LA SALLE1 S FORT SAINT LOUIS AT STARVED ROCK, ILLINOIS

LA SALLE 1 S FORT SAINT LOUIS AT STARVED ROCK, ILLINOIS FACT OR FICTION?
Al1an R. Westover
Midwestern ,Z\rchaeological Research Center
Illinois State University
Normal. Illinois
ABSTRACT
Archaeologists are often provided documentary data that direct them to site
locations. That same data has often been responsible for making that site a
significant part of the local history. Archaeolgical investigations on these
sites often yield large numbers of artifacts that clarify portions of the culture
history of the region. In some instances, however, the archaeological record does
not yield definitive evidence of speclf ic parts of that history. Such is the case
at Starved Rock, I J l inois, long accepted as the location of La Salle's Fort Saint
Louis. Al though journals, diaries, and letters indicate that the site was on Le
Rocher, or the Rock, excavations conducted at the site beginning In 1947 have not,
without a doubt, proven this to be that location. The history of the explorations
leading to the bui !ding of the fort, results of the archaeological investigations
at the site, and the controversy created by questioning the location of the fort
are presented in this paper.
INTRODUCTION
Documentary research often provides the archaeologist with both
substantiated data and the myths of local lore.
It ls often the task of the
researcher to filter fact from fir;tion when gathering project-specific data.
One method of dealing with this problem Is by excavating a site or series of
sites located within the vicinity of the area with local, state, or national
significance. It Is part of the unwritten research design In such an instance
to prove or disprove the facts and f ic tion of this type of site. ti.lthough the
primary focus may lie in further c 1ar i fy 1ng the cu I tura J hi story of the
region, the posslbil lty always exists that the site or sites may not yield the
information necessary to support any hypotheses concerning cultural phenomena.
One must al ways be awar·e of the dangers of defying an established
historical belief.
The longer the facts surrounding the site have been
established, the greater the danger of providing evidence disproving the
accepted lore. One such site is that of Starved Rock, presently the location
of an Illinois state park and thought to be the location of Rene Robert
Cavalier de la Salle 1 s first Fort Saint Louis on the II linols River.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The historical background of the site begins with the explorations of the
Fcench to claim lands for the crown.
France was the most powerful nation in
Europe during the reign of Louis XIV (1643-1715), but as a nation it was
guarded as to making commitments to colonizing other par-ts of the world.
French attitudes toward establishing colonies had never been positive except
where plantation crops such as tea, coffee, tobacco, sugar, and cocoa Gould be
supplied.
This required warmer cl ima.tes than the upper portions of North
49
~.mer-ica.
General l~1 speaking, funding for expansionism in 17th century France
wae: derived from one of three major vested interests:
the crown, the
commercial sector, or the church.
The success or fa i I ure of New France in
North America was therefore placed on the shoulders of a few adventucous, if
not imperialistic, explorers, who were poorly funded and lacked the necessary
commitment of the government.
La Salle was one of the adventurers with a v1s1on of both expanding the
influence of France and building an empire,
His plan to build a string of
forts from Canada to the mouth of the Mississippi to thwart expansion of the
British and Span ish could ha ve laid the groundwork for the new colony.
Although little over half a century of activity by France occurred In the New
World, the Jack of enthusiasm and financial backing bt-ought an end to lts
activities. The historical occupation of Starved Rock reportedly begins with
La Salle and his plans to provide a protected water route for the transpor t of
furs and trade goods in North America.
After building and successfully operating Fort Frontenac, a trading post
I, p. 269), he sold out, returned to France ln 1677, and
received both royal sanction and private backing to estabiish additional
fort~:.
After establishing Fort Niagara on Lake Erle and Fort Miami on Lake
Michigan, La Salle and Henri de Tonti set out In 1679 to explore and claim new
lands.
Following a series of events and the loss of his ship the Griffin
<which was loaded with furs to help settle his debts), the adventurers
traveled down the St. Joseph River to the Kankakee and finally to the Il llnois
Rive r . where, on 1 3anuary 1680, they constructed Fort Creve Coeur at Pem-ia
Lake <lbid.:Vol. I. p. 583).
<Margry 1974: Vol.
La Sal le decided to begin construction of a new boat with which they
With
would continue their search for the mouth of the Mississippi.
construction underway, La Salle decided to return to Niagara in March of 1680
to look for the Griffin. Tonti, two friars <Membre and Riboude), and 12, or
13 other men remained at Creve Coeur to continue working on the new vessel.
Tonti received ordecs from La Sal le via two voyageurs that he was to proceed
to a rock CUn Rocher> near the Kaskaskia village and to build a strong fort
upon Csur> it <Kellogg 1917:290). The same two messengers also brought word
that La Sal !e ' s creditors had seized his holdings and that the future of those
at Creve Coeur was uncertain.
While Tonti explored the location for a new fort with the two friars, La
Salle's servant, and another young Frenchman, those left at the fort destroyed
much of the structure and the boa t in apparent fits of rage over their
insecure futm-e.
Upon his return, Tant i discovered that the fort had been
burned. The vlilage was abandoned shortly thereafter following an attack by
the Iroquois.
Following a series of events that reunited La Sal le and Tonti, they and a
crew
constructed Fort Saint Louis upon an inaccessible r·ock or
rocky prominence" <Margry 1974: Vol.I, p. 613). According to La Salle, the
foct was completed in March of 1683 and described as follows:
smal J
11
•••
Two leagues further down is the former vi l l age of Kaskask i as,
Illinois who abandoned it since the rout caused by the Iroquois
three years previously.
The news of the tort which I had bu i l t
50
there brought them there with many other nations. It is situated
hait a league below the said village, on the left side, descending
the river, on the top of a rock, which is steep on almost all sides
which it <the river) washes at the foot, so that one can draw water
there from the top of the rock which has about a six hundred foot
circumference.
It is accessible from only one side where the
ascent ls quite steep even so. This side is closed by a palisade
of white oak stakes eight to ten inches in diameter, and twenty-two
feet in beams, pl aced ( 11 pr i ses 11 I one on the other to the same
height, and situated so that they al I defend each other. The rest
of the circumference of the rock is surrounded by a similar
palisade, only fifteen feet high, since it is not accessible and is
defended by four others like the redoubts behind the pal i sade.
There is a parapet of large trees laid lengthwise one on the other
to the height of two men, the whole being covered with earth and at
the top of the pal lsade there is a sort of <cheval de Frise), the
points of whir;h are tipped with iron in order to prevent a sealing
<ibid.:175).
Of special interest in this description of the fort are the redoubts, which
a.re small external fortifications.
With such an easily defensible position,
it would seem unnecessary to have included these in the fort.
While the fort was being constructed, Tonti and La Salle traveled the
prairie contacting Indian groups to c:onvince them that the fort would give
them protection against the menacing Iroquois.
The Franquel in map of 1688
Indicates the location of the fort <Kellogg 1917:343>
In September of 1683,
La Sal ie left Fort Saint Louis at Le Rocher with the goal of proceeding to
France to organize an expedition to colonize the area around the mouth of the
Mississippi <Kellogg 1917:305).
La Salle was killed by his own men on this
trip. That spring, on 20 March 1684, the Iroquois attacked Fort Saint Louis
but were repulsed after a six day siege.
Tonti, Jett in charge at Fort
Engl i sh and the Iroquois and spent two
Upon his return to Fort Saint Louis,
ill-fated expedition. Among those was
Louis, chose to help fight the
years away from the fort at Le Rocher.
Tonti found six members of La Sal !e ' s
Henri Joutel, who described the fort in
Saint
his journal:
The fort was seated on a steep rock, about two hundred feet high,
the river running at the bottom of it. It is only fortified with
stakes and palisades, and some houses advancing to the edge ot the
rock. It has a very spacious esplanade or Pl ace of Arms. The
place is naturally strong, and might be made so by Art, with little
expense.
Several of the natives live in it, in their huts.
I
cannot give an account of the Jat i tude it stands in for want of
proper instruments to take an observation, but nothing can be
pleasanter; ... we were put into the Magazine or Warehouse ... we
continued some time in Fort Lewis, without receiving any news. Our
business was, after having heard Mass, which we had the good
Fortune to do every day, to divert ourselves best we could. The
Indian women daily brought in something fresh, we wanted not for
water melons, bread made of Indian corn, baked in the embers, and
51
other such things, and we rewarded them wl th 11 tt le presents in
return (Jovtel 1962:177).
Tontl persuaded the Indians to move to the new Fort Saint Louis on the
south shore of Lake Peoria because of a 1ack of firewood, a fear of being
trapped on the rock without water, and the absence of game around the Rock.
This foct is indicated on the 1703 De Lisle map.
No mention is made of
whether the fort at Starved Rock was destroyed or torn down.
A fort built on the Rock was mentioned by M. Jean Frs. Buisson de St.
Cosme, Priest of t he Seminary of Quebec, after a long journey through the
Illinois Country. He wrote:
On the fifteenth of November , 1698, we arrived at the place called
the Old Fort.
This is a rock on the bank of the river, about a
hundred feet high, whereon Monsieur de la Sal le had caused a fort
to be bull t, which has been abandoned, because the savages went to
reside about twenty-five leagues further down <Kellogg 1917:350).
Sometime during or after 1769 when Pontiac, an Ottawa chief, was kl l1ed
by a Peoria Indian, the Peoria were purportedly starved out on the Rock, hence
the name. This fact is only a part of oral history and not substantiated.
The location of La Salle 1 s Fort Saint Louis in the Illinois Country is
not debated by most historians and archaeologists.
However, examination of
the materials recovered during the several periods of archaeological
investigations on top of the Rock r·esul ted in some question as to what i s
represented in the ai-chaeological record.
Minet "s map of 1685 Is a good
example of the confusion surrounding the actual location. The location of the
fort on this map, drawn by an engineer assigned to La Salle, does little to
specifically place it on any particular spot.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS
Documented ar chaeological investigations began on Starved Rock in 1947,
Jointly organlzed by the Illinois State Museum and the University of Chicago.
The focus of this investigation was on the opposite side of the river at the
Kaskaskia village site. Work on the Rock was intended to locate evidence of
La Salle's Fort Saint Louis.
Features located possibly representing a European dugout, or house, one
hearth, and a possible palisade trench on the south side did little to further
the location of the fort.
Artifacts included copper kettle fragments,
flintlock gun parts, a silver coin, a seal of lead with letters spelling Louis
XIV on one side, glass trade beads, a crucifix, and Jesuit rings. These were
thorou gh 1y mixed with Indi an-manufactu1-ed goods.
Seventy-two features located in 1948 included storage pits, post molds,
and four burials with re l ated trade materials. It was felt that evidence of
Fort Saint Louis was shown in the "dug-out" with rows of very large posts
(palisades), surface ri dges, and depressions representing the outline of the
palisade, and in the quantity of early French objects. The "dug-out", which
ls the only significant feature located to date , appeared to be approximatel y
5.0 ft deep and 16.0 square ft, a measurement c loser to a Britlsh than a
French structure .
52
Hagen, digging ln 1950, mentioned the problem with trying to de t ermine
the period during which the trade goods found their way to the Rock. He noted
that Marquette and Joliet found European goods among Indians at Kaskaskia in
1673 (Thwa.ites 1900: Vol. 59, p. 150), possibly obta.lned from whites or from
tr.:idlng with other Indians .
Thus, it is likely that European trade goods
appeared on the Rock before, during, and after the period of Fort Saint Louis.
Features located by Hagen created more questions. While fol lowing what
the excavators thought to be a palisade trench, they located a 6.0 ft diameter
trash pit, dug to bedrock, and filled with an ashy material contain i ng both
European and Indian goods. Hagen felt that this might have been a. cistern,
but stopped looking for the remainder of the trench . Hagen also located a
series of slanted post molds, Interpreted as part of a buttress. Mention was
also made of two local people who dug at what may have been a fort at the head
of French Canyon, ca. 1.0 mile south of the Rock on the bluff. Numerous trade
materiais were located on the site.
Hagen did not feel that this could
possibl y have been the location of Fort Saint Louis.
Excavations conducted in 1974 under the direction of Robert L. Hall of
th e Uni versit y of Illinois reported no evidence to support the location of the
fort on t op on Starved Rock.
Furthe r work ln 1981 by I! l in ols State
University, uncier the direction of Edward B. Jelks, located eight additional
cultural features, none of which would support the idea of the fort. As in
the other excavations , artifacts of both European and Indian manufacture were
located in mix ed contexts, the only features wit h sin gle sequences being
Indian.
The real question surroun ding this historically signif icant site is what
happened to the archaeological evi dence, both In materials and phys ica l
changes, that would c:larify without a doubt the presence of a Frenc:h fort.
None of the features or cultural materials Ce.g., glass and ceramics> located
at other French fort sites have been located here.
It is obvious that
Fr enchmen li ving under such pr imitive conditions would probably not ha ve the
materials found at long-established sites, but it is curious that only one
piece of green-g lazed earthenware has been recovered from all of the
excavations completed on the Rock.
Robert Hall, ln a recent paper <Hall 1986) felt that a l l discarded
ceramics and gl ass would have been utilized by the Indians and that none wou ld
appear In the archaeological record. It seems highly unlikely, however, that
every single sh erd would have been reused by the Indians. The possibilit y
exists that these materials were recovered and are either stored in unknown
places or were accidentally discarded.
Another point made by Hall is the
exact number of hand-forged nails reported from the "dug-out". Although his
f i gures vary from those available at the time of this study, the point st i l 1
remains that they were in a mixed context and that hand-forged nails wer-e
st i l l made we l l in to the 19th century.
The Starved Rock area has been
utilized since the 19th century and It ls possible that these nails were not
left at the site during the French occupation. Additionally, Ha ll / s comments
concerning the d<:1.ti ng of the Jesuit rings, though correctly citing Cleland
0972) and Omwake (1964), failed to recognize that the date of manufacture of
these materials does not necessarily reflect their date of deposition.
53
CONCLUDING REMARKS
Starved Rock, reportedly the site of La Salle's Fort Saint Louis, i s an
instance of docvmentary evidence appearing to clearly indicate the location
and the archaeological record indicating but not proving that fact. Although
the presence of trade goods clearly show evidence ot very early contact with
the Indians in the region, the types of artifacts do not prove that they were
brought to the site by the French during this 10 year period.
It must be stressed that the cultural materials analyzed may represent
only a sma1 1 portion of the materials available for study. The object of this
papei- is no t to emphasize documentary evidence over archaeological materials;
cather, the point is to suggest that although local history and primary
documents suggest one thing, it ls possible to question those ideas using the
archaeological record. Although the documents clearly suggest Starved Rock as
the site of Fort Saint Louis, it is possible that the fort may not have been
as grand as suggested by La Salle and even that the fort was used only during
periods of trouble, thereby reducing the cultural matecials discarded. For
now, however, the J egend stands ci.nd I , for one, am g I ad.
REFERENCES CITED
Cleland, Charies E.
1972
From Sacred to Profane: Style Drift in Decoration
American Antiquity 37(2):202-210.
of
Jesuit Finger Rings.
Hall, Robert L.
1986
Starved Rock as the Site of La Salle ' s Fort Saint Lou is. Paper presented at the
annual meeting of the Central States Anthropological Society, Chicago, Illinois,
March 21-23, 1986.
Joutel, Henri
1962
A Journal
of La Salle's Last Voyage. Corinth Books, Inc., New York.
Ke l logg, Louise Phelps Ceditor)
1917
Early Narratives of the Northwest. Char 1es Seri bners and Sons, New York.
Margq1, Par Pierre
1974
Decouvertes et Etablissments des Francais. (Vols I and ID. AMS Press, New York
<originally published in 1879).
Omwake, H. Geiger
1964
Report of an Examination of White Clay Pipe Bowl and Stem Fragments Recovered from
the Sites and Under the Circumstances Indicated Below and Submitted by Robert L.
Hall, Curator of Anthropology, Illinois State Museum, Springfield, Illinois.
Thwaites, Reuben Gold
1896-1901 Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents- Travels and Exoloratlons of the Jesuit
Missionaries in New France. 1610-1791. Burrows Brothers Company, Cleveland.
54