It will be noted that there is an apparently irreconcilable disagreement among the four reports considered above as to the amount of James D. Eads's defalcation. No two reports agree in fixing the same sum as the amount of the deficiency. The legislative Committee on Ways and Means reported a shortage of $98,344.75, the report of Mr. Beck fixed the amount at $65,423.79, the report of the State commissioners stated the deficiency as being $71,880.97, and the findings of the referees fixed his defalcation at $95,993.31.

Mr. Beck's estimate is the most favorable to Dr. Eads. The report rendered by the Committee on Ways and Means differed from that of Mr. Beck in that certain notes rejected by the committee were accepted by Mr. Beck because of his having obtained new or sufficient security. Again, the reports of the State commissioners and Mr. Beck disagree, owing to the rejection by the former of security accepted by the latter. The conclusion of the referees differs from the preceding three, since in this report is incorporated a large interest total not found in any of the others.

It will be recalled that the report of the State commissioners was accepted by Governor Lowe and Attorney General Rice as being the most conclusive verdict upon the amount of the shortage. Upon the report of these men the Attorney General based his civil suit against Eads and his sureties, and this contemporary view may be accepted as evidence of its accuracy and reliability. Moreover, the investigation leading up to the report of the commissioners was most thorough, systematic, and extensive and it contained within itself a critical summary and digest of its predecessors. If, therefore, this report is accepted as authoritative the defalcation of James D. Eads will be found to have been approximately $71,880.97, not including accrued interest except as noted.

THOMAS TEAKLE

DES MOINES IOWA

FRENCH EXPEDITION AGAINST THE SAC AND FOX INDIANS IN THE IOWA COUNTRY,

1734-1735

For many years after the French began to interest themselves in the religious and economic life of the Indians of the Upper Mississippi Valley, peaceful relations between the two races prevailed to such an extent that French missionaries and traders met with considerable success. They came to the tribes of the Great Valley from Canada (New France) chiefly by way of the Great Lakes, Green Bay, the Fox River, a few miles of portage by land, and the Wisconsin River. But there was one tribe of savages which took no fancy to the invaders, gave them no welcome, and after a period of passive resistance burst into open hostility: the Foxes, dwelling upon the banks of the Fox River, in 1712 raised their tomahawks not only against French traders and Jesuits, but against all the tribes which had formed alliances with the French. And so the Fox-Wisconsin waterway became deserted and the business in furs and peltries in the upper country was practically ruined.

Then after fifteen years of bloody wars between the Foxes and neighboring tribes, the French and their Indian allies succeeded in crushing the rebels in two battles, the Foxes being all but exterminated. Scarcely had the French reestablished themselves in the Wisconsin and Minnesota country, however, when an event occurred in 1733 which had two important consequences for the Iowa country: the Sac Indians, already filled with sympathy for the fastvanishing tribe of their Fox neighbors, accidentally shot and killed a prominent French official near Green Bay, and

dreading their inability to atone for the death of so great a man, they cast in their lot with the remnant of the Foxes. The allied tribes accordingly sought refuge across the Mississippi River in the Iowa wilderness.1

With this discordant tribal element once more revived into a formidable menace the French could not hope to secure a profitable monopoly of the Indian trade. Then it was that Beauharnois, Governor-General of Canada, learning that the allies had established themselves in two forts upon the Wapsipinicon River, decided to send an expedition against them. Accordingly a party of eighty-four French, "consisting of seven officers and the remainder of Cadets, Sergeants, Soldiers, and some settlers', eagerly volunteered for the service, and Iroquois to the number of one hundred and thirty, as well as one hundred Hurons and Pottawattamies, also expressed the greatest willingness to go along to take revenge upon their Sac and Fox enemies.

Captain Nicolas Joseph de Noyelles, a very efficient officer, "greatly loved by the Savages," with a "Constitution capable of Enduring the fatigues of an Expedition which can be undertaken only in a very inclement season, for it will be necessary to proceed a very great distance on foot and on Snow-shoes', was selected to command the party, and he set out from Montreal with his detachment on the 14th of August, 1734, with orders to go to Detroit, to direct his route by Michilimakinac or in a straight line overland, and in the latter case to await the arrival of Sieur de Celoron in command of an Indian force. The Captain had strict instructions to grant peace to the Sacs "if they consent to give up the Renards; If not to destroy both nations And to let our Savages eat them up."2

1 Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. XVII, pp. xiv, xv, 58, 59, 129, 182, 189, 206.

2 See Beauharnois' yearly report of the proposed expedition in reply to the

Captain de Noyelles' report on the results of his campaign was found among documents in the archives of the French Minister of Colonies at Paris, and the translation which is reprinted below was published by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin in Volume XVII of its Collections, pp. 221-229. The battle described in these pages is the only engagement of its kind recorded in Iowa history. JACOB VAN DER ZEE

THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF IOWA

IOWA CITY IOWA

Copy of the Relation of the Journey of the Sieur de Noyelle [s] Commanding the War-Party against the Renards and Sakis, sent to Monsieur the Marquis de Beauharnois.

3

MONSIEUR - AS I have already reported my march to you from the time of my departure Until my arrival among the Ouyatonons, I have the honor to send You the account of what occurred after the 2nd of January, when I left that place, Down to the present date, the 23rd of April.

When I arrived among the Ouyatonons, I went to see King's memorial in the Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. XVII, pp. 206210. On p. 112 is to be found the following brief biographical note:

"Nicolas Joseph des Noyelles, Sieur de Fleurimont, was one of the best known officers in the Canadian service. Born in France (1694), he was ensign in the colonial troops at the early age of sixteen, a lieutenant in 1721, and captain in 1732. During the last war with the English, Des Noyelles was lieutenant-colonel in command at Trois Rivières. His earliest known service in the West was among the Miami; his unsuccessful expedition against the Foxes in 1734 is detailed in the present volume. This did not prevent his appointment to command at Detroit in 1736, where he served about two years. In 1743, Des Noyelles was appointed to succeed La Vèrendrye in pursuing Northwest explorations, and for four years, with but little success, he pushed toward the Rocky Mountains. In 1747, he was made commandant at Mackinac, where, for two years, his son had been second in command. Des Noyelles died before 1767, when his eldest son was living in France, and the younger at Quebec." 3 The French had a post among the Ouiatanon Indians about four miles below the present city of Lafayette, Indiana.

several Kikapous who were Six Leagues from there, and asked them where the Renards might be found. They replied, laying a red calumet at my feet: "They are in that direction" (turning round); That if I wished to obtain more positive Information about them I had only to go to Masanne; that I would find their principal village there and their People knew where the Renards dwelt. When I went to Them they told me that the Renards were not far away and that they would take me to them. This, Monsieur, was at the time when the Hurons and Iroquois began to give me Trouble notwithstanding all my complaisance toward Them, and all the promises they had made me to listen to your word of which I was the bearer. They told me that they wanted to go and eat up six cabins of Sakis who had taken refuge at the River St. Joseph. I gave them to understand that your intention, Monsieur, was not to strike the Sakis if they asked for their lives, and if they wished to unite with Us by delivering up the Renards; that most of the Nations who were allied with them had asked us for their pardon on that condition; That if they went to Kill People who had taken refuge among the French in order not to be included in the number of the Rebels, it would have a very bad effect in the upper Countries, and would deprive all the Nations of the confidence that they have in Us. All these discourses, Monsieur, were of no avail. Seventy Hurons started with ten Pouteoüatamis of Detroit, saying to me that they wished to eat up those six cabins. I know not what they have done in connection with this. You Perceive, Monsieur, how this Action weakened our forces."

I found among the Kikapous a Missoury chief who was

4 This has reference no doubt to the Kickapoo village on the Rock River in western Illinois, opposite the present city of Davenport, Iowa.

5 In Michigan.

6 This defection reduced the little force to about 240 men.