rejoin La Salle. Co-founder of Fort St. Louis, Illinois In the spring of 1682, de Tonti journeyed with La Salle on his descent down the Mississippi and helped establish alliances with Native Americans by presenting the calumet (a peace pipe) to the Natchez tribe, allowing La Salle to travel three leagues inland to meet with their chief. Assuming they had made peace with the tribe, de Tonti tried to convince the Natchez to relocate near their new fort, Fort St. Louis, to conduct trade with one another. La Salle departed for France in 1683 to gather colonists for a new Louisiana venture, leaving de Tonti behind to hold Fort St. Louis. In La Salle's absence, Joseph-Antoine Le Febvre de La Barre, the governor of New France, confiscated all of La Salle's new territory. Barring de Tonti's aid in fighting off Iroquois attackers, de Tonti was no longer in command of the Illinois territory and was replaced by Louis-Henri de Baugy. de Tonti ventured back to Quebec in the spring of 1684. La Barre later rescinded his decision to seize La Salle's territories, and de Tonti ventured back in 1685. Word reached de Tonti that La Salle was in the Gulf of Mexico, causing de Tonti to proceed to the south in 1686 to try to meet him on his ascent. Instead of meeting La Salle, de Tonti established a trading post in Arkansas, leaving six Frenchman to secure a permanent French settlement to trade with the Quapaw and to hinder English invasion in the east by establishing a presence in the middle of North America. In 1689, after receiving news that La Salle had been killed by his own men, de Tonti had begun journeying to La Salle's abandoned settlement in Baie Saint-Louis. Unfortunately, de Tonti was ill-prepared and turned back before he could reach the settlement and returned to Illinois. In late winter 1690, resources grew scarce and he moved Fort St. Louis to Pimiteoui (present-day Peoria). This new Fort St. Louis (also known as Fort Pimiteoui) later became the main trading post for the French. In the summer of 1685 Jacques-René de Brisay de Denonville replaced La Barre as the governor of New France. Denonville decided that war with Iroquois was inevitable, promising Illinois "every protection" as well as consultation from de Tonti on military excursions. Denonville made de Tonti's key role in this military campaign, execution. de