Jolliet and Marquette: A New History of the 1673 Expedition

Historian Mark Walczynski's new book is a much-needed reevaluation of previous histories, many now quite old, of the famous French exploratory voyage of the Mississippi in 1673. Scholars whose work involves the early French presence in North America as well as enthusiasts interested in the early history of the continent will find this new publication rich for the author's knowledge of the subject matter and rich in his new discoveries. Two important features of this book bring that voyage into better focus: up-to-date and pertinent reports from archaeological surveys and excavations of the sites mentioned in the story of that journey and linguistic analyses of Native American terms that help to clarify and explain important issues, including notes on bad translations that even Jacques Marquette made.The intent of the book is twofold: (1) as the title states, to open up the voyage of 1673 for our better understanding, and (2) to illustrate the slow but steady movement of the French into Indian lands from Quebec to the Mississippi Valley and down to the Gulf of Mexico, as well as the nuances pertaining to Franco-Native American contact, trade and settlement, all against the backdrop of the mindsets and objectives of French explorers, administrators and missionaries.The introduction lays out the background and historical underpinnings of the Mississippi exploratory expedition, from French beginnings at Quebec to the development of French fisheries that led to the establishment of the fur trade and missionary activity. These events are expertly explained within the context of the heretofore little discussed climate change event known as “the Little Ice Age” that occurred during the French colonial period in North America. Also explicated are the movements of tribes across what is now Canada and the United States that were caused by climate, various alliances, constant warfare, and European trade.Four chapters of Jolliet and Marquette are dedicated to the voyage itself, much of it reconstructed from Marquette's own report, with missing parts filled in by later historical travelers who paddled the same waterways. To illustrate the drama as it unfolds in the narrative, the author adeptly juggles the activities, backgrounds, and endeavors of a host of important historical personages who played a role in the voyage, including the crown's intendant Jean Talon, Quebec's governor Frontenac, Louis Jolliet, his brother Adrien Jolliet, the Jesuit yeoman Jacques Largillier, the French trader Michel Accault, and Jesuit missionaries including Marquette, Le Mercier, Allouez, Silvy, Nouvel, André, Nicolas, and Gravier. The author explores the question of why Louis Jolliet, a relative newcomer to life in the wilderness, was selected to lead the Mississippi voyage rather than his older and far more extensively traveled and seasoned voyageur brother Adrien. Moreover, scenarios created by other scholars that simply have no support in period documents are expertly debunked.The epilogue is an important feature of the book, where issues raised in the previous chapters are tied together. It discusses d'Iberville's important arrival near the mouth of the Mississippi, which changed the entire dynamic of settlement, trade, and occupation of the great river. It shows how the French settlement of the Mississippi Valley led to the construction of French forts, to the institution of Black and Native American slavery and to warfare waged by the French on tribes such as the Chickasaw.Walczynksi, in addition to being an early Illinois Country historian as well as the world's authority on the famous site on the upper Illinois River known as Starved Rock, is also an expert on the Illinois River and its history. In the chapter titled “From the Mississippi to Kaskaskia,” he guides the reader up the stream with Marquette and Jolliet on their daily paddles, and in so doing takes the reader on a most informative, eye-opening, and delightful ride.The epilogue concludes with a discussion of how the Illinois River, a historically strategic waterway that men such as Jolliet and the explorer and empire-maker La Salle attempted to link to a larger system of communication between Quebec and the Gulf of Mexico, became in time a navigable US federal waterway.Finally, the book is refreshingly respectful of the Indigenous people, especially regarding identity, self-designations, customs, spirituality, language, and more.There is no “moral to the story” of Jolliet and Marquette, but the book is, simply put, exactly what our understanding of the voyage of 1673 needed—a penetrating review of past works about it that includes both critiques and compliments, all combined with the newest and recent scientific discoveries by archaeologists, linguists, geologists and other scholars. While historians such as Jean Delanglez and Lucien Campeau opened the door to a greater understanding of that famous canoe trip, there has been nothing like Walczynski's latest book to show us the way into its inner rooms.

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