Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1869-05-22
MEMPHIS.
Earliest History of the Site Known
to Man DeSotO's Great Bat
tie at Fort Pickering.
Remote Historical Events Revived
and Brought to Light.
BY COUSIN NouRMA,


For the PUBLIC LEDGEa.l
In 1913, Fathers Marquette and Joliet,
in company with five Frenchmen and
two Algonquin guides, arrived at the bluff
on which Memphis is now situated
During their hazardous voyage down the
great river, Father Marquette made a
map of the stream and its banks, and the
outlines and prominent points are accu-
rate sketches of the topography now vis-
ible of the same points. On this map the
Chickasaw bluffs are properly located. 1t
also represents that there were several
Shawnee villages located on the banks !;
and not only tradition, but also vast
quantities of Indian relics, which have
been found in those vicinities since, attest
the truth of his notes and the accuracy Of
his reports. -
Presidents Island is delineated on the
map, and its relative distances from
prominent points on the mainland are
carefully noted and explained. The
former existence of large Indian villages
throughout all this section, along both
banks of the river, are evident at the
present time. In the vicinity of Osceola,
Arkansas, especially, there are numerous
evidences of the country having once
been thickly populated by an intelligent
set of agricultural people. Ancient or
chards and tumuli are found in many
places therea abouts r1 rf G
The faithful missionaries of the religion
of the cross met with many novel and
exciting adventures during the period of
their labors among the various tribes
which then inhabited this region. They
penetrated the vast solitudes, intermin.
able forests and forbidding awamps, and
taught their religion TO the natives
throughout all the adjacent country.
With only the cross as an emblem of the
faith, without the appliances of pomp
aud gorgeous ceremonies of civilized
worship, they impressed the natives with
q sense of awe and taught them the beau
ties of that faith, which is revered and
treasured among the remnant of those
people at the present day.
A wonderful immunity from danger
seemed to attend these priests during all
their wanderings The protecting cause
wherefore they escaped the great perils
which they encountered, is an inscruta-
BILE exposition of the will of Providence,
and not osly beyond our comprehension.
but Inspiration, also. The savage beasts
of the forest, alike with the fierce native
Indians, passed by without attempting to
harm them. Their romantic career; the
privations they endured; their means in
converting the natives to their religious
creed their strange escapes thrill as like
the marvellous tales of fable and en-
chantment. Not even the age of the
Crusades and all the glorious exploits on
the sterile plains of Asia; the strange
adventures of. mailed warriors on the
arid sands of Syria; their deeds ofprow-
ess beneath the burning sun of Palestine,
faiuting, yet fighting their battles for the
cress against the Paynim in6dels of the
sacred oriental land, surpass the heroic
aud daring deeds of these brave priests,
who labored in the wilds Of the oocident,
In the year 1852, La Sale, by virtue Of
a commission from the French King, took
formal possession of the country in the
name Of Louis XIV. he then arranged !
a treaty of peace with the Chickssaws, and |
in accordance with its stipulations made
a settlement and established q fort and |
trading post on the bluff. This colony |
continued for long period to enjoy the
peaceful possession and valuable trading !
privileges that pertained to the place.
10 l7O0 Captain Sanyoli made the first
record Of the present commonly used
name of the great river. He stated that
Mississippi is an 0jibbewsy word and
means The Great Water. Doubtless il is
from this Translation that the significant
of Walers-which is in
common use for the river, was derived.
In 1920 Lonis %y, Of FRANCE, gave a
grant, twelve miles square, on the banks
of the Arkansas river, 10 the notorious
adyenturer, John Law, on condition that
he should settle on 1t fifteen hundred
German emigrauts, aud MAINTAIN, at his
own expense, sufficient military force to
protect the colony against danger from
the predatory end hostile incursions OF
the Indians. The tEssipg post on the
Chiekasaw bluff was visited during tHat
,ssr BY these immigrants, who were on
heir way e Laws reservation. The
history OF the schepe is t1le in short
paragraph: "TWo hundred Elsatians ar
rived, and Eve bRndred negroes we're
imported from Africa by the Mississippi
Land Company, Of which John Law was
he founder, and which has given to his
name q notorious Immortality. The
scheme failed and the colony ives aband-
med, after having struggled through
ez Years Of eFsst psivRiions, distress and
: II moved 70 & piacs ebost
hiriy miles from New Orleans and essab-
ished settlement, which hes since bean
,al,ed Eole d'0r-the golden cnast-fromi
ssallA apd prosperity Of The de-
pendants Of the colony. The French
auguage has displaced every vestige Of
be Language Of the original German
etslers, and hardly any memories or