2i 8 The Winning of the West 



Then, to stop any repetition of the offence, and more 

 effectually to curb the overbearing truculence of the 

 frontiersmen, he himself built, as already mentioned, 

 a fort at Massac, not far from the Mississippi. All 

 this of course was done in the interests of the Span- 

 iards themselves and in accordance with the earnest 

 desire of the United States authorities to prevent 

 any unlawful attack on Louisiana; yet Carondelet 

 actually sent word to Gayoso de Lemos, the Gov- 

 ernor of Natchez and the upper part of the river, 

 to persuade the Chickasaws secretly to attack <his 

 fort and destroy it. Carondelet always had an ex- 

 aggerated idea of the warlike capacity of the Indian 

 nations, and never understood the power of the 

 Americans, nor appreciated the desire of their Gov- 

 ernment to act in good faith. Gayoso was in this 

 respect a much more intelligent man, and he posi- 

 tively refused to carry out the orders of his superior, 

 remonstrating directly to the Court of Spain, by 

 which he was sustained. He pointed out that the 

 destruction of the fort would merely encourage the 

 worst enemies of the Spaniards, even if accom- 

 plished ; and he further pointed out that it was quite 

 impossible to destroy it; for he understood fully 

 the difference between a fort garrisoned by Wayne's 

 regulars and one held by a mob of buccaneering 

 militia. 14 



It was not the first time that Gayoso's superior 

 knowledge of the Indians and of their American foes 



14 Draper MSS., Spanish Documents, Manuel Gayoso de 

 Lemos to the Duke de Alcudia, Natchez, Sept. 19, 1794. 



