TONTY, or TONTI, Chevalier Henry de, Italian explorer, born in Gaeta, Italy, about 1650; died in Mobile, Louisiana (now Alabama), in September, 1704. His father, Lorenzo, was the inventor of the system of annuities that is called the Tontine. Henry took part in several naval and military engagements when quite young, in one of which he lost a hand. Its place was supplied by an iron one, which he used skilfully. On the recommendation of the Prince de Conti, the Sieur de La Salle took him into his service, and he embarked with the latter for Quebec on 14 July, 1678. He completed the fort at Niagara, which had been designed by La Salle, and garrisoned it with thirty men. In 1679 he visited several of the Indian tribes, went to Detroit in advance of La Salle, having first taken steps to strengthen and provision his garrison, and advanced into the country of the Illinois, whom he won to the side of the French; but this alliance proved unfortunate for the Illinois, who were attacked by the Iroquois on account of it and defeated with loss almost under the eyes of Tonti. In 1680 tie was ordered by La Salle to build a fort on the river of the Illinois, but, learning that Fort Crevecceur was threatened by the Iroquois, he marched to its aid. There he met the Indians and had some parleying with them, during which he was wounded by an Onondaga warrior. Believing that the fort was not defensible, he retired in September with the five men that constituted its garrison. He sailed up the Illinois, experiencing some losses in the voyage, and wintered in the Bay of Lake Michigan (Green bay) in 1681. He was sent by La Salle the same year to finish the fort on the Illinois which was begun the preceding year, to which he gave the name of St. Louis. He descended the Mississippi with La Salle, but on 15 May, 1682, was despatched by the latter, who had fallen sick, to Mackinaw for assistance. In 1684 he was at Fort St. Louis and repelled an attack of the Iroquois. In 1686 he went to the mouth of Mississippi river by way of Chicago and Fort Louis to seek tidings of La Salle, and on his return to Montreal he was sent to the Illinois country to collect a large force of Illinois Indians for the Seneca campaign, He was able to bring only eighty to Detroit, with whom he took part in the expedition of Denonville. Disheartened by the death of La Salle and of almost all the companions of his early adventures, he spent the last years of his life among the Illinois, who became much attached to him. He was discovered there by Iberville in 1700, supporting himself by hunting and trading in furs. A work purporting to be Tonti's memoirs was published in Paris in 1697, entitled "Dernieres decouvertes de la Salle darts l'Amerique septentrionale" (English translation, London, 1698; New York, 1814). Tonti declared to Iberville as well as to Father Marest that he had no hand in this work, which is full of errors and exaggerations. The real memoirs of Tonti have been published by Pierre Margry in "Origines Fran6aises des pays d'outremer" (Paris, 1877-'9). Vol. i. contains "Voyages et etat des Francs sur les lacs et le Mississippi sous les ordres de MM. de la Salle et de Tonty de 1678 a 1684," and vol. iii. "Lettres de Henri de Tonty sur ce qu'il a appris de M. de la Salle, le voyage qu'il a fair pour l'aller chercher et son depart prochain pour marcher contre les Iroquois, 1686-1689." Tonti wrote in 1693 a memoir addressed to Count de Pontchartrain, which is also published in Margry's " Origines" (1867).