Relation of Henri de Tonty concerning the explorations of LaSalle from 1678 to 1683
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Relation of the Voyages, Discoveries, and Death, of Father James Marquette, and the Subsequent Voyages of Father Claudius Allouez
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Henri de Tonti was an Italian soldier, explorer, and fur trader in the service of France.
Background
Henry was born probably at Paris in 1649. He was the son of Lorenzo de Tonti, originator of the tontine form of life insurance, who had fled from Naples after taking part in an insurrection. Tonty's mother was Isabelle de Liette (or Desliettes), and he was the eldest of three children, all of whom later came to New France.
Career
Henry entered the French army at the age of eighteen and,
Tonty was introduced by Prince de Conti to the explorer Robert Cavelier. Sieur de la Salle in 1678, when the latter was seeking assistance in France for his exploration projects in North America. Tonty immediately enlisted in La Salle's service, and thenceforth gave him a loyalty and devotion that were La Salle's greatest aids in carrying out his plans. After their arrival in Canada they went at once to La Salle's seigniory at Fort Frontenac on Lake Ontario; thence Tonty was detailed to the Niagara River to superintend the building of La Salle's ship, the Griffon, the first sailing vessel on the upper Great Lakes.
Tonty went in advance at the time of sailing and was taken on board at the Detroit River. Thence he and La Salle sailed for Michilimackinac, where Tonty again left ship, coasting down the east shore of Lake Michigan to join La Salle at the St. Joseph River. Together they advanced into Illinois and in the winter of 1679-80 built Fort Crêvecoeur on Lake Peoria. In the spring La Salle found it necessary to return to Fort Frontenac, and Tonty was left in command in the Illinois country. There his men soon deserted; he was unable to complete his fort; and the summer was filled with difficulties of every sort. Yet he never despaired, and when in the autumn a war party of Iroquois Indians entered the Valley breathing vengeance upon the Illinois, he fearlessly visited their camp to protest their raid upon French-allied Indians. He was seriously wounded, but escaped with his life. Then, finding he could not calm the storm, with five companions he retreated through the Wisconsin woods, living upon roots and gleanings from the deserted Indian villages.
Toward the end of the year 1680 he finally reached Green Bay and safety. After recruiting his health and recovering from his wound, he left for Michilimackinac, which he reached in June 1681 just too late to meet his cousin Daniel Greysolon Duluth. La Salle, arriving the next day, was overjoyed at finding Tonty, who he feared had perished in Illinois. Together they returned thither once more, built Fort St. Louis on the Illinois, and gathered there a settlement of French and Indians.
In the spring of 1682 they explored the Mississippi, finding its mouth and there taking possession of the whole Valley for France.
In the spring of 1683 La Salle left for France to prepare to colonize Louisiana. Tonty never saw his chief again. In France La Salle secured a captaincy for his faithful lieutenant left in Illinois. It was 1686 before Tonty could undertake a voyage to join La Salle; that year he went down the Mississippi without finding any trace of his leader, and returned unsuccessful. The next year he was called upon by Governor Denonville of New France to lead his Indian forces against the Iroquois. At Fort des Sables he also met his cousin Duluth and returned west with him in the autumn of 1687.
At his post in Illinois he found Jean Cavelier, brother of La Salle, and Henri Joutel, neither of whom revealed to him the fact of La Salle's death. In March 1689 he was still unaware of it, as one of his letters shows, but in September of that year one of his men, whom he had left to found a settlement in Arkansas, brought him news of his beloved leader's assassination. He started south in December to try to find the colonists La Salle had left, but returned unsuccessful.
For a decade longer he remained in Illinois, bringing settlers, trade goods, and missionaries from Canada. He was respected and beloved by all, and was the true founder of Illinois.
He wrote two brief memoirs of his experiences, one covering the years 1678-83, the other covering the years 1678-91. A later memoir published under his name in 1697--Dernières Découvertes dans l'Amérique Septentrionale de Monsieur de la Salle par Chevalier de Tonti--he declared spurious.
In 1700, hearing of the settlement made by Pierre le Moyne, Sieur de'Iberville, near the mouth of the Mississippi, he asked permission to join the new colony, and for four years gave his valuable services to Louisiana in exploration and in conciliation of the Indians. He died near Mobile, probably from yellow fever.
(Lang:- eng, Pages 209. Reprinted in 2015 with the help of...)
Personality
Serving in Italian waters, he lost his right hand in the explosion of a grenade. He replaced it with a metal hand, which he wore covered with a glove, and which he sometimes used with great effect upon rebellious Indians; from this he was known as "the man with the iron hand. "
He was a modest person, not given to boasting of his undertakings.
Quotes from others about the person
As La Salle wrote of him to the Prince de Conti: "His honorable character and his amiable disposition were well known to you; but perhaps you would not have thought him capable of doing things for which a strong constitution, an acquaintance with the country, and the use of both hands seemed absolutely necessary. Nevertheless his energy and address make him equal to any thing" (quoted in Francis Parkman, La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West, 1869, ).
Connections
He never married, and left his property to his younger brother Alphonse.