FROM LA SALLE TO DE TONTI
Continued

Late in 1680, La Salle received a distressing letter from De Tonti brought by an Indian courier. The men at Fort Crevecoeur had mutinied because the Illinois Indians, formerly friendly, were under attack by the Iroquois and were getting restless, The men burned the fort, tossed the arms they couldn’t carry into the river and fled. De Tonti, who had been on a hunting trip, was left with a few men and two missionaries. Nevertheless, he had sent out patrols and caught seven deserters. He and his companions rebuilt the fort upriver from the site of the old fort on a bluff and named it Fort Saint Louis. Then early in 1681, De Tonti left Fort Saint Louis for Ste. Ignace at Michilimackinac.

That spring, La Salle returned to Fort Saint Louis. In his trip, he found many Indian villages that had been destroyed by the Iroquois. At Fort Saint Louis, the men left at the fort informed him De Tonti had already left for Michilimackinac. La Salle followed and rejoined De Tonti in October. They then proceeded to prepare for the second attempt down the Mississippi.

Sometime in November, the expedition left Michilimackinac and went up Lake Michigan. It was a fairly sizable group, consisting of La Salle, De Tonti, Father Zenobe Membre - a missionary, notary Jacques de la Metarie, surgeon Jean Michel, 21 Frenchmen and 18 Abenaki and Mohigan Indians. They stopped at the mouth of the Chicago River at the head of Lake Michigan. After a brief stop, they left this camp on December 21, 1681, heading up the Chicago to the portage to the Illinois.

Just the date of starting this second expedition shows the character of La Salle. Starting an expedition in the dead of winter into a wild unexplored country indicates that La Salle had been frustrated by having to cancel the first expedition due to the loss of Le Griffon. He was impatient and wanted to complete the task he had set for himself. He also showed a streak of stubbornness and a feeling of over confidence to start out at the end of December. It also indicates some of his faults that ultimately would prove fatal. He showed foolhardiness and recklessness for not waiting at least two months for warmer weather. He showed a lack of judgment in pushing for an early start. He seemed to think everyone had the sense of commitment he had. He is lucky he did not have a mutiny before spring arrived.

On February 6, 1682, the expedition entered the Mississippi River. They passed through the same area Father Marquette and Joliet had nine years earlier. They passed the mouths of the Missouri and the Ohio Rivers. On February 24, they stopped at Chickasaw Bluffs, the site of Memphis, and sent out a hunting party for game. One hunter, Pierre Prud’homme, got lost and it took a nine day search to find him. A small fort was built, named Fort Prud’homme and left in Pierre’s charge. He probably was left behind because he had shown untrustworthiness on the voyage, although this is not indicated in the journals.

They continued south and on March 13, in a heavy mist, they approached Kappa. War cries and drum-beats let them know the Quapaw knew they were there. De Tonti hailed the Quapaw, in the Algonquin language and asked who they were. One Illinois captive, perhaps the same one who had translated nine years earlier, answered, “Akansea”. Coming closer in their canoes, one brave shot an arrow near to De Tonti to determine if he came in peace or war. When De Tonti did not respond, the Indians landed, approached La Salle’s group and smoked the calumet with the chief and the tribal elders, exchanged gifts and then the French were invited to make Kappa their headquarters. The Quapaw built them a cabin, brought firewood, supplied food and honored La Salle with a calumet dance. The Quapaw had an ulterior motive. Ever since the Father Marquette and Joliet expedition, they had wanted to get French weapons to use against their enemies. They had not gotten them, but La Salle raised their hopes. They looked on in approval on March 14 when the Frenchmen raised a cross and a column on which the Bourbon coat-of-arms of Louis XIV had been painted. Father Membre explained some of the mysteries of God, and the Indians were delighted when the French fired a volley and cried “Vive le Roi”. They thought Louis would attack anybody that attacked them. Later they fenced in the cross and column.