Reviews, Notes and Comments. 465
This quotation is a gem, and the reader
will thank the author
for including it.
A wrong impression is left on page 288,
by the statement
that the senate "finally voted
'yea' unanimously" on this bill.
Seven senators at one time voted against
it including Senator
Brown from Ohio who opposed it in a
speech.
While the author uses the correct
spelling of the name of
Lafayette she makes a mistake in the
spelling of another name
that occurs very frequently in the
volume. She writes the
name of Lafayette's private secretary
"Lavasseur." It should
be "Levasseur."
The book has no index. Why so reputable a publishing
house would issue such a work without an
index we do not
know.
In these times of "ready references," "prompt library
service" and "American
hurry," indexes are almost a necessity.
Perhaps the index is reserved for a
second edition.
This book is stimulating and
inspiring. It is timely and
covers in a single volume a field not
recently attempted by
other writers. It is an appropriate gift
to any young American.
PANISCIOWA- JEAN BAPTISTE DUCOIGNE.
Through an incidental suggestion of Mr.
W. D. Barge, of
1708 Prairie Ave., Chicago, Illinois, we
have been enabled to
establish the identity of Chief
Panisciowa and Jean Baptiste
Ducoigne. or, as the name is variously
spelled, Decoigne, Ducoin
and Du Quoin. There are still other
variations. The daughter
of this chief met Lafayette at Kaskaskia
and much space was
given to that meeting in the July
Quarterly. Levasseur speaks
of her as Mary and of her father as
Panisciowa. This was prob-
ably his Indian name. Lafayette's secretary devoted much at-
tention to what she said and doubtless
exercised care in recording
her name and that of her father as he
received them from her
lips.
In Bulletin No. 30. Part I,
"Handbook of American Indians,"
issued by the Bureau of American
Ethnology, page 405, we have
the following:
Vol. XXIX-30.
466 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.
"Ducoigne, Jean Baptiste. A
Kaskaskia chief at the begin-
ning of the 19th century, noted mainly
for his firm adherence
to the United States and friendship for
the whites. Reynolds
(Pion. Hist., 111, 22, 1887) describes him
as a cunning half-
blood of considerable talent. In his
Memoirs, Gen. W. H. Har-
rison, who had dealings with Ducoigne,
speaks of him as 'a
gentlemanly man, by no means addicted to
drink, and possessing
a very strong inclination to live like a
white man; indeed has done
so as far as his means would allow.'
Writing to the Secretary
of War, he says: 'Ducoigne's long and
well-proved friendship
for the United States has gained him the
hatred of all the other
chiefs and ought to be an inducement
with us to provide as well
for his happiness, as for his safety.'
According to Reynolds,
Ducoigne asserted that neither he nor
his people had shed the
blood of white men. He was a signer of the treaties of Vin-
cennes, Aug. 7 and 13, 1803; by the latter
the United States
agreed to build a house and inclose 100
acres of land for him.
He had two sons, Louis and Jefferson,
and a daughter, Ellen,
who married a white man and in 1850 was
living in Indian Ter.
The name of Louis appears on behalf of
the Kaskaskia in the
treaty of Edwardsville, Ill., Sept. 25,
1818. Ducoigne's death
probably occurred shortly before Oct.,
1832, as it is stated in
the treaty at Castor Hill, of that date,
that there should be
reserved 'to Ellen Ducoigne, the daughter
of their late chief,'
a certain tract of land. The name is
perpetuated in that of the
town of Dequoin, Perry Co., Ill."
It will be noted that the daughter named
in this sketch is
Ellen. Whether this was another daughter
or whether she was
married a second time to a white man or
whether it was the
same daughter, here given a different
name, we are not able to
determine at this time. It is pretty well established, however,
that Mr. Cyrus Thomas of the Bureau of
American Ethnology
who wrote this sketch is mistaken in
regard to the approximate
time of the death of the Indian
chief. He had been dead some
time before the coming of Lafayette in 1825 according to
the
statement of his daughter Mary.
In a letter under date of May 1, 1790,
Governor Arthur St.
Clair, writing from Cahokia to the
Secretary of War, thus refers
to this chief:
"Baptiste DuCoigne, whom you may
remember with the
Marquis de Lafayette, is chief of the
Kaskaskia nation, settled
in Kaskaskia. I have been plagued with a
great many of his
Reviews, Notes and Comments. 467
talks. The nation is very
inconsiderable, and I do not think it
necessary to trouble you with them at
present. He himself is
the greatest beggar I have met with
among nations who are all
beggars. He counts no little upon his
having been with the
American troops in Virginia and so far he merits some
coun-
tenance."
Under date of May 8, 1799, writing from
the same place,
however, Governor St. Clair takes
occasion to answer a speech
by Ducoigne in a very different spirit
from that suggested in the
above quotation. His speech to the
Indian chief was in French.
The original and the translation are
both found in Vol. 2 of the
St. Clair Papers. The translation is as follows:
"My son:- It is with much pleasure
that I have received
the congratulations which you have
offered me upon my arrival
in this country I and the other
gentlemen whom you see around
me render thanks to God, who has guarded
and sustained us
during a very long and wearisome
journey. I have great pleas-
ure in seeing you, and in taking you by
the hand in witness of my
friendship. The firm attachment which
you have shown to the
United States of America, is well known,
and consequently you
are entitled to much respect.
"It is true, my son, that for a
long time you have seen no
one who has come from the government of
the States, and I,
who am the first envoy on their part,
have been hindered a long
time after the time fixed for my
arrival, by many inevitable
accidents; but the United States never
forget their friends,
and the people of this country are their
children, whom they will
never abandon.
"My son, my heart is troubled on
account of the injuries
which you have suffered. I know well
that you are surrounded
by foolish and cruel nations, who love
to have their hands steeped
in blood; but I have good hopes that an
end will be put to their
depredations, because I am come as the
ambassador of peace
to all the people who dwell in this
land. If they will listen to
the good words which I shall speak to
them, it will be for their
own happiness and that of the human race
- all, they and our-
selves, then can follow our occupations
with good courage, and
the young people will grow and flourish
like the green trees,
and abundance will be found beneath
their steps. But, my son,
it is only to a certain point that evil
proceedings can be suffered;
after that, patience becomes feebleness,
a reproach from which
the United States at all times withdraw
themselves. If they will
468
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society
Publications.
listen to me - good; if they will not
listen, they will suffer the
consequences.
"Peace is the delight of the United
States, but they are also
formidable in war; of that you, Du
Coigne, have been the eye-
witness. Believe me, my son, it will not
always be a disgrace
to have been their friend.
"My son, I have all the confidence
in the world in the sin-
cerity of your words, that they come
from the depths of your
heart, and that you do not speak with
the lips only. I also tell
you, with all possible sincerity, that I
am very glad to see you,
that I am touched by your misfortunes
and that I shall try to
soften them.
"That which you have told me
touching brandy is but too
true. This excess in drinking is verily
the ruin of the Indians,
but they have such a passion for it that
it is difficult to restrain
them; it is not easy, either, to deter
the whites from this species
of commerce, because, scattered like you
through the woods,
they can carry it to you secretly, and
consequently with im-
punity. And if it were possible to
hinder the Americans and the
French entirely from carrying on this
trade, there are others
who would do it, and if not, they would
go and seek it them-
selves from the Spaniard; however, we
will try to put some limit
to this traffic.
"The love, my son, which you show
for the place of your
birth, where the ashes of your ancestors
are deposited, is a
sentiment of nature and of generosity in
which I am perfectly
in accord with you. I hope the good God
will never forsake
this country and that when you have run
the number of days
that are assigned to you, you will have
an honorable burial with
all the rites of religion.
"The inclination which you have, my
son, to see the worship
of God established, and that a proper
attention should be paid to
the education of the young people,
pleases me extremely, and I
am troubled to know that the priests
have withdrawn. Certainly
I shall recall them only at the end, and
I hope that you will fol-
low the good road, and that the young
will be instructed, in their
duties towards God, towards man, and
towards each other.
"You can assure the Peorias and the
Cahokias of my good
will on their account, and that I will
make known to the Presi-
dent of the United States, General
Washington, whom you know,
and who is at this hour the chief of all, both civil
and military,
the desire they have to return to this country. The
commissary
will give you some powder, to aid your
people who are in the
hunting-ground."