The French and British at Three Rivers

by Public Library of Fort Wayne and Allen County

The portage at Kekionga brought relative prosperity to the Indian rulers of this region, because a tribute for portage was levied upon every canoeload of pelts and trade goods. Possession of this valuable location afforded the Miami Indians at Kekionga political importance, too, because economic advantage always makes for political interest. The political power controlling the portage, therefore, dominated the commercial intercourse of the area.

The French immediately sensed the importance of Kekionga and located their post nearby at a very early date. The date of the coming of the first white man to this area is unknown; some believe that Champlain saw Three Rivers as early as 1614 or 1615. The earliest extant map, dated 1632, indicates that the Maumee River was then known to French cartographers. Other maps drawn in 1654, 1656 and 1674 chart the rather thorough exploration of the territory by the French. There is a possibility that La Salle was on these rivers during the period between 1679 and 1681, for he seemed to have known about the Wabash-Maumee Portage.

The Frenchman came on a peaceful mission. He sought trade with the Indians and brought valuable commercial articles, which were strange, new and desirable to the red man. The Frenchman was usually willing to live with the Indian on terms of equality, and to take an Indian woman in marriage. He wanted no occupation of the land; he did not seek to dispossess the Indian; his missionaries sought no material advantage. At first, these practices won the friendship and confidence of the simple child of the forest, and the relations between Frenchman and Indian were usually amicable.

French influence, then, in the interior of America and in the region known today as the great Middle West, was paramount in the beginning because of primacy of arrival. Meanwhile, the land-hungry English on the Atlantic Coast rapidly expanded over the entire seaboard driving out the Indians. The Appalachian Mountains long proved a barrier to English expansion westward. Not until the English could acquire a suitable beast of burden for conveying freight and merchandise across the mountains would French influence in the Ohio and Mississippi valleys be jeopardized.

The date of establishment of the first French Post at the confluence of the Rivers is veiled in the mists of the past. We only know, as these mists lifted, that the French were located here in a small fort, block house, or trading post which was named Post Miami. Probably of greater commercial and religious, rather than political importance, it was situated on the St. Mary’s River near the present crossing of the Nickel Plate Railroad. The French Officer Bissot may have been stationed here as commandant in charge of French interests as early as 1697. Cadillac passed through the portage on his way southward from Detroit in 1707; already English influence was beginning to be felt in the area. The Miami Indian population in and about the village approximated 400 persons. They subsisted from their plantings along the Maumee River, from forest products and hunting, and from their trade with the French.

Francois Margane succeeded Sieur Bissot as commandant at Post Miami. He extended French influence and power by establishing, first, Post Ouiatenon at the present location of Wabash, Indiana, and later, Post Vincennes on the present site of the city of Vincennes. During the first quarter of the eighteenth century the English began seriously to undermine French influence with the Indians. This rivalry became more bitter and culminated in an Indian uprising against the French who were not destined to dominate the portage much longer. Soon they learned that the English had erected a stronghold on Laramie Creek, a few miles from the present site of Sidney, Ohio.

Chief Sanosket, known also as Chief Nicolas of the Hurons, fell under British control; he made war against the French, and attacked a number of French posts on the frontier. In alliance with the Miamis, the Ottawas attacked Post Miami and partially burned the buildings. Ensign Douville, the commandant, was absent in Detroit. The eight men forming the garrison were captured, although two of them later escaped to Detroit. To a certain extent, the French and Miamis soon adjusted their relations because of mutual need for trade. However, the relationship thereafter was never sincerely friendly. The ruined fort was partially restored but gave much evidence of neglect. Father Jean de Bonnecamps recorded his observations of the fort made in 1749. Griswold’s Pictorial History of Fort Wayne, vol. 1, p. 46 quotes the priest as follows:

“The fort of the Miamis was in a very bad condition when we reached it. Most of the palisades were decayed and fallen into ruin. There were eight houses, or, to speak more correctly, eight miserable huts which only the desire of making money could make endurable. The French there number twenty-two; all of them including the commandant, had the fever. Monsieur Raimond did not approve the situation of the fort and maintained that it should be placed on the bank of the St. Joseph a scant league from the present site. He wished to show me the spot, but the hindrances of our departure prevented me from going hither. All I could do for him was to trace the plan for his new fort. The latitude of the old one is 41 degrees and 29 minutes.”

Captain Raimond lost little time in relocating his fort. The site he chose is the high ground near the present intersection of St. Joe Boulevard and Delaware Avenue. The old buildings of the original French fort served as a nucleus for a settlement and were now occupied by the few Miami Indians who still remained on friendly terms with the French. The little village came to be known as Coldfoot’s village, in honor of Miami Chief Coldfoot.

In the face of waning prestige, the French made one spirited attempt to check the English. Under the leadership of Charles Langlade, a few Frenchmen and two hundred Chippewas and Ottawas moved down from Detroit to attack Fort Pickawillany. Assembling their forces at the portage near Kekionga, they turned into the St. Mary’s River, and thence marched overland unheralded toward Pickawillany. After a surprise attack the fort was reduced. In celebration of the victory, and in vengeance for his friendship with the British, the Indians enjoyed a cannibal feast on the body of La Demoiselle, chief of the Piankeshaws. This victory temporarily restored the prestige of France with the Miamis at the portage. The defeat of Braddock in 1755 still further diminished the influence of the English among the Indians. Thus, the battle of propaganda and bribery for the favor of the Indian tribes seesawed back and forth. The pendulum, however, was swinging in favor of the British.