abound, the consequence will be that those who have obtained them will do all the trading. The Sieur de Ia Forest is evident proof; he was only to trade at the Illinois. But in reality he has a house at Michillimackinac, where he openly trades with the savages at that place and surrounding country, and under pretext of going or sending to the Illinois, he received at Michillimackinac the merchandise, making bargains with those who are in charge before a notary, afterwards he makes his private bargains with them to barter the goods in secret with all the savages indifferently. Thus all these grants will ruin the entire commerce of the country, and will make it impossible for the company to sustain the expense which it must bear to keep the post of Detroit, and to pay the sum of six thousand livres which his Majesty has ordered to be given to the poor families of this country. If the said Sieur de Juchereau says that he will not deal in beaver skins, it is not credible that he can keep his promise, since it is too difficult to pass among the nations who have them, without buying them, giving them at the low prices they ask.
“Moreover, it is impossible to know this, on account of the difficulty of employing persons in a country so far away from this place, as they will cost us too much, when they can remain here without any danger of their lives. If the aforesaid Sieur de Juchereau had nothing else in view than the establishment of tanneries, on the Mississippi, he could go down, as did Le Sueur, in the vessels that go there direct, and which would have carried, and will carry, the men and those things of which he is in need more easily and cheaper; and he need not make a threefold expense, did he not desire to benefit by the trade, and be able to send his beaver skins whither he desires.
“It is these considerations, and many others, that oblige the said directors in order to acquit themselves of their duty towards the Company-general of this country—which relies on them as to those things which regard their business, and who would be entirely ruined by similar grants—beg you to delay the departure of the said Sieur de Juchereau and the said twenty-four men until we have new orders from the court. You will act in justice to have the goodness to inform his Excellency the Count de Pontchartrain of these reasons and those which you fully conceive.
[Signed] Chartier de Lotbiniere, Francois Hazur, Gobin, Macart et Peyre 47.
The Sieur Juchereau defended himself against these accusations in a memoir which he addressed to Mme. the Comtesse de Saint-Pierre:
“Some persons have been found in Canada, so jealous of that which Monseigneur de Pontchartrain, at your request, has accorded me, that they insinuate to the people that they should oppose themselves against the execution of the king's order, which I have obtained, to establish the leather trade on the Mississippi, because they have presented a request that my enterprise should be arrested until his Excellency gives me further orders, on the supposition that the commerce in leather which I proposed was but a pure pretext to obtain for myself the largest part of beaver and other pelts that reach Canada, whereas, in order to enjoy the privileges which Monseigneur de Pontchartrain granted me, I was obliged to give in writing:
“First, That I promised under such penalty as they thought proper to impose on me, never to trade in beaver skins, in any manner whatever, nor in any other furs, until I should have reached the place designated by my order.
`Secondly, I signed an agreement that inspectors should be sent with me, who could render an account of my conduct.
“These two articles I willingly signed, because I have always believed that they were agreeable to the intentions of his Excellency; but, besides this, I am forbidden to make use of the privilege granted by order of the king, to send during the first three years of my establishment, three canoes each year to Montreal.
“You will please to ask Monseigneur de Pontchartrain that he allow me to enjoy the privilege of those three canoes, for should, unhappily, the vessel that is to bring my stores from France be lost in coming to the Mississippi, I would have no other resource than wait until such stores were established in this new colony, should the three canoes be prevented from going to or coming from Canada.
“Moreover if my enterprise succeeds, as I have reasons to believe it will, I will be obliged to have my family brought to that place, which I could not do if I had not the privilege of the canoes, since it is most certain that the governor might perhaps never permit me to go back, if I should return: It is absurd to believe that I wish to use the three canoes to carry furs into Canada, since it is so much easier for me to have them sent by vessels on the Mississippi, by which I can also more easily obtain the goods I need, when I can get them there; for, to go to Canada, I will be obliged to make six hundred leagues more than to the vessels coming to the Mississippi, going or coming.
“I must also ask Monseigneur de Pontchartrain, in consideration of the expense I am obliged to undergo, which amounts to more than four thousand livres, to grant me four thousand-weight of fine powder every year, paying him the same price as traders pay the king; but he should have the goodness to order that the powder be sent in the king's ships, to be sold on the Mississippi, where I will pay at the rate noted below.” 48
Accordingly the post was established at a point where the Ohio disembogues itself into the Mississippi. When M. d'Eraque in 1701 abandoned Fort Huillers, and with his party returned to Mobile, he met at the Ouisconsin, M. de Juchereau, whom Penicant in his Relation styles “lieutenant-criminel of Montreal in Canada.” He was accompanied by thirty-five men, and the entire company descended to Illinois.
In the Relations des Affaires du Canada (1606-1702) is a letter of P. Gabriel Marest, S. J., to Father de Lamberville, wherein he says: “M. de Juchereau takes with him P. Mermet. Since I understood that M. de Pontchartrain has this establishment much at heart, I have rendered M. Juchereau every service in my power, and accompanied him to thirty leagues from my village, to find Ronsa, the place where he will spend the winter, and to make the attempt to assemble the Illinois at Ouabache; but there are many obstacles, and I think they will have trouble to come to a result. M. de Juchereau makes too great promises, but he believes his undertaking will be successful. The father who is with him is not altogether satisfied; he is neither missionary, there being no savages under his care, nor almoner, having no salary. At the same time, he has no one to assist him in his need. The only documentary traces of Father Mermet's labors there is what the letter of Father Marest, dated Kaskaskia, 9 November, 1712, contains:
“The French had come to establish a fort on the river Ouabache: they asked for a missionary and the Pere Mermet was sent to them. This father thought he should also labor for the Mascoutens, who had made a village on the banks of the same river: they are a nation of savages who speak the Illinois language, but by the extreme attachment they have for the superstitions of their charlatans, they are not well disposed to listen to the instructions of the missionary.” This was a band of the Mascoutens, drawn to the mouth of the Wabash by Lemoyne d'Iberville, when in his memoir of 1702 he recommended the occupation of the Illinois country by the Mascoutens and Kickapoos. Father Charlevoix, who passed the spot in his voyage down the Mississippi, refers to it as follows: “The labors among the Mascoutens met with less success. The Sieur Juchereau, a Canadian gentleman, had begun a post at the mouth of the Ohio, which empties into the Mississippi, constituting the shortest and most convenient communication between Canada and Louisiana, and a great many of the Indians had settled there. To retain them, he had persuaded Father Mermet, one of the Illinois missionaries, to endeavor to gain them to Christ: but that missionary found an indocile tribe, excessively superstitious, despotically ruled by medicine men.” Then he relates the anecdote following, as told by Father Marest in the above letter. “The way he took was to confound, in the presence of the whole tribe, one of these charlatans whose Manitou, or Great Spirit, which he worshipped, was the buffalo. After leading him on, insensibly, to the avowal that it was not the buffalo that he worshipped, but the Manitou, or Spirit of the buffalo, which was under the earth, animated all buffaloes, and healed the sick, and had all power, I asked him if other beasts, the bear, for instance, which some of his nation worshipped, was not equally inhabited by a Manitou which was under the earth.” “Without doubt,” said the Indian. “If this is so,” said the missionary, “men ought to have a Manitou which inhabits them.” “Nothing more certain,” said the Indian. “Ought not that convince you,” said Father Mermet, “that you are not very reasonable? For, if man, upon the earth, is the master of all animals—if he kills them—if he eats them—does it not follow that the Manitou which inhabits him must, necessarily, have a mastery over all other Manitous? Why, then, do you not invoke him, instead of the Manitou of the buffalo and the bear, when you are sick? This reasoning,” continues the missionary, “disconcerted the charlatan; but this was all the effect that it produced.”
“A pestilential malady soon broke out among the Indians who were settled around this new post; and notwithstanding the kind offices of the missionary, they died in great numbers. With a hope of arresting the progress of the fatal epidemic, the Indians determined to make a great sacrifice of dogs.” Forty of these poor animals, innocent as they were of the cause of the epidemic, to satisfy their suspicious Manitous, were immolated and carried on poles, in solemn procession round the fort. While the procession was moving, the jugglers were uttering exclamations, which, as recorded by Father Mermet, were as follows: `Manitou of the French! do not kill us all! Softly—softly there! Do not strike too hard. Spare us, else we all die!' Then turning to Father Mermet they would say: `Oh, Manitou! truly thou hast life and death in thy sack. Keep in death, and give out life.' ” 49
In the autumn of 1702 M. Juchereau sickened and died. M. de Saint-Lambert, who was at the fort, wrote to M. de Bienville, announcing the death of their leader; he asked what should be done with the merchandise which M. Juchereau had amassed. In answer M. Bienville sent a canoe and six workmen who were to construct canoes for him, and bring down all the goods and the thirty-five persons: After having finished the canoes they freighted them with more than twelve thousand buffalo hides, which they brought to the establishment of M. de Saint-Denis. M. de Saint-Lambert then descended to Mobile with thirty men, having left the others at the fort with M. de Saint-Denis.
37. Yoakum, History of Texas, pp. 47, 48, Vol. I.
38. John H. Brown, A History of Texas, pp. 18, 19, Vol. I.
39. Pierre Margry, Découvertes et Établissements des Français dans L'Amérique Septentrionale, p. 238, Vol. VI.
40. Edmond J. P. Schmitt, The Catholic Story of Indiana and the founding of Vincennes: in four numbers of the Catholic Record of Indianapolis, Indiana.
41. John Dillon, A History of Indiana.
42. Cfr. Margry, Découvertes, etc., Penicaut's Relation passim, and p. 349, Vol. V.
43. Margry, Ibid., pp. 349-350.
44. Margry, Découvertes, etc., pp. 350, 351.
45. Margry, Découvertes, etc., pp. 351, 352.
46. Ibid., pp. 356-360.
47. Margry, Découvertes, etc., pp. 363-365.
48. Margry, Découvertes, etc., pp. 366-368.
49. Dillon, Indiana.
How to cite:
Schmitt, Edmond J. P., "SIEUR LOUIS DE SAINT DENIS ", Volume 001, Number 3, Southwestern Historical Quarterly Online, Page 204 - 215. http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/publications/journals/shq/online/v001/n3/article_7.html
[Accessed Mon Dec 1 18:32:50 CST 2008]
