to War against the Catawba Indians; they told us that
they saw John Coeur about one hundred and fifty miles
up this River at an Indian Town, where he intends to
build a Fort if he can get Liberty from the Ohio Indians;
he has five canoes loaded with Goods, and is very generous
in making Presents to all the Chiefs of the Indians
that he meets with; he has sent two Messages to this
Town desiring the Indians here to go and meet him and
clear the Road for him to come down the River, but they
have had so little Regard to his Message that they have
not thought it worth while to send him an answer as yet.[1]
We have seen but very few of the Chiefs of the Indians
they being all out a hunting, but those we have seen are of
opinion that their Brothers the English ought to have a Fort on this River to secure the Trade, for they think
it will be dangerous for the Traders to travel the Roads
for fear of being surprised by some of the French and
French Indians, as they expect nothing else but a War
with the French next Spring. At a Town about three
hundred miles down this River, where the Chief of the
Shawonese live,[2] a Party of French and French Indians
————
- ↑ Philippe Thomas Joncaire (John Coeur), Sieur de Chabert, was a French officer resident among the Seneca Indians, to whose tribe his mother was said to belong. Born in 1707, on the death of his father (1740) he succeeded to the latter's influence and authority among the Iroquois, and made constant efforts to neutralize the influence of Sir William Johnson, the English agent. Joncaire had a trading house at Niagara, and his profits from the portage of goods at that place were great. He accompanied Céloron's expedition in 1749; and in 1753 met Washington at Venango. It was chiefly due to his influence that the Ohio Indians deserted the English at the outbreak of the French and Indian war. Joncaire led the Iroquois contingent in all the campaigns on the Allegheny and in Western New York; and when Prideaux and Johnson advanced against Niagara, he commanded an outpost at the upper end of the portage. He signed the capitulation of Fort Niagara (1759), but after that nothing further is known of him.— Ed.
- ↑ The town mentioned here was at the mouth of the Scioto River, and was known as "the lower Shawnee town."—Ed.
