Massacres of the French, on the Mississippi and Ohio, by the Indians.

M. DE CHOPART, the commandant of fort Rosalie, had been guilty of such repeated acts of injustice, as to render an investigation of his conduct indispensable; and, for this purpose, he was ordered to New Orleans. This event excited much joy among the Indians, but it was of short duration. That officer appeared before M. Perier, who at that time administered the government, and found means to justify his proceedings in such a manner, as to be re-instated in his command. On his return to his. post, he conceived himself at liberty to indulge his malice against the Indians; partly on account of the trouble they had given him, but much more on account of the satisfaction manifested by them at the prospect of his disgrace. As some gratification to his spite, he suddenly resolved to build a town on the site of the village of the White Apple, which covered a square of about three miles in

extent.

Accordingly, he sent for the Sun, a Chief of that village, and directed him to clear the huts, and to plant themselves in some other place. The Chief replied, perhaps rather hastily, "that their ancestors had lived. there for many ages, and that it was good for their descendants to occupy the same ground. This noble and dignified language, served only to exasperate the haughty commandant, and to extort from him the declaration, "that, unless the village was abandoned in a few days, the inhabitants of it should repent of their obstinacy." The chief then returned to consult the old men, and to hold a council. As a bloody conflict was inevitable, the Indians resorted to such expedients as were calculated to gain time. They wished to create an indissoluble union among themselves, and to devise means adequate to the end one of these was the assistance of their allies, which they deemed of infinite importance. They therefore represented to M. de Chopart, that their corn had just come out of the ground; that their hens were laying their eggs; and that to abandon their village at that time, would prove as injurious to the French as to themselves. M. de Chopart treated these reasons with disdain; and menaced immediate destruction, unless his desires were gratified. The Indians in general are fruitful of expe

dients; and the Natchez, who were well acquainted with the avaricious disposition of their adversary, at last resorted to one which for a while suspened his wrath. They obtained permission to remain in their own houses till after harvest, on condition, that each hut should pay him a fowl and a basket of corn.

During this short interval the Natchez frequently and privately assembled in council; and a plan of operations was carefully concerted. They unanimously resolved to make one great effort to preserve their independence, and to defend the tombs of their fathers. They proceeded with caution, and omitted nothing to ensure success. They invited the Chickasaws to share in the arduous enterprize; but by a strange fatality, occasioned by the treachery of one of their own women, the latter were deceived as to the time of the intended blow, and therefore did not arrive in season to participate in the struggle. The massacre of all the French was what they had in view, and it was concluded to commence the work at the time of presenting the tribute of corn and fowls. Notwithstanding all their precaution, and the inducement each one had to observe inviolable secrecy, yet one of their chief women suspected the plot; and, either of fended at the seclusion of her sex, at least of one of her rank, from a knowledge of it, or influenced by private attachment, communicated her suspicions to some soldiers and others. Even just before the fatal catastrophe, M. de Chopart was cautioned to be on his guard; but his evil genius led him to disregard the admonitions given him, to punish those who prognosticated danger, and to repose himself in criminal security. At length the fatal period arrived, when the vengeance of the injured and vindictive savages, was to burst on the devoted heads of the French. Near the close of the last day of November 1729, the grand Sun, with some warriors, repaired to the fort with the tribute of corn and fowls agreed on. They seized the gate and other passages, and the soldiers were instantly deprived of the means of defence. Such was their number and so well distributed, that opposition was vain. Other parties repaired to their appointed rendezvous, and the houses of the French about the country were filled with them. The massacre was general among the men; the slaves, and some of the women and childre were spared. The chiefs and warriors, disdaining to stain

their hands with the blood of M. de Chopart, he fell by one of the meanest of the Indians. This settlement contained about seven hundred French, and very few of them escaped to carry the dreadful news to the capital. The forts and settlements at the Yazoo and Washita, shared the same fate. Thus these extensive possessions of the French, which were gradually progressing to maturity, and the most wealthy of any in the colony, presented a melancholy picture. They were first plundered and then exposed to the flames.

While the French were in possession of the country, they built several forts. The one at Kaskaskia is almost wholly destroyed. They also had one on the Ohio, about thirty-six miles from the Mississippi; the Indians laid a curious stratagem to take it, and it answered their purpose. A number of them appeared in the day time. on the opposite side of the river, each of whom was covered with a bear skin, and walked on all fours. The French supposed them to be bears, and a party crossed the river in pursuit of them. The remainder of the troops left their quarters, and resorted to the bank of the river in front of the garrison, to observe the sport. In the mean time, a large body of warriors, who were concealed in the woods near by, came silently up behind the fort, and entered it without opposition, and very few of the French escaped the carnage. They afterwards built another fort on the same ground, and called it Massac, in memory of this disastrous event; and it retains this name to the present day.

Stoddard's Sketches of Louisiana.

Massacre by the Indians and retaliation by the Whites.

In the year 1712, a dangerous conspiracy was formed by the Indians of North Carolina against the settlers in that quarter. The particular cause of the quarrel is unknown; probably they were offended at the encroachments made on their hunting lands. The powerful tribes of Indians, called Corees, Tuscororas, and some others, united, and determined to murder or expel the European invaders. They carried on their bloody design with

amazing cunning and profound secrecy. They surrounded their principal town with a wooden breast-work for the security of their own families. There the different tribes met together, to the number of twelve hundred bowmen and formed their horrid plot. From this place of rendezvous they sent out small parties, who entered the settlements under the mask of friendship, by different roads. All of them agreed to begin their murderous operations on the same night. When that night came they entered the planters' houses, demanded provisions, were displeased with them, and then murdered men, women, and children, without mercy or distinction. To prevent a communication of the alarm through the settlement, they ran from house to house slaughtering the scattered families wherever they went. None of the colonists knew what had befallen their neighbors before. the barbarians reached their own doors. About Roanoke, one hundred and thirty-seven settlers fell a sacrifice to savage fury in one fatal night. A Swiss baron and almost all the poor Palatines who had lately come into the country, were among the slain. Some, who had hid themselves in the woods escaped, and by alarming their neighbors prevented the total destruction of that colony. Every family that survived was ordered instantly to assemble at one place, and the militia under arms kept watch over them day and night until relief arrived.

Governor Craven lost no time in forwarding a force to their assistance. The assembly voted four thousand pounds for the service of the war. A body of militia, consisting of six hundred men, under the command of colonel Barnwell, marched against the savages. Two hundred and eighteen Cherokees, under the command of captains Harford and Turston; seventy-nine Creeks, under captain Hastings; forty-one Catabaws, under captain Cantey; and twenty-eighty Yamassees, under captain Pierce, being furnished with arms, joined the Caroli nians in this expedition. Hideous and dreadful was the wilderness through which colonel Barnwell had to march, To reach North Carolina in time for the relief of the people, the utmost expedition was requisite. It was neither possible for his men to carry with them a suffaci ent quantity of provisions, together with arms and ar munition, nor to have these things provided at different stages by the way. There was no road through the

woods upon which either horses or carriages could conveniently pass. His army had to encounter all manner of hardships and dangers from the climate, the wilderness, and the enemy. In spite of every difficulty Barnwell advanced, employing his Indian allies to hunt for provisions on the way. At length, having come up with the savages, he attacked them with great execution. In the first battle he killed three hundred Indians, and took about one hundred prisoners. After which the Tuscororas retreated to their town, within a wooden breast-work. There they were surrounded; many of them killed, and the remainder forced to sue for peace. Some of Barnwell's men being wounded, and others having suffered much by watching, hunger, and fatigue, the savages easily obtained their request. In this expedition it was computed that Barnwell killed, wounded, and captured near a thousand Tuscororas. The survivors abandoned their country and joined a northern tribe of Indians, on the Ohio river. Of Barnwell's party, five Carolinians were killed and several wounded. Of his Indians, thirty-six were killed and between sixty and seventy wounded. Never had any expedition, against the savages in Carolina, been attended with such difficulties; nor had the conquest of any tribe of them ever been more complete. Ramsay's HI. S. Carolina.

Distressing situation of a detachment of American troops in the campaign against Quebec, in 1775.

WE arose before day on the 9th October. The canoes were urged suddenly into the water. It still rained hard, and at daylight we thought of breakfasting. Gracious God! what was our fare? What could we produce for such a feast? Rummaging my breeches pockets, I found a solitary biscuit and an inch of pork. Half of the biscuit was devoted to the breakfast, and so also by each person, and that was consumed in the canoes as we paddled over the lake. The rain had raised the lake, and consequently, the outlets, about four feet. We glided glibly along, over passages where a few days prexionsly we had toated our canoes. At the outlet of the