Early Western Travels, 1748-1846/Volume 1/Croghan to Sir William Johnson

by Reuben Gold Thwaites

Layout 2

Croghan to Sir William Johnson^[1]

Sir: In the scituation I was in at Ouiatonon, with great numbers of Indians about me, & no Necessaries such as Paper & Ink, I had it not in my power to take down all the speeches made by the Indian Nations, nor what I said to them, in so particular a manner as I could wish, but hope the heads of it as I have taken down will meet with your approbation.

In the Course of this Tour through the Ind^n Countrys I made it my study to converse in private with Pondiac, & several of the Chiefs of the different Nations, as often as oppertunity served, in order to find out the sentiments they have of the French & English, Pondiac is a shrewd sensible Indian of few words, & commands more respect amongst those Nations, than any Indian I ever saw could do amongst his own Tribe. He and all his principal men of those Nations seem at present to be convinced that the French had a view of interest in stirring up the late differance between his Majesties Subjects & them & call it a Bever War, for neither Pondiac nor any of the Indians which I met with, ever pretended to deny but the French were at the bottom of the whole, & constantly supplyed them with every necessary they wanted, as far as in their power, every where through that Country & notwithstanding they are at present convinced, that it was for their own Interest, yet it has not changed the Indians affections to them, they have been bred up together like Children in that Country, & the French have always adopted the Indians customs & manners, treated them civily & supplyed their wants generously, by which means they gained the hearts of the Indians & commanded their services, & enjoyed the benefit of a very large Furr Trade, as they well knew if they had not taken this measure they could not enjoy any of those Advantages. The French have in a manner taught the Indians in that Country to hate the English, by representing them in the worst light they could on all occasion, in particular they have made the Indians there believe lately, that the English would take their Country from them & bring the Cherokees there to settle & to enslave them, which report they easily gave credit to, as the Southern Ind^s had lately commenced war against them. I had great difficulty in removeing this suspicion and convincing them of the falsity of this report, which I flatter myself I have done in a great measure, yet it will require some time, a very even Conduct in those that are to reside in their Country, before we can expect to rival the French in their affection, all Indians are jealous & from their high notion of liberty hate power, those Nations are jealous and prejudiced against us, so that the greatest care will be necessary to convince them of our honest Intention by our Actions. The French sold them goods much dearer than the English Traders do at present, in that point we have the advantage of the French, but they made that up in large presents to them for their services, which they wanted to support their Interest in the Country, & tho' we want none of their services, yet they will expect favours, & if refused look on it in a bad light, & very likely think it done to distress them for some particular Advantages we want to gain over them. they are by no means so sensible a People as the Six Nations or other Tribes this way, & the French have learned them for their own advantage a bad custom, for by all I could learn, they seldom made them any general presents, but as it were fed them with Necessaries just as they wanted them Tribe by Tribe, & never sent them away empty, which will make it difficult & troublesome to the Gentlemen that are to command in their Country for some time, to please them & preserve Peace, as they are a rash inconsiderate People and don't look on themselves under any obligations to us, but rather think we are obliged to them for letting us reside in their Country. As far as I can judge of their Sentiments by the several Conversations I have had with them, they will expect some satisfaction made them by Us, for any Posts that should be established in their Country for Trade. But you will be informed better by themselves next Spring, as Pondiac & some Chiefs of every Nation in that Country intend to pay you a visit. The several Nations on the Ouiabache, & towards the Ilinois, St. Josephs, Chicago, Labaye, Sagina & other places have applyed for Traders to be sent to their settlements, but as it is not in the power of any Officer to permit Traders to go from Detroit or Michillimackinac, either English or French, I am of opinion the Ind^s will be supplyed this year chiefly from the Ilinois, which is all French property & if Trading Posts are not established at proper Places in that Country soon the French will carry the best part of the Trade over the Missisipi which they are determined to do if they can, for I have been well informed that the French are preparing to build a strong trading Fort on the other side Missisipi, about 60 miles above Fort Chartres,^[2] and have this Summer in a private manner transported 26 pieces of small canon up the River for that purpose.

G. Croghan.

November, 1765.

1. This letter is reprinted from New York Colonial Documents, vii, pp. 787, 788. It was evidently written after Croghan's return from the West, and accompanied the official version of his journal, which Johnson sent to England November 16, 1765. See New York Colonial Documents, vii, p. 775.—Ed.
2. Fort Chartres was originally built as a stockade post in 1720; but in 1756 was rebuilt in stone, and became the most important French fortification in the West. It was an irregular quadrangle, with houses, magazines, barracks, etc., defended with cannon.—See Pittman, Settlements on the Mississippi (London, 1770), pp. 45, 46. After its surrender by the French, the English garrisoned the stronghold until 1772, when the river's erosion made it untenable. For the present state of the ruins, see Mason, Chapters from Illinois History, pp. 241-249.
   The French trading post sixty miles above Fort Chartres, on the western bank of the river, was the beginning of the present city of St. Louis, which was founded in April, 1764, by Pierre Laclède. Upon the surrender of the Illinois to the English, St. Ange, with the garrison and many French families, removed to this new post, in the expectation of living under French authority. To their chagrin the place was surrendered to the Spanish the following year.—Ed.