Fort Saint-Louis

“ For six days they besieged the wilderness castle, but all in vain. At length they made a few captives from the neighboring tribes and tried to creep off. But the bands of Shawnees and Illinois and Miamis had been waiting their turn, and now hard upon the heels of the retreating foe they pushed with eager weapons. They killed many and brought their scalps home in triumph to the villages around the rock. Fort St. Louis had had its baptism of fire—and the fire had only hardened the courage of the garrison and the Indians of the colony. ”

“ They reached the ruined fort at last, and Philip, surrendering Hope to others, was himself besieged by a joyous group.
As you stand upon the crumbling parapet of old Fort Louis, you feel yourself poised in middle air; the sea-birds soar and swoop around you, the white surf lashes the rocks far below, the white vessels come and go, the water is around you on all sides but one, and spreads its pale blue beauty up the lovely bay, or, in deeper tints, southward towards the horizon line. I know of no ruin in America which nature has so resumed; it seems a part of the living rock ”

“ The history of the ancient Castle of St. Louis, or Fort of Quebec, for above two centuries the seat of Government in the Province (of Quebec) , affords subjects of great and stirring interest during its several periods. The hall of the old Fort during the weakness of the colony was often a scene of terror and despair at the inroads of the persevering and ferocious Iroquois, who, having passed or overthrown all the French outposts, more than once threatened the fort itself and massacred some friendly Indians within sight of its walls. ”

“ Had the Illinois river been the Rhine, the rock would in mediaeval times have been crowned by the castle of a border noble; and on its summit was now built a wooden fort, Fort St. Louis of the Illinois. Round the fort the Indians gathered for protection and for trade, the peasantry as it were of the western wilderness, clustering under the shelter of a feudal stronghold; for in virtue of the royal patent, La Salle was the Seignior of the place. It promised to be a strong outpost of French dominion, if its connexion with Canada was kept intact. ”

“ During the winter of 1764 to 1765, the Savages in the north of this country found out that the English were gathering munitions at New Orleans to take possession of the different nations of the Illinois country.
These savages, wanting to oppose them, went to Fort de Chartres, 400 men strong, with the famous Pontiac of the Outarrois nation at their head, who had absolute power over all these tribes, for having commanded them in many takings of forts occupied by the English, against whom he fought a cruel war since the peace of 1762. ”

“ All the campaigns you have done and which you have always won: who does not remember that it is you who defeated the Lac and Renard nations? All these campaigns have earned you the respect and the trust of the Whites and the Redskins. They will always think you brave. So believe us: stay and use all those who have come with you from Canada so as to save those who will not be killed at the attack on this fort. ”

“ The “old stone mill,” whose origin and purpose were once a theme of much learned discussion, and which is still asserted by some antiquaries to have been built by the Northmen 500 years before the arrival of Columbus; the ruined Fort Louis, at the entrance of the harbor, and its surrounding rocks, called “the Dumplings;” Fort Adams, one of the most costly and extensive fortifications in the Union; the “Purgatory Rocks” and “Hanging Rocks;” the “Spouting Cave,” and “the Glen,” are the principal objects of interest. The beaches are excellent for bathing, and for promenades at low tide. ”

“ The chief engineer of the Army of the Potomac, whose ability was unquestioned, made a long report to the Navy Department, in which, after describing the forts and their situation, he said: "To pass these works merely with a fleet and appear before New Orleans is merely a raid, no capture." And in describing the exact method of attack he said: "Those [vessels] on the Fort Jackson side would probably have to make fast to the shore; those on the Saint Philip side might anchor." ”

“ A few others, probably Abenakis, lived in the fort.
The Fort St. Louis is placed on the map at the exact site of Starved Rook, and the Illinois village at the place where, as already mentioned, (see p. 221) , Indian remains in great quantities are yearly ploughed up. The Shawanoe camp, or village, is placed on the south side of the river, behind the fort. The country is here hilly, broken, and now, as in La Salle's time, covered with wood, which, however, soon ends in the open prairie. ”

“ It was a daring resolution, for Fort Louis was a very formidable work, mounting heavy guns and strongly held. It crowned a rocky eminence that jutted out menacingly into Fort Royal Bay. The sea face rose abruptly from the water's edge, with a wall and parapet, 15 feet high, scored with embrasures for big guns all along that side. In rear of the parapet three lofty tiers of platforms, rising one above another, with the muzzles of guns showing at all points, frowned fiercely down on all who should venture to approach in hostile [Pg 182] guise. ”

“ Joseph; and the ribald humours of visiting mariners profaned for a season the quiet rock of Quebec.
CHÂTEAU ST. LOUIS, 1694
But throughout this missionary period the hatchet of the Iroquois was suspended over the city. Their dreaded war-cry rang all too often through the adjacent forests, and their stealthy tomahawks found victims even under the guns of Fort St. Louis. So daring became the incursions of the implacable savages that the settlers did not dare to till their lands. To pass from one post to another without a strong escort meant risk of death or capture ”

“ The French, for their part, after the loss of Acadia betook themselves to Cape Breton, or, as they called it, L'Ile Royale, and set themselves forthwith to establish in one of the harbours a post which should command the access to Canada, and form a base for future aggression against New England and Nova Scotia. A haven, named Port à l'Anglais, on the east coast was selected, and there was built the fort of Louisburg, the strongest on the Atlantic coast, and as the French loved to call it, the Dunkirk of America. ”

“ Page 5 "If you men insist on settling here, I warn you, as a good Father that there are 6 or 7 hundred soldiers at Fort de Chartres, there to fight the English, who are keeping them busy at the moment, because they also remain on the alert all around the fort, in the rooms from which they wait for the English. ”

“ They went up the Rue de la Place and out at the side of the fort. There were no houses save here and there a few wigwams, and Indian children playing about in the front of them. Cultivated fields stretched out. The King’s Highway marked the western limit of the municipality; all the rest was the King’s domain, to be granted to future settlers. There was the wide prairie, and to the northward the great mound. They mounted this, and then they could see up the winding of the river to the chain of rocks, and the Missouri on its way to join the greater stream and be merged in it. ”

“ Louis in 1767. Later, these troops were transferred to the south bank of the Missouri, a few miles above its mouth, where "Old Fort St. Charles the Prince" was erected. General Wilkinson built Fort Bellefontaine on this site in 1805. From 1809 to 1815 this was the headquarters of the military department of Louisiana (including Forts Madison, Massac, Osage, and Vincennes) . It was the starting point of the Pike, Long, and Atkinson expeditions. On July 10, 1826, it was abandoned for Jefferson Barracks, but a small arsenal of deposits was maintained here until 1834. ”

“ Louis on the Illinois River, and it was now the French policy to fill up the territory between these two points with a chain of forts and settlements. Mobile was founded in 1702, New Orleans in 1718. The founder of New Orleans was Iberville’s brother, Bienville. At the other end of the line Detroit was founded in 1701, Fort Niagara was built in 1726, and Crown Point was erected on Lake Champlain in 1731. In order that Acadia might be won back if possible, the strong fortress of Louisburg was erected on Cape Breton Island. ”

“ The revolt was, besides, difficult to justify. Louis XIII had certainly refused to demolish Fort Louis, but he had only promised to do so when he should judge its maintenance to be no longer necessary; while the fortifications recently constructed on Richelieu’s advice at Brouage, Marans, and on the Îles de Ré and d’Oléron, might be explained as much as by fear of the English as by hostility towards La Rochelle. The most clear-sighted amongst the citizens felt that the Government entertained hostile intentions, but their apprehensions were their only proofs. ”

“ Morning bugle call, the evening gun, grey ships of war stealing in from a misty sea with long plumes of soft black smoke, military uniforms on the streets and trig bright houses are, probably, the average civilian’s impressions of a stay at Old Point Comfort where is located Fort Monroe. “Fort” or “Fortress,” for the place changes its sex indifferently according to the state of mind of the speaker, it probably satisfies the popular conception of a mighty stronghold of defence more completely than any other such establishment in the United States. ”

“ Like all American forts, it was formed with earthen ramparts, covered by rich green turf, and defended by tall stockades of dry white timber. Within were seen the shingle-covered roofs of the low barrack buildings, tarred and painted black, and all glistening in the sunshine. Two of the lower bastions were faced with stone and washed by the azure water of Lake George, while a deep fosse secured the fort on the landward, and dangerous morasses protected its flanks. Beyond lay a cleared space, where the timber of the old primeval forest had been cut down for garrison purposes. ”

“ Large armies marched against them by land, and a fleet of river gunboats sailed down from the north to assist them. These gunboats were river steamers which the government had covered with plates of iron and armed with cannon.
While the northern river forts were thus being attacked, an expedition was planned to capture the fortifications near the river's mouth.
The strongest of these were Fort Jackson and Fort St. Philip. These were between New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico, and their capture would give New Orleans to the North. This was considered a very important undertaking. ”

“ The French are men; they are fortifying everywhere. But you are all like women, bare and open, without fortifications." Not one representative of seven colonies had authority to reassure him. Sir William Johnson did, indeed, negotiate a treaty of alliance with the Iroquois and the western Indians; and the Virginia assembly, yielding at last to Governor Dinwiddie's insistent demands, appropriated some money for maintaining the wooden fort, well named Fort Necessity, which Colonel Washington had built on the Ohio. ”

“ Against Louisburg, Cape Breton, Carillon, Lake Champlain, and Duquesne in the Ohio Valley, the English arrayed their fleets and armies. In the attack now made upon Louisburg, for the first time appears the name of Wolfe, who distinguished himself by scaling a rock, with a hundred men, which had hitherto been regarded unaccessible. After a spirited defence, the French surrendered the Fort, a perfect wreck, July 26. About this time Cape Breton passed into British hands, and thus was opened to the English, the Fort of Quebec. ”

“ Some miles higher, thirty-seven and a half miles from the mouth, fourteen hundred miles from New Orleans, and three hundred and thirty-four and a half from Louisville, is Fort Massac, situated on an eminence on the right bank. The remains of a stockade, two block-houses, and barracks, are what is left of this fort, which gains its name from the massacre of the French garrison by the Indians. As long as the western military posts of the United States were kept up, an infantry company remained here in garrison. This fort has been abandoned for a long time. ”

“ In 1809 it was again remodelled at a cost of ten thousand pounds sterling, a third story was added, and the building, resting on the buttresses which still remain under the balustrade of Durham (Dufferin) Terrace, had an imposing effect when seen from the river. It was destroyed by fire in 1834.— (Parkman's Old Regime.)
HALDIMAND CASTLE After sketching Fort St. Louis, begun in 1624,—a refuge against the Iroquois, and whose bastions rendered useless disappeared shortly after the conquest, as well as giving the history of the Château St. ”

“ Frightened habitants peered through the shutters.
"What ees wanted?"
"The Red Head Chief."
But Clark had not arrived.
"We must take this matter into our own hands," said the people. "British and Indians came once from Mackinac. They may again."
"Mackinac? They are at Fort Madison now, murdering our regulars and rangers. How long since they burned our boats and cargoes at Fort Bellevue? Any day they may drop down on St. Louis."
"We must fortify."
"The old bastions may be made available for service."
"The old Spanish garrison tower must be refitted for the women and children." ”

“ In less than five minutes the boat, distinctly visible, with those salient points of color, the red coat and the white flag against the silver-gray water, had rounded the bend; every Indian runner was out of sight; and the line of warriors had relapsed into their silent staring at the fort, where the garrison dragged out three hours of such poignant suspense as seldom falls to the lot of even unhappy men. ”