Legend upon the Cane (12 page)

Natchitos
sought
St. Denis before he and
the soldiers returned to the fort. “You have stood by your word, my
friend. My people are grateful to you. You have the fight of a
warrior in you, and the heart of a true man.”

“As do you, Chief
Natchitos,” replied St. Denis. “But, we must not delay, I will
organize my men at the fort, we will depart at first light
tomorrow. We shall meet you at the head of the Great River.” With
that, he left with the battalion and returned to the
fort.

Natchitos had no intention
of staying in the tribal area along the lake any longer than
needed. The entire tribe set out before nightfall in a line of
canoes down the bayou. They would travel just short of the fort and
spend the last few hours of night on the side of the bayou shores.
They lit a small fire and spoke a few words of remembrance of their
fallen brothers. “We will mourn them when the journey is completed.
The souls of our departed will find rest in our land.” Afterwards,
they quickly extinguished the fire and waited until first light. A
few warriors kept watch over the tribe throughout the
night.

At the first light of day,
St. Denis was surprised and filled with admiration to find his
friends waiting for him and his troops at the head of the Great
River. Twenty-five soldiers and the entire Nashitosh tribe set out
upon the river and made their way north. The journey would take
weeks with so many people, plus they traveled against the current
in the north heading. After nearly two weeks, they finally made it
to the mouth of the Red River and then headed west. On the fourth
day of traveling on the Red River, they stopped at the juncture
where it flowed into the Cane River.

At the sight of the Cane,
they stopped to rest and setup camp for the night. They would
complete the journey the next day. Natchitos lit a fire on the
banks of the Cane and spoke to the tribe, “These are the waters of
our country. May the ‘great spirit’ bless them as we enter them and
let it guide us to our home. We give thanks for guidance and
survival. Let this day be remembered.”

The next morning, spirits
were high as they made their way down the Cane on the final leg of
their journey. The winds blew strong throughout the morning.
Natchitos stood high in his canoe at the head of the caravan. They
rounded the bend and then a familiar hill came into view. He knew
it was the sight of their old home. He raised his spear in triumph
to signal the other canoes. The tribe yelled in celebration as they
pulled ashore.

The old wooden fort stood
along the narrow bayou further down the shore, abandoned and
dilapidated. Natchitos was glad to see the familiar lands once
again. It was late fall, but the lands were still green and vibrant
with life. Much rain had come to the area once again and
revitalized the soil. It was just as St. Denis had told
him.

As the people continued to
unload the canoes and rafts on the shore, Natchitos gazed into the
woods and toward the hill that led to their old tribal area. His
instincts told him something. He was looking for someone, but he
saw nothing. A look of concern washed upon his face. Suddenly, a
rifle shot was heard from above. One of the braves was struck in
the arm and he fell to the ground in pain.

St. Denis looked
to the hill.
“Henri!”
he shouted. It was LaRouche. He had been
following them the entire journey up the river after he escaped. He
looked rugged and disheveled. “What are you
doing
? Have you
gone
mad
?”

LaRouche said
nothing, but thr
ew his rifle and
retrieved another. The soldiers below scrambled for their weapons
as did the Indians. LaRouche aimed his gun again, this time at
Natchitos. But, before he could pull the trigger, an arrow hissed
through the air and struck him squarely in the chest. He arched his
back in agony, then, fell forward to his knees. He looked downriver
to find Tooantuh standing on a bluff holding a bow in his hands.
Tooantuh stood in triumph. The wound on his shoulder was visible
but it has been dressed with a dark bandage. LaRouche’s eyes grew
wide in disbelief at seeing him before doubling over in agony. He
fell to the ground and rolled down the hillside. He was
dead.

St. Denis couldn’t believe
his eyes. “Tooantuh is alive!” he said aloud. Natchitos smiled at
Tooantuh and was even more relieved to see Ayita and Anoki appear
from the woods behind him. They had made it.

Natchitos knew that Tooantuh
was not dead as he lay on the ground after the gunshot. Anoki and
his father had noticed Tooantuh still breathing as he lay wounded.
The wound was shallow and high upon his chest. Ayita and Anoki
removed the bullet that same night, then dressed his wounds, and
helped him regain his strength during the long journey back home.
Ayita had understood when Natchitos told her to take Anoki with
her. She knew that he actually wanted her to take Tooantuh ahead of
them back to the Cane River. Natchitos knew that a predator’s
instincts are to never stop until it knows his adversary is gone.
He had suspected this of LaRouche.

St. Denis had some men attend to
the wounded brave. The wound was not fatal however, for LaRouche
had only nicked him in the arm.

St. Denis
approached Natchitos, smiling with his
arms folded, and regarded him with admiration for his shrewd
foresight. “The proper place to mourn, eh?”

Natchitos smiled and nodded
to him, “This is the proper place.”

The tribe and the
soldiers worked together
to
rebuild the old huts and establish new ones in the tribal village.
They worked throughout the winter and into the coming year
rebuilding the old fort and expanded the structure for greater
usage. The promise of trade would soon flourish as soldiers and
other peoples had already begun traveling through the area. The
tribe lived in their native land where they had originally
settled.

By late winter, the first
signs of spring had begun to show in the fields and in the trees.
The fort was completed and St. Denis gathered his people and the
tribe together to mark the completion of their trading
post.

“Let it be known that from
this day forth, this fort will serve as our home and trading post
among the Nashitosh,” St. Denis proclaimed. The land became known
to all explorers and traders as the Land of the Nashitosh. The
settlement would soon be marked on all French maps, and was called
Natchitoches.

One early
morning, St. Denis took a long walk
along the Cane. He arrived at the hill overlooking the river and
saw Natchitos sitting quietly atop the peak. He hesitated for a
moment. But, decided to climb up the hill.

He stopped when he reached the top
and saw Natchitos staring out towards the rising sun. “Mind if I
sit with you, my old friend?” he asked Natchitos.

Natchitos sat for a moment
still looking toward the east. At first, St. Denis thought he’d
made a mistake by going up there. Then, Natchitos broke his
silence. “I was wondering when someone would come and join me up
here,” he acceded. He turned and smiled upward at St. Denis. St.
Denis sat next to him to share the view. Natchitos fixed his gaze
forward once again and said, “Looks like you are the
first.”

They sat staring at the
vastness and beauty of the land before them. Natchitos then spoke
to St. Denis, “Our journeys have brought us far. We have seen many
things, you and I.”

“Yes, this
is true. I will never forget them,” St.
Denis replied. “My happiness is drawn from seeing you and your
people in your native homeland. To me, this is the best thing to
see.”

Natchitos nodded in
acknowledgement. “The sign of the true man is when he has chosen
the path that has been set before him. This is what I see in you,
my friend, and it is good to see.”

They sat for a while longer
until the sun had fully risen. Then, they both stood and started to
head down the hill. Natchitos patted St. Denis on the back and
said, “Very brave of you to come up here.” They both laughed as
they walked down to begin the new day.

That same year of 1714,
trade would begin to flourish in the settlement of Natchitoches.
Traders would come from all over to trade livestock, pelts,
poultry, salt, and other dry goods at the fort. Nearly a century
later, it would play a pivotal role as a center of activity in what
would be called the Louisiana Purchase. To this day, Natchitoches
is recognized as the oldest settlement in the Louisiana
Purchase.

Natchitos
remained friendly with his brother, Nakahodot.   After
Nakahodot had traveled for three days towards the setting sun, he
and his tribe settled in an area in East Texas near a narrow bayou
called Lanana Creek.   In 1716, a Spanish mission,
called
Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe,
was established alongside the tribe. The
village would become known as Nacogdoches, the oldest settlement in
Texas.   The tribes established a trade route between the two
communities of Nacogdoches and Natchitoches.  The road became
a well traveled route, and would soon become the eastern part of
the trail called the El Camino Real.

St. Denis
continued his exploration throughout Louisiana, Texas and Mexico.
He made many stops at outposts along the Rio Grande
River. Later in 1714, he was charged
with violating the Spanish trade restrictions and was imprisoned
for a short time at San Juan Bautista outpost. While in prison, he
met and fell in love with the commander of the outpost’s
granddaughter, Manuela Sanchez.

Later that
year, Sieur Charles Claude
Dutisn
é
arrived in Natchitoches with another garrison of troops and
built a larger outpost around the two huts built by St. Denis. The
fort was named Fort St. Jean-Baptiste de Natchitoches, in honor of
their fellow explorer and former governor that accompanied St.
Denis on his first expedition to Natchitoches. The fort was
situated alongside a bayou which would be named Amulet.

Meanwhile, St.
Denis was ordered to go to
Mexico
City to defend his actions in the Spanish court. He succeeded in
securing his release and thus returned to San Juan Bautista in
1716. He was granted permission to marry Manuela upon his return.
He was later named commander of Fort St. Jean-Baptiste de
Natchitoches in 1722. He returned to Natchitoches with Manuela and
spent the rest of their lives in Natchitoches amongst the tribe and
French settlers.

St. Denis died on June 11,
1744. He was survived by his wife and five children. His son, Louis
de St. Denis, took command of the fort at the time of his father’s
death.

The spirit of the
Natchitoches Indians
lived on
into history. It remains an important part of local culture and is
still evident today up and down the banks of the Cane
River.

I would like to thank you for your interest
in this little story. As a former resident of Natchitoches, I am
happy to be able to share it with you. I know very well the proud
and rich history the people of Natchitoches have for their little
town. And, proud they should be. Only one settlement can claim it
is the oldest in the Louisiana Purchase. This is no small claim
either, because anyone who took junior high history, knows just how
large the Louisiana Purchase was.

Most residents of Natchitoches all know the
tale of how their town was founded, way back in 1714. The legend
has been told countless times, of how twin Indian brothers from the
Caddo Tribe, traveled in opposite directions from the Sabine River
area for three days each. One settled his new tribe in
Natchitoches, the other in Nacogdoches, which is in East Texas.
Thus explains the equal distance between the two towns from that
point, and the approximate location of latitude on a geographical
map. Both towns are basically at the same exact point of
latitude.

The similarities between the two towns are
many. They both have roughly the same population. Both are small
college towns and they even have similar downtown areas, including
the red brick streets! Another fun fact is the friendly rivalry
between the two colleges, Northwestern State and Stephen F. Austin.
The last game of their respective football seasons is always
between the two universities. The game has been played for over
half a century. In 1961, they decided to play the game for a
trophy. Northwestern State won the game that year, so the students
at Stephen F. Austin decided to carve a 7 foot, 6 inch, wooden
statue of Chief Caddo. The statue weighs nearly 300 pounds! They
presented it to Northwestern State after its completion. Every year
since then, the statue is awarded to be displayed on the victorious
school’s campus until the following year.

I grew up in Natchitoches
from the age of six, until I graduated from college when I was
twenty-two. Through the years that I lived in Natchitoches, I
gained many friendships and met many people. I have many fond
memories of growing up in Natchitoches, too many to share with you
here. But, I did see and do a lot while growing up there. I played
a lot of tennis on the old courts in East Natchitoches, and spent
many a summer day playing golf at the old college golf course (now
called Demon Hills) on the Highway 1 bypass. Many of you probably
even had me fill your order down at the old McDonald’s on the strip
(South Drive), back when I was in high school. Speaking of
education, I, quite literally, went to school in Natchitoches
everywhere! I attended high school at St. Mary’s
and
Natchitoches Central.
And, I even went to Northwestern State for a little while. I wanted
to be an engineer, so I transferred to Louisiana Tech, in Ruston,
my sophomore year. Now, I live in Austin, Texas. I try to visit
Natchitoches as often as I can, though. My wife and I were able to
come and see the 81
^st
Annual Christmas Festival in 2007. It’s still the
best fireworks around!