Description
Early in 1680, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, established a fort on the east bank of the Illinois River, to help the Peorias defend themselves against the attacks of the Iriquois League. He named it Fort Crèvecœur, the Fort of the Broken Heart. There he began to build a large ship to help control the river and protect the friendly Indians who were his trading partners, but eventually he had to return to Québec for more men and supplies. Canoeing back down the river, he passed through the ruined villages of the Mandan, burnt to stubble by the Iriquois, heads spiked on palings, deserted. Finally he came to the fort, sacked and abandoned by his own men who had fled in terror. The ship, still up on it's stocks and incomplete, had nearly every nail pulled from it, as nails were of incredible value in that time and place. Written on the side were the first words ever written west of the Mississippi, «Nous sommes tous sauvages» -- "We are all savages."
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