:i¥. /'Z^ ^. 3 4 'J 2 (; 
 
 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY PUBLICATIONS 
 VOLUME III Number II 
 
 SIEURDE VINCENNES 
 
 THE FOUNDER OF INDIANA'S OLDEST TOWN 
 
 BY 
 
 EDMOND MALLET 
 
 INDIANAPOLIS 
 
 THE BOWEN-MERRILL COMPANY 
 
 1897 
 
\ 
 
 INDIANA HISTORICAL SOCIHTY PUBLICATIONS 
 
 VOLUME III NUMBER II 
 
 SIEURDE VINCENNES 
 
 THE FOUNDER OF INDIANA'S OLDEST TOWN 
 
 BY 
 
 EDMOND MALLET 
 
 INDIANAPOLIS 
 
 THE BOWEN-MERRILL COMPANY 
 
 1897 
 
\ 
 
 SIEUR DE VINCENNES 
 
 THE FOUNDER OF INDIANA'S OLDEST TOWN. 
 
 " Vincennes whose name will be perpetuated as 
 loiij^ as the Wabash shall How by the dwell- 
 ings of civilized men." — IJancroft, History of 
 the United States. 
 
 In the first half of the last century an officer known in his- 
 tory as Sieur de Vincennes was commandant of troops of 
 the king of France and of a military post on the Wabash 
 river in the then Illinois country, which post is supposed to 
 
 have been on or near the site of the present city of Vinccn- q^^ ;(.<-. ti- t^t Icute.^sn 
 nes, Indiana. The said officer was burned at the stake, m^nu^^d h^ terw^^c^tl'tx^. 
 May. 1736, together with Major D'Artaguette, commandtT^'^^<:' -^ f^' «^^»^ '^^ •'^■-j- 
 of an expedition. Father Senat, Jesuit missionary and acting "''^ x^^tr.^ ceiK 
 chaplain, and a number of other officers of both regular and.iyivA, jcv Cixlca.cLi>^ 
 colonial troops, in one of the villages of the Chickasaw Indi- 
 ans situated in that part of Louisiana now embraced within 
 the territorial limits of the state of Mississippi. 
 
 As to the above all authorities are agreed. 
 
 But who was Sieur de Vincennes? A century and a half 
 of learning in American colonial history has left, in neglect- 
 ful obscurity, the identity of the founder of the first settle- 
 ment in one of our great states, who was a valiant soldier as 
 well as a chivalrous Christfan hero, devoted to his God and 
 his country. "Sieur de Vincennes," says Ferland, one of 
 the most judicious of the Canadian historians, " at the head 
 
 (41) 
 
^2 SfFrn DE VIXr ESSES. 
 
 of his Pcanquichias fought with dopcration in the hope of 
 ncapturing DArtaguette from the enemy, but unwilli'g lo 
 flcewith his shattered command, he. too. was taken prisoner. '' 
 " ' \'incennes,' says Dunn, the latest of Indiana's learned 
 historians. * ceased not until his last breath to exhort the men 
 to behave worthy of their reli;>ji<<n and their country. " He 
 that his epitaph: and be it a matter of pride to Indiana that 
 Ikt first ruler was so brave a man and so true.'' 
 
 This study is designed to suggest to students of American 
 history the importance of -olving the problem of Sieur de 
 Xincennes's identity. The subject is. besides, not devoid of 
 historical interest, in view of the many conflicting opinions 
 expressed by historians of Canada, F"rance and the United 
 States on the nationality, birthplace and family name of one 
 of America's traditional heroes. 
 
 i.\ portion of the Illinois allies fled, followed bv <;ome Frenchmen, but 
 the fortv Iroquois from Can.ida. also under De Vincinne*. fought with 
 such valor as to save the command from utter annihilation. Du Ti-n^, 
 an officer of reirulars, and La Lande. a captain of militia, were 
 captured, as also Drouet de Richardville. the younger of tour broth- 
 er-i. officer* commanding militia and Indians. Three of the Drouet 
 de Richardville brothers had been killed in the battle when the one 
 t.iken prisoner was wounded and fell into the hands of the Indians. 
 He was conducted to the c.ibin of the chief of the village of Jantilla, 
 and during six months he was guarded bv the young warriors. After this 
 len^rth of time he lived with the Chickasaws with entire freedom and had 
 the libertv of hunting with them. At the end of eighteen months an 
 En>rli>h trader assisted him to esc.-ipe. Travelinii more than a hundred 
 milt* through the mountains and forests he met some English merchants 
 uho conducted him to General Oglethorpe, governor of the colony ot 
 Georiria. who paid his random to the Chickasaws who had come to re- 
 claim their prisoner. Governor Oglethorpe furnished him the means to 
 return to Canada. Passing through the Carolinas. Virginia. Maryland, 
 Pennsvlvania and New York, he arrived at Montreal on June lo. 1739. — 
 5.V Gayarre. Histoire tie la Louisiane. 1S46. Vol. I. p. 333; Ferland. 
 Cours if Histoire du Canada. 1891. Vol. II. p. ^f^. 
 
 •Dunn. Indiana: A Rrdcmption /'rfl;// ^/rtirrv 'American Common- 
 wealths series) iSSS. p. fo. 
 
SIKIi: DE VIX( EWES. 43 
 
 The following notes may serve as a basis for a more cor- 
 rect u^(Jer^tandinJ; of the authorities hereinafter cited on the 
 personal identit\- of Sieur di; Vincennes : 
 
 164S, Oct. 25. I'Vangois Bissot, Sieur de la Riviere, fjcn- 
 tleman. born in 1613, at Notre-Dame des Pres, Normandy, 
 m.irried' at Quebec, Mary Couillard, a Creole of Canada, born 
 in 1633, at Quebec — Tanguay, Dictioiinairc Gaitalogiquc. 
 1 87 1, Vol. 1. 56. 
 
 1672, Nov. 3. Frangois Bissot, Sieur de la Riviere, had 
 granted to him by the Intendant Talon a seignoral estate, 
 which was subsequently named Vincennes, and which he had 
 placed in the name of two of his sons — Jean Baptiste and 
 Charles Francois Bissot — who assumed the name of the seig- 
 nory. It was of seventy arpcnts, fronting on the St. Law- 
 rence river by one league in depth into the interior, and was 
 situated in the present county of Bellechasse, and opposite 
 the city of Quebec. — Bouchette, Topographical Description of 
 Lower Canada, 181 5, p. 505; Rameau, Acadiens et Caiia- 
 diens, 1859, p. 286; Suite, Histoirc des Canadiens-Francais, 
 1882. Vol. IV, 94; Roy, " F'rangois Bissot," \n Manoins de 
 la Socictc Roy ale du Canada, Sec. i, 1892, p. H. 
 
 17 19, Oct. 28. "I learn from the last letters that have ar- 
 rived from the Miamis, that Sieur de Vincennes having died 
 in their village, these Indians had resolved not to move to the 
 river St. Joseph, and to remain where the\' are." — Ue Vau- 
 dreuil to the Council of Marine, in Docnnients Relating to tlie 
 Colonial History of Xezo ]'orl:, 1855, Vol. IX, 894. 
 
 * Bv this marriage Bissot became the brother-in-law of John Nicolet, 
 the discoverer of Wisconsin, who had married Margaret Couillard, a L'od- 
 child of Champlain. the founder of Canada. His dauj^htcr Louise Bissot 
 married Serapliim Man^anne de la Valtrio, formerly lieutenant in the 
 regiment of Lini^re<;. who came to Canada with the rfu;iment of Carignan; 
 and another daughter Claire Frances Bissot married Louis Jolliet. the 
 discoverer of the Mississippi. Two years after his death, which occurred 
 in 1673, his widow married Jacques De La Lande, Sieur de Gayon. 
 
, , SiEf'i: HE VjyCEXSES. 
 
 44 
 
 1740. Sept. 17- Captain Celeron . Sieur dc Blainville, com- 
 mandiiv^ .in cxp«?Jilion do-a-n the Ohio to take possession uf 
 tlu- countr>- in the r-ina*. of the king of France, visited tlie 
 Miamis under the chxi La Demoiselle, at a pc^int afterwards 
 known as Lorunie'> Creek, Ohio; when, appealing to the 
 Indians to return to Kikakon (Ft. Wayne. Ind.), he deliv- 
 ered the \v0rd5 of the governor of Canada, sa>ing: "It is 
 in that countr\\ my children, that you will enjoy the delights 
 of life, it being the f/a^^ aV/^n trfosc the bones of your fath- 
 tvs and those of Si*mr De ilneennes, 'whom yon so much loved 
 and who ahi-ats ^tyz-^rmi^d jou in such a manner that affairs 
 were always good " — ^Journal dc Celeron, in Margry, De- 
 ionvertcs et EfaMiss^ae^wis dis Franqais dans l' Anitriqne Sep- 
 tentriona/e. 1SS6. Vo2. VI. J 16. 
 
 It i- established by the above notes, believed to be of ap- 
 proved authorit>\ that a seignoral estate named Vincennes 
 existed in Canada in the last century ; that two sons of Fran- 
 cois Bissot. an early settler in Canada, were proprietors of 
 the said estate : and that a Sieur de Vincennes died in the 
 Miamis country- in or prior to 1719. and that his mortal re- 
 mains repose. pn^babSy, at the confluence of the rivers St. 
 Marv' and St. Joseph, and in the vicinity of Ft. Wayne, Ind. 
 With this prcliminan,- examination of basic facts we may 
 better appreciate the statements of the historians. The fol- 
 lowing^ e.xcerpts. garher^ from all available historical sources, 
 represent, in sube>tance. all that has been written, bearing on 
 the personal identitj- of the subject of this study. 
 
 1-44. "'The SEe-^r de Vincennes, a Canadian gentleman 
 and officer in the arasy. shared the glory with him [Father 
 Senat. Je<utt. burned at the stake], and won the admiration 
 of his ver\- torturer?."" — Charlevoix. Histoire de la Nonvelle- 
 France. 1 1. 502; the same. Shea, History of New Franee, 
 1S72. Vol VI. 121. 
 
 18 19. "Aboat the year 1702. a party of French from 
 
siKii: Iff: \'i.\( KWKs. 
 
 45 
 
 Canada descended the Wabash river, and established posts 
 in several places on its banks. The party was commanded 
 by Capt. St. X'incennes. who made that his principal place 
 of deposit, which went for a long time by no name than the 
 Post. 
 
 " In the year 1734 several P'rench families emigrated from 
 Canada and settletl at this place [Vincennes]. The first gov- 
 ernor, or commandant, was M. St. Vincent, after whom the 
 town is now called." — Thomas, Traicls Throng k the IVcsterti 
 Country, 190. 
 
 1839. " . . . . The commander, .ifter whom our town is 
 named. Frangois Morgan de Vinsenne. ( ' Viiiscuiic,' for 
 so he spelt his name), was an officer ii. the service of the 
 king of France, and, serving in Canada probably as early as 
 1720, in the regiment ' de Carignaii.' .... At what time 
 he took possession here is not exactly known ; prob.ibly some- 
 where about the year 1732. There is nothing on our records 
 to show but an act of sale made by him and Madame Vin- 
 senne, the daughter of Monsieur Phillip Longpie of Kaskas- 
 kia, and recorded there. . . ." — Law, Address Before the 
 Vincennes Historical and Antiquarian Society, 21. 
 
 1840. " . . . . Vincennes, too, the Canadian, refused to 
 {\y, and shared the captivity of his gallant leader." — Ban- 
 croft, History of the United States, III, 367. 
 
 1843. " Francis Morgan de Vincennes, who was an ofificer 
 of the king's troops, and a commandant of a small post on 
 river Wabash, accompanied the expedition under D'Artugui- 
 ette." — Dillon. History of Indiana Fd. of 1843, p. 61 ; the 
 same, F^d. of 1859. p. 46. 
 
 1848. "In 1715. the Sieur de V'ncennes, a Canadian of- 
 ficer, visited the country of the Miamis and founded a post, 
 bearing his name, at the mouth of the Wabash. . . ." — 
 Poussin, De la Puissance Amcricaine, 3d Ed., I, 183; the 
 
^6 siEVU in-: visckxxks. 
 
 same, 7/u Unihd States; its Poivcr and Progress, 1851, p. 
 
 137- 
 
 1852. '"The supposed founder of Po^t N'inccnnes, from 
 
 whom at least the place took its name, was I'^rancis Morgan 
 (le Vinsennes, supposed by Bishop Hailandriere to have been 
 of Irish extraction. Some descendants of his family are be- 
 lieved to be living to the present day at St. Alalo, in Brittany, 
 France." — Spalding, Life of Bishop Fidget, 39. 
 
 1855. "The 'regiment de Carignan,' (in which Francois 
 Moriian X'incennes, the founder of X'incennes, on the V\'abash, 
 was an officer), arrived in the colony in 1665, accompanied 
 by M. de Tracy. An expedition was undertaken against the 
 Iroquois, many of their settlements destroyed, and this for- 
 midable enemy of New France humiliated." — Law, " Jesuit 
 Missionaries in the Northwest," in State Historical Society of 
 ]Visconsin Collections, III, 100. 
 
 1857. " M. De Vincennes, Canadian officer, who founded on 
 the banks of the Ouabache in 17 17 Ft. Vincennes, become 
 in our day an important American post and an episcopal city . ' ' 
 — Bibaud. Dictionnaire Historique des Homines Illustrcs du 
 Canada, 342; ibid, Le Pantheon Canadien, 1858, p. 305. 
 
 1858. ". . . . 'Post St. Vincennes,' (this title of 'St. 
 Vincennes' is used in all the old acts of congress, where the 
 town is mentioned, though it was never understood by the 
 ' ancient inhabitants ' that Captain Francois Morgan de Vin- 
 senne.' its founder, was enrolled upon the calendar of Saints) 
 
 ." — Law, The Colonial History of Vincennes, 121. 
 
 1859. "This report of the death of Vincennes was un- 
 true; or there was soon afterward, in the west, another officer 
 who bore the name of M. de Vincennes." — Dillon, History 
 of Indiana. VA. of 1859, p. 402, note. 
 
 ! 860. ' • The Canadian family of Vincennes take that name 
 from the seignory of Vincennes, on the St. Lawrence. Their 
 name is Bissot. . . . 
 
SIEl'U DE VINCENNES. 
 
 47 
 
 "The founder of Vinccnnes was evidently a grandson of 
 Francis [Bissot, sicur de la Riviere], and a nephew, conse- 
 quently, of Jolliet. He entered the army with the grade of 
 ensign, and was early employed in the west, especialK- among 
 the Miamis, who were greatly attached to him. The date of 
 his first employment there is not ascertained; but St. Come, 
 on his way to the Mississippi, found him at Michillimackinac 
 in 1698, and the)' set out together for the Miami river. . . ." 
 — Shea, "M. de V'incennes," in Historical Magazine, W , 
 
 355- 
 
 1863. "The valiant Bissot de Vincennes was the grandson 
 of Francois Bissot." — Fcrland, Notes sur Ics Rcgisircs de 
 Notre-Danic de Quebec, 2d Ed., 79. 
 
 1867. In 1732 St. Vincent and Bissot de Vincennes were 
 ensigns, aged 31 and 44 years, re- ^_^,„— -— '""""'V 
 spectively, de la Valterie was lieu- y4 ^Jjy^j£/tyijf£f) 
 tenant, aged 50 years, and St. Vin- *^ 
 
 cent was captain, aged 6q years. In '''l^^tn^^Zl^t^inm^l^i 
 1739 De la Valterie commanded on C" ««"«•" '"'•■• 
 Lake Nipigon ; and in 1760 St. Vincent was killed at the head 
 of the grenadiers at the battle of St. Foye. — Daniel, Lc Vi- 
 comtc C. dc Lery, 193, 194, 198, 206. 
 
 1868. ". . . . A small French fort that was early erected 
 on the south bank of the St. Mary. . . . The historical ac- 
 count of this fort is, that, as early as 1734. the famous Captain 
 D. M. D'Vincennes, founder of Vincennes, Ind., visited this 
 point in a military capacity, and erected the fort in question; 
 and Vincennes is said then to have referred to this localit\- as 
 ' the key of the west.- . . . 
 
 " Two years later, in 1736, by order of his superior ofticer 
 at New Orleans, Monsieur D'Artaguette, ' commandant for 
 the king in Illinois,' Captain Vincennes (or, as originally 
 spelt, Vinsenne) left his post at Vincennes with an expedi- 
 tion against the Chickasaws, ... 
 
g SIFA'R DE VINCENXES. 
 
 " Vincennes had visited the Miamies at this point as early 
 as 1705 M. de Vaudreuille, at that period governor-gen- 
 eral of Canada, in a letter dated ' Quebec, 19th October, 
 1705,' said he had ' sent Sieur de Vinseine to the Miamis 
 In 1719, M. de Vincennes was reported to M. de 
 Vaudreuille as having died at the Miami village here; but 
 this was a mistake or it was another officer of that name. . . ' 
 — V>x\cc, History of Ft. Wayne, 12, 13. 
 
 1871. Jean-Baptiste Bissot, son of Francois, founder of 
 the Canadian family of Bissot, married at Montreal, on Sept. 
 19, 1696, to Marie Marguerite Forestier, was " Sieur de Vm- 
 cennes, officer of the detachment of the marine."— Tanguay, 
 Dictionnaivc Gincalogiquc, i, ^6 note. 
 
 i3^2. " . . . . Those two sons [of Louis Joliet], and 
 Jean Joliet de Mingan, continued the work of their father in 
 the east of New France, whilst the Bissots, his nephews, 
 turning towards the south-west, added new tides to the honor 
 of the family by the founding of a post, in the state of Indi- 
 ana known since under the name of Vincennes, which was 
 that of a son of Jean Bissot, Sieur de la Riviere, burned by 
 the Chicachas in the cruel war which those Indians made 
 upon the French."— Margry, " Louis Joliet." in La Revue 
 
 Canadienuc, IX, 219. 
 
 1872. "Jean Baptiste Bissot, Sieur de Vincennes, officer 
 in a detachment of the marine service, was the tenth child of 
 Francois Bissot, and was born at Quebec, in January, 1668. 
 Louis Jolliet married his sister, Claire Frances. Vincennes 
 in 1696 married at Montreal, Marie Marguerite Forestier. 
 and Tanguay, Dictionnaire Genealogique, i, p. 56, gives 
 the names of four children. The statement in .some western 
 writers that his name was Morgan is unfounded."— Shea, 
 Charlevoix's History of New France, VI, 122 note. 
 
 1875. " . . . . In the year 1705, Santer Vincennes, of 
 
aiEUJl DE rJXCEXXES. 
 
 49 
 
 the French army was at Kckionga, .... " — Goodrich 
 and Tuttle, Illustrated History of Indiana, 338. 
 
 1881. " M. Bissot de Vinccnncs, founder of Vincennes, 
 
 Ind., was born in Canada, died in 1736 He went 
 
 to the Miami countr}' in 1704, where he remained until liis 
 death. In an expedition against the Chickasaws in that }'ear 
 (1736) he lost his life, .... " — Lossing, Harpers Popu- 
 lar Cyclopcedia of United States History, II, 1456; the same, 
 rev. ed., 1893, II, I45^'^- 
 
 1881. " . . . . In the year 1727, the twentieth day of 
 the month of October, the nuptial benediction was pro- 
 nounced over two inhabitants of the parish, .... others of 
 the gentry of Kaskaskia sign the register as witnesses, and 
 then appear two signatures, distinct 
 and bold as though freshly written, 
 which we have not met with hither- >^y^T<-Ji 
 to. These are the names of Yin- 
 senne and St. Ange fils : the Cheva- 
 lier Vinsenne, commandant of the ""Z^i^Hl^^f^ i^^TnJ:,!^!::^ 
 post by the Wabash, on the site of '^'^^' 
 which the city of Vincennes, in Indiana, bearing a name de- 
 rived from, his, has grown up, and the young St. Ange, one 
 of his officers, a relative doubtless of the sterling soldier, who 
 was to be the last French commandant of the Illinois. Thi'\- 
 had come from their distant station, the nearest neighbor of 
 Kaskaskia, a hundred leagues, in bark canoes, or had traversed 
 the prairie and threaded the forest for da)s together, to greet 
 old friends and new, and to dance gaily at the wedding, ail 
 unmindful of the sad fate to which they were tloomed ; for, 
 ere ten years passed by, these two, with the knightly D'Ar- 
 taguiette and the heroic Jesuit Senat, were to perish at the 
 stake among the savage Chickasaws, who wondered to see 
 the white men die so bravely." — Mason, " Kaskaskia and its 
 
-Q SIEUU DE VIWES'NES. 
 
 Parish Records," in Maga.':iiic of American Histor)\V\, 175 ; 
 the same, in Illinois in the Eighteenth Century, 1881, p. 15- 
 
 1 88 1. Demoiselle la Lande, a Canadian, who had been 
 taken by the enemy with Demoiselle Jolliet, her daughter,* 
 seeing them about to depart, asked General Phips, through 
 an interpreter, whether he intended to take them to Boston 
 and leave his own countrymen prisoners at Quebec, suggest- 
 ing that an exchange might be made if proposed to Count de 
 
 Frontenac. ... 
 
 *•■.... The Demoiselle Claire Frances (Bissot) Joliet was the wile of 
 Louis Joliet, explorer of the Mississippi, and sister of Jean Baptiste i5issot, 
 Sieur de Vincennes. founder of Vineennes. Ind."'— Shea's Le Clerq. First 
 Estublishmcni of the Faith in iXc'v France. II, 327. 
 
 1882. " Frangois Bissot, Sieurde la Riviere. . . . Among 
 his numerous children, we observe the wife of Louis Jolliet, 
 and Jean Bapti.ste Bissot, Sieur de Vineennes, a distinguished 
 officer of the marine service." — Suite, Histoire des Cauadicns- 
 
 luanqais, III, 1 1. 
 
 1882. ". . . . Burned by the savages: Diron d'Arta- 
 guelte, the elder -^ Father Senat, Jesuit, a son of Alphonsus 
 de Tonty, Coulanges Bissot, de Vineennes, Saint-Ange, Du- 
 tisne, d'Esgly, Marchand de Courcelles and three brothers, 
 Drouet de Richerville . . . ." Ibid, VI, 119. 
 
 1882. ". . . . Vineennes takes its name from Jean Bap- 
 tiste Bissot, Sieur de Vinsenne, who was born in Montreal, in 
 1696.1 He was an officer of French marines," and the com- 
 
 I'l'his statement is erroneous: Bissot was born at Quebec, or on the 
 seiijnory of Vineennes. opposite that city, and was baptized on January 
 21. 1^)68— it was his marriage which was solemnized at Montreal in 1696. 
 I3v ordinance of FranQois Montmorency-Laval. Bishop of Petra^a, in the 
 ecclesiastical province of Heliopolis, Arabia, and Vicar- Apostolic of New 
 France, dated Qiiebec, March J9. 1664. it was prescribed that parents 
 should have their children baptized immediately after their birth. 
 
 « Under the French domination the troops organized for service in the 
 colonies were paid from the appropriations for the Department of the 
 Marine instead of from the budget of the Department of War; it is from 
 
SIEVE DE VISCEXXES. 5 I 
 
 mander of the military post on the Waba-h. He was burivd 
 at the stake by the Chickasaw Indians in 1736, in company 
 with Father Senat, the ChevaHer D'Artaguiette, and some 
 others of tl)e young Canadian nobihty." — Mallet, "Very Rev. 
 Pierre Gibault," in T/ic Washington Catholic, Sept. 30, 1882, 
 note. 
 
 1S83. ". . . . Father Senat .... accompanied Vin- 
 cennes,* commander of the fort, and probably its builder, 
 after whom it was named Vincennes. in his expedition against 
 the Chickasaw Indians, in 1736. ... 
 
 *" Francis Mori(an do Vincennes, supposed b_v Bishop Hailandriere to 
 liave been of Irish extraction. . . ."— Alerding. History of the Catholic 
 Church in the Diocese of V'inconies. 54. 
 
 1884. ". . . . Then Ft. Miami was established where 
 Ft. Wayne now stands, and finally, in 1733, the Poste au 
 Ouabache, which soon took the name of its active command- 
 ant, a Canadian gentleman, Jean Baptiste Bissot, called from 
 a seigneury he owned in Canada, Sieur de Vincennes. f He 
 had long been active in western affairs, was brother-in-law to 
 Louis Jolliet, the discoverer of the Mississippi, and died 
 nobly in an unfortunate campaign against the Chickasaws. 
 
 t "The whole family can be traced in Tati<,aia_v*s Dictionnaire Gcnealoi;- 
 ique. It must have been a very inexperienced investiiiator of old docu- 
 ments who made Morgan out of Baptiste or Bissot. Tanguay's work is 
 a summary of all the parish registers of Canada, from the earliest date, 
 and not a single person of the name of Morgan was found by him in all 
 liis investigations."— Shea, "Review of Alerding's History of the Catho- 
 lic Church in the Diocese of Vincennes." in Ne-i' York Freeman's Jour- 
 •uif Jan. 26, 1S84. 
 
 1884. "Pierre Menard .... stopped at the Post de 
 Vincennes, founded (1772) by Bissot de Vincennes, another 
 
 this circumstance that the organizations were denominated " troops of the 
 marine." although they performed no maritime service.— 6tr Suite, llis- 
 toirc lies Canadicns-Francais, No\. V. p. 107. 
 
52 SIEUli DE VINCENXES. 
 
 child of Quebec. . . ." — Suite, Histoire de Canadiciis-Frau- 
 
 cais, \'\\, 5 I . 
 
 1884. " De Vinsenne came and erected the fort in 1702, 
 
 but he did not remain He subsequently returiied 
 
 here and remained in the command of the fort until 1736. 
 .... That he returned here after building the fort and 
 his northern campaign in 1 704, there is abundant evidence to 
 be found remaining in the official records at Kaskaskia. He 
 married in 1733 the daughter of Philip Longpee, of that 
 place. His father-in-law died in Kaskaskia in 1734, and an 
 inventory was taken of his estate in September of the same 
 year, which -^hows that de Vinsenne was then at the fort here. 
 There are also numerous documents preserved in the record- 
 er's ofifice at Kaskaskia signed by him thus: 
 
 " ' Francois Morgan de Vincennes commandant of the 
 troops of the king in the fort upon Ouabasche.' " — Cauthorn, 
 Brief Sketch of Fincenncs, 17. 
 
 1884. " I shall next name that illustrious man in whose 
 honor Vincennes was named, .... who was styled by Rt. 
 Rev. Bishop Brute thus: 'Francois Morgan de Vinsenne,' 
 but whose correct appellation, I am inclined to believe . . . 
 was this: 'Jean Bapti.ste Bissot, Sieur de Vinsenne.' Rt. 
 Rev. Bishop de la Hailandriere, on what authority I do not 
 know, said he was of Irish descent. But we think there is 
 no room for reasonable doubt that he was a Canadian by 
 birth and of French origin 
 
 ". . . . He left a daughter, Mary Theresa, who married 
 Louis De Lisle, from whom the De Lisles, of our country arc 
 doubtless descended, /did 24, 2$ • 
 
 1884. " . . . . I am glad to find you after me in the 
 Vincennes matter .... I had never struck on the Margane 
 family, which explains Law's Morgan. You are evidently 
 on the right trail. The point of age I do not think conclu- 
 sive. Some, like M. de St. Pierre, whom Washington met, 
 
SIEVli 1>K VIXVKXNES. 53 
 
 were at exposed points, requiring activity, though of great 
 
 age. 
 
 " I . Jean Baptistc Bissot— If he died in 1 7 1 9 that disposes 
 of him and of me so far as he is concerned. 
 
 " 2 . Frangois Marganc, Sicur de Vincenncs, nephew proba- 
 bly of No. I "—Shea, Letter to Mr. Mallet, Feb. 
 
 5, 1884. MS. 
 
 1886. " . . . . The following points, I think, arc well 
 
 established : 
 
 "(a) In 1733 the Sieur de Vincennes married a daughter 
 
 of Philip Longpre at Kaskaskia. 
 
 "(b) In 1 734 Madame de Vincennes was at Post Vincennes. 
 "(c) In 1736 Monsieur de Vincennes lost his life in the 
 expedition against the Chickasaws. 
 
 "(d) De Vincennes left a daughter named Mary Theresa, 
 who married a person named De ITsle. 
 
 "My theory is that the Sieur de Vincennes, who was so 
 prominent in Indian affairs in the west from 1702 to 17 19 was 
 Jean Baptiste Bissot, second Sieur de Vincennes; and that 
 the one who was at Vincennes in I733 was Frangois Mar- 
 ganne de la Valtrie, third Sieur de Vincennes."— Mallet, Lct- 
 %rto Rev. Mr. Tan^i(ay,Nov. 17, iS^<^- MS. 
 
 1886. "I agree with you in saying that the Francis Mor- 
 gan of your historians can be none other than Francois Mar- 
 \rane dc la Valtrie. I would observe, however, that it is not 
 Frangois married to Angelique Guyon— but Pierre Frangois 
 Margane, Sieur Des Forets. In fact Frangois, husband of 
 ' Angelique Guyon, died after 1739."— Tanguay, Letter to 
 Mr. Mallet, Dec. 6, 1886. MS. 
 
 1886. ". . T\\c. com^:iny has ordered the establishment 
 
 of a post on the Ouabache river, and has requested the gov- 
 ernor of Canada to give orders, on his part, to Sicur de Vm- 
 cennes who commands at the village of the Ouyatenons- 
 
54 
 
 SIEI'li DK VlSi KSSES. 
 
 Miamis, livinfj towards the upper Ouabache. to come to an 
 understanding^ with the commander of the new post. . . . 
 
 ". . . . I\I. de Boisbriant .... tliinks it necessary to 
 give the command of it to Sieur de X'incennes, who is already 
 a half-pay lieutenant of infantry in Loui>iana, and who can 
 do better with the Miamis than any one el.-^e. 
 
 "To induce Sieur de X'inccnnes to attach himself to the 
 colony of Louisiana, Mr. Perrier will advise him that he has 
 obtained for him, from the compan\', an annual gratuity of 
 three hundred livres. which will be paid with his salary of 
 half-pay lieutenant." — " Memoire de la Compagnie des In- 
 des," 30 Sept. 1726: in Margry, Dlconvcrtcs ct Etablissc- 
 mcnts des Fraiii^ais dans U Amkriquc ScptcntrionaU\ \'I, 659, 
 660. 
 
 1888 "This service of Dubuisson lasted but a 
 
 short time, for Frangois Morgan, a nephew of the late Sieur 
 de Vincennes, who had succeeded to his title, was sent to fill 
 his place with the Miamis, with whom he soon became as in- 
 fluential as his uncle had been.* .... 
 
 *•• The fief of Vincennes was established in 1C72. The Sieur de Vin- 
 ce!ines who died in 17 19 was Jean Baptiste Bissot. the son of the first 
 holder of the fief. Clara F'rances Bissot. one of his sisters, was the wife 
 of Louis Joliet. Louise Bissot, another sister, married Seraphin Morfjaiu-, 
 and her son Francois Mor<;ane (he dropped the e final in writing his name) 
 was the founder of Post Vint ennes. The proper orthography of the name 
 is Vincennes, though our founder usually wrote it \'insenne. and others 
 
 in divers ways The Sieurs de \'incenncs must not h.e confounded 
 
 with the members of tlit St. Vincents family, of whom there were two or 
 three in tiie French service in the Northwest " — Dunn, Indiana, j^ty. 
 
 1889. " . . . . Whether the post [Vincennes] was 
 established near 1702 by some unknown person (could it 
 have possibly been Jean Baptiste Bissot, the elder Sieur de 
 Vincennes?), or, as Mr. Dunn would have it, it was founded 
 by Francois Morgane, the younger Sieur de Vincennes, must 
 
siEiii in-: vise ESSES. 55 
 
 be left at present undetermined.— Bryan. •' Indiana's First 
 Settlement." in Mai^azinc of American History, XXI, 394. 
 1889. '•.... The only evidence offered as to tlie 
 date [of the founding of Post Vincennes] was the certificate 
 of i.ouis St. Ant^^e that he commanded at Post Vincennes 
 ' with a garrison of regular troops from the year 1736 until the 
 vear 1764; .... that, further, the .said post was established 
 a number of years before m>- command, under that of Mon- 
 sieur de Vincesnc, officer of the troops, whom I succeeded 
 by order of the king,' 
 
 " While this certificate does not furnish the date, it estab- 
 lishes one point of importance, and that is that the Sieur de 
 Vincennes whom St. Ange succeeded was the one who 
 founded the post; and that man was Frangois Morgane. It 
 is gratifying to note, amid all other confusion, that all tradi- 
 tion and all known records agree on this. If this fact be ke[)t 
 in mind, and it be remembered that Frangois Morgane was 
 not Sieur de Vincennes until after the death of his uncle, 
 Jean Baptiste Bissot, in 1719, the solution of the question 
 becomes comparatively simple. At this time the dividing 
 line on the Wabash between the jurisdictions of Louisiana 
 and Canada was the site of Terre Haute. The new Sieur de 
 Vincennes was in the service of Canada, and took the place 
 of his deceased uncle with the Miami and Ouyatanon Indians 
 on the Maumee and upper Wabash. At this time, too, the 
 French of Louisiana became alarmed at the approach of 
 the English to the Mississippi valley, and repeated calls were 
 made for the establishment of a post on the 'Ouabache.' 
 These calls are couched in language which shows that there 
 was not then any post on the Wabash or lower Ohio. . . ." 
 —Dunn, "The Founding of Vincennes," in Magadnc of 
 American History, XXII. 144. 1 45- 
 
 I S89. ' 'Jean Baptiste Bi.ssot. Sieur de Vincennes. Canadian 
 explorer, b. in Quebec in January, 1688; d. in Illinois in 
 
-g siEi n itt: visf ESSES. 
 
 1736. He was the tenth son of Francois Bissot. ... He 
 foui;ht ai;ain>t the Iroquois at Mackinaw at the age of ten, 
 entered the Canadian army as ensign in 1 70 1, and was em- 
 ployed in the west. . . . Early in 1736 he was .sent to assist 
 in the expedition against the Chickasaws.'" — Apphtons Cy- 
 clopiedia of American Bioi^raphy , W. 298. 
 
 1S90. " Jean Baptiste Bis>ot. Sieur de V'incennes 
 
 died about 1 7 17, and his nephew. Pierre Margane, son of his 
 sister. Louise Bissot, who obtained an ensign's commission 
 in 1699. assumed the style of Sieur de Vincennes, and re- 
 tained much of his influence in the west. He was sent to the 
 present Indiana to control the Miamis. He erected a post 
 known as F"t. Ouiatenon. and about 1835 another on the Wa- 
 bash, which took his name. ..." Shea. 'The Hoosier 
 State," in The Catholic Xcivs. Sept. 10. 1S90. 
 
 1S92. 'Charles Francois and Jean Baptiste Bissot were 
 the proprietors of the 5eignor>' of \'incenncs. They assumed 
 the name of that estate. Both married at Montreal daughters 
 of the surgeon Forestier. Charles FVangois does not appear 
 to have left descendants. Jean Bapti-te adopted the military 
 service as a profession and illustrated the name of the Bissot 
 de Vincennes. 
 
 ' ' He was the founder of the post of Ougatamou. In 1 736, 
 he died, burned by the Chicachas. The name of the capital 
 of Indiana. Vincennes. is borrowed from that of this officer." 
 
 Roy. " F'rangois Bissot." in Mlmoires dc la Societe Roy ale 
 
 dti Canada. Sec. i. 1892, p. 39. 
 
 The above excerpts and notes contain the only statements, 
 serving to lead to the identity of our hero, that are accessible 
 or known to this writer, and from these, it must be confessed, 
 that it is not an easy matter to determine his true name or es- 
 tablish his family connections. Archbishop Spalding and 
 Rev. Mr. Alerding. on the authority of Bishops Brute and 
 Hailandriere of the diocese of Vincennes. re<i^ard him as of 
 
.SlElli DE \'IS< ENNES. 57 
 
 Irish extraction; Judge Law. the historian Dillon. Archbishop 
 Spaldinj^ and Kcv. Mr. Alcrdin^; t,nve him the name of Mor- 
 gan, a prominent Irish name; the historians, Charlevoix. 
 Bancroft. Bibaud. Shea. Ferland, Daniel, Margry. Lossing. 
 Suite, Roy and Dunn, the Ambassador Poussin, the Genea- 
 logist Tanguay and the editor of Appleton's Cyclop;edia of 
 Biography, call him a Canadian; Shea, Ferland, Daniel, 
 Tanguay, Margry. Lossing, Suite and Roy give his family 
 name as Bissot ; Shea, Tanguay. Suite and Roy believed him 
 to have been Jean Baptiste Bissot. son of Francois Bissot ; 
 Ferland say- that he was the grandson of Frangois Bissot ; 
 Margry finds that he was the son of Jean Bissot; Suite — very 
 probably through a typographical error — gives the name of an 
 officer named Coulanges Bissot as burned at the stake with 
 De Vincennes ; Thomas and the joint authors Goodrich and 
 Tuttle print his name Saint Vincennes or Saint Vincent ; Dunn 
 observes that his name must not be confounded with those of 
 the Saint Vincent family; Shea, Tanguay and Dunn, after 
 recent researches, agree that Margane de la Valtrie is the cor- 
 rect name ; Tanguay finds the name to be Pierre Frangois 
 Margane, Sieur Des F'orets ; Shea concludes it to be Pierre 
 Margane ; Dunn adheres to Frangois Morgan, the form of the 
 name used by western writers during the last half century, 
 but connects it, generally, with the Canadian family of Mar- 
 gane de la Valtrie; he was a half-pay lieutenant in 1726, ac- 
 cording to the memorial of the Royal Company of the Indies, 
 whilst Daniel, from his compilation of Canadian documents, 
 finds that he was ensign in 1732, and aged forty-four years. 
 What are we to think of all these discrepancies and contra- 
 dictions? 
 
 The statements that our hero was of Irish extraction, that 
 he had descendants living in Brittany, that he belonged to 
 the Carignan-Salieres regiment of regulars, that he fought 
 the Iroquois at the age of ten years, must be considered as 
 
58 SIECB DE riKi ESSES. 
 
 more tleductioos from premises really having no foundation 
 in fact. Many other ab-urd. or. al least, erroneous ^t.lte- 
 ments in the above citation^ might be noticed, but the pur- 
 pose of this study does not admit of their special examina- 
 tion and conrtction- 
 
 The cause of the disagreement in the statements of the 
 writers on Siear dc Mocenno is that the suggestion made by 
 Dillon in 1S50. to the effect that there may have been two 
 otncers in the west bearing that name, did not receive earl>- 
 attention. That there were two, and perhaps three, Sieurs 
 de Vincennes to the French troops serving in the Mississippi 
 X'aliey must be apparent to the reader of the collection of 
 excerpts and notes reproduced in this study. It appears 
 equally certain that the Sieur de Vincennes who was on duty 
 in the west earlier than Sept. 3. 1695, and who wxs agreed 
 upon by Governor Frontenac and his council as the com- 
 mander for the Miami? in 1697, and who died in the Miamis 
 village in the \-icinit}- of the present city of Ft. Wayne in 
 17 19. or earlier, was Jean Baptiste Bissot, born in Quebec, 
 Januar\- 21. 166S. cc*-proprietor of the fief of Vincennes in 
 Canada. This pdgment long since formed by this writer is 
 confirmed by a copy of an authentic document which has 
 come into his possesvsion ?ince commencing this writing. It 
 is dated Fort Paatchartrain. July 9, 1717, and mentions 
 Sieur de Vincennes. -x'no was present, thus : 
 
 ' ■ Jtiin baptii'i tUM Equicr Sr. dc Vinccune Ensiij^ne Jans 
 Us traupes tic la marifii ci commandant pour Ic Roy aux 
 miamis." 
 
 That another Sseiir de Vincennes commanded on ^he Wa- 
 bash, after the death of Jean Baptiste Bissot de Vincennes, 
 and that he became the founder of the old capital of Indiana, 
 before being burned at the stake in 1736, in the Chickasaw 
 country-, is also evident Thus we are still confronted with 
 the principal inqniirj- — ^Who was Sieur de Vincennes, "whose 
 
sif:ri: i>t: mm kssks. 59 
 
 nnmr, in honor of the founcUr of a state," says so distin- 
 ^niished an authority as Hancroft, "is borne by the oldest 
 settlement of Indiana"? 
 
 I. Of the children of Jean Baptiste Hissot de Vinccnnes 
 only one may have been the per>on it is desired to identify. 
 He is Francois Marie Hi-sot. born at Montreal, June 17, 
 1700. There is nothing known of him except the fact of his 
 birth, which is found in the baptismal register in the church 
 of Notre Dame at Montreal. If living, he would have been 
 about nineteen \cars at the death of his father; thirty-three 
 years at the date of the marriage of Sieur de \'incennes with 
 the daughter of Philip Longpre. at Kaskaskia ; and thirty-six 
 years at the period of the Chickasaw war of 1736. 
 
 II. Of the brothers of Jean Baptiste Bissotdc Vinccnnes — 
 
 1. Jean FranQois, born in 1649, died when fourteen years 
 
 of age. 
 
 2. Guillaume, born in 1661, is reported as being six years 
 of age at the census taken in 1667. published by Suite, and 
 fifteen years of age in 1676, when the inventory of the family 
 property was taken after his father's death, on which occasion 
 Louis Jolliet appeared for him as tutor. If then living he 
 would have been seventy-five years of age at the time of the 
 Chickasaw war. 
 
 3. Charles Frangois, Sieur de Vinccnnes, born in 1664. 
 married at Montreal in 1699, and had a daughter born to him 
 at Lachine — the Canadian gate to the west — in 1702. Noth- 
 ing further is known of him, and his own and his wife's deaths 
 have not been found in the church registers. He would have 
 been seventy-two years of age in 1736. 
 
 4. Francois Joseph, born in 1673, died in 1737; and is 
 buried in the church at Quebec. 
 
 It does not seem probable, from the above, that an>' of his 
 brothers succeeded him in the administration of the Indian 
 affairs among the Miamis; unless, indeed, Charles Frangois, 
 
(3q SIEUJi DE VINCENNES. 
 
 who was also co-proprietor of the fief of Vincennes, is the 
 person. His . Ivanced age, and the important, all-pervading 
 fact that the western writers have for more than half a century 
 maintained that the Sieur de Vincennes who founded Indiana 
 was a Morgan, not a Bissot, causes one to pause before de- 
 termining that he is the subject of our inquiry. 
 
 The western tradition, that the founder of Indiana was 
 Francis Morgan, naturally leads to an examination of the 
 claims of the Canadian family of Margane dela Valtrie, allied 
 by marriage to the Bis.sots, to have illustrated western history. 
 The names of "Morgan" and "Margane" are too much 
 alike not to have attracted attention; and Shea, in his more 
 recent writings, and Dunn, the most recent of the Indiana 
 historians (not to mention others) have found among the sons 
 of Sieur de la Valtrie, the last Sieur de Vincennes who com- 
 manded on the Wabash. It is to be remarked, however, that 
 they are not agreed upon the particular person. Shea desig- 
 nating Pierre Margane, and Dunn Francois Margane, as the 
 person. These discrepancies, by so competent authorities, 
 suggest insuperable difficulties in arriving at a satisfactory 
 conclusion from available historical sources. 
 
 Besides four brothers, Jean Baptiste Bissot de Vincennes 
 had seven sisters, all of whom married and became the par- 
 ents of numerous children. The eldest, Louise Bissot, born 
 165 I. married at Quebec, in 1668, Seraphim Margane de la 
 Valtrie. formerly lieutenant in the regiment de Lignieres, and 
 later Seignior of La Valtrie, near Montreal, where he died in 
 1699. Tanguay, in his genealogical dictionary, gives the 
 names of ten children, four sons and six daughters, issue of 
 this marriage. The sons were : 
 
 I. Charles Seraphim, born at Montreal in 1669. He was 
 ensign in the army and was killed in 1693, by the Iroquois in 
 ambush, near Montreal, on his return voyage from Mackinac, 
 whither he had gone to escort Lieutenant D'Argenteuil with 
 
SIEUR DE VINCENNES. 6 1 
 
 dispatches to Mr. De Louvigny, commandant in the upper 
 country. 
 
 2. Frangois Marie, born at Montreal in 1672, married at 
 Beauport in 1712, Angelique Guyon-Dcs Prcs ; date and place 
 of death unknown. He was captain in the marine service, 
 and seignior of the fief of Du Buisson. His wife, Angelique 
 Guyon-Des Pres, died in I739- 
 
 3. Pierre Paul, born in 1679, at La Valtrie Manor, mar- 
 ried at Montreal, in 1732, Louise Charlotte D'Aillebout; 
 date and place of death not known. He was Sieur des Forets, 
 seignior of La Valtrie and captain in the troops of the king. 
 His last child; Pierre Paul, who became lieutenant in the regi- 
 ment of the Dauphin, was born in 1743. 
 
 4. Jean Baptiste, born in 1683 at Contrecoeur. Nothing 
 further is known of him. 
 
 A Sieur de la Valtrie was commander at Lake Nipigon in 
 
 1739. 
 
 The youngCijt daughter, Louise Margaret Margane, born at 
 
 La Valtrie in 169 1, married in Quebec, in 1713, Claude 
 Frangois Du Tisne, ensign of an independent company of the 
 marine. He became one of Governor Bienville's mo.st dis- 
 tinguished officers in the Government of Louisiana. 
 
 From the above it will be seen that the family of La Val- 
 trie was prominent in the profession of arms ; and it is not 
 improbable that one of the family may have succeeded his 
 uncle, Jean Baptiste Bissot de Vincennes in the west, but 
 there is absolutely nothing to show — from the works of his- 
 torians and genealogists — that such was the fact. Nor does 
 it appear that others of his nephews of the Maheu, Charets, 
 Porlier, Gourdeau de Beaulieu, Jolliet, Bcnac, Du Vault de 
 Valrennes, and Lambert-Dumont families succeeded him. 
 
 The husband of his niece Genevieve Margane de la Val- 
 trie, Mr. Charles Legardeur. Sieur de I'lsle. ensign, was at 
 Kaskaskia on Nov. 7, 17 19, and it would .seem that being in 
 
g2 SIErn DE VINCESXES. 
 
 the country he might have succeeded his relative, but beyond 
 the fact of his relationship and of his presence in the upper 
 counlry, at and shortly after the time of his death, there is 
 nothing to identify him as succeeding to his command among 
 
 the Miamis. 
 
 Is it not possible that the Sieur dc Yinccnnes whose identity 
 we have endeavored to establish was not born in Canada 
 after all, but was a son of the Illinois country or of Louisiana? 
 The problem of the identity of Sieur de Vincennes is not 
 easy of solution. Original researches must be made in the 
 archives of the old French settlements in the west, as well as 
 in the minutes of the old-time notaries, and in the church 
 registers of the old parishes in Canada, and the results must 
 be given publicity, through the medium of the Indiana His- 
 torical Societv Publications, or by data furnished to the 
 writers specially interested in the study of the question, with 
 the views of the contributors, before a satisfactory answer can 
 be given to the question— Who was Sieur de Vincennes? 
 
 Whatever his origin, his family, and his name, the great 
 state of Indiana owes him a monument, illustrative of his 
 noble and heroic deeds, and all interested in the state's honor 
 and glorv must cherish the abiding hope that it will promptly 
 meet its 'obligation to the memory of its founder, whose sur- 
 name it perpetuates in Vincennes— its f^rst settlement; the 
 place where the American flag was first unfurled over its tern- 
 tor)', by Canado- Americans, citizens of the commonwealth 
 of Virginia; the oldest of its cities; and its f^rst capital ;~as 
 soon as his identity shall have been historically established. 
 
 EuMONi) Mallet. 
 
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