present village of Epes. This was not the site originally proposed by Bienville for the establishment of an advanced depot, but was 15 leagues farther upstream. The new position lay between the two roads which the English took to go to the Choctaw villages, at a distance of 1 day's journey from the easternmost villages. The army which accompanied Bienville on this campaign consisted of a company of grenadiers made up of 45 French and Swiss, 8 companies of French troops, each having a strength of 30 or 31 men, a Swiss company of 130, a company of militia from New Orleans 45 strong, and another of 40 men from Mobile, and a company of 42 volunteers and voyageurs, the total being 544 men exclusive of officers. They left Mobile on the 1st of April, covering the 300 miles of the winding rivers and arriving at Fort Tombecbee on the 23d of the month. Delay had been occasioned by the unexpected current in the rivers and continual rains. While waiting for the Choctaw chiefs who were to join him at Tombecbee, Bienville selected a garrison to be left at the post, organized a company of grenadiers, and formed a company of 45 armed negroes to which he assigned free negroes as officers. On the evening of the 26th of April the first Choctaw chiefs arrived, Alibamon Mingo being one of the number. When Bienville received these chiefs the following morning they all began their speeches with great protestations of attachment to the French, and finished by asking for the ammunition, vermillion, and provisions which they claimed to have been promised them. Bienville replied that powder, bullets, and vermillion would be supplied, but that he had warned them, when first he spoke of going to war, that they would have to bring their own provisions, as he could carry only sufficient for the French.

On the 28th of April the great chief of the Choctaws appeared with several others, among whom was Red Shoe, and the former spoke in the same terms of affection as had those who preceded him. Bienville knew, however, that after his departure from New Orleans, Red Shoe had burned, under the cannon of the fort, the cabins of the Offogoulas who were refugees there, but he preferred to ignore this incident, not judging the time appropriate for reproaching him. At the end of his speech the great chief spoke of the rumor that had circulated in the Choctaw Nation of a pretended French plot to betray them to the Chickasaws. Color was lent to this rumor by the report of scouts who had seen, in the direction of the north, a great French path. Bienville told him of the orders sent to D'Artaguette to descend the Mississippi with the nations of the north and join him in a combined attack on the Chickasaws, and that it was his party which had made this great path. It was apparent that D'Artaguette had not received the second messenger sent to delay his march. The great chief seemed reassured by this explanation, and when he asked for provisions, Bienville gave him the same reply that he had made to other chiefs the preceding day.

On the 30th of April Bienville assembled a council of war which condemned to death a sergeant and a soldier of Lusser's company, who were guilty of conspiring against the lives of the officers of the post and plotting desertion. The Swiss company also held a council and condemned two of their soldiers who were accomplices of the sergeant. By the 1st of May all the Choctaw chiefs had arrived, and it was agreed that 14 days hence they were to lead their warriors to the Octibia, a little river that formed the frontier between the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations 40 leagues above Fort Tombecbee. That night nearly all the chiefs set out for their villages. The next day was spent in completing the unloading of the boats, the distribution of provisions, and arranging the many details necessary for the departure.

On the 3d of May, Bienville left Fort Tombecbee, and making progress more rapidly than he had expected, reached the Octibia on the 14th. Here 2 days were spent drying provisions, and on the 17th word was received that the Choctaws were on their way. In the course of the next few days parties of warriors made their appearance, all of whom had been retarded almost to the point of discouragement by the rains that had fallen for 9 consecutive days. On the 19th Bienville continued his ascent of the Tombigbee, leaving word for all incoming warriors that they were to join the French at the old portage, farther up stream. On the 22d the new portage was reached, beyond which the boats could not pass, and here Bienville disembarked his command and effected a junction with his Indian allies, 9 leagues from the Chickasaw villages. On the 23d at daybreak Bienville had a number of posts cut and outlined a small fort which was erected at once for the defense of the boats. A detachment of 20 men was selected from the several companies to remain as a garrison, together with the guard of the storehouse, the captains of the boats and some

the ones preceding them. There are only one or two men more than 5 feet in height. The rest are under 4 feet 10 inches. As to their ideals I can add that of their number of 52 more than half have already passed through the courts for theft. In brief, they are useless mouths living on the provisions of the colony which will derive no service from them. The retreat which I have had carried out without any loss is the only thing with which I am content since I brought back a good number of honest men who are to be saved for another occasion."

D'ARTAGUETTE LEADS AN ARMY FROM THE ILLINOIS TO THE CHICKASAW TOWNS

The orders sent to D'Artaguette by Bienville to join him in the campaign against the Chickasaws directed the former to take what troops he could from his garrison, and gather together the Illinois Indians and the inhabitants of the district. These forces were assembled at Fort Chartres, from which post the expedition departed on the 22d of February. D'Artaguette's command comprised 8 officers and 27 soldiers, 110 militia, 38 Iroquois, 28 Arkansas, 100 Illinois, and 160 Miamis, making a total of 145 French and 326 Indians. The officer left in command at the Illinois during D'Artaguette's absence was given orders to assemble a group of 180 Illinois Indians and lead them to Ecors a Prud'homme, where D'Artaguette would wait for them. This place was reached on the 28th of February and a small palisade fort built. A small detachment was left here as guard upon the departure of the army for the Chickasaw country the 5th of the following month.

When D'Artaguette was about 18 leagues from the Chickasaw villages, he sent a reconnoitering group of Indians to learn the position of their forts, the number of their cabins, and whether or not Bienville was in the neighborhood. These scouts reported that they had seen about 15 cabins on a little hill, 5 or 6 on another, a small fort about 40 feet long by 30 wide, and that they believed there might be 30 to 35 cabins more in that village. There was no indication that the expedition from the south had yet reached the vicinity. A council of war was held with the Indian chiefs, and the Iroquois, who were recognized by the other tribes as the most skillful in the art of war, answered D'Artaguette for all the tribes. "Since you wish," said the Iroquois chief, "to know what we think, we will tell it to you. The march which we have just made, having been longer than we expected, has used up our provisions. We have no more of them, and if we intend to wait for M. de Bienville, who perhaps will not come for 10 or 11 days, we run the risk of dying from hunger. To prevent this danger it is necessary to attack the Chickasaw village which we found. When we have taken it we will find there means of subsistence, and we can entrench ourselves in the fort that we have captured while waiting for M. de Bienville." This very sensible plan was adopted and the march resumed. At 9 o'clock on the evening of March 24 the column arrived at a league's distance from the fort of the Chickasaw town of Ogoula Tchetoka and halted. Four Iroquois were sent to reconnoiter and during their absence several gunshots were heard from the direction of the village, which made D'Artaguette think that perhaps Bienville had come up on the other side of the settlement.

The Iroquois spies upon their return at 3 o'clock in the morning reported everything quiet, and the little army began marching again and came within an eighth of a league of the fort, where a halt was made and the horses which carried the baggage and extra ammunition unloaded. A small guard was left over this property, and between 6 and 7 o'clock on Palm Sunday morning, March 25, formation for attack was made. The center of the army was composed of a force of 26 officers and soldiers from the companies and 73 militia. The Arkansas, followed by the Illinois, constituted the right wing, and in the left wing were the Iroquois, followed by the Miamis. The little army marched in this order against the fort at Ogoula Tchetoka. When it drew close to the fort a chief of the Chickasaws came out with three calumets, but the Illinois and Miamis fired on him without listening to his harangue and killed him. Four or five cabins were taken possession of and the fort attacked. Immediately the Chickasaws sought cover of their defenses and continued their fire through the loopholes prepared for this purpose. At the end of a quarter of an hour's fighting there appeared on the hills four or five hundred Chickasaws who came to the rescue of their people, and these so frightened the Illinois and Miamis that they fled from the battlefield. D'Artaguette, seeing himself abandoned at one stroke by more than 250 Indians, was obliged to call a retreat to the place where the

baggage and munitions had been left. of his right hand cut off by a bullet.

While falling back he had three fingers

The Chickasaws, encouraged by the flight of the Illinois and Miamis, pursued this small force under D'Artaguette with great fury and surrounded it. D'Artaguette received a second bullet wound, this time in his thigh, which obliged him to lean against a tree, and there he bravely strove by his words to animate his troops. Many of those who were near him advised him to save himself. His servant led his horse to him and, with some of the militia, tried to induce him to mount, but he insisted on staying where he could encourage his handful of men to stand firm. While he was exhorting them he received a third gunshot wound in the abdomen and his apparently lifeless body fell to the ground.

After the disaster to their leader, M. de St. Ange and other officers exerted all their efforts to repulse the Chickasaws, but finally succumbed to the force of numbers, and most of them were killed near where D'Artaguette lay. The greater part of the militia officers perished here also. The small number of soldiers who remained, seeing themselves without officers, saved themselves by flight. The Chickasaws pursued them for nearly 4 leagues, but rain, which had fallen in great quantity since 10 o'clock, prevented them being overtaken. This fight lasted from between 6 and 7 in the morning until 9 a.m. The Iroquois and the Arkansas behaved in a praiseworthy manner and, owing to their valor during the retreat, more than 20 wounded, who would otherwise have been killed or made prisoners, were carried in safety to Ecors a Prud'homme, where the remnant of the army arrived, part on the 29th of March and the rest the following day.

One of the militia officers captured by the Chickasaws was Drouet de Richardville, who lost three brothers in the fight, and himself suffered three wounds before he was taken. Richardville was one of two French prisoners kept alive by the Chickasaws for the purpose of exchanging them for one of their warriors whom the French had taken prisoner some time before. After 18 months' detention among the Indians, Richardville and the other Frenchman escaped, and after many hardships the former finally reached Montreal on the 10th of June 1739. It was from his reports that the many rumors as to what had occurred to the French prisoners were cleared up. Of the 22 French who were captured, all but Richardville and one other were burned to death. From 3 in the afternoon until midnight of the day of the fight D'Artaguette, Father Senat, Vincennes, St. Ange, and others, to the number of 20, were thrown alive into the two fires which the Indian women had prepared. An Indian girl, who had been a slave among the Chickasaws and who later was rescued from them by the Alibamons, was brought to Bienville where she related the story of this barbarity. She said that during the preparation for this tragedy the French sang in the same manner as do the Indians, "who judge the valor of a warrior only by the strength or weakness of his voice at the time when they are about to put him to death." The Sieur de Courselas, who had been left to guard the ammunition and baggage, wandered into a Chickasaw village without knowing where he was going and, being taken prisoner, was burned to death 3 days later.

Sieur de Richardville reported that from Ecors a Prud'homme to the 9 Chickasaw villages was about 60 leagues, much of the path leading over low ground overgrown with ash. These 9 villages were located on a plain cut by several small ridges, and at a distance of 2, 3, and 4 arpents on from the other. The grand village was a half league from these, beyond a village of the Natchez. There was a total of about 600 warriors in all the villages. Each of the 9 villages had a fort around which cabins were constructed. The forts were square and without bastions, 50 or 60 feet on a side. The enclosure was made of posts extending 7 or 8 feet above the ground, and braced at the back by forked stakes. These posts were set 21⁄2 feet in the ground in double rows, and were pierced with loopholes. The cabins were built of oak posts with but one small opening, set up in circular form. The roof was made of mud shaped into a dome, and was covered over with straw. There were no streams in any of the villages but springs which were made into wells supplied them with water. Forage was to be found everywhere, horses were plentiful, and all the warriors had guns, powder, and bullets which English traders furnished in exchange for furs.

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for not more than 10 years and a fine of not more than $5,000; and no penalty is provided for attempts to commit such crimes. Recent years have witnessed a substantial increase in crimes of the latter type and it is believed that section 197 of the Penal Code should be amended so as to bring within its provisions the crime of robbing or attempting to rob custodians of Government moneys. Legislation to this effect was recommended in the Postmaster General's annual report for 1933 and two bills, H. R. 6546 and H. R. 7214, were introduced and referred to the House Judiciary Committee but neither bill was reported out by the committee. The recommendation for the passage of this legislation is renewed.

Very truly yours,

JAMES A. FARLEY,
Postmaster General.

COMPARISON BETWEEN EXISTING LAW AND THE PROPOSED LEGISLATION

Existing law (35 Stat. 1126; 18 U. S. C. 320) with the new matter inserted by the bill (H. R. 5360) shown in italics and the deleted matter in stricken-through type:

Whoever shall assault any person having lawful charge, control, or custody of any mail matter, money, or other property of the United States, with intent to rob, steal, or purloin such mail matter, money, or other property of the United States, or any part thereof, or shall rob any such person of such mail, money, or other property of the United States, or any part thereof, shall, for athe first offense, be imprisoned not more than ten years; and if, in effecting or attempting to effect such robbery; he shall wound the person having custody of the mail, money, or other property of the United States, or put his life in jeopardy by the use of a dangerous weapon, or for a subsequent offense, shall be imprisoned twenty-five years.

COMPARISON BETWEEN EXISTING LAW AND THE PROPOSED LEGISLATION WITH COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS

Existing law (35 Stat. 1126; 18 U. S. C. 320) with the new matter inserted by the bill as amended in committee (H. R. 5360) shown in italics and the deleted matter in stricken-through type:

Whoever shall assault any person having lawful charge, control, or custody of any mail matter or of any money or other property of the United States, with intent to rob, steal, or purloin such mail matter, money, or other property of the United States, or any part thereof, or shall rob any such person of such mail, money, or other property of the United States, or any part thereof, shall, for a the first offense, be imprisoned not more than ten years; and if in effecting or attempting to effect such robbery he shall wound the person having custody of the such mail, money, or other property of the United States, or put his life in jeopardy by the use of a dangerous weapon, or for a subsequent offense, shall be imprisoned twenty-five years.

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1st Session

No. 584

PROVIDE FOR COMMEMORATION OF TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BATTLE OF ACKIA, MISS., AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ACKIA BATTLEGROUND NATIONAL MONUMENT

APRIL 4, 1935.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. ROBINSON of Utah, from the Committee on the Public Lands, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 3003]

The Committee on the Public Lands, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 3003), to provide for the commemoration of the two hundredth anniversary of the Battle of Ackia, Miss., and the establishment of the Ackia Battleground National Monument, after careful consideration of same, report favorably thereon with the recommendation that the bill do pass the House without amendment.

A similar bill (H. R. 8718) was reported from this committee during the second session of the Seventy-third Congress.

H. R. 8718, second session, Seventy-third Congress, was approved by the Department of the Interior and also by the Director of the Budget. The original bill asked for $100,000, but at the request of the Bureau of the Budget it was reduced to $25,000, and the present bill (H. R. 3003), on which this report is made, appropriates $25,000.

History of this legislation, H. R. 3003, is as follows:

The War Department, in 1930, also recommended the passage of a bill to erect a monument on this battlefield and it was included in a bill reported from the Committee on Military Affairs but which never came to a vote for passage. Later these battlefield parks and monuments were placed under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior. This measure was carefully investigated and the bill was reported and recommended for passage in its amended form. The bill provides for the commemoration, in May 1936, of the two hundredth anniversary of the Battle of Ackia.