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Updated: June 14, 2025
For various reasons, the Illinois suspected that the Frenchmen had brought this trouble upon them and, but for Tonty's coolness, would have mobbed and murdered the little handful of white men.
This was at the end of the winter, when the old priest and his companions had been living for months on Tonty's hospitality. They set out for Canada on the twenty-first of March, reached Chicago on the twenty-ninth, and thence proceeded to Michillimackinac.
Three days they searched, and daring to wait no longer, for it was November and the river ready to glaze with ice, they left him to some French people at the post of Chicago. But the child was not found. He disappeared and no one ever knew what became of him. Like this is Henri de Tonty's disappearance from history.
As they drew near, a troop of Indians, headed by a Frenchman, descended from the rock, and fired their guns to salute them. They landed, and followed the forest path that led towards the fort, when they were met by Boisrondet, Tonty's comrade in the Iroquois war, and two other Frenchmen, who no sooner saw them than they called out, demanding where was La Salle.
With the first two the Indian spokesman promised that his nation would not eat Count Frontenac's children, those cowardly Illinois. The next was a plaster to heal Tonty's wound. The next was oil to anoint him and the Récollets, so their joints would move easily in traveling. The next said that the sun was bright. And the sixth and last pack ordered the French to get up and leave the country.
Those first visited by La Salle were the Kappas or Quapaws, a remnant of whom still subsists. The others were the Topingas, or Tongengas; the Torimans; and the Osotouoy, or Sauthouis. According to Charlevoix, who saw them in 1721, they were regarded as the tallest and best formed Indians in America, and were known as les Beaux Hommes. Tonty's estimates of distance are here much too low.
All their fear now was centered upon me, and my possible influence. If I could be kept from any further communication with either De Artigny, or De Tonty, it was scarcely probable that any of the garrison would make serious effort to interfere with their plans. De Tonty's apparent indifference, and his sudden friendliness with De Baugis and Cassion, did not worry me greatly.
I sat there for perhaps an hour, my thoughts sad enough, yet unconsciously gaining courage and hope from the memory of De Tonty's words of confidence. He was not a man to fail in any deed of daring, and I had already seen enough of this young Boisrondet, and heard enough of his exploits, to feel implicit trust in his plans of rescue.
Niagara Falls. The First Vessel ever launched on the Upper Lakes. Great Hardships of the Journey. Arrival in the Country of the Illinois. Fort Crèvecoeur built. Perilous Journey back to Canada. La Salle starts again for the Illinois Country. Iroquois Atrocities and Cannibalism. La Salle goes as far as the Mississippi and returns. Tonty's Perilous Experiences. Boisrondet's Ingenuity saves his Life.
"It was the establishment of military posts throughout this vast valley that eventually brought on a life struggle between the English and the French," says a historian. At first the only spot of civilization in boundless wilderness was Tonty's little fort on the Illinois.
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