Robidoux had something to say about the growing competition for the Indian trade in his area. “Mr. Jeffre is in competition with the American Fur Company. He is associated with two of his kind; they have from $800 to 1,000 worth of merchandise that they bought at Liberty. With a wagon load of whiskey they are following the Indians to their hunting place—I am sending you a letter from Robidoux [in previous letters that always meant Joseph E., who also refers to Joseph as Papa]—you will see what he says about this. So this mulatto [referring to Jeffre] is permitted sometimes to be a sort of Sub-agent, interpreter and trader.”39
The true identity of the “mulatto” Jeffre raises an intriguing question. According to some documents Robidoux appears to have been involved in arguing the status of a man named Geoffrey Dorwin with General Andrew Hughes, the local Indian agent in late 1834. In all probability, this Geoffrey Dorwin was indeed Jeffrie Deroin, the mulatto slave boy, grown into an adult, approximately twenty-eight years of age, and the instigator for the long-running freedom case involving Joseph and Francois. From the sketchy information available, it appeared that Geoffrey (or Jeffrie or Jeffre) had at some point in time, during the extended legal battle that began in 1822, separated himself from the Robidouxs and come into the employ of Hughes as an interpreter at the Ioway Sub-Agency, located near the Blacksnake Hills area. According to Ioway agency records, Hughes, always needing interpreters, had been involved in negotiating Dorwin's freedom in 1832 from the Robidouxs by paying Joseph $600 from funds thought to be raised by his friends including the Ioway Indians. Therefore Dorwin worked on the assumption that he was indeed a free person, despite ongoing legal questions still being raised by Joseph, who claimed that along with the money, Dorwin was required to work for five more years before the freedom clause went into effect.40
But Robidoux seemed more upset by the fact that his former slave boy, whom he had been accused of beating and locking up, was operating as a trade competitor in the area, distributing whiskey as though it was water, rather than serving strictly as an interpreter in the pay of the federal government. The confused issue was discussed in a letter addressed to Pierre Chouteau in St. Louis by a John Ruland of the Office of the Superintendent of Indian Affairs making an inquiry into the actual status of Dorwin. “As there are some doubts in the mind of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs at Washington as to the fact of the freedom of Geoffrey Dorwin, and of the time at which it was effected, will you have the goodness to ascertain those facts by any means within your reach and communicate them to the office at our earliest convenience? In the mean time if you can favor me with a statement of what you know in relation to the transaction between Gen'l Hughes with Jos. Robidoux for the sale of said Dorwin to the former, it will enable me to communicate more freely. I have been credibly informed that Dorwin the Interpreter of Gen'l Hughes spent but a finale portion of his time located at the Ioway Sub Agency—he being frequently engaged in trade at a considerable distance from his post with Indians.”41
Ruland's note seems to muddle the connection between the three men involved. Robidoux apparently still considered Dorwin his property, at least until 1837, even though he had no way of actually controlling him. Dorwin's status became such an issue that Hughes was instructed to hold the interpreter's pay until the freedom issue was sorted out.42 Hughes sent documentation to Superintendent William Clark in November 1834, including the copy of the receipt from March 1832, on which was written, “I (Joseph Robidoux) do hereby emancipate and sell, and set free, and at liberty forever, the said Jeffrey Dorwy [sic] to be free from me and my heirs and all other persons forever, in the same manner as if he had been born free.” Hughes further informed Clark about the long drawn-out court battle involving Dorwin and Robidoux, stating, “Jeffrey was poor and Robidoux was rich, and the trial was kept off from year to year for many years.” Hughes concluded, “I hope to your satisfaction as well as the entire satisfaction of the Department that Dorwy is, and was unquestionably a free man, previous to his employment and that it is just that his pay should be allowed him.”43 Clark agreed with Hughes that as far as the Indian department was concerned, Dorwin was free and entitled to draw his salary as an interpreter.
Hughes's support for Dorwin soured the relationship with Robidoux, who wrote to Pierre Chouteau Jr. regarding Hughes, saying, “if justice is done he certainly ought not to be continued in that office—but he is an intriguing sort of lawyer, his object is to make it appear, I suppose, that he does not know that Jeffre [Dorwin] is a trader—and that he is not his interpreter—what an absurdity!” Later in the same letter he accused Hughes of fabricating a story, “as he had done before,” regarding Dorwin's true identity. One thing remained a certainty; Geoffrey Dorwin hated Joseph Robidoux and would take any and all opportunities to make his life miserable.44
Joseph Robidoux had plenty of other interlopers on his trade and he reported on their fluid movements. “I think I will be alone—our friend Baptiste will be going to the Panis—Laberge tells me that Derouin has gone to the settlement because, he says, the Indians have left.” He also reported that there would be plenty of opossum skins in the spring and that the Indians actively hunted them and asked for powder and shot in return. He asked Chouteau to send wampum, earrings, wrist-bracelets, and some better blankets, writing, “I have left two bales of 13; the Indians do not want them even for $3. I have my red-striped blankets which are of good quality, but unfortunately they do not like them at all & you know that a blanket is everything for these Indians here—it is their coat, their waistcoat, their shirt etc.”45
Joseph wrote a quick follow-up letter to Chouteau regarding Jeffre, after receiving further information on the situation from his son, Joseph E., who worked among the Indians in northeast Kansas along the Missouri River. Quoting his son, “he says that from the instant that Jeffre, the mulatto interpreter and his partners arrived at the camp of the Indians, with their whiskey, it has been impossible for him to collect a single piaster. Several times he has been in danger of being killed by the drunken Indians & several of our men have been struck because they had no whiskey to sell them.”46
Robidoux implored Chouteau to do something, indignant that a competitor could get away with such behavior. Of course, Chouteau had friends in high places, government connections, and remained a prominent player in American Fur Company operations on the Missouri River. “These gentlemen have publicly opened a canteen—5 or 6 of our clerks and engages will certify to it—is it possible that you will not use every effort to have such acts punished—if not, then I advise you to abandon this business. We have not the privilege of having one gallon of liquor with us for our own use—and an impudent mulatto, who moreover is a government interpreter, permits himself publicly—& under your eyes—to act in this manner. He has also been so impudent as to sell, on credit, the rest of his rubbish—nevertheless for the sum of 7 or 800 piastres, to some families—and if the agent does his duty, certainly he has no legal right to reclaim this amount against the nation—on their annuities.”47
Joseph Robidoux had a keen interest in making sure the annuities paid to the Indian tribes did not get away from them too quickly, especially since most of them had been buying from him and his field agents on account. The Sacs seemed to pay up on time, as he told Chouteau, “like honest people—but these rascals of Ayois—how glad I would be to make them pay triple for what they make me suffer today. These rascals of Ayois are obliged to come to me and that is when I will bring them to the ground.” Compounding the situation, Robidoux's field agents reported that “Jeffre had gone around among the Indians and told them not to pay, what could he do to you. He cannot make you pay if you do not want to. Trade with me; I have come here from a parlay with your Father; he told me to tell you not to pay the French.”48
Writing to Pierre Chouteau again in late February 1834, Joseph commented about Jeffre and the problem of Indian debt and unscrupulous traders taking advantage of them. It is difficult to ascertain Robidoux's true motives, but he see
ms to be speaking as an advocate for the tribes, as well as protecting his own interest, or a combination of both. He does reference the fact that he is not in the field attending to the tribes in person. “That infamous mulatto and his partners have played their role; they would not have carried it out so well if I had been nearer.” Again, Robidoux identified illegal whiskey as the problem. “When the Indians were drunk they profited by selling them 8 to 900 piastres worth [of goods] payable by their annuities, and it was only about 40 to 50 Indians to whom they made this sale—and all the tribe are against it. Certainly if the agent does his duty in paying these Indians—they cannot with justice claim to collect this money, for it ought to be divided equally amongst the whole tribe. But if you pay no attention to it these unhappy Indians will be the victims, and you too. They are the reason why these unfortunates are in arrears with their credits to the amount of $1,200. They—note; the mulatto kept them here for a month drinking and eating their provisions and then came back with a little corn and flour to snatch from them the small amount of merchandise they had sold them. He makes these Indians think he has been sent and is protected by the Government—that he is their interpreter and can protect them—that he can make whomever he wants chief—in short, that he is the favorite of the superintendent. You must know what sort of influence this man is over these innocent Indians.”49
On March 10, 1834, Joseph Robidoux wrote a letter to Chouteau letting him know he would be on his way to St. Louis later in the month. He gave an update on the travels of Baptiste Roy, hinting that their relationship continued to sour, the problems with Jeffre, and his attempts to collect money from the Ayois. He had one hundred pairs of blankets the Indians would not buy and suggested giving them to the missionary trade. The Sac were hunting again, and he wanted trade goods sent up river by steamer. A couple of his men, young French engagés, were to be leaving him, Louis Lafleur wanting to return downriver to St. Louis. He offered particular praise to one, “I was very mistaken about Eduard Loise; he is a fine boy & he is the one who does the best business for me—he is a first class young man.” Joseph E. Robidoux likewise left the Blacksnake Hills post, and Joseph expressed concern about his son's past behavior, especially the heavy drinking. He did comment that “he does not drink anymore,” at least for the time being. Later that spring he asked Chouteau to send Joseph E. back, if the old trader Sarpy would give him a little travel money.50
On his return trip, one year later, from the upper Missouri area around Fort Union, Maxmillian commented again on the future site of St. Joseph. In his journal entry for May 16, 1834, he reported an appealing scene that today would seem to come right out of a modern travel brochure. “Towards four o'clock in the afternoon we reached the beautiful chain of the Black Snake Hills, and not long after, Roubedoux's trading house in the neighborhood of the Joways and Saukies, or Sac. The forest covered hills, as well as the prairie stretched at their foot, were now adorned with the most lovely verdure. The two houses at this spot were painted white, which when seen from the river, gave them a very picturesque appearance amid the surrounding green. Behind the dwelling houses were extensive fields of maize, protected by fences, and very fine cattle were grazing in the plain.”51 Descriptions of the rich landscapes of northwest Missouri were one factor in drawing settlers to the area, and many began to move into the region that Robidoux had till that time occupied as his private fiefdom.
Joseph Robidoux traveled very little from the confines of his post at Blacksnake Hills. He made occasional trips to St. Louis, presumably to see his wife and children, or on behalf of the Chouteaus, keeping an eye on other operators along the Missouri River. In May 1834 he reported on a trading base up river from the Blacksnake Hills. “Baptiste Roy has not yet arrived—we hope for him any day. Mrs. Sibley and Ciprien have not yet appeared—they are taking their time. As soon as I have seen Baptiste Roy I will come down. As I have no men, the furs that are here must wait for the boat. I have been here for two hours & I have not as yet been able to see what is being done here—at the next opportunity I will write you more fully. I found the settlement in very bad order—no corn, pigs, etc. I perceive that Louis and Robidoux thought of nothing but getting away. I cannot say anything yet—before having examined their management. Adieu.”52
By 1834, immigrants from the East began pushing across the legal state boundary of northwest Missouri into Indian Territory. To the white settlers, that arbitrary, invisible line of longitude that drew the northwest boundary of the state was not as logical as simply allowing the boundary to follow the natural course of the Missouri River. The reality of the squatter's argument became the basis for a major political decision within the state and became an important step toward making the Blacksnake Hills into a viable town site. An amendment to the Missouri constitution in 1834, stated as much: “That the boundary of the State be so altered and extended, as to include the tract of land lying on the north side of the Missouri River, and west of the present boundary of this State.”53 Squatters invaded the area first. Not concerned with getting legal title, their presence helped exert pressure on the Indian population there to give up the territory. The squatters drew the attention of the army, which had a duty to get them out, and Robidoux, whose Indian trade appeared threatened. Legally, as a licensed trader, he and his operatives should have been the only white men in the area.
During July and August of 1834, William Clark issued or renewed trade licenses for the Blacksnake Hills. Joseph Robidoux, allowed to employ eight men, posted bond of $5,000 and reported capital of $14,305. His license seems to indicate he had broken with B. Pratte, Chouteau & Company, a subsidiary of the American Fur Company. But other correspondence indicates Joseph remained personally tied to Pierre Chouteau Jr., who advanced him credit when he needed it and paid him a salary until at least 1836. Others pushed into the same area, interlopers on the Blacksnake Hills trade. Clark licensed on July 29, 1834, the firm of Le Clerc, Valois, & Co. who employed twenty-seven men. Their license covered two years, and their territory actually extended far up the Missouri to the Mandans and beyond. Sublette and Campbell also continued to operate legally in the area, and their license was renewed in April 1834, allowing them to employ twenty-five men.54
Out from under the direct control of the American Fur Company, Joseph seemed to prosper on his own. A bill of lading from 1834 records ninety-two packs of raccoon, muskrat, and deerskins being shipped aboard the steamboat Diana, from Blacksnake Hills bound for St. Louis. Robidoux made a point of having the steamship's clerk write on the bill that the packs were marked and numbered and that they were delivered aboard in “good order and well condition.” Also noted on the bill, “the danger of the river, only accepted unto B. Pratte, Chouteau & Company,” indicates he maintained the relationship and sold directly to Chouteau in St. Louis, and that he had no further obligation once the steamboat pulled away.55
Robidoux closed out 1834 with over $6,000 in outstanding credits, but remained philosophical about the situation, telling Pierre Chouteau, “I am as tranquil as an onion while waiting. Because it is impossible for me to run after these poor fellows—to scatter here and there I would need expressly 50 mules and 20 men.” He heard that Jeffre had been given a license and though he still did not condone their trade tactics he could do nothing about it. He closed, “my respects to Mr. Cabanne,” whom he had never gotten on with, “and to Sarpy.” Robidoux took a playful jab at Chouteau with a postscript that read, “I noticed that when [Lucian] Fontenelle's army passed that his cannon were loaded with red hot balls—you must have been well fortified to support Lassaut—pardon this remark, because it is not of my business.”56
CHAPTER 7
Brothers in New Mexico
On July 16, 1829, Antoine and Louis Robidoux appeared before an administrator of the Mexican government in Santa Fe as “citizens, residents and married in this capitol” and petitioned “That being practiced what the law of 14 of April of 1828, to acquire naturalization papers, as they demonstrate the do
cuments that we appropriately accompany, we beg you to accept the resignation that we make with obedience and submission of any nation or foreign government; especially of those that we have participated. We denounce any titles with decorations or grace that we might have obtained in any government. In the end, any and all protests are done in the most legal form to maintain any and all communications, constitutional acts and general laws of the United States of Mexico: We reinstate our plea that in virtue of our cited documents that we have renounced and protested, we will appreciate it if we are worthy of your understanding of our letters of naturalization that we so anxiously and respectfully ask for.” Antoine had taken as his common-law wife, Carmel Benevides, who according to the Robidoux family biographer was the daughter of a Spanish captain killed by the Comanche. But like brother Louis, Antoine had not gone to the trouble to get the marriage sanctioned by the church, according to records compiled by the historian Rebecca Craver. The issue may have been the price that the padres charged to officially sanction a marriage, ranging from $20 to $200.1
The Brothers Robidoux and the Opening of the American West Page 18