By 1721, Groston was in Illinois Country where he met the Jesuit explorer Charlevoix, accompanying the priest on his journey down the Mississippi River to New Orleans.
[2] In 1724, Groston joined the initial expedition from Fort Orleans to meet with the Kaw and Comanche, which was aborted after most of the French grew ill.
[4] In August 1730, during the Second Fox War, Groston led an attack on a Meskwaki stronghold along a creek in what is now east-central Illinois.
He marched from Fort de Chartres With some 100 French soldiers and militia men, picking up some 400 Native American allies on the way.
More than 300 Meskwaki warriors were killed or captured in the failed escape attempt, along with an unrecorded number of women and children.