Of these missions, that at Mackinac, with its Hurons and Ottawas, became the largest and most fervent. The former were more easily recalled to their long-forgotten Christian duties, and the Ottawas benefited by their example. Between 1670 and 1680 this mission, then at Point St. Ignace, numbered five hundred Hurons and thirteen hundred Ottawas.
The missions at Green Bay could show much less progress among the Sacs and Foxes, Mascoutens, Pottawatamies, and Menomonees.
Father Marquette, setting out in June, 1673, from Mackinac with Louis Jolliet, ascended the Fox, and reaching the Wisconsin by a portage, entered the Mississippi, which they descended to the villages of the Quappas or Arkansas. Returning by way of the Illinois River, the Jesuit gave the Kaskaskias the first instructions, and was so encouraged that he returned to found a mission, but died before he could reach his chapel at Mackinac. This Illinois mission was continued by Allouez, who visited it regularly for several years from his headquarters among the Miamis.
There had arisen by this time a strong government opposition to the Jesuits, based partly on a hostility to the order which had always prevailed in France, but heightened in Canada by the fact that in the struggle between the civil authorities and the bishop with his clergy in regard to the selling of liquor to the Indians, the Jesuits were regarded as the most stanch and active adherents of the bishop. This feeling led to the recall of the Recollects. They found, however, few avenues for their labors. Several were assigned to Cavelier de la Salle, to accompany him on his explorations. One was stationed at Fort Frontenac, and Father Hennepin made some attempt to acquire a knowledge of Iroquois; but no mission work is recorded there or at Niagara, where Father Watteau was left.
Father Gabriel de la Ribourde, with Hennepin and Zenobius Membré, proceeded westward, and when La Salle established his post on the Illinois, which he called Fort Crèvecœur, the three Franciscans attempted a mission. Then Father Zenobius took up his residence in an Illinois wigwam. He found great difficulty, and was not destined to continue the experiment long. Hennepin, sent off by La Salle, descended to the Mississippi, and fell into the hands of the Sioux, who carried him up to the falls which still bear the name he conferred, “St. Anthony’s.” He was rescued after a time by Du Lhut, but can scarcely be said to have founded a mission. The Iroquois drove the French from Fort Crèvecœur by their attack on the Illinois, Father Gabriel was killed on the march by wandering Indians, and the attempted Recollect mission closed. After La Salle’s descent of the Mississippi and departure from the west, Allouez resumed his labors in Illinois, and was followed by Gravier, who placed the mission on a solid basis, and reduced the language to grammatical rules. Binneteau, the Marests, Mermet, and Pinet came to join in the good work. The Illinois seemed to show greater docility than did the tribes on Lake Superior and Green Bay. The missionaries were stationed among the Kaskaskias, Cahokias, Peorias, and Tamaroas. French settlements grew up in the fertile district, and marriages with converted Indian women were not uncommon. These missions flourished for several years, and a monument of the zeal of the Jesuits exists in a very extensive and elaborate dictionary of the language, with catechism and prayers, apparently the work of Father le Boulanger.
When Iberville reached the mouth of the Mississippi he was accompanied by Jesuit Fathers; but at that time no regular mission was attempted at the mouth of the river.
The Seminary of Quebec resolved to enter the wide field opened by the discovery of the Mississippi. Under the authority of the Bishop of Quebec, the Rev. Francis de Montigny, the Rev. Messrs. St. Côme and Davion were sent to Louisiana in 1698. They took charge of the Tamaroa mission on the Illinois, and attempted missions among the Natchez, Taensas, and Tonicas; but the Rev. Mr. St. Côme, who was stationed at Natchez, and the Rev. Mr. Foncault were killed by roving Indians. Then the priests of the Quebec Seminary withdrew from the lower Mississippi, but continued to labor at Tamaroa, chiefly for the French, till the closing years of French rule.
The Indian missions of Louisiana were then assigned to the Jesuits, who were allowed to have a residence in New Orleans, but were excluded from all ministry among the colonists. Their principal missions, among the Arkansas, Yazoos, Choctaws, and Alibamons were continued till the suppression of the order. At the time of the Natchez outbreak, the Jesuit Father du Poisson, who had stopped at the post to give the settlers the benefit of his ministry in the absence of their priest, was involved in the massacre; Father Souel was butchered by the Yazoos whom he was endeavoring to convert, and Father Doutreleau escaped in a most marvellous manner. In the subsequent operations of the French against the Chickasaws, Father Sénat, accompanying a force of French and Illinois as chaplain, was taken and put to death at the stake, heroically refusing to abandon the wounded and dying.
These Louisiana missions extended to the country of the Sioux, where several attempts were made by Father Guignas, who was long a prisoner, and by other Jesuit Fathers. Aubert died by the hands of the Indians while trying to reach and cross the Rocky Mountains with La Verenderye.
The increasing hostility to the Jesuits naturally weakened their missions, which received a death-blow from the suppression of the order in France,—a step carried out so vindictively in Louisiana, that all the churches at their Indian missions were ordered to be razed to the ground.