79 [ 237 ] 



liciting provisions for them, and powder and shot for the warriors. Mr. 

 Laclede acceded liberally to their prayer ; and the day following the next, 

 the unfortunate remnants of the Missouri nation ascended the river of 

 their fathers, and returned to their village. 



All anxieties being now dissipated, the colonists of Illinois, recovered 

 from their alarm, relumed to add numbers to the new colony. Lands 

 were allotted to them, which they set about tilling, and upon which they 

 built their cabins. 



There being, so far, no indications of the arrival of the British, Mr. 

 Laclede had deferred the translation of his establishment from Fort Char- 

 tres to St. Louis. He, in consequence, returned to the fort, as much for the 

 sake of superintending his commercial affairs, as with the expectation of 

 increasing the number of inhabitants for his new colony, in this expecta- 

 tion he hiid been encouraged by circumstances that had occurred during 

 the summer, in consequence of the treaty. 



It may be proper to state here, that when Mr. Neyon de Villiers re- 

 ceived orders to evacuate the possession of the left bank of the Missis- 

 sippi, he had under his command the troops at Fort Peoria, on the Illinois 

 river ; those of Fort Marsiac, (not Massac, nor Massacre,) on the Ohio ; 

 and those stationed at the post of Vincennes, on the Wabash ; although the 

 last were under the more immediate command of Mr. St. Ange de Belle- 

 rive. It would seem that, at this time, there were no garrisons at Kaskas- 

 kia, Cahokia, and the Prairie du Rocher ; these three villages being sup- 

 posed sufficiently protected by Fort Chartres. Mr. de Ncyon ordered all 

 these posts to be evacuated, with the view of concentrating their garrisons 

 about himself There was, besides, a fort situated on the Kansas river, 

 about 4UU miles above the mouth of the Missouri ; and another had been 

 commenced on the Osage river, near the old village of the same name. 

 These two positions were not included in the treaty, as being situated on 

 the west side of the Mississippi ; nevertheless, orders were also sent to their 

 garrisons to come down to Fort Chartres. All things being thus disposed 

 of, Mr. de Neyon lefc Mr. St. Ange de Bellerive, one captam, two lieuten- 

 ants, and 40 men, to guard the fort until the time of its snrresder. On the 

 lOth of July, 17G4, he descended the Mississippi with his own troops, some 

 civil officers, and a large number of the inhabitants of the village of 

 Fort Chartres and of the Prairie du Rocher. These people had been 

 prevailed upon to follow Mr. de Neyon by a promise to obtain for them, at 

 New Orleans, a grant of lands in Lower Louisiana, where they would be 

 under a more iuimediate French government, and at a distance from their 

 enemies, the English, who were termed by them " the heretics," &c. This 

 national feeling was perhaps laudable, and he, no doubt, would have been 

 welcomed at New Orleans ; but it so happened that, upon the arrival of the 

 convoy, a sad and fatal rumor was circulated, that the rest of both Upper 

 and Lower Louisiana, west of the Mississippi, was about to be transferred 

 to the Spanish government. Besides, the local French government inter- 

 ested itself very little about Mr. de Neyon, and those unfortunate families 

 who had abandoned their homes and valuable lands under a delusive ex- 

 pectation of bettering their condition. After remaining a long time unset- 

 tled at New Orleans, their means nearly exhausted, some retired to the 

 Opelousas and the Attakapas, whilst others reascended the Mississippi, on 

 their return to Illinois and St. Louis. Then it was that Mr. de Neyon 

 was censured. It was pretended that he had been actuated by motives 



