Ohio History Journal

ANTOINE FRANCOIS SAUGRAIN (DE VIGNI.)   "THE FIRST SCIENTIST OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY."*   N. P. DANDRIDGE, M. D. In presenting my address, which custom has made one of the duties of the presiding officer, I shall depart somewhat from the practice of my predecessors, and instead of bringing before you some medical question based on my own work, or attempt-

ing a discussion of some topic now of active interest, I shall take you to the back- woods and try and interest you in the life and exploits of a pioneer physician, a life whose fine moral and intel- lectual fiber, I venture to as- sert, has much that is worthy of our consideration and re- spect. I shall not be able to point out any such monumental work as was left behind by Daniel Drake in his "Dis- eases of the Mississippi Val- ley." Indeed, I have little to tell that is strictly medical or surgical history, but I hope to depict one of high

scientific attainments and true culture with all the elements of character which become the physician and the man. Our wander- ing course will be a long one, and you will find yourself far afield as we cross over mountains and through the wilderness, and float down rivers whose banks conceal the danger of ever-hostile In- * President's address delivered at a meeting of the American Surgical Association, at St. Louis. (192)

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Antoine Francois Saugrain (De Vigni).        193

 

dians, until at last our winding way will lead to the small French

village of St. Louis, under its last French Governor, Zenon Tru-

deau. The courage of our hero in danger, his resourcefulness in

difficulties, and his unfailing amiability and sweetness of char-

acter made him beloved by all who came in contact with him -

and makes him a worthy predecessor of the great profession of

this great city - a worthy son of France, the great country which

gave him birth, and certainly entitles him to a place as bon com-

arade among the fellows of the American Surgical Association.

My information on the subject of my sketch has been largely

obtained from a paper by Eugene Bliss of Cincinnati, presented

to the American Antiquarian Society, and from the collection

of papers relating to the settlement of Gallipolis, collected and

arranged by John M. Newton, and now in the Cincinnati His-

torical Society, and a pamphlet on the "First Scientist of the

Mississippi Valley," by W. V. Byars. From all of these I have

freely drawn.

Antoine Francois Saugrain (de Vigni) was born in Paris

Feb. 17, 1763. He came from a long line of "librarians, book-

sellers and printers," who, as far back as Charles IX and Henry

of Navarre, had served the royal family of France. The de Vigni,

which was but occasionally used, seems to be explained from the

custom at that time in vogue in Paris of sending children to

nurse into the country, and on their return they were known by

the name of the village in which they had lived. Little is known

of his early life, but it is evident he was given a thorough gen-

eral scientific education, and that he studied "chemistry, mineral-

ogy and physics." His general scientific knowledge stood him in

good stead in the wilderness and he was ever ready to put in to the

most practical use in his daily wants. His knowledge of miner-

alogy made his advice often called for in the development of

the mines in the Ohio Valley. He supplied himself with ink

from a natural chalybeate water and an infusion of white oak

bark, and when in need of a fire lighted it from lens made by

two watch crystals. Wherever he found himself he established

furnaces and chemical laboratories and had his electric batteries,

and in time of leisure he made thermometers and barometers,

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which he readily sold. He was most observant of the resources

of the country and its inhabitants, and has left acute comments

on both.

He probably never practiced in Paris, for about the time

his studies were completed his family, who were royalists, were

compelled to flee across the Rhine, and for a time he did not

know their whereabouts. Learning of a party of French coming

to America, he joined them, and seems to have entered the ser-

vice of the King of Spain, for we soon find him engaged in

mineralogic investigations in Mexico, the friend of the viceroy,

Don Galvez. 'This viceroy Humboldt calls "the enlightened

Galvez." After his death Saugrain returned to France, but was

never afterward able to shake himself free from the attraction

which the life in the wilds possessed for him. In 1787 we learn

from Brissot de Warville that Saugrain again came to America

with a M. Piquet, a French philosopher, fully imbued with the

ideas of Rosseau then in vogue on the "Rights of Man," and

who believed in the "primitive innocence and goodness of the

children of the forest." The two dined the night before they left

Paris with Dr. Guillotin, who had married Saugrain's sister, and

who, at that time, was undisturbed by his future celebrity. Piquet

was a botanist, and Kentucky and the valley of the Ohio were

their objective points for the purpose of studying the flora and

probably also to ascertain the feasibility for a French colony.

They reached Fort Pitt, too late to go down the river, and "es-

tablished themselves in an abandoned cabin a few miles away."

They suffered greatly from the cold and lived principally on

"venison and potatoes." In spite of their hardships they busied

themselves with their scientific work. Saugrain examined mines

in the neighborhood and found iron, lead, copper and silver.

With his hydrostatic scales he determined the weight and density

of the various kinds of wood and tested their capacity for the

production of potash; cornstalk he found the richest. March 19,

1788, the two set out down the Ohio. Piquet did not find that

his humanitarian views of the Indian worked out in actual prac-

tice, for they soon killed and scalped him. Dr. Saugrain has

left a record of the trip.l

1Translation by Eugene Bliss of the Relation of a Trip Down the

Ohio.

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Antoine Francois Saugrain (De Vigni).             195

 

My Friends:- The ice having caught us at Pittsburg, you know that

we were obliged to remain there the space of four months, and that in

the end, the Ohio having opened, we saw with regret our first boat depart,

carried away by the ice. We had another one made, in which we em-

barked to the number of four, to wit: M. Pique and Raguet, French;

Pierce, American, and myself. We set out from Pittsburg March 19,

1788. We stopped at Wheeling (Woulige) and at Muskingum, and at

Limestone (now Maysville), a place where a fine town should be built;

in short, we continued our voyage without accident until March 24, always

admiring both banks of the Ohio, which in places are magnificent. But

on March 24, at half-past 4 in the afternoon nearly, being opposite the

Big Miami, as the wind had thrown us a little on the shore of the Ohio,

on the Pennsylvania side, and while we were preparing to put ourselves

rather more out in the current to go faster, M. Pique called my attention

to a flatboat which was on the same bank. Alas! He was far from

thinking this same boat would cause his death. As we were getting

away from the shore mentioned to gain the stream, we heard ourselves

called by the Indians, who at the same time fired on us. At the first

shot they killed my mare, and in struggling the poor creature pushed

against M. Pique's, which gave me a kick in the belly, throwing me flat,

and with another she would certainly have killed me had she struck me,

but she only grazed the skin on my forehead. As the mare had thrown

me flat the Indians thought surely they had killed me. I conjecture that

from the shore they fired nearly twenty times, but none of their shots

hit us, except that M. Pique was just grazed in the head, as I thought,

but as he did not complain I believed it a matter of no consequence.

To get beyond the range of the balls we all four took to the oars,

but we saw that the Indians all went aboard the flatboat we had seen near

the shore and in front of which they had put some planking to prevent

their being seen, and in this same planking they made holes to put their

guns through so that they might fire on us without danger of being

killed themselves. I left my oars to see if our guns were in order. Of

the three we had I found two loaded; one of these was mine, the other

M. Raguet's carbine. I hastened to load the third, as well as to prime

two pistols belonging to the same M. Raguet. During this time the

Indians advanced on us, and as they did not fire, one of us, I know not

which one, proposed to raise a white handkerchief in sign of peace, judg-

ing it would be better to be a prisoner among the Indians than to be

killed. They got nearer and nearer to us, even with some signs of

friendship, and as they were near us, one of them was on the point of

entering our boat, and as this unhappy man held a knife in his hand, I

judged, with some reason, I believe, that he had no praiseworthy inten-

tion. I seized a pistol and sent two balls into his stomach. The pistol

was no sooner fired than all the Indians, who were then standing, threw

themselves flat in the boat, and in this position fired upon us. Then M.

Raguet took his carbine and fired in turn on them, and I did as much.

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Raguet fired three or four shots, but unluckily in his haste he put the

ball before the powder, which a little retarded the quickness of the firing,

and when, having reloaded his carbine, he wished to fire, not well seeing

how to aim, he put his arm outside the boat, and it was at once broken

by a gunshot fired by the Indians. (In a note at this point Dr. Saugrain

adds: some one at the Falls of the Ohio said that I did wrong to fire; I

think so too, for in the boats which have been taken before and since no one

has been killed, inasmuch as no one made resistance.) I put my hand

outside to hold my gun better and to aim better, and had a finger of my

left hand broken. At the first shots that the Indians fired from their

boat into ours the American who was with us jumped out and swam to

land. This did us much harm, for the Indians, who perhaps had left

us, fired much more. M. Raguet had his arm broken and I my finger. I

think I fired but once afterward. As for M. Pique, he did not wish to

fire, thinking, I believe, that the Indians would do him no harm if they

took him prisoner, and instead of aiding us in our defense, he followed

the example of Mr. Pierce. As there were left only M. Raguet and myself,

we both threw ourselves into the water. As he had his arm broken and

did not know how to swim, I believe he was drowned, preferring, as he

told me, to be drowned to being scalped by the Indians. I had not yet

reached the shore when I saw M. Pique and two Indians waiting for me,

and I had no sooner reached the shore than they took me and bound my

hands behind my back with some girths which serve them to hold up

their blankets. They had no sooner finished tying me than I saw one

of the two who held me go to M. Pique, throw him on the ground, and

after having opened his coat and pulled open his shirt, give him four

stabs with a knife on one side, and one on the other, and he scalped him.

He put his scalp into a pocketbook which M. Pique had in his pocket. I

leave you to think, my friends, what a spectacle for me! I expected for

myself, as you well imagine, a like fate. But instead of killing me they

made me run to overtake the boat, which, although it was headed toward

the shore, had drifted nearly a quarter of a mile from the place where

we swam ashore before they could come up with it. When we got opposite

our boat one of the two went into the water and wished to take me by

the hair to lead me, for the boat could not come near the shore on

account of the trees which prevented it. As for me, such cruel fear seized

me, seeing that he had not killed me and that he wished to cross the

Ohio, I believed that he wished to burn me on the other side, and I made

an effort violent enough to break the straps that held me bound and

threw myself into the Water. I swam with such force that he did not

wish to run the risk of following me, and he did well, for my plan was,

if they came after me, to seize one of them and drown with him.

Those who had jumped from their boat-swimming-to take us on

shore, got into the one they had just taken from us and began to cross

the Ohio. As for me, I held onto a tree, with my arms about it. Those

Indians who were in the boat fired at me and wounded me in the neck.

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Antoine Francois Saugrain (De Vigni).              197

 

When I saw the boat midway of the Ohio, I regained the shore, and

when I went to see if M. Pique were dead, I perceived Mr. Pierce, who

had concealed himself in the ravine. He came to me and we went to see

M. Pique, who was dead, and in turning him over I saw that the Indians

had not taken his watch. I took it, and likewise a knife and two dollars

he had in his pocket. Mr. Pierce cut a piece of his coat to cover his

feet. I had not the same forethought, of which I repented. We left

M. Pique there and began to walk. It was very cold and I had nothing on

me but a shirt and a pair of large breeches. I lost my shoes while

swimming. At first we went a little away from the bank of the Ohio

through fear of being seen by the Indians who were on the other side.

After having made about four or five miles, night began to come on.

I was very tired. I lost much blood by the wound I had in my neck,

and as we found ourselves in a good place to sleep, there being much

dead grass there, we lay down, and Mr. Pierce had the kindness to

pull up a quantity of dead grass and we covered ourselves with it. I

slept nearly three hours and my companion awoke me. We went back to

the bank of the Ohio and he began to wish to make a raft. But he never

could have succeeded, seeing that he was alone, for my neck was so

swollen that I could not move my right arm, and my left hand was

much swollen. Seeing that it was useless to work, for the vines of which

he made use to fasten the pieces of timber all broke, we abandoned the

attempt at a raft. We began to walk and walked a great part of the night.

At last, about 4 o'clock, we lay down again. A fallen tree was the place

Mr. Pierce chose. He lay down under it, and I got as near him as

possible. It came on to snow, and as my feet did not come under the

tree, and as it rained a little, I found my feet frozen when I awoke.

I rubbed them  a long time with snow, but uselessly.   They caused

me no pain, so we made a good day's march, always following the

bank of the Ohio in the hopes we might see some boat, which, going

down to the falls, would take us in. We were obliged to cross three or

four creeks. The number of deer, pheasants and turkeys we saw is quite

inconceivable: We also saw four or five troops of buffaloes, which came

so near us that with a pistol I could have killed some. Night came on

and we lay down. It still rained, little it is true, but that not the less

caused much pain to my feet. The next day I could hardly walk, and

my companion, who was impatient, left me often very far behind him.

But I found a way of making him come. It was to sit down, and he,

after having waited for me some time, thinking that something had hap-

pened to me, retraced his steps, and seeing my feet as black as coal and

that I could not walk, he gave me his arm and cut a piece of his shirt

to wrap up my hand. My neck was extraordinarily swelled, but it did not

bleed any more. I chewed up a sort of agaric, which I put on it. We kept

on walking, but very slowly. I saw a stinking beast, skunk (bete puante),

and Mr. Pierce had no sooneer seen it than he ran after it, and with a

blow with a stick he killed it. After skinning it he wished to eat some

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of it, but he could not. As for me, I cut off some little bits and I

swallowed them like pills. This did me little good, I assure you. We

could have cooked it had it not been for fear that the Indians would

come to us, seeing the smoke. I could have made a fire without much

trouble. The sun shone and I had two watches, the crystals of which

would have made a lens by filling them with water and fitting them

together. At last, after making so excellent a repast and a considerable

halt, I took the rest of the stinking beast and put it in my shirt to

carry it. About 5 o'clock in the evening we came to a house which had

been abandoned. I was told (afterward) it was fifteen miles from the

Big Miami, the place where we were attacked.

When we had rested half an hour a fresh desire seized us to make

a raft, and we put into the water everything we could, and while my

companion did the heavy business, as carrying the doors of the house,

some fence or poteaux de barriere, etc., I cut into pieces my companion's

jacket, which was made of buckskin, for that is very much used in

America to make cords, and I cut the seat from my big breeches to make

some socks to cover my feet. The whole affair went on very well. The

raft was made and we were going aboard when from the other side of

the river Indians fired at us. This did not alarm us much, considering the

distance, but what did make us afraid, and especially me, was the Indians

who replied from the side where we were to the cries of those on the

other side. Then I took to my heels, and never in my life, I think, did

I make so good use of them. My feet no longer made me suffer; in

short, I felt nothing. My companion, however, was still more alert than

I, and in two minutes I lost sight of him. At last I was obliged to stop

because in running a piece of stick ran into my foot. My companion in

misfortune retraced his steps, and as night protected us from the Indians,

we lay down, and it was one of the worst nights I have passed in my

life. I could not sleep, and at each moment I thought I saw Indians, and

the march the next day was still worse, for although wide awake I saw

Indians behind all the trees-each bit of wood was a gun, and I believe to

alarm us more, all the deer had conspired. I had a great need of food-

much exercise, involuntary baths, the quantity of blood lost-I ate some

more stinking beast, "polecat."  Before sunrise we were on the march;

for the time I walked more on my hands than on my feet. I drew myself

along, I know not how. We came to a creek, which I believe is a few

miles from Big Bone Creek, and there, for the first time, Mr. Pierce and

I had a little dispute. The question was about crossing a large creek.

Mr. Pierce wished to go up to cross it; I was strongly for swimming

across it. Seeing that he wished absolutely to make the grand detour

and leave the bank of the Ohio, I did as I always did. A violent part

seemed to me the best. (How much he has since thanked me for it.)

To put an end to the dispute I went into the water. He had his back

turned and could not oppose my plan. I was already in the water before

he was aware of it. Thus I crossed fortunately and he did not delay

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Antoine Francois Saugrain (De Vigni).             199

 

to follow me. It was about 11 o'clock in the morning. We stripped

ourselves stark naked and dried our clothes. The bath did us good.

When we were dressed we continued our route.

Nothing unusual happened to us until we got to another creek, which

was nearly four miles from the last one we just crossed. As we were

going to swim across it as we did the other, Mr. Pierce saw two boats

coming down the Ohio.   He called to them, but the boats kept off,

believing we were Indians, but seeing our white shirts and our breeches,

they determined to come to us. For this purpose they put all the men

into one of the boats and left the other with the women and just one man

to steer it. This took quite a long time, during which the current kept

carrying them on. This time I did not have to beg Mr. Pierce to cross

this creek, as well as two or three others which followed it. As for me,

I followed him, but much more slowly. At last we swam out to join

them, for they could not approach the shore on account of the trees which

prevented them. It was surprising to me, arrived on board, to see all the

people of the boat that received us with carbines in hand. But the fear

of being surprised by the Indians obliged them to be on their guard.

Arrived on board they undressed me, warmed some whisky and rubbed all

my body, which did me much good. I drank a little of it and ate a little

bread, which seemed to me good. They dressed my neck, which was

much swelled. As for my hand, they did nothing for it. They waited

until we should be at the Falls to cut off the finger-which was not done,

thanks to myself. My feet were in a very bad condition and gave me

much pain.

Two days' sailing were enough to bring us to the Falls, where I

passed the night of March 29. The next day, which was Sunday, I

crossed the Ohio to go to a fort situate opposite Louisville, where I was

most cordially received. I was introduced by Colonel Blaine,² and Major

Willis gave me a reception for which I cannot be too grateful. In short,

I stayed in the fort with all possible comfort from March 30 to May 11.

For three weeks I could not move, and every day they had to take out

some portion of my foot, which began to putrefy, but with the care of the

fort's surgeon and with patience, all has been well, and my foot is quite

cured except the place where the piece of stick went in when I was

running away in the woods. Thus far I have been unable to cure it.

Louisville is quite small. Nothing wonderful is found in it. The

ruins of an old fort (Fort Nelson) are to be seen. They are on the

bank of the Ohio, as is the town. I believe they do not at all exaggerate its

unhealthiness. The city and its environs are very sickly. There are found,

even in the town, low grounds filled with water, from which exhales the

most dreadful stench, especially in the heat of summer. It would not,

however, cost much labor to drain these marshes which give the inhab-

2Whose acquaintance I made at Fort Pitt. He had come down some

time before us and arrived at the Falls without accident.

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itants fevers, which, if not mortal, are long in curing. The other side of

the Ohio, where I stayed for some time, where an American fort (Fort

Steuben) is built and where there are 200 men in garrison, is not more

healthy than Louisville, and there are few persons free from fever. This

fort is in a very pretty situation. The land there is excellent and there

are trees on every side.

 

In his record Dr. Saugrain states that he had left Pittsburg

March 18 and had been attacked by the Indians March 23, was

three days in the woods, and two days in the boat which picked

them up. He made himself at once useful at the fort, examined

some mines on Silver Creek, and analyzed a specimen which was

brought to him which was supposed to contain gold, but which

proved to be iron pyrites and copper. There was a lead mine

fifteen miles from the post which yielded abundantly, but mixed

with bismuth.

While at the fort Saugrain made a furnace and furnished the

doctors fixed alkalies and amused them with electrical experi-

ments. Salt, he states, was made in abundance in the neighbor-

hood and sold at $2 a bushel.    From  some stones which he

picked up, and which were encrusted with shells, he came to the

conclusion that this part of the country had once been covered

by the sea, or a great lake. In this he anticipated the later

demonstration of the glacial markings. Flint stones good for

arrow heads and gunflints were everywhere found. Quinaucke

(Kentucky), he remarks, was everywhere covered with a cane

which makes a good food for cattle. Turtles, geese, turkeys,

ducks, plover and quail were found immediately about the fort,

but the deer had been frightened by drum and fife to a distance

of several miles. It was here that he brought home some chaly-

beate water, and by adding it to an infusion of oak bark, made

ink with which he was then writing, and which he thought would

not fade. He also found a resin which he called copal, from a

tree called the sweet gum. This discovery had not been made

before, so in his honor they planted a specimen in the fort and

called it Saugrain's tree.

From April 21 to May 3 he counted 34 boats passing down

the river. May 7 a boat with fourteen rowers and eight or nine

passengers arrived from Vincennes. They had been attacked

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Antoine Francois Saugrain (De Vigni).       201

 

150 miles below and two of the party killed. This boat was

going on to Pittsburg, and the doctor expected to go with them,

but decided finally to accompany Colonel Blaine on horseback

through Kentucky so as to see the country and then meet the

boat at Limestown.

May 11 he set out, after expressing great regret at leaving

the fort where he had received so much kindness, alone with

Colonel Blaine. He comments on the fertility of the soil, the

size of the trees, the bad roads, and the fact that the plantations

were mostly in barley. Their first stop was Bardstown, which

had several stone houses and a handsome court house, which led

him to believe that the people indulged in lawsuits.

Danville he found a charming settlement, with land the best

in the world. Here they were joined by two Philadelphia ladies,

both pretty, and Colonel Blaine's son. A party of fifty armed

men passed through Danville, and two fugitives arrived of a

party of seven from Richmond who had been attacked by In-

dians, one killed and the rest scattered. From here they went

to Lexington, crossing the Kentucky River where the banks were

high and rocky. Lexington he found pleasant, with good water

and less idleness than elsewhere. A pest of caterpillars had strip-

ped the maple trees which supplied the people with sugar, which

would prove a severe loss. After two days they set out for

Limestown, stopping at Bourbon; even at that early day visitors

to Kentucky felt something was wanting unless they became

familiar with Bourbon - a practice which prevails to the pres-

ent day.

They dined at Saline Bleu (Blue Lick). Here you see the

extraordinary spectacle of two springs, one salt and the other

fresh, within ten feet of one another. Here salt is made by

evaporation, requiring 1,000 gallons to make a bushel. Reaching

Limestown they found the boats already there.

May 21 they set out for Muskingum with a party of sixty-

eight armed men and forty-nine unarmed, in boats laden with

goods from the Indians. They passed the Big Kanawha, which

is beautifully situated but very dangerous from the Indians-

two white men and four Indians had been recently killed. On

May 30 they reached Muskingum, which he considered occupied

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the finest situation for a city he had ever seen, and ventured the

prediction that it might become the largest city in America. The

plan of the engineers he considered admirable. June 9 they

left for Fort Pitt, where they arrived June 17, and soon left for

Philadelphia with Mr. Pierce and Mr. Brason, the postmaster

of Philadelphia, who had come out to establish a branch post-

office. The latter had been directed by Dr. Franklin to supply

Saugrain with money if he met him. They traveled on horse-

back and stopped over night with one James Miers, then on to

Greensburg, where he was invited, he says, out of curiosity, to

many houses, for the people are not hospitable. The next day,

though his foot was painful and required lancing, he traveled

forty miles, and the next day the same distance over the Alle-

ghany Mountains, and passed the night in a tavern in a deep

valley between two high and barren mountains. "He would die

of grief living in such a place where the sun shines for two hours

only."

June 10 they stopped at Chambersburg, which had many

stone and brick houses. A nearby creek turned fifteen or twenty

revolving mills. The industries were remarkable. Gunpowder

was made in quantities and sold for 50 cents a pound. They

traveled over good roads and reached Carlisle, where the United

States had magazines for the manufacture of arms. This town

was famous for the dissension over the new Constitution. On

the way they met large wagons which carried people to Fort

Pitt, from whence they took boat for Muskingum. On the way

to Lancaster they crossed the Susquehanna where it is half a

mile wide and four fathoms deep. Here there was a fine court

house and several churches, and it was noted for the fine rifles

made there. The population was mostly German.

On June 20 they reached Philadelphia and found Dr. Frank-

lin sick, but well enough to extend an invitation to dinner, which

was gladly accepted, though Dr. Saugrain was quite ill and not

very presentable in the clothes he had been traveling in. The

journey from Fort Pitt to Philadelphia on horseback was made

in seven days, while the trip out in a cabriolet had required four-

teen days. It is not known when Dr. Saugrain left Philadelphia,

but we next hear of him again in 1790, when he became engaged

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Antoine Francois Saugrain (De Vigni).       203

in the service of the Scioto Company to join a party of French

settlers from Lyons and Paris, who were bound for the Ohio,

and who founded Gallipolis.

This settlement furnishes one of the most picturesque and

pathetic stories of the early west. The party, some 500 in num-

ber, was composed largely of high-classed French artisans who

were illy fitted to cope with the hardships of the wilderness.

They were "carvers and gilders to his majesty, coach and peruke

makers, friseurs and other artists, and only four or five farm-

ers." The brothers, Caudevert, were sculptors and carvers who

had already attained reputation enough "to have decorated two

of the most beautiful churches in Paris."

The French imagination, still under the spell of Rousseau

and the Figaro, was fairly fired by the accounts put forth by the

promoters of the Scioto Company of "the free and happy life to

be led on the banks of the beautiful Scioto" untrammeled by the

artificial bonds of European society. The prospectus of the com-

pany, with a map, described the attractions in glowing terms.

"A climate wholesome and delightful; frost, even in winter,

almost entirely unknown; a river called by way of eminence the

beautiful, and abounding in fish of vast size. Noble forests, con-

sisting of trees that spontaneously produced sugar (sugar maple),

and a plant that yields ready-made candles (Myrica cerifera),

venison in plenty, the pursuit of which is uninterrupted by wolves,

foxes, lions or tigers. No taxes to pay, no military service to be

rendered."  Saugrain was sought because of his knowledge of

the country. He was to serve three years, to have 200 acres and

a house, and support for himself and three servants. For this he

was to give his medical service.

The party reached Alexandria May 1, 1790, and arrived at

Gallipolis October 20. Eighty cabins and a "council and ball

room" had been erected by Rufus Putnam for them. At first

everything "was new, the colonist had means of support, and

time passed agreeably between labor and pleasure. Woods were

cleared, gardens planted, and everyone strove to make himself

agreeable and useful. After a day of severe labor, dancing and

singing or a social and cheerful meal succeeded."  (Mrs. Men-

telle, Cincinnati Evening Chronicle, July 14, 1827.)  July 14

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204       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

they celebrated the fall of the Bastile. "They had brought with

them costly dresses and expensive clothing, and rare and valuable

laces, articles only suitable for a gay Parisian life." One of the

descendants, when quite an old woman, remembered seeing, when

a girl, a barrel of silk stockings which was opened in St. Louis,

where they had gone after the failure of Gallipolis, much dam-

aged by being badly packed. The days of prosperity were not

of long continuance - the company supplies stopped, there was

great want, and their title to the land was found defective. Con-

gress finally gave them 24,000 acres. "Now the ruffled shirt and

the lace of the colonist were seen adorning the American hunter

and mixing with the greasy hunting shirt and leggins, over which

hung in laughable discordance the embroidered coat of the

Frenchman, while beautiful rings shed luster on the blackened

hands."  "Nutmegs and spices were exchanged for eggs." Dr.

Brackenbridge, in his "Recollections of the West," gives a vivid

picture of Dr. Saugrain in these surroundings. He seems to have

kept an inn, and in a little back room, surrounded by his blow-

pipes, crucibles, chemical apparatus and electric batteries, he

made aeromotors and thermometers and phosphorus matches,

for all of which he found a ready sale. This work was regarded

by many as uncanny and closely allied to the black art. On one

of the other cabins tradition tells us of the sign "Bakery and

Midwifery."  Saugrain had established a reputation of inoculat-

ing for smallpox and crowds from the Kanawha Valley sought

his service. On one occasion some Indians came to see him at

work. The doctor placed a gold piece on a metallic plate and

told the chief that he might have it if he could pick it up. He

received a severe electric shock and ran howling away. The

doctor, to their great astonishment, then picked it up and put

it in his pocket. The great fertility of the soil, he tells us,

"brought emigrants without stop, full of energy to build their

first cabin. They then played in the bosom of idleness. An

inhabitant of the country which is in the middle of the forest

scarcely works two hours a day for his living and that of his

family. He spends nearly his whole time in reposing, in hunt-

ing and in drinking. The women weave linen and make clothes

for their husbands, and he has seen good linen and woolen cloth

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Antoine Francois Saugrain (De Vigni).      205

 

made in the cabins. There is no silver. Whisky is bought with

wheat and pork with mutton."

The Doctor married in Gallipolis, but soon left for Lexing-

ton, invited by a company that needed his knowledge in the

manufacture of good bar iron, in which they had not been suc-

cessful. He soon became popular. There is a tradition that

while in Lexington he made for Henry Clay his first kite. He

remained for six years, when, in response to an invitation of

Trudeau, French governor of St. Louis, he moved there in 1800.

The trip was made in a flatboat down the Ohio, and it took many

days to work his way up the Mississippi. In 1805 he was ap-

pointed by Jefferson surgeon in the army and was stationed at

Fort Bellefontaine, on the Missouri. In the Missouri Gazette,

May 26, 1809, we find the following notice: "Dr. Saugrain

gives notice of the first vaccine matter brought to St. Louis. In-

digent persons vaccinated gratuitously." He continued to prac-

tice in St. Louis till his death, in 1820, and must have been emi-

nently successful, for he left a large landed estate for the sup-

port of his wife and six children. Although thus busily occupied,

he found time for his electrical and chemical work, and in the

latter he is said to have anticipated the European inventors in

the use of phosphorus for friction matches. His scientific work

lives in tradition and has gained for him the title of the "First

scientist of the Mississippi Valley."³

His earnestness and modesty are well illustrated by a re-

mark which has come down to us, made one day to his daughter,

who was his assistant, in the laboratory: "We are working in

the dark, my child; I only know enough to know that I know

nothing." Can we to-day say more or less?

And now, in taking leave of our little French doctor, I may

say that I felt we might turn from the great special surgical

questions which now press on us for solution, to the earlier times

when the scientific knowledge of the doctor enabled him to min-

ister to the larger and more varied needs of those about him;

from the "hurlyburly" of the great city to the noises and odors

of the forest, from the blaze of electric lights to the beginning of

friction matches, and find some interest and profit in the career

 

Byars.

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206      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.   of a pioneer physician who brought with him into the wilderness the highest culture of the day, and applied in his daily round the best that science could then afford for the benefit of those he was called on to care for. Tradition still keeps warm the memory in the great city in which we meet, and I trust that the American Surgical Associa- tion may be the means of introducing him to his proper and larger place in the profession which we represent as one of the great pioneer physicians who has stimulated development, and place him in the position which fairly belongs to him by reason of his great attainments. Cincinnati, Ohio.

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