Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-06-27
EARLY DAYS IN OHIO
PeopIed by Indians, French
and British.
MUCH BLOODY FIGHTING
BY WILLIAM e. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence Of The Star and the
Chicago Record Herald.

BY WILLIAM e. CURTIS.
Special corespondense Of The Star and the
Chicago Record Herald.
FREMONT. Ohio. June 20. 1911.
The country around Sandusky bay is
filled with fascinating Indian history;
with annals OF bloody conflicts between
the pioneers and the aborisines, with
councils of war and exploration. with
massacres and battles and conspiracies,
10 which Pontiac, Tecumseh and other
famous chiefs we've the central figures.
The valley of the Sandusky river. as
have told you in previous letters, was
the regular Indian trail from Canada to
the Mississippi and the Ohio. 1t was the
home of the Wyandotte tribe. which was
the same as the Hurons. and these were
the hereditary enemies Of the Iroquois
tribes of New York. The Hurons were
the bravest. the cruelest and the most
warlike enemies Of the white settlers OF
Ohio. They were also the most advanced
Of all the tribes In agriculture. amuse-
ments. sports and military cunning. They
lived in villages. occupied rude cabins,
travelled in canoes. grew corn and vege-
tables and some of them became wealthy
trading in skins
When the French government establish
ed trading posts along the ST. Lawrence
the Hurons visited them annually to sell
their furs and buy guns and ammunition.
and kept UP friendly relations In 1915
the Jesuits established a mission and
schools for Huron children. and one
Father Sagard wrote a narrative OF his
work and that of other members of his
order. He tells of almost continuous
warfare. of hostility that dated back to
prehistoric times, between the Iroquois
and the Hurons. and of hundreds of
warriors and women and children that
were carried away captives by both ma
tons. He speaks of neutral tribe which
occupied two fortified towns on oppo-
site sides of the Sandusky river and
tradition confirms his statement. He
says that all who entered these towns
met as friends and maintained neutral
from the west might find refuge in the
western VILLAGE and Indians from the
east in the eastern village. The inhabit-
ants Of one village might inform those
Of the other of the arrival of war parties,
but who they were whence they came or
whittier they were going could not be re-
ported. Tradition saws that these cities
Of refuge were destroyed by internal
feuds
La Sale was the first white man to ex-
plore this region. In the autumn Of 1873
he sailed up Sandusky river and explored
Sandusky bay in his little bark. The Crit
I'm. which he built on the Niagara. Father
Hennepin was with him, and wrote mar
says that the lake incloses on its
southern banks tract as large as the
kingdom of France" He published map
in 1855. which gives a very accurate idea
of Sandusky bay and river.
In 1880 the great war chief of the Wy
andots or Hurons was Orontony or Mic
olas. who, after having been badly pun
ished by the French near Detroit, moved
down TO the Sandusky valley, and there
conspired TO destroy Detroit and other
French posts. In 1145 he permitted the Eng
lish to erect blockhouse known as Fort
Sandoski TO protect a trading post at his
principal town on Sandusky bay. and
this was probably the first English fort
built west of the Allegheny mountains
In 174I Nicolas organized seventeen
tribes, including the Hurons, Ottawas,
Miamis, Sioux. Shawnees and others, to
destroy al! trading and military posts
and to massacre all the white inhabitants.
Through the friendship Of a Huron wom-
an. who had been converted to Christian
Jesuit priest. He hurried the informa-
ton to the French commandant at De- |
troit. who took measures to break up the |
alliance. Nicolas. finding that he was de- |
penalty. destroyed his villages on the |
Sandusky and with his immediate band |
Of warriors and their families fed to the |
White river in Indiana and afterward to |
the banks of the Ohio in southern Illinois, |
where he died in 1I4s.
Origin OF French Claim.
In 174o Capt. Pierre Bienville de Coloron |
traversed Ohio with 900 French soldiers
and buried sheets of lead inscribed with |
the French arms and bombastic notices
claiming the whole country for France, |
at the mouth Of all the rivers flowing into
the Ohio He was afterward made COM
mandant of Detroit, where he issued a
formal proclamation taking possession of
the Ohio river in the name Of his king.
He rebuilt Fort Sandoski and chain of
other posts. including Pressure Isle at
Erie and Du Quesne at Ptttsburg.
In 1905 there was discovered in the IL
brary OF Laval University. Quebec. eight
journals kept by Chevalier ChoussegroS
de Lery. distinguished engineer of the
French army, who explored the southern
shore OF Lake Erie from Pressure Isle
tEriel TO Detroit in the summer o: 1854.
and they were found to contain many
historical facts OF exceeding interest.
Col. Webb c. Hayes of Fremont and
ed permission for their publication and
they have been turned into English by
Col. Crawford Lindsey. official translator
OF the province of Quebec
The de Lery family came from Toulon.
The grandfather of the officer who made
the exploration was engineer of that
city. His son and his grandson both fol-
lowed the same profession and came to
OdNdGd, where tne explorer, Joseph Gas
pard de Lery, was educated at the Jesuit
college and employed by the government
in surveying the country that we now
call Canada and the Mississippi valley as
far south as New Orleans. He died at
Quebec in 1907 at the age of seventy-six
and is buried in the cathedral at that
city.
His wife was Marie de Beauvais of an
important Canadian family. and they had
eighteen children. ten sons and eight
daughters. one of the sons being Francois
Joseph de Lery, lieutenant general in the
French army and baron of the empire
under Napoleon.
The eight volumes of manuscript with
numerous maps, solar observations, tables |
OF distances and other technical informa-
ton, cover the explorations and adven- |
lures OF this remarkable man during his |
long and active career as an engineer and |
explorer. and contain much information |
which could not be obtained elsewhere
There are no less than nineteen elaborate
sketches 10 illustrate the text. and the |
writer does not hesitate to give interest
ing little personal details Of his expe- |
rtence.
French Loss Of Canada.
September 5. 1I6O Canada and all its |
dependencies were surrendered to the |
British crown, after Wolfe's victory on |
the plains Of Abraham. and Maj Robert |
Rogers OF New Hampshire was ordered
to carry into effect the terms of the
capitulation by taking over the forts and
stations Of the French in the west |
Ro0ers was a typical Sua hu ri 1or ~ he