British Policy in the Illinois Country, 1763-1768

by Clarence Edwin Carter

General Gage, who succeeded Amherst as commander-in-chief of the British army in America in November, 1763, was convinced that the early occupation of the western posts was essential, [22] since it would in a measure cut off the communication between the French and Indian nations dwelling in that vicinity. The Indians, finding themselves thus inclosed would be more easily pacified. But the participation in the rebellion of the Shawnee and Delaware tribes of the upper Ohio river region precluded for a time the possibility of reaching the Mississippi posts by way of Fort Pitt, without a much larger force than Gage had at his command in the east; and the colonies were already avoiding the call for troops. [23] The only other available route was by way of New Orleans and the Mississippi River whose navigation had been declared open to French and English alike by the treaty of Paris. Little opposition might be expected from the southern Indians toward whom a much more liberal policy had been pursued than with the northern tribes. Presents to the value of four or five thousand pounds had been sent to Charleston in 1763 for distribution among the southern nations which counter-acted in a large measure the machinations of the French traders from New Orleans. [24] The Florida ports, Mobile and Pensacola, were already occupied by English troops, and Gage and his associates believed, that with the co-operation of the French Governor of Louisiana a successful ascent could be made. [25]

Accordingly in January, 1764, Major Arthur Loftus, with a detachment of three hundred and fifty-one men from the twenty-second regiment embarked at Mobile for New Orleans, where preparations were to be made for the voyage. [26] A company of sixty men from this regiment were to be left at Fort Massac on the Ohio River, while the remainder were to occupy Kaskaskia and Fort Chartres. [27] At New Orleans boats had to be built, supplies and provisions procured, and guides and interpreters provided. [28] The expedition set out from New Orleans February 27. Three weeks later the flotilla was attacked by a band of Tonica Indians near Davion's Bluff, or Fort Adams, [29] about two hundred and forty miles above New Orleans. After the loss of several men in the boats composing the vanguard, Loftus ordered a retreat, and the expedition was abandoned. Depleted by sickness, death and desertion the regiment made its way from New Orleans back to Mobile. [30]

Major Loftus placed the blame for the failure of his expedition upon Governor D' Abadie and other French officials at New Orleans. [31] There is probably sufficient evidence, however, to warrant the conclusion that his accusations against the Governor were without foundation. The correspondence of D' Abadie, Gage, and others indicates that official aid was given the English in making their preparations for the journey, [32] and letters were issued to the commandants of the French posts on the Mississippi to render the English convoys all the assistance in their power [33]. There may have been some justification for the suspicion of Loftus that the intriguers were at work, for the French as a whole were not in sympathy with the attempt; the success of the English meant the cessation of the lucrative trade between New Orleans and Illinois. They were no doubt delighted at the discomfiture of the English officer, for when some of the chiefs engaged in the ambuscade entered New Orleans they were said to have been publicly received. [34]

Granting, however, the machinations of the French, the reason for the failure of Loftus may be found in part in the almost total lack of precautions adopted before undertaking the journey. Governor D' Abadie had given the English officer warning of the bad disposition of a number of tribes along the Mississippi River, among whom Pontiac had considerable influence, and had assured him that unless he carried presents for the Indians, he would be unable to proceed far up the river. [35] The policy of sending advance agents with convoys of presents for the Indians was successful the following year when the Illinois posts were finally reached from the east; but no such policy was adopted at this time. [36] No action was taken to counter-act any possible intrigues on the part of the French. D' Abadie's advice was not heeded, and his prophecy was fulfilled. General Gage in his official correspondence implied that he did not think sufficient care had been exercised to insure success, and expressed his belief that if Loftus would make use of the "necessary precautions" he might get up to the mouth of the Ohio with little interruption. [37] This want of judgement, therefore, accounts in a large degree for the unfortunate termination of the plans of an approach from the south.

The news of the defeat of Loftus had two results. First, it gave Pontiac renewed hope that he might be able to rally again the western and northern Indians, and, with French assistance, block the advance of the English. In the second place it led General Gage to determine upon an advance from the east, down the Ohio River, which was made practicable by the recent submission of the Delaware Indians.

Meanwhile the Illinois country in 1764 presented an anomalous situation. St. Ange was governing, in the name of Louis XV, a country belonging to another king. He was under orders to surrender the place as soon as possible to its rightful owner; but the prospect for such an event seemed remote. He was surrounded by crowds of begging, thieving savages; and the emissaries of the greatest of Indian chieftains, Pontiac, were constantly petitioning for his active support against the approaching English. A considerable portion of the French traders of the villages were secretly, and sometimes openly, supporting the Indian cause, which added greatly to the increasing embarrasment of the commandant. So distressing became the situation that Neyon de Villiers, St. Ange's predecessor, called the latter from Vincennes on the Wabash, and left the country in disgust, taking with him to New Orleans sixty soldiers and eighty of the French inhabitants. [38] He had shortly before indignantly refused to countenance the proposals of Pontiac, and had begged the Indians to lay down their arms and make peace with the English. [39]

The news of Loftus' defeat aroused Pontiac the thought of the possibility of meeting and repelling the advance from the east as it had been met and repelled in the south. In spite of the news of the defeat of his allies by Bouquet and the report that preparations were being made by his victorious enemy to advance against him, Pontiac determined to make a last supreme effort. By a series of visits among the tribes dwelling in the Illinois, on the Wabash and in the Miami country, he succeeded in arousing in them the instinct of self-preservation, in firing the hearts of all the faltering Indians and in winning the promise of their co-operation in his plan of defense. He was in this temper when he met and turned back Captain Thomas Morris in the Miami country early in the autumn of 1764. Morris had been sent by Bradstreet from the neighborhood of Detroit with messages to St. Ange in the Illinois country, whence he was to proceed to New Orleans. [40] After being maltreated and threatened with the stake, Morris effected an escape and made his way to Detroit. [41] It was during his interview with Pontiac that the latter informed Morris of the repulse of Loftus, of the journey of his emissaries to New Orleans to seek French support, and of his determination and that of his Indian allies to resist the English to the last. [42]

A few months later, in February, 1765, there arrived at Fort Chartres an English officer, accompanied by a trader named Crawford. They were probably the first Englishmen to penetrate thus far into the former French territory since the beginning of the war. [43] They had been sent from Mobile by Major Farmer, the commandant at that place, to bring about the conciliation of the Indians in the Illinois. [44] Instead of following the Mississippi, they worked their way northward through the great Choctaw and Chicksaw nations to the Ohio, descended the latter to the Mississippi and thence to the Illinois villages. [45] Although St. Ange received them cordially [46] and did all in his power to influence the savages to receive the English, [47] the mission of Ross was a failure. The Indians had nothing but expressions of hatred and defiance for the English; even the Missouri and Osages from beyond the Mississippi had fallen under the influence of Pontiac. [48] Ross and his companion remained with St. Ange nearly two months; but about the middle of April they were obliged to go down the river to New Orleans. [49]

During the winter of 1764-1765 preparations were made to send a detachment of troops down the Ohio from Fort Pitt to relieve Fort Chartres. To pave the way for the troops Gage dispatched two agents in advance. He selected George Croghan, Sir William Johnson's deputy, for the delicate and dangerous task of going among the Indians of that country to assure them of the peaceful attitude of the English, to promise them better facilities for trade and to accompany the promise with substantial presents. [50] The second agent was Lieutenant Fraser, [51] whose mission was to carry letters to the French commandant and a proclamation for the inhabitants. [52] January 24, 1765, Fraser and Croghan set out from Carlisle, Pennsylvania, [53] followed a few days later by a large convoy of presents. [54] During the journey, the convoy was attacked by a band of Pennsylvania borderers, [55] and a large part of the goods destined for the Indians were destroyed, [56] together with some valuable stores which certain Philadelphia merchants were forwarding to Fort Pitt for the purpose of opening up the trade as early as possible. [57] Croghan therefore found it necessary to tarry at Fort Pitt to replenish his stores and to await the opening of spring. [58] But another matter intervened which forced him to postpone his departure for more than two months. A temporary defection had arisen among the Shawnee and Delaware Indians. [59] They had failed to fulfil some of the obligations imposed upon them by Bouquet in the previous summer, and there was some fear lest they would not permit Croghan to pass through their country. His influence was such, however, that, in an assembly of the tribes at Fort Pitt, he not only received their consent to a safe passage, but some of their number volunteered to accompany him. [60]

Meanwhile Lieutenant Fraser, Croghan's companion, decided to proceed alone, inasmuch as Gage's instructions to him were to be at the Illinois early in April. [61] On March 23 he departed, accompanied by two or three whites and a couple of Indians, [62] and reached the Illinois posts in the latter part of April, shortly after the departure of Lieutenant Ross and his party. Here Fraser found many of the Indians in destitution and some inclined for peace. [63] Nevertheless, instigated by the traders and encouraged by their secret supplies, the savages as a whole would not listen to Fraser; they threatened his life, and threw him into prison, and he was finally saved by the intervention of Pontiac himself. [64] Fraser felt himself to be in a dangerous situation; unable to hear from Croghan, whom he was expecting every day, and daily insulted and maltreated by the drunken savages, he took advantage of his discretionary orders and descended the Mississippi to New Orleans. [65] Although the French traders continued to supply the Indians with arms and ammunition, and buoy up their spirits by stories of aid from the king of France, Pontiac himself was being rapidly disillusioned. He had given Fraser the assurance that if the Indians on the Ohio had made a permanent peace, he would do likewise. [66] St. Ange continued to refuse the expected help, [67] and when the news came of the failure of the mission to New Orleans and of the transfer of Louisiana to Spain, the ruin of the Indian cause was complete.