the Journey - Searching for Moncacht-Apé

Before Lewis and Clark, there was Moncacht-Apé.

He was a Native explorer from the Yazoo Nation in the Mississippi Valley. Three centuries ago, roughly around the 1690s, he spent eight years traveling on foot and by dugout canoe to reach the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts. His adventurous story and the uncertain routes that he followed have never been accurately retold until now.

The Killer of Difficulties or Fatigue

No images exist of Moncacht-Apé’, but Le Page did include rudimentary illustrations in Histoire de la Louisiane that shed light on how the Yazoo explorer may have dressed during parts of his journey. This cropped image comes from a larger illustration captioned “Natives of the North, setting out on a winter hunt with their families.” LePage, 1758.

“I had lost my wife, and the children I had with her were dead before her, when I undertook my journey to the coast where the sun rises,” began Moncacht-Apé.

The Yazoo explorer shared this sad start to his adventurous story during a visit with Antoine-Simon Le Page du Pratz at his blufftop farmhouse near present-day Natchez, Mississippi. It was the mid-1720s in the French colony of La Louisiane. Moncacht-Apé was older now, perhaps twice the age of the 30-year-old Frenchman, who sat captivated for three days while transcribing a exciting interview.

Le Page was a farmer, naturalist, and aspiring historian. Unlike his fellow colonists, who mostly treated native people with disdain, Le Page was friendly with neighboring tribes. When the Frenchman inquired about the origins of their peoples, he noted that members of most regional tribes always pointed to the far northwest.

Learning of Le Page’s curiosity, Moncacht-Apé had come eighty miles from his village on the Yazoo River. Despite his age, traveling such distances was of little consequence to this spry man. He explained that, decades before, he’d embarked upon his long journey to discover the homeland of his ancestors. While the French called him the Interpreter for his gift with languages, the meaning of his Yazoo name was particularly apt for an indomitable explorer: the killer of difficulties or fatigue.

For several days, an enthusiastic Le Page recorded Moncacht-Apé’s story. After returning to France, the author would publish the account during the 1750s in articles and a book, later translated into English as The History of Louisiana (see the Interview). For about fifty years, the journey was generally accepted as true. However, after the Lewis and Clark expedition, Moncacht-Apé’s story was mostly dismissed as embellishment or fraud. Since that time, most historians have questioned the validity of the journey for various reasons. Yet other observers find the details of the story to not only be plausible but convincing, which would make Moncacht-Apé the first recorded explorer in American history to reach the Pacific Coast.

Great Water of the East

Sometime around the 1690s, when he was a younger man, Moncacht-Apé departed his village on the Yazoo River near present-day Vicksburg, Mississippi. The Yazoo explorer first visited with his neighbors, the Chickasaw, after which he decided to venture into the known lands of the East. The Chickasaw offered nothing new about their common ancestors, but they did share the preferred route to avoid the growing villages of European colonists.

So, the explorer turned northeast, desiring to see the Great Water, or ocean, that he’d heard so much about. He typically walked about ten to fifteen miles per day, sometimes more. His simple belongings included clothing and bedroll, pot and bowl, bow and arrows. He followed the winding Wabash River, which the French called the Ohio River, through the rolling country of the Shawnee and Iroquois Nations.

Le Page captioned this illustration “Natives in Winter.” It may have been intended to depict a local Natchez tribesman from the lower Mississippi Valley in typical winter dress. However, it’s important to note that the childish facial features are an added flourish that, among other things, is reminiscent of European artwork of the Baroque period. Le Page, 1758.

Somewhere in the Northeast, he spent a snowy winter in an unknown village of the Abenaki people, where he befriended a kindred explorer. Being from the mild Mississippi Valley, Moncacht-Apé was not accustomed to such a long and cold season, and he struggled to hunt wearing homemade snowshoes. Come spring, he and his friend went east. They traveled carefully, avoiding any settlements and resting often, since the Yazoo explorer’s feet became sore from negotiating the rocky terrain. After several days, they reached a windy cliff overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.

“I was so content, that I could not speak,” recalled Moncacht-Apé.

The Yazoo explorer stayed in the Northeast for over a year, spending another long winter with his friend’s family in their Abenaki village. The next spring, the twosome traveled west across what became Upstate New York, reaching the Niagara River north of present-day Buffalo. For half a day, they followed the current downstream as a thunderous sound grew. An old man had convinced them to put buffalo wool in their ears before approaching the great falls.

“The sight made my hair stand on end and my flesh creep,” said Moncacht-Apé. But after gathering his courage, he descended to the base and crept inside the airspace behind the plunging Niagara Falls.

The next day, the friends went south toward the headwaters of the Ohio River, near the present-day state line of New York and Pennsylvania. Using an ax, they made a dugout canoe from a soft-wood tree. Though he’d seen so much, and met so many people, Moncacht-Apé had learned little about his ancestors. Then he bid goodbye to his beloved friend of six seasons, and the Yazoo explorer took to the water and returned home.

The Beautiful River

On his second day with Le Page, in the mid-1720s, an older Moncacht-Apé told of his journey to the West about thirty years before. The spring following his return home, the tireless young explorer walked north along the eastern highlands bordering the Mississippi River. He intended to travel from nation to nation until he reached the lands of his ancestors, and he wouldn’t return for five years. Upon reaching the might Ohio River, he built a raft from canes and floated over to the lands of the Illinois people.

Not far from the great mounds of Cahokia, he built another raft and crossed the Mississippi above its confluence with the Missouri River. Then he went overland along the northern bank of the muddy Missouri. Upon finding the tribe of the same name, he wintered with them and learned their language.

When the snows melted, Moncacht-Apé traveled to the Kanza tribe, who described to him a difficult route to reach the Otter Nation and a river flowing west. Crossing the Plains, there were herds of bison for miles, so he hunted and ate well. For about a month, the Yazoo explorer followed the river (see the Mystery), while the surrounding hills grew to mountains that he feared to cross.

This cropped image, from a larger illustration, depicts an individual hunter targeting a single bison from a herd during a group hunt. Le Page, 1758.

Out where the green grasses faded to yellow, he met a party of hunters who spoke an unfamiliar language. Communicating with signs, he was invited to join a husband and wife who were returning to their people, the Otters, who had a village on the other side of mountains. After about two weeks, first following the river and later venturing overland, they reached a clearwater stream that they called the Beautiful River.

For eighteen days, Moncacht-Apé traveled with a canoe party of Otters heading downstream on the Beautiful River. They stopped regularly to hunt, fish, and portage. The Yazoo explorer eventually parted with his Otter friends and joined a new nation that spoke a different language that was common further west on what came to be called the Columbia River.

Always, the traveler spent time with tribal elders who enjoyed teaching their language and sharing their ways. Eventually, Moncacht-Apé continued canoeing solo down the Columbia, encountering frequent tribes as he approached the ocean.

Great Water of the West

On his third day in Natchez, in the mid-1720s, an older Moncacht-Apé told Le Page what happened when he reached the Pacific Coast. The Yazoo explorer said that he arrived during a state of conflict among coastal tribes, and he joined a fight against mysterious raiders from the sea. They came to take child captives and harvest a mysterious type of tree. With Moncacht-Apé’s help, the raiders were successfully repelled, and the Yazoo explorer was able to continue his journey.

Le Page captioned this illustration “Natives in Summer.” It may have been intended to depict a local Natchez tribesman from the lower Mississippi Valley in typical summer dress. However, it’s important to note that the childish facial features are an added flourish that, among other things, is reminiscent of European artwork of the Baroque period. In one hand, the man holds a bow, with his arrows carried on his back. In his other hand, he holds what’s meant to be a calumet, aka long pipe or peace pipe, with this example seemingly drawn somewhat larger than typical. Le Page, 1758.

With this mysterious episode, Moncacht-Apé offered one of several reasons that led later observers to question the story, including nationalism, racial bigotry, and geographic inconsistences. In this case, the Yazoo explorer described the raiders as bearded men with white skin who were strangely dressed and did not resemble the French, English, or Spanish that he knew. The uncertainty surrounding the identity of these raiders has led most U.S. historians to dismiss the episode as improbable, often calling the entire journey into question (see the Mystery).

The second major mystery in Moncacht-Apé’s account relates to his vague descriptions of the generally northwesterly route that he followed from the Kanza to the Continental Divide. In the early 1800s, at the suggestion of President Thomas Jefferson, Lewis and Clark carried an English translation of Le Page’s 1758 book on their 1803-1806 expedition from Pittsburgh to the Pacific.

Several historians have suggested that Moncacht-Apé’s descriptions led the U.S. explorers to expect an easy crossing of the Continental Divide at the headwaters of the Missouri River. Instead, Lewis and Clark struggled for a month to surmount the Rocky Mountains. This led many critics to dismiss the Yazoo explorer’s story as inaccurate or fabricated. However, Le Page and other supporters believed that Moncacht-Apé accurately described features of the Rockies and Pacific Northwest that were unknown to Europeans during the relevant time periods. These features would not be confirmed by US explorers until the early 1800s, starting with the Lewis and Clark expedition. In other words, the only way that Moncacht-Apé could have described these regions and cultures so accurately was if he was a real explorer who accomplished his journey.

During his 1690s journey, Moncacht-Apé never reached the homeland of his ancestors, but he did come close. Before returning east, he traveled north along the Pacific Coast. In one village, the elders explained that the coastline continued for a great distance north before extending west and ending in an ocean strait. At one time, the land had continued. Their people came from somewhere beyond.

With this information, Moncacht-Apé began his long journey home.

Continue the Search for Moncacht-Apé

Now that you know the basics about Moncacht-Apé’s journey, you can continue the search in several ways.

Mysteries: If you want to learn more about the mysteries surrounding the Moncacht-Apé journey head to this page, which also shares recent discoveries and new evidence made through an interdisciplinary approach that considers indigenous knowledge.

the Interview: If you want to read Moncacht-Apé’s account of his journey, check out my new collaborative translation of the original French narrative, as recorded in the mid-1720s by Le Page and published in 1750s in Histoire de la Louisane.

Maps: You can also check out relevant historical maps, including Le Page’s 1757 map of North America, which he created, in part, based on the information he learned from Moncacht-Apé.

Sources: There are many primary and secondary sources related to the Moncacht-Apé journey that are crucial for investigating the journey. Check these out on the Sources page.

Questions: Check out these commonly asked questions and answers about the journey and project. You can also submit new questions by using this Contact form.

Author: Learn about Mike Bezemek, the author investigating the Moncacht-Apé story and the creator of this website, on this page. The author is hard at work on a book that will share his thrilling coast-to-coast quest to unravel the mysterious journey of Moncacht-Apé.