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Tous les autres exemplaires orlglnaux sont filmto en commenpant par la premiere page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par la dernlire page qui comporte une telle empreinte. Un des symboies suivants apparaftra sur la dernlAre Image de cheque microfiche, seion ie cas: ie symbols -^ signifie "A SUIVRE", ie symbols V signifie "FIN ". Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent 6tre fllmte A des taux de reduction diff6rents. Lorsque Ie document est trop grand pour Atre reproduit en un seul cllchA, II est filmA A partir de I'angle supArieur gauche, de gauche A droite. et de haut en bas, en prenant Ie nombre d''mages nAcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants lllustrent la mAthode. 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 franci'g ifarkman's maxka. NEW LIBRARY EDITION. Vol. VI. FRANCIS PARKMAN'S WORKS. Neto ILibvarB EUttion. Pioneers of France In tlie Kew V/orld i vol. The Jesuits in TTorth America I vol. La Salle and the Discovery of tbe Gr'>'^t West . . I vol. The Old Regime in Canada I vol. Count Frontenac and new France under Louis XIV. I '<'ol. A Half Century of Conflict 2 vols. Montcalm and Wolfe 2 vols. The Conspiracy of Fontlac and the Indian War after the Conquest of Canada 2 vols. The Oregon Trail I vol. H^P^ i .*•>■ -•• %■ -^■. . ■I?- ■t' .' 'i^ ,!« •■ 4' .:■■' -r.^-i''^- ..^f'-'- *-:■:-?■. T^f^^' S.hs and Foxe^, >^fter :, drawing by Charles „„,„„, I li A HALF-CENTURY OF CONFLICT. FRANCE AND ENGLAND IN NORTH AMERICA. Part Sixth. BY FRANCIS PARKMAN. iv^v^.. IN TWO VOLUMES. Vol. I / li TORONTO: GEORGE N. MORANG, 63 YoNOE Street. 1898. rS"0S7 135151 Copyright, 189S, By Fuancis Pakkman. Copyright, 1807, By Little, Brown, and Company John Wilson and Son, Cambkidqe, U. S. A. PKEFACE. This book, forming Part VI. of the series called France and England in North America, fills the gap between Part V., " Count Fronte- nac," and Part VII., " Montcalm and Wolfe ; " so that the series now forms a continuous his- tory of the efforts of France to occupy and con- trol this continent. In the present volumes the nature of the sub- ject does not permit an unbroken thread of narrative, and the unity of the book lies in its being throughout, in one form or another, an illustration of the singularly contrasted char- acters and methods of the rival claimants to North America. Ijke the rest of the series, this work is founded on original documents. The state- ments of secondary writers have been accepted only when found to conform to the evidence of contemporaries, whose writings have been sifted and collated with the greatest care. As extrem- VI PREFACE. ists on each side have charged me with favor- ing tlie other, 1 hope I have been iinlair to neither. The niannscript material collected for the preparation of the series now complete forms about seventy volumes, most of them folios. These luive been given by me from time to time to the Massachusetts Historical Society, in whose library they now are, open to the examination of those interested in the subjects of which they treat. The collection was begun forty-five years ago, and its formation has been exceedingly sk)w, having been retarded by difficulties which seemed insurmountable, and for years were so in fact. Hence the completion of the series has required twice the time that would ha,ve sufficed under less unfavorable conditions. Boston, March 26, 1892. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. 1700-1713. EVE OF WAK. The Spanish Succossion. — Influence of Louis XIV. on History. — French Schemes of Contjuest in America. — New York. — Unfitness of tlie Colonies for War. — The Five Nations. — Doubt and Vacillation. — The Western Indians. — Trade and rditics Page CHAPTER II, 1694-1704. DETROIT. Michilimackinac. — La Mothe-Cadillac : his Disputes with the Jesuits. — Opposing Views. — Plans of Cadillac : his Memo- rial to the Court ; his Opponents. — Detroit founded. — The New Company. — Detroit changes Hands. — Strange Act of the Five Nations 17 CHAPTER III. 1703-1713. QUEEN ANNE's WAR. The Forest of Maine. — A Treacherous Peace. — A Frontier Vil- lage. — Wells and its People. — Attack upon it. — Border Ravages. — Beaubassin's War-party. — The " Woful De- cade." — A Wedding Feast. — A Captive Bridegroom ... 34 V' Vlll CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. 1704-1740. deeufield. Page Ilcrtel de Rouvillc. — A Frontier Village. — Rev. John Williams. — The Surprise. — Defence of the Stehbius House. — At- tempted Rescue. — The Meadow Fight. — The Captives. — The Nortliward March. — Mrs. Williams killed. — The Min- ister's Journey. — Kindness of Canadians. — A Stubborn Heretic. — Kuiiice Williams. — Converted Captives. — John Sheldon's Mis.siou. — Exchange of Prisoners. — An English Squaw. — The Gill Family 55 CHAPTER V. 1704-1713. THE TORMENTED FRONTIER. Border Raids. — Haverhill. — Attack and Defence. — War to the Knife. — Motives of the French. — Proposed Neutrality. — Joseph Dudley. — Town and Country 94 CHAPTER VI. 1700-1710. THE OLD REGIME IN ACADIA. The Fishery Question. — Privateers and Pirates. — Port Royal. — Official Gossip. — Abuse of Brouillan. — Complaints of De Goutin. — Subercase and his Officers. — Church and State. — Paternal Government 110 CHAPTER VII. 1704-1710. ACADIA CHANGES HANDS. Reprisal for Deerfield. — Major Benjamin Church : his Rav- ages at Grand-Pre. — Port Royal Expedition. — Futile Pro- ceedings. — A Discreditalde Affair. — French Successes in Newfoundland. — Schemes of Samuel Vetch. — A Grand CONTEXTS. IX Paok Enterprise. — Nicholson's Advance. — An Infected Camp. — Ministerial Promises broken. — A New Scheme. — I'ort Royal attacked. — Acadia conquered 120 CHAPTER VIII. 1710,1711. walker's expedition. Scheme of La Ronde Denys. — Boston warned against British Designs. — Boston to be ruined. — Plans of the Ministry. — Canada doomed. — British Troops at Boston. — The Colo- nists denounced. — The Fleet sails for Quebec. — Forebod- ings of tlie Admiral. — Storm and Wreck. — Timid Com- manders. — Retreat. — Joyful News for Canada. — Pious Exultation. — Fanciful Stories. — Walker disgraced . . . 156 CHAPTER IX. 1712-1749. LOUISBOURG AND ACADIA. Peace of Utrecht. — Perilous Questions. — Louisbourg founded. — Annapolis attacked. — Position of the Acadians. — Weak- ness of the British Garrison. — Apathy of the Ministry. — French Intrigue. — Clerical Politicians. — The Oath of Alle- giance. — Acadians refuse it : their Expulsion proposed ; they take the Oath 183 CHAPTER X. 1713-1724. SEBASTIEN RALE. Boundary Disputes. — Outposts of Canada. — The Earlier and Later Jesuits. — Religion and Politics. — The Norridgewocks and their Missionary. — A Hollow Peace. — Disputed Land Claims. — Council at Georgetown. — Attitude of Rale. — Minister and Jesuit. — The Indians waver. — An Outbreak. — Covert War. — Indignation against Rale. — War declared. — I I I CONTENTS. PAor. Governor and Assembly. — Speech of Samuel Sewall. — I'enobscots attack Fort St. George. — Iteprisal. — Attack on Norridgewock. — Death of Kale 212 CHAPTER XL 1724, 1725. lovewell's fight. Viviidreuil and Dummer. — Embassy to Canada. — Indians in- tractal)le. — Treaty of Peace. — The Pe(iuawkets. — John Lovewell. — A Hunting Party. — Another Expedition. — The Ambuscade. — The Fight. — Chaplain Frye : his Fate. — The Survivors. — Susanna Rogers 250 I ft ■'•■:i: CHAPTER XII. 1712. THE OUTAGAMIES AT DETROIT. The West and the Fur-trade. — New York and Canada. — In- dian Population. — The Firebrands of the West. — Detroit in 1712. — Dangerous Visitors. — Suspense. — Timely Suc- cors. — The Outagamies attacked : their Desperate Posi- tion. — Overtures. — Wavering Allies. — Conduct of Dubuis- son. — Escape of the Outagamies. — Pursuit and Attack. — Victory and Carnage 272 CHAPTER XIII. 1697-1750. LOUISIANA. The Mississippi to be occupied. — English Rivalry. — Iberville. — Bienville. — Huguenots. — Views of Louis XIV. — Wives for the Colony. — Slaves. — La Mothe-Cadillac. — Paternal Government. — Crozat's Monopoly. — Factions. — The Mis- si.ssippi CJompany. — New Orleans. — The Bubble bursts. — Indian Wars. — The Colony firmly established. — The two Heads of New France 298 ewall attack on -In. 2troit Suc- Posi- buis- k CONTENTS. CHAPTER XIV. 1700-1732. THE OUTAGAMIE WAR. XI Paob We.t - The Outagam,es. _ Their Turbulence. - EuEli.h lu nZ7 '^-f '''""''""™- - 1^'-' "' Ou fgamie"' — Hostilities reuewed. — LiVnerv'sFxnp/I,-HV.., /^ "fe'^ra'es. attacked by ViUiers- hv ° "^ ^ ^'''f^'*'""— ^"tagamies cu uy vuiiers, by Hurous and Iroouois _Ta n.,*^4. des Morts. - The Sacs and Foxr-s ^ ^ ^""^ ' 326 CHAPTER XV. 1697-1741. FRANCE IN THE PAR WESV. ''T^JHtZi" jLh""' ? "» «'• P«— Canadian, Ha.,„?raV.e'-rerrrfLTT-r'r^'^ mont visits the Comanches tj,. « , ~ Bomg. rado ana New M«ur* r.7 J^ T^^.^r^' ■". '^r': ,, 272 He. ves nal Ks- its. wo 298 n I < A HALF-CENTURY OF CONFLICT. ^1 I ill A HALF-CENTURY OF CONFLICT. CHAPTER I. 1700-1713. EVE OF WAR. The Spanish Succession.- Infliknoe ok Louis XIV. on His- TOKY. — FuEN'cii Schemes ok Conquest in Amekica. — New YouK. — Unfitness ok the Colonies kok Wak. — Tin' Five Nations. — Doubt and Vacillation. — The Western In )ians. — Trade and roLiTics. The war which in the British colonies was called Queen Anne's War, and in England the War of the Spanish Succession, was the second of a series of four conflicts which ended in giving to Great Britain a maritime and colonial preponderance over France and Spain. So far as concerns the colonies and the sea, these several wars may be regarded as a single protracted one, broken by intervals of truce. The three earlier of them, it is true, were European con- tests, begun and waged on European disputes. Their American part was incidental and apparently subordi- nate, yet it involved questions of prime importance in the history of the world. 'H •i r EVK OF WAIl. [1702. The War of the S[iiinish Succession spraiijjf from tlio ambition of Louis XIV. We are a[)t to regard tlie story of tliat gorgeous nionarcli as a tale that is told; but his influence shapes the life of nations to this day. At the beginning of his reign two roads lay before him, and it was a momentous question for posterity, as for his own age, whicli one of them he would choose, — whetlier he would follow the whole- some policy of liis great minister Colbert, or obey his own vanity and arrogance, and plung(; France into exhausting wars; whether he would liold to the prin- ciple of tolerance endjodied in the Edict of Nantes, or do the work of fanaticism and i)riestly ambition. The one course meant prosperity, progress, and the rise of a middle class; the other meant bankruptcy and the Dragonades, — and this was the King's choice. Crushing taxation, misery, and ruin followed, till France burst out at last in a frenzy, drunk with the wild dreams of Rousseau. Then came the Terror and the Napoleonic wai-s, and reaction on reaction, revolution on revolution, down to our own day. Louis placed his grandson on the throne of Spain, and insulted England by acknowledging as her right- ful King the son of James IL, whom she had deposed. Then England declared war. Canada and the north- ern British colonies had had but a short breathing time since the Peace of Ryswick; both were tired of slaughtering each other, and both needed rest. Yet before the declaration of war, the Canadian officers of the Crown prepared, with their usual energy, to meet «•> [1702. < jl I !• ! i 10 EVE OF WAR. [1700-1703. French, had guarded her borders and fought her battles. What they wanted in return were gifts, attentions, just dcii lings, and active aid in war; but they got tlieni in scant measure. Their treatment by the province was short-siglited, if not ungrateful. New York was a mixture of races and religions not yet fused into a harmonious body politic, divided in interests and torn with intestine disputes. Its As- sembly was made up in large part of men unfitted to pursue a consistent scheme of policy, or spend the little money at their disposal on any objects but those of present and visible interest. The royal gov- ernors, even when personally competent, were ham- pered by want of means and by factious opposition. The Five Nations were robbed by land-speculators, cheated by traders, and feebly supported in their constant wars with the French. Spasmodically, as it were, on occasions of crisis, they were summoned to Albany, soothed with such presents as could be got from unwilling legislators, or now and then from the Crown, and exhorted to fight vigorously in the common cause. The case would have been far worse but for a few patriotic men, with Peter Schuyler at their head, who understood the character of these Indians, and labored strenuously to keep them in what was called their allegiance. The proud and fierce confederates had suffered greatly in the late war. Their numbers had been reduced about one half, and they now counted little more than twelve hundred warriors. They had I [1700-170;}. I fought lier 1 were gifts, in war; but treatment by ungrateful, religions not 3, divided in es. Its As- nen unfitted or spend the objects but e royal gov- , were ham- ojDposition. si^eculators, ed in their ^dically, as summoned s could be and then porously in been far Schuyler r of these them in suffered had been ted little hey had JESUITS AND MINISTERS. 11 ■3 1700-1703.] learned a bitter and humiliating lesson, and their arrogance had changed to distrust and alarm. Though hating the French, they had learned to respect their military activity and prowess, and to look askance on the Dutch and English, who rarely struck a blow in their defence, and suffered their hereditary enemy to waste their fields and burn their tosms. The English called the Five Nations British subjects, on which the French taunted them with being British slaves, and told them that the King of England had ordered the governor of New York to poison them. This invention had great effect. The Iroquois capital, Onondaga, was filled with wild rumors. The credulous savages were tossed among doubts, suspicions, and fears. Some were in terror of poison, and some of witchcraft. They believed that the rival European nations had leagued to destroy them and divide their lands, and that they were bewitched by sorcerers, both French and English. ^ After the Peace of Ryswick, and even before it, the French governor kept agents among them. Some of these were soldiers, like Joncaire, Maricourt, or Longueuil, and some were Jesuits, like Bruyas, Lamberville, or Vaillant. The Jesuits showed their usual ability and skill in their difficult and perilous task. The Indians derived various advantages from their presence, which they regarded also as a flatter- ing attention; while the English, jealous of their influence, made feeble attempts to counteract it by 1 N. Y. Col. Docs., iv. 658. \- . I 12 EVE OF WAR. [1700-1703. sending Protestant clergymen to Onondaga. " But, " writes Lord Bellomont, "it is next to impossible to prevail with the ministers to live among the Indians. They [the Indians] are so nas^.y as never to wash their hands, or the utensils they dress their victuals with."^ Even had their zeal been proof to these afflictions, the ministers would have been no match for their astute opponents. In vain Bellomont assured the Indians that the Jesuits were "the greatest lyars and impostors in the world. "^ In vain he offered a hundred dollars for every one of them whom they should deliver into his hands. They would promise to expel them ; but their minds were divided, and they stood in fear of one another. While one party distrusted and disliked the priests, another was begging the governor of Canada to send more. Others took a practical view of the question. " If the English sell goods cheaper than the French, we will have ministers; if the French sell them cheaper than the English, we will have priests." Others, again, wanted neither Jesuits nor ministers, "because both of you [English and French] have made us drunk with the noise of your praying. "^ The aims of the propagandists on both sides were secular. The French wished to keep the Five Nations neutral in the event of another war; the 1 Bellomont to the Lords of Trade, 17 October, 1700. " Conference of Bellomont with the Indians, 26 Aurjust, 1700. 3 Journal of Bleeker and Schuyler on their visit to Onondaga, August, September, 1701. 1 { [1700-1703. THE CAUGIINAWAGAS. 13 ga. "But," mpossible to the Indians, ver to wash heir victuals oof to these m no match Bellomont were " the " '^ In vain )ne of them mds. They minds were ne another, the priests, ada to send le question, he French, sell them le priests." ministers, nch] have ing."3 jsides were the Five war; the 1700. \aga, August, 1700-1703.J English wished to spur them to active hostility; l)ut while the former pursued their purpose with energy and skill, the efforts of the latter were intermittent and generally feeble. "The Nations," writes Schuyler., "are full of fac- tions." There was a French party and an English party in every town, especially in Onondaga, the centre of intrigue. French influence was strongest at the western end of the confederacy, among the Senecas, where the French officer Joncaire, an Iroquois by adoption, had won many to France ; and it was weakest at the eastern end, among the Mohawks, who were nearest to the English settle- ments. Here the Jesuits had labored long and strenuously in the work of conversion, and from time to time they had led their numerous proselytes to remove to Canada, where they settled at St. Louis, or Caughnawaga, on the right bank of the St. Lawrence, a little above Montreal, where their descendants still remain. It is said that at the beginning of the eighteenth century two-thirds of the Mohawks had thus been persuaded to cast their lot with the French, and from enemies to become friends and allies. Some of the Oneidas and a few of the other Iroquois nations joined them and strengthened the new mission settlement ; and the Caughnawagas afterwards played an important part between the rival European colonies. The "Far Indians," or "Upper Nations," as the French called them, consisted of the tribes of the I t 14 EVE OF WAR. [1700-1703. Great Lakes and adjacent regions, Ottawas, Potta- wattamies, Sacs, Foxes, Sioux, and many more. It was from these that Canada drew the furs by which she lived. Most of them were nominal friends and allies of the French, who in the interest of trade strove to keep these wild-cats from tearing one an- other's throats, and who were in constant alarm lest they should again come to blows with their old ene- mies, the Five Nations, in which case they would call on Canada for help, thus imperilling those pacific relations with the Iroquois confederacy which the French were laboring constantly to secure. In regard to the "Far Indians," the French, the English, and the Five Iroquois Nations all had dis- tinct and opposing interests. The French wished to engross their furs, either by inducing the Indians to bring them down to Montreal, or by sending traders into their country to buy them. The Eng- lish, with a similar object, wished to divert the " Far Indians " from Montreal and draw them to Albany ; but this did not suit the purpose of the Five Nations, who, being sharp politicians and keen traders, as well as bold and enterprising warriors, wished to act as middle-men between the beaver-hunting tribes and the Albany merchants, well knowing that good profit might thus accrue. In this state of affairs the con- verted Iroquois settled at Caughnawaga played a peculiar part. In the province of New York, goods for the Indian trade were of excellent quality and comparatively abundant and cheap ; while among the ML ILLICIT TRADE. 15 1700-1713.] French, especially in time of war, they were often scarce and dear. The Caughnawagas accordingly, whom neither the English nor the French dared offend, used their position to carry on a contraband tiade between New York and Canada. By way of Lake Champlain and the Hudson they brought to Albany fui-s from the country of the "Far Indians," and exchanged them for guns, blankets, cloths, knives, beads, and the like. These they carried to Canada and sold to the French traders, who in this way, and often in this alone, supplied themselves with the goods necessaiy for bartering furs from the "Far Indians." This lawless trade of the Caughnawagas went on even in time of war; and opposed as it was to every principle of Canadian policy, it was generally connived at by the French authorities as the only means of obtaining the goods necessary for keeping their Indian allies in good humor. It was injurious to English interests ; but the fur- traders of Albany and also the commissioners charged with Indian affairs, being Dutchmen converted by force into British subjects, were, with a few eminent exceptions, cool in their devotion to the British Crown; while the merchants of the port of New York, from whom the fur-traders drew their sup- plies, thought more of their own profits than of the public good. The trade with Canada through the Caughnawagas not only gave aid and comfort to the enemy, but continually admitted spies into the )i '! V. 16 EVE OF WAR. [1700-1707. ^'( I, ! I colony, from wlioin the p^overuor of Ciiniulii giiincd information touching English movements und designs. The Dutch traders of Albany and the importing merchants ^vho supplied them with Indian goods had a strong interest in preventing active hostilities with Canada, which would have spoiled their trade. So, too, and for similar reasons, had influential persons in Canada. The French authorities, moreover, thought it impolitic to harass the frontiers of New York by war parties, since the Five Nations might come to the aid of their Dutch and English allies, and so break the peaceful relations which the French were anxious to maintain with them. Thus it hap- pened that, during the first six or seven years of the eighteenth century, there was a virtual truce between Canada and New York, and the whole burden of the war fell upon New England, or rather upon Massa- chusetts, with its outlying district of Maine and its small and weak neighbor, New Hampshire.^ .'/ ' 1.' M 17 ^ The foregoing chapter rests on numerous documents in the Public Record Office, Archives de la Marine, Archives Nationales, N. Y. Colonial Documents, vols. iv. v. ix., and the Second and Third Series of the Correspondance OfficlfUe at Ottawa. .Ill [1700-1707. Jinadii gjiint'd i iiiul designs, lie imiDorting an gf)ods had )stilities with ' trade. So, titia) persons , moreover, tiers of New itions miglit iglish allies, 1 the French rhus it haji- years of the uce between Lirden of the ipon Massa- line and its uments in tlio es Nationales, ond and Third CHAPTER II. 1694-1704. DETROIT. MiCHILIMACKINAC. — La MoTHE-CaDILLAC : HIS DISPUTES WITH TiiK Jksiits. — Opposing Views. — Plans ok Cadillac: his Mk.mokial to tiik Couut ; iiis Opponents. — Detroit founded. The New Company. — Detkoit changes Hands. — Strangb Act of the Five Nations. In the few years of doubtful peace that preceded Queen Anne's War, an enterprise was begun, which, nowise iu accord with the wishes and expectations of those engaged in it, was destined to produce as its last result an American city. Antoine de La Mothe -Cadillac commanded at iVIichilimackinac, whither Frontenac had sent him in 1694. This old mission of the Jesuits, where they had gathered the remnants of the lake tribes dispersed by the Iroquois at the middle of the seventeenth century, now savored little of its apostolic begin- nings. It was the centre of the western fur-trade and the favorite haunt of the coureurs de hois. Brandy and squaws abounded, and according to the Jesuit Carheil, the spot where Marquette had labored was now a witness of scenes the most unedifying.* 1 See " Old Re'gime in Canada," 383. vol. I. — 2 (|: I I tl^ ill ii ii !' {' 'I 18 DETROIT. [1694-1000. At Michiliraackinac was seen a curious survival of Huron-Iroquois customs. The villages of the llurons and Ottawas, which were side by side, separated oidy by a fence, were surrounded by a common enclosure of triple palisades, which, with the addition of loop- holes for musketry, were precisely like those mum hy Cartier at Hochelaga, and by Champlain in the Onondaga country. The dwellings which these defences enclosed were also after the old Huron- Iroquois pattern, — those long arched structures covered with bark which lirdbeuf found by the shores of Matchedash Hay, and Jogues on the banks of the Mohawk. Besides the Indians, there was a French colony at the place, chiefly of fur-traders, lodged in log-cabins, roofed with cedar bark, and forming a street along the shore close to the pali- saded villages of the Hurons and Ottawas. The fort, known as Fort Buade, stood at the head of the little bay.* The Hurons and Ottawas were thorough savages, though the Huroi. » retained the forms of Roman Catholic Christianity. This tribe, writes Cadillac, " are reduced to a very small number ; and it is well for us that they are, for they are ill-disposed and mischievous, with a turn for intrigue and a capacity for large undertakings. Luckily, their power is not great; but as they cannot play the lion, they play the fox, and do their best to make trouble between us and our allies." 'ii 1 Relation de La Mothe- Cad iliac, in Margry, v. 75. A :l [109-1-1000. survival of the llurons iiirated only II enclosure on of loop- ose seen by lin in the liich these )ld Huron- structures 11(1 by the L the banks liere was a fur-traders, bark, and the pali- was. The e head of h savages, of Roman Cadillac, it is well posed and a capacity wer is not y play the tween us 1094-1690] LA MOTIIE-CADILLAC. 19 La Mothe-Cadillac * was a captain in the colony troops, and an admirer of the late governor, Krontenac, to wliose policy he adliered, and whose prejudices he shared, lie was amply gifted with the kind of intel- ligence that consists in quick observation, sharpened by an inveterate spirit of sarcasm, was energetic, enterprising, well instructed, and a bold and some- times a visionary schemer, with a restless spirit, a nimble and biting wit, a Gascon impetuosity of temperament, and as much devotion as an officer of the King was forced to profess, coupled with small love of priests and an aversion to Jesuits. ^ Carheil and Marest, missionaries of that order at Michili- mackinac, were objects of his especial antipathy, which they fully returned. The two priests were impatient of a military commandant to whose author- ity they were in some small measure subjected; and ^ He wrote his name as above. It is often written La Motte, which has the advantage o^ conveyinj^ the pronunciation unequivo- cally to an unaccustomed English ear. La Mothe-Cadillac came of a good family of Languedoc. His father, Jean de La Mothe, seigneur de Cadillac et de Launay, or Laumet, was a counsellor in the Parliament of Toulouse. The date of young Cadillac's birth is uncertain. The register of his marriage places it in 16G1, and that of his death in 1667. Another record, cited by Farmer in his Hislori/ of Detroit, makes it 1668. In 1703 he himself declared th t he was forty-seven years old. After serving as lieutenant in the regiment of Clairembault, he went to Canada about the year 1683. lie became skilled in managing Indians, made himself well ac- quainted with the coasts of New England, and strongly urged an attack by sea on New York and Boston, as the only sure means of securing French ascendency. He- was always in opposition to the clerical party. 2 See La Mothe-Cadillac a , 3 Aoiit, 1696. 11 i! :)» . I • :■■ i ii 'i ill li '1 ! ll ' '■ 'I : <''] 20 DETROIT. [1694-1699. they imputed to him the disorders which he did not, and perhaps could not, prevent. They were opposed also to the traffic in brandy, which was favored by Cadillac on the usual ground that it attracted the Indians, and so prevented the English from getting control of the fur-trade, — an argument which he reinforced by sanitary considerations based on the supposed unwholesomeness of the fish and smoked meat which formed the chief diet of Michilimackinac. " A little brandy after the meal, " he says, with the solemnity of the learned Purgon, " seems necessary to cook the bilious meats and the crudities they leave in the stomach. "^ Cadillac calls Carheil, superior of the mission, the most passionate and domineering man he ever knew, and further declares that the Jesuit tried to provoke him to acts of violence, in order to make matter of accusation against him. If this was Carheil 's aim, he was near succeeding. Once, in a dispute with the commandant on the brandy-trade, he upbraided him sharply for permitting it; to which Cadillac replied that he only obeyed the orders of the court. The Jesuit rejoined that he ought to obey God, and not man, — "on which," says the commandant, "I told him that his talk smelt of sedition a hundred yards off, and begged that he would amend it. He told me that I gave myself airs that did not belong to me, holding his fist before my nose at the same time. I confess I almost forgot that he was a priest, and 1 La Mothe-Cadillac a , 3 Aout, 1696. A' OPPOSING VIEWS. 21 1694-1699.] felt for a moment like knocking his jaw out of joint; but, thank God, I contented myself with taking him by the arm, pushing him out, and ordering him not to come back."^ Such being the relations of the commandant and the Father Superior, it is not surprising to find i'ie one complaining that he cannot get absolved from his sins, and the other painting the morals and manners of Michilimaukinac in the blackest colors. I have spoken elsewhere of the two opposing policies that divided Canada, — the policies of con- centration and of expansion, on the one hand leaving the west to the keeping of the Jesuits, and confining the population to the borders of the St. Lawrence; on the other, the occupation of the interior of the continent by posts of war and trade. ^ Through the force of events the latter view had prevailed; yet while the military chiefs of Canada could not but favor it, the Jesuits were unwilling to accept it, and various interests in the colony still opposed it openly or secretly. Frontenac had been its strongest cham- pion, and Cadillac followed in his steps. It seemed .i' ■i 1 " II me dit que je me donnois des airs qui ne m'appartenoient pas, en me portant le poing au noz. Je vous avoue, Monsieur, que je pensai oublier qu'il €toit pretre, et que je vis le moment ou j'allois luy demonter la machoire ; mais, Dieu merci, je me con- tontai de le prendre par le bras et de le p jusser dehors, avec ordre de n'y plus rentrer." Margry, v. (author's edition). Introduction, civ. This introduction, with other editorial matter, is omitted in the edition of M. Murgry's valuable collection, printed under a vote of the American Congress. a See " Count Frontenac," 440. I ■ I 1 1 .n ) 22 DETROIT. [1699-1700. to him that the time had come for securing the west for France. The strait — detroit — which connects Lake Huron with Lake Erie was the most important of all the western passes. It was the key of the three upper lakes, with the vast countries watered by their tribu- taries, and it gave Canada her readiest access to the valley of the Mississippi. If the French held it, the English would be shut out from the northwest; if, as seemed likely, the English should sp.i/e it, the Canadian fur-trade would be ruined. ^ The possession of it by the French would be a constant curb and menace to the Five Nations, as well as a barrier between those still formidable tribes and the western Indians, allif of Canada ; and when the intended French establishment at the mouth of the Mississippi should be made, Detroit would be an indispensable link of communication between Canada and Louisiana. Denonville had recognized the importance of the position, and it was by his orders that Greysolon Du Lhut, in 1686, had occupied it for a time, and built a picket fort near the site of Fort Gratiot. ^ It would be idle to imagine that the motives of Cadillac were wholly patriotic. Fur-trading interests were deeply involved in his plans, and bitter opposi- tion was certain. The fur-trade, in its nature, was a constant breeder of discord. The people of Montreal ^ Robert Livingston urged the occupation of Detroit as early as 1700. N. Y. Col. Docs., iv. 650. " Denonville a Du Lhut, 6 Juin, 1080. Count Frontenac, 133. ■*i [1699-1700. iring the west 5 Lake Huron nt of all the ! three upper y their tribu- access to the 1 held it, the orthwest; if, P-^^i/e it, the he possession mt curb and as a barrier the western he intended 3 Mississippi idispensable I Louisiana. Eince of the b Grej'solon I time, and Gratiot. 2 motives of ig interests •♦^^ter opposi- ture, was a f Montreal troit as early ac, 133. !i' I 1G99-1700.] PLAN OF CADILLAC. 23 would have the tribes come down every summer from the west and northwest and hold a fair under the palisades of their town. It is said that more than four hundred French families lived wholly or in part by this home trade, and therefore regarded with deep jealousy the establishment of interior posts, which would forestall it. Again, every new western post would draw away trade from those already established, and every trading license granted to a company o: an individual would roLse the animosity of those who had been licensed before. The prosperity of Detroit would be the ruin of Michilimackinac, and those whose interests centred at the latter post angrily opposed the scheme of Cadillac. He laid his plans befoie Count de Maurepas by a characteristic memorial, apparently written in 1699. In this he proposed to gather all the tribes of the lakes at Detroit, civilize them and teach them French, "insomuch that from pagans they would become children of the Church, and therefore good subjects of the King." They will form, he continues, a con- siderable settlement, "strong enough to bring the English and the Iroquois to reason, or, with help from Montreal, to destroy both of them." Detroit, he adds, should be the seat of trade, which should not be permitted in the countries beyond it. By this regulation the intolerable glut of beaver-skins, which spoils the market, may be prevented. This proposed restriction of the beaver-trade to Detroit was enough in itself to raise a tempest against the whole scheme. fl I 1 i V. 24 DETROIT. [1699. i' 't) "Cadillac well knows that lie has enemies," pursues the memorial, "but he keeps on his way without turning or stopping for the noise of the puppies who bark after liim."^ Among the essential features of his plan was a well-garrisoned fort, and a church, served not by Jesuits alone, but also by Rdcollet friars and priests of the Missions Etrangeres. The idea of this eccle- siastical partnership was odious to the Jesuits, who felt that the west was their proper field, and that only they had a right there. Another part of Cadil- lac's proposal pleased them no better. This was his plan of civilizing the Indians and teaching them to speak French ; for it was the reproach of the Jesuit missions that they left the savage a savage still, and asked little of him but the practice of certain rites and the passive acceptance of dogmas to him incom- prehensible. " It is essential, " says the memorial, " that in this matter of teaching the Indians our language the mis- sionaries should act in good faith, and that his Majesty should have the goodness to impose his strictest orders upon them; for which there are several good reasons. The first and most stringent is that when members of religious orders or other ecclesiastics undertake anything, they never let it go. The second is that by not teaching French to 1 " Sans se destourner et sans s'arrester an brnit dcs jappercaux qui crient apres luy." — M^moire de La Mothe-Cadillac adresse au Comte de Maurepas, i ill [1699. 1009.] CADILLAC AND THE PRIESTS. 25 >> 3s, ■ pursues viiy without Jie puppies plan was a red not by and priests ' this eecle- esuits, who J, and that •t of Cadil- his was his ig them to the Jesuit 3 still, and rtain rites im incom- lat in this the mis- that his ipose his lere are stringent or other er let it rencli to apperoanx adresse au tlie Indians they make themselves necessary [as interpreters] to tlie King and the governor. The tliird is that if all Indians spoke French, all kinds of ecclesiastics would be able to instruct them. This niiglit cause them [the Jesuits] to lose some of the pi'csents they get; for though these lieverend Fathers come here only for the glory of God, yet the one thing does not prevent the other," — meaning that God and Mammon may be served at once. " Nobody can deny that the priests own three quarters of Canada. From St. Paul's Hay to Quebec, there is nothing but the seigniory of Beauport that belongs to a private person. All the rest, which is the best part, belongs to the Jesuits or othei- ecclesiastics. The Upper Town of Quebec is composed of six or seven superb palaces belonging to Hospital Nuns, Ursulines, Jesuits, Recollets, Seminary priests, and the bishop. There may be some forty private houses, and even these pay rent to the ecclesiastics, which shows that t^ic one thmg does not prevent the other. ^^ From this it will he seen that, in the words of one of his enemies, Cadillac " was not quite in the odor of sanctity." "One may as well knock one's head against a wall," concludes the memorial, "as hope to convert the Indians in any other way [than that of civilizing them] ; foi' thus far all the fruits of the missions con- sist in the baptism of infants who die before reaching the age of reason."^ This was not literally true, 1 Memoirc adresse au Comle de MuiirciHis, in IMarj^ry, v. 138. ■ f • i[ if HI .'J ) ri 26 DETROIT. [1699. though the results of the Jesuit missions in the west had been meagre and transient to a surpris- ing degree. CadiUac's plan of a settlement at Detroit was not at first received with favor by Callieres, the governor; while the intendant Champigny, a fast friend of the Jesuits, strongly opposed it. By their order the chief inhabitants of Quebec met at the Chateau St. Louis, — Callieres, Champigny, and Cadillac himself being present. There was a heated debate on the beaver-trade, after which the intendant commanded silence, explained the projects of Cadillac, and pro- ceeded to oppose them. His first point was that the natives should not be taught French, because the Indian girls brought up at the Ursuline Convent led looser lives than the young squaws who had received no instruction, while it was much the same with the boys brought up at the Seminary. " M. de Champigny, " returned the sarcastic Cadil- lac, "does great honor to the Ursulines and the Seminary. It is true that some Indian women who have learned our language have lived viciously ; but that is because their teachers were too stiff with them, and tried to make them nuns."^ Champigny's position, as stated by his adversary, was that " all intimacy of the Indians with the French is dangerour and corrupting to their morals," and that their only safety lies in keeping them at a dis- tance from the settlements. This was the view of ^ La Mothe-Cadillac, Rapport au Ministre, 1700, in Margiy, v. 157, I >1! ^f [1699. issions in the to a surpris- etroit was not the governor; friend of the eir order the B Chateau St. idillac liimself debate on the t commanded llac, and pro- was that the because the Convent led had received ime with the castic Cadil- les and the women who ciously; but stiff with adversary, the French lorals," and m at a dis- he view of ^argr^, v. 167, 1699.] PLANS OF CADILLAC. 27 the Jesuits, and there is much to be said in its favor ; but it remains not the less true that conversion must go hand in hand with civilization, or it is a failure and a fraud. Cadillac was not satisfied with the results of the meeting at the ChS,teau St. Louis, and he wrote to the minister : " You can never hope that this business will succeed if it is discussed here on the spot. Canada is a country of cabals and intrigues, and it is impossible to reconcile so many different interests."^ Fie sailed for France, apparently in the autumn of 1699, to urge his scheme at court. Here he had an interview with the colonial minister, Ponchartrain, to whom he represented the military and political expediency of his proposed establishment;''' and in a letter which seems to be addressed to La Touche, chief clerk in the Department of Marine and Colonies, he promised that the execution of his plan would insure the safety of Canada and the ruin of the British colonies.^ He asked for fifty soldiei-s and fifty Canadians to begin the work, to be followed in the next year by twenty or thirty families and by two hundred picked men of various trades, sent out at the King's charge, along with priests of several com- munities, and nuns to attend the sick and teach the Indian girls. " I cannot tell you, " continues Cadillac, 1 Rapport au Ministre, 1700. 2 Cadillac's report of this interview is given in Sheldon, Early Ilistorij of Michigan, 85-91. ^ La Mothc-Cadilluc a un premier commis, 18 Octohre, 1700, in iMargry, v. 100, 1 'I* % w H: ii 1 :i |!M' ■J ■ 28 DETROIT. [1701. " tlie efforts my enemies have made to deprive me of the lioiior of executing my project; but so soon as M. de Ponchartrain decides in its favor, the whole country will applaud it." Ponchartrain accepted the plan, and Cadillac returned to Canada connnissioned to execute it. Early in June, 1701, he left La Chine with a hundred u' Ml in twenty-five canoes loaded with provisions, goods, munitions, and tools. He was accompanied by Alphonse de Tonty, brother of Henri de Tonty, the companion of La Salle, and by two half-pay lieu- tenants, Dugu(5 and Chacornacle, together with a Jesuit and a Rdcollet.^ Following the difficult route of the Ottawa and Lake Huron, they reached their destination on the twenty-fourth of July, and built a picket fort sixty yards square, which by order of the governor they named Fort Ponchp^Ttrain.^ It stood near the west bank of the strait, about forty paces from the water. ^ Thus was planted the germ of the city of Detroit. Cadillac sent back Chacornacle with the report of what he had done, and a description of the country written in a strain of swelling and gushing rhetoric in singular contrast with his usual sarcastic utter- ances. "None but enemies of the truth," his letter concludes, "are enemies of this establishment, so 1 Cal/iercs an Ministre, 4 Octobre, 1701. Autre lettre du mime, sans date, in Margry, v. 187, 100. 2 Callieres et Champigny mi Ministre, sans date. 3 Relation du Destroit (by the Jesuit who accompanied the expedition). *iU 1 [1701. eprive me of t so soon as r, the whole itl Cadillac execute it. h a Imntlred provisions, iccompanied de Tonty, ilf-pay lieu- her with a ficult route ached their and built a rder of the It stood 'orty paces 5 germ of report of e country rhetoric 10 utter- lis letter ment, so e du meme, panied the 1703.] A NEW COMPANY. 29 necessary to the glory of the King, the progress of religion, and the destruction of the throne of I^aal."^ What he had, perhaps, still moi'e at heart was making money out of it hy the fur-trade. By com- mand of the King a radical change had lately been made in this chief commerce of Canada, and tlie entire control of it had been placed in f ' 3 hands of a company in which all Canadians might take shares. But as the risks were great and the conditions ill- defined, the number of subscribers was not much above one hundred and fifty; and the rest of the colony found themselves shut out from the trade, — to the ruin of some, and the injury of all.'-^ All trade in furs was restricted to Detroit and Fort Frontenac, both of which were granted to the company, subject to be resumed by the King at his pleasure.^ The company was to repay the eighty thousand francs which the expedition to Detroit had cost; and to this were added various other burdens. The King, however, was to maintain the garrison. All the affairs of the company were placed in the hands of seven directors, who began immediately to complain that their burdens were too heavy, and to beg for more privileges ; while an outcry against the privileges already granted rose from those w^ho had not taken shares in the enterprise. Both in the com- 1 Description de la Riviere du Detroit, jointe a la lettre de MM. de Callieres et de Champigny, 8 Octobre, 1701. 2 Callieres au Ministre, 9 Novembre, 1700. ^ Traite' fait avec la Compagnie de la Colonie de Canada, 31 Octobre, 1701. -f %\ i ■ J ill % 80 DETROIT. [170:{. pany and out of it there was nothing but discontent. None were worse pleased than the two Jesuits Carheil and Marest, who saw tlieir flocks at Michilimackinac, both Hurons and Ottiiwas, lured away to a new home at Detroit. Cadillac took a peculiar satisfaction in depriving Carheil of his converts, and in 1703 we find him writing to the minister Ponchartrain, that only twenty-five Hurons are left at Michilimackinac ; and "I hope," he adds, "that in the autumn I shall pluck this last feather from his wing ; and I am con- vinced that this obstinate priest will die in his parish without one parishioner to bury him."^ If the Indians came to Detroit, the French would not come. Cadillac ]\s,d asked for five or six families as the modest beginning of a settlement ; but not one had appeared. The Indians, too, were angry because the company asked too much for *ts goods ; while the company complained that a forbidden trade, fatal to its interests, went on through all the region of the upper lakes. It was easy to ordain a monopoly, but impossible to enforce it. The prospects of the new establishment were deplorable ; and Cadillac lost no time in presenting his views of the situation to the court. "Detroit is good, or it is bad," he writes to ^ Lamothe-Cadillac a Ponchartrain, 31 Aoust, 1703 (Margry, v. 301). O" Cadillac's relations with the Jesuits, see Consei/s tenus par Lamothe-Cadillac avec les Sauvages (Margry, v. 263-800) ; also a curious collection of Jesuit letters sent by Cadillac to the minister, with copious annotations of his own. He excepts from his strictures Father Engelran, who, he says, incurred the ill-will of the other Jesuits by favoring the establishment of Detroit, and he also has a word of commendation for Father Germain. ' t' [i7o;j. ut discontent. Bsuits Carheil hilimackiniic, D a new liome atisfaction in in 1703 we lartrain, that liliniackinac ; itunni I shall 11(1 I am con- in his parish rench would • six families but not one igry because i; while the tde, fatal to gion of the nopoly, but of the new Uac lost no tion to the e writes to (Margry, v. isei/s tenus par 300); also a the minister, his strictures of the other he also has 1703.) LETTERS OF CADILLAC. ai ^ Ponchartrain. " If it is good, it ought to be sustained, without allowing the people of Canada to deliberate any more about it. If it is bad, the court ought to make up its mind concerning it as soon as may be. I have said what I think. I have explained the situation. You have felt the need of Detroit, and its utility for the glory of God, the progress of religion, and the gf)0(l of the colony. Nothing is left me to do but to imitate the governor of the Holy City, — take water, and wash my hands of it." His aim now appears. He says that if Detroit were made a separate government, and lie weie put at the head of it, ity prospects would improve. " You may well believe that the company cares for nothing but to make a profit out of it. It only wants to have a storehouse and clerks; no officers, no troops, no inhabitants. Take this business in hand, Monsei- gneur, and I promise that in two years your Detroit shall be established of itself." He then informs the minister that as the company complain of losing money, he has told them that if they will make over their rights to him, he will pay them back all their past outlays. "I promise you," he informs Ponchar- train, "that if they accept my proposal and you approve it, I will make our Detroit flourish. Judge if it is agreeable to u. 3 to have to answer for my actions to five or six merchants [the directors of the company], who not long ago were blacking their masters' boots." He is scarcely more reserved as to the Jesuits. "I do what I can to make them my ' I ' i! 1 1'. 1 ■ 1 j i 1 I , ( •ii •!:! i''l V 1 ! :l J f'i 1 32 DKTHOIT. [1701. friends, Imt, iinpiety apurt, one had bettor ain a^^alnst (lod than against them; for in that case one gets one's [)ardon, wliereas in the other the ofi'(UK'e is never forgiven in tliis worhl, and perliaps never wonhl l)e in tiie other, if their credit were as great there as it is l»ere." * The letttM's of Cadillac to the court are unique. No governor of New France, not even the audacious Frontenac, ever wrote to a minister of Louis XIV. with such off-hand freedom of hmguage as this singu- hir personage, — a nun'e captain in the colony troops; and to a more stahle and balanced character it would have been impossible. Cadillac's proposal was accepted. The company was required to abandon Detroit to him on his pay- ing them the expenses they had incurred. Their monopoly was transfe /red to him ; but as far as con- cerned beaver-skins, his trade was limited to twenty thousand francs a year. The governor was ordered to give him as many soldiers as he might want, per- mit as many persons to settle at Detroit as might choose to do so, and provide missionaries. ^ The minister exhorted him to quarrel no more with the Jesuits, or anybody else, to banish blasphemy and 1 Tm Mothc-CaiHUar a Ponchartrain, 01 Aimt, 1703. " Toutc iinpiotu a part, 11 vandroit iniou.x iH'sclior contre Dieu que contiv t'ux, parce quo d'un co.ste on en rcvoit son pardon, et de I'autro, roffense, mcsmo pre'tendue, n'est jamais remise dans ce monde, et ne le seroit peut-estre jamais dans I'autre, si leur credit y estoit aussi grand qu'il est dans ce pays." - Pumlurrtiaiu a La Mothe-Cud iliac, 1-4 Jiiin, 1704. \ u [1701. er sin aji^iiiiist 'ilSO OIK* ^l'\s lio ofrciK'o is L'rliiips luivi'i- Viiiv us great aro iiiilqiio. liO audacious Louis XIV. IS tliis sinmi- >loiiy troops; etc I' it would lio company I on his pa}'- ncd. Their H far as con- ;d to twenty WiiH ordered t want, per- mit as might ries.2 The ■c witli tlie phemy and 703. "Toutc I'll quo contro jet de I'autre, CO ninndo, ot Iredit y ostoit « 4 i)Ki:i) OF TiiK rivi: nations. 1701.] had morals from the post, and not to offend tho Five Nations. The promised era of prosperity did not oomo. Detroit lingered on in a weak and trouhlcd infancy, disturhed, iis we shidl see, hy startling incidents. Its occupation hy the French produced a noteworthy result. Tho Five Nations, filled with jealousy and alarm, appealed to the King of England for protec- tion, and, the hetter to insure it, conv(!yed the whole country from Lake Ontario northward to Lake Superit)r, and westward as far as Chicago, " unto our souveraigno Lord King William the Third" and his heirs and successors forever. This territory is de- scrihed in the deed as heing fihout eight hundred miles long and lour hundred wide, and was claimed hy the Five Nations as theirs by right of conquest.^ It of course included Detroit itself. The conveyance was drawn by the English authorities at Albany in a form to suit their purposes, and included terms of subjection and sovereignty Adiich the signei-s could understand but imperfectly, if at all. The Five Nations gave away their land to no purpose. The French remained in undisturbed possession of Detroit. The English made no attempt to enforce their title, but they put the deed on file, and used it long after as the base of their claim to the region of the Lakes. 1 Deed from the Five Nations to the King of their Denver Hunting Ground, in N. Y. Col. Docs., iv. 908. It is signed \,y the totems of sachems of all the Nations. VOL. I. — 3 ^4V cD'ik \ '•I; ^ I i ! I 1 • I ■ J ! ti !:. I.' •r ;. CHAPTER III. 1703-1713. QUEEN ANNE'S WAR. The Forest op Maine. — A Treacherous Pea.ce. — A Frontier Village. — Wells and its People. — Attack upon it. — Border Ravages. — Beauhassin's War-party. — The " Wo- FUL Decade." — A Wedding Feast. — A Captive Bride- groom. For untold ages Maine had been one unbroken forest, and it was so still. Only along the rocky seaboard or on the lower waters of one or two great rivers a few rough settlements had gnawed slight indentations into this wilderness of woods; and a little farther inland some dismal clearing around a blockhouse or stockade let in the sunlight to a soil that had lain in shadow time out of mind. This waste of savage vegetation survives, in some part, to this day, with the same prodigality of vital force, the same struggle for existence and mutual havoc that miirk all organized beings, from men to mushrooms. Young seedlings in millions spring every summer from the black mould, rich with the decay of those that had preceded them, crowding, choking, and ..iilkiL- / — A Frontieu :;k upon it. — . —The " Wo- IPTIVE BriDE- le unbroken f the rocky )r two great Lwed slight ods; and a g around a lit to a soil ind. This lie part, to 1 force, the lavoc that mshrooms. y summer y of those king, and THE FOREST OF JMAIXE. 35 1703-1713.] killing one another, perishing l)y their very abun- dance, — all but a scattered few, stronger than the rest, or more fortunate in position, which survive by blighting those about them. They in turn, as they o-row, interlock their boughs, and rei)eat in a season or two the same process of mutual suffocation. The forest is full of lean saplings dead or dying with vainly stretching towards the light. Not one infant tree in a thousand lives to maturity; yet these sur- vivors form an innumerable host, pressed together in struggling confusion, squeezed out of symmetry and robbed of normal development, as men are said to be in the level sameness of democratic society. Seen from a^ove, their mingled tops spread in a sea of verdure basking in light; seen from below, all is shadow, through which spots of timid sunshine steal down among legions of lank, mossy trunks, toad- stools and rank ferns, protruding roots, matted bushes, and rotting carcasses of fallen trees. A generation ago one might find here and there the rugged trunk of some great pine lifting its verdant spire above the undistinguished myriads of the forest. The woods of Maine had their aristocracy; but the axe of the woodman has laid them low, and these lords of the wilderness are seen no more. The life and light of this grim solitude were in its countless streams md lakes, from little brooks steal- ing clear and cold under the alders, full of the small fry of trout, to the mighty arteries of the Penobscot and the Kennebec ; from the great reservoir of \'. .H ft H :i .'i 1 K I ! .! iH 36 QUEEN ANNE'S WAR. [1703-1713. Moosehead to a thousand nameless ponds shining in the hollow places of the forest. It had and still has its beast of prey, — wolves, savage, cowardly, and mean; bears, gentle and mild compared to their grisly relatives of the Far West, vegetarians when they can do no better, and not with- out something grotesque and quaint in manners and behavior ; sometimes, though rarely, the strong and sullen wolverine; frequently the lynx; and now and then the fierce and agile cougar. The human denizens of this wilderness were no less fierce, and far more dangerous. These were the various tribes and sub-tribes of the Abenakis, whose villages were on the Saco, the Kennebec, the Penob- scot, and the other great watercourses. Most of them had been converted by the Jesuits, and, as we have seen already, some had been persuaded to remove to Canada, like the converted Iroquois of Caughnawaga.^ The rest remained in their native haunts, where, under the direction of their missionaries, they could be used to keep the English settlements in check. We know how busily they plied their tomahawks in William and Mary's War, and what havoc they made among the scattered settlements of the border. ^ Another war with France was declared on the fourth of May, 1702, on which the Abenakis again assumed a threatening attitude. In June of the next year Dudley, governor of Massachusetts, called the chiefs of the various bands to a council at Casco. Here ^ Count Frontenac, 231. '■^ Ibid., cliaps. xi. xvi. xvii. ,11 [1703-1713. ds shining in 7, — wolves, itle and mild le Fill- West, md not with- manners and the strong IX ; and now less were no ese were the nakis, whose , the Penob- ^Iost of them as we have ;o remove to ighnawaga.i diere, under >uld be used tomahawks havoc they he border. 2 the fourth n assumed next year the chiefs CO. Here Kvi. xvii. 'i A TREACIIEROrS PEACE. 37 =* f 4' ■M / ■-, I !l 44 QIIKEX AXNE'S WAR. [170:i. Thoy found tlio inmates in distress and agitation. Storcr's dau^ditcr Mary, a girl of eighteen, was miss- ing. The Indians had eanght her, and afterwards carried lier prisoner to Canada. Sanniel Hill and his family were captured, and the younger children butchered. Hut it is useless to record the names and fate of the sufferers. Thirty-nine in all, chiefly women an.' children, were killed or carried off, .and then the Indians disappeared as quickly and silently as they had come, leaving many of the houses in flames. This raid upon Wells Avas only part of a com})ined attack on all the settlements from that place to Casco. Those eastward of Wells had been, as we have seen, abandoned in the last war, excepting the forts and fortified houses; but the inhabitants, reas- sured, no doubt, by the Treaty of Casco, had begun to return. On this same day, the tenth of August, they were startled from their security. A band of Indians mixed with Frenchmen fell upon the settle- ments about the stone fort near the Falls of the Saco, killed eleven persons, captured twenty-four, and vainly attacked the fort itself. Others surprised the settlers at a place called Spurwink, and killed or captured twenty-two. Others, again, destroyed the huts of the fishermen at Cape Porpoise, and attacked the fortified house at Winter Harbor, the inmates of which, after a brave resistance, were forced to capitu- late. The settlers at Scarborough were also in a fortified house, where they made a long and obstinate ot UH'I will t\V(| oi(.n ..ii louses m 17():V] ATTACK AT FALMOUTH. 45 (lefi'iioo till hel[) at last arrived. Nine ffimilies were scUU'd at Purpooduck Point, near the present city oi Portland. They had no place of refuge, and the nit'ii being, no doubt, fishermen, were all absent, wJu'ii the Indians burst into the hamlet, butchei'cd iwcnty-fivo women and children, and earned off eight. The fort at Casco, or Falmouth, was held by Major i\huch, with thirty-six men. He had no thought of danger, when three well-known chiefs from Norridge- wock appeared with a white flag, and asked for an iutorview. As they seemed to Ix; alone and unarmed, he went to meet them, followed by two or three soldiers and accompanied by two old men named IMiippeny and Kent, inhabitants of the place. They had hardly reached the spot when the three chiefs drew hatchets from under a kina of mantle which they wore and spni.f^ upon them, while other Indians, amlnished near by, leaped up and joined in the attack. The two old men were killed at once; but March, who was noted for strength and agility, wrenched a hatchet from one of his assailants, and kept them all at bay till Sergeant Hook came to his aid with a file of men and drove them off. They soon reajipeared, burned the deserted cabins in the neighborhood, and beset the garrison in num- bers that continually increased, till in a few days the entire force that had been busied in ravaging the scattered settlements was gatliered around the place. It consisted of about five hundred Indians of several Hli ' -H 'y '1^ I I 1 4 4 I 46 QUKKN AXXF/S WAR. [ 170:1. tril)OH, and Ji few Frcnelniieii iiiulor an ollicer najmnl Boaubassin. IJcinj^ elated with past suecesHes, they laid siej^e to the fort, sheltering themselves under a steej) bank by the water-side and bnirowing their way towards the rampart. Mareh conld not dislodge them, and tliey contiinied their aj)i)r()aches till the third day, when Cai)tain Soutliack, with the Massa- ehusetts armed vessel known as the " l*rovinee Galley," sailed into the liarbor, reciptured three small vessels that tho Indians had taken along the coast, and destroyed a great number of their canoes, on which they gave up their enterprise and disappeared.^ Such was the beginning of Queen Anne's War. These attacks were due less to tho Ahenakis than to the French who set them on. "Monsieur do Vaudreuil," writes the Jesuit historian Charlevoix, " formed a party of these savages, to whom he joined some Frenchmen under the direction of the Sieur de Beaubassin, when they effected some ravages of no great consequence ; they killed, however, about three hundred men." This last statement is doubly incor- rect. The whole number of persons killed and carried off during the August attacks did not much ^ On these attacks on the frontier of Maine, Penhallow, who well knew the country and tlie people, is the best autliority. Niles, in his Indian and French Wars, copies him without acknowledffinent, but not without blunders. As regards the attack on Wells, what particulars we have are mainly due to the research of the indefati- gable Bourne. Compare IJelknap, i. 3.']0 ; Folsom, Ilisturi/ of Suco and Didd''ford, 198; CoU. Maine /fist. Soc, iii. 140, 848; Williamson, ] list or n of Maine, ii. 42. Beaubassin is called " Bobasser " in most of the English accounts. 170 J cxcl hot Itori well un[ t'iim' Lj;ir on 'f\ "I ..te. I7(»a.] OIUECTS OF TIIK KRKNCII. 47 exceed one hundred and sixty ;^ and these were of l)()th sexes and all ages, from octogenarians to new- l)oni infants. The able-bodied men among them were f(!\v, as most of the attiicks wei'o made upon uii[)rotected houses in the alienee of the head of tlie fiiniily; and the only fortified place captured was the garrison-house at Winter Harbor, which surrendered on terms of capitulation. The instruments of this ign()l)lo warfare and the revolting atrocities that accompanied it were all, or nearly all, converted Indians of the missions. Charlevoix has no word of disapproval for it, and seems to regard its partial success as a gratifying one so far as it went. Cue of the objects was, no doubt, to check the progress of the English settlements; but, puraues Charlevoix, "the essential point was to commit the Abonakis in such a manner that they could not draw back."'^ This object was constantly kept in view. The French claimed at this time that the territory of Acadia reached as far westward as the Kennebec, which therefore formed, in their view, the boundary between the rival nations, and they trusted in the Abenakis to defend this assumed line of demarcation. But the Abenakis sorely needed English guns, knives, hatchets, and kettles, and nothing but the utmost vigilance could prevent them from coming to terms with those who could supply their necessities. Hence CJl 'i\ 'Ml !'•■ ^iff f I I i '-s 1 The careful and well-informed Belknap puts it at only 130. Ifisturi/ itf New ITdwpHhire, i. ;);U. '•* Charlevoix, ii. 289, 2iX) (quarto edition). I I < ,.. , 48 QUEEN ANNE'S WAR. [1703. 1 . I ■ [' ! \ the policy of the French authorities on the frontier of New England was the opposite of their policy on the frontier of New York. They left the latter undisturbed, lest by attacking the Dutch and English settlers they should stir up the Five Nations to attack Canada; while, on the other hand, they constantly spurred the Abenakis against New England, in order to avert the dreaded event of their making peace with her. The attack on Wells, Casco, and the intervening settlements was followed by murders and depreda- tions that lasted through the autumn and extended along' two hundred miles of frontier. Thirty Indians attacked the village of Hampton, killed the Widow Mussey, a famous Quakeress, and then fled to escape pursuit. At Black Point nineteen men going to their wo^'k in the meadows were ambushed by two hundred Indians, and all but one were shot or cap- tured. The fort was next attacked. It was gar- risoned by eight men under Lieutenant Wyatt, who stood their ground for some time, and then escaped by means of a sloop in the harbor. At York the wife and children of Arthur Brandon were killed, and the Widow Parsons and her daughter carried off. At Berwick the Indians attacked the fortified house of Andrew Neal, but were repulsed with the loss of nine killed and many wounded, for which they revenged themselves by burning alive Joseph Ring, a prisoner whom they had taken. Early in February a small party of them hovered about the fortified house of I |. -illi ., [1703. frontier lolicy on e latter English :o attack >nstantly in order ig peace ervening depreda- 3xtended T Indians ! Widow to escape going to I by two or cap- vas gar- att, who escaped ihe wife and the off. At louse of of nine evenged prisoner a small house of 1703.] MEASURES OF DEFENCE. 49 Joseph Bradley at Haverhill, till, seeing the gate open and nobody on the watch, they rushed in. The woman of the house was boiling soap, and in her desperation she snatched up the kettle and threw the contents over them with such effect that one of them, it is said, was scalded to death. The man who should liave been on the watch was killed, and several persons were captured, including the woman. It was the second time that she had been a prisoner in Indian hands. Half starved and bearing a heavy load, she followed her captors in their hasty retreat towards Canada. After a time she was safely deliv- ered of an infant in the midst of the winter forest; ])ut the child pined for want of sustenance, and tlie Indians hastened its death by throwing hot coals into its mouth when it cried. The astonishing vitality of the woman carried her to the end of the frightful journey. A Frenchman bought her from the Indians, and she was finally ransomed by her husband. By far the most dangerous and harassing attacks were those of small parties skulking under the edge of the forest, or lying hidden for days together, watching their opportunity to murder unawares, and vanishing when they had done so. Against such an enemy there was no defence. Tlie Massachusetts government sent a troop of horse to Portsmouth, and another to Wells. These had the advantage of ra^)id movement in case of alarm along the roads and forest- paths from settlement to settlement ; but once in the woods, their horses were worse tJian useless, and they VOL. I. — 4 w \ h h ■ ■\ a .,i. . i I 50 QUEEN ANNE'S WAR. [1704. could only fight on foot. Fighting, however, was rarely possible; for on reaching the scene of action they found nothing but mangled corpses and burning houses. The best defence was to take the offensive. In September Governor Dudley sent three hundred and sixty men to the upper Saco, the haunt of the Pequawket tribe ; but tlie place was deserted. Major, now Colonel, March soon after repeated the attempt, killing six Indians, and capturing as many more The General Court offered £40 for every Indian scalp, and one Captain Tyng, in consequence, sur- prised an Indian village in midwinter and brought back five of these disgusting trophies. In the spring of 1704 word came from Albany that a band of French Indians had built a fort and planted corn at Coos meadows, high up the river Connecticut. On this, one Caleb Lyman with five friendly Indians, probably Mohegans, set out from Northampton, and after a long march through the forest, surprised, under cover of a thunderstorm, a wigwam containing nine warriors, — bound, no doubt, against the frontier. They killed seven of them ; and this was all that was done at present in the way of reprisal or prevention. ^ The murders and burnings along the borders were destined to continue with little variety and little interruption during ten years. It was a repetition of what the pedantic Cotton Mather calls Dcccnnium luctuosum^ or the " woful decade " of William and 1 renliallow, Wars of New England with the Eastern Indians, i .| .?'il' , ..i ! \ [1704. ver, was of action burning jive. In dred and : of the Major, attempt, ly more y Indian Qce, siir- brought le spring band of I corn at lut. On Indians, ton, and iirprised, ntaining Tontier. that was ntion.^ ers were id little petition ce7iniwn iam and idians. 1712.] A FRONTIER WEDDING. 61 !l Mary's War. The wonder is that the outlying settle- ments were not abandoned. These ghastly, insidious, and ever-present dangers demanded a more obstinate courr.ge than the hottest battle in the open field. One curious frontier incident may be mentioned here, though it did not happen till towards the end of the war. In spite of poverty, danger, and tribula- tion, marrying and giving in marriage did not cease among the sturdy borderers; and on a day in Sep- tember there was a notable wedding feast at the palisaded house of John Wheelwright, one of the chief men of Wells. Elisha Plaisted was to espouse Wheelwright's daughter Hannah, and many guests were assembled, some from Portsmouth, and even beyond it. Probably most of them came in sail- boats ; ^or the way by land was full of peril, especially on the road from York, which ran through dense woods, where Indians often waylaid the travel- ler. The bridegroom's father was present with the rest. It was a concourse of men in homespun, and women and girls in such improvised finery as their poor resources could supply; possibly, in default of better, some wore nightgowns, more or less disguised, over their daily dress, as happened on similar occa- sions half a century later among the frontiersmen of West Virginia.^ After an evening of rough merri- ment and gymnastic dancing, the guests lay down to sleep under the roof of their host or in adjacent barns and sheds. When morning came, and they were 1 Doddridge, Notes on Western Virginia and Pennsylvania. '. V ■ f. i ■ ; ■ ^ m: hi ■IM ' ^ •: A • ,. ii; ■'.! I I Ml 'ill II! J; 52 QUEEN ANNE'S WAR. [1712. preparing to depart, it was found that two horses were missing ; and not doubting that they had strayed away, three young men — Sergeant Tucker, Joshua Downing, and Isaac Cole — went to find them. In a few minutes several gunshots were heard. The three young men did not return. Downing and Cole were killed, and Tucker was wounded and made prisoner. Believing that, as usual, the attack came from some small scalping-party, Elisha Plaisted and eight or ten more threw themselves on the horses that stood saddled before the house, and gtdloped across the fields in the direction of the firing; while others ran to cut off the enemy's retreat. A volley was presently heard, and several of the party were seen running back towards the houpo. Elisha Plaisted and his companions had fallen into an ambuscade of two hundred Indians. One or more of them were shot, and the unfortunate bridegroom was captured. The distress of his young wife, who was but eighteen, may be imagined. Two companies of armed men in the pay of Massachusetts were then in Wells, and some of them had come to the wedding. Seventy marksmen went to meet the Indians, who ensconced themselves in the edge of the forest, whence they could not be dis- lodged. There was some desultory firing, and one of the combatants was killed on each side, after which the whites gave up the attack, and Lieutenant Banks went forward witli a flag of truce, in tlie hope 1712.] RANSOM OF PLAISTED. 53 of ransoming the j)risoners. He was met by six cliiefs, among whom were two noted Indijins of his acquaintance, Bomazeen and Captain Nathaniel. They well knew that the living Plaisted was worth more than his scalp; and though they would not come to terms at once, they promised to meet the Enolish at Richmond's Island in a few days and give up both him and Tucker on payment of a sufficient ransom. The flag of truce was respected, and Banks came back safe, bringing a hasty note to the elder Plaisted from his captive son. This note now lies before me, and it runs thus, in the dutiful formality of the olden time : — Sir, — I am in the hands of a great many Indians, with which there is six captains. They say that what they will have for me is 50 pounds, and thirty pounds for Tucker, iiiy fellow prisoner, in good goods, as broadcloth, some provisions, some tobacco pipes, Pomisstone [pumice-stone], stockings, and a little of all things. If you will, come to Richmond's Island in 5 days at farthest, for here is 200 Indians, and they belong to Canada. If you do not come in 5 days, you will not see me, for Captain Nathaniel the Indian will not stay no longer, for the Canada Indians is not willing for to sell me. Pray, Sir, don't fail, for they have given me one day, for the days were but 4 at first. Give my kind love to my dear wife. This from your dutiful son till death, Elisha Plaisted. The alarm being spread and a sufficient number of men mustered, they set out to attack the enemy Ml ' t -I )i« Ml » ! hi '-'si' i:-'-^ P^-S ■■,.■» ■ r^^l !l 1 I 1 i ■1/ li I * ■ :f '■ , 54 QUEEN ANNE'S WAR. [1712. and recover the prisoners by force ; but not an Indian could be found. Bomazeen and Captain Nathaniel were true to the rendezvous; in due time Elisha Plaisted was ran- somed and restored to his bride. ^ 1 On this affair, see the note of Elisha Plaisted in Massachusetts Archives ; Richard Waldron to Governor Dudley, Portsmouth, 19 September, 1712 ; Bourne, Wells and Kennebunk, 278. -i. , WW CHAPTER IV. 1704-1740. DEERFIELD. Hertel de Rouville. — A Frontier Village. — Rev. John Williams. — The Surprise. — Defence ok the iSrEiuuNs House. — Attempted Rescue. — The Mkadow Frfiiix. — The Captives. — The Northwaku MARt:n. — Muw. Williams KILLED. — The Minister's Jolrnea-. — Kindness of Cana- dians. — A Stubrorn IIeuetic. — Eunice Williams. — Con- verted Captives. — John Sheldon's Mission. — Exchange OF Prisoners. — An English Squaw. — The Gill Family. About midwinter the governor of Canada sent another large war-party against the New England border. The object of attack was an unoffending hamlet, that from its position could never be a menace to the French, and the destruction of which could profit them nothing. The aim of the enterprise was not military, but political. "I have sent no war- party towards Albany," writes Vaudreuil, "because we must do nothing that might cause a rupture between us and the Iroquois; but we must keep things astir in the direction of Boston, or else the Abenakis will declare for the English." In short, the object was fully to commit these savages to hostil- •■ "ill rl .1 I A' ■^ ' I u ' / 1 t 1 ! 1 \ i m m f^^ '■^ >y Mm ,r!;>i-!- ;.^, .-.■..-ze - ■-. ■: I I!' , 1 1 ' ill I -r ill 56 DEERFTELD. [1704< ity against Now England, and convince them at the same time that the French woukl back their quarrel.* The party consisted, according to French accounts, of fifty Canadians and two hundred Abenakis an(. Caughnawfigas, — the latter of whom, while trading constantly with Albany, were rarely averse to a raid against Massachusetts or New Hampshire. ^ Th.- connnand was given to the younger Heriel de liouville, -v-l) , IS • cjcompinied by four of his brothers. They I.!0*4ati Sheir march in the depth of wii.ter, journeyed ncNU'iy thv,»e hundred miles on snow-shoes through the forest, and approached their destination on the afternoon of the twenty-eighth of February, 1704. It was the village of Deerfield, which then formed the extreme northwestern frontier of Massachusetts, — its feeble neighbor, the infant settlement of North- field, a little higher up the Connecticut, having been abandoned .in ring the last war. Rouville halted his followers at a place now called Petty's Plain, two miles from the village; and here, under the shelter of a pine forest, they all lay hidden, shivering with cold, — for they dared not make fires, — and hungry as wolves, for their provisions were spent. Though their numbers, by the lowest account, were nearly 1 Vaudreuil au Ministre, 14 Novembre, 1703 ; Ibid., 3 Avril, 1704 ; Vaudreuil et Beauharnois au Ministre, 17 Novembre, 1704. French writers say that the English surprised and killed some of the Abenakis, wlio thereupon asked help from Canada. This perhaps refers to the expeditions of Colonel March and Captain Tyng, who, after the bloody attacks upon the settlements of Maine, ^ade reprisal upon Abenaki camps. * English accounts make the whole number 342. .1 I ^U- .±- 17(H.] REV. JOHN n^LLTAMS. 67 oqual to tlie whole population of Deeifiekl, — men, women, and chUdien, — they had no thought of an open attac^:, hut trusted to darkness and surprise for an oasy victory. Deerfield stood on a plateau ahove the liver meadows, and L,he iiouses — forty-one in all — were cl)';.Jy along the road towards the villages of Iladley and Hatfield, a few miles distant. In the middle of the place, on a rising ground called Meeting-house II ill, was a small square wooden meeting-house. This, with a])out fifteen private houses, bef' ^'^h harns and sheds, was enclosed by a fence of pall^udc iight feet high, flanked by "mounts," or blo' i. ■ ou^ i:;ts, at two or more of the corners. The foU' s d^ ; of this palisaded enclosui'c, which was cal^3d die fort, measured in all no less than two liui, am and two rods, and within it livvid some of the principal inhab- itants of the village, of which it formed the centre or citadel. Chief aniojig its inmates was John Williams, the minister, a man of character and education, who, after graduating at Harvard, had come to Deerfield when it was still suffering under the ruinous effects of King Philip's War, and entered on his ministry with a salary of sixty pounds in depreciated New England currency, payable, not in money, but in wheat, Indian-corn, and pork.^ His parishioners built him a house, he married, and had now eight children, one of whom was absent with friends at 1 Stephen W. Williams, Biographical Memoir of Rev. John Williams. ■h 1 i * ■ $ 'I' . ^1" ill J-'V I I. i^! i ' II ■1 ''I !il: !' ' i 58 DEERFIELD. [1704. Iladley.* His next neighbor was Benoni Stebbins, sergeant in the county militia, who lived a few rods from tlie meeting-house. About fifty yards distant, and near the nortliwest angle of the enclosure, stood the liouse of Ensign John Sheldon, a framed build- ing, one of the largest in the village, and, like that of Stebbins, made bullet-proof by a layer of bricks between the outer and inner sheathing, while its small windows and its projecting upper story also helped to make it defensible. The space enclosed by the palisade, though much too large for effective defence, served in time of alarm as an asylum for the inhabitants outside, whose 'louses were scattered, — some on the north towards the hidden enemy, and some on the south towards Hadley and Hatfield. Among those on the south side was that of the militia captain, Jona- than Wells, which had a palisade of its own, and, like the so-called fort, served as an asylum for the neighbors. These private fortified houses were sometimes built by the owners alone, though more often they were the joint work of the ownero and of the inhabitants, to whose safety they contributed. The palisade fence that enclosed the central part of the village was made under a vote of the town, each inhabitant being required to do his share; and as they were greatly impoverished by the last war, the General Court of the province remitted for a time a part of 1 Account ofy^ destruction at DereJ^, February 29, 1703/4. ■il . ,, 1701.1 A FRONTIER VILI^AGE. 51) their taxes in consideration of a work wliich aided tiio genend defence.* Down to the Peace of Ryswick the neighborhood liiid been constantly infested by 8eali)ing-parties, and once the village bad been attacked by a consideraljlo force of French and Indians, who were beaten off. ( )f late there had been warnings of fresh disturbance. Lord Cornbury governor of New York, wrote tliat he had heard througb spies that Deerfield was again to be attacked, and a message to the same effect came from Peter Schuyler, who had received intimations of the danger from Mohawks lately on a visit to their Caughnawaga relatives. During the autunni the alarm was so great that the people took refuge within the palisades, and the houses of the enclosure were crowded with them; but the panic had now subsided, and many, though not all, had returned to their homes. They were reassured by the presence of twenty volunteers from the villages below, whom, on application from the minister, Williams, the Gen- eral Court had sent as a garrison to Deerfield, where they were lodged in the houses oi' the villagers. On the night when Hertel de Rouville and his band lay hidden among the pines there were in all the settle- ment a little less than three hundred souls, of whom two hundred and sixty-eight were inhabitants, twenty were yeomen soldiers of the garrison, two were visi- 1 Papers in the Archives of Massachusetts. Among these, a lutter of Hev. Jolin Williams to the jjrovernor, 21 October, 1703, states that the palisade is rotten, and must be rebuilt. • i it- k -r \ 11 ;'•' >. .. W ..fl.^ ? !l I \ IV I 1 1 •li 60 hKKRFIKLD. [1701. tors from Tljitficld, and tlireo wcro noj^m HltwcH. They were of all ages, — from tim Widow Allison, in her eighty-liftli year, to the infant won of Deacon French, aged f(mr weeks.* Heavy snows had lately fallen and buried the clearings, the meadow, and the frozen river to the depth of full three feet. On the northwestern side the drifts were piled nearly to the top of the palisade fence, so that it was no longer an obstruction to an active enemy. As the afternoon waned, the sights and sounds of the little border handet were, no doubt, like those of any other rustic New England village at the end of a winter day, — an ox-sledge creaking on the frosty snow as it brought in the last load of lirewood, boys in homespun snowballing one another in the village street, farmers feeding their horses and cattle in the barns, a matron drawing a pail of water with the help of one of those long well-sweeps still used in some remote districts, or a girl bringing a pail of milk from the cow-shed. In the houses, where one room served as kitchen, dining-room, and parlor, the housewife cooked the evening meal, children sat at their bowls of mush and milk, and the men of the family, their day's work over, gathered about the fire, while perhaps some village coquette sat in 1 Tlie names of nearly all the inhabitants are preserved, and even the ages of most of them have been ascertained, through the indefatigable research of Mr. George Sheldon, of Deerfleld, among contemporary records. The house of Thomas French, the town clerk, was not destroyed, and his papers were saved. I'.twi" I 1701.] A FROXTIKU VILLAGE. 61 tho corner with finj^ers busy at tlio H|)inninp-\vli('(*l, and oiirs intent on tho stinnniercd wooin^'s of her rustic h)ver. Deerliehl kei)t early hourn, and it is likely tiiat by nine o'clock all wero in their beds. 'I'licre was a patrol inside the palisade, l)ut there was little disei[)line anion^ these extemporized soldiers; tlu; watcheis grew careless as the frosty night went on; and it is said that towards morning they, like tho villagers, betook themselves to their beds. Kouville and his men, savage with hunger, lay shivering luider the pines till about two hours before dawn; then, leaving their packs and their snow-shoes beliind, they moved cautiously towards their prey. There was a crust on tho snow strong enough to bear their weight, though not to prtivent a rustling noise as it crunched under the feet of so many men. It is said that from time to time Rouvillo commanded a halt, in order that the sentinels, if such there were, might mistake the distant sound for rising and fall- ing gusts of wind. In any case, no alarm was given till they had mounted tho palisade and dropped silently into the unconscious village. Then with one accord they screeched tho war-whoop, a '^ assailed the doors of the houses with axes and hatchets. The hideous din startled the minister, Williams, from his sleep. Half- wakened, he sprang out of bed, and saw dimly a crowd of savages bursting throngh the battered c'( or. He shouted to two soldiers who were lodged in the house; and then, with more valor than discretion, snatched a pistol that hung at the I •/.! !l !' i \i :i iii ■r ^ ill ' I 1< ^ 62 DEERFIELD. [1704. head of the bed, cocked it, and snapped it at the breast of the foremost Indian, who proved to be a Caughnawaga chief. It missed fire, or Williams would, no doubt, have been killed on the spot. Amid the screamfs of his terrified children, three of the party seized him and bound him fast; for they came well provided with cords, since prisoners had a market value. Nevertheless, in the first fury of their attack they dragged to the door and murdered two of the children and a negro woman called Parthena, who was probably their nurse. In an upper room lodged a young man named Stoddard, who had time to snatch a cloak, throw himself out of the window, climb the palisade, and escape in the darkness. Half -naked as he was, he made his way over the snow to Hatfield, binding his bare feet with strips torn from the cloak. They kept Williams shivering in his shirt for an hour while a frightful uproar of yells, shrieks, and gunshots sounded from without. At length they permitted him, his wife, and five remaining children to dress themselves. Meanwhile the Indians and their allies burst into most of the houses, killed such of the men as resisted, butchered some of the women and children, and seized and bound the rest. Some of the villagers escaped in the confusion, like Stod- dard, and either fled half dead with cold towards Hatfield, or sought refuge in the fortified house of Jonathan Wells. The house of Stebbins, the minister's next neigli- 170 >rn' > I [1701. 1704.] THE STEBBINS HOUSE. 63 bor, had not been attacked so soon as the rest, and the inmates had a little time for preparation. They consisted of Stebbins himself, with his wife and five children, David Hoyt, Joseph Catlin, Benjamin Church, a namesake of the old Indian figliter of Philip's War, and three other men, — probably refugees who had brought their wives and families within the palisaded enclosure for safety. Tlius the hous(3 contained seven men, four or five women, and a considerable number of children. Though tlie walls were bullet-proof, it was not built for defence. The men, however, were well supplied with guns, powder, and lead, and they seem to have found some means of barricading the windows. When the enemy tried to break in, they drove them back with loss. On this, the French and Indians gathered in great numbers before the house, showered bullets upon it, and tried to set it on fire. They were again repulsed, with the loss of several killed and wounded ; among the former a Caughnawaga chief, and among the latter a French officer. Still the firing continued. If the assailants had made a resolute assault, the defenders must have been overpowered ; but to risk lives in open attack was contrary to every maxim of forest warfare. The women in the house behaved with groat courage, and moulded bullets, which the men shot at the enemy. Stebbins was killed out- right, and Church was wounded, as was also the wife of David Hoyt. At length most of the French and Indians, disgusted with the obstinacy of the If. I II- mm u 1.1 • • ; y t> I m u \\ M I 64 DEERFIELD. [1704. ; ; f r defence, turned their attention to other quarters; though some kept up their fire under cover of the meeting-house and another building within easy- range of gunshot. This building was the house of Ensign John Sheldon, already mentioned. The Indians had had some difficulty in mastering it; for the door being of thick oak plank, studded with nails of wrought iron and Avell barred, they could not break it open. After a time, however, they hacked a hole in it, through which they fired and killed Mrs. Sheldon as she sat on the edge of a bed in a lower room. Her husband, a man of great resolution, seems to have been absent. Their son John, with Hannah his wife, jumped from an upper chamber window. The young woman sprained her ankle in the fall, and lay helpless, but begged her husband to run to Hatfield for aid, which he did, while she remained a prisoner. The Indians soon got in at a back door, seized Mercy Sheldon, a little girl of two years, and dashed out her brains on the door-stone. Her two brothers and her sister Mary, a girl of sixteen, were captured. The house was used for a short time as a depot for pi^soners, and here also was brought the French officer wounded in the attjick on the Stcbbins house. A family tra- dition relates that as lie lay in great torment he begged for water, and that it was brought him by one of the prisoners, Mrs. John Catlin, whose hus- band, son, and infant grandson had been killed, and who, nevertheless, did all in her power to relieve the m berii i-y ii 1704.] ATTE^IPTEI) RESCUE. 65 i sufferings of the wounded man. Probably it was in recognition of this cliarity that when the other i)risoners were led aAvay, iSIrs. Catlin was left be- hind. She died of grief a few weeks later. The sun was scarcely an hour high when the mis- erable drove of captives was conducted across the river to the foot of a mountain or high hill. Williams and his family were soon compelled to follow, and his house was set on fire. As they led him off he saw that other houses within the palisade were burn- ing, and that all were in the power of the enemy except that of his neighbor Stebbins, where the gal- lant defenders still kej)t their assailants at bay. Having collected all their prisoners, the main body of the French and Indians began to withdraw towards the pine forest, where they had left their packs and snow-shoes, and to prepare for a retreat before the country should be roused, first murdering in cold blood Marah Carter, a little girl of five years, whom they probably thought unequal to the march. Several parties, however, still lingered in the village, firing on the Stebbins house, killing cattle, hogs, and sheep, and gathering such plunder as the place afforded. Early in the attack, and while it was jet dark, the lii'lit of burning houses, reflected from the fields of snow, had been seen at Hatfield, Iladley, and North- ampton. The alarm was sounded through the slum- l)ering hamlets, and parties of men mounted on farm-horses, with saddles or without, hastened to the rescue, not doubting that the fires were kindled by w v--* VOL. I.- !l ;T * r 4 > t ' K li 'll' ■1 ;i! 66 DEERFIELD. [1704. Indians. When the sun was about two hours high, between thirty and forty of them were gathered at the fortified house of Jonathan Wells, at the southern end of the village. The houses of this neighborhood were still standing, and seem not to have been attacked, — the stubborn defence of the Stebbins house having apparently prevented the enemy from pushing much beyond the palisaded enclosure. The house of Wells was full of refugee families. A few Deerfield men here joined the horsemen from the lower towns, as also did four or five of the yeoman soldiers who had escaped the fate of most of their comrades. Tiie horsemen left their liorses within Wells's fence; he himself took the lead, and the whole party rushed in together at the southern gate of the palisaded enclosure, drove out the plunderers, and retook a part of their plunder. Tlie assailants of the Stebbins house, after firing at it for three hours, were put to flight, and those of its male occu- pants who were still alive joined their countrymen, while the women and children ran back for harborage to tlie house of Wells. Wells and his men, now upwards of fifty, drove the flying enemy more than a mile across the river meadows, and ran in headlong pursuit over the crusted snow, killing a considerable number. In the eager- ness of tlie chase many threw off their overcoats, and even their jackets. Wells saw the danger, and vainly called on them to stop. Their ])lood was up, and most of them were young and inexperienced. 1704. M tlieir ])()rt lank llR-y Avilli shot piiiiic and t iiKule their shot, The ]| tlit!in \[ 4'i> ■:^ S Wrif-lit ■ li of tlioso 1 tlio iiiea 1 tlio al'fa 'i 'k fit'ty-st'V 1 i)luiiiUir %. liatclii'tt ;^ of lilCll Massacl sfiitativ 1 allotiiu'i J also \va. i|i Wdls. t-'^Bfl recx'iilly '^^^1 ' [1704. OCCTl- ■1 3 1701.] THE MEADOW FIGHT. 67 Meanwhile the firing at the vilhige had been heard by Roiville's mai'.i body, who had already begun their retreat nortlxward. They turned back to sup- port their comrades, and hid themselves under the liaiik of the river till the pursuers drew near, when they gave them a close volley and rushed upon them willi the war-whoop. Some of the English were shut down, and the rest driven back. There was no panic. "We retreated," says Wells, "facing about and liring." When they reached the palisade they made a final stand, covering by their fire such of their conu'ades as had fallen within range of musket- shot, and thus saving them from the scalping-knife. The French did not try to dislodge them. Nine of them liad been killed, several were wounded, and one -was captured.^ The number of English carried off prisoners was one hundred and eleven, and the number killed was according to one list forty-seven, and according to ' On the tliirty-first of May, 1704, Jonathan Wells and Ebenezer Wright petitioned the General Court for compensation for the losses of those who drove the enemy out of Deerfield and chased them into the meadow. The petition, which was granted, gives an account of tlie affair, followed by a list of all the men engaged. TIm lumber (il'ty-seven, including the nine who were killed. A of the phiiider retaken from the enemy, consisting of gun lankets, hatchets, etc., is also added. Several other petitions f: i tiie relief of iiicn wounded at the same time are preserved in the rchives of Massaciiusetts. In 17.'1G the survivors of the party, wiiii the repre- sentatives of those who had died, petitioned the Ger ral Court for allotments of land, in recognition of their services. I'his petition also was granted. It is accompanied by a narrative written ]>y ^WHs. Tlu'se and other pr.pers on the same subject have been ivi'ciitly printed by Mr. George Sheldon, of Deerlield. i ■ I: ■i I -I i\ ■ I ! [I li.'Vl it:'' 1, *' f I ij • It I I « > ' .(. Mi ^;i'' v.' '4w J i ' '. If' 68 DEERFIELD. [1704. another fifty-three, the latter including some who were smothered in the cellars of their burning houses. The names, and in most cases the ages, of botli captives and slain are preserved. Those who escaped with life and freedom were, by the best account, one hundred and thirty-seven. An official tabular state- ment, drawn up on the spot, sets the number of houses burned at seventeen. The house of the town clerk, Thomas French, escaped, as before mentioned, and the town records, with other papers in his charge, were saved. The meeting-house also was left standing. The house of Sheldon was hastily set on fire by the French and Indians when their rear was driven out of the village by Wells and his men ; but the fire was extinguished, and " the Old Indian House," as it was called, stood till the year 1849. Its door, deeply scarred with hatchets, and with a hole cut near the middle, is still preserved in the Memori[il Hall at Deerfield.^ Vaudreuil wrote to the minister, Ponchartrain, that the French lost two or three killed, and twenty or twenty-one wounded, Rouville himself being among the latter. This cannot include the Indians, since there is proof that the enemy left behind a con- siderable number of their dead. Wherever resistance 1 After the old house was clomolished, this door was piirchaseil by my friend Dr. Daniel Denison Slade, and given by him to thi' town of Deerfleld, on condition that it should bi' carefully pro- served. For an engraving of " the Old Indian House," sec Iloyt, Indian Wars (ed. 1824). 1701.] .Iil!.i . [1704. f irnt.] THE NORTHWARD MARCH. 69 was possible, it had been of the most prompt and (leteriniiied character.^ Long before noon the French and Indians were on their northward march with their train of captives. More armed men came up from the settlements below, and by midnight about eighty were gathered at the ruined village. Couriers had been sent to rouse the countij, and before evening of the next day (the first of March) the force at Dcerfield was increased to two hundred and fifty; but a thaw and a warm rain luid set in, and as few of the men had snow-shoes, pursuit Mas out of the question. Even could the agile savages and their allies have been overtaken, the [)robable consequence would have been the mur- dering of the captives to prevent their escape. In spite of the foul blow dealt uy «;.*< it, Deerfield was not abandoned. Such of its mcii as were left were tal en as soldiers into the pay of the province, wliile the women and children were sent to the vil- lages below. A small garrison was also stationed at tlie spot, under command of Captain Jonathan Wells, and thus the village held its ground till the storm of war should pass over.^ }t\ 'Av; jU. ' ■ 1 -1 . I ' 1 i ! : f Jioyt, tt 1 Governor Dudley, writing to Lord on 21 April, 1704, aays that thirty dead bodies of the enemy were found in the village and on the meadow. Williams, tho minister, says that they did not sc'cni inclined to rejoice tN>or their suoooss, and continued for several days to bury members of their party who died of wounds on tiic return niareb lie adds that he learned in Canada that they lost more than forty, though Vau4reuil assured him that they lost but eleven. '^ On the attack of Deerfield, see Williams, The Redeemed Cap- I t *► 70 DEKllKIKLI). [1701. '•| \\f Wo liiive seen tluit the iniiiister, Williams, with his wife and family, were led from their buriiiiiL,' live Ri'.tiintini/ to Zion. This is the narrative of the minister, Joliii \Villianis. Armunt <>/ th^ Cu/itiviti/ of Stephen Williams, ti'tittcn In/ himself. Tiiis is liie narrative uf one of tiie minister's sons, eleven years old when eaptiired. It is i)rinte(l in the Appendix to the liin- t/idjitiical Mciiinir ()/' Jirr. .fotiii Wii/iains (Hartford, ls;57) ; An occointt of ji'' dastnictiiin at. /)i nfd. /'< li''. HD, 170."J/4, in J'rucceilinijs if the Mass. I/isf. Sue, 1807, p. 47H. This valuahle document was found among the piipi'rs of Fit/,-.Iolin Winthrop, f^overnor of Connecticut. The aiilhorities of that province, c- hearing; of the catastrophe at Deer- lield, promptly sent an armed force to its relief, which, however, could not arrive till lon}^ after the enemy were gone. The paper in (jiiestion seems to be the official report of one of the Connecticut oliicers. After recounting wliat had taken place, he gives a tabular list of the captives, the slain, and those who escaped, with the esti- mated losses in property of eacli inhabitant. The list of captives is not quite complete. Compare the lists given by Stephen Williams at the enil of his narrative. Tiie town records of Hatfield give various i)articulars ccmcerning the attack on its unfortunate neigli- bor, as do the letters of Colonel Samuel Partridge, commanding tlie militiaof tiie county, lloyt, .^1;i//7(/(//'/"((h A'e,searc//e.s, gives a valu- (il)le account of it. The careful and unwearied reseai ;h of Mr. George Sheldon, the lineal descendant of Ensign John i^'h jldon, among all sources, public or private, manuscript or in jirint, that could throw light on tlie subject cannot be too strongly com- mended, and 1 am indebted to him for nmch valued information. I'enliallow's sliort account is inexact, and many of the more recent narratives are not only exaggerated, but sometimes absurdly incorrect. The French notices of the affair are short, and give few par- ticulars. Vaudreuil in one letter sets the number of prisoners at one hundred and fifty, and increases it in another to two hundred .•aid fifty. TJamesay, governor of Montreal, who hated TIertel de Ivouville, and bore no love to Viiudreuil, says that fifty-six women and cl ildren were murdeied on the way to Canada, — which is a gross exaggeration. {Ramesay an Mijiistre, 14 Nrivemhrr, 1704.) Tlie account by Dr. Ktliier in the Rfvue Canadicnnr. of 1874 is drawn entirely from the Rcdconiil Captive of AVilliams, with running comments by the Canadian writer, but no new information. The 1701. lloUf will' — fl I ^:^yjL.-.x... witli I riling IS a The drawn 1701.1 TIIK CAPTIVES. 71 lioiisc across the river to tlie foot of the mouiitjiin, Avhcre tlie crowd of tcrrilied iiiul disconsohite captives friends, nciglibors, and relatives — were ali-eady cr.itliered. Here they presently saw the fifj^ht in th(; meadow, and were told that if their countrymen attempted a rescue, they should all be put to death. "After this," writes Wiiiia,nis, "we went up the mountain, and saw the smoke of the fires in town, and l)elicld the awful desolation of Deerfield; and before Ave marched any farther they killed a sucking rliildof tlie English." The French and Indians marched that afternoon only four or five miles, — to Greenfield meadows, — where they stopped to encamp, dug away the snow, laid spruce-boughs on the ground for beds, and bound fast such of the prisoners as seemed able to escai)e. The Indians then held a carousal on some liquor they had found in the village, and in their drunken rage murdered a negro man belonging to Williams. In spite of their precautions, Joseph Alexander, one of the prisoners, escaped during the night, at which they were greatly incensed; and Rouville ordered AVilliams to tell his companions in misfortune that if any more of them ran off, the rest should be burned alive. ^ The prisoners were the property of those who had cnniments chiefly consist in praise of Williams for trutli when he speaks favorahly of the Canadians, and charges of lying when he sjjcaks otherwise. 1 Jolin Williams, The Redeemed Capt'.ro, Compare Stephen Williams, Account of the Captivity, etc. I A .I'll .!■!■ ■ tl^; 11 ■i ! \ j ,1 J i. ( 1 i i f i f , 1 1 1: i ■ i\ *•: iH I! n. ■ I. i' 72 DEERFIELn. [1701. tiiknu them. Willianis hud two masters, one of the thro(^ who liad seized him havinpj Imtu shot in the attack on the lionse of Stehl)iiis. His principal owner was a surly fellow who would not \vX liim speak to the other priscmers; hut as he was i)resently cliosen to guard the rear, tlie minister was left in the hands of his other master, who allowed him to walk beside his wlkt and help her on tlio way. Ilavhig borne a child a few weeks before, she was in no condition for such a march, and felt that her hour was near. Williams speaks of her in the strongest terms of affection. She made no comp^iint, and accepted her fate with resignation. "We discoursed," he says,, "of the hapi)iness of those who liad God for a father and friend, as also that it was our reasonable duty quietly to submit to his will." Her thouglits were for her remaining children, whom she commended to her husband's care. Their intercourse was short. The Indian who had gone to the rear of the train soon returned, separated them, ordered Williams to the front, " and so made me take a last farewell of my dear wife, the desire of my eyes and companion in many mercies and afflictions." They came soon after to Green River, a stream then about knee-deep, and so swift that the water had not frozen. After wading it with difficulty, they climbed a snow-covered hill beyond. The minister, with strength almost spent, was permitted to rest a few moments at the top; and as the other prisoners passed by in turn, he questioned each for news of his wife. He was not Wi i 't'^ 'ii The Return from Dccrfield. Drawn by llnwanl I'vle. A IIalk Chnil-u V OF CoNFLirr. 1.. 7;. / (■ (if '! kii » f\ \ii\ j ) f ■ 1 i i 1* 1 i'. i ^^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) // ^J^ w .^I-^ .f <^ ^. ^4^ "W 1.0 i I.I 2.0 lU IL25 i 1.4 1.6 Photographic Sciences Corporation 33 WIST MAIN STRflT WnSTM.N.Y. MSM (716) 872-4503 '^ ' !( I I I ! ) I 1^1 (' ■; !i' '''■\' !?)'•' '\ '! I, /.I ^' 1 , 1 j Ill 1 M ii' xi'h imj ic am V I tied U» U»e train ains t tor ii«ii I :..:.*{ rf.) swift ti , ,.ir? n«K hill b^ -h** r) M strenc-th &h IV. ,>! i-fi- •!i >' >J M )■ • ■ynt^tititt, t>y ^oui* ih'tm*^ Jt t ■' y!./e% I -n ( J .» . I 'J ■ » lvyunle to carry her.* On the next Sunday the min- ister was left in camp with one Indian and the sur- viving child, — a boy of nine, — while the rest of tlie l)arty were hunting. "My spirit," he says, "was almost overwhelmed within me." But he found comfort in the text, " Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive." Nor was his hope deceived. His youngest surviving child, — a boy of four, — though harshly treated by his owners, was carried on their shoulders or dragged on a sledge to the end of the journey. His youngest daughter — seven years old — was treated with great kindness throughout. Samuel and Eunice suffered much from hunger, but were dragged on sledges when too faint to walk. Stephen nearly starved to death; but after eight months in the forest, he safely reached Chambly with his Indian masters. 1 Tlic name Macquas (Moliawks) is always given to the Caugh- nawagas by the elder Williams. r . 1 I \> p.' .If u I |i 76 DEERFIELI). [1701. Of tlio wliolo bund of ciiptivos, only alx)nt half ever again saw frit'iids and home. Seventeen broke down on the way and were killed; while David Hoyt and Jacob Ilix died of starvation at Coos Meadows, on the n[)i)er C^oiuiecticut. Dnring the entire march, no woman seems to have l)een snljjected to violence; and this holds trne, with rare exceptions, in all tlie Indian wars of New England. This remarkable for- bearance towards female prisoners, so different from the practice of many western tribes, was pi'obably due to a form of superstition, aided perhaps by the inrtuence of the missionaries.' It is to l)e observed, howevei", that the heathen savages of King Philip's War, who had never seen a Jesuit, were no less for- bearing in this resjject. The hunters of Williams's party killed five moose, the flesh of which, smoked and dried, was carried on their backs and that of the prisoner whom they had provided with snow-shoes. Thus burdened, the min- ister toiled on, following his masters along the frozen current of White River till, crossing the snowy backs of the Green Mountains, they struck the headwatei-s of the stream then called French River, now the Winooski, or Onion. Being in great fear of a thaw, they pushed on with double speed. Williams was not used to snow-shoes, and they gave him those painful ci'amps of the legs and ankles called in Canada mal a la raqnctte. One morning at dawn he was ' The Iroquois are well known to have had superstitions in connection with sexual abstinence. '■/! M. 1701.] SrFFKKIX(J.S OF WIIJ.IAMS. 77 wiiked by his chief mastor and ordered to pet up, say his j)rayer.s, and cat his breakfast, for tliey must make a Itui^' march that day. The minister was in despair. " After prayer," he says, " I arose from my knees ; hut my feet were so tend(;r, swollen, bruised, and full of pain that I could scarce stand upon them without holding on the wigwam. And when the Indians said, ' You must run to-day,' I answered I could not lun. My master, pointing to liis hatchet, said to me, ' Then I must dash out your brains jind take your scalp.'" The Indian proved l)etter than his word, and Williams was suffered to struggle on as he could. "God wonderfully supported me," he writes, "and my strength was restored and renewed to admiration." He thinks that ho walked that day forty miles on the snow. Following the Winooski to its mouth, the party reached Lake (/hamplain a little north of the present city of Burlington. Here the swollen feet of the prisoner were tortured by the rough ice, till snow l)egan to fall and cover it with a soft carpet. Bend- ing under his load, and powdered by the falling flakes, he toiled on till, at noon of a Saturday, lean, tired, and ragged, he and his masters reached the French outpost of Chambly, twelve or fifteen miles from Montreal. Here the unhappy wayfarer was treated -vith great kindness both by the officers of the fort and by the inhabitants, one of the chief among whom lodged him in his house and welcomed him to his table. After a short stay at Chambly, Williams and his S,' h m ii 4f I ' I > ! ) i . h ?1 k I i| ; ' 1^ I ' ■! I !i i, 1 ' ij ■ I 1 1 i 4 78 DKKUFIKLI). [1704. iniistors sot out in a cjuuk! for Sorel. On tlie way a Frenchwoman came down to the bank of tlie river and invited the party to her liouse, telling the min- ister that slie liei-self had once l)een a prisoner amon^^ tlie Indians, and knew how to feel for him. Siitt seated him at a table, spread a tal)Ie-cloth, and placed food l)efore liim, while the Indians, to their great indignati(m, were supplied with a meal in the chinuiey- eorner. Similar kindness was shown by the inhab- itants along the way till the party reached their destination, the AlKJUiaki village of St. Francis, to which his masters belonged. Here there was a fort, in which lived two Jesuits, directoi's of the mission, and here Williams found several English children, captured the summer before during the raid on the settlements of Maine, and already transformed into little Indians both in dress and Ix^havior. At the gate of the fort one of the Jesuits met him, and asked him to go into the church and give thanks to God for sparing his life, to which lie replied that he would give thanks in some other place. The priest then commanded him to go, which he refused to do. When on the next day the l)ell rang for mass, one of his Indian masters seized him and dragged him into the church, where he got Ijehind the door, and watched the service from his retreat with extreme disapprobation. One of the Jesuits telling him that he would go to hell for not accepting the apostolic traditions, and trusting only in the Bible, he replied that he was glad to know that Christ was to be his 1704.] A STCBBORN HERETIC. 79 jlMl<,^^ and not they. His cliief master, who was a /i-alot in his way, and as much hound to the rites and forms of the Churcli as ho had l)een hefore his con- version to his "medicines," or practices of heathen suiiei-stition, one day ordered him to make the sign of the cross, and on his refusal, tried to force liim. lint as the minister was tough and muscular, the liidian could not guide his hand. Then, pulling out a crucilix that hung at his neck, he told Williams in hroken Knglish to kiss 't; and heing again refused, he hrandished his hateliet over him and threatened to knock out his brains. This failing of the desired ('rtc( t, he threw down the hateliet and said he would lii-st Ijite out the minister's finger-nails, — a form of torture then in vogue among the northern Indians, both converts and heathen. Williams offered him a hiind and invited him to begin; on which he gave the lliumh-nail a griiM) with his teeth, and then let it go, saying, "No good minister, bad as tlie devih" The failure seems to have discouraged him, for he made no further attempt to convert the intractable heretic. The direct and simple narrative of W..-i> iis is plainly the work of an honest and courageoi^s man. He was the most important capture of the year; and the governor, hearing that he was at St. Francis, despatched a canoe to request the Jesuits of the mis- sion to send him to Montreal. Thither, therefore, his masters carried him, expecting, no doubt, a good price for their prisoner. Vaudreuil, in fact, bouglit liini, exchanged his tattered clothes for good ones, I ■■ II i)i ; I '> '' . i ,1 i rlf'' *' i i i 1 1 ( i t 1 \ •• t r :)• ' i, !i'- ^4::'M ■ip -■i'-'f 80 DEEIIFIELD. [1704. lodged him in his house, and, in the words of Williams, "was in all respects relating to my out- ward man courteous and charitable to admiration." lie sent for two of the minister's cliildren who were in the town, bought his eldest daughter from the Indians, and promised, to do what ho could to get the othera out of their hands. His youngest son was bought by a lady of the place, and his eldest by a merchant. His youngest daughter, Eunice, then seven or eight yeai"s old, was at the mission of St. Louis, or Caughnawaga. Vaudreuil sent a priest to conduct Williams thither and try to ransom the child. But the Jesuits of the mission flatly refused to let him speak to or see her. Williams says that Vaudreuil was very angry at hearing of this ; and a few days after, he went himself to Caughnawaga with the minister. This time the Jesuits, whose authority within their mission seemed almost to over- ride that of the governor himself, yielded so far as to permit the father to see his child, on condition that he spoke to no other English prisoner. He talked with her for an hour, exhorting her never to forget her catechism, which she had learned by rote. Vaudreuil and his wife afterwards did all in their power to procure her ransom ; but the Indians, or the missionaries in their name, would not let her go. "She is there still," writes Williams two years later, "and has forgotten to speak English." What grieved him still more, Eunice had forgotten her catechism. While he was at Montreal, his movements were 1704.] WILLIAMS AND THE PRIESTS. 81 I continually watched, lest he should speak to other prisoners and prevent their convei-sion. He thinks these precautions were due t) the priests, whose con- stant endeavor it was to turn the captives, or at least the younger and more manageable among them, into Catholics and Canadians. The governor's kindness towards him never failed, though he told him that he should not be set free till the English gave up one Captain Baptiste, a noted sea-rover whom they had captured some time before. He was soon after sent down the river to Quebec along with the superior of the Jesuits. Here he lodged seven weeks with a member of the council, who treated him kindly, but told him that if he did not avoid intercourse with the other English prisoners he would be sent farther away. He saw much of the Jesuits, who courteously asked him to dine ; though he says that one of them afterwards made some Latin verses about him, in which he was likened to a cap- tive wolf. Another Jesuit told him that when the mission Indians set out on their raid against Deer- field, he charged them to baptize all children before killing them, — such, he said, was his desire for the salvation even of his enemies. To murdering the children after they were baptized, he appears to have made no objection. Williams says that in their dread lest he should prevent the conversion of the other prisoners, the missionaries promised him a pension from the King and free intercoui'se with his children and neighbors if he would embrace the VOL. I. — f' . It 1l\ . 1 J / >.i'> I .r ,(( '.' 82 DEERFIELD. [1704. Catholic faith and remain in Canada; to which he answered that he would do so without reward if he thought their religion was true, but as he believed the contrary, "the offer of the whole world would tempt him no more than a blackberry." To prevent him : ore effectually from perverting the minds of his captive countrymen, and fortifying them in their heresy, ho was sent to Chateau Richer, a little below Quebec, and lodged with the parish priest, who was very kind to him. " I am persuaded," he writes, " that he abhorred their sending down the heathen to commit outrages against the English, say- ing it is more like committing murders than carrying on war." He was sorely tried by the incessant efforts to convert the prisoners. " Sometimes they would tell me my children, sometimes my neighbors, were turned to be of their religion. Some made it their work to allure poor souls by flatteries and great promises; some threatened, some offered abuse to such as refused to go to church and be present at mass ; and some they industriously contrived to get married among them. I understood they would tell the English that I was turned, that they might gain them to change their religion. These their endeavoi-s to seduce to popery were very exercising to me." After a time he was permitted to return to Quebec, where he met an English Franciscan, who, he says, had been sent from France to aid in converting the prisonei's. Lest the minister should counteract the i. M : I r 1704.] AN UNEXPECTED BLOW. 83 efforts of the friar, the priests had him sent back to Cliateaii Richer; "but," he observes, "God showed his dislike of such a persecuting spirit; for the very next day the Seminary, a very famous building, was most of it burnt down, by a joiner letting a coal of fire drop among the shavings."* The heaviest of all his tribulations now fell upon hiiu. His son Samuel, about sixteen years old, had l)een kept at Montreal under the tutelage of Father Meriel, a priest of St. Sulpice. The boy afterward'^ declared that he was promised great rewards if he would make the sign of the cross, and severe punish- ment if he v/ould not. Proving obstinate, he was whipped till at last he made the sign; after which lie was told to go to mass, and on his refusal, four stout boys of the school were ordered to drag him in. Williams presently received a letter in Samuel's handwriting, though dictated, as the father believed, by his priestly tutors. In this was recounted, with many edifying particulars, the deathbed conversion of two New England women; and to the minister's unspeakable grief and horror, the messenger who brought the letter told him that the boy himself had turned Catholic. "I have heard the news," he wrote to his recreant son, " with the most distressing, afflict- ing, sorrowful spirit. Oh, I pity you, I mourn over you day and night. Oh, I pity your weakness that, '■•f H > t 1 t 1 Williams remarka that the Seminary had also been burned three years before. This was the fire of November, 1701. See "Old Regime in Canada," 461. I i 'if J ,.: •1} 84 DEERFIKLD. [1701. through the craftiness of man, you are turned from the simplicity of the gospel." Though his corre- spondence was strictly watched, he managed to con- vey to the boy a long exposition, from his own pen, of the infallible trutli of Calvinistic orthodoxy, and the damnable errors of Rome. This, or something else, had its effect. Samuel returned to the creed of his fathers; and being at last exchanged, went home to Deerfield, where he was chosen town-clerk in 1713, and where he soon after died.^ Williams gives many particulars of the efforts of the priests to convert the prisoners, and his account, like the rest of his story, bears the marks of truth. There was a treble motive for conversion : it recruited the Church, weakened the enemy, and strengthened Canada, since few of the converts would peril their souls by returning to their heretic relatives. The means of conversion varied. They were gentle when gentleness seemed likely to answer the purpose. Little girls and young women v/ere placed in con- vents, where it is safe to assume that they were treated with the most tender kindness by the sister- hood, who fully believed that to gain them to the faith was to snatch them from perdition. But when they or their brothers proved obdurate, different means were used. Threats of hell were varied by threats of a whipping, which, according to Williams, were often put into execution. Parents were rigor- ously severed from their families ; though one Lalande, ^ Note of Mr. George Sheldon. M I ! 1704.] CONVf:RSION OF PRISONERS. 85 who had been sent to watch the elder prisoners, reported that they would persist in trying to sec their children, till some of them were killed in the attempt. "Here," writes Williams, "might be a history in itself of the trials and suflorings of many of our children, who, after separation from grown persons, have been made to do as they would have them. I mourned when I thought with myself that I had one child with the Maquas [Caughnawagas], a second turned papist, and a little child of six years of age in danger to be instructed in popery, and knew full well that all endeavors would be used to prevent my seeing or speaking with them." He also says that he and others were told that if they would turn Catholic their children should be restored to tliem ; and among other devices, some of his parish- ioners were assured that their pastor himself had seen the error of his ways and bowed in submission to Holy Church. In midwinter, not quite a year after their capture, the prisoners were visited by a gleam of hope. John Sheldon, accompanied by young John Wells, of Deerfield, and Captain Livingston, of Albany, came to Montreal with letters from Governor Dudley, proposing an exchange. Sheldon's wife and infant child, his brother-in-law, and his son-in-law had been killed. Four of his children, with his daughter-in- law, Hannah, — the same who had sprained her ankle in leaping from her chamber window, — besides others of his near relatives and connections, were ^i^S v *■ !l ■ i^' ■^r vf H » i •: '\k 44 I ♦ 'I .! j . • '1 '1 '1 ■. • 1 Ji 'i f ill 86 DEEKFIELD. [1705. prisoners in Canada ; and so also was the mother of young Wells. In the last Deceinher, Sheldon and Wells had gone to Boston and begged to be sent as envoys to the French governor. The petition was readily granted, and Livingston, who chanced to be in the town, was engaged to accompany them. After a snow-shoe journey of extreme hardship they reached their destination, and were received with courtesy by Vaudreuil. But difficulties arose. The French, and above all the clergy, were unwilling to part with captives, many of whom they hoped to transform into Canadians by conversion and adoption. Many also were in the hands of the Indians, who demanded payment for them, — which Dudley had always refused, declaring that he would not " set up an Algiei-s trade " by buying them from their pre- tended owners; and he wrote to Vaudreuil that for his own part he " would never permit a savage to tell him that any Christian prisoner was at his disposal." Vaudreuil had insisted that his Indians could not ])e compelled to give up their captives, since they were not subjects of France, but only allies, — which, so far as concerned the mission Indians within the colony, was but a pretext. It is true, however, that the French authorities were in such fear of offending even these that they rarely ventured to cross their interests or their passions. Other difficulties were raised, and though the envoys remained in Canada till late in spring, they accomplished little. At last, probably to get rid of their importunities, five prisoners ; imi 1. mi 1705.] RESTORED PRISONERS. 87 were given up to them, — Sheldon's daughter-in-law, Hannah; Esther Williams, eldest daughter of the minister ; a certain Ebenezer Carter ; and two others unknown. With these, Sheldon and his companions set out in May on their return ; and soon after they were gone, four young men, — Baker, Nims, Kellogg, and Petty, — desperate at being left in captivity, made their escape from Montreal, and reached Deerfield before the end of June, half dead with hunger. Sheldon and his party were escorted homeward by eight soldiers under Courtemanche, an officer of dis- tinction, whose orders were to "make himself ac- quainted with the country." He fell ill at Boston, where he was treated with much kindness, and on his recovery was sent home by sea, along with Captain Vetch and Samuel Hill, charged to open a fresh nego- tiation. With these, at the request of Courtemanche, went young William Dudley, son of the governor.^ They were received at Quebec with a courtesy qualified by extreme caution, lest they should spy out the secrets of the land. The mission was not very successful, though the elder Dudley had now a good number of French prisoners in his hands, cap- tured in Acadia or on the adjacent seas. A few only of the English were released, including the boy, 1 The elder Dudley speaks with great warmth of Courtemanche, who, on his part, seems equally pleased with his enter<:ainers. Young Dudley was a boy of eighteen. "II a du m(?rite," says Vaudreuil. Dudley to Vaudreuil, 4 Juli/, 1706 ; Vaudreuil au Ministre, 19 Octobrc, 1705. ' 1 ,i ' •> tl : , . i • If I I t. I I' twti li [i r I: I'i t' I 1,1 I ! "i! '|l ^ ^§ 88 DEERFIELD. [1706. Ste[)hen Williams, whom Vaudreuil had bought for forty crowns from his Indian master. In the following winter John Sheldon made an- other journey on foot to Canada, with larger powers than before. He arrived in March, 1706, and returned with forty-four of his released countrymen, who, says Williams, were chiefly adults permitted to go because there wjus no hope of converting them. The English governor had by this time seen the necessity of greater concessions, and had even consented to release the noted Captain Baptiste, whom the Boston merchants regarded as a pirate. In the same summer Samuel Appleton and John Bonner, in the brigantine " Hope," brought a considerable number of French prisoners to Quebec, and returned to Boston at the end of October with fifty-seven English, of all ages. For three, at least, of this number money was paid by the English, probably on account of prisoners bought by Frenchmen from the Indians. The minister, Williams, was exchanged for Baptiste, the so-called pirate, and two of his children were also redeemed, though the Caughnawagas, or their missionaries, refused to part with his daughter Eunice. Williams says that the priests made great efforts to induce the prisoners to remain in Canada, tempting some with the prospect of pensions from the King, and frighten- ing others with promises of damnation, joined with predictions of shipwreck on the way home. He thinks that about one hundred were left in Canada, many of whom were children in the hands of the |. Ml.l 1700, 1707.] CAPTIVKS IN CANADA. SO Indians, who could easily hide them in tljo woods, and who were known in some eases to hav(5 doiu! so. Seven more were redeemed in the following yeai- by the indefatigable Sheldon, on a tiiird visit to Canada.^ The exchanged prisoners had been captured at various times and places. Those from Deeriield amounted in all to about si ty, or a little more than lialf the whole number carried oft". Most of the others were dead or converted. Some married Cana- dians, and othei's their fellow-captives. Tiie history of some of them ca,n be traced with certainty. Thus, Thomas French, blacksmith and town clerk of Deer- field, and deacon of the church, was captured, with his wife and six children. His wife and infant child were killed on the way to Canada. He and liis two eldest children were exchanged and brought home. His daughter Freedom was converted, baptized under the name of Marie Fran^oise, and married to Jean Daulnay, a Canadian. His daughter Martha was baptized as Marguerite, and married to Jacques Uoy, on whose death she married Jean Louis Mdnard, by whom she became ancestress of Joseph Plessis, eleventh bishop of Quebec. Elizabeth Corse, eight 1 In 1878 Miss C.Alice Baker, of Cambridge, Mass., a desreiulant of Abigail Stebbins, read a paper on John Sheldon before the Memorial Association at Deerfleld. It is the result of great re- search, and contains much original matter, including correspond- ence between Sheldon and the captives when in Canada, as well as a full and authentic account of his several missions. Mr. George Sheldon has also traced out with great minuteness the history of his ancestor's negotiations. ■'i 1 ■ i i m m i\ j I • \ .L. k;M ;. ki i! /' i ML I I * '' lil'i • ! "I .ti 90 DEERFIELD. [1704-1710. years old when captured, was bnptized under her own name, and married to Jean Dumontel. Abigail Stchbins, baptized as Marguerite, lived many yeara at IJoucherville, wife of Jacques de Noyon, a sergeant in the colony troops. The widow, Sarah Hurst, wlioso youngest child, JJenjamin, had been murdered on tlie Deerfield meadows, was baptized as Marie Jeanne.^ Joanna Kellogg, eleven years old when taken, married a Caughnawaga chief, and became, at all points, an Indian squaw. She was not alone in this strange transformation. Eunice Williams, the namesake of her slaughtered mother, remained in the wigwams of the Caugh- nawagas, forgot, as we have seen, her English and her catechism, was baptized, and in due time married to an Indian of the tribe, who thenceforward called himself Williams. Thus her hybrid children bore her family name. Her father, who returned to his parish at Deerfield, and her brother Stephen, who became a minister like his parent, never ceased to pray for her return to her country and her faith. * The above is drawn mainly from extrc'^ts made by Miss Baker from the registers of the Church of Notre Dame at Montreal. Many of the acts of baptism bear the signature of Father Meriel, so often mentioned in the narrative of Williams. Apparently, Meriel spoke English. At least there is a letter in English from him, relating to Eunice Williams, in the Massachusetts Archives, vol. 51. Some of the correspondence beween Dudley and Vau- dreuil concerning exchange of prisoners will be found among the Paris documents in the State House at Boston. Copies of these papers were printed at Quebec in 1883-1885, though with many inaccuracies. • row I 1701-1710.] EUNICE WILLIAMS. 91 Miiiiy ycai's after, in 1740, she came with her hus- liiiiid to visit her rehitives in Deerfiehl, dressed as a sfjiiiiw and wrapped in an Indian blanket. Nothing would induce her to stay, thouj^h she was persuaded fill one occasion to put on a civilized dress and go to cliurch; after which she impatiently discarded her •fown and resumed her blanket. As she was kindly t rented by her relatives, and as no attempt was made to dotuin her against her will, she came again in the next year, bringing two of her half-breed children, iuid twice afterwards repeated the visit. She and lier husband were offered a tract of land if they would settle in New England; but she positively refused, saying that it would endanger her soul. She lived to a great age, a squaw to the last.* One of her grandsons, Eleazer Williams, turned Protestant, was educated at Dartmouth College at tlie charge of friends in New England, and was for a time missionary to the Indians of Green Bay, in Wisconsin. His character for veracity was not of the best. He deceived the excellent antiquarian, lioyt, by various inventions touching the attack on Deerfield, and in the latter part of his life tried to pass himself off as the lost Dauphin, son of Louis XVI.2 mJ ^ Stephen W. Williams, Memoir of the Rev. John Williams, 53. Sei'iiion prenched at Mansfield, August 4, 1741, on behalf of Mrs. Eunice, the dau(jhter of Rev. John Williams; by Solomon Williams, A.M. Letter of Mrs. Culton, great (jranddauf/liter of John Williams (in appen- dix to the Memoir of Rev. John Williams). - I renieniher to have seen Eleazer Williams at my father's house ■ i ^1 02 DKEKFir^M). [17()l-lHr,f]. 11 1 Hero it may Ym olwerved tluit tho doscendiints df young captives brouj^lit into (^inada by tho mission IndianH during tho various wars with tho English colonies becamo a considcralilo element in tho Ca- nadian population. Perhaps tho most prominent exami)lo is tliat of tho dill family. In Juno, lH'.tT, a boy named Samuel Gill, then in his tenth year, was captured by the Alx;nakis at Salisbury in Massachu- setts, carried to St. Francis, and converted. Sonuj yeai*s later ho married a young English girl, said to have Ixjcn named James, and to have been captured at Kennebunk.* In 1800 the lato AblxJ Maurault, missionary at St. Francis, computed their descendants in Boston, when a boy. My impression of liini is that of a good- looking; and somewhat portly man, showing little trace of Indiim blood, and whose features, I was told, resembled those of the Bour- bons. I'robably tliis likeness, real or imagined, suggested tiio imposition he was practising at the time. Tlie story of the " Bell of St. Regis " is probably r.nother of his inventions. It is to the effect that the bell of the church at Decrfleld was carried by the Indians to the mission of St. Regis, and that it is there still. But there is reason to believe that there was no church bell atDeerfleld, and it is certain that St. Regis did not exist till more than a half- century after Decrfield was attacked. It has been said that the story is true, except that the name of Caughnawaga should be sub- stituted for that of St. Regis ; but the evidence for this conjecture is weak. On the legend of tlic bell, see Le Moine, Maple Leairs, New Series (1873), 20; Proceedings of the Mass. Hist. Soc., 1869, 1870, .'Jll; Hist. Maif. 2d Series, ix. 401. Hough, Hist. St. Lawrence and Franklin Counties, 116, gives the story without criticism. 1 The earlier editions of this book follow, in regard to Samuel Gill, the statements of Maurault, which arc erroneous, as has been proved by the careful and untiring research of Miss C. Alice Baker, to whose kindness I owe the means of correcting them. Papers in the archives of Massachusetts leave no doubt as to the time and place of Samuel Gill's capture. 1704-1800.] TIIK (;iM. TAMIIA'. 1)3 at nine linndivd jiiul fifty-two, in wliosc? veins Freiicli, Kii^'lisii, and AlK'iiaki blorxl wero iiiix(Ml in evi'iy conccivablo i)roporti()n. IIo gives tho tahlcs of ^'cnealogy in full, and says that two hundred and tliirteen of this prolitic race Rtill iK'ar tlio surname (if Gill. "If," concludes the worthy priest, "one sliduld traco out all tho English families brought into Canada hy tho Abenakis, one would ])C astonished at the nund)cr of pei*sons who to-day arc indebted to tliosc savages for tho blessing of Uiing ('atholics and tlie advantage of ])eing Canadians," • — an advantage for which French-Canadians are so ungrateful that they migrate to the United States by myriads. 1 Maurault, Hist, ilea Ahennkis, HIT. I am indebted to R. A. Rniiisay, Ksq., of Montreal, for a paper on tlie Gill family, by Mr. Charles Gill, who eonflrms the statements of Maurault so far as re- lates to the genealogies. John and Zechariah Tarboll, captured when boys at Groton, iR'caiue Caughnawaga chiefs; and one of them, about 1700, founded tiie mission of St. Kegis. Green, Groton during the Indian Wars, 110, 117-120. I' c I I'f t ' 'f 4 ' » I r'X ; H'^ i I i '^i ■ !1 w 1 < \ 1 '^ ; i' k '' :l i| A'. ,: i ii! ^''ili:i CHAPTER V. 1704-1713. THE TORMENTED FRONTIER. Border Raids. — Haverhill. — Attack and Defence. — War TO THE Knife, — Motives of thk French. — Proposed Neu- trality. — Joseph Dudley. — Town and Country. I HAVE told the fate of Deerfield in full, as an example of the desolating raids which for years swept the borders of Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The rest of the miserable story may be passed more briefly. It is in the main a weary detail of the murder of one, two, three, or more men, women, or children waylaid in fields, woods, and lonely roads, or surprised in solitary cabins. Sometimes the attacks were on a larger scale. Thus, not long after the capture of Deerfield, a band of fifty or more Indians fell at dawn of day on a hamlet of five houses near Northampton. The alarm was sounded, and they were puraued. Eight of the prisoners were rescued, and three escaped; most of the othei-s being knocked in the head by their captors. At Oyster River the Indians attacked a loopholed house, in which the women of the neighboring farms had taken refuge AN UNSUCCESSFUL RAID. Of) 1704-1709.] Avliile the men were at work in the fields. The women disguised themselves in hats and jackets, lired from the loopholes, and drove off the assailants. In 1709 a hundred and eighty French and Indians agiiin attacked Deerfield, but failed to surprise it, iiud were put to flight. At Dover, on a Sunday, wliile the people were at church, a scalping-party approached a fortified house, the garrison of which consisted of one woman, — Esther Jones, who, on seeing them, called out to an imaginary force witliin, "Here they are! come on! come on! " on which the liidians disappeared. Soon after the capture of Deerfield, the French authorities, being, according to the prisoner Williams, "wonderfully lifted up with pride," formed a grand war-party, and assured the minister that they would catch so many prisoners that they should not know what to do with them. Beaucour, an officer of great repute, had chief command, and his force consisted of between seven and eight hundred men, of whom about a hundred and twenty were French, and the rest mission Indians.^ They declared that they would lay waste all the settlements on the Connecticut, — meaning, it seems, to begin with Hatfield. "This army," says Williams, "went away in such a boast- ing, triumphant manner that I had great hopes God would discover and disappoint their designs." In fact, their plans came to nought, owing, according to French accounts, to the fright of the Indians ; for ^ Vaudreuil e.t Beauharnois au Ministre, 17 Novembre, 1704. ■ 1 I ' I j r ;l \ k r ' - ii Si: 's 9G THE TORMENTED FRONTIER. [1708. a soldier liaving deserted within a day's march of the Englisli settlements, most of them turned back, despairing of a surprise, and the rest broke up into small parties to gather scalps on the outlying farms. ^ In the summer of 1708 there was a more successful attempt. The converts of all the Canadian missions were mustered at Montreal, where Vaudreuil, by exercising, as he says, "the patience of an angel," soothed their mutual jealousies and persuaded them to go upon a war-party against Newbury, Portsmouth, and other New England villages. Fortunately for the English, the Caughnawagas were only half- hearted towards the enterprise; and through them the watchful Peter Schuyler got hints of it which enabled him, at the eleventh hour, to set the intended victims on their guard. The party consisted of about four hundred, of whom one hundred were French, under twelve young officers and cadets; the whole commanded l)y Saint-Ours des Chaillons and Ilertel de Rouville. For the sake of speed and secrecy, they set out in three bodies, by different routes. The rendezvous was at Lake Winnepesaukee, where they were to be joined by the Norridgewocks, Penobscots, and other eastern Abenakis. The Caughnawagas and Hurons turned back by reason of evil omens and a disease which broke out among them. The rest met on the shores of the lake, — probably at Alton 1 Vaiidreidl et Bcauharnois an MIniatre, 17 Novembre, 1704 ; Vau- dreuil au Minislre, 10 Novembre, 1704 ; Ramcsay au Ministre, 14 Novembre, 1704. Compare Pcnhallow. / I M: 1708.] HAVERHILL ATTACKED. 97 Bay, — where, after waiting in vain for tlieir eastern allies, they resolved to make no attempt on Ports- mouth or Newbury, but to turn all their strength upon the smaller village of Haverhill, on the Merrimae. Advancing quickly under cover of night, they made their onslaught at half an hour before dawn, on Sunday, the twenty-ninth of August. Haverhill consisted of between twenty and thirty dwelling-houses, a meeting-house, and a small picket fort. A body of militia from the lower Massachusetts towns had been hastily distributed along the frontier, on the vague reports of danger sent by Schuyler from Albany; and as the intended point of attack was unknown, the men were of necessity widely scat- tered. French accounts say that there were thirty of them in the fort at Haverhill, and more in the houses of the villagers ; while others still were posted among the distant farms and hamlets. In spite of darkness and surprise, the assailants met a stifiP resistance and a hot and persistent fusil- lade. Vaudreuil says that they could dislodge the defenders only by setting fire to both houses and fort. In this they were not very successful, as but few of the dwellings were burned. A fire was kindled against the meeting-house, which was saved by one Davis and a few others, who made a dash from behind the adjacent parsonage, d^ve the Indians off, and put out the flames. Rolfe, the minister, had already been killed while defending his house. His wife and one of his children were butchered ; but two VOL. 1. — 7 .L M V ^'ij!: ;!l i f "A »^i 1 t ' .^i I! ^ ii i , r I i y I } / M 98 THE TORMENTED FRONTIER. [1708. others — little girls of six and eight years — were saved by the self-devotion of his maid-servant, Ilagiir, apparently a negress, who dragged them into the cellar and hid them under two inverted tubs, wheie they crouched, dumb with terror, while the Indians ransacked the place without finding them. Engli.sh accounts say that the number of persons killed — men, women, and children — was forty-eight ; which the French increase to a hundred. The distant roll of drums was presently heard, warning the people on the scattered farms ; on which the assailants made a liasty retreat. Posted near Haverhill were three militia officers, — Turner, Price, and Gardner, — lately arrived from Salem. With such men as they had with them, or could hastily get together, tliey ambushed themselves at the edge of a piece of woods, in the path of the retiring enemy, to the number, as the French say, of sixty or seventy, which it is safe to diminish by a half. The French and Indians, approaching rapidly, were met by a volley which stopped them for the moment; then, throwing down their packs, they rushed on, and after a sharp skirmish broke through the ambuscade and continued their retreat. Vaudreuil sets their total loss at eight killed and eighteen wounded, — the former including two officers, Vercheres and Chambly. He further declares that in the skirmish all the English, except ten or twelve, were killed outright; while the English accounts say that the French and Indians took to the woods, leaving* nine !^l 1708.] HARASSING WARFARE. 99 of their number dead on the spot, along with their medicine chest and all their packs. ^ Scarcely a hamlet of the Massachusetts and New Hampshire borders escaped a visit from the nimble enemy. Groton, Lancaster, Exeter, Dover, Kittery, Casco, Kingston, York, Berwick, Wells, Winter Harbor, Brooklield, Amesbury, Marlborough, were all more or less infested, usually by small scalping- parties, hiding in the outskirts, waylaying stragglers, or shoot'ug men at work in the fields, and disappear- iuir as soon as their blow was struck. These swift aiitl intangible persecutors were found a far surer and more effectual means of annoyance than larger bodies. As all the warriors were converts of the Canadian missions, and as prisoners were an article of value, cases of torture were not very common; tliougli now and then, as at Exeter, they would roast some poor wretch alive, or bite off his fingers and seal' the stumps with red-hot tobacco pipes. This system of petty, secret, and transient attack put the impoverished colonies to an immense charge in maintaining a cordon of militia along their northern frontier, — a precaution often as vain as it was costly ; for the wily savages, covered by the forest, found little difficulty in dodging the scouting-parties, pouncing on their victims, and escaping. Rewards were offered for scalps; but one writer calculates 1 Vaudrenil au Ministre, 5 Novemhre, 1708 ; Vaudrenil et Ruudot au Mlnistre, 14 Novemhre, 1708 ; Hutcliilisoii, ii. 150 ; Mans. Hist. Coll. ■Ill Series, iv. 129 ; St'wall, Diary, ii. 234, reuhallow. Ii r f V ' > i It .'^\\ ? ' 1 , 1 > ' i 1 • 1 :i:\ : )f ; ' ■• i ■ ' ' ! .. _ „ J •.■■,., iu f I 1; ^ 100 tup: TOUxMIvXTKI) frontier. [1703-1704. that, all things considered, it cost Massachusetts a thousand pounds of her currency to kill an Indian.^ In 1703-1704 six hundred men were kept ranging the woods all winter without finding a single Indian, the enemy having deserted their usual liaunts and sought refuge with the French, to emerge in Fehruary for the destruction of Deerfield. In the next sum- mer nineteen hundred men were posted along two hundred miles of frontier. ^ This attitude of passive defence exasperated the young men of RIassachusetts, and it is said that five hundred of them begged Dudley for leave to make a raid into Canada, on the characteristic condition of choosing their own officers. The governor consented; but on a message from Peter Schuyler that he had at last got a promise from the Caughnawagas and other mission Indians to attack the New England borders no more, the raid was countermanded, lest it should waken the tempest anew.^ What was the object of these murderous attacks, 1 The rewards for scalps were confined to male Indians thouglit old enougli to bear arms, — that is to say, above twelve years. ^1(7 of General Court, 19 Aiujust, 1700. '^ Dudleji to Lord , 21 ,1/)///, 1704. Address of Conuril and Assemhhf to the Queen, 12 Jidij, 1704. The burden on tlie people was so severe that one writer — not remarkable, liowever, for exactness of statement — dechires that he "is credibly informed that some have been forced to cut open tlieir beds and sell the feathers to pay their taxes." The ptenoral poverty did not prevent a contribution in New England for the suffering inhabitants of the Island of St. Christopher. " Vaudrenil au Ministre, 12 Novemhre, 1708. Vaudrouil says that ho got his information from prisoners. 1, u. 170:M704.] ALLTKS OF FRANCE. 101 Avliicli stung tlie enemy without disabling him, con- lirnu'd the Indians in their native savagery, and taught the French to enmlate it? In tlie time of Frontenac theie was a palliating motive for sueh bar- l)iuous warfare. Canada was then prostrate and stunned under the blows of the Iroquois war. 8uc- ci'ssl'ul war-parties were needed as a tonic and a stinnilant to rouse the dashed si)irits of French and Indians alike ; but the remedy was a dangerous one, and it drew upon the colony the attack under Sir William Pliips, which was near proving its ruin. At present there was no such pressing call for butcher- ing women, children, and peaceful farmers. The motive, such as it wjis, lay in the fear that the Indian allies of France might pass over to the English, or at least stand neutral. These allies were the Chris- tian savages of the missions, who, all told, from the Caughnawagas to the Micmacs, could hardly have nuistered a thousand warriors. The danger was that the Caughnawagas, always open to influence from Albany, might be induced to lay down the hatchet and persuade the rest to follow their example. Therefore, as there was for the time a virtual truce with New York, no pains were spared to commit tlieni irrevocably to war against New England. With the Abenaki tribes of Maine and New Hampshire the need was still more urgent, for they were con- tinually drawn to New England by the cheapness and excellence of English goods; and the only sure means to prevent their trading with the enemy was ft !'. M ! fk ' if. ' 1* :1 ■■' : 1 1 'I t 4 ! ;h 102 tup: TOUMEN'l'El) FKONTIEll. [1703-17(iS. Hi to incite them to kill him. Some of these savajrcs luul been settled in Canuihi, to keep them uiKkr influence and out of temptation; but the rest weie still in their native haunts, where it was thou^jjit ])est to keep them well watched by their missionaries, as sentinels and outposts to the colony. There were those among the French to whom this barbarous warfare was repugnant. The ministei', Ponchartrain, by no means a pereon of tender scruples, also condennied it for a time. After the attack on Wells and other places under IJeaubassiii in 1703, he wrote : " ft would have been well if this expedition had not taken place. I have certain knowledge that the English want only peace, know- ing that war is contrary to the interests of all the colonies. Hostilities in Canada have always been begun by the French."^ Afterwards, when these bloody raids had produced their natural effect and spurred the sufferers to attempt the ending of their woes once for all by the conquest of Canada, Pon- chartrain changed his mind and encouraged the ^ Resume d'lnie Lettre de MM. de Vaudreuil et de Beauharnois dn 15 Novembre, 1708, avec les Observations du Ministre. Suborcase, gov- ernor of Acadia, writes on 25 December, 1708, that he hears that a party of Canadians and Indians have attacked a place on tlio Maramet (Merriniac), " et qu'ils y ont cgorge 4 a 500 personnes sans faire quartier aux fenimes ni aux enfans." Tliis is an exaggerateil report of the aftair of Haverhill. M. de Chevry writes in the mar- gin of the letter ; " Ccs actions de crnaute devroient ctre modc- recs : " to which Ponchartrain adds : " Bon ; les defendre." His attitude, however, was uncertain ; for as early as 1707 we find him approving Vaudreuil for directing the missionaries to prompt the Abenukis to war. N. Y. Col. Docs., ix. 806. 1705.] NEGOTIATIONS. 103 yi'iidini? out of war-parties, to keep the English busy at home. Tlie scliemes of a radical cure date from the attack on Deertield and the murders of tlie following sum- mer. In the autunui we find Governor Dudley urg- ing the capture of Quebec. "In the last two years," lie says, ''the Assembly of iSIassachusetts has spent about ^50,000 in defending the Province, whereas tlirce or four of the Queen's ships and fifteen hundred New England men would rid us of the French and make further outhiy needless," — a view, it must be .uhnitted, sutliciently sanguine. ^ But before seeking peace with the sword, Dudley tried less strenuous methods. It may be remembered that in 1705 Captain Vetch and Samuel Hill, together with the governor's young son William, went to Queljec to procure an exchange of prisoners. Their mission had also another o))ject. Vetch carried a letter from Dudley to Vaudreuil, proposing a treaty of neutrality between their resi^ective colonies, and Vaudreuil seems to have welcomed the proposal. Notwithstanding the pacific relations between Canada and New York, he was in constant fear that Dutch and English influence might turn the Five Nations into open enemies of the French; and he therefore declared himself ready to accept the proposals of Dudley, on condition that New York and the othei' English colonies should be included in the treaty, and that the English should be excludec. from fish- 1 Dudley to ,'Hj November, 1704. '.•A It •« 'ur %\\ 't 4i u \ ■'«i ■ '^ \ i i i til '^1 ' I • i' 1 > II' I I Ji1 ' ■ 1 ■ I I ■' 104 THE TOKMENTKl) FIIOXTIER. [1702-1715. ing in the (jliilf of St. Lawrence and the Acadian seas. Tlie first cond'tion was diflioult, and the sec- ond impractical >le; for nothing couhl have indnced the people of New Enghind to acc{4)t it. Vaudreuil, moreover, woukl not promise to give \\\) prisoners in the liands of the Indians, but only to do wliat he could to persuade their owners to give them up. The negotiations dragged on for several years. For the first three or four months Vaudreuil stopped his war- parties ; but he let them loose again in the spring, and the New England borders were tormented as before. The French governor thought that the New Eng- land country people, who had to bear the brunt of the war, were I'eady to accept his terms. The French court approved the plan, though not without dis- ti-ust; for some enemy of the governor told Ponchar- train that under [)retence of negotiations he and 'Hidley were carrying on trading speculations, — which is certainly a baseless slander.^ Vaudreuil on his part had strongly suspected Dudley's emissary, Vetch, of illicit trade during his visit to Quebec ; and perhaps there was ground for the suspicion. It is certain that Vetch, who had visited the St. Lawrence before, lost no opportunity of studying the river, and looked forward to a time when he could turn his knowledge to practical account. ^ 1 Abn'(jt' d'une lettre de M. de Vaudreuil, avec les notes du Ministre, 19 Octobre, 1705. 2 On the negotiations for neutrality, see tlie correspondence and other papers in tlie Paris Documents in tlie Boston State House ; also N. Y. Col. Docs., ix. 770, 776, 779, 809; Hutchinson, ii. 141. ' (T 1702-1715.] JOSKI'II DIDLKV. lor, Joseph DiKlley, ^'ovcnior of iMassiU'luisctts jumI New llainpsliiie, was the Kon of a foniier governor dl" iMiissachiisetts, — that ui)riL,Mit, sturdy, narrow, ))i[,'ote(l ohl Puritan, Thomas Dudh'y, in whose ])ocket was found after liis death tlie notable couplet, — " Lot nion of frod in courts and clinrclu'S wiitcli O'er Huch as do a toleration hatch." Such a son of such a father was the marvel of New England. Those who clung to the old tradi- tions and mourned for the old theocracy under the old charter, hated Joseph Dudley as a renegade ; and tlie worshippei's of the Puritans have not foi'given him to this day. He had been president of the council under the detested Andros, and when that repiesen- tative of the Stuarts was overthrown by a popidar revctlution, both he and Dudley were sent prisoners to England. Here they found a reception dilTerent from the expectations and wishes of those who sent them. Dudley became a member of Parliament and lieutenant-governor of the Isle of Wight, and was at length, in the beginning of the reign of Queen Anne, sent back to govern those who had cast him out. Any governcv imposed on them by England would have been an offence; but Joseph Dudley was more than they could bear. He found bitter opposition from the old Puritan l)arty. The two Mathei-s, father and son, who tln-ough policy had at fii-st favored him, soon de- nounced him with insolent malignity, and the honest |3i H I .» ^1 « ' •fill Hi if I '11' ! 106 TIIK TOKMKXTKI) rUOXTIKH. [17iL'-17i:.. and ronscitMitious Siinnu'l Scwjili ri'<;iinl('(l iiiiii with as much iisitcrily as liis kindly iiatm«' would ptTiiiit. To the l)artv of religious and [(olitica! iiKh'iH'udciicy h(! was ail ahoniination, and ^nvat etTtnts witu mukIc to get him ivcallt'd. Two pami)hl('ts of the time, (tiic printod in 1707 anlvrable State of New En)jhmd, bi/ Reason of a Covetous and Treacherous Gorernour and J'usillaninwus Cutinsrllors, London, 1708. The first of the above is aiiswered by a painjjhli't ealh'd a Modest Inquiry. All three are reprinted in Mass. Hist. Coll., 5th Series, vi. 17'i|-17O0.] ILLICIT TUADKUS. 107 J lie rotative, and even his liereditury Calvinirtm luul stn>Mi( lOpiscopiil leaning's. lie was a inuii of tlie world in the iK'tter as well as the worse sense of the term; was hjvcd and achuired by some as nuieli as III' was liiited hy othei's; and in the words of one of his successors, "had as many virtues as can consist witli so great a tliirst for honor and i)ower."* His enemies, however, set no hounds to their denun- ciation. "All the people here are bought and sold lictwixt the governour and his son Paul,'' says one. "It is my belief," says another, probably Cotton Mather, "that he means to help the French and Indians to destroy all they can." And again, "He is a criminal governour. . . . His God is Mammon, his aim is the ruin of his country." The meagreness and uncertainty of his salary, which was granted by yearly votes of the As8end)ly, gave color to the charge that he abused his official position to improve his income. The worst accusation against him was that of conniving in trade with the French and Indians under pretence of exchanging prisoner. Six prominent men of the colony — Borland, Vetch, Lawson, Rous, Phillips, and Coffin, only three of whom were of New England origin — were brought to trial before the Assembly for trading at Port I^oyal ; and it was said that Dudley, though he had no direct share in the business, found means to make profit from it. All the ficcused were convicted and fined. The more s^trenuous of their judges were for 1 Hutchinson, ii. 194. 1 }. • -nl If 1 |i|| i!^ M ! i;, :i': ^ ! ;■; 1 ll 'V li 108 TIIK TORMENTED FRONTIER. [1704-1709. sending them to jail, and Rous was to have l)een sentenced to "sit an hour upon tlie gaUows with a rope about his neck;" but tlie governor and council objected to these severities, and the Assendjly forbore to impose them. The po[)ular indignation against the accused was extreme, and probably not without cause. ^ There was no doubt an illicit trade between Boston and the French of Acadia, who during the war often depended on their enemies for the neces- saries of life, since supplies from France, precarious at the best, were made doubly so by New England cruisers. Thus the Acadians and their Indian allies were but too happy to exchange their furs for very modest supplies of tools, utensils, and perhaps, at times, of arms, i)owder, and lei»d.'^ What with privateering and illicit trade, it was clear that the war was a source of profit to some of the chief persons in Boston. That place, moreover, felt itself tolerably safe from attack, while the borders were stung from end to end as by a swarm of wasps ; and 1 The af,'t'iit of Massiicliusotts at London, spoakiDjr of tlie three chief offenders, says that tliey were neither "of Enfjiish extraction, nor natives of the p'.ice, and two of tliem were very new comers." Jereiniali Dununer, Letter to u Noble Lord concernimj the late Expedi- tion to Canada. 2 The French naval captain Bonaventure saya tliat the Acadians were forced to depend on Boston traders, who soiMetiines plundered them, and sometimes sold them supplies. (Bonavetiture au }rinistre, m Novrmbr"., 1705.) Colonel Quary, Judpe of Admiralty at New York, writes : " There hath heen and still is, as I am informed, a Trade carried on with Port Royal by some of the topping men of tliat government [Boston], under colour of sending and receiving Flaggs of truce." — Qnarn to the Lords of Trade, 10 Januari/, 1708. m 1704-1709.] DUDLEY SUSTAINED. 109 thus the country conceived the idea that the town was fattening at its expense. Vaudreuil reports to the minister that the people of New England want to avenge themselves by an attack on Canada, but that their chief men are for a policy of defence. ''JMiis wifs far from being wholly true ; Init the notion that tlie rural population bore a grudge against Boston had taken strong hold of the French, who even believed that if the town were attacked, the country would not move hand or foot to help it. Perhaps it was well for them that they did not act on the belief, which, as afterwards appeared, was one of their many mistakes touching the character and disposition of their English neighboi-s. The sentences on Borland and his five companions were annulled by the Queen and Council, on the ground tha^. the Assembly was noo competent to try the case.^ The passionate charges against Dudley and a petition to the Queen for his removal were equally unavailing. The Assemblies of Massachu- setts and New Hampshire, the chief merchants, the officers of militia, and many of the ministers sent addresses to the Queen in praise of the governor's administration ; 2 and though his enemies declared that the votes and signatures were obtained by the arts familiar to him, his recall was prevented, and he held his office seven years longer. 1 Council Record, in Hutchinson, ii. 144. 2 These addresses are appended to A Modetit TiK/niri/ into the (I'roinids and Orcnsinns of a late Paniphlrt intituled a Memorial of titp present Deplorable Stale of New Enijland. London, 1707. V^ * il't* ^ ;1 ►■*■ I h m i ii .1 i t i: i ii » i! I 1 1 Ii I I ( T > f IN f || \ !1 I >.i i-Wm ' ;-f CHAPTER VI. 1700-1710. THE OLD REGIME IN ACADIA. The Fishkuy Question. — Pkivateeiis and I'irates. — Port Royal. — Official Gossip. — Abuse of Brouillan. — Com- plaints OP De Goutin. — Sl'bercase ani> his Officers. — Church and State. — Paternal Government. The French province of Acadia, answering to the present Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, was a gov- ernment separate from Cant, la and subordinate to it. Jacques Francois de BrouiUan, appointed to com- mand it, landed at Chibucto, the site of Halifax, in 1702, and crossed by hills and forests to the Basin of Mines, where he found a small but prosperous settle- ment. "It seems to me," he wrote to the minister, " thuc these people live like true republicans, acknowl- edging neither royal authority nor courts of law."^ It was merely that their remoteness and isolation made them independent, of necessity, so far as concerned temporal government. When Brouillan reached Port Royal he found a different state of things. The fort and garrison were in bad condi- tion; but the adjacent settlement, primitive as it was, appeared on the whole duly submissive. ^ Brouillan au ^[tiiistre, G Octobre, 1702. 1700-1710.] THE FISHERY QUESTION. Ill Possibly it would have been less so if it had been more prosperous ; but the inhabitants had lately been clei)rived of fishing, their best resource, Ijy a New England privateer which had driven their craft from the neighboring seas; and when the governor sent Lieutenant Neuvillette in an armed vessel to seize the interloping stranger, a fight ensued, in which the lieutenant was killed, and his vessel captured. New England is said to have had no less than three hun- dred vessels every year in these waters.^ Before the war a French officer proposed that New England sailoi-s should be hired to teach the Acadians how to lish, and the King seems to have approved the plan.^ Whether it was adopted or not. New England in peace or war had a lion's share of the Acadian fisheries. "It grieves me to the heart," writes Suherease, Brouillan's successor, "to see Messieurs les Bastonnais enrich themselves in our domain; for the base of their commerce is the fish which they catch off our coasts, and send to all parts of the world." When the war broke out, Brouillan's fighting resources were so small that he was forced to depend largely for help on sea-rovers of more than doubtful character. They came chiefly from the West Indies, — the old haunt of buccaneers, — and were sometimes mere pirates, and sometimes semi-piratical privateers ^ Mi'moire de Subercase. '^ Manoire da lioi/ au Steur de BroulUan, 23 Mars, 1700 ; Le Ministre a Villebon, 9 Avril, 1700. )• I (. I , » i '' ,1 I ' t t 'i ■?'■ I : : ! ) ifsil 114 THE OLD REGIME IN ACADIA. [1700-1710. I ' J I . >i stant annoyance. One writer declares that Acadia languishes under selfish greed and petty tyranny; that everything was hoped from Brouillan when he first came, but that hope has changed to despair ; that he abuses the King's authority to make money, sells wine and brandy at retail, quarrels with officers wlio are not punctilious enough in saluting him, forces the inhabitants to catch seal and cod for the King, and then cheats them of their pay, and countenances an obnoxious churchwarden whose daughter is his mistress. " The country groans, but dares not utter a word," concludes the accuser, as he closes his indictment.^ Brouillan died in the autumn of 1705, on which M. de Goutin, a magistrate who acted as intendant, and was therefore at once the colleague of the late governor and a spy upon him, writes to the minister that " the divine justice has at last taken pity on the good people of this country," but that as it is base to accuse a dead man, he will not say that the public could not help showing their joy at the late governor's departure ; and he adds that the deceased was charged with a scandalous connection with the Widow de Freneuse. Nor will he reply, he says, to the gover- nor's complaint to the court about a pretended cabal, of which he, De Goutin, was the head, and which was in reality only three or four honest men, inca- pable of any kind of deviation, who used to meet in 1 La Touche, Memoire sur fAcadie, 1702 (adresse k Pouchar- train). 17(X)-1710.] ACADIANS AND " BASTONNAIS." 115 a friendly way, and had given offence by not bowing down before the beast. ^ Then he changes the subject, and goes on to say that on a certain festal occasion he was invited by IJona venture, who acted as governor after the death of Brouillan, to share with him the honor of touching off a bonfire before the fort gate; and that this excited such envy, jealousy, and discord that he begs the minister, once for all, to settle the question whether a first magistrate has not the right to the lionor of touching off a bonfire jointly with a governor. De Goutin sometimes discourses of more serious matters. He tells the minister that the inhabitants have plenty of cattle, and more hemp than they can use, but neither pots, scythes, sickles, knives, hatchets, kettles for the Indians, nor salt for them- selves. "We should be fortunate if our enemies Avould continue to supply our necessities and take the beaver-skins with which the colony is gorged ; " add- ing, however, that the Acadians hate the English, and will not trade with them if they can help it.^ In the next year the " Bastonnais " were again 1 " Que trois ou quatre amis, honnetes gens, incapables de gau- cliir en quoique ce soit, pour n'avoir pas fle'che' devant la bete, aient etc qualifies de cabalistes." — De Goutin au Ministre, 4 D€cembre, 1705. 2 De Goutin au Ministre, 22 D^cemhre, 1707. In 1705 Bonaventure, in a time of scarcity, sent a vessel to Boston to buy provisions, on pri'tonce of exchanging prisoners. Bonaventure au Ministre, JJU Nuiwmbre, 1705. • ii' i :«i ft » . H j!' n W I I V I ! I tt ■ " I |i ,/.« yj f!- i^; i^i 116 THE OLD llEGIME IN ACADIA. [1700-1710. iHi^ bringing supplies, and the Aciidiiins again receiving them. Tlie new govxTiior, Subercase, far from Ijciiig pleased at this, was much annoyed, or professed to be so, and wrote to Ponchartrain, ''Nobody could suffer more than I do at seeing the English so coolly carry on their trade under our very noses." Then he proceeds o the inevitable personalities. "You wish me to write without reserve of the ofiicers here; I have little good to tell you;" and he names two who to the best of his belief have lost their wits, a third who is incorrigibly lazy, and a fourth wlio is eccentric ; adding that he is tolerably well satisfied with the rest, except M. de la Ronde. " You see, Monseigneur, that I am as much in need of a mad- house as of barracks ; and what is woree, I am afi-aid that the mauvais esprit of this country will drive me crazy too. " ^ " You write to me, " he continues, " that you are informed that M. Labat has killed some cattle belonging to the inhabitants. If so, he has expiated his fault by blowing otf his thumb by the bursting of his gun while he was firing at a sheep. I am sure that the moon has a good deal to do witli his behavior; he always acts veiy strangely when she is on the wane." The charge brought against Brouillan in regard to Madame do Freneuse was brought also against Bonaventure in connection with the same lady. "The story," says Subercase, "was pushed as far as 1 "Ne me fasse k mon tour tourner la cervclle." — Subercase au Ministre, 'iO De'remhre, 1708. M: •\ . i 1700-1710.] OFFICIAL GOSSIP. 117 lioU could desire ; " ^ and he partially defends the accused, declaring that at least his lidelity to the King is heyond question. I)e Goutin had a quarrel with Suhercase, and writes: "I do all that is possihle to live on good terms with him, and to that end 1 walk as if in the ciiamher of a sick prince whose sleep is of the light^ t." As Suhercase defends Bonaventure, De Goutin at- tacks him, and gives particulars concerning him and Madame de Freneuse which need not he recounted here. Then comes a story ahout a quarrel caused by some covvs belonging to jNIadame de Freneuse which got into the garden of Madame de Saint-Vincent, and were driven out b}^ a soldier who presumed to strike one of them with a long stick. "The facts," gravely adds De Goutin, " have been certified to me as I have the honor to relate them to your Grandeur." ^ Then the minister is treated to a story of one Allein. " He insulted Madame de Belleisle at the church door after high mass, and when her son, a boy of fourteen, interposed, Allein gave him such a box on the ear that it drew blood; and I am assured that M. Petit, the priest, ran to the rescue in his sacerdotal robes." Suhercase, on his side, after complaining that the price of a certain canoe had been unjustly deducted IVoiu his pay, though he nevci- had the said canoe at all, protests to Ponchartrain, " there 's no country on ^ " On apousse la chose aussi loin quo Tcnfor Ic pouvait flesiror." — Suhercase an Minisfre, 20 Decemhre, 1708. '^ Dc Goutin au Ministrc, 29 D^cembre, 1708. !) ;r !i', ,', ,f ^k mH '' . ^ • ! '^' l\ I' 1 . M . 118 THE OLD RfiGIME IN ACADTA. [1700-1710. (■' f ^ i I oarth where I would not rather live tlian in this, hy reason of the ill-disposed persons who inhabit it." ^ There was the usual frietion between the tenipoial and the spiritual powers. "The Cliurch," writi's Subercase, "lias long elainied the right of command- ing here, or at least of sharing authority with the civil rulers. "2 The Church had formerly l)een repn;- sented by the Capuchin friars, and afterwards by the R^collets. Every complaint w.as of course carried to the minister. In 1700 we find M. de Villieu, who then held a provisional command in the colony, accus- ing tlie ecclesiastics of illicit trade with the English."^ Bonaventure reports to Ponchartrain that Pere Fdlix, chaplain of the fort, asked that the gate might be opened, in order that lie might carry the sacraments to a sick man, his real object being to marry Captain Duvivier to a young woman named Marie LIuis de Poubomcoup, — contrary, as the governor thouglit, to the good of the service. He therefore forbade the match ; on which the priests told him that when they had made up their minds to do anything, nobody had power to turn them from it; and the chaplain pres- ently added that he cared no more for the governor than for the mud on his shoes.* He carried his point, and married Duvivier in spite of the commander. Every king's ship from Acadia brought to Pon- chartrain letters full of matters like these. In one * Subercase au Ministre, 20 Decembre, 1708. " Ibid. » Villieu au Ministre, 20 Octobre, 1700. * " II rcpondit qu'il se soucioit de moi comme de If. boue de ses Bouliers " — Bonaventure au Ministre, 30 Novembre, 1705. 1700-1710.] PATERNAL GOVERNMENT. 119 year, 1703, he got at leiist fourteen such. If half of what Saint-Simon tells us of liim is true, it is not to ho sup[)osed that he gave himself much trouble con- cerning them. This does not make it the less aston- ishing that in the midst of u great and disastrous war a minister of State should be expected to waste time on matters worthy of a knot of old gossips babbling round a tea-table. That pompous spectre which cnlls itself the Dignity of History would scorn to take note of them; yet they are highly instructive, for the morbid anatomy of this little colony has a scientific value as exhibiting, all the more vividly for the nar- rowness of the field, the workings of an umnitigated paternalism acting from across the Atlantic. The King's servants in Acadia pestered his minister at Versailles with their pettiest squabbles, while Marl- borough and Eugene were threatening his throne with destruction.^ The same system prevailed in Canada ; but as there the field was broader and the men often larger, the effects are less whimsically vivid than they appear under the Acadian micro- scope. The two provinces, however, were ruled alike; and about this time the Canadian Intendant Raudot was writing to Ponchartrain in a strain worthy of De Goutin, Subercase, or Bona venture.^ 1 Thtsc letters of Acar" " ofiScials are in the Archives du Ministere de la Marine et des Colonies at Paris. Copies of some of them will be found in the 3d series of the Cotrespondance Officielle at Ottawa. '■^ Raudot ati Ministre, 20 Septembre, 1709. The copy before me covers 108 folio pages, filled with gossiping personalities. '-^ ' -iiif Ft r 1 •( I 1 . ili 11 S i'l rj-.'' »( ' i '. I i; » h I I ) ii I ■ 1 11,1 :> I CHAPTER VII. 1704-1710. ACADIA CHANGES HANDS. Reprisal for Dkerkiki-p. — Major Benjamin Chi'rcii : ms Ravages at GRANi)-rKfc. — Port Uoval Kxi-edition. — Fttile PROCEEDlNliS. — A DlSCREDITAIU.E AkKAIR. — FRENCH Sl'C- cesses in Newkoundland. — Schemes OK Samitel Vetch. — A Grand FiNTERi'RisK. — Nicholson's Advance. — An In- fected Camp. — Ministerial Promises rroken. — A New Scheme. — Port Royal attacked. — Acadia conquered. When war-parties from Canada struck the English borders, reprisal was difficult against those who had provoked it. Canada was made almost inaccessible by a hundred leagues of pathless forest, prowled by her Indian allies, who were sure to give the alarm of an approaching foe ; while, on the other hand, the New Englanders could easily reach Acadia by their familiar element, the sea ; and hence that unfortunate colony often made vicarious atonement for the sins of her northern sister. It was from French priva- teers and fishing- vessels on the Acadian seas that Massachusetts drew most of the prisoners whom she exchanged for her own people held captive in Canada. 1701.] BENJAMIN ClirilCII. 1:11 Miijor ncMijiiiniii (^hurcli, the noted Iiidiaii li^i^litcr ot Kiii^ IMiiIi[>'s \Vjir, whs at Tiverton in Klioclo Isliind wluMi lie lieard of IFertel do Uonville/s uttiick on Deertield. IJoiling with nijje, Ik^ mounted liis liorso and rode to Boston to piopose a stroke of retaliation. Church was energetic, impetuous, and hull-headed, sixty-five years old, and grown so fat that when pushing through the woods on the trail of Indians, he kept a stout sergeant by him to hoist him over fallen trees. Ciovernor Dudley approved his scheme, and appointed him to command the ex- pedition, with the rank of colonel. Church repaired to his native Duxbury; and here, as well as in Plymouth and other neighboring settlements, the militia were called out, .md the veteran readily per- suaded a sufficient number to volunteer under him. With the Indians of Cape Cod he found more diflli- culty, they being, as his son observes, " a people that need much treating, especially with drink." At last, however, some of them were induced to join him. Church now returned to Boston, and begged that an attack on Port Royal might be included in his instructions, — which was refused, on the ground that a plan to that effect had been laid before the Queen, and that nothing could be done till her answer was received. The governor's enemies seized the occasion to say that he wished Port Royal to remain French, in order to make money by trading with it. The whole force, including Indians and sailors. .1 It '7 ; !." • >- y IM lit !'' '. I '( ti I ^Jjte/' i,» "I ' ' i! ii ;i'« I' III' •* i 122 ACADIA CHANGES HANDS. [1704. amounted to about seven hundred men ; they sailed to Matinicus in brigs and sloops, the province galley, and two British frigates. From Matinicus most of the sailing-vessels were sent to Mount Desert to wait orders, while the main body rowed eastward in whale-boats. Touching at Saint-Castin's fort, where the town of Castine now stands, they killed or captured everybody they found there. Receiving false information that there was a large war-party on the west side of Passamaquoddy Bay, they has- tened to the place, reached it in the night, and pushed into the woods in hope of surpxising the enemy. The movement was difficult; and Church's men, being little better than a mob, disregarded his commands, and fell into disorder. He raged and stormed; and presently, in the darkness and confu- sion, descrying a hut or cabin on the farther side of a *3mall brook, with a crowd gathered about it, he demanded what was the matter, and was told that there were Frenchmen inside who would not come out. "Then knock them in the head," shouted the choleric old man; and he was obeyed. It was said that the victims belonged to a party of Canadians captured just before, under a promise of life. After- wards, when Church returned to Boston, there was an outcry of indignation against him for this butch- ery. In any case, however, he could have known nothing of the alleged promise of quarter. To hunt Indians with an endless forest behind them was like chasing shadows. The Acadians 1. dil 1704.] CHURCH AT PORT ROYAL. 123 were sUiCr game. Church sailed with a part of his force up the Bay of Fundy, and landed at Grand Prd, — a place destined to a dismal notoriety half a century later. The inhabitants of tliis and the neighboring settlements made some slight resistance, and killed a lieutenant nam.ed Baker, and one soldier, after which they fled; when Church, first causing the houses to be examined, to make sure that nobody was left in them, ordered them to be set on fire. The dikes were then broken, and the tide let in upon the growing crops. ^ In spite of these hai-sh proceed- ings, he feil far short in his retaliation (or the bar- hiuities at Deerfield, since he restrained his Indians and permitted no woman or child to be hurt, — at the same time telling his prisoners that if any other New England village were treated as Deerfield had been, he would come back with a thousand Indians and leave them free to do what they pleased. With this bluster, he left the unfortunate peasants in the extremity of terror, after carrying off as many of tliem as were needed for purposes of exchange. A small detachment was sent to Beaubassin, where it committed similar havoc. Church now steered for Port Royal, which he had been forbidden to attack. The two frigates and the ^ Church, Entertaining Passages. " Un habitant des Mines a dit que les ennemis avaient ete dans toutes les rivieres, qu'il n'y restait phis que quatre habitations en entier, le restant ayant ete brule." — Exjie'ditions fuites par les Anglois, 1704. " Qu'ils avaient . . . I)rulL' toutes les maisons &, la reserve du haut des rivieres." — Labat, fnvnsion des Anglois, 1704. 1* t ^\A{ •i it l'^ •I ! ' i If ' i ' I ' 1 j 1 1 ' 1 ■ , ! • ! ' ;.^ 1 i > 1 , r << ' I , ill I I 124 ACADIA CHANGES HANDS. [1707 transports had by this time rejoined him, and in spite of Dudley's orders to make no attempt on tlie French fort, the British and provincial olFicers met in council to consider whether to do so. With one voice they decided in the negative, since they IkkI only four liundred men available for landing, while the French garrison was no doubt much stronger, having had ample time to call the inhabitants to its aid. Church, therefore, after trying the virtue of a bombastic sunnnons to surrender, and destroying a few houses, sailed back to Boston. It was a miser- able retaliation for a barbarous outrage; as the guilty were out of reach, the invaders turned their ire on the innocent.^ If Port Royal in French hands was a source of illicit gain to some persons in Boston, it was also an occasion of loss by the privateers and corsairs it sent out to prey on trading and fishing vessels, while at the same time it was a standing menace as the pos- sible naval base for one of those armaments against the New England capital which were often threat- ened, though never carried into effect. Hence, in 1707 the New England colonists made, in their bung- ling way, a serious attempt to get possession of it. Dudley's enemies raised the old cry that at heart 1 On this affair, Thomas Church, Entertaining Passages (171G). Tlie writer was the son of Benjamin Church. Penhallow; Belknap, i. !'()(); Dudleji to ,21 April, 1704; Hutchinson, ii. 132; Deplor- able State of New England ; Entreprise des Anglais sur VAcadie, 1704; Expeditions faifes par les Anglais de la Nouvelle Angleterre, 1701; Labat, Tnvasion des Anglois de Boston, 1704. 1707.] EXPEDITION TO POUT ROYAL. 125 he wished Port Royal to reiiuiiii French, and was only forced by popular clamor to countenance an attack upon it. The cliarge seems a malicious slander. Early in March he proposed the enterprise to the General Court ; and the question being referred to a committee, they reported that a thousand soldiers should be raised, vessels impressed, and her Majesty's frigate "Deptford," with the province galley, em- ployed to convoy them. An Act was passed accord- ingly.^ Two regiments were soon afoot, one uni- formed in red, and the other in blue; one commanded by Colonel Francis Wainwright, and the other by Colonel Winthrop Hilton. Rhode Island sent eighty more men, and New Hampshire sixty, while Con- necticut would do nothing. The expedition sailed on the thirteenth of May, and included one thousand and seventy-six soldiers, with about four hundred and fifty sailors. The soldiers were nearly all volunteers from the rural militia, and their training and discipline were such as they had acquired in the uncouth frolics and plentiful New England rum of the periodical " muster clays." There chanced to be one officer who knew more or less of the work in hand. This was the English engineer Rednap, sent out to look after the fortifications of New York and New England. The commander-in-chief was Colonel John March, of 1 Report of a Committee to consider liia Exrellenry's Speech, 12 ]\farch, 1707. Resolve for an Expedition against Port i»*'" i/ (Massucliusctts Archives). ■! > ;it ^- ; i ' w 1 i :) t 'iff- '4 \ ' '; 4 'i IS " 1 : J 1 1 i \ 1 ' ! I h 1 ;i ' ml I'M 111 i^-: ( / 126 ACADIA CHANGES HANDS. [i7o; Newbury, who had popular qualities, had seen fron- tier service, and was personally brave, but totally unfit for his present position. Most of the oflicers were civilians from country towns, — Ipswich, Tops- field, Lynn, Salem, Dorchester, Taunton, or Wey- mouth.^ In the province galley went, as secretary of the expedition, that intelligent youth, William Dudley, son of the governor. New England has been blamed for not employing trained officers to command her levies ; but with the exception of Rednap, and possibly of Captain Samuel Vetch, there were none in the country, nor were they wanted. In their stubborn and jealous inde- pendence, the sons of the Puritans would have resented their presence. The provincial officers were, without exception, civilians. British regular officers, good, bad, or indifferent, were apt to put on airs of superiority which galled the democratic sus- ceptibilities of the natives, who, rather than endure a standing military force imposed by the mother- country, preferred to suffer if they must, and fight their own battles in their own crude way. Even for irregular warfare they were at a disadvantage; Canadian feudalism developed good partisan leaders, which was rarely the case with New England democ- racy. Colonel John March was a tyro set over a crowd of ploughboys, fishermen, and mechanics, officered by tradesmen, farmers, blacksmiths, village ^ Autobiography of Rev. John Barnard, one of the five chajdains of the expedition. •I I. 1707.] A DISORDERLY CAMP. 127 magnates, and deacons of tlie cliurch, — for the char- acters of deacon and militia officer were often joined in one. These improvised soldiers commonly did well in small numbers, and very ill in large ones. Early in June the expedition sailed into Port Royal Basin, and Lieutenant-Colonel Appleton, with three hundred and fifty men, landed on the north shore, four or five miles below the fort, marched up to the mouth of the Annapolis, and was there met by an ambushed body of French, who, being out- numbered, presently took to their boats and retreated to the fort. Meanwhile, March, with seven hundred and fifty men, landed on the south shore and pushed on to the meadows of Allen's River, which they were crossing in battle array when a fire blazed out upon them from a bushy hill on the farther bank, where about two hundred French lay in ambush under Subercase, the governor. March and his men crossed the stream, and after a skirmish that did little harm to either side, the French gave way. The English then advanced to a hill known as the Lion Rampant, within cannon-shot of the fort, and here began to intrench themselves, stretching their lines right and left towards the Annapolis on the one hand, and Allen's River on the other, so as to form a semicircle before the fort, where all the inhabitants had by this time taken refuge. Soon all was confusion in the New England camp, — the consequence of March's incapacity for a large connnand, and the greenness and ignorance of both 1% !| 1 1 Jl «>. , t \\ :"■ ■^ < if ' > k 1 . i 1; j' i Ml I i ril ^ ■ il II. ; i' ■!i 1 , \i 128 ACADIA CHANGES HANDS. [1707. himself and his subordimitos. There were conflictinrr opinions, wranglings, and dispntes. The men, losing all confidence in their officers, became unmanageable. "The devil was at work among us," writes one of those present. The engineer, Rednap, the only one of them who knew anything of the work in hand, began to mark out the batteries; but he soon lost temper, and declared that "it was not for him to venture his reputation with such ungovernable and undisciplined men and inconstant officers."^ He refused to bring up the cannon, saying that it could not be done under the fire of the fort; and the naval captains were of the same opinion. One of the chaplains. Rev. J^ohn Barnard, being of a martial turn and full of zeal, took it upon him- self to make a plan of the fort ; and to that end, after providing himself with pen, ink, paper, and a horse- pistol, took his seat at a convenient spot; but his task was scarcely begun when it was ended by a cannon-ball that struck the ground beside him, peppered him with gravel, and caused his prompt retreat.''^ French deserters reported that there were five hundred men in the fort, with forty-two heavy can- non, and that four or five hundred more were expected every day. This increased the general bewilderment of the besiegers. There was a council of war. Rednap declared that it would be useless 1 A Boston Gentleman to his Friend, 13 June, 1707 (Mass. Archives). - Autuhiufjraphjj of Rev. John Barnard. 1707.] DISPUTES AND JEALOUSIES. 1-20 to persist; and after hot debate and contradiction, it was resolved to decamp. Throe days after, there was another council, which voted to bring up the cannon and open fire, in spite of Rednap and the naval captains; but in the next evening a third council resolved again to raise the siege as hopeless. This disgusted the rank and file, who were a little soothed by an order to destroy the storehouse and other buildings outside the fort; and, ill led as they were, they did the work thoroughly. "Never did men act more boldly," says the witness before quoted; "they threatened the enemy to his nose, and would have taken the fort if the officers had shown any spirit. They found it hard to bring them off. At the end we broke up with the confusion of Babel, and went about our business like fools. "^ The baffled invaders sailed crestfallen to Casco Bay, and a vessel was sent to carry news of the mis- carriage to Dudley, who, vexed and incensed, ordered another attempt. March was in a state of helpless indecision, increased by a bad cold ; but the governor would not recall him, and chose instead the lament- able expedient of sending three members of the provincial council to advise and direct him. Two of them had commissions in the militia; the third, John Leverett, was a learned bachelor of divinity, formerly a tutor in Harvard College, and soon after 1 A Boston Gentleman to his Friend, IP> June (old style), 1707. The final attack here alluded to took place on tlie night of the sixteenth of June (new style). VOL. I. — n ' " » m S\ y i. a! ! ii ■ \ m 11 r I i:l ti . n V. i ' !! ;: I ■I , I'V n 130 ACADIA CHANGES HANDS. [v^: its president, — capable, no doubt, of preaching Cal- vinistic sermons to tlie students, but totally unlit to connnand men or conduct a siege. Young William Dud] 'y was writing meanwliile td his father how jealousies and quarrels were rit'o among the oiHcers, how their conduct bred disorder and desertion among the soldiers, and how Colonel Marcli and others I^ehaved as if they had nothing io do but make themselves p(.)pular.i Many of the otllicers seem, in fact, to have been small politicians in sc'irch of notoriety, with an eye to votes or appointments. Captain Stuckley, of the British frigate, wrote to tlie governor in great discontent about tiie "nonsensical malice" of Lieutenant- Colonel Appleton, and adds, "I don't see what goo(l I can do by lying here, where I am almost murdered by mosquitoes. " ^ The three commissioners came at last, with a rein- forcement of another frigate and a hundred recruits, which did not supply losses, as the soldiers had deserted by scores. In great ill-humor, the expedi- tion sailed back to Port Royal, where it was found that reinforcements had also reached the French, including a strongly manned privateer from Mar- tinique. The New England mei' landed, and ihere was some sharp skirmishing in an orchard. Chaplain Barnard took part in the fray. " A shot brushed my wig," he says, "but I was mercifully preserved. ^ William Dudlcji to Governor Dudley, 24 June, 1707. * Stutkletj to Dudley, 28 June, 1707. ir(),Vl709.] NEWFOUNDLAND. 131 Wo soon drove them out of the orchard, killed a few of tliciii, desperately wounded the privateer captain, ;tii(l after tliat we all embarked and returned to Boston as fast as we could." This summary state- HU'iit is imperfect, for there was a good deal of skir- iiiisiiing from the thirteenth August to the twentieth, wiit'ii the invaders sailed for home. March was hooted as he walked Boston streets, and children ran after him crying, "Woodei! sword!" There was an iittenipt at a court-martial ; but so many officers were accused., on one ground or another, that hardly enough were left to try them, and the matter was dropped. Widi one remarkable exception, the New England militia reaped scant laurels on their various expedi- tions eastward; but of all their shortcomings, this was the most discreditable.^ Meanwhile events worthy of note were passing in Newfoundland. That island was divided between the two conflicting powers, — the chief station of the French being at Placentia, and that of the English at St. John. In January, 1705, Subercase, who soon 1 A considerable number of letters and official papers on this expedition will be found in the Gist and 71st voli' iies of the Massa- cliusctts Archives. See also Hutchinson, ii. 151, and IJelknap, i. 'J":J. Tlie curious narrative of the chaplain, Barnard, is in Afass. Hist. Coll., 3d Series, v. 189-190. The account in the Deplorable State of New England is meant solely to injure Dudley. The chief Kroncli accounts are Entreprise des Anglois cuntre rAradie, 26 Juin, 170"; Siiliercase au Ministre, mcme date; Lahat au }finistre,€) Juillet, 1707 ; Relation appended to Diereville, Voi/age de I'Ac.adie. The last is oxtromely loose and fanciful. Subercase puts the English force at tbrit' thousand men, whereas the official returns show it to have lieeii, soldiers and sailors, about half this number. t ,1 %. i^ ) El \ \ ' ll i ; ■ 1 1 1 i !|ii I '/ 132 ACADIA CIIAN(iKS HANDS. [17UH-17()[). after became ^-overnor of Acjuliii, nmrclied with four liundred Jiiid lifty soldiers, Cjuiiidiaiis, " and Inic- eaiieers, aided by a band of Indians, against St. John, — a lishing-viUage defended by two forts, tliu smaller, known as the castle, lield by twelve nicii, and the larg< r, called Kort William, by forty iiifii under Captain Moody. The latter was attacked hy the French, who were beaten (jff; on which tliey burned the unprotected houses and fishing-huts with a brutality equal to that of Church in Acadia, and followed up the exploit by destroying the hamlet at Ferryland and all the defenceless hovels and fish- stages along the shore towards Trinity Bay and Honavista. ^ B'our years later, the Sieur de Saint-Ovide, a nephew of IJrouillan, late governor at Port Royal, struck a more creditable blow, lie set out from Plu- centia on the thirteenth of December, 1708, with one hundred and sixty-four men, and on the first of January approached Fort William two hours before day, found the gate leading to the covered way open, entered with a band of volunteers, rapidly crossed the ditch, planted ladders against the wall, and leaped into the fort, then, as he declares, garrisoned by a hundred men. His main body followed close. The English were taken unawares ; their commander, 1 Penhallow puts the French force at five hundred and fifty. Jeremiah Dumraer, Letter to a Noble Lord conrerninrj the late Expedi- tion to Canada, says tliat the liavoc committed occasioned a total loss of £80,000. 1708-1700.] SAMi'KF. vr/rcir. 133 ulio showed j]freiit coiiniL,^o, was struck down l)y threo shots, and after some sliarp iit,ditini^ tlie phice was in tlie hands of tlie assailants. Tlie small fort ill the mouth of the liarhor capitulated on the second (lay, and the palisaded village of the inhabitants, which, if we are to hclieve Saint-Ovide, contained ucarl}' six hundrcMl men, made little resistance. St. John became for the moment a French possession; l)ut Costebelle, governor at Placentia, despaired of holding it, and it was abandoned in the following summer.^ About this time a scheme was formed for the permanent riddance of New England from war- paities by the conquest of Canada. ^ The prime mover in it was Samuel Vetch, whom we have seen as an emissary to Quebec for the exchange of prison- ers, and filso as one of the notables fined for illicit trade with the French. He came of a respectable Scotch family. His grandfather, his father, three of his uncles, and one of his brothers were Covenanting ministers, who had suffered some pei-secution under Charles II. He himself was destined for the minis- try; but his inclinations being in no way clerical, he 1 Snlnt-Ovlde an ^finlsfre, 20 Janvier, 1700; Ihid., Septevihre, 1700; Rapport de Costebelle, H) Ftfvrier, 1700. Costebelle makes the Fri'iK'h force one hundred and seventy-five. 2 Some of tlie French officials in Acadia foresaw aggressive action on the part of the English in consequence of the massacre at Haverhill. " Le coup que les Canadiens viennent de faire, oil Mars, plus feroce qu'en Europe, a donnc carriere a sa rage, me fait approliender une reprcsaille." — De Goutin an Ministre, 29 D€cemhre, 1708. ^tl!i ' ■; ii-ik ■■w \ ti ! f t I I « i;|J ' ' ! f i : J. ;! i '* H ' I,. 134 ACADIA CIIANfncS HANDS. L17US-170n. aiid his l)r()tlie!' William <^ot connnissions in the iirmy, sind took an active i)art iu the war that ciided with tho I'oaccf of llyswi(dv. In tlio next year the two In-others sailed for the Isthmus of Panama as captains in the hand of ndvcii- turei-s end)arked in the disastrous enterpiise known as the Daricn Scheme. William Vetcii died at sen, and Samuel repaired to New York, where he maniid a daugliter of Jlohert Livingston, one of the cIiiLf men of tho colony, and enga^ifed largely in the Canadian trade. From New Vork ho went to Hoston, where we find him when the War of the Spanish Successicm begJin. During his several visits to Canada he had carefully studied the St. Lawrence and its shores, and hoasted that he knew them hotter than tho Canadians themselves.^ He was impetuous, sanguine, energetic, and headstrong, astute withal, and full of ambition. A more vigorous agent for the execution of tho proposed plan of conquest could not have been desired. The General Court of Massachusetts, contrary to its instinct and its past practice, resolved, in view of the greatness of the stake, to ask this time for help from the mother- country, and Vetcli sailed for England, bearing an address to the Queen, begging for an armament to aid in the reduction of Canada and Acadia. The scheme waxed broader yet in the ardent brain of the agent; ^ VattoTson, Memoir of Hon. Samuel Vetch, in Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society, iv. Compare a paper hy General James Grant Wilson in International Review, November, 1881. ■, 1. 1 1700.] SAMUKI. VKTCri. 135 lie jdoposod to add Ncwfouiidliiiid to the other con- (iiu'sts, and wlioii all was done in tlio North, to sail to till! (Jnlf of Mexico and wrest Pensaeola fnnn tho Spiiiiianls; hy which means, he writes, "Her Majesty sliall he sole eni[)resa of tiie vast North American continent." The idea was less visionary than it seems. Energy, heli)ed hy reasonahle good luck, ini,t,^lit easily have made it a reality, so far as con- (•(riii'd the possessions of France. 'I'Ik! conrt granted all that V^etch as ced. On the clcvi'iilh of March he sailed for Ame'ica, fully em- powered to carry his plans into execution, and with the assurance that when Canada was conquered, he should he its governor. A squadron bearing five regiments of regular troops was promised. The colonies were to muster their forces in all haste. New York was directed to furnish eight hundred men; New Jei'sey, two hundred; Pennsylvania, one hundred and fifty; and Connecticut, three hundred and fifty, — the whole to he at Albany by the middle of May, and to advance on Montreal by way of AVood Creek and Lake Champlain, as soon as they should hear that the squadron had reached Boston. Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island were to furnish twelve hundred men, to join the regulars in attacking Quebec by way of the St. Lawrence.^ 1 Instructions to Colonel Vetch, 1 March, 1709 ; The Earl of Sunder- liiud to Ditdlci/, 28 April, 1709 ; The Queen to Lord Lovelace, 1 March, 1701) ; The Earl of Sunderland to Lord Lovelace, 28 April, 1709. .i ' ■ 1 1 ! , 1 V 1 i 1 1 I 4 i\ M ) '. ' t. I !' if ti I i ir-i ! I (,' !■ ( I ;( J!? I » .' 136 ACADIA CHANGES IIAXDS. [1700. Vetch sailed from Portsmouth in the ship " Dragon/' accompanied l)y Colonel Francis Nicholson, late lieutenant-governor of New York, who was to take an important part in the enterprise. The squadron with the five regiments was to follow without delay. The weather was had, and the "Dragon," heating for five weeks against headwinds, did not enter Boston harbor till the evening of the twenty-eighth of Ai)ril. Vetch, cliJifing witli impatience, for every moment was precious, sent off expresses that same night to carry the Queen's letters to the governors of Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Dudley and his council met the next morning, and to them Vetch delivered the royal message, which was re- ceived, he says, "with the dutiful obedience becom- ing good subjects, and all the marks of joy and thankfulness.'"^ Vetch, Nicholson, and the Massa- chusetts authorities quickly arranged their plans. An embargo was laid on the shipping ; provision was made for raising men and supplies and providing transportation. When all was in train, the two emissaries hired a sloop for New York, and touching by the way at Rhode Island, found it in the throes of the annual election of governor. Yet every war- like preparation was already made, and Vetch and his companion sailed at once for New Haven to meet Saltonstall, the newly elected governor of Connecti- ^ Journal of Vetch and Nicholson (Public Record Office). This is in the form of a letter, signed by both, and dated at New York, 29 June, 1709. n ^ ' 1700.] A GRAND ENTERPRISE. -[^1 cut. Here too, all was ready, and the envoys, well pleased, continued their voyage to New York, which they reached on the eightee ith of May. The gover- nor, Lord Lovelace, had lately died, and Colonel In- croldsby, the lieutenant-governor, acted in his place. Tlie Assembly was in session, and being summoned to the council-chamber, the memljei's were addressed l)y Vetch and Nicholson with excellent effect. In accepting the plan of conquest. New York completely changed front. She had thus far stood neutral, leaving her neighboivs to defend themselves, and carrying on an active trade with the French and their red allies. Still, it was her interest that Canada should become English, thus throwing open to her the trade of the Western tribes; and the promises of aid from England made the prospects of the campaign so flattering that she threw herself into the enterprise, though not without voices of protest, — for while the frontier farmers and some prominent citizens like Peter Schuyler thought that the time for action had come, the Albany traders and their allies, who fattened on Canadian beaver, were still for peace at any price. ^ With Pennsylvania and New Jersey the case was different. The one, controlled by non-combatant Quakers and safe from French war-parties, refused all aid; while the other, in less degree under the same military blight, would give no men, though granting a slow and reluctant contribution of .£3,000, 1 Thomas Cockerill to Mr. Popple, 2 JhI>/, 1709. r 411 1 ; :» : |) ..: 1 I ■■M t! < « ^ i ' 1 j 1 1 1 ■ , j * 1 1 ! t LaJ ' :'l .1^' ■ I ' 1 ! ' I ; 138 ACADIA CHANGES HANDS. [171 ID. taking care to suppress on the record every indication that the money was meant for military uses. New York, on tlie other hand, raised her full contingent, and Massachusetts and New Hampshire somethind on this the Onondagas, excited by rum, plundered and burned tlie Jesuit mission- 1 Joncaire in N. Y. Col, Docs., ix. 838. [ITiift. dicatioii '• New ting'oiit, 1709.] IROQUOIS ALLIES. 139 house and chapeL^ Clearly, the two priests at Onondaga were less hungry for martyrdom than their murdered brethren Jogues, Brdbeuf, Lalemant, and Charles Garnier ; but it is to be remembered that the Canadian Jesuit of the first half of the seventeenth century was before all things an apostle, and his successor of a century later was before all things a political agent. As for the Five Nations, that once haughty con- federacy, in spite of divisions and waverings, had conceived the idea that its true policy lay, not in siding with either of the European rivals, but in milking itself important to both, and courted and caressed by both. While some of the warriors sang the war-song at the prompting of Schuyler, they had been but half-hearted in doing so; and even the Mohawks, nearest neighbors and best friends of the English, sent word to their Canadian kindred, tlie Caughnawagas, that they took up the hatchet only because they could not help it. The attack on Canada by way of the Hudson and Lake Champlain was to have been commanded by Lord Lovelace or some officer of his choice ; but as he was dead, Ingoldsby, his successor in the govern- ment of the province, jointly with the governors of several adjacent colonies who had met at New York, appointed Colonel Nicholson in his stead. ^ Nichol- 1 Marcuil in N. Y. Col. Docs., ix. 830, text and note. Vaudreuil (lu ^flHlsfr>', 14 Novembre, 1709. 2 " If I hud not accepted the command, there would have been if y. ^^P i i ' «' 1 , 1 !■. \ ,1 ! \ } ^ 3 1 it 4i 1^! V ■1 J 1 i n lb ! 1 i 1 1 i I ( i i t i ff-r 140 ACADIA CHANGES HANDS. [17(10. son went to Albany, whence, with about fifteen hini- dretl men, he moved up the Hudson, built a stock- ade fort opposite Saratoga, and another at the spot known as the Great Carrying Place. This latter lie called Fort Nicholson, — a name which it afterwards exclianged for that of Fort Lydius, and later still for that of Fort Edward, which the town that occupies the site owns to this day.^ Thence he cut a rougli roadway through the woods to where Wood Creek, clioked with beaver dams, writhed through flat green meadows, walled in by rock and forest. Here he built a: 'Other fort, which was afterwards rebuilt ami named Fort Anne. Wood Creek led to Lake Cham- plain, and Lake Champlain to Chnvwhly and Montreal, — the objective points of the expedition. All was astir at the camp. Flat-boats and canoes were made, and stores brought up from All)any, till every- thing was ready for an advance tlie moment word should come that the British fleet had reached Boston. Vetch, all impatience, went thither to meet it, as if his presence could hasten its arrival. Reports of Nicholson's march to Wood Creek had reached Canada, and Vaudreuil sent Ramesay, gov- ernor of Montreal, with fifteen hundred troops, Canadians, and Indians, to surprise his camp. Ramesay's fleet of canoes had reached Lake Cham- insuperable difficulties " (arisinpc from provincial jealousies). — Nicholson to Sunderland, 8 Julji, 1700. 1 Forts Nicholson, Lydius, and Edward were not the same, but succeeded each other on the same ground. 1700.] THE FRENCH BAFFLED. 141 plain, and was halfway to the mouth of Wood Creek, when his advance party was discovered by English scouts, and the French commander began to fear that he should be surprised in his turn; in fact, some of his Indians were fired upon from an ambus- cade. All was now doubt, peri)lexity, and confusion. Ramesay landed at the narrows of the lake, a little south of the place now called Crown Point. Here, ill the dense woods, his Indians fired on some Canadians whom they took for English. This was near producing a panic. " Every tree seemed an enemy," writes an officer present. Ramesay hjst himself in the woods, and could not find his army. One Deruisseau, who had gone out as a scout, came back with the report that nine hundred Englishmen were close at hand. Seven English canoes did in fact appear, supported, as the French in their excite- ment imagined, by a numerous though invisible army in the forest; but being fired upon, and seeing that they were entering a hornet's nest, the EngHsh sheered off. Ramesay having at last found his army, and order being gradually restored, a council of war was held, after which the whole force fell back to Chambly, having accomplished nothing.^ ' Me'tnoire siir h Canada, Annee 1709. This paper, which luis heen ascribed to the engineer De Lery, is printed in Collection de Manuscrit.^ relatifs a la Nouvelle France, i. G15 (Quebec, 188.j), printed from the MS. Pan's Documents in the Boston State House. Tlie writer of the Memoire was with Ramesay's expedition. Also Ramesni/ a Vaudreuil, 10 Octolire, 1709, and Vaudrenil an j}finistre, II Xoventbre, 1709. Cliarlevoi.x snys tliat IJamosny turned bacii tr. ii \ '. k l! ' I. :! f ii 1 j . 5 i 1 f 1 ' , i V *'li J 'I'. !'. iM I ii ! , ,H 142 ACADIA CHANGES IIAXDS. [ITUD. Great was the alarm in Canada v/hen it became known that the enemy aimed at nothing less than tlie conquest of the colony. One La Plaine spread ii panic at Quebec by reporting that, forty-five leagiu-s below, he had seen eight or ten ships under sail and heard the sound of cannon. It was afterwards siu- niised that the supposed ships were points of rocks seen through the mist at low tide, and the cannon the floundering of whales at play.* Quebec, how- ever, was all excitement, in expectation of attack. The people of the Lower Town took refuge on the rock above; the men of the neighboring parislies were ordered within the walls ; and the women and children, with the cattle and horses, were sent to hiding-places in the forest. There had been no less consternation at Montreal, caused by exaggerated reports of Iroquois hostility and the movements of Nicholson. It was even proposed to abandon Chambly and Fort Frontenac, and concentrate all available force to defend the heart of the colony. " A most bloody war is imminent," wrote Vaudreuil to the minister, Ponchartrain. Meanwhile, for weeks and months Nicholson's little army lay in the sultry valley of Wood Creek, because he believed that there were five thousand English at Wood Creek; but Ramesay himself makes their number only one thou- sand whites and two hundred Indians. He got his information fron^ two Dutchmen caught just after the alarm near Pointe a la Chevelure (Crown Point). He turned back because he had failed to surprise the English, and also, it seems, because there were di.s- agreements among liis officers. ^ Monseiyneur de Saint-Vallier et PHopital General de Quifbec, 203. /! 1709.] AN INFECTED CAMP. 143 Wiiitiiig those tidings of the arrival of the British s(|Uiidron at Boston which were to be its signal of advance. At length a pestilence broke out. It is said to have been the work of the Iroquois allies, who thought that the French were menaced with ruin, and who, true to their policy of balancing one European power against the other, poisoned the waters of the creek by throwing into it, above the camp, the skins and offal of the animals they had killed in their hunting. The story may have some foundation, though it rests only on the authority of Charlevoix. No contemporary writer mentions it; and Vaudreuil says that the malady was caused by tlie long confinement of the English in their fort. Indeed, a crowd of men, penned up through the heats of midsummer in a palisaded camp, ill-ordered and unclean as the camps of the raw provincials usually were, and infested with pestiferous swarms of flies and mosquitoes, could hardly have remained in health. Whatever its cause, the disease, which seems to have been a malignant dysentery, made more havoc than the musket and the sword. A party of French who came to the spot late in the autunni, found it filled vitli innumerable graves. The British squadron, with the five regiments on board, was to have reached Boston at the middle of May. On the twentieth of that month the whole contingent of Massachusetts, New Hampsliire, and Rhode Island was encamped by Boston harl)or, with transports and stores, ready to embark for Quebec at •| -H. II- m I I 'h i ' ^i 1 ■ 1 1 1 1 !.: 'H ■'I / I: ! : 14.! ACADIA CHANGES HANDS. [1709. ten liours' notice.^ When Votcli, after seeing every- tliing in readiness at New York, returned to Boston on the third of July, he found the New England levies encamped there still, drilled diligently every day by oHicers whom he had brought from Englar.J for tl'o purjosv'-. "The bodies of the m.ni, ' he w^it'b I ) ' d 'under land. ' are in general better than ii. i *!. ;0*, and I hope their courage w^'U prove so too; bj tha! lothing in human probability can prevent the success of this glorious enterprise but the too late arrival of the fleet. "^ But of the fleet there was no sign. " The government here is put to vast expense," pursues Vetch, "but they cheerfully pay it, in hopes of being freed from it forever here- after. All that they can do now is to fast and pray for the safe and speedy arrival of the fleet, for which they have already had two public fast-days kept." If it should not come in time, he continues, "ifc would be the last disappointment to her Majesty's colonies, who have so heartily complied with her royal order, and would render them much more miserable than if such a thing had never beer, under- taken." Time passed, and no ships appeared. Vetch wrote again : " I shall only presume to acquaint your Lordship how vastly uneasy all her Majesty's loyall subjects here on this continent are. Pray God 1 Diid/eij to SnnderJuml, 14 August, 1709, 2 V^etch to Sunderland, 2 August, 1709. The pay of the men was nine shillinj?s a week, with eightpence a day for provisions j and most of them had received an enlistment bounty of .£12, 1709.] DISAPPOINTMKNT. 145 the hasl^en the fleet." ^ Dudley, scarcely less impatient, \note to the same effect. It was all in vain, and the sold'ers remained in th Ir camp, monotonously drilling day rfter day through all the sunnner and half the aii^nmn. At length, on the eleventh of Ocioher, Dudley received a letter from Lord Sunder- land, informing him that the promised forces had been sent to Portugal to meet an exigency of the European war. They were to have reached Boston as we have seen, by the middle of May. Sundei land's notice of the change of destination was - •<■ written till the twenty-seventh of July, and eleven weeks on its way, thus imposing on colonists a heavy and needless tax in time, m >;■, temper, and, in the case of the expedition against Montreal, health and life.^ What was left of Nicholson's force had fallen back before Sunderland's letter came, making a scapegoat of the innocent Vetch, cursing him, and wishing him hanged. In New England the disappointment and vexation were extreme ; but, not to lose all the fruits of their efforts, the governors of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island met and resolved to attack Port Royal if the captains of several British frigates then at New York and Boston would take part in the enterprise. To the disgust of the pro- vincials, the captains, with one exception, refused, * Vetch to Sunderland, 12 August, 1709. Dudley writes with equal urgency two days later. 2 Letters of Nicholson, Dudley, and Vctcli, 20Jii)ie to 24 October, 1709. VOL. I. — 10 1 i'l . ) ] V -';■ ^■ ! !■■ I 1 ! am il' ' I 146 ACADIA ( IIANCKS HANDS. [1710. on the scoro of the lute season and tlio Wiint of orders. A tenacious energy has always lx;en a character- istic of New England, and the hoi)es of the colonists had heen raised too high to he readily ahaiidomd. Port Floyal was in their eyes a pestilent nest of priva- teers and i)irates that [)reyed on the New Engliind fisheries; and on tiie refusal of the naval connnandcis to join in an innnediatc attack, they offered to llic court to hesiege the place themselves next year, it' they could count on the help of four frigates and five hundred s' Idiers, to beat Boston by the end of March. 1 The Assenildy of Massachusetts requested Nicholson, who was on the point of sailing for Europe, to beg her Majesty to help them in an enter- prise which would be so advantageous to the Crown, "and which, by the long and expensive war, we are so impoverished and enfeebled as not to be in a capacity to effect." ^ Nicholson sailed in December, and Peter Schuyler soon followed. New York, having once entered uii ^ JutJit fAtter of Nic/iolsoti, Diulli'ii, Vetch, and Moody to Sunder- land,'?* October, 170!); ulso Joint Letter u/' Dudlei/, Vetch, and Moudij to Sunderland, :i5 October, 170*.); Abstracts of Letters and Papers rclnt- inij to the Attack of Port Royal, 1701) (Public Record Office) ; Addres.^ of i/e Inhabitants of Boston and Parts adjacent, 1709. Moody, niUiiiHl al)ove, was the British naval captain who liad consented to attack I'ort Uoyal. ^ Order of Assembly, 2,1 October, 1709. Massachusetts had spent about £22,000 on lier futile expedition of 1707, and, with New Ilanipshire and Rliode Island, a little more than .£4(5,000 on that of 1701), besides continual outlay in guarding her two iiundred miles of frontier, — a heavy expense for the place and time. I' f m 1710.] A NKW SCIIKMK. 147 the pcatli of war, saw that slie must coiitiime in it; iiiul to impress the Five Nations with the might and iiuijesty of tlie (^ueen, and so dispose tliem to hold fust to the liritisli canse, Sclinyh;r took five Mohawk cliicfs with liim to Enghuid. One died on tlie voy- age; the rest arrived sa'" , and their ai)pearance was tlie sensation of the hour. They were clad, at the Queen's expense, in strange and gay attire, invented by the costunier of one of the theatres ; were lodged uiid feasted as the guests of the nation, driven about London in coaches with liveried servants, conducted to dockyards, arsenals, and reviews, and saluted with cannon by ships of war. The Duke of Shrewsbuiy presentcnl them to Queen Anne, — one as emperor of tlie Mohawks, and the other three as kings, — and tlie Archbisho}i of Canterbury solennily gave each of them a Bible. Steele and Addison wrote essays about them, and the Dutch artist Verelst painted their por- traits, which were engraved in mezzotint.^ Their presence and the speech made in their name before tlie court seem to have had no small effect in draw- ing attention to the war in America and inclining the ministry towards the proposals of Nicholson. These were accepted, and he sailed for America commis- 1 See J. R. Bartlett, in Ma(i niandcd hi/ i he Right Hon^'' The Lord Viscount Shannon, as they ir,re Kndiark''^ the 14** of October, 1710. Tlie total was three thousaiul two liun>lre(l and sixty-five officers and men. Also, Shannon to Sunderland, 1<'> October, 1710. The absurdity of the attoinpt at so late a season is ()l)vious. Yet the fleet lay some weeks inoro at Portsmouth, waiting for a fair wind. If \ ,i1 I I 4 - T j \ / II it !>.i ), h r f I I' I i: 11 ;i!jl <». ] ..' -.iW'it M'lijiii '-i- I !l ■s 1 150 ACADIA CIIANGP:S HANDS. [1710. day appeared a proclamation from the governor aniioiiiicing the aforesaid "encouragements," calHnjr on last year's soldiers to enlist again, promising tluit all should return home as soon as Port Royal was taken, and that each nn'ght keep as his own forevor the Queen's musket that would be furnished him. Now came an order to colonels of militia to nnister their regiments on a day named, read tlie proclama- tion at the head of each company, and if volunteeis did not come forward in sufficient number, to draft as many men as might be wanted, api)ointing, at the same time, officers to conduct tliem to the rendezvous at Dorchester or Cambridge ; and, by a stringent and unusual enactment, the House ordered that tliey should be quartered in private houses, with or witli- out the consent of the owners, "any law or usage to the contrary notwithstanding." Sailors were im- pressed without ceremony to man the transports; and, finally, it was voted that a pipe of wine, twenty sheep, five pigs, and one Innidred fowls be presented to the Honorable General Nicholson for his table during the expedition. ^ The above, with slight variation, ma}* serve as ar example of the manner in which, for several generations, men were raised in Massachusetts to serve against the French. Autumn had begun before all was ready. Con- necticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island sent their contingents; there was a dinner at the Green 1 Archives of Massachusetls, vol. Ixxi., vvliere the original papers are preserved. 1710.] THE ENGLISH AT PORT ROYAL. 151 Dragon Tavern in lionor of Nicholson, Vetch, and Sir Charles Iiol)])y, the chief oflicers of the expedi- tion; and on the eighteenth of September the whole put to sea. On the twenty-fourtli the sqnadron sailed into the iiiirrow entrance of Port Royal, where the tide runs like a mill-stream. One vessel was driven u})on the rocks, and twenty-six men were drowned. The others got in safely, and anchored above Goat Island, in siglit of the French fort. Tliey consisted of tliree fourth-rates, — the "Dragon," the "Chester," and the " Falmouth; " two fifth-rates,— the " Lowestolfe " iuid the "Feversham;" the province galley, one bomb-ketch, twenty-four small transports, two or three hospital ships, a tender, and several sloops carrying timber to make l)eds for cannon and mortars. The landing force consisted of four hundred British marines, and about fifteen hundred provincials, divided into four battalions. ^ Its unnecessary num- bers were due to the belief of Nicholson that the fort had been reinforced and strengthened. In the afternoon of the twenty-fifth they were all on shore, — Vetch witli his two battalions on the north side, and Nichrlson with the other two on the soutli. Vetch marched to his camping-ground, on which, in the words of Nicliolson's journal, "the 1 Nicholson and Vetch to the Secretari/ of State, 10 September, 1710; Ilutfhinson, ii. 1()4 ; Penliallow. Massachusetts sent two battalions of four liundri'il and fifty men eaeh, ami Connecticut one battalion of three inuidre(l men, wnile New IIam])shire ;uid Rhode Island united their contingents to form a fourth battalion. 1 i' i i' i ' i •| 1 J ■\ 1 ( i ! it • III 'n m I ;i ■ 152 ACADIA CIIANCiES HANDS. [1710. French began to fire pretty thick." On the next morning Nicholson's men moved towards the fort, hacking their way throngh the woods and crossinir the marshes of Allen's River, while the French fired briskly with cannon from the ramparts, and small- arms frvjm the woods, houses, and fences. Tliey were driven back, and the English advance guard intrenched itself within four hundred yards of the works. Several days passed in landing artillery and stores, cannonading from the fort and shelling frnni the English bomb -ketch, when on the twenty-ninth, Ensign Perelle, with a drummer and a flag of truce, came to Nicholson's tent, bringing a letter from Subercase, who begged him to receive into his camp and under his pi'otection certain ladies of the fort who were distressed by the bursting of the English shells. The conduct of Perelle was irregular, as he had not given notice of his approach by beat of drum and got himself and attendants blindfolded before entering the camp. Therefore Nicholson detained him, sending back an officer of his own with a letter to the effect that he would receive the ladies and lodge them in the same house with the French ensign, "" for the queen, my royal mistress, hath not sent me hither to make war against women." Suber- case on his part detained the English officer, and wrote to Nicholson, — Sir, — You have one of my oflGcers, and I have one of yours; so that now we are equal. However, that hinders me not from believing that once you have given me your 1710.] PORT ROYAL SIJADIOXED. 153 word, you will keep it very exactly. On that ground I now write to tell yon, sir, that to prevent the spilling of both English and French bhjod, I am ready to hold up both hands for a capitulation that will be honorable to both of us.^ Ill view of which agreement, he adds chat he defers sending the ladies to the English camp. Another day passed, during which the captive officers on both sides were treated with much courtesy. On the next morning, Sunday, October 1, the siege- guns, mortars, and coehorns were in position; and after some firing on both side«, Nicholson sent Colonel Tailor and Captain Abercrombie with a sum- mons to surrender the fort. Subercase replied that he was ready to listen to proposals ; the firing stopped, and within twenty-four hours the terms were settled. The garrison were to march out with the honors of war, and to be carried in English ships to Rochelle or Rochefort. The inhabitants within three miles of the fort were to be permitted to remain, if they chose to do so, unmolested, in their homes during two years, on taking an oath of allegiance and fidelity to the Queen. Two hundred provincials marched to the fort gate and formed in two lines on the right and left. Nicholson advanced between the ranks, with Vetch on one haiid and Hobby on the other, followed by all ^ The contemporary Enjrlish translation of this letter is printed among the papers appendocl to Nicholson's Journal in Collections of the Nova. Scotia Historical Society, i. I ' » H h I I i 1^ \<*i I I 'I fl] i' I' 154 ACADIA CHANGES HANDS. [1710. tho field-officers. Subercase came to meet them, and gave up tlie keys, with a few words of compliment. The French officers and men marched out with sliouldered arms, drums heating, and colors flying, saluting tlie English commander as they passed; tlion the l^^nglish troops marched in, raised the union (lag, and drank tho Queen's health amid a genend liring of cannon from the fort and ships. Nicholson changed tlie name of Port Royal to Annapolis Koyal; and Vetch, already commissioned as governor, took connnand of the new garrison, which consisted of two hundred Britisii marines, and two hundred and fifty provincials who had offered themselves for the service. Tho English officers gave a breakfast to the French hidies in the fort. Sir Charles I lobby toolc in Madame de Bf)naventure, and the rest followed in due order of precedence; but as few of the hosts coukl speak French, and few of tlie guests could speak English, the entertainment could hardly have been a lively one. The French officers and men in the fort when it was taken were l)ut two hundred and fifty-eiglit. Some of the soldiers and many of the armed inluih- itants deserted during the siege, which, no doul)t, hasiened the surrender; for Subercase, a veteran of more than thirty yeai's' service, had l)orne fair repute as a soldier. Port lioyal had twice before been taken by New England men. — once under Major Sedgwick in 1004, /' h 4i 17in.] CAPTURE OF PORT ROY'AL. 155 unci again under Sir William Phips in the last war; and in each case it had !)een restored to France by treaty. This time England kept what she had got; and as there was no other place of strength in the province, the capture of Port Royal meant the con- quest of Acadia.^ • [n a letter to Poncliartrain, 1 October, 1710 (new style), Suber- ciisc declares that he has not a sou left, nor any credit. " I have luiinagod to borrow enouj^h to maintain the garrison for the last two years, and have paid what I could by selling all my furniture." t'liarlevoix's account of the siege has been followed by most writers, both French and English ; but it is extremely incorrect. It was answered by one De Gannes, apparently an officer under Subercase, in a paper called Observations snr les Erreurs de la Relation du Siege (/)( Port Roijai . . . faittes siir de faux me'inoires par le re'v&end Pcre Charlevoix, whom De Gannes often contradicts flatly. Thus Charle- voix puts the besieging force at thirty-four hundred men, besides (ifflcers and sailors, v/hile De Gannes puts it at fourteen hundred ; anil while Charlevoix says that the garrison were famishing, his iritic says that they were provisioned for three months. See the valuable notes to Shea's Charlevoix, v. 227-232. The journal of Nicliolson was published "by authority" in tlie Buaton News Letter, November, 1710, and has been reprinted, with numerous accompanying documents, including the French and Kuf^lisli correspondence during the siege, in the Collections of the Xora Scotia Historical Society, i. V^aiidreuil, before the siege, sent a reinforcement to Subercase .viu), by a strange infatuation, refused it. N, Y. Col. Docs., ix. 8'" 1! I i 1 1 ! ! 1 i 1 .^_1 Kli \ m tj n ii irf!'' f ' CHAPTER VIII. 1710, 1711. WALKER'S EXPEDITION. Scheme or La Ro\dk T)i;nys. — Boston warned aoainst IBrit- ISH I)ESI<;NS. — liosTON TO HE RUINED. — PlANS OF THE MlN- ISTUV. — Canada doomed. — British Troops at Boston.— The Colonists denounced. — The Fleet saius for Quk.hkc. — FoREnODINCS OF THE AdMIRAL. — StORM AND WuECK.— Timid Commanders. — Uetreat. — Joyful News for Cawdv. — Pious Exultation. — Fanciful Stories, — Walker Dis- graced. iviiLlTAUY iii:l from Old England to New, promised in one year and aotually given in the next, was a fact too novel and surprising to escape the notice either of friends or of foes. The latter di'ew strange conclusions from it. Two Irish deserters from an English station in Newfound- land appeared at the French post of Placentia full of stories of British and provincial armaments against Canada. On this, an idea seized the French com- mandant, Costebelle, and he hastened to make it known to the colonial minister. It was to the effect that the aim of England was not so much to conquer the French colonies as to reduce her own to suhniis- sion, especially Massachusetts, — a kind of republic i\ ni S»^«w' \i\ 1710,1711.] SCHEME OF COSTEBEI>LE. 157 which has never willingly accepted a governor f"oni its king.^ In sending ships and soldiers to the "Hastonnais" under pretence of helping them to conquer their French neighhors, Costehelle is sure tliat England only means to bring them to a dutiful subjection. "I do not think," he writes on another oecasion, "that they are so blind as not to see that tliey will insensibly ])e brought under the yoke of the Piirliament of Old England; but by the cruelties tluit the Canadians and Indians exercise in continual incursions upon their lands, I judge that they would rather be dc^livered from the inhumanity of such iieighl)ors than preserve all the former powers of their litth; republic." 2 f£g thinks, however, that the design of England ought to be strongly rej-s' nted to the Council at Boston, and that M. de la Roiide Denj's will be a good man to do it, as he speaks English, has lived in Boston, and has many acquaint- ances the re. ^ fll ti 1 1 Rapport de Costebelle, 14 Octobre, 1700. /hi,!.. :', Deccmhre, 1709. 2 "Je ne Ics crois pas asscz aveugles pour nt- point s'aporoevoir (lu'insensil)leiiient ils vont subir le jouj; du parleinent de la vieille Anyk'tcrre, niais par Ics oruautos que les Catiadieiis el sauvages (XiTccnt sur leiirs torros par des courses continuidlcs jc jutrc qu'ils iiimcnt encore mieux se delivrer de ri^vhunianitc de si'Uiblables voisins que de conscrver toute rancienne autorito d • leur petite ropubliquc." — CosteMIe an Ministre, .*> Dvcrmhre, 1710. He clung tenaciously to this idea, and wrote asjain in 1712 tliat " Ics cruautcs lie nos sauvages,qui font borreur a rapportt-r," would always incline tlie New England people to peace. They had, however, an opposite I'tTcct. ^ It is more than probable that La Honde Denys, who had studied the " Bastonnais " with care, first gave the idea to Costebelle. )•; ' 1^ I-' ' • I 158 WALKER'S EXPEDITION. [1710. The minister, Poncliartniin, was struck by Coste- belle's suggestion, and wrote both to him and to Vaudreuil in higli approval of it. To Vaudreuil ho says : " Monsieur de Costebelle has informed me tlmt the chief object of the armament made by the Englisli hist year was to estabhsh their sovereignty at lioston and New York, the people of these provinces having always maintained a sort oi republic, governed by their council, and having been unwilling to receive absolute governors from the kings of England. This destination of the armament seems to me probable, and it is much to be wished that the Council at Boston could be informed of the designs of the English court, and shown how important it is for that province to remain in the state of a repul)lio. The King would even approve our helping it to do so. If you see any prospect of success, no meiuis should be spared to secure it. The matter is of tlie greatest importance, but care is essential to employ persons who have the talents necessary for conduct- ing it, besides great secrecy and prudence, as well as tried probity and fidelity. This affair demands your ])est attention, and must be conducted with great care and precaution, in order that no false step may be taken. "1 Ponchai train could not be supposed to know that while under her old charter Massachusetts, called by 1 Ponchartrain a Vaudreuil, 10 Aout, 1710. Ponchartrain a Costebelle, meme date. These letters are in answer to the reports of Costebelle, before cited. ! I! ■10.] MISSION OF LA RONDE DKNYS. 159 liini and other Froiiehiiicii the government of Boston, luul chosen her own governor, New York had always received hers from the court. Wliat is most curious ill this af^fair is the attitude of Louis XIV., who iihliorred repuhlics, and yet was [)repared to bolster ii[) one or more of them beyond the Atlantic, — thinking, no doubt, tliat they would be too small iUid remote to be dangerous. Costebelle, who had suggested the plan of warning tlie Council at Boston, proceeded to unfold his scheme for executing it. This was to send La Honde Denys to Boston in the spring, under the pre- text of treating for an exchange of prisoners, which would give him an opportunity of insinuating to the colonists that the forces which the Queen of England sends to join their own for the conquest of Acadia and Canada have no object whatever but that of ravishing from them the liberties they liave kept so tinnly and so long, but which would be near ruin if tlie Queen should become mistress of New France by tlie fortune of war; and that either they must have sadly fallen from their ancient spirit, or their chiefs have been corru])ted by tlie Court of London, if they do not see that they are using their own weapons for the destruction of their republic.^ La Ronde Denys accordingly received his instruc- tions, which authorized him to negotiate with the " Bastonnais " as with an independent people, and offer them complete exemption from French hostility 1 Costebelle it Poncltartraiu, <^ De'cembre, 1710, 11 i 'I IHv ^ ( I !r * ; I'.l ' yil;i r' m ' , H 11' iili !' '■'^ii;i 'I • ! 1()0 WALKKRS KXl'KDITIUN. [1710. if they would i)r()inist' to give no more aid to Old England either in shi[)H or men. lie was told at tlie same time to ai)pi'oach the subject with great caution, and unless ho found willing listeners, to pass off tiie whole as a pleasantry.* Ho went to Boston, wiiere he was detained in consecpUMice of pre[)arations tiicii on foot for attacking Canada. lie died to escape; but his vessel was seized and moored under the gnns of the town, and it is needless to say that his mission was a failuie. Tlie idea of Costebelle, or rather of La Ronde, — for it pi'obably originated with him, — was not with- out foundation; for thougii there is no reason tu believe that in sending ships and soldiers against the French, England meant to use them against tlie liberties of her own colonies, there can be no doubt that she thought those liberties excessive and trouble- some; and, on the other side, while the people of Massachusetts were still fondly attached to the land of their fathers, and still called it "Home," they were at the same time enamoured of their autonomy, and jealously watchful against any abridgment of it. While La Uonde Denys was warning Massachusetts of the danger of helping England to conquer Canada, ^ Instntcfion pour Afousirur de la Ronde, Capitalne d'Infanterie des Detarhemenfs df la Afarhie, 1711. " Le (lit sicur do la Ronde pourroit entrer en nefi;ociation et se promettre de faire cesser toutes sortcs d'hostilitos dii cote du Canada, suppose que les Bastonnais pro- mlssent d'en faire de nieme de leur cote, et qu'ils ne donassent aucnn secours a I'avenir, d'hommes ni de vaisseaux, aux puissances de In vieille Angleterre et d'Kcosse." 17U».] BOSTON TO BE UlirNED. IGl anotlier Frencliman, in a more prophetic spirit, declared that England would make a grave mistake if she helped her colonies to the same end. "There is an antipathy," this writer animus, "between the i'^iiglish of Europe and those of America, who will not endure troops from Fogland even to guard their torts;" and he goes on io say that if the French onlonies should fall, those of England would con- trol the continent from Newfoundland to Florida. "Old England" — such are his words — "will not imagine that these various provinces will then unite, sliiike off the yoke of the English monarchy, and erect themselves into a democracy."^ Forty or fifty years later, several Frenchmen made the same pre- diction; but at this early day, when the British provinces were so feeble and divided, it is truly a remarkable one. The anonymous prophet regards the colonies of England, Massachusetts above oil, as a standing menace to those of France ; and he proposes a drastic remedy against the danger. This is a powerful attack on Boston by land and sea, for which he hopes that God will prepare the way. "When Boston is reduced, we would call together all the chief men of the other towns of New England, \vlio would pay heavy sums to be spared from the flames. As for Boston, it should be pillaged, its workshops, ^ "La vieille Angleterre ne s'imaginera pas que ces diverses iTovinccs se rcuniront, et, secouant lo joug de la nionarchie An- ^Maise, s'erigeront en democratie." — Me'moire sur la Nouvelle Angleterre, 1710, 1711. (Archives de la Marine,) vol,. I. — 11 t 'J h li II., I t I ^. ^ .^r^ >, ^-r^^. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) k^. F.^ :/- K. ^ 1.0 1.1 |50 IL25 i 1.4 1^ !££ |22 1 2.0 III 1.6 6" <^ ^> Hiotographic Sciences Corporation 33 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4S03 r<; ^^ i\ ^\ ^ ) ■i.ii ; I' ! ,: ■ \ 162 WALKER'S EXPEDITION. [1710, 1711. manufactures, shipyards, all its fine establishments ruined, and its ships sunk." If these gentle nieiiiis are used thoroughly, he thinks that New EnglmiJ will cease to be a dangerous rival for some time, especially if " Rhodelene " (Rhode Island) is treated like Boston.^ While the correspondent of the French court was thus consigning New England to destruction, an attack was preparing against Canada less truculent but quite as formidable as that which he urged against Boston. The French colony was threatened by an armament stronger in proportion to her present means of defence than that which brought hor under British rule half a century later. But here all com- parison ceases; for there was no Pitt to direct and inspire, and no Wolfe to lead. The letters of Dudley, the proposals of Vetch, the representations of Nicholson, the promptings of Jeremiah Dummer, agent of Massachusetts in Eng- land, and the speech made to the Queen by the four Indians who had been the London sensation of the last year, had all helped to draw the attention of the ?i. 1 "Pour Baston, il faudrait la piller, ruiner ses ateliers, ses manufactures, tous ses beaux ctablissenienta, coaler bas ses navires, . . . ruiner los ateliers de construction de navires." — Meiuoire sur la Nonvelle Angleterre, 1710, 1711. The writer was familiar with Boston and its neighborhood, and had certainly spent some time there. Possibly he was no other than La Roude Denys hinisilf, after the failure of his mission to excite the " Bastonnais " to refuse co-operation with British armaments. He enlarges with bitterness on the extent of the fisheries, foreign trade, and ship-buildiug of New England. t: A 1710,1711.] PLAN OF THE MINISTRY. 163 ministry to the New World, and the expediency of driving the French out of it. Other influences con- si)ired to the same end, or in all likelihood little or iiotliing would have been done. England was tiring of the Continental war, the costs of which tlireatened ruin. Marlborough was rancorously attacked, and liis most stanch supportei-s the Whigs had given place to the Tories, led by the Lord Treasurer Hurley, and the Secretary of State St. John, soon afterwards Lord Holingbroke. Never was party spirit more bitter; and the new ministry found a con- n^enial ally in the coarse and savage but powerful genius of Swift, who, incensed by real or imagined sliglits from the late minister, Godolphin, gave all liis strength to the winning side. The prestige of Marlborough's victories was still immense. Harley and St. John dreaded it as their chief danger, and looked eagerly for some means of counteracting it. Such means would be supplied by tlie conquest of New France. To make America a British continent would be an achievement almost worth Blenheim or Ramillies, and one, too, in which Britain alone M^ould be the gainer; whereas the enemies of Marlborough, with Swift at their head, contended that his greatest triumi)hs turned more to the profit of Holland or Germany than of England.^ Moreover, to send a part of his army across the Atlantic would tend to cripple his movements and diminish his fume. ' See Swift, Conduct of the Allies. i "> m m % i. \ 164 WALKER'S KXPEDITIOX. [1711. * ^ , -I 'II m ii ' il :•: I ■: St. John entered with ardor into the scheme. Seven veteran regiments, five of wliieh were from the army in Flfinders, were ordered to embark. But in the choice of commander the judgment of the ministers was not left free; there were influences that they could not disregard. The famous Sjiiali, Duchess of Marlborough, lately the favorite of tlie feeble but wilful queen, liad lost her good graces juid given place to Mrs. Masham, one of the women of her bedchaml)er. The new favorite had a broil ler, John Hill, known about the court as Jack Jlill, whom Marlborough had pronounced good for noth- ing, but who had been advanced to the rank of colonel, and then of brigadier, through the influence of Mi-s. Masham; and though his agreeable social qualities were his best recommendation, he was noAv appointed to command the troops on the Canada expedition. It is not so clear why the naval com- mand was given to Admiral Sir Hovenden Walker, a man whose incompetence was soon to become notorious. Extreme care was taken to hide the destination of the fleet. Even the Lords of the Admiralty were kept ignorant of it. Some thought the ships bound for the West Indies; some for the South Sea. Nicholson was sent to America with orders to the several colonies to make ready men and supplies. He landed at Boston on the eighth of June. The people of the town, who were nearly all Whigs, were taken b}- surprise, expecting no such enterprise on 1711.] WALKER AT BOSTON. 165 tlie part of the Tory ministiy ; and their perplexity was not diminished when they were told that the flpot was at hand, and that they were to supply it forthwith with provisions for ten weeks. ^ There was no time to lose. The governors of New York, Connecticut, and Rhode Island were sunmioneo to meet at New London, and Dudley and Nicholbon went thither to join them. Here plans were made for the double attack; for while Walker and Hill were to sail up the St. Lawrence against Quebec, Nicholson, as in the former attempt, was to move against Montreal by way of Lake Champlain. In a few days the arrangements were made, and the gov- ernors hastened back to their respective posts.'* When Dudley reached Boston, he saw Nantasket Roads crowded with transports and ships of war, and the pastures of Noddle's Island studded with tents. The fleet had come on the twenty-fourth, having had what the Admiral calls "by the blessing of God a favorable and extraordinary passage, being but seven weeks and two days between Plymouth and Nantasket. "3 The Admiral and the General had been welcomed I i*t 1 I' > , ' I. ;h|pi| ^ Boston, devoted to fisiiing, shipbuilding, and foreign trade, (Irt'w most of its provisions from neighboring colonies. (Dumnier, Litter to a Noble Lord.) The people only half believed that the Tory ministry were sincere in attacking Canada, and suspected that tlio sudden demand for provisions, so difficult to meet at once, was meant to furnish a pretext for throwing the blame of failure upon Massachusetts. Hutchinson, ii. 173. "^ .^flnutes of Prorerdlnfjs of the Coiir/rpss of Govertiors, June, 1711. ^ Walker to Burchett, Secretary/ of the Adiniralti/, 14 Aiifjust, 1711. ! , ;?i ! '. ■ 166 WALKER'S EXPEDJTfON. [1711. with all honor. Tlie provincial Secretaiy, with two members of the Conncil, conducted them to town amid salutes from tlie batteries of Copp's Hill and Fort Hill, and the Boston militia regiment received them under arms ; after which they were feasted at the principal tavern, and accomi)anied in cereniony to the lodgings provided for them.^ When the troops were disembarked and the tents pitclied, curious townspeople and staring rustics crossed to Noddle's Island, now East Boston, to gaze with wonder oji a military pageant the like of which New England had never seen before. Yet their joy at this unlooked-for succor was dashed with deep dis- trust and jealousy. They dreaded these new and formidable friends, with their imperious demeanor and exacting demands. The British officei's, on their part, were no better pleased with the c(*lonists, and one of them, Colonel King, of the artilleiy, tluis gives vent to his feelings: "You'll find in my Journal what Difficultyes we mett with through the Misfortune that the Coloneys were not inform'd of our Coming two Months sooner, and through the Interestedness, ill Nature, and Sowerness of these People, whose Government, Doctrine, and Manners, whose Hypocracy and canting, are insupportable; and no man living but one of Gen'l Hill's good Sense and good Nature could have managed them. But if such a Man mett with nothing he could depend on, * Abstract of the Journal of the Governor, Council, and Assemhhj of the Province of the Massachuxetts Bay. I/!; -'I (|l,. 1711.] PREPARATION. 167 iiltlio' vested with the Queen's Royal Power and Authority, and Supported by a Nunil)er of Troops sunicient to reduce by force all the Coloneys, 'tis easy to determine the Respect and OlDedience her Majesty may reasonably expect from them." And lie gives it as his conviction that till all the colonies are deprived of their cliarters and brought under one government, "they will grow more stiff and diso- bt'dient every I)ay."^ It will be seen that some coolness on the part of tlie Hostonians was not unnatural. But whatever may have been the popular feeling, the provincial authorities did their full part towards supplying the needs of the new-comci-s ; for Dudley, with his strong Tory leanings, did not share the prevailing jealousy, and the country mendjers of the Assembly were anxious before all things to be delivered from war- })arties. The problem was how to raise the men and furnish the supplies in the least possible time. The action of the Assembly, far from betraying any slack- ness, was worthy of a military dictatorship. All ordinary business was set aside. Bills of credit for £40,000 were issued to meet the needs of the expe- dition. It was ordered that the prices of provisions and other necessaries of the service should stand fixed at the point where they stood before the approach of the fleet was known. Sheriffs and con- stables, jointly with the Queen's officers, Avere ordered to search all the town for provisions and liquors, and ^ King to Secretary St. John, 25 Juli/, 1711. it' f ■ I i ■ 1 A ■I 168 WALKER'S EXPEDITION. 11711. ' '! I, i( H n < t ]! M I i if the owners refused to part with them at the pre- scribed prices, to break open doors and seize them. Stringent and much-needed Acts were passed against harboring desertera. Provincial troops, in greater number than the ministry had demanded, wero ordered to be raised at once, and quartered upon tlie citizens, with or without their consent, at the rate of eightpence a day for each man.* Warrants were issued for impressing pilots, and also mechanics and laborere, who, in spite of Puritan scruples, were required to work on Sundays. Such measures, if imposed by England, would have roused the most bitter resentment. Even when ordered by their own representatives, they caused a sullen discontent among the colonists, and greatly increased the popular dislike of their military visitors. It was certain that when the expedition sailed and the operation of the new enactments ceased, prices would rise ; and hence the compulsion to part with goods at low fixed rates was singularly trying to the commercial temper. It was a busy season, too, with the farmers, and they showed no haste to bring their produce to the camp. Though many of the principal inhabitants bound themselves by mutual agreement to live on their family stores of salt provisions, in order that the troops might be better supplied with fresh, this failed to soothe the 7 1 The number demanded from Massachusetts was one thousand, and that raised by her was eleven hundred and sixty. Dudley to Walhr, 27 July, 1711. 1711.] TIIK KLEET SAILS FOR QIKIUCC. ino irritation of the Hritisli officei's, aggravated })y fre- quent desertions, which the cokniists favored, and l)y the inipossihility of finding |)ik)ts familiar witli the St. Lawrence. Some when forced into the ser- vice ma(h! their escai)e, to the great indignation of Walker, who wrote to the governor: "Her Majesty will resent sncli actions in a very signal manner; and when it shall be represented that the people live here as if there were no king in Israel, but every one does what seems right in his own eyes, measures will bo tiikcn to put things upon a better foot for the future." * At length, however, every [(reparation was made, tlic supplies were all on l)oard, and after a grand review of the troops on the fields of Noddle's Island, the whole force set sail on the thirtieth of July, the provincials wishing them success, and heartily rejoicing that they were gone. The fleet consisted of nine ships of war and two l)omb-ketehes, with about sixty transports, store- sliips, hospital-ships, and other vessels, British and provincial. They carried the seven British regi- ments, numbering, with the artillery train, about fifty-five hundred men, besides six hundred marines and fifteen hundred provincials; counting, with the sailors, nearly twelve thousand in all.^ ' Walker prints this letter in his .Journal. Colonel Kinp writes in his own Journal : " The conquest of Canada will naturally lead tile Queen into chanj^ing their present disorderly government;" and he thinks that the conviction of this made the New Englanders indifferent to the success of the expedition. ^ The above is drawn from the various lists and tables in ^K. f^il ** I I J i ; ; ; : 170 WALKKIIS KXrKDITION. [1711. I I t i 1' '■' • 'L . 5 f il! Vetch coiiinmndod tlio provincials, liiivin^ Ix-cn ])r()U«^lit from Aiinj4)olis for that ijiu'ikksc. The ^iciit iiocmI was of i»ih>ts. Kvery saihn- in New En^^jlaiid wholiad seen the St. Lawrence had lx;en pressed into tlie service, tlionj^h eacli and all declared themselves incapable of condnctlng the fleet to Quel)ec. Scvcnil had no better knowledge of the river than they Imd picked np when serving as soldiei-s under Pliips twenty-one years before. The l)est among them was the veteran Captain Bonner, who afterwards amused his old age hy making a i)lan of Boston, greatly prized by connoisseurs in such matters. Vetch had studied the St. Jjawrence in his several visits to Quebec, but, like lioiuier, he had gone up the river only in sloops or other small craft, and was, more- over, no sailor. One of Walker's ships, the " Chester," sent in advance to cruise in the Gulf, had captured a French vessel commanded by one Paradis, an expe- rienced old voyager, who knew the river well. He took a bribe of five hundred pistoles to act as pilot; but the fleet would perhaps have fared better if he had refused the money. He gave such dismal accounts of the Canadian winter that the Admiral could see nothing but ruin ahead, even if he should safely reach his destination. His tribulation is re- corded in his Journal. "That which now chiefly m \^ Walker, Journal of the Canada Expedition. The armed ships that entered Boston in June were fifteen in all; but several had been detached for cruising. The number of British transports, store- ships, etc., was forty, tiie rest being provincial. h m 1711.] DIFFICl'LTIKS. 171 as, more- took up my thoughts, was contriving how to secure tlic sliii)s if we got up to Quol)ec ; for the ice in the riirr freezing to the bottom would have utterly ! 1 M three days passed before he knew how serious the disaster was. The ships of war liad all esoapecl ; hut eight British transports, one store-ship, and one sut- ler's sloop were dashed to pieces.^ "It was lament- able to hear the shrieks of the sinking, drowning, departing souls," writes the New England connuis- sary. Sheaf, who was very near sharing their fate. The disaster took place at and near a rocky island, with adjacent reefs, lying off the north shore and called Isle aux Qj^ufs. On the second day after it happened. Walker was told by the master of one of the wrecked transports that eight hundred and eighty- four soldiers had been lost, and he gives this hasty estimate in his published Journal ; though he says in his Introduction to it that the total loss of officers, soldiera, and sailors was scarcely nine hundred.'^ According to a later and more trustworthy statement, the loss of the troops was twenty-nine officers, six hundred and seventy-six sergeants, corporals, drum- mers, and private soldiers, and thirty-five women attached to the regiments; that is, a total of seven hundred and forty lives. ^ The loss of the sailoi-s is not given ; but it could scarcely have exceeded two hundred. * King, Journal. 2 Compare Walker, Journal, 45, and Ibid., 127, 128. He elsewhere intimates that his first statement needed correction. 3 Report of f Soldiers, etc.. Lost. (Public liecord Offloe.) This is a tabular statement, niving the names of the comniissioned oflSoers and the positions of their subordinates, regiment by regi- ment. All the French accounts of the losses are exaggerations. :t\ 1711.] A COUNCIL OF WAR. 175 The fleet spent the next two days in standing to and fro betwotu the northern and southern shores, witli the exception of some of the smaller vessels ein[>loyed in briiiging off the survivors from the rocks of Isle aux Q^ufs. The number thus saved was, according to Walker, four hundred and ninetv-nine. On the twenty-fifth he went on board the (ieneral's ship, the "Windsor," and Hill and he resolved to call a council of war. In fact. Hill had already got his colonels together. Signals were made for the captains of the men-of-war to join them, and the council began. "Jack Hill," the man about town, placed in high conunand by the influence of his sister, the Queen's tire-woman, had now an opportunity to justify his appointment and prove his mettle. Many a man of pleasure and fashion, when put to the proof, has revealed the latent hero within him; but Hill was not one of them. Both he and Walker seemed to look for nothing but a pretext for retreat ; and when manhood is conspicuously wanting in the leaders, a council of war is rarely disposed to supply it. The pilots were called in and examined, and they all declared themselves imperfectly acquainted with the St. Lawrence, which, as some of the captains observed, they had done from the first. Sir William Phips, with pilots still more ignorant, had safely carried his fleet to Quebec in 1690, as Walker must have known, for he had with him Phips's Journal of the voyage. The expedition had lost about a twelfth part of its •> i 176 WALKKIl'S EXPEDITION. [1711. i . 1; in \ soldiers and sailors, besides the transports that carried them; with this exception there was no reason for retreat which might not as well have been put for- ward when the fleet left Boston. All the war-shim were safe, and the loss of men was not greater than might have happened in a single battle. Hill sjiys that '* etch, when asked if he would pilot the fleet to Quebec, refused to undertake it;^ but Vetch himself gives his answer as follows : " I told him [the Admiral] I never was bred to sea, nor was it any part of my province; but I would do my best by going aliead and showing them where the difficulty of the river was, which I knew pretty weU."^ The naval cap- tains, however, resolved that by reason of the igno- rance of the pilots and the dangerous currents it was impossible to go up to Quebec. ^ So discreditable a backing out from a great enterprise will hardly Ije found elsewhere in English annals. On the next day Vetch, disappointed and indignant, gave his mind freely to the Admiral. " The late disaster can- not, in my humble opinion, be anyways imputed to the difficulty of the navigation, but to the wrong course we steered, which most unavoidably carried us upon the north shore. Who directed that course you best know; and as our return without any 1 Hill to Dudley, 25 August, 1711. * Vetch, Journal. His statement is confirmed by the report of the council. * Report of a Consultation of Sea Officers belonging to the Squadron under Command of Sir Ilovenden Walker, Kt., 25 August, 1711. Signed by Wiilkcr and eight others. 1711.] RETREAT. 177 further attempt would be a vast reflection upon tlie conduct of this affair, so it would be of very fatal consequence to the interest of the Crown and all the British colonies upon this continent."* His protest was fruitless. The fleet retraced its course to the gulf, and then steered for Spanish River, — now the harbor of Sydney, — in the Island of Cape Breton ; the Admiral consoling himself with the reflection that the wreck was a blessing in disguise and a merciful intervention of Providence to save the expe- dition from the freezing, starvation, ana cannibalism which his imagination had conjured up.^ The frigate " Sapphire " was sent to Boston with news of the wreck and the retreat, which was at once despatched to Nicholson, who, if he continued his movement on Montreal, would now be left to conquer Canada alone. His force consisted of about twenty-three hundred men, white and red, and when the fatal news reached him he was encamped on Wood Creek, ready to pass Lake Champlain. Cap- tain Butler, a New York officer at the camp, after- wards told Kalm, the Swedish naturalist, that when Nicholson heard what had happened, he was beside himself with rage, tore off his wig, threw it on the ground and stamped upon it, crying out, " Roguery ! Treachery! "^ When his fit was over, he did all that was now left for him to do, — burned the wooden 1 Vetch to Walker, 26 August, 1711. 2 Walker, Journal, Introduction, 26. * Kalm, Travels, ii. 135. VOL. I. — 12 M i, > 'ti' 1 =1 ii'i r 1 \ ■ f I 178 WALKER'S EXPEDITION. [1711. )' 'ii ' ' 1! ;! ) -■i"fil forts he had built, marched back to Albany, and dis- banded his army, after leaving one hundred and lifty men to protect the frontier against scalping-parties.^ Canada had been warned of the storm gatheiing against her. Early in August, Vaudreuil received letters from Costel)elle, at Placentia, telling him that English prisoners had reported mighty preparations at Boston against Quebec, and that Montreal was also to be attacked. ^ The colony was ill prepared for the emergency, but no effort was spared to give the enemy a warm reception. The militia were mustered, Indians called together, troops held in readiness, and defences strengthened. The saints were invoked, and the aid of Heaven was implored by masses, processions, and penances, as in New England by a dismal succession of fasts. Mother Juchereau de Saint-Denis tells us how devout Canadians prayed for help from God and the most holy Virgin ; " since their gloiy was involved, seeing that the true religion would quickly perish if the English should prevail." The general alarm pro- duced effects which, though transient, were thought highly commendable while they lasted. The ladies, according to Mother Juchereau, gave up their orna- ments, and became more modest and more pious. "Those of Montreal," pursues the worthy nun, "even outdid those of Quebec; for they bound themselves by oath to wear neither ribbons noi lace, to keep 1 Schuyler, Colonial New York, ii. 48. 3 Vaudreuil au Ministre, 25 Octobre, 1711. 1711.] JOYFUL NEWS FOR CANADA. 179 their throats covered, and to observe various holy practices for the space of a year." The rechise of Montreal, Mademoiselle Le Ber, who, by reason of lier morbid seclusion and ascetic life, was accounted ahnost a saint, made a flag embroidered with a prayer to the Virgin, to be borne against the heretical bands of Nicholson. When that commander withdrew, his retreat, though not the cause of it, was quickly known at Montreal, and the forces gathered there went down to Quebec to aid in repelling the more formidable attack by sea. Here all was suspense and expect- ancy till tiie middle of October, when the report came that two large ships had been seen in the river below. There was great excitement, for they were supposed to be the van of the British fleet; but alarm was soon turned to joy by the arrival of the ships, which proved to be French. On the nineteenth, the Sieur de la Valterie, who had come from Labrador in September, and had been sent down the river again by Vaudreuil to watch for the English fleet, appeared at Quebec with tidings of joy. He had descended the St. Lawrence in a canoe, with two Frenchmen and an Indian, till, landing at Isle aux Q^ufs on the lirst of October, they met two French sailors or fishermen loaded with plunder, and presently dis- covered the wrecks of seven English ships, with, as they declared, fifteen or sixteen hundred dead bodies on the strand hard by, besides dead horses, sheep, dogs, and hens, three or four hundred laige iron- 3 -tS i !.. I 1 ( A i 180 WALKER'S EXPEDITION. [1711. ■' 'I ' ,*f. I'll hooped casks, a barrel of wine and a barrel and a keg of brandy, cables, anchors, chains, planks, boaids, shovels, picks, mattocks, and piles of old iron three feet high.^ "The least devout," writes Mother Juchereaii, "were touched by the grandeur of the miracle wrouglit in our behalf, — a marvellous effect of God's love for Canada, which, of all these countries, is tlie only one that professes the true religion." Quebec was not ungrateful. A solemn mass was ordered every month during a year, to be followed by the song of Moses after the destruction of Pharaoh and his host.^ Amazing reports were spread concern- ing the losses of the English. About three thousand of " these wretches " — so the story ran — died after reaching land, without counting the multitudes drowned in the attempt ; and even this did not satisfy divine justice, for God blew up one of the ships by lightning during the storm. Vessels were sent to gather up the spoils of the wreck, and they came back, it was reported, laden with marvellous treasures, including rich clothing, magnificent saddles, plate, silver-hilted swords, and tlie like ; bringing also tlie gratifying announcement that though the autumn tides had swept away many corpses, more than two thousand still lay on the rocks, naked and in atti- 1 Deposition de Francois cle Mcvf/anne, Sieiir de la Valterie; par devant Nous, Paul Diipiii/, Ecuijer, Conseiller du Roy, etc., 19 Octobre, 1711. '^ Monsetijnetir de Suint-Vullier ct I'llistoire de Vllopital General de Quebec, 209. 1711.] WALKER AND HILL. 181 tudes of despair.^ These stories, repeated by later writei's, find believei-s to this day.'* When Walker and his ships reached Spanish River, he called another council of war. The ques- tion was whether, having failed to tiike Quebec, they should try to take Placentia; and it was resolved tliat the short supply of provisions, the impossibility of getting more from Boston before the first of November, and the risks of the autumnal storms, made the attempt impracticable. Accordingly, the Nt'w England transports sailed homeward, and the British fleet steered for the Thames. Swift writes on the sixth of October in his Journal to Stella: "The news of Mr. Hill's miscarriage in his expedition came to-day, and I went to visit Mrs. Masham and Mrs. Hill, his two sisters, to condole with them." A week after, he mentions the arrival of the general himself; and again on the sixteenth writes thus: "I was to see Jack Hill this morning, who made that unfortunate expedition; and there is still more misfortune, for that ship which was admiral of his fleet [the " Edgar "] is blown up in the Thames by an accident and carelessness of some rogue, who ^ Juchereau, Histoire de VIIotel-Dleu de Quebec, 473-491. La Ronde Denys says that nearly one thousand men were drowned, and that about two thousand died of injuries received. La Ronde mi Ministre, 30 De'cembre, 1711. 2 Some exaggeration was natural enough. Colonel Lee, of the Rliode Island contingent, says that a day or two after the wreck he saw " the bodies of twelve or thirteen h'nidrcd brave men, with wonion and children, lying in heaps." Lee to Governor Cranston, 12 September, 1711. i. ( I \tV \i t ! 182 WALKKKS KXrKDITION. [1711. It ' I :•' Ml 1 * I was going, as they think, to steal some gunpowder: five hundred men are lost." A report of this crowning disaster reached Quel)cc, and Mother Juchereau does not fail to iniijrove it. According to her, the Admiral, stricken with divine justice, and wrought to desperation, blew up the ship himself, and perished with all on board, except only two men. There was talk of an examination into the causes of the failure, but nothing was done. Hill, stroiijr in the influence of Mrs. Masham, reaped new honors and offices. Walker, more answerable for the result, and less fortunate in court influence, was removed from command, and his name was stricken from the half-pay list. He did not, liowever, blow himself up, but left England and emigrated to South Carolina, whence, thinking himself ill-treated by the authori- ties, he removed to Barbadoes, and died some years later.^ 1 Walker's Journal was published in 1720, with an Introduction of forty-eight pages, written in bad temper and bad taste. The Journal contains many documents, printed in full. In the Public Record Office are preserved the Journals of Hill, Vetch, and King. Copies of these, with many other papers on the same subject, from the same source, are before me. Vetch's Journal and his letter to Walker after the wreck are printed in the Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society, vol. iv. It appears by the muster-rolls of Massachusetts that what with manning the coast-guard vessels, defending the frontier against Indians, and furnishing her contingent to the Canada expedition, more than one in five of her able-bodied men were in active service in the summer of 1711. Years passed before she recovered from the effects of her financial exhaustion. CHAPTER IX. 1712-1749. 1,1' (i LOJISBOURG AND ACADIA. Peace of Utrecht. — Perilous Questions. — LonsnouRr, founded. — Annapoms attacked. — Position of the Acadians. — WlOAKNEHS OF THE BrITIHH GaKRISON. — Al'ATIIY OF THE Ministry. — French Intrigue. — Clerical Politicians. — The Oath of Allegiance. — Acadians refuse it: their Ex- pulsion proposed; they take the Oath. The great European war was drawing to an end, and with it the American war, which was but its echo. An avalanche of defeat and disaster had fallen upon the old age of Louis XIV., and France was burdened with an insupportable load of debt. The political changes in England came to her relief. Fifty years later, when the elder Pitt went out of office and Bute came in, France had cause to be grateful; for the peace of 1763 was far more favor- able to her than it would have been under the impe- rious war minister. It was the same in 1712. The Whigs who had fallen from power would have wrung every advantage from France ; the triumphant Tories were eager to close with her on any terms not so easy as to excite popular indignation. The result I (. I'iiki ' i :X ? ' '-. ( i :^:l * 1 i ! ^ ! i i i i , >i : ll ll ,; -I ( k ■ .'\' ij 1 it* i i a ■ • *•■ ; 1 If 'i' / ^ .K , K..I ,.; N h V;d. ij ■ 1. 1 ,^i ■ ■( ; V i hi J 1 ■' 184 LOUISBOURG AND ACADIA. [1712. was the Treaty of Utrecht, which satisfied none of the allies of England, and gave to France conditions more favorable than she had heraelf proposed two years before. The fall of Godolphin and the dis- grace of Marlborough were a godsend to her. Yet in America Louis XIV. made important con- cessions. The Five Nations of the Iroquois wore acknowledged to he British subjects ; and this became in future the preposterous foundation for vast terri- torial claims of England. Hudson Bay, Newfound- land, and Acadia, "according to its ancient limits," were also given over by France to her successful rival; though the King parted from Acadia with a reluctance shown by the great offers he made for permission to retain it.* But while the Treaty of Utrecht seemed to yield so much, and yielded so much in fact, it staved off the settlement of questions absolutely necessary for future peace. The limits of Acadia, the boundary line between Canada and the British colonies, and the boundary between those colonies and the great western wilderness claimed by France, were all left unsettled, since the attempt to settle them would have rekindled the war. The peace left the embers of war still smouldering, sure, when the time should come, to burst into flame. The next thirty years were years of chronic, smothered war, disguised, ^ Offres de la France ; Demandes de VAngleterre et R^ponses de la France, in Memorials of the English and French Commissaries concerning the Limits of Acadia, (, 1711.171:.'.] ( lUTICAL QUKSTIONS. 185 hut never quite at rest. Tlie standing .sul)jorts of dispute were three, very ditt'erent in importance. First, the question of Aciidia: wliether tlie treaty gave Enghmd a vast country, or only a strip of sea- coast. Next, that of northern New England and the Al)enaki Indians, many of whom FreiK h policy still left witliin the borders of Maine, and whom both powers claimed as subjects or allies. Last ami rrreatest was the ((uestion whether France or Eng- land should hold the valleys of the Mississippi and tlie Great Eakes, and with .iiem the virtual control of the continent. This was the tri[)le i)ro]ilem that tormented the northern English colonies for more than a generation, till it found a solution at last in the Seven Years' War. Louis XIV. liad deeply at heart the recovery of Acadia. Yet the old and infirm King, whose sun w{is setting in clouds after half a century of unrivalled splendor, felt that peace was a controlling neces- sity, and he wrote as follows to his plenipotentiaries at Utrecht: "It is so important to prevent the break- ing off of the negotiations that the King will give up both Acadia and Cape Breton, if necessary for peace ; but the plenipotentiaries will yield this point only in the last extremity, for by this double cession Canada will become useless, the access to it will be closed, the fisheries will come to an end, and the French marine be utterly destroyed."^ And he adds that if the English will restore Acadia, he, the King, will ^ M^noire du Roij a ses Plenipotenfi'aires, 20 Mars, 1712. 1 i 1 1 ■ i \ if- ■ !P 1 r !> t ■ i I i i' . (|ji i 1 !? <■■ H s i 'i ■■ \ . ' i . i " i ■ 1 \ I {■• — ■ l' . .■>' i" . 18»> LOriSliOl U(i AND ACADIA. [1711, 17IJ. (•It It ' I < I /(,) ':i pivo them, not only St. ('hristopliiT, hut also tlit< isliiiids of St. Maitiii aiul St. 'iurtlioloiiuiw. TIk^ [ilt'iiiljott'iitijirlcs r('j)Ii(!(l that tlin ofT«'r wus refused, and that tlio hest tliey eouhl do witlidut (Midanujeiin^ th(! peact; was to l)aipiin tliat (';i|m' IJreton shouhl helon^' to France.' On this, tlic Kinjjf hid hi«^li(!r still for the coveted j)rovine(!, ami promised that if Aea(Ua were returned to him, (lie fortilieations of I'laeentia should he ^iven up un- touched, tlie camion in the forts of Hudson Mny al)andoned to the English, and the Newfoundland iisheries deharred tf) Frenchmen,^ — a reniarkahlc concession; for France had lished on the hanks of Newfoundland for two centuries, and they were invaluahle to her as a nursery of sailors. Even these offers were rejected, and England would not resign Acadia. Cape Breton was left to the French. This larpfp island, henceforth railed hy its owners Isle lloyalc, lies east of Acadia, and is separated from it only hy the narrow Strait of Canseau. From its position, it connnands the chief entrance of the gulf and river of St. Lawrence. Some years before, the intendant Raudot had sent to the court an al)le paper, in which he urged its occupation and settlement, chiefly on commercial and industrial grounds. The war was then at its height; the plan was not carried into ' Pr&is (le re qui s^est jKiss(f pendant la Nrfjotiation de la Paix iV Utrecht an Snjet ile I'Aradie; Juillrt, 1711-.l/a/, 1712, 3 Me'moire dii Roy, 20 Avril, 1712. I70!»-1713.] ISLK ROYALK. 187 elTr(;t, and Islo Iloyulo was Htill a wilderness. It wuh ii(»\v j)i'oiK)si'(l to ()C'cu[>y it for militaiy and political reasons. One of its many ikarhois, well fortilied and garrisoned, wonld gnard the a|»[)roaclies of Canada, and in tin; ni'xt war fnrnish a base for attacking New Kngland and leeovering Aeadia. After some hesitation the harhor called Port li I'Anglois was chost'n for the proj)osed establishment, to which the name of Lonishonrg was given, in lidiior of the King. It lies near tlu; sontheastern |i(iiiit of the island, w4ien^ an o[)ening in the iron- liound coast, at once easily accessible and easily defended, gives entrance to a deep and sheltered basin, where a fleet of war-ships may iind good anchorage. The j)roposed fortress was to Ik? placed (111 the tongue of land that lies between this basin and the sea. The place, well chosen from the point of view of the soldier or the fisherman, was unfit for an agricultural colony, its surroundings l)eing barren liills studded with spruce and fir, and broad niarahes buried in moss. In spite of the losses and humiliations of the war, fjrcat expectations were formed from the new scheme. Several years earlier, when the proposals of Raudot were before the Marine Council, it was confidently declared that a strong fortress on Cape Breton would make the King master of North America. The details of the establishment were settled in advance. 'i'lie King was to build the fortifications, supply them with caiuion, send out eight companies of soldiers, 1 ! m ' t ■1^ : i •Si ^ I i' ! 1 ■A i . ' (. t !> I »\ m m ■ y »-Sj 188 LOUISIiOlRG AND ACADIA. [1713. besides all the usual officei'S of government, establish a well-endowed hospital, conducted by nuns, as at Quebec, provide Jesuits and Rdcollets as chaplains, besides Filles de la Congr^^gation to teach girls, send families to the spot, support them for two years, and furnish a good number of young women to marry the soldiers. 1 This plan, or something nnich like it, was carried into effect. Louisbourg was purely and solely the offspring of the Crown and its ally, the Church. In time it grew into a compact- fishing town of about four thousand inhabitants, with a strong garrison and a circuit of formidable ramparts and batteries. It became by far the strongest fortress on the Atlantic coast, and so famous as a resort of privateers that it was known as tlie Dunquerque of America. What concerns us now is its weak and troubled infancy. It was to be peopled in good part from the two lost provinces of Acadia and Newfoundland, whose inhabitants were to be transported to Louis- bourg or other parts of Isle Royale, which would thus be made at once and at the least possible cost a dangerous neighbor to the newly acquired possessions of England. The Micmacs of Acadia, and even some of the Abenakis, were to be included in this scheme of immigration. In the autumn, the commandant of Plaisance, or Placentia, — the French stronghold in Newfound- land, — received the following mandate from the King : — 1 Me'moire sur I'TsIe dn Cap Breton, 1701). 1713.] PLACEXTl A i:V ACl ' ATEI). 189 Monsieur de Costebelle, — I liave caused my ortlors to be given you to evacuate tlie town and forts df Plaisanco and the other places of your government of Newfoundland, ceded to my dear sister tlie Queen of Great Britain. I '..iv'e given my orders for tlu^ equipment of the vessels necessary to make the evacuation and transport you, with the officers, garrison, and inhabitants of I'laisaiice and other places of Newfoundland, to my Isle Royale, vulgarly called Cape Breton; but as the season is so fai advanced that this cannot be done without exposing my troo])s and my subjects to perishing from cold and miser}', and [tlacing my vessels in evident peril of wreck, I have judged it proper to defer the trans])ortation till the next spring.^ The inhabitants of Placentia consisted only of twenty-five or thirty poor fishermen, with their families,^ and some of them would gladly have be- come English subjects and stayed where they were; but no choice was given them. "Nothing," writes Costebelle, "can cure them of the error, to which they obstinately cling, that they are free to stay^ or go, as best suits their interest."^ They and their fishing-boats were in due time transported to Isle Royale, where for a while their sufferings were extreme. Attempts were made to induce the Indians of Acadia to move to the nevv' colony; but they refused, and to compel them was out of the question. But 1 Le Roy a Costebelle, 20 SepLiuhre, 171.']. - Recensement den Hahitans de Plaisance et lies de St. Pierre, rendus ti f.ouishonrq avec leiirs Fetniiies et Kiifmis, 5 Noveinbre, 1714. 3 Costebelle au Mlnistre, 10 Jnillet, 1713. . ,. :)i J 1 1 < * I ! i S tl 190 LOUISBOURG AND ACADIA. :^p 1 1' J «i [1711-1713. by far the most desirable accession to the establisli- ment of Isle Royale would be that of the Acadian French, who were too numerous to be transported in the summary manner practised in the case of the fishermen of Placentia. It was necessary to persuade rather than compel them to migrate, and to this end great reliance was placed on their priests, e? ecially Fathers Pain and Dominique. Ponchartrain himself wrote to the former on the subject. The priest declares that he read the letter to his flock, who answered that they wished to stay in Acadia; and lie adds that the other Acadians were of the same mind, being unwilling to leave their rich farms and risk starvation on a wild and barren island. ^ "Never- theless," he concludes, "we shall fulfil the intentions of his Majesty by often holding before their eyes tliat religion for which they ought to make every sacrifice." He and his brother priests kept their word. Freedom of worship was pledged on cer- tain conditions to the Acadians by the Treaty of Utrecht, and no attempt was ever made to deprive them of it; yet the continual declaration of their missionaries that their souls were in danger under English rule was the strongest spur to impel them to migrate. The condition of the English in Acadia since it fell into their hands had been a critical one. Port Royal, thenceforth called Annapolis Royal, or simply Annapolis, had been left, as before mentioned, in ^ Ft'lix Fain a Costebelle, 23 Septeinbre, 1713. 1711-1713.] POSITION OF THE ACADIANS. 191 charge of Colonel Vetch, with a heterogeneous gar- rison of four hundred and fifty men.* The Acadians of the hanlieiie — a term defined as covering a space of three miles round the fort — had been included in the capitulation, and had taken an oath of allegiance to Queen Anne, binding so long as they remained in tlie province. Some of them worked for the garrison and helped to repair the fort, which was in a ruinous condition. Meanwhile the Micmac Indians remained fiercely hostile to the English; and in June, 1711, aided by a band of Penobscots, they ambuscaded and killed oi captured nearly seventy of them. This completely changed the attitude of the Acadians. They broke their oath, rose against their new masters, and with their Indian friends, invested the fort to the number of five or six hundred. Disease, deser- tion, and the ambuscade had reduced the garrison to about two hundred effective men, and the defences of the place were still in bad condition. ^ The assail- ants, on the other hand, had no better leader than the priest, Gaulin, missionary of the Micmacs > I'i ^ Vetch was styled " General and Commander-in-chief of all his Majesty's troops in these parts, and Governor of llie fort of Annapolis Royal, country of I'Accady and Nova Scotia." Hence lie was the first English governor of Nova Scotia after its conquest in 1710. He was appointed a second time in 1715, Nicholson having served in the interim. '^ Narrative of Paul Mascarene, addressed to Nicholson. Accord- ing to French accounts, a pestilence at Annapolis had carried off tliree fourths of the garrison. Gaulin a ,6 Sepfembre, 1711; Cuhouet au Ministrc, 20 Juillet, 1711. In reality a little more than one liundred had died. 'l! i •I ' s M! i i: . ! 1 —-^^ ^ A . '..jx 192 LOUISBOURG AND ACADIA. [1711-1713. I ; ( and prime mover in the rising. He presently sailed for Placentia to Ijeg for munitions and a commandei'; but his errand failed, the siege came to nought, and the besiegers dispersed. Vaudreuil, from whom the Acadians had begged help, was about to send it when news of the approach of Walker's fleet forced him to keep all his strength for his own defence. From this time to the end of the war, the chief difficulties of the governor of Acadia rose, not from the enemy, but from the British authorities at home. For more than two years he, with his starved and tattered garrison, were treated with absolute neglect. He received no orders, instructions, or money. ^ Acadia seemed forgotten by the ministiy, till Vetch heard at last that Nicholson was appointed to succeed him. Now followed the Treat}^ of Utrecht, the cession of Acadia to England, and the attempt on the part of France to induce the Acadians to remove to Isle Royale. Some of the English officials had once been of opinion that this French Catholic population should be transported to Martinique or some otlicr distant French colony, and its place supplied by Protestant families sent from England or Ireland. ^ Since the English Revolution, Protestantism was bound up with the new political order, and Catlioli- 1 Passages from Vetch's letters, in Patterson, Memoir of Vetch. 2 Vetch to the Earl of Dartmouth, 22 Januarji, 1711 ; Memorial of Council of Wor at Annapolis, 14 October, 1710. 1713.] CREEDS AND POLITICS. 193 cism with the ohl. No Catholic could favor the Protestant succession, and hence politics were insep- iirahle from creed. A etch, wlio came of a race of hot and stubborn Covenanters, had been one of the most earnest for replacing the Catholic Acadians by Protestants ; but after the peace he and othei-s changed their minds. No Protestant colonists appeared, nor was there the smallest sign that the government would give itself the trouble to attract any. It was certain that if the Acadians removed at all, they would go, not to Martinique or any other distant colony, but to the new military establishment of Lsle Ro3^ale, which would thus become a strong and dangerous neighbor to the feeble British post of Annapolis. Moreover, the labor of the French in- habitants was useful and sometimes necessary to the English garrison, which depended mainly on them for provisions; and if they left the province, they would leave it a desert, with the prospect of long remaining so. Hence it happened that the English were for a time almost as anxious to keep the Acadians in Acadia as they were forty years later to get them out of it; nor had the Acadians themselves any inclina- tion to leave their homes. But the French authori- ties needed them at Lsle Royale, and made ever}' effort to draw them thither. By the fourteenth article of the Treaty of Utrecht such of them as might choose to leave Acadia were free to do so within the space of a year, carrying Avith them their personal ■;il { 1 1 i{ r I VOL. I.- 13 i ^ 194 LOUISBOURG AND ACADIA. [1713,1714. I I i' '! ! effects ; while a letter of Queen Anne, addressed to Nicholson, then governor of Acadia, permitted the emigrants to sell their lands and houses. The missionary F(jlix Pain liu,d reported, as we have seen, that they were, in general, disposed to remain where they were; on which Costel)elle, who now commanded at Louisbourg, sent two officei-s, La Ronde Denys and Pensens, with instructions to set the priests at work to persuade their flocks to move.^ La Ronde Denys and his colleague repaired to Annapolis, where they promised the inhabitants vessels for their removal, provisions for a year, and freedom from all taxation for ten years. Then, hav- ing been well prepared in advance, the heads of families were formed in a circle, and in presence of the English governor, the two French officers, and the priests Justinien, Bonaventure, and Gaulin, they all signed, chiefly with crosses, a paper to the effect that they would live and die subjects of the King of France.'^ A few embarked at once for Isle Royale in the vessel "Marie- Joseph," and the rest were to follow within the year. This result was due partly to the promises of La Ronde Denys, and still more to a pastoral letter from the Bishop of Quebec, supporting the assurances of the missionaries that the heretics would rob them of the ministrations of the Church. This was not 1 Costebelle, Instruction au Capitaine de la Ronde, 1714, 2 J^crit des Habitants d' Annapolis Royale, 25 Aoust, 1714 ; M^moire de La Ronde Denys, 30 Aoust, 1714. t were to 17i;}-1715.] ENGLISH AND ACADIANS. 195 all. The Acadians about Annapolis had. been alien- ated by the conduct of the English authorities, which was not conciliating, and on the part of the governor w;i.s sometimes outrageous.^ Yet those of the banlieue jiad no right to complain, since they had made them- selves liable to the penalties of treason by fii-st taking an oath of allegiance to Queen Anne, and then breaking it by trying to seize her fort.^ Governor Nicholson, like his predecessor, was resolved to keep the Acadians in the province if he could. This personage, able, energetic, perverse, headstrong, and unscrupulous, conducted himself, even towards the English officers and soldiers, in a manner that seems unaccounta])le, and that kindled their utmost indignation.^ Towards the Acadians his behavior was still worse. As Costebelle did not keep his promise to send vessels to bring them to Isle Royale, they built small ones for themselves, imd the French authorities at Louisbourg sent them the necessary rigging. Nicholson ordered it back, forbade the sale of their lands and houses, — a need- less stretch of power, as there was nobody to buy, — and would not let them sell even their personal 1 In 1711, however, the missionary Felix Pain says, " The English liave treated the Acadians with much humanity." — Pere F€lix a ,% Septembre,\l\\. 2 This was the oath taken after the capitulation, which bound those who took it to allegiance so long as they remained in the province. 8 " As he used to curse and Damm Governor Vetch and all his friends, he is now served himself in the same manner." — Adams to Hieele, 24 Januari/, 1715. 1 1 T" 1 1 it 1 1 i ^ ; i \ «. i i; -1 ! '•! W'l ; i 196 LOUISBOURG AND ACADIA. [171:3-1715. I' ''.i effects, coolly setting at nought both the Treaty of Utrecht and the letter of the Queen. ^ Nicholson was but a short time at Annapolis, leav- ing the government, during most of his term, to his deputies, Caulfield and afterwards Doucette, both of whom roundly denounce their principal for liis general conduct; while both, in one degree or anothei-, followed his example in preventing so far as they could the emigration of the Acadians. Some of them, however, got away, and twelve or fifteen families who settled at Port Toulouse, on Isle Royale, were near perishing from cold and liunger.^ From Annapolis the French agents. La Ronde Denys and Pensens, proceeded to the settlements about Chignecto and the Basin of Mines, — the most populous and prosperous parts of Acadia. Here they were less successful than before. The people were doubtful and vacillating, — ready enougli to promise, but slow to perform. While declaring with perfect sincerity their devotion to "our invincible monarch," as they called King Louis, who had just been compelled to surrender their country, they clung tenaciously to the abodes of their fathers. If they had wished to emigrate, the English governor had no power to stop them. From Baye Verte, on the isthmus, they had frequent and easy communi- 1 For a great number of extracts from documents on this subject see a paper by Abbe Casgrain in Canada Frangais, i. 411-414; also the documentary supplement of the same publication. 2 La Rondp Dcnj/s au Ministre, 3 Decembre, 1715. I i 1713-1720.] ENCJIJSII AND ACADIANS. 197 cation with the French at Tionishourp^, which the EngHsh did not and couhl not interrupt. They were armed, and they far ontnMinl)ered the English garrison; while at a word they could bring to their aid the Micmac warriors, who had been taught to detest the English heretics as foes of God and man. To say that they wished to leave Acadia, but were prevented from doing so by a petty garrison at the other end of the province, so feeble that it could hardly hold Annapolis itvself, is an unjust rci)roa('li upon a people who, though ignorant and weak of purpose, were not wanting in physical courage. The truth is that from this time to their forced expa- triation in 1755, all the Acadians, except those of Annapolis and its immediate neighborhood, were free to go or stay at will. Those of the eastern parts of the province especially, who formed the greater part of the population, were completely their own masters. This was well known to the French authorities. The governor of Louisbourg complains of the apathy of the Acadians.^ Saint- vide declares that they do not want to fulfil the intentions of the King and remove to Isle Royale. Costebelle makes the same complaint; and again, after three years of vain attempts to overcome their reluctance, he writes that every effort has failed to induce them to migrate. From this time forward the state of affairs in Acadia was a peculiar one. By the Treaty of Utrecht it was a British province, ind the nominal sover- 1 Costebelle au Ministre, 15 Janvier, 1715, U" 1i 'F ;i » lii U 198 LOUISBOURG AND ACADIA. [1713-17l>0. 1 I I \ 'i I , ! I "'It eignty resided at Annapolis, in the keeping of the miserab'e little fort and tlie puny garrison, which us late as 1743 consisted of but live companies, countiiior, when the ranks were full, thirty-one men each.J More troops were often asked for, and onr* e or twice were promised; but they were never sent. "Tliis h.as been hitherto no more than a mock government, its authority never yet having extended beyond canncm-shot of the fort," wrote Governor Philipps in 1720. "It would be more for the honour of the Crown, and profit also, to give back the country to the French, than to be contented with the name only of government."^ Philipps repaired the fort, which, as the engineer Mascarene says, "had lain tumbling down" before his arrival; but Annapolis and tlie whole province remained totally neglected and almost forgotten by England till the middle of the century. At one time the soldiers were in so ragged a plight that Lieutenant-Colonel Armstrong was forced to clothe them at his own expense. ^ While this seat of British sovereignty remained in unchanging feebleness for more than forty years, the French Acadians were multiplying apace. Before 1 Governor Mascarene to the Secretary of State, 1 December, 1743, At this time there was also a blockhouse at Canseau, where a few soldiers were stationed. These were then the only British posts in the province. In May, 1727, Philipps wrote to the Lords of Trade : " Everything there [at Annapolis] is wearing the face of ruin and decay," and the ramparts are "lying level with the ground in broaches sufficiently wide for fifty men to enter abreast." 2 Philipps to Secretary Craggs, 26 September, 1720. 8 Selections from the Pxtblic Documents of Nova Scotia, 18. note. 1715-1740.] ACADIAN POPULATION. 199 1749 they were the only wliite inhabitants of tlie province, except ten or twelve English families who, about the year 1720, lived under the guns of Annapolis. At the time of the cession the French population seems not to have exceeded two thousand souls, about five hundred of whom lived within the hanlieue of Annapolis, and were therefore more or less under English control. They were all alike a simple and ignorant peasantry, prosperous in their humble way, and happy when rival masters ceased from troubling, though vexed with incessant quarrels among themselves, arising from the unsettled boun- daries of their lands, which had never been properly surveyed. Their mental horizon was of the nar- rowest, their wants were few, no military service was asked of them by the English authorities, and they paid no taxes to the government. They could even indulge theii strong appetite for litigation free of cost; for when, as often happened, they brought their land disputes before the Council at Annapolis, the cases were settled and the litigants paid no fees. Their communication with the English officials was carried on through deputies chosen by themselves, and often as ignorant as their constituents, for a remarkable equality prevailed through this primitive little society. Except the standing garrison at Annapolis, Acadia was as completely let alone by the British govern- ment as Rhode Island or Connecticut. Unfortu- nately, the traditional British policy of inaction \ ' f ! a I "V ; ;:« ' 'i. I.. » ,' { ;l 204 LOUISBOURG AND ACADIA. [1713-1749. /i H > !. Jl'h I'ii 'i ■ I :( If ;!i i I missionary of the Micmacs, received a " gratification " of fifteen Imndred livres, besides an annual allowance of five hundred, and is described in the order grant- ing it as a "brave man, capable even of leading tb.se savages on an expedition." ^ In 1726 he was brought before the C'ouncil at Annapolis charged with incen- diary conduct among both Indians and Acadians; but on asking pardon and promising nevermore to busy himself with affairs of government, he was allowed to remain in the province, and even to act as cur^ of the Mines. ^ No evidence appears that the British authorities ever molested a priest, except when detected in practices alien to his proper func- tions and injurious to the government. On one occasion whe. two cures were vacant, one through 'jedition and the other apparently through illness or death, Lieutenant-Governor Armstrong requested the governor of Isle Iloyale to send two priests "of known probity " to fill them.^ Who were answerable for the anomalous state of affairs in the province, — the imperium in imperio where the inner power waxed and strengthened every day, and the outer relatively pined and dwindled? It sccours d'un missionnairo " {Deliberations du Conseil de Marine, 23 Mai, 1719, in Le Canada-Francais). The Intendant Bcgon higlily commends tlie efforts of the missionaries to keep the Acadians in the French interest {Bcf/on au Ministre, 25 Septembre, 1715), and Vaudreuil praises their zeal in the same cause ( Vaudreuilau Ministre, 31 Octobre, 1717). 1 Deliberations du Conseil de Marine, 3 Mai, 1718. 2 Record of Council at Annapolis, 11 and 24 October, 1726. " Armstromj to Saint-Ovide, 17 June, 1732. > t 1713-1749.] THE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE. 205 was not mainly the Crown of France nor its agents, secular or clerical. Their action under tlie circum- ■stances, though sometimes inexcusable, was natural, and might have been foreseen. Nor was it the Council at Annapolis, who had little power either for good or evil. It was mainly the neglect and apathy of the British ministers, who seemed careless as to whether they kept Acadia or lost it, apparently thinking it not worth their notice. About the middle of the century they wakened from their lethargy, and warned by the signs of the times, sent troops and settlers into the province at the eleventh hour. France and her agents took alarm, and redoubled their efforts to keep their hold on a country which they had begun to regard as theirs already. The settlement of the English at Halifax startled the French into those courses of intrigue and violence which were the immediate cause of the removal of the Acadians in 1755. At the earlier period which we are now consider- ing, the storm was still remote. The English made no attempt either to settle the province or to secure it by sufficient garrisons ; they merely tried to biiid the inhabitants by an oath of allegiance which the weakness of the government would constantly tempt thorn to break. When George I. came to the throno, Deputy-Governor Caulfield tried to induce the inhab- itants to swear allegiance to the new monarch. The Acadians asked advice of Saint-Ovide, governor at Louisbourg, who sent them elaborate directions how IPI il ^ ' t '1 1^ «j i ) '.i ■■ ' i i ■, 1 i i 1 V I t £ f ■ ,1 ('. V |i i ... ..... * 1 U.' r 1 , ,!,i i II r JV! <» i: ' I ! i'l < i '■ I,, 1 ■ 1 , 1 1 j ' 1' ■' ^ 1 r,.:;i r ■ ( \ p 4' 1, \ |; ■ i^ ;. Ilj, I ■ V^- 206 LOUISBOURG AND ACADIA. [1714-1720. to answer the English demand and remain at the same time faithful children of France. Neither Caulfield nor his successor could carry their point. The Treaty of Utrecht, as we have seen, gave tlic Acadiuns a year in which to choose between remain- ing in the province and becoming British subjects, or leaving it as subjects of the King of France. The year had long ago expired, and most of them were still in Acadia, unwilling to leave it, yet refusing to own King George. In 1720 General Richard Philipps, the governor of the province, set himself to the task of getting the oath taken, while the missionaries and the French ofticers at Isie Royale strenuously opposed his efforts. He issued a proclamation order- ing the Acadians to swear allegiance to the King of England or leave the country, without their property, within four months. In great alarm, they appealed to their priests, and begged the R^collet, P^re Justinien, curd of Mines, to ask advice and help from Saint-Ovide, successor of Costebelle at Louis- bourg, protesting that they would abandon all rather than renounce their religion and their King.^ At the same time they prepared for a general emigration by way of the isthmus and Baye Verte, where it would have been impossible to stop them.^ ^ The Acadians to Saint-Ovide, 6 May, 1720, in Public Documents oj Nova Scotia, 25. This letter was evidently written for them, — no doubt by a missionary. 2 "They can march off at their leisure, by way of the Baye Verte, with their effects, without danger of being molested by this garrison, which scarce suffices to secure the Fort." — Philipps to Secretary Craggs, 20 May, 1720. em were 1720.] THE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE 207 Without the influence of their spiritual and tem- poral advisers, to whom they turned in all their troubles, it is clear that the Acadians would have taken the oath and remained in tranquil enjoyment of their homes ; but it was then thought important to French interests that they should remove either to Isle Royale or to Isle St. Jean, now Prince Edward's Island. Hence no means were spared to prevent them from becoming British subjects, if only in name; even the Micmacs were enlisted in the good work, and induced to threaten them with their enmity if they should fail in allegiance to King Louis. Philipps feared that the Acadians would rise in arms if he insisted on the harsh requirements of his procla- mation; in which case his position would have been difficult, as they now outnumbered his garrison about five to one. Therefore he extended indefinitely the term of four months, that he had fixed for their final choice, and continued to urge and persuade, without gaining a step towards the desired result. In vain he begged for aid from the British authorities. They would do nothing for him, but merely observed that while the French officers and priests had such influ- ence over the Acadians, they would never be good subjects, and so had better be put out of the country.^ This was easier said than done ; for at this very time there were signs that the Acadians and the Micmacs would unite to put out the English garrison.'* 1 The Board of Trade to Philipps, 28 December, 1720. 2 Deliberations du Conseil de Marine, Aoiist, 1720. The attempt i ^[ t'li. '•: : 1 f, /I 208 LOUISBOURG AXD ACADIA. [17i.>(M7;jO. ■■I h- i ( !• 7 r I' K ik:i|!'ll! Philipps Avas succeeded by a deputy-governor, Lieutenant-Colonel Armstrong, — a person of ardent impulses and unstable disposition. He applied himself with great zeal and apparent confidence to accomplisli- ing the task in which his principal had failed. In fact, he succeeded in 1726 in persuading the inhab- itants about Annapolis to take the oath, with c pro- viso that they should not be called upon for military service; but the main body of the Acadians stiffly refused. In the next year he sent Ensign Wroth to Mines, Chignecto, and neighboring settlements to renew the attempt on occasion of the accession of George II. The envoy's instructions left much to his discretion or his indiscretion, and he came back with the signatures, or crosses, of the inhabitants attached to an oath so clogged with conditions that it left them free to return to their French allegiance whenever they chose. Philipps now came back to Acadia to resume his difficult task. And here a surprise meets us. He reported a complete success. The Acadians, as he declared, swore allegiance without reserve to King George; but he does not tell us how they were brought to do so. Compulsion was out of the ques- tion. They could have cut to pieces any part of the paltry English garrison that might venture outside against the garrison was probably opposed by the priests, who must have seen the danger that it would rouse the ministry into sending troops to the province, which would have been disastrous to their plans. 1730.] THE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE. 209 the ditches of Annapolis, or they might have left Acadia, with all their goods and chattels, with no possibility of stopping them. The taking of the oath was therefore a voluntary act. But what was the oath ? The words reported by Philipps were as follows : " I promise and swear sin- cerely, on the faith of a Christian, that I will be en- tirely faithful, and will truly obey his Majesty King George the Second, whom I recognize as sovereign lord of Acadia or Nova Scotia. So help me God." To this the Acadians affixed their crosses, or, in ex- ceptional cases, their names. Recently, however, evidence has appeared that, so far at least as regards the Acadians on and near Mines Basin, the effect of the oath was qualified by a promise on the part of Philipps that they should not be required to take up arms against either French or Indians, — they on their part promising never to take up arms against the English. This statement is made by Gaudalie, cur^ of the parish of Mines, and Noiville, priest at Pigiquid, or Pisiquid, now Windsor. ^ In fact, the English never had the folly to call on the Acadians to fight for them ; and the greater part of this peace- loving people were true to their promise not to take arms against the English, though a considerable number of them did so, especially at the beginning ^ Certificat de Charles de la Gaudalie, pretre, cure missionnaire de la paroisse des Mines, et Noel- Alexandre Noiville, . . . cur^ de I'Assomp- tiun et de la Sainte Famille de Pifflguit; printed in Rameau, Une Colonie Feodale en Amerique (ed. 1889), ii. 53. VOL. I. — 14 ii r, K'i i^'ii- \ \ \ I ; M«: ; 1 1 (! 1 M,; \ ■ ^' .'i . ^ 210 LOUISBOURG AND ACADIA. [1730. ,1 M. I. :- ■ i ' ^ t I I i I )1 'M :l i of the Seven Years' War. It was to this promise, whether kept or broken, that they owed their name of Neutral French. From first to last, the Acadians remained in a child-like dependence on their spiritual and temporal guides. Not one of their number stands out promi- nently from among the rest. They seem to have been totally devoid of natural leaders, and, unhappily for themselves, left their fate in the hands of othei-s. Yet they were fully aware of their numerical strength, and had repeatedly declared, in a manner that the English officers called insolent, that they would neither leave the country nor swear allegiance to King George. The truth probably is that those who governed them had become convinced that this simple population, which increased rapidly, ana could always be kept French at heart, might be made more useful to France in Acadia than out of it, and that it was needless further to oppose the taking of an oath which would leave them in quiet possession of their farms without making any change in their feelings, and probably none in their actions. By force of natural increase Acadia would in time become the seat of a large population ardently French and ardently Catholic ; and while officials in France some- times complained of the reluctance of the Acadians to move to Isle Royale, those who directed them in their own countiy seem to have become willing that they should stay where they were, and place them- selves in such relations with tne English as should 1730.] THE OATH TAKEN. 211 leave them free to increase and multiply undisturbed. Deceived by the long apathy of the British govern- ment, French officials did not foresee that a time would come when it would bestir itself to make Acadia English in fact as well as in name.* ^ The preceding chapter is based largely on two collections of documents relating to Acadia, — the Nova Set t Archives, or Selec- tions from the Public Documents of Nova Scotia, printed in 1869 by the government of that province, and the mass of papers collected by Rev. H. R. Casgrain and printed in the documentary department of Le Canada-Franfais, a review published under direction of Laval University at Quebec, Abbe' Casgrain, with passionate industry, has labored to gather everything in Europe or America that could tell in favor of the French and against the English. Mr. Akins, the editor of tlie Nova Scotia Archives, leans to the otlier side, so that the two collections supplement each other. Both are copious and valuable. Besides these, I have made use of various docu- ments from the archives of Paris not to be found in either of the above-named collections. f i ■[ ' >' (, I it ^:k ..i ' i p I •■ '1 ' , \ II i ll!^ W' 1 1 ■ i! ; t M J 'i HM J^ i CHAPTER X. 1713-1724. SEBASTIEN RALE. Boundary Disputes. — Outposts op Canada. — The Eaumkr AND Lateu Jksuits. — Relkiion and Politics. — The Noh- RIDGEWOCKS AND THEIR MISSIONARY. — A IIOLLOW PeACE. — Disputed Land Claims. — Council at Georgetown. — Atti- tude OP Rale. — Minister and Jesuit. — The Indians WAVER. — An Outhheak. — Covert War. — Indignation against Rale. — War declared. — Governor and Assem- bly. — Speech op Samuel Sewall. — Penobscots attack Fort St. George. — Reprisal. — Attack on Norridgewook. — Death of Rale. Before the Treaty of Utrecht, the present Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and a part of Maine were collectively called Acadia by the French; but after the treaty gave Acadia to England, they insisted that the name meant only Nova Scotia. The English on their part claimed that the cession of Acadia made them owners, not only of the Nova Scotian peninsula, but 0^ Jl the country north of it to the St. Lawrence, or at least to the dividing ridge or height of land. This and other disputed questions of boundary were to be settled by commissioners of the two powers ; but their meeting way put off for forty years, and then their discussions ended in the Seven Years' I7l;{-1720.] thp: kennebpx'. 213 War. The cLaims of the rival nations were in fact 80 discordant that any attempt to reconcile them must needs produce a fresh ([uarrel. The treaty had left a choice of evils. To discuss the ])Oundary ques- tion meant to renew the war ; to leave it unsettled was a source of constant irritation; and while delay staved off a great war, it quickly pnxluced a small one. The river Kennebec, which was generally admitted by the French to be the dividing line lietween their possessions and New England,^ was regarded by them with the most watchful jealousy. Its head- waters approached those of the Canadian river Chaudl6re, the mouth of which is near Quebec ; and by ascending the former stream and crossing to the headwaters of the latter, through an intricacy of forests, hills, ponds, and marshes, it was possible for a small band of hardy men, unencumbered by cannon, to reach the Canadian capital, — as was done long after by the followers of Benedict Arnold. Hence it was thought a matter of the last importance to close the Kennebec against such an attempt. The Norridgewock band of the Abenakis, who lived on the banks of that river, were used to serve this pur- pose and to form a sort of advance-guard to the French colony, while other kindred bands on the Penobscot, the St. Croix, and the St. John were expected k.^ aid in opposing a living barrier to Eng- 1 In 1700, however, there was an agreement, under the treaty of Ryswick, which extended the English limits as far as the river St. George, a little west of the Penobscot. V'l|^ ■ i i i i t : I 4 : I'.i 214 SEBASTTEN RALE. [1630-1650. tr .1 .1 ■J \ih\\ intniHion. Missiomiries were atiitioned anionff all these Indians to keep them true to Church and King. The most important station, that of tlu; Norridgewocks, was in charge of Father Sehasticn Rale, the most conspicuous and interesting ligure among the later P^-eneh- American Jesuits. Since tlie middle of the seventeenth century a change had come over the Jesuit missions of New France. Nothing is more striking or more admi- rable than the self-devoted apostleship of the earlier period.^ The movement in Western Europe known as the Renaissance was far more than a revival of arts and letters, — it was an awakening of intel- lectual, moral, and religious life; the offspring of causes long in action, and the parent of other move- ments in action to this day. The Protestant Refor- mation was a part of it. That revolt against Rome produced a counter Renaissance in the bosom of the ancient Church herself. In presence of that peril she woke from sloth and corruption, and girded her- self to beat back the invading heresies, by force or by craft, by inquisitorial fires, by the arms of princely and imperial allies, and by the self-sacrificing enthusiasm of her saints and martyrs. That time of danger pro- duced the exalted zeal of Xavier and the intense, thoughtful, organizing zeal of Loyola. After a cen- tnry had passed, the flame still burned, and it never shone with a purer or brighter radiance than in the early missions of New France. ^ See " Jesuits in North America in the Seventeenth Century." 1713-1720] EARLTKR ANT) LATER JESUITS. 215 Such ardors cannot be permanent ; they must sub- side, from the law of their nature. If the great Western mission had l)een a success, the enthusiasm of its foundei-s might have maintained itself for some time longer; but that mission was extinguished in l)lood. Its martyrs died in vain, and the burning faith that had cieated it was rudely tried. Canada ceased to be a mission. The civil and militivry powers grew strong, and the Church no longer nded with undivided sway. The times changed, and the men changed with them. It is a characteristic of the Jesuit Order, and one of the sources of its strength, that it chooses the workman for his work, studies the qualities of its membei'S, and gives to each the task lor which he is fitted Ijest. When its aim was to convert savage hordes and build up another Paraguay in the Northern wilderness, it sent a Jogues, a Br^beuf, a Charles Garnier, and a Gabriel Lalemant, like a forlorn hope, to storm the stronghold of heathendom. In later times it sent other men to meet other needs and accomplish other purposes. Before the end of the seventeenth century the functions of the Canadian Jesuit had become as much political as religious; but if the fires of his apostolic zeal burned less high, his devotion to the Order in which he had merged his personality was as intense as before. While in constant friction with the civil and military powers, he tried to make him- self necessary to them, and in good measure he suc- i 1/ ') I \ V •■( h.t. J 1 I \' 216 sera.stiI':n rale. [1713-1724. I ■- ! * 1 ( ; i '-. ceeded. Nobody was so able to manage the Indian tribes and keep them in the interest of France. "Religion," says Charlevoix, "is the chief bond l)y which the savages are attached to us ; " and it was the Jesuit above all others who was charged to keen this bond firm. The Christianity that was made to sei*ve this use- fid end did not strike a deep root. While humanity is in the savage state, it can only be Christianized on the surface; and the convert of llie Jesuits re- mained a savage still. They did not even try to civilize him. They taught h.ii to repeat a catechism which he could not understand, and practise rites of which the spiritual significance was incomprehensible to him. He saw the symbols of liir new faitii in much the same light as the superstitions that hail once enchained him. To his eyes the crucifix was a fetich of surpassing power, and the mass a benefi- cent "medicine," or occult influence, of supreme efficacy. Yet he would not forget his old rooted beliefs, and it needed the constant presence of the missionary to prevent him from returning to them. Since the Iroquois had ceased to be a danger to Canada, the active alliance of the Western Indians had become less important to the colony. Hence the missions amoi.g them had received less attention, and most of these tribes had relapsed into heathenism. The chief danger had shifted eastward, and was, or was supposed to be, in the direction of New England. Therefore the Eastern missions were cultivated with ri7ia-17i>4. lie Indian f France. f bond l)y md it was 3d to keep 5 this use- liuinunitv risMaiiized Fesuits le- en try to catecliisni Lse rites of reliensible r faiti: in 1 that had icifix was 8 a benefi- t supreme )ld rooted ce of the to them. danger to n Indians Hence the iition, and athenism. d was, or England. ated with 17i;i-1724.] NORKIIXiEWOCK. 21 diligence, — whether tliosc within or adjoining the settled limits of Cansida, like the Ii()f[uois mission of Caughnawaga, tl\e AlnMiaki missions of St. Francis and Becancour, and the Huron mission of Lorette, or those luhat served Jis outposts and advance-guards of the colony, like the Norridgewock Abenakis of the Kennebec, or the TenoUscot Abenakis of the Penobscot. The priesis at all these stations were in close correspondence with the government, to wliich their influence over their converts was invaluable. In the wilderness dens of the Hurons or the Iroquois, the early Jesuit was a mar-» el of self-sacrificing zeal ; his successor, half missionary and half agent of the King, had thought for this world as well as the next. Sebastien Rale,^ born in Franche-Comt^ in 1657, was sent to the American missions in 1689 at the age of thirty-two. After spending two years among the Abenakis of Canada, then settled near the mouth of the Chaudiere, he was sent for two years more to the Illinois, and thenrie to the Abenakis of the Kennel)ec, where he was to end his days. Near where the town of Norridgewock now stands, the Kennebec curved round a broad tongue of meadow land, in the midst of a picturesque wilderness of hills and forests. On this tongue of land, on ground a few feet above the general level, stood the village of ^ So written by himself i an autograph letter of 18 November, 1712. It is also spelled Rasle, Rasles, Ralle, and, very incorrectly, Hallo', or Rallee. ' J ■ ■ ■ :! 'i^ r^-ii ill m \u I 'i> '!"'■ (1 '■>; :'fr' i H ^f? '' I; Im :^) •' ^ :li i * :\ I ;^ I'ihl t ;; i ^1 I 218 SEBASTIEN RALE. [1713-1720. the Norridgewocks, fenced with a stockade of round logs nine feet high. The enclosure was square ; eacli of its four sides measured one hundred and sixty fset, and each had its gate. From the four gates ran two streets, or lanes, which crossed each other in the middle of the village. There were twenty-six Indian houses, or cabins, within the stockade, described as "built much after the English manner," though probably of logs. The church was outside the enclosure, about twenty paces from the east gate.^ Such was the mission village of Norridgewock in 1716. It had risen from its ashes since Colonel Hilton destroyed it in 1705, and the church had been rebuilt by New England workmen hired for the pur- pose. ^ A small bell, which is still preserved at Brunswick, rang for mass at early morning, and for vespers at sunset. Rale's leisure hours were few. He preached, exhorted, catechised the young con- verts, counselled their seniors for this world and the next, nursed them in sickness, composed their quar- 1 The above particulars are taken from an inscription on a man- uscript map in the library of the Maine Historical Society, made in 171() by Joseph Heath, one of the principal English settlers on the Kennebec, and for a time commandant of the fort at Brunswick. 2 Wlien Colonel Westbrook and liis men came to Norridgewock in 1722, they found a paper pinned to the church door, containing, among others, the following words,, in the liandwriting of Rale, meant as a fling at the English ini-aders : " It [the church] is ill built, because the English don't work well. It is not finislied, although Ave or six Englishmen have wrouglit here during four years, and the Undertaker [contractor], who is a great Cheat, hath been paid in advance for to finish it." The money came from the Canadian government. ! : : , 1713-1720.] THE KENNEBEC MISSION. 219 rels, tilled his own garden, cut his own firewood, cooked his own food, which was of Indian corn, or, at a pinch, of roots and acorns, worked at his Abenaki vocabulary, and, being expert at handicraft, made ornaments for the church, or moulded candles from the fruit of the bayberry, or wax-myrtle.^ Twice a year, summer and winter, he followed his flock to tlie sea-shore and the islands, where they lived at their ease on fish and seals, clams, oysters, and seafowl. This Kennebec mission had been begun more than half a century before ; yet the conjurers, or " medicine men," — natural enemies of the missionary, — still remained obdurate and looked on the father askance, though the body of the tribe were constant at mass and confession, and regarded him with loving rever- ence. He always attended their councils, and, as he tells us, his advice always prevailed ; but he was less fortunate when he told them to practise no needless cruelty in their wars, on which point they were often disobedient children.^ Rale was of a strong, enduring frame, and a keen, vehement, caustic spirit. He had the gift of tongues, and was as familiar with the Abenaki and several i I f "^■.iM ,'» I 1 »• Ml.. I' ' <'l ill' , 1/ ' ( 240 SEBASTIKN RALE. [17L'j, 17 ja. to control supplies for the war, but to direct the war itself and conduct operations by committees of its own. Shute made his plans of campaign, and proceeded to appoint officers from among the frontier inlml)- itants, who had at least the qualification of heiii3. I promise myself that they who sit at this Hoard will yield their Faithful Advice to your Honour according to the Duty of their Place." Having thus delivered himself to an audience not much more susce[)tiblo of the ludicrous than ho was, the old man went home well pleased, and recorded in his diary that the lieutenant-fjfovernor and council- lors ros« and remained standinj^ while ho was speak- ing, "and they expressed a handsom Acceptance of what I had said; Zaus Deo.''' * Dummer was bom in New England, and mitrht, therefore, expect to find more favor than had fallen to his predecessor; hut he was the representative of royalty, and could not escape the consequences of being so. In earnest of what was in store for him, the Assembly would not pay his salary, because lie had sided with the governor in the late quarrel. The House voted to dismiss CcjIouoI Walton and Major Moody, the chief officei'S appointed by Slnite; and when Dummer reminded it that this was a matter belonging to him as commander-in-chief, it withheld the pay of the obnoxious officers and refused all supplies for th i war till they should be removed. Dummer was forced to yield. ^ The House would probably have pushed him still farther, if the mem- bers had not dreaded the effect of Shute's representa- tions at court, and feared lest persistent encroachment on the functions of the governor might cost them Sewall Papers, iii. 317, 318. a Palfrey, iv. 432, 433. 172IJ.] INDIAN RAVAGES. 243 their charter, to which, insufUcient as they thoiiglit it, and far inferior to the one they had lost, they clung tenaciously as the palladium of their liherties. Yet Dumnier needed the patience of Job; for his Assembly seemed more bent on victories over him than over the Indians. There was another election, which did not improve the situation. The new House was wors ' than the old, being made up largely of narrow-minded rustics, who tried to relieve the governor of all conduct of the war by assigning it to a committee chosen from among themselves, but the Council would not concur with them. Meanwhile the usual ravages went on. Farm- houses were burned, and the inmates waylaid and killed, while the Indians generally avoided encounters with armed bodies of whites. Near the village of Oxford four of them climbed upon the roof of a house, cut a hole in it with their hatchets, and tried to enter. A woman who was alone in the building, and who had two loaded guns and two pistols, seeing the first savage struggling to shove hii..."*^lf through tby hole, ran to him in desperation and shot him; on which the others dragged the body back and disappeared.^ There were several attempts of a '^lore erious r.ind. Tht small wooden fort at the river St. George, til'' most easterly English outpost, was attacked, but the assailants were driven off. A few weeks later it 1 Penhallow. Hutchinson, ii. 279. i *■ I il I « t - 1 i [ :■■ J ( 244 SEBASTIEN RALE. [17'2:i '!'■ ii'i v'* f'^s ' i? ] u was attacked again by the Penobscots under their missionary, Father Lauverjat. Other means failing, they tried to undermine the stockade ; but their sap caved in from the effect of rains, and they retreated, with severe loss. Tlie AVJirhke contagion spread to the Indians of Nova Scotia. In July the Micniacs seized sixteen or seventeen fishing-smacks at Canseau; on which John Eliot, of Boston, and John Ilobinson, of Cape Ann, chased the marauders in two sloops, retook n:ost of the vessels, and killed a good numher of the Indians. In the autumn a war-party, under the noted chief Grey Lock, prowled about the village of Rutland, met the minister, Joseph Willard, and attacked him. He killed one savage and wounded another, but was at last shot and scalped.^ The representatives had long been bent on destroy- ing the mission vilbge of the Penobscots on the river of that name; aixd one cause of their grudge against Colonel Walton was that, by order of the governor, he had deferred a projected attack upon it. His successor, Colonel Westbrook, now took the work in hand, went up the Penobscot in February with two hun^lrcd and thirty men in sloops and wliale- boats, left iLese at the head of navigation, and pushed through the forest to the Indian town called Panawamskd by the French. It stood apparently above Bangor, at or near Passadumkeag. Here tlie party found a stockade enclosure fourteen feet high, seventy yards long, and fifty yards wide, containing » Penhallow. Temple and Sheldon, History of Northfield, 195. 172:}, 1724.] PENOBSCOTS ATTACKED. 245 twenty- three houses, whicli Westbrook, a better woodsman than grammarian, reports to have been "built regular." Outside the stockade stood the chapel, "well and handsomely furnished within and without, and on the soiith side of that the Fryer's dwelling-house." ^ This " Fryer " was Father Lauver- jat, who had led his flock to the attack of the fort at the St. George. Both Indians and missionary were gone. Westbrook 's men burned the village and chapel, and sailed back to the St. George. In the next year, 1724, there was a more noteworthy stroke ; for Dummer, more pliant than Shute, had so far soothed his Assembly that it no longer refused money for the war. It was resolved to strike at the root of the evil, seize Rale, and destroy Norridge- wock. Two hundred and eight men in four com- panies, under Captains Harmon, Moulton, and Brown, and Lieutenant Bean, set out from Fort Richmond in seventeen whaleboats on the eighth of August. They left the boats at Taconic Falls in charge of a lieutenant and forty men, and on the morning of the tenth the main body, accompanied by three Mohaw^k Indians, marched through the forest for Norridge- wock. Towards evening they saw two squaws, one of whom they brutally shot, and captured the other, who proved to be the wife of the noted chief Bomazeen. She gave them a full account of the state of the village, which they approached early in the afternoon 1 Westbrook to Dummer, 23 March, 1723, in Collections Mass. Hist, Soc., Second Series, viii. 264. }; r. It 246 SEBASTTEN RALE. [1721. 'il'U '. >- '• ( .;'' ? of the twelfth. In the belief tliat some of the Indians would be in their cornfields on the river al)ove, Harmon, who was in command, divided the force, and moved up the river with about eighty men, while Moulton, with as many more, made for the village, advancing through the forest with all possible silence. About three o'clock he and his men emerged from a tangle of trees and bushes, and saw the Norridgewock cabins before them, no longer enclosed with a stotk- ade, but open and unprotected. Not an Indian was stirring, till at length a warrior came out from one of the huts, saw the English, gave a startled war- whoop, and ran back for his gun. Then all was dismay and confusion. Squaws and children ran screaming for the river, while the warriors, fifty or sixty in number, came to meet the enemy. Moulton ordered his men to reserve their fire till the Indians had emptied their guns. As he had foreseen, the excited savages fired wildly, and did little or no harm. The English, still keeping their ranks, re- turned a volley with deadly effect. The Indians gave one more fire, and then ran for the .iver. Some tried to wade to the farther side, the water beinjr low; others swam across, while many jumped into their canoes, but could not use them, having left tlie paddles in their houses. Moulton's men followed close, shooting the fugitives in the water or as they climbed the farther bank. When they returned to the village they found Rale in one of the houses, firing upon some of their coni- ! " ■ I I'- 1724.] HIS DEATH. 247 rades who had not joined in the pursuit. He pres- ently wounded one of them, on which a lieutenant named Benjamin Jaques burst open the door of the house, and, as he declared, found the priest loading his gun for another shot. The lieutenant said further that he called on him to surrender, and that Rale replied that he would neither give quarter nor take it; on which Jaques shot him tLiough the head.^ Moulton, who had given orders that Rale should not be killed, doubted this report of his subordinate s*^ far as concerned the language used by Rale, though believing that he had exasperated the lieutenant by provoking expressions of some kind. The old chief Mogg had shut himself up in another house, from which he fired and killed one of Moulton 's three Mohawks, whose brother then beat in the door and shot the chief dead. Several of the English followed, and brutally nuirdered Mogg's squaw and his two children. Such plunder as the village afforded, con- sisting of three barrels of gunpowder, with a few guns, blankets, and kettles, was then seized; and the Puritan militia thought it a meritorious act to break what they called the "idols" in the church, and carry off the sacred vessels. Harmon and his party returned towards night from their useless excursion to the cornfields, where they found nobody. In the morning a search was * Hutchinson, ii. 283 (ed. 1795). Hutchinson had the stor}' from Moulton. Compare the tradition in the family of Jaques, as told by liis great-grandson, in Historical Magazine, viii. 377. fe I :i ,11 I; 248 SEBASTIKN RALE. 'I'.'Jt ' 1 :1 j! ^^ 1. 'y\ [17J4. made for the dead, and twenty-six Indians were found and scalped, inchiding the principal chiefs and warriors of the place. Then, being- anxious for the safety of their l)oats, the party marched for Taconic Falls. They had scarcely left the village when one of the two surviving Mohawks, named Christian secretly turned back, set fire to the church and tlie houses, and then rejoined tlie party. The })oats were found safe, and embarking, they rowed down to Richmond with their trophies.^ The news of the fate of the Jesuit and his mission spread joy among the border settlers, who saw in it the end of their troubles. In their eyes Rale was an incendiary, setting on a horde of bloody savages to pillage and murder. Wlu-.v- they thought him a devil, he passed in Canada for a martyred saint. He was neither the one nor the other, but a man with the qualities and faults of a man, — fearless, 1 The above rests on the account of Hutcliinson, which was taken from the official Journal of Harmon, the conunander of the expedition, and from tlie oral statements of Moulton, wliom Hutch- inson examined on the subject. Cliarlevoix, following a letter of La Chasse in the Jesuit LeJtres EJiJuuitvs, gives a widely different story. According to him, Norridgewock was surprised by eleven Imndred men, who first announced their presence by a general vol- ley, riddling all the houses with bullets. TJale, says La Chasso, ran out to save his flock by drawing tiie rage of the enemy on him- self ; on which they raised a great shout and tliot him dead at tlie foot of the cross in the middle of the village. La Chasse does not tell us where he got the story ; lint as thrrv. were no French wit- nesses, the story nius*: have come from the Indians, who are notori- ous liars where their interest and self-love are concerned. Nobody competent to judge of evidence can doubt vvhich of the two state- ments is the more trustworthy. ^1 1721.] Ills CHARACTER. 240 resolute, eT>during; boastful, sarcastic, often bitter and irritating ; a vehement partisan ; apt to see things, not as they were, but as he wished them to l)e ; given to inaccuracy and exaggei-ation, yet no doubt sincere ill opinions and genuine in zeal ; hating the English more than he loved the Indians ; calling himself their friend, yet using them as instruments of worldly policy, to their danger and final ruin. In consider- ing the ascription of martyrdom, it is to be remem- bered that he did not die because he was an apostle of the faith, but because he was the active agent of the Canadian government. There is reason to believe that he sometimes exer- cised a humanizing influence over his flock. The war which he helped to kindle was marked by fewer barbarities — fewer tortures, mutilations of the dead, and butcheries of women and infants — than either of the preceding wars. It is fair to assume that this was due in part to him, though it was chiefly the result of an order given, at the outset, by Shute that non-combatants in exposed positions should be sent to places of safety in the older set ''"merits.^ i; ( I I' ( ( 'I I J; 1 It is also said that Rale taught some of Indians to read and write, — which was unusual in the Jesuit '.nissions. On his char- acter, compare the judicial and candid LIfi Rale, by Dr. Convers Francis, in Sparks's American Biography, i\tw Series, vii. : '« • i s ( 1 \-^ 1 (1 ! ,*• 1 1 ! 1 !■'■' -^^ ', I ;i I , u CHAPTER XL 1724, 1725. LOVEWELL'S FIGHT. Vai!Dreuil and DnMMp:R. — Embassy to Canada. — Indians in- TRACTABLE. — TkKATV OF PeACE. ThE PEyUAWKETS. — JoHN LovEWELL. — A Hunting Party. — Another Expedition.— The Ambuscade. — The Fight. — Chaplain Frve : his Fate, — The Survivors. — Susanna Rogers. The death of Rale and the destruction of Norridge- woek did not at once end the war. Vaudreuil turned all the savages of the Canadian missions against the borders, not oidy of Maine, but of western Massa- chusetts, whose peaceful settlers had given no offence. Soon after the Norridgevvock expedition, Dumnier wrote to the French governor, who had lately pro- claimed the Abenakis his allies : " As they are sub- jects of his Britannic Majesty, they cannot be your allies, except through me, his representative. You have instigated them to fall on our people in the most outrageous manner. I have seen your connnis^iou to Sebastien Rale. But for your protection and in- citements they would have made peace long ago."^ In reply, Vaudreuil admitted that he had given a safe-conduct Jind a commission to Rale, which he 1 Duininer to Vaudreuil, 15 September, 1724. 1724, 1725.] VAUDREUIL AND DUMMER. 251 Indians in- ais. — John I'EUITION. — : HIS Fatk, Norridge- lil turned gainst the n Miissa- offence. Diimmer itely pro- are sub- be your We. You the most iinmission 1 and in- igo. d given a ^vliich he could not deny, as the Jesuit's papers were in the liands of tlie English governor. "You will have to answer to your king for his murder," he tells Duminer. "It would have been strange if I had abandoned our Indians to please you. I cannot help taking the part of our allies. You have brought your troubles upon yourself. I advise you to pull down all the forts you have built on the Abenaki lands since the Peace of Utrecht. If you do so, I will be your mediator with the Norridgewocks. As to the murder of Rale, I leave that to be settled between the two Crowns."^ Apparently the French court thought it wise to let the question rest, and make no complaint. Dummer, however, gave his v^>ws on the subject to Vaudreuil. "Instead of pre.v -ung peace, love, and f'-iendshij), agreeably to the Christian religion, Rale was an incendiary, as api)ears by many letters I have by me. He has once and again appeared at the head of a great many IndiauN, threatening and insulting us. If such a disturJjer of the peace has been killed in the heat of action, nobody is to blame but himself. I have much more cause to complain that Mr. Willard, minister of Rutland, who is innocent of all that is charged aga.nst Rale, and always confined himself to preaching the Gospel, was slain and scalped by your Inc.ians, and his scalp carried in triumph to Quel)ec." Dunnner then denies that France has any claim to * Vaudreuil a Dummer, 29 Octobre, 1724. V* ■ i- ! LOVKWEM.'S FirJIIT. [17. M .* 'i ,, ,f ' ;i I '.! I ' If ', tlie Abeiiiikis, and declares that the war between tlieni and the Engli.sli is due to tlie insti<,'ati()ii,s of Kale and t^,e encouragements given them l)y Vaudreuil. But he achls that in his wish to promote peace lie sends two prominent gentlemen, C/olonc] Samuel Thaxter and Colonel William Dudley, us bearers of his letter.^ Mr. Atkinson, envoy on the part of New Hampsliirc joined Tliaxter ano I^udley, and the three set out for Montreal, over the ice of Lake Champlain. Vau- dreuil received them with courtesy. As required l)y tlieir instructions, they demanded the release of the P^nglisli prisoners in Canada, and protested against the action of the French governor in setting on the Indians to attack English settlements when there was })eace between the two (!Ii-owns. Vaudreuil denied that he had done so, till they showed him his own letters to Rale, captured at Norridgewock. I'hese were unanswerable; but Vaudreuil insisted that the supplies sent to the Indians were only the presents which they received every year from the King. As to the English i^'isoners, he said that those in the hands of the Indians were beyond his power; but that the envoys could have those whom the French had Ijought from their captors, on paying back the price they had cost. The demands wei-e exorbitant, but sixteen pi'isoners were ransomed, and bargains were made for ten more. Vaudreuil proposed 1 Dummcr to Vaudreuil, 19 Januari/, 1725. This, with many otlicr papers relating to these matters, is in the Massaehusetts Archives. 1725.] KMliASSY TO CANADA. to Tli.oXter and his collouguos to liave an interview with the Indians, wliich tlicy at first declined, say- ing that they liad no powers to treat with tlieiii, tliough, if the Indians wislied to ask foi* peace, they were ready to hear them. At h'ngth a meeting was arranged. Tlie Freneli governor writes: " lieing satisfied that nothing was more opposed to onr interests than a peace l)etween the Ahenakis and the English, I thought that I wonld sonnd the chiefs before they spoke to the Knglish envo3s, and insinn- ate to them everything that 1 had to say."' This he did with sneh snecess that, instead of asking for peace, the Indians demanded the demolition of the English forts, and heavy damages foi- Imrning their church and killing their missicmary. In short, to VaudreuiFs great satisfaction, they talivcd nothing but war. The French despatch repoi-ting this inter- view has the following marginal note: "Nothing better can be done than to foment this war, which at least retards the settlements of the English ; " and against this is written, in the hand of the colonial minister, the word '"'' Approved.''^ ^ This was, in fact, the policy pursued from the first, and Rale had been an instrument of it. The Jesuit La Chasse, who 1 Dffpeche de Vandre.uil,! Aottt, H2B. "Coniino j'ai toujours e'td persuade que rien n'est plus ()])p()se k nos inti'rets que la paix des Abonakis avec los Antflais (la sureto de cetto coloniu du cote de IV-st ayant etc Tuniquc objet de cette guerre), je sonf^eai a pres- scntir ces sauvagea avant (ju'ils parlassant aux Anglais et a leur insinuer tout ce que j'avais a leur 'lire.'' — Vandreu'd au Ministre, 22 Miii, 1725. 2 .V. Y. Col. Docs., ix. 949. li I I «!l i:i J: fi. 254 LOVEVVELL'S FIGHT. I't\ min \i I . [1720. 70 r. spoke both English and Abenaki, had acted as inter- preter, and so had liad the meeting in his power, us he coukl make both parties say what he pleasid. The envoys tlionght him more anti-Enghsli tliiin Vaudrenil himself, and ascribed the intractable mood of the Indians to liis devices. Under the circiim- stances, they made a mistake in consenting to the interview at fill. The governor, who had treated tliem with civility thronghout, gave them an escort of soldiers for the liomeward journey, and they and the redeemed prisoners returned safely to Albany. The war went on as l)efore, but the Indians were fast growing tired of it. The Penobscots had made themselves obnoxious by their attacks on Fort St. George, and Captain Heath marched across country from the Kennebec to punish them. He found their village empty. It was built, since Westbrook's attack, at or near the site of Bangor, a little below Indian Old Town, — the present abode of the tribe, — and consisted of fifty wigwams, which Heath's men burned to the ground. One of the four hostages still detained at Boston, together with another Indian captured in the war, was allowed to visit his people, under a promise to return. Strange to say, the promise was kept. They came back bringing a request for peace from their tribesmen. On this, commissioners were sent to the St. George, where a conference was held with some of the Penobscot chiefs, and it was arranged that deputies of that people should be sent to Boston to il Ml \. 1725.] TREATY OF TKACE. or.r Mill) conclude a solid peace. After long delay, four chiefs appeared, fully empowered, as they said, to make peace, not for the Penobseots oidy, but for the other Abenaki tribes, their allies. The speeches and ceremonies being at last ended, the four deputies iilFixed their marks to a pajjcr in which, for them- selves and tt'oae they representfid, tliey made sid)mis- sion "unto his most excellent Majesty (ieorge, by tlie grace of God king of Great IJritain, France, and Ireland, defender of the Faith," etc., promising to "cease and forbear all acts of hostility, injuries, and discord towards all his sul)jects, and never confederate or combine with any other nation to tlieir prejudice." Here was a curious anomaly. The English claimed the Abenakis as subjects of the British Crown, and at the same time treated with them as a foreign power. Each of the four deputies signed tlie al)ove- mentioned paper, one with the likeness of a turtle, the next with that of r. bird, the third with the untu- tored portrait of a beaver, and the fourth with an extraordinary scrawl, meant, it seems, for a lobster, — such being their respective totems. To these the lieutenant-governor added the seal of the province of Massachusetts, coupled with his ov/n autogiaph. In the next summer, and again a year later, other meetings were held at Casco Bay with the chiefs of the various Abenaki tribes, in which, after prodigious circumlocution, the Boston treaty was ratified, and the war ended. ^ This time the Massachusetts 1 Penhallow gives the Boston treaty. For the ratifications, see Collections of the Maine Hist. Soc, iii. 377, 407. i 1 ! I. ( t ■ i ill :- I if: ^ \^ 1^. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I ^|21 |Z5 2.2 u liiift lU m 1 4.0 IL25 HI 1.4 ■ 2.0 1^41 1.6 °1^ '/ Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WIST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. M580 (716) •72-4S03 f\ iV •s^ :\ \ 256 LOVEWELL'S FIGHT. 'I [1725-17L^8. Assembly, taught wisdom by experience, furnished a gaarantee of peace by providing for government trading-houses in the Indian country, where goods were supplied, through responsible hands, at honest prices. The Norridgewocks, with whom the quarrel began, were completely broken. Some of the survivoi-s joined their kindred in Canada, and others were merged in the Abenaki bands of the Penobscot, Saco, or Androscoggin. Peace reigned at last along the borders of New England; but it had cost her dear. In the year after the death of Rale, there was an incident of the conflict too noted in its day, and too strongly rooted in popular tradition, to be passed unnoticed. Out of the heart of the White Mountains springs the river Saco, fed by the bright cascades that leap from the crags of Mount Webster, brawling among rocks and bowlders down the great defile of the Crawford Notch, winding through the forests and intervales of Conway, then circling northward l)y the village of Fryeburg in devious wanderings by meadows, woods, and mountains, and at last turning eastward and southward to join the sea. On the banks of this erratic stream lived an Abenaki tribe called the Sokokis. When the first white man visited the country, these Indians lived at the Falls, a few miles from the mouth of the river. They retired before the English settlers, and either joined their kindred in Maine, or migrated to St. Francis i ; ■'■> 1725.] THE PEQUAWKETS. 267 and other Abenaki settlements in Canada; but a Sokoki band called Pigwackets, or Pequawkets, still kept its place far in the interior, on the upper waters of the Saco, near Pine Hill, in the present town of Fryeburg. Except a small band of their near kindred on Lake Ossipee, they were the only human tenants of a wilderness many thousand square miles in ex- tent. In their wild and remote abode they were diffi- cult of access, and the forest and the river were well stocked with moose, deer, bear, beaver, otter, lynx, fisher, mink, and marten. In this, their happy hunting-ground, the Pequawkets thought themselves safe; and they would have been so for some time longer if they had not taken up the quarrel of the Norridgewocks and made bloody raids against the English border, under their war-chief, Paugus. Not far from where their wigwams stood clustered in a bend of the Saco was the small lake now called Lovewell's Pond, named for John Lovewell of Dunstable, a Massachusetts town on the New Hamp- shire line. Lovewell's father, a person of considera- tion in the village, where he owned a "garrison house," had served in Philip's War, and taken part in the famous Narragansett Swamp Fight. The younger Lovewell, now about thirty- three years of age, lived with his wife, Hannah, and two or three children on a farm of two hundred acres. The inventory of his effects, made after his death, includes five or six cattle, one mare, two steel traps with chains, a gun, two or three books, a feather-bed, and VOL. I. — 17 i 'l ! ii t t ! t -. .' L^ 258 LOVEWELL'S FIGHT. [1725. "undor-bed," or mattress, along with sundry tools pots, barrels, chests, tubs, and the like, — the equip- ment, in short, of a decent frontier yeoman of the time.* But being, like the tough veteran, his father, of a bold and adventurous disposition, he seems to have been less given to farming than to hunting and bush-fighting. Dunstable was attacked by Indians in the autumn of 1724, and two men were carried off. Ten others went in pursuit, but fell into an ambush, and nearly all were killed, Josiah Farwell, Love well's brother- in-law, being, by some accounts, the only one who escaped.^ Soon after this, a petition, styled a "Humble Memorial," was laid before the House of Representatives at Boston. It declares that in order "to kill and destroy their enemy Indians," the peti- tioners and forty or fifty others are ready to spend one whole year in hunting them, " provided they can meet with Encouragement suitable." The petition is signed by John Lovewell, Josiah Farwell, and Jonathan Robbins, all of Dunstable, Lovewell's name being well written, and the others after a cramped and unaccustomed fashion. The representatives ac- cepted the proposal and voted to give each adventurer two shillings and sixpence a day, — then equal in 1 See the inventory, in Kidder, The Expeditions of Captain John Lovewell, 93, 94. 2 Other accounts say that eight of the ten were killed. The head- stone of one of the number, Thomas Lund, has these words : "This man, with seven more that lies in this grave, was slew All in A day by the Indiens." ii; I li !l 'U 1725.] HUNTING INDIANS. 259 Massachusetts currency to about one English shil- ling, — out of which he was to maintain himself. The men were, in addition, promised large rewards for the scalps of male Indians old enough to fight. A company of thirty was soon raised. Lovewell was chosen captain, Farwell, lieutenant, and Robbins, ensign. They set out towards the end of November, and reappeared at Dunstable early in January, bring- ing one prisoner and one scalp. Towards the end of the month Lovewell set out again, this time with eighty-seven men, gathered from the villages of Dunstable, Groton, T^ancaster, Haverhill, and Bil- lerica. They ascended the frozen Merrimac, passed Lake Winnepesaukee, pushed nearly to the White Mountains, and encamped on a branch of the upper Saco. Here they killed a moose, — a timely piece of luck, for they were in danger of starvation, and Lovewell had been compelled by want of food to send back a good number of his men. The rest held their way, filing on snow-shoes through the deathlike soli- tude that gave no sign of life except the light track of some squirrel on the snow, and the brisk note of the hardy little chickadee, or black-capped titmouse, so familiar to the winter woods. Thus far the scouts had seen no human footprint; but on the twentieth of February they found a lately abandoned wigwam, and, following the snow-shoe tracks that led from it, at length saw smoke rising at a distance out of the gray forest. The party lay close till two o'clock in the morning ; then cautiously approached, found one • I liiii j fti ; l! ' 1 1 i Lg m 260 LOVEWELL'S FIGHT. ,1 '■'V [1725. or more wigwams, surrounded them, and killed all the inmates, ten in number. They were warriors from Canada on a winter raid against the borders. Love well and his men, it will be seen, were much like hunters of wolves, catamounts, or other dangerous Ijeasts, except that the chase of this fierce and wily human game demanded far more hardihood and skill. They brought home the scalps in triumph, together with the blankets and the new guns furnished to the slain warriors by their Canadian friends ; and Love- well began at once to gather men for another hunt. The busy season of the farmers was at hand, and volunteers came in less freely than before. At the middle of April, however, he had raised a band of forty-six, of whom he was the captain, with Farwell and Robbins as his lieutenants. Though they were all regularly commissioned by the governor, they were leaders rather than commanders, for they and their men were neighbors or acquaintances on terms of entire social equality. Two of the number require mention. One was Seth Wyman, of Woburn, an ensign ; and the other was Jonathan Frye, of Andover, the chaplain, a youth of twenty-one, graduated at Harvard College in 1723, and now a student of theology. Chaplain though he was, lie carried a gun, knife, and hatchet like the others, and not one of the party was more prompt to use them. They began their march on April 15. A few days afterwards, one William Cummings, of Dun- stable, became so disabled by the effects of a wound III m 1725.] ANOTHER EXPEDITION. 261 received from Indians some time l)efore, that he could not keep on with the rest, and Lovewell sent him back in charge of a kinsman, tlius reducing their number to forty-four. When they reached the west shore of Lake Ossipee, Benjamin Kidder, of Nutfield, fell seriously ill. To leave him defenceless in a place so dangerous was not to be thought of; and his com- rades built a small fort, or palisaded log-cabin, near the water, where they left the sick man in charge of the surgeon, together with Sergeant Wood? and a guard of seven men. The rest, now reduced to thirty-four, continued their march through the forest northeastward towards Pequawket, while the savage heights of the White Mountains, still covered with snow, rose above the dismal, bare forests on their left. They seem to have crossed the Saco just below the site of Fryeburg, and in the night of May 7, as they lay in the woods near the northeast end of Lovewell's Pond, the men on guard heard sounds like Indians prowling about them. At daybreak the next morning, as they stood bareheaded, listening to a prayer from the young chaplain, they heard the report of a gun, and soon after discovered an Indian on the shore of the pond at a considerable distance. Apparently he was shooting ducks; but Lovewell, suspecting a device to lure them into an ambuscade, asked the men whether they were for pushing for- ward or falling back, and with one voice they called upon him to lead them on. They were then in a piece of open pine woods traversed by a small brook. '.' ( i i ft I ■ \^' hf 262 LOVEWELL'S FIGHT. [172o. ■\ i He ordered them to lay down their packs and advaiico with extreme caution. They had moved forward for some time in this manner when they met an Indian coming towards them through the dense trees and bushes. He no sooner saw them than he fired at the leading men. His gun was charged with beaver-shot; but he was so near his mark that the effect was equal to that of a bullet, and he severely wounded Lovewell and one Whiting; on which Seth Wynian shot him dead, and the chaplain and another man scalped him. Lovewell, though believed to be mor- tally hurt, was still able to walk, and the party fell back to the place where they had left their packs. The packs had disappeared, and suddenly, with frightful yells, the whole body of the Pequawket warriors rushed from their hiding-places, firing as they came on. The survivors say that they were more than twice the number of the whites, — which is probably an exaggeration, though their conduct, so unusual with Indians, in rushing forward instead of firing from their ambush, shows a remarkable confi- dence in their numerical strength. ^ They no doubt expected to strike their enemies with a panic. Love- well received another mortal wound; but he fired more than once on the Indians as he lay dying. His two lieutenants, Farwell and Robbins, were also badly hurt. Eight others fell; but the rest stood their 1 Penhallow puts their numher at seventy, Hutchinson at eighty, Williamson at sixty-three, and Belknap at forty-one. In such cases the smallest number is generally nearest the truth. ■hi 1725.] THE BATTLE. 263 ground, and pushed the Indians so hard that tliey drove them back to cover with heavy loss. One man played the coward, Benjamin Hassell, of Dunstable, who ran off, escaped in the confusion, and made with his best speed for the fort at Lake Ossipee. The situation of the party was desperate, and nothing saved them from destruction but the prompt action of their surviving officers, only one of whom, Ensign Wyman, had escaped unhurt. It was prob- ably under his direction that the men fell back steadily to the shore of the pond, which was only a few rods distant. Here the water protected their rear, so that they could not be surrounded ; and now followed one of the most obstinate and deadly bush- fights in the annals of New England. It was about ten o'clock when the fight began, and it lasted till night. The Indians had the greater agility and skill in hiding and sheltering themselves, and the whites the greater steadiness and coolness in using their guns. They fought in the shade ; for the forest was dense, and all alike covered themselves as they best could behind trees, bushes, or fallen trunks, where each man crouched with eyes and mind intent, firing whenever he saw, or thought he saw, the head, limbs, or body of an enemy exposed to sight for an instant. The Indians howled like wolves, yelled like enraged cougars, and made the forest ring with their whoops; while the whites replied with shouts and cheers. At one time the Indians ceased firing and drew back among the trees and undergrowth, '} ' I ■ I I ti I i, u ; i. ri \t 1:1 M i; 264 LOVEWf:LLS FIGHT. [1725. r;.; where, by the noise they made, they seemed to l)o holding a "pow-wow," or incantation to procure vic- tory; but the keen and fearless Seth Wynian crept up among the bushes, shot the chief conjurer, and broke up the meeting. About the middle of the afternoon young Frye received a mortal wound. Unable to fight longer, he lay in his blood, praying from time to time for his comrades in a faint but audible voice. Solomon Keyes, of liillerica, received two wounds, but fought on till a third shot struck him. He then crawled up to Wyman in the heat of the light, and told him that he, Keyes, was a dead man, but that the Indians should not get his scalp if he could help it. Creeping along the sandy edge of the pond, he chanced to find a stranded canoe, pushed it afloat, rolled him- self into it, and drifted away before the wind. Soon after sunset the Indians drew off and left the field to their enemies, living and dead, not even stop- ping to scalp the fallen, — a remarkable proof of the completeness of their discomfiture. Exhausted with fatigue and hunger, — for, having lost their packs in the morning, they had no food, — the surviving white men explored the scene of the fight. Jacob Farrar lay gasping his last by the edge of the water. Robert Usher and Lieutenant Robbins were unable to move. Of the thirty-four men, nine had escaped without serious injury, eleven were badly wounded, and the rest were dead or dying, except the coward who had run off. About midnight, an hour or more before the set- ! ]l u 1725.] AFTEK THE BATTLE. 265 ting of the moon, such as had strength to walk left the ground. Kobbins, as he hiy helpless, asked one of them to load his gun, saying, "The Indians will come in the morning to scalp me, and I '11 kill another of 'em if I can." They loaded the gun and left him. To make one's way even by daylight through the snares and pitfalls of a New England forest is often a difficult task; to do so in the darkness of night and overshadowing boughs, among the fallen trees and the snarl of underbrush, was wellnigh impossible. Any but the most skilful woodsmen would have lost their way. The Indians, sick of fighting, did not molest the party. After struggling on for a mile or more, Farwell, Frye, and two other wounded men, Josiah Jones and Eleazer Davis, could go no farther, and, with their consent, the others left them, with a promise to send them help as soon as they should reach the fort. In the morning the men divided into several small bands, the better to elude pursuit. One of these parties was tracked for some time by the Indians, and Elias Barron, becoming separated from his companions, was never again heard of, though the case of his gun was afterwards found by the bank of the river Ossipee. Eleven of the number at length reached the fort, and to their amazement found nobody there. The runaway, Hassell, had arrived many hours before them, and to excuse his flight told so frightful a story of the fate of his comrades that his hearers were seized with a panic, shamefully abandoned their i !1 I .ir ! • t ^ ! '■ 1 ■ V ' m 266 LOVKV, KLF/S FKJIIT. [1725. / If post, and set out for the settlements, leuvin^' a writ- ing on a i)ic(;e of l)iivli-l>ark to the etfect that all tji,. rest were killed. They had left a supjily of ]nviu\ and i)ork, and while the famished eleven rested and refreshed themselves they were joined hy Solomon Keyes, the man who, after \miv^ thriee wounded, had HoatiMl away in a eanoe from the plaeo of the light. After drifting for a consider hie distance, the wind hlew him ashore, when, spurred hy necessity aiul feeling himself " wcmderfully strengthened," he succeeded in gaining tlie fort. Meanwhile Frye, Harwell, and their two wounded companions, Davis and Jones, after waiting vainly for the expected help, found strength to struggle forward again, till the chaplain stopped and lay down, begging the othera to keep on their way, and saying to Davis, " Tell my father that I expect in a few houi-s to ])e in eternity, and am not afraid to die." They left him, and, says the old narrative, "he has not been heard of since." He had kept the journal of the expedition, which was lost with him. Farwell died of exhaustion. The remaining two lost their way and became separated. After wander- ing eleven days, Davis reached the fort at Lake Ossipee, and, finding food there, came into Berwick on the twenty-seventh. Jones, after fourteen days in the woods, arrived, half dead, at the village of Biddeford. Some of the eleven who had first made their way to the fort, together with Keyes, who joined them 'ini iV ITl'u.] TIIK SlUV IVORS. 1>7 there, camo into Diinstiiblr tluriiig the iiiglit of the thirteentli, and the rest followed one or two days later. Ensign NVynian, who was now the only commissioned ollicer left alive, and who had borne himself through- out with the utmost intreiudity, decision, and good sense, reaehetl the same place along with three other men on the fifteenth. The runaway, Ilassell, and the guard at the fort, whom he had infected with his terror, had lost no time in laaking their way hack to Dunstable, which they seem to have reached on the evening of the (eleventh. Horsemen were sent in haste to carry the doleful news to Boston, on which the governor gave ordera to Colonel Tyng of the militia, who was then at Dunstable, to gather men in the border towns, march with all speed to the place of the fight, succor the wounded if any were still alive, and attack the Indians, if he could find them. Tyng called upon Hassell to go with him as a guide; but he was ill, or pretended to be so- on which one of the men who had been in the figut And had just returned offered to go in his place. When the party reached the scene of the battle, they saw the trees plentifully scarred with bullets, and presently found and buried the bodies of Love- well, Robbins, and ten othera. The Indians, after their usual custom, had carried off or hidden their own dead; but Tyng's men discovered three of them buried together, and one of these was recognized as the war-chief Paugus, killed by Wyman, or, accord- i 1 1 I I :. 268 LOVEWELL'S FIGHT. [1725. 'ri: ii ing to a more than doubtful tradition, by John Chamberlain. 1 Not a living Indian was to be seen. The Pequawkets were cowed by the rough handling they had met when they plainly expected a victory. Some of them joined their Abenaki kinsmen in Can- ada and remained there, while others returned after the peace to their old haunts by the Saco ; but they never again raised the hatchet against the English. Love well's Pond, with its sandy beach, its two green islands, and its environment of lonely forests, reverted for a while to its original owners, — the wolf, bear, lynx, and moose. In our day all is changed. Farms and dwellings possess those peace- ful shores, and hard by, where, at the bend of the Saco, once stood, in picturesque squalor, the wig- wams of the vanished Pequawkets, the village of Fryeburg preserves the name of the brave young 1 The tradition is that Chamberlain and Paugus went down to the small brook, now called Fight Brook, to clean their guns, hot and foul with frequent firing ; that they saw each other at the same instant, and that the Indian said to the white man, in his broken English, "Me kill you quick!" at the same time hastily loading his piece ; to which Chamberlain coolly replied, " Maybe not." Ills firelock had a large touch-hole, so that the powder could be shaken out into the pan, and the gun made to prime itself. Thus he was ready for action an instant sooner than his enemy, whom he shot dead just as Paugus pulled trigger, and sent a bullet whistling over his head. The story has no good foundation, while the popular ballad, written at the time, and very faithful to the facts, says that, the other officers being killed, the English made Wyman their captain, — " Who shot the oJd chief Paugus, which did the foe defeat, Then set his men in order and brought off the retreat." n :;.. ^; 1725.] FRYE AND HIS BETROTHED. 269 'il chaplain, whose memory is still cherished, in spite of his uncanonical turn for scalping.^ He had engaged .himself to a young girl of a neighboring village, Susanna Rogers, daughter of John Rogers, minister of Boxford. It has been said ^hat Frye's parents thought her l)eneath him in education and position; but this is not likely, for her father belonged to what has been called the " Brahmin caste " of New Eng- land, and, like others of his family, had had, at Harvard, the best education that the country could supply. The girl herself, though only fourteen years old, could make verses, such as they were ; and she wrote an elegy on the death of her lover which, bating some grammatical lapses, deserves the modest praise of being no worse than many New England rhymes of that day. The courage of Frye and his sturdy comrades con- tributed greatly to the pacification which in the next year relieved the borders from the scourge of Indian war.'-^ 1 The town, however, was not named for the chaplain, but for his father's cousin, General Joseph Frye, the original grantee of the land. ^ Rev. Thomas Symmes, minister of Bradford, preached a sermon on the fate of Lovewell and his men immediately after the return of the survivors, and printed it, with a much more valuable introduction, giving a careful account of the affair, on the evidence of " the "Valorous Captain Wyman and some others of good Credit that were in the Engagement." Wyman had just been made a captain, in recognition of his conduct. The nar- rative is followed by an attestation of its truth signed by him and two others of Lovewell's band. A considerable number of letters relating to the expedition are I ^jH i; ' :■ i \ ■ 1 i 1 i 1 1,1 270 LOVEWELL'S FIGHT. [1725. preserved in the Massachusetts Archives, from Benjamin Hasscll Colonel Tyng, Governor Dunimer of Massachusetts, and Governor Wentworth of New Hampshire. Tliey give the various reports received from those in the fight, and show the action taken in con- sequence. The Archives also contain petitions from the survivors and the families of the slain ; and the legislative Journals show that the petitioners received large grants of land. Lovewell's debts c ^ntracted in raising men for his expeditions were also paid. The papers mentioned above, with other authentic records con- cerning the affair, have I -"en printed by Kidder in his Expeditions of Captain John Lovetcell, a monograph of thorough research. The names of all Lovewell's party, and biographical notices of some of them, are also given by Mr. Kidder. Compare Penhallow, Hutchin- son, Fox, Ilistorji of Dunstable, and Bouton, Lovewell's Great Fi(/ht. For various suggestions touching Lovewell's Expedition, I am in- debted to Mr. C. W. Lewis, who has made it the subject of minute and careful study. A ballad which was written when the event was fresh, and was long popular in New England, deserves mention, if only for its general fidelity to the facts. The following is a sample of its eighteen stanzas : — . '. " 'T was ten o'clock in the morning when first the fight begun, And fiercely did continue till the setting of the sun, Excepting that the Indians, some hours before 't was night, Drew off into the bushes, and ceased awhile to fight ; "But soon again retumM in fierce and furious mood, Shouting as in the morning, but yet not half so loud ; For, as we are informed, so thick and fast they fell. Scarce twenty of their number at night did get home well. "Our worthy Captain Lovewell among them there did die; They killed Lieutenant Robbins, and wounded good young Frye, Who was our English chaplain ; he many Indians slew, And some of them he scalped when bullets round him flew." wj,.ii- .^ ' ' P ' 1. : Frye, as mentioned in the text, had engaged himself to Susanna Rogers, a young girl of the village of Boxford, wlio, after his death, wrote some untutored verses to commemorate his fate. They are entitled, A Mournful Elegy on ^fr. Jonathan Frye, and begin thus : 1725.] VERSES UPON IT. 271 " Assiiit, ye muses, help my quill, Whilst Hoods of tears does down distil; Not from mine eyes alone, but all That hears the sad and doleful fall Of that young student, Mr. Frye, Who in his blooming youth did die. Fighting for his dear country's good, He lost his life and precious blood. His father's only son was he; His mother loved him tenderly; And all that knew him loved him well; For in bright parts he did excel Most of his age ; for he was young, — Just entering on twenty-one ; A comely youth, and pious too; This I affirm, for him I knew." She then describes her lover's brave deeds, and sad but heroic death, alone in a howling wilderness ; condoles with the bereaved parents, exhorts them to resignation, and touches modestly on her own sorrow. In more recent times the fate of Lovewell and his companions has inspired several poetical attempts, which need not be dwelt upon. Lovewell's Fight, as Dr. Palfrey observes, was long as famous in New England as Chevy Chase on the Scottish Border. ii il ^T •^ ^•■^f CHAPTER XII. 1712. THE OUTAGAMIES AT DETROIT. The West and the Fur-trade. — New York and Canada.— Indian Population, — The Firebrands op the West. — De- troit IN 1712. — Dangerous Visitors. — Suspense. — Timely Succors. — The Outagamies attacked : their Dkspekate Position. — Overtures. — Watering Allies. — Conduct ok Dubuisson. — Escape op the Outagamies. — Pursuit and Attack. — Victort and Carnage. We have seen that the Peace of Utrecht was fol- lowed by a threefold conflict for ascendency in America, — the conflict for Acadia, the conflict for northern New England, and the conflict for the Great West ; which last could not be said to take at once an international character, being essentially a competition for the fur-trade. Only one of the English colonies took an active part in it, — the province of New York. Alone among her sister communities she had a natu- ral thoroughfare to the West, not comparable, how- ever, with that of Canada, to whose people the St. Lawrence, the Great Lakes, and their tributary waters were a continual invitation to the vast interior. Virginia and Pennsylvania were not yet serious rivals in the fur-trade ; and New England, the most active of the British colonies, was barred out from it ^ ^ ' 'IP' ' 1712-1720.] NEW YORK AND CANADA. 273 by the interposition of New York, which lay across her westward path, thus forcing her to turn her energies to the sea, where half a century later her achievements inspired the glowing panegyrics of Burke before the House of Commons. New York, then, was for many years the only rival of Canada for the control of the West. It was a fatal error in the rulers of New France that they did not, in the seventeenth century, use more strenuous efforts to possess themselves, by puj'chase, exchange, or conquest, of this troublesome and dangerous neighbor. There was a time, under the reign of Charles II., when negotiation for the purchase of New York might have been successful; and if this failed, the conquest of the province, if attempted by forces equal to the importance of the object, would have been far from hopeless. With New York in French hands, the fate of the continent would prob- ably have been changed. The British possessions would have been cut in two. New England, isolated and placed in constant jeopardy, would have vainly poured her unmanageable herds of raw militia against the disciplined veterans of Old France intrenched at the mouth of the Hudson. Canada would have gained complete control of her old enemies, the Iroquois, who would have been wholly dependent on her for the arms and ammunition without which they could do nothing. The Iroquois, as the French had been accustomed to call them, were known to the English as the Five VOL. I. — 18 ] ' 1 i !- 1 ¥ , ! 1 « it ■• tifi 1 1 274 THE OUT AGAMIES AT DETROIT. [1712-1720. Nations, — a name which during the eighteenth century the French also adopted. Soon after tli(; Peace of Utrecht, a kindred tribe, the Tuscaroras, was joined to the original five membei's of tlie con- federacy, which thenceforward was sometimes calletl the Six Nations, though the Tuscaroras were nevei- very prominent in its history; and, to avoid confu- sion, we will keep the more familiar name of the Five Nations, which the French used to the last. For more than two generations this league of tril)es had held Canada in terror, and more than once threatened it with destruction. But now a change had come over the confederates. Count Frontenac had humbled their pride. They were crowded be- tween the rival European nations, both of whom they distrusted. Their traditional hatred of the French would have given the English of New York a con- trolling influence over them if the advantage had been used with energy and tact. But a narrow and short-sighted conduct threw it away. A governor of New York, moreover, even were he as keen and far-seeing as Frontenac himself, would often have been helpless. When the Five Nations were attacked by the French, he had no troops to defend them, nor could he, like a Canadian governor, call out jhe forces of his province by a word, to meet the exigency. The small revenues of New York were not at his disposal. Without the votes of the frugal represen- tatives of an impoverished people, his hands were tied. Hence the Five Nations, often left unaided 1712-1720.] INDIAN POPULATION. 275 when they most needed help, looked upon their Dutch and English neighbors as slothful and unwarlike. Yet their friendship was of the greatest importance to the province, in peace as well as in war, and was indispensable in the conflict that New York was waging single-handed for the control of the west- ern fur-trade. The Five Nations, as we have seen,^ acted as middlemen between the New York merchants and the tribes of the far interior, and through them English goods and English influence penetrated all the lake country, and reached even to the Mississippi. These vast western regions, now swarming with laborious millions, were then scantily peopled by savage hordes, whose increase was stopped by inces- sant mutual slaughter. This wild population had various centres or rallying-points, usually about the French forts, which protected them from enemies and supplied their wants. Thus the Pottawattamies, Ottawas, and Hurons were gathered about Detroit, and the Illinois about Fort St. Louis, on the river Illinois, where Henri de Tonty and his old comrade. La Forest, with fifteen or twenty Frenchmen, held a nominal monopoly of the neighboring fur-trade. Another focus of Indian population was near the Green Bay of Lake Michigan, and on Fox River, which enters it. Here were grouped the Sacs, Winnebagoes, and Menominies, with the Outagamies, or Foxes, a formidabli; tribe, the source of endless trouble to the French. 1 See Chapter I. !^ i \ ii r I \ ;• ' >i 276 THE OUT AG AMIES AT DETROIT. [1712-1720. 'if The constant aim of the Canadian authorities Wcas to keep these western savages at peace among them- selves, while preventing their establishing relations of trade with the Five Nations, and carrying their fui-s to them in exchange for English goods. The position was delicate, for while a close understanding between the western tribes and the Five Nations would 1)6 injurious to French interests, a quarrel would be still more so, since the French would then be forced to side with their western allies, and so be drawn into hostilities with the Iroquois confederacy, which of all things they most wished to avoid. Peace and friendship among the western tribes ; peace with- out friendship l)etween these tribes and the Five Nations, — thus became maxims of French policy. The Canadian governor called the western Indians his "children," and a family quarrel among them would have been unfortunate, since the loving father must needs have become involved in it, to the detri- ment of his trading interests. Yet to prevent such quarrels was difficult, partly because they had existed time out of mind, and partly because it was the interest of the English to promote them. Dutch and English traders, it is true, took their lives in their hands if they ventured among the western Indians, who were encouraged by their French father to plunder and kill them, and who on occasion rarely hesitated to do so. Hence English communication with the West was largely carried on through the Five Nations. Iroquois messengers, 1712-1720.] INDIAN TRADE. 277 I hired for the purpose, carried wanipiiin l)elts " under- ground " — that is, seci'etly — to such of the interior tribes as were disposed to listen with favor to the words of Corlaer, as they called the governor of New York. In spite of their shortcomings, the English had one powerful attraction for all the tribes alike. This was the Abundance and excellence of their goods, which, with the exception of gunpowder, were better as well as cheaper than those offered by the French. The Indians, it is true, liked the taste of French brandy more than tliat of English rum; yet as their chief object in drinking was to get drunk, and as rum would supply as much intoxication as brandy at a lower price, it alv/ays found favor in their eyes. In the one case, to get thoroughly drunk often cost a beaver-skin ; in the other, the same satisfaction could generally be had for a mink-skin. Thus the French found that some of their western children were disposed to listen to English seduc- tions, look askance at their father Onontio, and turn their canoes, not towards Montreal, but towards Albany. Nor was this the woi-st; for there were some of Onontio's wild and unruly western family too ready to lift their hatchets against their brethren and fill the wilderness with discord. Consequences followed most embarrassing to the French, and among them an incident prominent in the early annals of Detroit, that new establishment so obnoxious to the English, because it barred tlieir way to the northern ] I 'I : \, Hi ■ '! ' a 1! h'^- 278 THE OUTAGAMIKS AT DETROIT. [1712-17J0. lakos, so that they were extremely anxious to rid theniselves of it. In the confused and tumultuous history of the savages of this continent one now and then sees some tribe or league of tribes possessed for a time witli a spirit of conquest and havoc that made it the terror of its neighboi-s. Of this the foremost example is that of the Five Nations of the Iroquois, who, towards the middle of the seventeenth century, swept all before them and made vast regions a solitude. They were now comparatively quiet; but far in the North- west, another people, inferior in number, organiza- tion, and mental capacity, but not in ferocity or courage, had begun on a smaller scale, and with less conspicuous success, to play a similar part. The.e were the Outagamies, or Foxes, with their allies, the Kickapoos and the Mascoutins, all living at the time within the limits of the present States of Wis- consin and Illinois, — the Outagamies near Fox River, and the others on Rock River. ^ The Outagamies, in particular, seem to have been seized with an access of homicidal fury. Their hand was against every man, and for twenty years and more they were the firebrands of the West, and a ceaseless peril to French interests in that region. They were, however, on good terms with the Five Nations, by means of whom, as French writers say, the Dutch and English of Albany sent them gifts and messages to incite 1 Memoir on the Indians between Lake Erie and the Mississippi, in N. Y. Col. Docs., ix. 885. m. ! II 1712.] INFANCY OF DETROIT. 279 them to kill Frencli traders and destroy the French fort at Detroit. This is not unlikely, though the evidence on the point is far from conclusive. Fort Ponchartrain, l3etter known as Fort Detroit, was an enclosure of palisades, flanked by blockhouses at the corners, with an open space within to serve as a parade-ground, around which stood small wooden houses thatched with straw or meadow-grass. La Mothe-Cadillac, founder of the post, had been made governor of the -lew colony of Louisiana, and the Sieur Dubuisson now commanded at Detroit. There were about thirty French traders, voyageurs^ and coureurs de hois in the place, but at this time no soldiers. The village of the Pottawattamies was close to the French fort; that of the Hurons was not far distant, by the edge of the river. Their houses were those structures of bark, " very high, very long, and arched like garden arbors," which were common to all the tribes of Iroquois stock, and both villages were enclosed by strong double or triple stockades, such as Cartier had found at Hochelaga, and Champlain in the Onondaga country. Their neighbors, the Ottawas, who were on the east side of the river, had imitated, with imperfect success, their way of hous- ing and fortifying themselves. These tribes raised considerable crops of peas, beans, and Indian corn; and except when engaged in their endless dances and games of ball, dressed, like the converts of the mis- sion villages, in red or blue cloth. ^ The Hurons * Memoir on the Indians between Lake Erie and the Mississippi. t , I ]I I • ( . i i •'- 1 ■' J , ' '1 1 • 1 1 ■ ;, 280 TIIK OI'TAfiAMIIvS AT DETROIT. [I7lj. i; i'l were reputed the moHt intelligent nn well as the bravest of all the western trilnis, and, l)eing incensed by various outrages, they bore against the Outaga- raies a deadly grudge, which was shared by the other trilies, their neighbom. All these friendly Indians were still alwent on their winter hunt, when, at the opening i/ spring, Dubuisson and his Frenchmen were startltn. by a portentous visitation. Two bands of Outaganiies and Mascoutins, men, women, and children, counting in all above a thousand, of whom about three hun(li(>(l were warriora, appeared on the meadows behind tlie fort, approached to within pistol-shot of the palisades, and encamped there. It is by no means certain that they came with deliberate hostile intent. Had this been the case, they would not have brought their women and children. A paper ascribed to the engi- neer Ldry says, moreover, that their visit was in con- sequence of an invitation from the late commandant. La Mothe-Cadillac, whose interest it was to attract to Detroit as many Indians as possible, in order to trade for their furs.^ Dubuisson, however, was satis- fied that they meant mischief, especially when, in spite of all his efforts to prevent them, they fortified them- selves by cutting down young trees and surrounding their wigwams with a rough fence of palisades. They were rude and insolent, declared that all that country was theirs, and killed fowls and pigeons 1 This paper is printed, not very accurately, in the Collection de Documents relati/s it la Nouvelle France, i. 623 (QueTjec, 1883). ' ■/! !!: i ( 1712.J DANCJEROLS VISITORS. 281 belonging to the French, who, in the alienee of their friends, the Hurons uiul Otttiwas, dared not even remoiLstrate. DubiiisHon himself was forced to 8ul>- niit to their insults in silence, till a party of them came one day into the fort l)ent on killing two of the French, a man and a girl, against whom they had taken some offence. The connnandant then ordered his men to drive them out; which was done, and henceforward he was convinced that the Outagamies and Mascoutins were only watching their opportunity to burn the fort and butcher its inmates. Soon after, their excitement redoubled. News came that a band of Mascoutins, who had wintered on the river St. Joseph, had l)een cut off by the Ottawas and Potta- wattamies, led by an Ottawa chief named Saguina; on which the behavior of the dangerous visitors became so threatening that Dubuisson hastily sent a canoe to recall the Hurons and Ottawas from their hunting-grounds, and a second to invite the friendly Ojibwas and Mississagas to come to his aid. No doubt there was good cause for alarm; yet if the dangerous strangers had resolved to strike, they would have been apt to strike at once, instead of waiting week after week, when they knew that the friends and allies of the French might arrive at any time. Dubuisson, however, felt that the situation was extremely critical, and he was confirmed in his anxiety by a friendly Outagamie, who, after the news of the massacre on the St. Joseph, told him that his tribesmen meant to burn the fort. i' m i 1 ) 1 i ( J 1 i ! 1 ' ! 1 1 \ 1 1/ ' i. ■ i 282 THE OUTAGAMIES AT DETROIT. [1712. f; The church was outside the palisade, as were also several houses, one of which was stored with wheat. This the Outagamies tried to seize. The French fired on tlieni, drove them back, and brought most of the wheat into the fort ; then they demolished the church and several of the houses, which would have given cover to the assailants and enabled them to set fire to the palisade, close to which the buildings stood. The French worked at their task in the excitement of des- peration, for they thought that all was lost. The irritation of their savage neighbors so increased that an outbreak seemed imminent, when, on the thirteenth of May, the Sieur de Vincennes arrived, with seven or eight Frenchmen, from the Miami coun- try. The reinforcement was so small that instead of proving a help it might have provoked a crisis. Vincennes brought no news of the Indian allies, who were now Dubuisson's only hope. " I did not know on what saint to call," he writes, almost in despair, when suddenly a Huron Indian came panting into the fort with the joyful news that both his people and the Ottawas were close at hand. Nor was this all. The Huron messenger announced that Makisabie, war-chief of the Pottawattamies, was then at the Huron fort, and that six hundred warriors of various tribes, deadly enemies of the Outagamies and Mas- coutins, would soon arrive and destroy them all. Here was an unlooked-for deliverance. Yet the danger was not over; for there was fear lest the Outagamies and their allies, hearing of the approach- hh I i I I . ; .1 ^ 1712.] TIMELY SUCCORS. 283 ing succor, might make a desperate onslaught, burn the French fort, and kill its inmates before their friends could reach them. An interval of suspense followed, relieved at last by a French sentinel, who called to Dubuisson that a crowd of Indians was in sight. The commandant mounted to the top of a blockhouse, and, looking across the meadows behind the fort, saw a throng of savages coming out of the woods, — Pottawattamies, Sacs, Menominies, Illinois, Missouris, and other tribes yet more remote, eacli band distinguished by a kind of ensign. These were the six hundred warriors promised by the Huron messenger, and with them, as it proved, came the Ottawa war-chief Saguina. Having heard during the winter that the Outagamies and Mascoutins would go to Detroit in the spring, these various tribes had combined to attack the common enemy; and they now marched with great ostentation and some show of order, not to the French fort, but to the fortified village of the Hurons, who with their neighbors, the Ottawas, had arrived just before them. The Hurons were reputed leaders among the western tribes, and they hated the Outagamies, not only by reason of bitter wrongs, but also through jealousy of the growing importance which these fierce upstarts had won by their sanguinary prowess. The Huron chiefs came to meet the motley crew of war- riore, and urged them to instant action. " You must not stop to encamp," said the Huron spokesman; "we must all go this moment to the fort of our ■It ^ iif 11 j i in i \IU w 284 THE OUTAGAMIES AT DETROIT. [171'. Mm ! i'.r J 1,1 i ' fathers, the French, and light for them." Then, turning to the Ottawa war-chief : "Do you see that smoke, Saguina, rising from the camp of our enemies ? They are burning three women of your village, and your wife is one of them." The Outagamies had, in fact, three Ottawa squaws in their clutches ; hut the burning was an invention of the craf v Huron. It answered its purpose, and wrought the hearers to fury. They ran with yells and whoops towards the French fort, the Hurons and Ottawas leading the way. A burst of answering yells rose from the camp of the enemy, and about forty of their warriors ran out in bravado, stripped naked and brandishing their weapons; but they soon fell back within their de- fences before the approaching multitude. Just before the arrival of the six hundred allies, Dubuisson, whose orders were to keep the peace, if he could, among the western tribes, had sent Vincennes to the Huron village with a proposal that they should spare the lives of the Outagamies and Mascoutins, and rest content with driving them away; to which the Hurons returned a fierce and haughty refusal. There was danger that, if vexed or thwarted, the rabble of excited savages now gathered before the fort might turn from friends into enemies, and in some burst of wild caprice lift parricidal toma- hawks against their French fathers. Dubuisson saw no choice but to humor them, put himself at their head, aid them in their vengeance, and even set them on. Therefore, when they called out for admittance, ! 1712.] THEIR CAMP ATTACKED. 285 he did not venture to refuse it, but threw open the gate. The savage crew poured in till the fort was full. The chiefs gathered for council on the parade, and the warriors crowded around, a living wall of dusky forms, befeathered heads, savage faces, lank snaky locks, and deep-set eyes that glittered with a devilish light. Their orator spoke briefly, but to the purpose. He declared that all present were ready to die for their French father, who had stood their friend against the bloody and perfidious Outagamies. Then he begged for food, tobacco, gunpowder, and bullets. Dubuisson replied with equal conciseness, thanked them for their willingness to die for him, said that he would do his best to supply their wants, and promised an immediate distribution of powder and bullets ; to which the whole assembly answered with yells of joy. Then the council dissolved, and the elder warriors stalked about the fort, haranguing their followers, exhorting them to fight like men and obey the orders of their father. The powder and bullets were served out, after which the whole body, white men and red, yelled the war-whoop together, —"a horrible cry, that made the earth tremble," writes Dubuisson.^ An answering howl, furious and defiant, rose close at hand from the palisaded camp of the enemy, the firing began on both sides, and bullets and arrows filled the air. 1 "Cri horrible, dont la terre trembla." — Dubuisson a Vattdreui., 16 Jtiin, 1712. This is the official report of the affair. i; I i : r M h! iff 286 THE OUTAGAMIES AT DETROIT. [1712. 'H The French and their allies outnumbered their enemies fourfold, while the Outagamie and Mascoutin warriors were encumbered with more than seven hun- dred women and children. Their frail defences might have been carried by assault; but the loss to the assailants must needs have been great against so brave and desperate a foe, and such a mode of attack is repugnant to the Indian genius. Instead, there- fore, of storming the palisaded camp, the allies beleaguered it with vindictive patience, and wore out its defenders by a fire that ceased neither day nor night. The French raised two tall scaffolds, from which they overlooked the palisade, and sent their shot into the midst of those within, who were forced, for shelter, to dig holes in the ground four or five feet deep, and ensconce themselves there. The situa- tion was almost hopeless, but their courage did not fail. They raised twelve red English blankets on poles as battle-flags, to show that they would fight to the death, and hung others over their palisades, call- ing out that they wished to see the whole earth red, like them, with blood ; that they had no fathers but the English, and that the other tribes had better do as they did, and turn their backs to Onontio. The great war-chief of the Pottawattamies now mounted to the top of one of the French scaffolds, and harangued the enemy to this effect: "Do you think, you wretches, that you can frighten us by hanging out those red blankets ? If the earth is red with blood, it will be your own. You talk about the 1712.] THEIR DESPERATE POSITION. 287 English. Their bad advice will be your ruin. They are enemies of religion, and that is why the Master of Life punishes both them and you. They are cowards, and can only defend themselves by poisoning people with their firewater, which kills a man the instant he drinks it. Wc shall soon see what you will get for listening to them." This Homeric dialogue between the chief combat- ants was stopped by Dubuisson, wlio saw that it dis- tracted the attention of the warriors, and so enabled the besieged to run to the adjacent river for water. The filing was resumed more fiercely than ever. Before night twelve of the Indian allies were killed in the French fort, though the enemy suffered a much greater loss. One house had been left standing outside the French palisades, and the Outagamies raised a scaffold behind its bullet-proof gable, under cover of which they fired with great effect. The French at length brought two swivels to bear upon the gable, pierced it, knocked down the scaffold, killed some of the marksmen, and scattered the rest in consternation. Famine and thirst were worse for the besieged than the bullets and arrows of the allies. Parched, starved, and fainting, they could no longer find heart for bravado, and they called out one evening from behind their defences to ask Dubuisson if they might come to speak with him. He called together the allied chiefs, and all agreed that here was an opportunity to get out of the hands of the Outagamies the three ii HI i ' i 288 THE OUTAGAMIES AT DETROIT. [1712. i\-i ■ X Ottawa women whom they held prisoners. The com- mandant, therefore, told them that if they had any- thing to say to their father before dying, they might come and say it in safety. In the morning all the red blankets had disappeared, and a white flag was waving over the hostile camp. The great Outagamie chief, Pemoussa, presently came out, carrying a smaller white flag and followed by two Indian slaves. Dubuisson sent his interpreter to protect him from insult and conduct him to the parade, where all the allied chiefs presently met to hear him. "My father," he began, "I am a dead man. The sky is bright for you, and dark as night for me." Then he held out a belt of wampum, and continued : " By this belt I ask you, my father, to take pity on your children, and grant us two days in which our old men may counsel together to find means of appeasing your wrath." Then, offering another belt to the assembled chiefs, " This belt is to pray you to remember that you are of our kin. If you spill our blood, do not forget that it is also your own. Try to soften the heart of our father, whom we have offended so often. These two slaves are to replace some of the blood you have lost. Grant us the two days we ask, for I cannot say more till our old men have held counsel." To which Dubuisson answered in the name of all : " If your hearts were really changed, and you honestly accepted Onontio as your father, you would have ui ::n ,, 1712.] OVERTURES. 289 brought back the three women who are prisoners in your hands. As you liave not done so, I think that your hearts are still had. First bring them to me, if you expect me to hear you. I have no more to say." " I am but a child, " replied the envoy. " I will go back to my village, and tell our old men what you have said." The council then broke up, and several Frenchmen conducted the chief back to his followers. Three other chiefs soon after appeared, bearing a flag and bringing the Ottawa squaws, one of whom was the wife of the war-chief, Saguina. Again the elders met in council on the parade, and the orator of the deputation spoke thus : '' My father, here are the three pieces of flesh that you ask of us. We would not eat them, lest you should be angry. Do with them what you please, for you are the master. Now we ask that you will send awa}^ the nations that are with you, so that we may seek food for our women and children, who die of hunger every day. If you are as good a father as your other children say you are, you will not refuse us this favor." But Dubuisson, having gained his point and recov- ered the squaws, spoke to them sternly, and referred them to his Indian allies for their answer. Where- upon the head chief of the Illinois, being called upon by the rest to speak in their behalf, addressed the envoys to this effect : " Listen to me, you who have troubled all the earth. We see plainly that you VOL. I. — 19 Im »■ : I r u i )i I' 290 THE OUTAGAMIES AT DETROIT. [1712. 1 ■ ' >■' if ' mean only to deceive our father. If we should leave him, as you wish, you would fall upon him and kill him. You are dogs who have always bitten him. You thought that we did not know all the messages you have had from the English, telling you to cut our father's throat, and then bring them into this our country. We will not leave him alone with you. We shall see who will be the master. Go back to your fort. We are going to fire at you again." The envoys went back with a French escort to prevent their being murdered on the way, and then the firing began again. The Outagamies and Mas- coutins gathered strength from desperation, and sent flights of fire-arrows into the fort to burn the straw- thatched houses. The flames caught in many places ; but with the help of the Indians they were extin- guished, though several Frenchmen were wounded, and there was great fright for a time. But the thatch was soon stripped off and the roofs covered with deer and bear skins, while mops fastened to long poles, and two large wooden canoes filled with water, were made ready for future need. A few days after, a greater peril threatened the French. If the wild Indian has the passions of a devil, he has also the instability of a child ; and this is especially true when a number of incoherent tribes or bands are joined in a common enterprise. Dubuisson's Indians became discouraged, partly at the stubborn resistance of the enemy, and partly at the scarcity of food. Some of them declared openly m ^ 1712.] WAVERING ALLIES. 291 that they could never conquer those people; that they knew them well, and that they were braver than anybody else. In short, the French saw themselves on the point of being abandoned by their allies to a fate the most ghastly and appalling; and they urged upon the commandant the necessity of escaping to Michilimackinac before it was too late. Dubuisson appears to have met the crisis with equal resolution and address. He braced the shaken nerves of his white followers by appeals to their sense of shame, threats of the governor's wrath, and assurances that all would yet be well; then set himself to the more difficult task of holding the Indian allies to their work. He says that he scarcely ate or slept for four days and nights, during which time he was busied without ceasing in private and separate interviews with all the young war-chiefs, persuading them, flattering them, and stripping himself of all he had to make taem presents. When at last he had gaiued them over, he called the tribes to a general council. ' What, children ! " thus he addressed them, " when you are on the very point of destroying these wicked people, do you think of shamefully running away? How could you ever hold up your heads again ? All the other nations would say : * Are these the brave warriors who deserted the French and ran like cowards?' " And he reminded them that their enemies were already half dead with famine, and that they could easily make an end of them, thereby gain- f!'!;:!! ' M I J 1;. V ill 292 THE OUTAGAMIES AT DETROIT. [1712. •i< ing great honor among the nations, besides the thanks and favors of Onontio, the father of all. At this the young war-chiefs whom he had gained over interrupted him and cried out, "My father, somebody has been lying to you. We are not cowards. We love you too much to abandon you, and we will stand by you till the last of your enemies is dead." The elder men caught the contagion, and cried, "Come on, let us show our father that those who have spoken ill of us are liars." Then they all raised the war-whoop, sang the war-song, danced the war- dance, and began to fire again. Among the enemy were some Sakis, or Sacs, fight- ing for the Outagamies, while othei^ of their tribe were among the allies of the French. Seeing the desperate turn of affairs, they escaped from time to time and came over to the winning side, bringing reports of the state of the beleaguered camp. They declared that sixty or eighty women and children were already dead from hunger and thirst, besides those killed by bullets and arrows; that the fire of the besiegers was so hot that the bodies could not he buried, and that the camp of the Outagamies and Mascoutir.s was a den of infection. The end was near. The besieged savages called from their palisades to ask if they might send another deputation, and were told that they were free to do so. The chief, Pemoussa, soon appeared at the gate of the fort, naked, painted from head to foot with green earth, wearing belts of wampum about his ■i.»i h f 'ii i I 1712.] THEY HIT, FOR MKRCT. •203 waist, and others hanging from his shoulders, In'sidi-s a kind of crown of wampum heads on his head. With him came seven women, meant as a peace- offering, all painted and adorned with wampum. Three other prhicipal chiefs followed, each with a gourd rattle in his hand, to the cadence of which the whole party sang and shouted at the full stretch of their lungs an invocation to the spirits for helj) and pity. They were conducted to the parade, where the French and the allied chiefs were already assem- bled, and Pemoussa thus addressed them : — "My father, and all the nations here present, I come to ask for life. It is no longer ours, but yours. I bring you these seven women, who are my flesh, and whom I put at your feet, to be your slaves. But do not think that I am afraid to die ; it is the life of our women and children that I ask of you." He then offered six wampum belts, in token that his followers owned themselves beaten, and begged for mercy. "Tell us, I pray you," — these were his last words, — " something that will lighten the hearts of my people when I go back to them." Dubuisson left the answer to his allies. The appeal of the suppliant fell on hearts of stone. The whole concourse sat in fierce and, sullen silence, and the envoys read their doom in the gloomy brows that surrounded them. Eight or ten of the alb'ed savages presently came to Dubuisson, and one of them said in a low voice: "My father, we come to ask your leave to knock these four great chiefs in the head. 294 THE OUTAGAMIES AT DETROIT. [171: ii :. r It is they who prevent our enemies from snrrenderinf' witliout ccmditions. When they are deiul, the rest will )k! Jit our mercy." DubuisHon tohl them that they nuist 1x5 drunk to propose such a thing. "Kememh(;r," lie said, "that ])oth you and I have given our word for their safety. If I consented to what y(m ask, your father at Montreal would never forgive me. Besides, you can see plainly that they and their people cannot escape you." The would-be murderei's consented to })ide their time, and the wretched envoys went back with their tidings of despair. "I confess," wrote Dubuisson to the governor, a few days later, " that I was touched with compassion ; but as war and pity do not agree well together, and especially as I understood that they were hired by the English to destroy us, I abandoned them to their fate." The firing began once more, and tlie allied hordes howled round the camp of their victims like troops of ravenous wolves. But a surprise awaited them. Indians rarely set guards at night, and they felt sure now of their prey. It was the nineteenth day of the siege. ^ The night closed dark and rainy, and when morning came, the enemy were gone. All among them that had strength to move had glided away through the gloom with the silence of shadows, passed the camps of their sleeping enemies, and * According to the paper ascribed to Lery it was only the eighth. f 1712.] TIIKY Sl'RRENDKR. 296 reached a point of land projecting into the river opposite the end of Isle an Coclion, and a few miles above the French fort. Here, knowing that they would ])G pui-sued, they hirricadcd theniHelves with trunks and branches of trees. When the aatonislied allies discovered their escape, they hastily followed their trail, acconipanicul by some of the French, led by Vincennes. In tlieir eagerness they ran upon the Iwirricade before seeing it, and were met by a lire that killed and wounded twenty of them. There was no alternative but to forego their revenge and abandon the field, or l)egin another siege. Encouraged by Dubuisson, they built their wigwams on the new scene of operations; and, being supplied by the French with axes, mattocks, and two swivels, they made a wall of logs opposite the barricade, from which they galled the defenders with a close and deadly fire. The Mississagas and Ojibwas, who had lately arrived, fished and hunted for the allies, while the French furnished them with powder, ball, tobacco, Indian corn, and kettles. The enemy fought desper- ately for four days, and then, in utter exhaustion, surrendered at discretion. ^ The women and children were divided among the victorious hordes, and adopted or enslaved. To the men no quarter was given. "Our Indians amused themselves," writes Dubuisson, "with shooting four 1 The paper ascribed to L !l 300 LOUISIANA. [1698, 1699. of the Mississippi, — cargoes made up in part of those whom fortune and their own defects had sunk to dependence; to whom labor was strange and odious, but who dreamed of gold mines and pearl fisheries, and wealth to be won in the New World and spent in the Old; who wore the shackles of a paternal despotism which they were told to regard as of divine institution ; who were at the mercy of mili- taiy rulers set over them by the King, and agreeing in nothing except in enforcing the mandates of arbi- trary power and the withering maxim that the labor of the colonist was due, not to himself, but to his masters. It remains to trace briefly the results of such conditions. The before-mentioned scheme of R^monville for settling the Mississippi country had no result. In the next year the gallant Le Moyne d' Iberville — who has been called the Cid, or, more fitly, the Jean Bart, of Canada — offered to carry out the schemes of La Salle and plant a colony in Louisiana.^ One thing had become clear, — France must act at once, or lose the Mississippi. Already there was a movement in London to seize upon it, under a grant to two noblemen. Iberville's offer was accepted; he was ordered to build a fort at the mouth of the great river, and leave a garrison to hold it.^ He sailed with two frigates, the "Badine" and the "Marin," 1 Iberville au Ministre, 18 Juin, 1698 (Margry, iv. 61). ^ M€moire pour servir d' Instruction au Sieur d'lherville (Margry, iv. 72). , .1 1699.] IIJERVTLLE OX THE MISSISSIPPI. 301 and towards the end of January, 1699, reached Pensacola. Here he found two Spanish ships, which would not let him enter the harbor. Spain, no less than England, was bent on making good her claim to the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico, and the two ships had come from Vera Cruz on this errand. Three hundred men had been landed, and a stockade 'fort was already built. Iberville left the Spaniards undisturbed and unchallenged, and felt his way west- ward along the coasts of Alabama and Mississippi, exploring and sounding as he went. At the begin- ning of March his boats were caught in a strong muddy current of fresh water, and he saw that he had reached the object of his search, the "fatal river " of the unfortunate La Salle. He entered it, encamped, on the night of the third, twelve leagues above its mouth, climbed a solitary tree, and could see nothing but broad flats of bushes and canebrakes.^ Still pushing upward against the current, he reached in eleven days a village of the Bayagoula Indians, where he found the chief attired in a blue capote, which was probably put on in honor of the white strangers, and which, as the wearer declared, had been given him by Henri de Tonty, on his descent of the Mississippi in search of La Salle, thir- teen years before. Young Le Moyne de Bienville, who accompanied his brother Iberville in a canoe, brought him, some time after, a letter from Tonty which the writer had left in the hands of another 1 Journal d'lbeniille (Margry, iv. 131). li ■■\{ \m ■■\ '} \ !l: C. I ;■ . i! ■' L ' '('3 fifj 302 LOUISIANA. [1699. ii :: chief, to be delivered to La Salle in case of his arrival, and which Bienville had bought for a hatchet. Iberville welcomed it as convincing proof that the river he had entered was in truth the Mississippi. ^ After pushing up the stream till the twenty-fourth, he returned to the ships by way of lakes Maurepas and Ponchartrain. Iberville now repaired to the harbor of Biloxi, on the coast of the present State of Mississippi. Here he built a small stockade fort, where he left eighty men, under the Sieur de Sauvolle, to hold the country for Louis XIV. ; and this done, he sailed for France. Thus the first foundations of Louisiana were laid in Mississippio Bienville, whom his brother had left at Biloxi as second in command, was sent by Sauvolle on an exploring expedition up the Mississippi with five men in two canoes. At the bend of the river now called English Turn, — Tour d V Anglais^ — below the site of New Orleans, he found an English corvette of ten guns, having, as passengers, a number of French Protestant families taken on board from the Carolinas, with the intention of settling on the Mississippi. The commander. Captain Louis Bank, 1 This letter, which D'lberville gives in his Journal, is dated " Du Village des Quinipissas, le 20 Avril, 1685." Iberville identi- fies the Quinipissas with tlie Bayagoulas. The date of tiie letter was evidently misread, as Tonty's journey was in 1686. See " La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West," 455, note. Iberville's lieutenant, Sug^res, commanding the " Marin," gives the date cor- rectly. Journal de la Fr^ijate le Marin, 1698, 1699 (Margry, iv.). ■ ■» 'I [1699. of his itchet. at the isippi.^ 'ourth, urepas Dxi, on Here eighty lountry ^'rance. laid in iloxi as on an th five er now below orvette iber of lom the in the Bank, lis dated le identi- tie letter 5ee "La [)erville'8 late cor- iv.). 1699.] PETITION OF HUGUENOTS. 303 declared that his vessel was one of three sent from London by a company formed jointly of Englishmen and Huguenot refugees for the purpose of founding a colony. 1 Though not quite sure that they were upon the Mississippi, they were on their way up the stream to join a party of Englishmen said to be among the Chickasaws, with whom they were trading for Indian slaves. Bienville assured Bank that he was not upon the Mississippi, but on another river belonging to King Louis, who had a strong fort there and several settlements. "The too-credulous Eng- lishman," says a French writer, "believed these in- ventions and turned back."^ First, however, a French engineer in the service of Bank contrived to have an interview with Bienville, and gave him a petition to the King of France, signed by four hundred Huguenots who had taken refuge in the Carolinas after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. The petitioners begged that they might have leave to settle in Louisiana, with liberty of conscience, under the French Crown. In due time they got 1 Journal du Voyage du Chevalier d'Iberville sur le Vaisseau du Roy la Renomm€e en 1699 (Margry, iv. 395). 2 Gayarre, Histoire de la Louisiane (1846), i. 69. Benard de la Harpe, Journal historique (1831), 20. Coxe says, in the preface to his Description of Carolana (1722), that " the present proprietor of Carolana, my honour'd Father, . . . was the author of this Eng- lish voyage to the Mississippi, having in the year 1698 equipp'd and fitted out Two Ships for Discovery by Sea, and also for building a Fortification and settling a Colony by land ; there being in both vessels, besides Sailors and Common Men, above Thirty English and French Volunteers." Coxe adds that the expedition would have succeeded if one of the commanders had not failed to do his duty. th I :.l! 4i rHI ! Hi : ' ] 304 LOUISIANA. [1009-1701. ii I 1 1 ( .. 1» :\ their answer. The King replied, through the min- ister, Ponchartrain, that he had not expelled heretics from France in order that they should set up a republic in America.^ Thus, by the bigotry that had been the bane of Canada and of France hei-self, Louis XIV. threw away the opportunity of establish- ing a firm and healthy colony at the mouth of tlie Mississippi. So threatening was the danger that England would seize the country, that Iberville had scarcely landed in France when he was sent back with a reinforce- ment. The colonial viewsi, of the King may be gath- ered from his instructions to his officer. Iberville was told to seek out diligently the best places for establishing pearl-fisheries, though it was admitted that the poarls of Louisiana were uncommonly bad. He was also to cat^'h bison calves, make a fenced park to hold them, and tame them for the sake of their wool, which was reputed to be of value for various fabrics. Above all, he was to look for mines, the finding of which the document declares to be " la grande affaire. "^ On the eighth of January, Iberville reached Biloxi, and soon ;i,iter went up the Mississippi to that remark- able tribe of sun -worshippers, the Natchez, whose villages were on and near the site of the city that now bears their name. Some thirty miles above he 348) 1 Gayarre, Histoire de la Louisiane (1846), i. 69. '^ Me'moire pour servir d' Instruction au Sieur d' Iberville (Margry, iv. ■ 1 1 D9-1701. 1700-1704.] FRANCE AND SPAIN. 305 le min- ;ieretics t up Jl ry that liei'self, tablisli- 1 of the i would ^ landed linforce- be gatli- [berville aces for idmitted lily bad. fenced sake of alue for mines, be "la Biloxi, remark- whose ity that ibove he yiargr.v, iv. found a kindred tribe, the Taensas, whose temple took fire during his visit, when, to his horror, he saw five living infants thrown into the flames by their mothers to appease the angry spirits.* Retracing his course, he built a wooden redoubt near one of the mouths of tlie Mississippi to keep out the dreaded Englis^h. In the next year h made a third voyage, and ordered the feeble establishment at Biloxi to be moved to the bay of Mobile. This drew a protest from the Spaniards, who rested their claims to the country on the famous bull of Pope Alexander VI. The question was referred to the two Crowns. Louis XIV., a stanch champion of the papacy when his duties as a Catholic did not clash with his interests as a king, refused submission to the bull, insisted that the Louisiana country was his, and declared that he would hold fast to it because he was bound, as a son of Holy Church, to convert the Indians and keep out the English heretics. ^ Spain was then at peace with France, and her new King, the Due d'Anjou, grandson of Louis XIV., needed the sup- port of his powerful kinsman ; hence his remonstrance against French encroachment was of the mildest.^ 1 Joihnal du Voifar/e du Chevalier d'lherville sur le Vaisseau rfu Ro>; la Rennmm^e, 1099, 1700, '■^ Me'moire de la Junte de Guerre des Indes. Le Ministre de la Marine an Due d'llarcourt (Margry, iv. 653, 668). 8 Iberville wrote in 1701 a long memorial, in which he tried to convince the Spanish court that it was for the interest of Spain that the French should form a barrier between her colonies and those of VOL. I. — 20 U i t , 306 LOUISIANA. [1704. Besides Biloxi and Mobile Bay, the French formed a third establishment at Dauphin Island. The Mississippi itself, which may be called the vital organ of the colony, was thus far neglected, being occupied by no settlement and guarded only by a redoubt near one of its mouths. Of the emigrants sent out by the court to the new land of promise, the most valuable by far were a number of Canadians who had served under Iberville at Hudson Bay. The rest were largely of the sort who are described by that officer as "beggai-s sent out to enrich themselves," and who expected the government to feed them while they looked for pearls and gold mines. The paternal providence of Versailles, mindful of their needs, sent them, in 1704, a gift of twenty marriageable girls, described as "nurtured in virtue and piety, and accustomed to work." Twenty-three more came in the next year from the same benignant source, besides seventy-five soldiers, five priests, and two nuns. Food, however, was not sent in proportion to the consumers ; and as no crops were raised in Louisiana, famine and pesti- lence followed, till the starving colonists were forced to live on shell-fish picked up along the shores. Disorder and discord filled the land of promise. Nicolas de la Salle, the commissaire ordonnateur, an official answering to the Canadian intendant, wrote to the minister Ponchartrain that Iberville and his England, which, he says, were about to seize the country as far as the Mississippi and beyond it. '''fill 1706.] OFFICIAL DISPUTES. 307 brothers, Bienville and Chateauguay, were "thieves and knaves."* La Vente, curd of Mobile, joined in the cry against liienville, and stirred soldiers and settlers to disaffection; but the bitterest accuser of that truly valuable officer was the worthy matron who held the unenviable post of directress of the "King's girls," — that is, the young women sent out as wives for the colonists. It seems that she had matrimonial views for herself as well as for her charge; and she wrote to Ponchartrain that Major Boisbriant, commander of the garrison, would cer- tainly have married her if Bienville had not interfered and dissuaded him. "It is clear," she adds, "that M. de Bienville has not the qualities necessary for governing the colony. "^ Bienville was now chief in authority. Charges of peculation and other offences poured in against him, and at last, though nothing was proved, one De Muys was sent to succeed him, with orders to send him home a prisoner if on examination the accusations should prove to be true. De Muys died on the voy- age. D'Artaguette, the new intendant, proceeded to make the inquiry, but refused to tell Bienville the nature of the charges against him, saying that he had orders not to do so. Nevertheless, when he had fin- ished 'is investigation he reported to the minister h 1 Nicolas de la Salle au Ministre, 7 Septemhre, 1706. 2 " II est clair que M. de Bienville n'a pas Ics qualites n^cessaires pour bien gouverner la colonic." Gayarre found this curious letter in the Archives de la Marine. ) ■" 308 LOUISIANA. rnoH. tluit the Jiccused was innocent; on wliich Nicolas cle la Salle, whom he had supplanted as intendant, wrote to Ponchartrain that D'Artaguette had deceived him, being no l)etter than Bienville himself. La Salle further declared that liarrot, the surgeon of the colony, was an ignoramus, and that lie niade money by selling the medicines supi)lied by the King to cure liis Louisianian subjects. Such were the trans- atlantic workings of the paternalism of Versailles. Bienville, who had been permitted to resume his authority, paints the state of the colony to his masters, and tells them that the inhabitants Jire dying of hunger, — not all, liowever, for he mentions a few exceptional cases of prosperity. These were certain thrifty colonists from Rochelle, who, sj.ya Bienville, have grow! I rich by keeping dram-shops, and now want to go back to France ; but he has set ? watch over them, thinking it just that they should be forced to stay in the colony.^ This was to add the bars of a prison to the other attractions of the new home. As the colonists would not work, there was an attempt to make Indian slaves work for them; but as these contmually ran off, Bienville proposed to open a barter with the French West Indies, giving three red slaves for two black ones, — an exchange which he thought would be mutually advantageous, since the Indians, being upon islands, could no longer escape. The court disapproved the plan, on the ground that the West Indians would give only their 1 D^peche de Bienville, 12 Octobre, 1708. 1711-1712 ] STATK OF TIIK COLONY. 309 worst negroes in exchange, and that i\w, only way to get good ones wius to fetch them fnjni (Juinea. Complaints against Bienville were renewed till tlie court nent out La Mothe-Cadillac to succeed him, v.'ith orders to examine the charges against his pre- decessor, whom it was his interest to condenm, in order to keep the governorship. In his new post, Cadillac displayed all his old faults; began hy de- nouncing the country in unmeasured terms, and wrote in his usual sarcastic vein to the colonial min- ister: "I have seen the gaiden on Dauphin Island, which had l)een described to me as a terrestrial paradise. I saw there three seedling pear-trees, three seedling apple-trees, a little plum-tree about three feet high, with seven bad plums on it, a vine some thirty feet long, with nine bunches of grapes, some of them withered or rotten and some partly ripe, about forty plants of French melons, and a few pumpkins. This is M. d'Artaguette's terrestrial paradise, M. de Rdmonville's Pomona, and M. de Mandeville's Fortunate Islands. The r stories are mere fables." Then he slanders the soil, which, he declares, will produce neither grain nor vegetables. D'Artaguette, no longer fancying himself in Eden, draws a dismal picture of the state of the colony. There are, he writes, only ten or twelve families who cultivate the soil. The inhabitants, naturally lazy, are ruined by the extravagance of their wives. " It is necessary to send out girls and laboring-men. I am convinced that we shall easily discover mines , I » I : i ' -diftt?'' 310 LOUISIANA. [1712. when persons are sent us who understand that business."* The colonists felt no confidence in the future of Louisiana. The King was its sole support, and if, as was likely enough, he should tire of it, their case would be deplorable. When Bienville ruled over them, they had used him as their scapegoat ; but that which made the colony languish was not he, but the vicious system it was his business to enforce. The royal edicts and arbitrary commands that took the place of law proce'^ded from masters thousands of miles away, who knew nothing of the country, coulu not understand its needs, and scarcely tried to do so. In 1711, though the mischievous phantom of gold a,nd silver mines still haunttd the coloay, we find it reported that the people were beginning to work, and were planting tobacco. The King, however, was losing patience with a dependency that cost him endless expense and trouble, and brought little or nothing in return, — and this at a time when he had a costly and disastrous war on his hands, and was in no mood to bear supernumerary burdens. The plan of giving over a colony to a merchant, or a company of merchants, was not new. It had been tried in other French colonies with disastrous effect. Yet it was now tried again. Louisiana was farmed out for fifteen years to Antoine Crozat, a wealthy man of ?l ■» t! 1 D'Artaguette in Gayarre, Histoire de la Louisiane. This valu- able work consists of a series of documents, connected by a thread of narrative. 1712-1714.] MONOPOLY OF CROZAT. 311 business. The countries made over to him extended from the British colonies on the east to New Mexico on the west, and the Rio del Norte on the south, including the entire region watered by the Mississippi, the Missouri, the Ohio, and their tributaries, as far north as the Illinois. In comparison with this im- mense domain, which was all included under the name of Louisiana, the present State so called is but a small patch on the American map. To Crozat was granted a monopoly of the trade, wholesale and retail, domestic and foreign, of all these countr.es, besides the product of all mines, after deducting one-fourth reserved for the King. He was empowered to send one vessel a year to Guinea for a cargo of slaves. The King was to pay the governor and other Crown officers, and during the first nine years the troops also; though after that time Crozat was to maintain them till the end of his term. In consideration of these and other privileges, the grantee was bound to send to Louisiana a specified number of settles every year. His charter provided that the royal edicts and the Couturne de Paris should be the law of the colony, to be administered by a council appointed by the King. When Louisiana was thus handed over to a specu- lator for a term of years, it needed no prophet to foretell that he would get all he could out of it, and put as I'ttle into it as possible. When Crozat took possession of the colony, the French court had been I ' ff ?: I'- I 1 , ■■ I I i! 812 LOUISIANA. [1712-1714. ' J 1^ 'K I il-( III fin thirteen years at work in building it up. The result of its labors was a total population, including troops, government officials, and clergy, of 380 souls, of whom 170 were in the King's pay. Only a few of the colonists were within the limits of the present Louisiana. The rest lived in or around the feeble stockade forts at Mobile, Biloxi, Ship Island, and Dauphin Island. This last station had been partially abandoned; but some of the colonists proposed to return to it, in order to live by fishing, and only waited, we are told, for help from the King. This incessant dependence on government relaxed the fibres of the colony and sapped its life-blood. The King was now exchanged for Crozat and his grinding monopoly. The colonists had carried on a modest trade with the Spaniards at Pensacola in skins, fowls, Indian corn, and a few other articles, bringing back a little money in return. This, their only source of profit, was now cut off; they could sell nothing, even to one another. They were for- bidden to hold meetings without permission; but some of them secretly drew up a petition to La Mothe-Cadillac, who was still the official chief of the colony, begging that the agents of Crozat should be restricted to wholesale dealings, and that the inhab- itants might be allowed to trade at retail. Cadillac denounced the petition as seditious, threatened to hang the bearer of it, and deigned no other answer. He resumed his sarcasms against the colony. " In my opinion this country is not worth a straw Qie vaut m ,' r 1710-1714.] WIVES FOR THE COLONISTS. 313 pas un fetu). The inhabitants are eager to be taken out of it. The soldiers are always grumbling, and with reason." As to the council, which was to be the only court of justice, he says that no such thing is possible, because there are no proper persons to compose it; and though Duclos, the new intendant, has proposed two candidates, the first of these, the Sieur de Lafresnidre, learned to sign his name only four months ago, and the other, being chief surgeon of the colony, is too busy to serve. ^ Between Bienville, the late governor, and La Mothe-Cadillac, who had supplanted him, there was a standing quarrel; and the colony was split into hostile factions, led by the two disputants. The minister at Versailles was beset by their mutual accusations, and Bienville wrote that his refusal to marry Cadillac's daughter was the cause of the spite the governor bore him.^ The indefatigable cur^ De la Vente sent to Pon- chartrain a memorial, in the preamble of which he says that since Monsieur le Ministre wishes to be informed exactly of the state of things in Louisiana, he. La Vente, has the honor, with malice to nobody, to make known the pure truth ; after which he goes on to say that the inhabitants " are nearly all drunk- ards, gamblers, blasphemers, and enemies of every- 1 La Mothe-Cadillac au Ministre, in Gayarre, i. 104, 105. 2 " Que si M. de Lamothe-Cadillac lui portoit tant d'animositie, c'e'toit k cause du refus qu'il avoit fait d'epouser sa fllle." — Bien- ville in Gajjat , i. 116, i i ■ } .I'd P w I ! ! "i ^MijtJ: '11 314 LOUISIANA. [1717. the thing good;" and he proceeds to illustrate statement with many particulars. ^ As the inhabitants were expected to work for Crozat, and not for themselves, it naturally followed that they would not work at all; and idleness pro- duced the usual results. The yearly shipment of girls continued ; but there was difficulty in finding husbands for them. The reason was not far to seek. Duclos, the intendant, reports the arrival of an invoice of twelve of them, " so ugly that the inhabitants are in no hurry to take them. "2 The Canadians, who formed the most vig- orous and valuable part of the population, much pre- ferred Indian squaws. "It seems to me," pursues the intendant, " that in the choice of girls, good looks should be more considered than virtue." This latter requisite seems, at the time, to have found no more attention than the other, since the candidates for mat- rimony were drawn from the Parisian hospitals and houses of correction, from the former of which Crozat was authorized to take one hundred girls a year, " in order to increase the population." These hospitals were compulsory asylums for the poor and vagrant of both sexes, of whom the great Hopital Gdn^ral of Paris contained at one time more than six thousand.^ 1 Me'moire du Cur^ de la Vente, 1714. 2 Tlie earlier cargoes of girls seem to have been better chosen, and there was no difficulty in mating them. Serious disputes some- times rose from the competition of rival suitors. — Dumont, Me- moires historiques de la Lotiisiane, chap. v. ' Prominent officials of the colony are said to have got wives 1717-1720.] THE mSSISSIPPI COMPANY. 315 Crozat had built his chief hopes of profit on a trade, contraband or otherwise, with the Mexican ports; but the Spanish officials, faithful instruments of the exclusive policy of their government, would not permit it, and were so vigilant that he could not elude them. At the same time, to his vexation, he found that the King's officers in Louisiana, with more address or better luck, and in contempt of his monopoly, which it was their business to protect, carried on, for their own profit, a small smuggling trade with Vera Cruz. He complained that they were always thwarting his agents and conspiring against his interests. At last, finding no resource left but an unprofitable trade with the Indians, he gave up his charter, which had been a bane to the colony and a loss to himself. Louisiana returned to the Crown, and was soon passed over to the new Mississippi Company, called also the Western Company.^ That charlatan of genius, the Scotchman John Law, had undertaken, with the eager support of the Regent Duke of Orleans, tr deliver France from financial ruin through a prodigious system of credit, of which Louisiana, with its iniaginary gold mines, was made the basis. The government used every 41 I '1 ^ 1:^' from these sources. Nicolas de la Salle is reported to have had two in succession, both from the hospitals. Be'nard de la Harpe, 107 (ed. 1831). 1 Lettres patentes en forme d'^dit porfant €tahlissement de la Com- pagnie d'Occident, in Le Page du Pratz, Histoire de. la Louisiane, i.47. i \ i^ i\ h 316 LOUISIANA. [1717-1721. r: means to keep up the stock of the Mississippi Com- pany. It was ordered that the notes of the royal bank and all certificates of public debt should be accepted at par in payment for its shares. Powers and privileges were lavished on it. It was given the monopoly of the French slave-trade, the monopoly of tobacco, the profits of the royal mint, and the farm- ing of the revenues cf the kingdom. Ingots of gold, pretending to have come from the new Eldorado of Louisiana, were displayed in the shop-windows of Paris. The fever of speculation rose to madness, and the shares of the company were inflated to monstrous and insane proportions. When Crozat resigned his charter, Louisiana, by the highest estimates, contained about seven hundred souls, including soldiers, but not blacks or Indians. Crozat's successors, however, say that the whole num- ber of whites, men, women, and children, was not above four hundred.^ When the Mississippi Com- pany took the colony in charge, it was but a change of despots. Louisiana was a prison. But while no inhabitant could leave it without permission of the authorities, all Jews were expelled, and all Protestants excluded. The colonists could buy nothing except from the agents of the company, and sell nothing except to the same all-powerful masters, always at prices fixed by them. Foreign vessels were forbidden to enter any port of Louisiana, on pain of confiscation. The coin in circulation was nearly all Spanish, and ^ Reglement de R^gie, 1721. 1717-1721.] DEMAND FOR WIVES. 317 in less than two years the Company, by a series of decrees, made changes of about eighty per cent in its value. Freedom of conscience, freedom of speech, of trade, and of action, were alike denied. Hence voluntary immigration was not to be expected ; " but," says the Due de Saint-Simon, "the government wished to establish effective settlements in these vast countries, after the example of the English; and therefore, in order to people them, vagabonds and beggars, male and female, including many women of the town, were seized for the purpose both in Paris and throughout France."^ Saint-Simon approves these proceedings in themselves, as tending at once to purge France and people Louisiana, but thinks the business was managed in a way to cause needless exasperation among the lower classes. In 1720 it was ordered by royal edict that no more vagabonds or criminals should be sent to Louisiana. The edict, it seems, touched only one sex, for in the next year eighty girls were sent to the colony from the Parisian House of Correction called the Sal- pgtrifere. There had been a more or less constant demand for wives, as appears by letters still preserved in the archives of Paris, the following extract from one of which is remarkable for the freedom with which the writer, a M. de Chassin, takes it upon him to address a minister of State in a court where punctilio reigned supreme. " You see, Monseigneur, that nothing is wanting now to make a solid settle- 1 Saint-Simon, ifemoires (ed. Ciieruel), xvii. 401. ''. i 818 LOUISIANA. i n^if'"* til I «' [1717-1722. merit in Louisiana but a certain piece of furniture which one often repents having got, and with which I shall dispense, like the rest, till the Company sends us girls who have at least some show of virtue. If there happens to be any young woman of your acquaintance who wants to make the voyage for love of me, I should be much obliged to her, and would do my best to show her my gratitude."^ The Company, which was invested with sovereign powers, began its work by sending to Louisiana three companies of soldiers and sixty-nine colonists. Its wih'est act was the removal of the governor, L'^pinay, who had supplanted La Mothe-Cadillac, and the reappointment of Bienville in his place. Bienville iiumediately sought out a spot for establishing a perro.anent station on the Mississippi. Fifty men were sent to clear the ground, and in spite of an inunda- tion which overflowed it for a time, the feeble foun- dations of New Orleans were laid. Louisiana, hitherto diffused through various petty cantonments, far and near, had at last a capital, or the germ of one. It was the sixth of September, 1717, when the charter of the Mississippi Company was entered in the registers of the Parliament of Paris; and from that time f Drward, before the offices of the Company in the Rue Quincampoix, crowds of crazed specula- tors jostled and fought from morning till night to get their names inscribed among the stockholders. ^ De C\assin au Ministre, 1 Juillet, Vl'2.2, in Gayarre, i. 190. 1722, 1723.] THE BUBBLE BURSTS. 311) Within five years after, the huge glittering lm1)])le had burst. The shares, each one of whicli had seemed a fortune, found no more purchasers, and in its fall the Company dragged down with it its ally and chief creditor, the bank. All was dismay and despair, except in those who had sold out in time, and turned delusive paper into solid values. John Law, lately the idol and reputed savior of France, fled for his life, amid a howl of execration. Yet the interests of the kingdom required that Louisiana should be sustained. The illusions that had given to the Mississippi Company a mjrbid and intoxicated vitality were gone, but the Company lingered on, and the government still lent it a help- ing hand. A French writer remarks that the few Frenchmen who were famishing on the shores of the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico had cost the King, since the colony began, more than 150,000 livres a year. The directors of the Company reported that they had shipped 7,020 persons to the colony, besides four hundred already there when they took possession, and that 5,420 still remained, the rest having died or escaped.^ Besides this importation of whites, they had also brought six hundred slaves from Guinea. It is reckoned that the King, Crozat, and the Mississippi Company had spent among them 1 A considerable number of the whites brought to Louisiana in the name of the Company had been sent at the charge of persons to whom it had granted lands in various parts of the colony. Among these was John Law himself, who had the grant of large tracts on the Arkansas. i I 11 i' > IM: 'i; '/ Wi • ^ 820 LOUISIANA. [1724. about eight million livres on Louisiana, witliout any return.^ The bursting of the Mississippi bubble did not change the principles of administration in Louisiana. The settlers, always looking to France to supply their needs and protect them against their own improvidence, were in the habit of butchering for food the livestock sent them for propagation. The remedy came in the shape of a royal edict forbidding any colonist to kill, without permission of the authori- ties, any cow, sheep, or lamb belonging to himself, on pain of a fine of three hundred livres ; or to kill any horse, cow, or bull belonging to another, on pain of death. Authority and order were the watchwords, and disorder was the rule. The agents of power quar- relled among themselves, except when they leagued together to deceive their transatlantic masters and cover their own misdeeds. Each maligned the other, and it was scarcely possible for the King or the Company to learn the true state of affairs in their distant colony. Accusations were renewed against Bienville, till in 1724 he was ordered to France to give account of his conduct, and the Sieur Perier was sent out to take his place. Perier had no easy task. The Natchez Indians, among whom the French had made a settle- ment and built a fort called Fort Rosalie, suddenly rose on their white neighbors and massacred nearly 1 Benard de la Harpe, 371 (ed. 1831). [1724. out any did not misiana. . supply eir own jring for m. The )rbidding = authori- himself, or to kill r, on pain ords, and wer quar- sy leagued ,sters and the other, ng or the •s in their lille, till in )unt of his it to take ^e Natchez Le a settle- suddenly [red nearly 1729 :/;5;}.] INDIAN WARS. 321 all of them.* Then followed a long course of Indian wars. The French believed that tliere was a sreneral conspiracy among the southern tril)es for their destruc- tion, — though this was evidently an exaggeration of the danger, which, however, was serious. The Chickasaws, a brave and warlike people, living chiefly in what is now western Tennessee and Kentucky, made common cause with the Natchez, while the more numerous Choctaws, most of whose villages were in the present State of Mississippi, took part with the French. More than a thousand soldiers had been sent to Louisiana ; but Perier pro- nounced them " so bad that they seem to have l)een made on purpose for the colony."^ There were also about eight hundred militia. Perier showed little vigor, and had little success. His chief resource was to set the tribes against one another. He reports that his Indum allies had brought him a nui.xber of TTatchez prisoners, and that he had caused six of them, four men and two women, to be burned alive, and had sent the rest as slaves to St. Domingo. The Chickasaws, aided by English traders from the Carolinas, proved formidable adversaries, and when attacked, ensconced themselves in stockade forts so strong that, as the governor complains, there was no dislodging the defenders without cannon and heavy- mortars. 1 Lettre dn Pere le. Petit, in Lettres ^dijiantes ; Dumont, M^moires historiqms, chap, xxvii. 2 " Nos soldats, qui semblent Otre faits exprfes pour la colonie, tants ils sont mauvais." — Depeche de Perier, 18 Mars, 1730. VOL. I. — 21 I ' 'I I I i i I I I 1^ I I 322 LOUISIANA. [1731-1733. i f> ki ■ liii In this state of things the directors of the Mississippi Company, whose affaii-s had gone from bad to worse, declared that tliey could no longer bear the burden of Louisiana, and })Cgged the King to take it off their liands. The colony was therefore transferred from the mercantile despotism of the Company to the paternal despotism of the Crown, and it profited by the change. Commercial monopoly was abolished. Trade between France and Louisiana was not only permitted, but encouraged by bounties and exemption from duties ; and instead of payinj^ to the Company two hundred per cent of prolit on indispensable sup- plies, the colonists now got them at a reasonable price. Perier was removed, and again Bienville was made governor. Diron d'Artaguette, who came with him as intendant, reported that the colonists were flying the country to escape starvation, and Bienville adds that during the past year they had subsisted for three months on the seed of reeds and wild grasses.^ The white population had rather diminished than increased during the last twelve years, while the blacks, who had lately conspired to massacre all the French along the Mississippi, had multiplied to two thousand. ^ A French writer says : " There must have been a worm gnawing the root of the tree that had been trans- planted into so rich a soil, to make it wither instead 1 M^moire de Bienville, 1730. * For a curious account of the discovery of this negro plot, see Le Page du Pratz, iii. 804. H-1733. nssippi worse, rdcn of ff their (1 from to the fited by olished. lot only emption Company He sup- sasonabk vas made with him ^re flying ille adds for three is.i The increased ^cks, who ich along land.a A n a worm len trans- ir instead ^ro plot, see 17:)0, 1740.J BIENVILLE RESIGNS. 8123 of growing. Wliat it needed was the air of liWrty." But the air of lilx?rty is malaria to tliose who liave not learned to breathe it. The English coh)nist8 throve in it liecause they and their foi'c^fathers had been trained in a school of self-control and self- vigvva!r.s, j iid encamp on t1 o spot t:U winter; then send out parties to harass them as they roamed the woods seeking a meagre subsist- ence by hunting. In this way he hoped to cripple, if not destroy them.^ The Outagamies lived at this time on the Fox River of Green Bay, — a stream which owes its name to them. 2 Their chief village seciis to have been between thirty and forty miles from the mouth of the river, where it creeps through bror d tracts of rushes, willows, and wild rice. In spite of their losses at Detroit in 1712, their strength was far from being broken. During two successive summers preparations were made to attack them; but the march was delayed, once by the tardiness of the Indian allies, and again by the illness of Louvigny. At length, on the first of May, 1716, he left Montreal with two hundred and twenty-five Frenchmen, while two hundred more waited to join him at Detroit and Michilimackinac, where the Indian allies were also to meet him. To \i : I !'» 1 Vaudreuil au Ministre, 16 Septemhre, 1714. 2 " Les Renards [Outagamies] sont placez sur une riviere qui tombe dans la Baye des Puants [Green Bay]." — Registre du Conseil de la Marine, 28 Mars, 1716. 1716.] ATTACK OX THE OrTAriA]\'II':S. 333 save expense in pay and outfit, the Cnnadians re- cruited for the war were allowed to tak. vitli them p^oods for trading with the Indians. H.-nce great disorder and insubordination, especially a., more than forty barrels of brandy were carried in the canoes, as a part of these commercial ventures, in consequence •of which we hear that when French and Indians we.d encamped together, "hell was thrown open."^ The Outagamies stood their ground. Louvigny says, with probable ^ -aggeration, that when he made his attack their vili.; gr -eld five hundred warriors, and no less thap tl.. '^e t ^.iisand women, — a disparity of sexes no do a ' le to the inveterate fighting habits of the tribe, riie wigwams were enclosed by a strong fence, coj ?tiiig of three rows of heavy oaken palisades. This method of forti ^cation was used also by tribes farther southward. When Bienville attacked the Chickasaws, he was foiled by the solid wooden wall that resisted his cannon, being formed of trunks of trees as large as a man's body, set upright, close together, and made shot-proof by smaller trunks, planted within so as to close the interstices of the outer row.'^ The fortified village of the Outagamies was of a somewhat different construction. The defences con- sisted of three rows of palisades, those of the middle row being probably planted upright, and the other 1 " Oil il y a des Franvois et des sauvages, c'eat un enfer ouvert." — Registre du Conseil de Marine, 28 Mars, 1716. 2 Le Page du Pratz. ! ' A" I <: {.' 834 THE ()lJTA(iAMIE WAR. [1716. two set aslant against them. Below, along the inside of the triple row, ran a sort of shallow trench or rifle- pit, wliere the defenders lay ensconced, firing through interstices left for the purpose between the palisades.* Louvigny had brought with him two cannon and a mortar; but being light, they had little effect on the wooden wall, and as he was provided with mining tools, he resolved to attack the Outiigamie stronghold by regular approaches, as if he were besieging a for- tress of Vauban. Covered by the fire of three pieces of artillery and eight hundred French and Indian small-arms, he opened trenches during the night within seventy yards of the palisades, pushed a sap sixty feet nearer before morning, and on the third night burrowed to within about twenty-three yards of the wall. His plan was to undermine and blow up the palisades. The Outagamies had made a furious resistance, in which their women took part with desperation; but dreading the threatened explosion, and unable to resist the underground approaches of their enemy, they asked for a parley, and owned themselves beaten. Louvigny demanded that they should make peace with all tribes friendly to the French, give up all V m 1 Louvigny au Afinistre, 14 Octobre, 1716. Louvigny's account of the Outagamie defences is short, and not very clear. La Mothe- Cadillac, describing similar works at Michilimackinac, says that tlie palisades of the innermost row alone were set close together, those of the two other rows being separated by spaces of six inches or more, through which the defenders fired from their loopholes. Tlie plan seems borrowed from tlie Iroquois. J; i 1710-1719.] HOSTILITIES RENEWED. 335 ce, in but lie to emy, aten. peace p all )unt of I Mothe- rs that [gether, inches jpholes. prisoners, and make war on distant trilKJS, such as the Pawnees, in order to take captives who sliouhl supply the place of those they had killed among the allies of the French; that they should pay, in furs, the costs of the war, and give six chiefs, or sons of chiefs, as hostages for the fultilnient of these conditions.^ On the twelfth of October Louvign}? reached Quebec in triumph, bringing with him the six hostages. The Outagamie question was settled for a time. The tribe remained quiet tor some years, and in 1718 sent a deputation to Montreal and renewed their submission, which the governor accepted, though they had evaded the complete fulfilment of the con- ditions imposed on them. Yet peace was not secure for a moment. The Kickapoos and Mascoutins would not leave their neighbors, the Illinois, at rest; the Saginaws made raids on the Miamis; and a general war seemed imminent. " The difficulty is inconceiv- able of keeping these western tribes quiet," writes the governor, almost in despair. ^ At length the crisis came. The Illinois captured the nephew of Oushala, the principal Outagamie war- chief, and burned him alive ; on which the Outagamies attacked them, drove them for refuge to the top of the rock on which La Salle's fort of St. Louis had been built, and held them there at mercy. They would have starved to death, had not the victors, * De'piche de Vandreuil, 14 Octohre, 171G. 2 Vaudreuil au Conseil de Marine, 28 Octobre, 1719. I ■! I l: u I I i .1 836 TIIK OL'TAdAMIK WAK. [1722, 1727. ' <* > i'' J • t dreadinpf the anger of tlie French, suffered them to escape.' For this tliey took to tliemselves great credit, not without reason, in view of tlie provoca- tion. At Versailles, however, tlicir attack on the Illinois seemed an unpardonahle offence, and the next ship from France brought a lett(M' from the colonial minister declaring tlijit the Outagamies must ]>e effectually put down, and that "his Majesty will reward the officer who will reduce, or rather destroy, them." 2 The authorities of Canada were less truculent than their masters at tue court, or were better able to count the costs of another war. Longueuil, the pro- visional governor, persisted in measures of peace, and the Sieur de Lignery called a council of the Outagamies and their neighbors, the Sacs and Winne- bagoes, at Green Bay. He told them that the Great Onontio, the King, ordered them, at their peril, to make no more attacks on the Illinois ; and they duti- fully promised to obey, while their great chief, Oushala, begged that a French officer might be sent to his village to help him keep his young warriors from the war-path.^ The pacific policy of Longueuil was not approved by Desliettes, then command'.iig in the Illinois country; and he proposed to settle accounts with the Outagamies by exterminating them. * Paroles des Renards [Outagamies] duns im Conseil tenu - O Septembre, 1722. * li^ponse du Ministreala lettre dn Marquis de Vaudreuil du II Octobre, 1723. ' M^moire sttr les Renards, 27 Avril, 1727. ;,i 1727.] COXFLICTING PLANS. 337 Ireuil du 11 "This is very well," observes a writer of the time; "but to try to exterminute them and fail would be disastrous."^ The Manjuis de Beauharnois, who came out as governor of Canada in 1726, was averse to violent measures, since if an attempt to exterminate the offending tribe should be made without success, the life of eveiy Frenchman in the West would be in jeopardy. 2 Lignery thought that if the Outagamies broke the promises they had made him at Green Bay, the forces of Canada and Louisiana should unite to crush them. The missionary, Chardon, advised that they should be cut off from all supplies of arms, ammunition, and merchandise of any kind, and that all the well-disposed western tribes should then be set upon them, — which, he thought, would infallibly bring them to reason. ^ The new governor, perplexed by the multitude of counsellors, presently received a missive from the King, directing him not to fight the Outagamies if he could help it, " since the consequences of failure would be frightful. " ' On the other hand, Beauharnois was told that the Englisn had sent messages to the Lake tribes urging them to kill the French in their country, and that the Outagamies had promised to do 1 M^moire concernant la Po'v que "'•^ de Lignery afaite avec lei Chefs des Renards, Sakis [Sacs], et Puants [Winnebagoes], 7 Juin, 1726. " M^moire sur les Renards, 27 Avril, 1727. » Ibid. * M€moire du Roy, 29 Avril, 1727. VOL. I.— 22 'if ■i! ! i' I. I }l 1 I ii 338 THE OUTAGAMIE WAR. [1727, 1728. so. "This," writes the governor, "compels us to make war in earnest. It will cost sixty thousand livres." ^ Dupuy, the intendant, had joined with Beauharnois in this letter to the minister; but being at the time in a hot quarrel with the governor, he soon after sent a communication of liis own to Versailles, in which he declares that the war against the Outagamies was only a pretext of Beauharnois for spending the King's money, and enriching himself by buying up all the furs of the countries traversed by the army.^ Whatever the motives of the expedition, it left Montreal in June, under the Sieur de Lignery, fol- lowed the rugged old route of the Ottawa, and did not reach Michilimackinac till after midsummer. Thence, in a flotilla of birch canoes carrying about a thousand Indians and five hundred French, the party set out for the fort at the head of Green Bay.^ Here they caught one Outagamie warrior and three Winnebagoes, whom the Indian allies tortured to death. Then they paddled their canoes up Fox River, reached a Winnebago village on the twenty- fourth of August, followed the channel of the stream, z ribbon of lazy water twisting in a vague, perplex- ing way through the broad marsh of wild rice and flags, till they saw the chief village of the Outagamies ^ Beauharnois et Dupuii au Ministre, 25 Octobre, 1727. ^ Me'moire de Dupu;/, 1728. 3 Desl.'ettes came to meet them, bj- way of Chicago, with five hundred Illinois warriors and twenty Frenclimcn. La Perriere et La Fresniere a Beuu/iurnois, 10 Sepiembre, 1728. 1728-1730.] LIGNEKY'S EXPEDITION FAILS. o39 on a tract of rising ground a little above the level of the bog.^ It consisted of bark wigwams, without palisades or defences of any kind. Its only inmates were three squaws and one old man. These were all seized, and, to the horror of Pere Crespel, the chap- lain, were given to the Indian allies, who kept the women as slaves, and burned the old man at a slow fire.*'^ Then, after burning the village and destroying the crop of maize, peas, beans, and squashes that surrounded it, the whole party returned to Michili- mackinac.^ The expedition was not a success. Lignery had hoped to surprise the enemy ; but the alert and nimble savages had escaped him. Beauharnois makes the best of the miscarriage, and writes that "the army did good work;" but says a few weeks later that something must be done to cure the contempt which the western allies of the French have conceived for them "since the last affair."* Two years after Lignery's expedition, there was another attempt to humble the Outagamies. Late in the autumn of 1730 young Coulon de Viiliers, who twenty-four years later defeated Washington at Fort Necessity, appeared at Quebec with news that the Sieur de Viiliers, his father, who commanded the I ii ■■(i i ' i I' 1 Guignas a Beauharnois, 29 Mai, 1728, 2 De'peche de Beauharnois, 1 Septembre, 1728, * The best account of this expedition is that of Pere Emanuel Crespel. Lignery made a report whicli seems to be lost, as it does not appear in the Archives. * Beauharnois au Ministre, 15 .}fai, 1729 ; Ibid., 21 Juillet, 1729. 340 THE OUTAGAMIE WAR. [1730. i ;; fi! post on the St. Joseph, had struck the Outagamies a deadly blow and killed two hundred of their warriors, besides six hundred of their women and children. The force under Villiers consisted of a body of Frenchmen gathered from various west- ern posts, another body from the Illinois, led by the Sieurs de Saint-Ange, father and son, and twelve or thirteen hundred Indian allies from many friendly tribes.^ The accounts of this affair are obscure and not very trustworthy. It seems that the Outagamies began the fray by an attack on the Illinois at La Salle's old station of Le Rocher, on the river Illinois. On hear- ing of this, the French commanders muBtered their Indian allies, hastened to the spot, and found the Outagamies intrenched in a grove which they had surrounded with a stockade. They defended them- selves with their usual courage, but, being hard pressed by hunger and thirst, as well as by the greatly superior numbers of their assailants, they tried to escape during a dark night, as their tribes- men had done at Detroit Li 1712. The French and 1 Beauharnois et Hocqnart au Ministre, 2 Novembre, 1730. An Indian tradition says tliat about tliis time there was a great battle between the Outagamies and the French, aided by their Indian allies, at the place called Little Butte des Morts, on the Fox River, According to the story, the C)utaganiies were nearly destroyed. Per- haps this is a perverted version of the Villiers aifair. (See Wis- consin Historical Collections, viii. 207.) Beauharnois also reports, under date of 6 May, 1730, that a party of Outagamies, returning from a buffalo hunt, were surprised by two hundred Ottawas, Ojibwas, Menominies, and Winnebagoes, who killed eighty war- riors and three hundred women and children. [1730. mies a their n and ;ed of west- ied by , and many 3t very began ie's old n hear- d their nd the ey had them- 5 hard by the , they tribes - ich and 730. An at battle ir Indian ox River, ed. Per- See Win- ) reports, rotuining Ottawas, lity war- 1730, 1731.] ANOTHER BLOW. 341 their allies pursued, and there was a great slaughter, in which many warriors and many more women and children were the victims.^ The offending tribe must now, one would think, have ceased to be dangerous ; but notliing less than its destruction would content the French officials. To this end, their best resource was in their Indian allies, among whom the Outagamies had no more deadly enemy than the Hurons of Detroit, who, far from relenting in view of their disasters, were more eager than ever to wreak their ire on their unfortu- nate foe. Accordingly, they sent messengers to the converted Iroquois at the Mission of Two Mountains, and invited them to join in making an end of the Outagamies. The invitation was accepted, and in the autumn of 1731 forty-seven warriors from the Two Mountains appeared at Detroit. The party was soon made up. It consisted of seventy-four Hurons, forty-six Iroquois, and four Ottawas. They took the trail to the mouth of the river St. Joseph, thence around the head of Lake Michigan to the Chicago portage, and thence westward to Rock River. Here were the villages of the Kickapoos and Mascoutins, who had been allies of the Outagamies, but having lately quarrelled with them, received the strangers as friends and gave them guides. The party now filed northward, by forests and prairies, towards the 1 Some particulars of this affair are given hy Ferlnnd, Cours d'fllstoire du Canada, ii. 43V ; but he does not give his authority. I have found no report of it by those engaged. 342 THE OUTAGAMIE WAR. [1731. I I Wisconsin, to the banks of which stream the Outaga- mies had lately removed their villages. The warriors were all on snow-shoes, for the weather was cold and the snow deep. Some of the elders, overcome by the hardships of the way, called a council and proposed to turn back ; but the juniora were for pushing on at all risks, and a young warrior declared that he would rather die than go home without killing somebody. The result was a division of the party; the elders returned to Chicago, and the younger men, forty Hurons and thirty Iroquois, kept on their way. At last, as they neared the Wisconsin, they saw on an open prairie three Outagamies, who ran for their lives. The Hurons and Iroquois gave chase, till from the rid^'f of a hill they discovered the prin- cipal Outagamie village, consisting, if we may believe their own story, of forty-six wigwams, near the bank of the river. The Outagamie warriors came out to meet them, in number, as they pretended, much greater than theirs; but the Huron and Iroquois chiefs reminded their followers that they had to do with dogs who did not believe in God, on which they fired two volleys against the enemy, then dropped their guns and charged with the knife in one hand and the war-club in the other. According to their own story, which shows every sign of mendacity, they drove back the Outagamies into their village, killed seventy warriors, and captured fourteen more, without counting eighty women and children killed, and a hundred and forty taken prisoners. In short, I 5 [1731. 1731-1746.] OUTAGAMIES DEFEATED. 343 :he Outaga- ?he warriors as cold and ome by the id proposed ishing on at at he would somebody. ; the elders men, forty eir way. they saw vho ran for gave chase, ed the prin- mav believe lar the bank 3ame out to ided, much id Iroquois y had to do . which they en dropped n one hand ing to their mendacity, leir village, irteen more, dren killed, . In short, they would have us believe that they destroyed the whole village, except ten men, who escaped entirely naked, and soon froze to death. They declared further that they sent one of their prisoners to the remaining Outagamie villages, ordering him to tell the inhabitants that they had just devoured the better part of the tribe, and meant to stay on the spot two days; that the tribesmen of the slain were free to attack them if they chose, but in that case, they would split the heads of all the women and children prisoners in their hands, make a breastwork of the dead bodies, and then finish it by piling upon it those of the assailants.^ Nothing is more misleading than Indian tradition, which is of the least possible value as evidence. It may be well, however, to mention another story, often repeated, touching these dark days of the Outagamies. It is to the effect that a French trader named Marin, whom they had incensed by levying blackmail from him, raised a party of Indians, with whose aid he surprised and defeated the unhappy tribe at the Little Butte des Morts, that they retired to the Great But^ les Morts, higher up Fox River, and that Marin 1 e attacked them again, killing or capturing the \ hole. Extravagant as the story seems, it may h; \e some foundation, though various dates, from 17 :"> to 1746, are assigned to the alleged exploit, and contemporary documents are silent con- 1 Relation de la Di'/'nite des Renards par les Sauvages Hurotm et Iroquois, le 28 F^vrier, 1732. (Archives dc la Marine.) I I I • i 344 THE Ol'TAGAMIE WAR. [17;i6-lH;J2. 7 cerning it. It is certain tliiit the Outagamies were not destroyed, as the tribe exists to this day.^ In 1736 it was reported that sixty or eighty Outagamie warriors were still alive. ^ Their women, who when hard pushed would figlit like furies, were relatively numerous and tolera])ly prolific and their villages were full of sturdy bo^-s, likely to be danger- ous in a few years. Feeling their losses and their weakness, the survivors of the tribe incorporated themselves with their kindred and neighbors, the Sacs, Sakis, or Saukies, the two forming henceforth one tribe, afterwards known to the Americans as the Sacs and Foxes. Early in the nineteenth century they were settled on both banks of the upper Mississippi. Brave and restless like their forefathers, they were a continual menace to the American frontiersmen, and in 1832 they rose in open war, under their famous chief, Blackhawk, displaying their hereditary prowess both on foot and on horseback, and more than once defeating superior numbers of American mounted militia. In the next year that excellent artist, 1 The story is told in Snelling, Tales of the Noi-fhwest (1880), under the title of La Butte des Murts, and afterwards, with varia- tions, Iv the aged Augustus Grignon, in his Recollections, ]mntcd in the Collections of the Wisconsin Historical Societi/, iii. ; also by Judgi' M. L. Martin and others. Grignon, like all the rest, was not born till after the time of the alleged event. The nearest approach to substantial evidence touching it is in a letter of Beauharnois, who writes in 1730 that the Sieur Dubuisson was to attack the (^)uta- gamies with fifty Frenchmen and five hundred and fifty Indians, and that Marin, commander at Green Bay, was to join him. Beauharnois au Ministre, 25 Juin, 1730. 2 Me'moire sur le Canada, 1730. f i ^^ I8:5;i-18:{7.] SACS AND FOXES. 345 Charles Bodmer, painted a group of them from life, — grim-visaged savages, armed witli war-ohib, spear, or rifle, and wrapped in red, green, or brown l)lankets, tlieir heads close shaven except the erect and bristling scalp-lock, adorned with long eagle-i^lumes, while botli heads and faces are ])ainled witli fantastic ligures in blue, white, yellow, black, and vermilion.' Tliree oi- four years after, a party of their chiefs and v/arriors was conducted through the country by order of the Washington government, in order to impress them with the number and power of the whites. At Boston they danced a war-dance on the Conunon in full (costume, to the delight of the boy spectators, of whom 1 was one. 1 Cliarles Bo'i;!' ■ was the artist who accompanied Prince Maxi- milian of Wi(.'(l in Ills tiavt'ls in tiic interior of North America. The name Outafjamic is Algonquin for a fox. Hence the French called the tribe Renards, and the Americans, Foxes. They called themselves Mussquawkies, which is said to mean " red earth," and to be derived from the color of the soil near one of iheir villages. % ;; < CHAPTER XV. 1697-1741. FRANC K IN THE FAll WEST, French Exploukrs. — Le Sueur on the St. 1'eter. — Cana- dians ON THE Missouri. — Juciiekeau de Saint-Denis. — JJenari) I)e i.a IIarpe on Reu IIivek. — Auventihes ok Du TisNE. — ROUKOMONT VISITS THE COMANCHES. — TlIE BROTHERS Mai.i.et in Colorado and New Mexico. — Fabry de la BRUVilRE. The occupation by France of tlie lower Mississippi gave a strong impulse to the exploration of the West, by supplying a base for discovery, stimulating enter- 2)rise l)y the longing to find gold mines, open trade with New Mexico, and get a fast hold on the countries beyond the Mississippi in anticipation of Spain; and to tiiese motives was soon added the hope of finding an overland way to the Pacific. It was the Cana- dians, with their indomitable spirit of adventure, who led the way in the path of discovery. As a bold and hardy pioneer of the wilderness, the Frenchman in America has rarely found his match. His civic virtues withered under the despotism of Versailles, and his mind and conscience were kept in leading-strings by an absolute Church ; but the forest and the prairie offered him an unbridled liberty, which, lawless as it was, gave scope to his energies, ' n 1650-1750.] OPPOSING INFLUENCES. 347 till these savage wastes became the tield of his most noteworthy achievements. Canada was divided between two opposing influ- ences. On the one side were the monarchy and the hierarchy, with their principles of order, suboidina- tion, and obedience ; substantially at one in purpose, since ])oth wished to keep the colony within manage- able bounds, domesticate it, and tame it to sobciness, regularity, and obedience. On the other side was the spirit of liberty, or license, which was in the very air of this wilderness continent, reinforced in the chiefs of the colony by a spirit of adventure inherited from the Middle iVges, and by a spirit of trade born of present oj^portunities ; for every official in Canada hoped to make a profit, if not a fortune, out of beaver- skins. Kindred impulses, in ruder forms, possessed the humbler colonists, drove them into the forest, and made them hardy woodsmen and skilful bush- fighters, though turbulent and lawless members of civilized society. Time, the decline of the fur-trade, and the influ- ence of the Canadian Church gradually diminished this erratic spirit, and at the same time impaired the qualities that were associated with it. The Canadian became a more stable colonist and a steadier farmer; but for forest journeyings and forest warfare he was scarcely his former self. At the middle of the ' eigh- teenth century we find complaints that the race of voyageurs is growing scarce. The taming process was most apparent in the central and lower parts of 348 FRANCE IN THE FAR WEST. [1683-lfJ05. iui V !} i the colony, such as tlie C/ote do Hcaupi(j and the opposite shore of the St. Lawrence, where the hands of the government and of tlie CUiurcli were strong; wlule at the head of the colony, — that is, about iVIontreal and its neighborhood, — wliicli touched the primeval wilderness, an uncontrollable spirit of adventure still lield its own. Here, at the begin- ning of the century, this spirit was as strong as it had ever been, anil achieved u series of explorations and discoveries which revealed the plains of the F'ar West long before an iVnglo-Saxon foot had pressed their soil. The expedition of one Le Sueur to what is now the State of Minnesota may be taken as the starting- point of these enterprises. Le Sueur had visited tlie country of the Sioux as early as 1083. He returned thither in 1G89 with the famous voyageur Nicolas Perrot.^ Four years later. Count Frontenac sent him to the Sioux country again. The declared pur- pose of the mission was to keep those fierce tribes at peace with their neighboi"s; but the governor's ene- mies declared that a contraband trade in beaver was the true object, and that Frontenac 's secretary was to have half the profits. ^ Le Sueur returned after two years, bringing to Montreal a Sioux chief and his squaw, — the first of the tribe ever seen there. He then went to France, and represented to the court that he had built a fort at Lake Pepin, on the 1 Journal histori(/ue de I'Etablissement des Frangais a la Louisiane, 43. '^ Cliampifjni) au, Ministre, 4 Novembre, 1693. /:■ 1697-1700.] LK srErR. 840 upper Mississippi ; that he wiis tlio only wliitc man who knew the Languages of that region; and that if the French did not speedily seize upon it, the Eng- lish, who were aln^ady trading njwn the Ohio, would be sure to do so. Thereupon he asked for the coni- raand of the upjxir Mississippi, with all its tributary waters, together with a monopoly of its fur-trade for ten years, and permission to work its mines, promis- ing that if his petition were granted, he would secure the country to France without exi)ense to the King. The commission wiis given liim. Me bought an out- fit and sailed for Canada, but was cajjtured by the English on the way. After the peace he returned to France and begged for a renewal of his connnission. Leave was given him to work the copper and lead mines, but not to trade in beaver-skins. He now formed a company to aid liim in his enterprise, on which a cry rose in Canada that under pretence of working mines he meant to trade in beaver, — which is very likely, since to bring lead and copper in bark canoes to Montreal from the Mississippi and Lake Superior would cost far more than the metal was worth. In consequence of this clamor his commission was revoked. Perhaps it was to compensate him for the outlays into which he had been drawn that the colonial minister presently authorized him to embark for Louisiana and pursue his enterprise with that infant colony, instead of Canada, as his base of operations. Thither, therefore, he w^nt; and in April, 1700, set ^ .^J^. w \r 1^ > IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) // {./ ^ A k m^/ 1.0 I.I |io ^^ M^H IIS 140 11:25 HI 1.4 ■ 2.0 Hiotographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) •72-4503 \ iV [V SJ V ^ 350 FRANCE IN THE FAR WEST. [1700. out for the Sioux country with twenty-five men, in a small vessel of the kind called a "felucca," still used in the Mediterranean. Among the party was an adventurous youth named Penecaut, a ship-carpenter by trade, who had come to Louisiana with Iberville two years before, and who has left us an account of his voyage with Le Sueur. ^ The party slowly made their way, with sail and oar, against the muddy current of the Mississippi, till they reached the Arkansas, where they found an English trader from Carolina. On the tenth of June, spent with rowing, and half starved, they stopped to rest at a point fifteen leagues above the mouth of the Ohio. They had staved off famine with the buds and leaves of trees ; but now, by good luck, one of them killed a bear, and, soon after, the Jesuit Limoges arrived from the neighboring mission of the Illinois, in a canoe well stored with provisions. Thus refreshed, they passed the mouth of the Missouri on the thirteenth of July, and soon after were met by three Canadians, wiio brought them a letter from the Jesuit Marest, warning them that the river was infested by war-parties. In fact, they presently saw seven canoes of Sioux warriors, bound against the Illinois ; and not long after, five Canadians appeared, one of whom had been badly wounded in a recent encounter with a band of Outagamies, Sacs, and * Relation de Peneccut. In my possession is a contemporary manuscript of tliis narrative, for whicli I am indebted to tiie kind- ness of General J. Mereditli Reade. 1700.] LE SUEUR ON THE ST. PETER. 861 Winnebagoes bound against the Sioux. To take one another's scalps had been for ages the absorbing busi- ness and favorite recreation of all these Western tribes. At or near the expansion of the Mississippi called Lake Pepin, the voyagers found a fort called Fort Perrot, after its builder ; ^ and on an island near the upper end of the lake, another similar structure, built by Le Sueur himself on his last visit to the place. These forts were mere stockades, occupied from time to time by the roving fur-traders as their occasions required. Towards the end of September, Le Sueur and his followers reached the mouth of the St. Peter, which they ascended to Blue Earth River. Pushing a league up this stream, they found a spot well suited to their purpose, and here they built a fort, of which there was great need, for they were soon after joined by seven Canadian traders, plundered and stripped to the skin by the neighboring Sioux. Le Sueur named the new post Fort I'Huillier. It was a fence of pickets, enclosing cabins for the men. The neigh- boring plains were black with buffalo, of which the party killed four hundred, and cut them into quarters, ^ Penecaut, Journal. Proces-verbal de la Priite de Possession du Pays des Nadouessioux, etc., par Nicolas Perrot, 1689. Fort Perrot seems to have been built in 1685, and to have stood near the outlet of the lake, probably on the west side. Perrot afterwards built another fort, called Fort St. Antoine, a little above, on the east bank. The position of these forts has been the subject of much discussion, and cannot be ascertained with precision. It appears by the Prise de Possession, cited above, that thert was also, in 1689, a temporary French post near the mouth of the Wisconsin. 1 m ii \ 852 FRANCE IN THE FAR WEST. [1700. ,t '/ i.k which they placed to freeze on scaffolds within the enclosure. Here they spent the winter, subsisting on the frozen meat, without bread, vegetables, or salt, and, according to Penecaut, thriving marvel- lously, though the surrounding wilderness was buried five feet deep in snow. Band after band of Sioux appeared, with their wolfish dogs and their sturdy and all-enduring squaws burdened with the heavy hide coverings of their teepees, or buffalo-skin tents. They professed friend- ship and begged for arms. Those of one band had blackened their faces in mourning for a dead chief, and calling on Le Sueur to share their sorrow, they wept over him, and wiped their tears on his hair. Another party of warriors arrived with yet deeper cause of grief, being the remnant of a village half exterminated by their enemies. They, too, wept profusely over the French commander, and then sang a dismal song, with heads muffled in their buffalo-robes.^ Le Sueur took the needful precautions against his dangerous visitors, but got from them a large supply of beaver-skins in exchange for his goods. When spring opened, he set out in search of mines, and found, not far above the fort, those beds of blue and green earth to which the stream owes its name. Of this his men dug out a large quantity, and select- 1 This weeping over strangers was a custom with the Sioux of that time mentioned by many early writers. La Mothe-Cadillac marvels that a people so brave and warlike should have such a fountain of tears always at command. 1700-1702.] DEATH OF LE SUEUR. 353 ing what seemed the best, stored it in their vessel as a precious commodity. With this and good store of beaver-skins, Le Sueur now began his return voyage for Louisiana, leaving a Canadian named D'£iraque and twelve men to keep the fort till he should come back to reclaim it, promising to send him a canoe-load of ammunition from the Illinois. But the canoe was wrecked, and D'firaque, discouraged, abandoned Fort I'Huillier, and followed his commander down the Mississippi. 1 Le Sueur, with no authority from government, had opened relations of trade with the wild Sioux of the Plains, whose westward range stretched to the Black Hills, and perhaps to the Rocky Mountains. He reached the settlements of Louisiana in safety, and sailed for France with four thousand pounds of his worthless blue earth. ^ Repairing at once to Versailles, he begged for help to continue his enter- prise. His petition seems to have been granted. After long delay, he sailed again for Louisiana, fell ill on the voyage, and died soon after landing. ^ Before 1700, the year when Le Sueur visited the St. Peter, little or nothing was known of the country west of the Mississippi, except from the report of ^ In 1702 the geographer De I'lsle made a remarkable MS. map entitled Carte de la Riviere du J\lississij)i)i, dress€e sur les Memoires de M. Le Sueur. ^ According to the geologist Featherstonhaugh, who examined the locality, this earth owes its color to a bluish-green silicate of iron. 8 Besides the long and circumstantial Relation de Peneeaut, an account of the earlier part of La Sueur's voyage up the Mississippi is contained in the Me'moire du .Chevalier de Ucaurain, which, with VOL. I. — 23 354 FRANCE IN THE FAR WEST. [1703-1717. i> -' / til Indians. The romances of La Hontan and Mathieu SSgean were justly set down as impostures by all but the most credulous. In this same year we find Le Moyne d' Iberville projecting journeys to the upper Missouri, in hopes of finding a river flowing to the Western Sea. In 1703, twenty Canadians tried to find their way from the Illinois to New Mexico, in hope of opening trade with the Spaniards and dis- covering mines. 1 In 1704 we find it reported that more than a hundred Canadians are scattered in small parties along the Mississippi and the Missouri ; ^ and in 1705 one Laurain appeared at the Illinois, declaring that he had been high up the Missouri and had visited many tribes on its borders.^ A few months later, two Canadians told Bienville a similar story. In 1708 Nicolas de la Salle proposed an exp>edition of a hundred men to explore the same mysterious river; and in 1717 one Hubert laid before the Council of Marine a scheme for following the Missouri to its source, since, he says, " not only may we find the mines worked by the Spaniards, but also discover the great river that is said to rise in the mountains where the Missouri has its source, and is believed to flow to the Western Sea." And he advises that a hundred and fifty men be sent up the other papers relating to this explorer, including portions of his Journal, will be found in Margry, vi. See also Journal historique de Vijlahlissement des Frangais a la Louisiaue, 38-71. 1 Iberville a , 15 F€vrier, 170.3 (Margry, vi. 180). ^ Bienville an Ministre,6 Septemhre, 1704. ^ Beaurain, Journal historique. 1714-1719.] LA HARPE'S JOURNEY. 355 river in wooden c.inoes, since bark canoes would be dangerous, by reason of the multitude of snags.* In l'< 14 Juchereau de Saint-Denis was sent by La Motlie-Cadillac to explore western Louisiana, and pushed up Red River to a point sixty-eiglit leagues, as he reckons, above Natchitoches. In the next year, journeying across country towards the Spanish settle- ments, with a view to trade, he was seized near the Rio Grande and carried to the city of Mexico. The Spaniards, jealous of French designs, now sent priests and soldiers to occupy several points in Texas. Juchereau, however, was well treated, and permitted to marry a Spanish girl with whom he had fallen in love on the way; but when, in the autumn of 171G, he ventured another journey to the Mexican borders, still hoping to be allowed to trade, he and his goods were seized by order of the Mexican viceroy, and, lest worse should befall him, he fled empty-handed, under cover of night. ^ In March, 1719, Bdnard de la Ilarpe left the feeble little French post at Natchitoches with six soldiei-s and a sergeant. ^ His errand was to explore the country, open trade if possible with the Spaniards, and establish another post high up Red River. ITe and his party soon came upon that vast entanglement 1 Hubert, Mffmoire envoys au Conneil de la Afarine. 2 Penecaut, Relation, chaps, xvii., xviii. Le Pajje du Pratz, ///.i m of driftwood, or rather of uprooted forests, afterwards known as the Red River raft, which choked the stream and forced them to make their way through the inundated jungle that bordered it. As they pushed or dragged their canoes through the swamp, they saw with disgust and alarm a good number of snakes, coiled about twigs and boughs on the right and left, or sometimes over their heads. These were probably the deadly water-moccason, which in warm weather is accustomed to crawl out of its favorite element and bask itself in the sun, precisely as described by La Harpe. Their nerves were further discomposed by the splashing and plunging of alli- gators lately wakened from their wintry torpor. Still, they pushed painfully on, till they reached navigable water again, and at the end of the month were, as they thought, a hundred and eight leagues above Natchitoches. In four days more they reached the Nassonites. These savages belonged to a group of stationary tribes, only one of which, the Caddoes, survives to our day as a separate community. Their enemies, the Chickasaws, Osages, Arkansas, and even the distant Illinois, waged such deadly war against them that, according to La Harpe, the unfortunate Nassonites were in the way of extinction, their numbers having fallen, within ten years, from twenty-five hundred souls to four hundred.* La Harpe stopped among them to refresh his men, 1 Bdnard de la Harpe, in Margry, vi. 264. 1719.] LA HARPE'S JOURNEY. 357 and build a house of cypress-wood as a beginning of the post he was ordered to establish; then, having heard that a war with Spain had ruined his hopes of trade with New Mexico, he resolved to pursue his explorations. With hira went ten men, white, red, and black, with twenty-two horses bought from the Indians, for his journeyings were henceforth to be by land. The party moved in a northerly and westerly course, by hills, forests, and prairies, passed two branches of the Wichita, and on the third of September came to a river which La Hai-pe calls the southwest branch of the Arkansas, but which, if his observation of lati- tude is correct, must have been the main stream, not far from the site of Fort Mann. Here he was met by seven Indian chiefs, mounted on excellent horses saddled and bridled after the Spanish manner. They led him to where, along the plateau of the low, treeless hills that bordered the valley, he saw a string of Indian villages, extending for a league and belong- ing to nine several bands, the names of which can no longer be recognized, and most of which are no doubt extinct. He says that they numbered in all six thousand souls ; and their dwellings were high, dome- shaped structures, built of clay mixed with reeds and straw, resting, doubtless, on a frame of bent poles.* * Beaurain says that each of these bands spoke a language of its own. They had horses in abundance, descended from Spanish stock. Among them appear to have been the Ouacos, or Huecos, and the Wichitas, — two tribes better known as the Pawnee Picts. See Marcy, Exploration of Red River. n\ 858 FRANCE IN Tin: FAR WKST. [1719. With them were also some of the roving Indians of the phiins, with their conical teepees of (IreRsed buffalo-skin. The arrival of the strangei-s was a great and amaz- ing event for these savages, few of whom liad ever seen a white man. On the day after their arrival the whole multitude gathered to receive them and offer them the calumet, with a profusion of songs and speeches. Then warrior after warrior recounted his exploits and boasted of the scali)S he had taken. From eight in the morning till two houra after mid- night the din of drums, songs, harangues, and dances continued without relenting, with a prospect of twelve horn's more; and La Ilarpe, in desperation, withdrew to rest himself on a buffalo-robe, begging another Frenchman to take his place. His hosts left him in peace for a while; then the chiefs came to find him, painted his face blue, as a tribute of respect, put a cap of eagle-feathers on his head, and laid numerous gifts at his feet. When at last the ceremony ended, some of the performei*s were so hoai-se from incessant singing that they could hardly speak.* La Harpe was told by his hosts that the Spanish settlements could 1^ reached by ascending their river ; but to do this was at present impossible. He began his backward journey, fell desperately ill of a fever, and nearly died before reaching Natchitoches. Mm 1 Compare the account of La Harpe with that of the Chevalier de Beaurain ; both are in Margry, vi. There is an abstract in Journal hislorique. DU TISNF/S .TOIRXEY. 350 1710-1721.] Having recovered, he made an attempt, two yeara later, to explore the Arkansas in canoes, from its mouth, ])Ut accomplished little besides killing a good numJRjr of buffalo, Ixjars, deer, and wild turkeys. Ho was confirmed, however, in the l)elief that the Cimianches and the Spaniards of New Mexico miglit be reached by this route. In the year of La Harpe's fii'st exploration, one Du Tisnd went up the Missouri to a point six leagues above Grand River, where stood the village of the Missouris. He wished to go farther, but they would not let him. He then returned to the Illinois, whence he set out on horselmck with a few followers acioss what is now the State of Missouri, till he reached the village of the Osages, which stood on a hill high up the river Osage. At tii-st he was well received; Imt when they found him disposed to push on to a town of their enemies, the Pawnees, forty leagues distant, they angrily refused to let him go. His firmness and hardihood prevailed, and at last they gave him leave. A ride of a few days over rich prairies brought him to the Pawnees, who, coming as he did from the hated Osages, took him for an enemy and threatened to kill him. Twice they raised the tomahawk over his head; but when the intrepid traveller dared tiiem to strike, they began to treat him as a friend. When, however, he told them that he meant to go fifteen days' journey farther, to the Padoucas, or Comanches, their deadly enemies, they fiercely for- bade him ; and after planting a French flag in their 800 FRANCK IN rni: KAR west. [ITl'I, 1722. villago, he rcturruMl as ho had come, jjuidiiiji^ his way by (r()nii)ass, and reacliinj^ tho Illinois in NovcMnber, after extreme luirdHhips.* Early in 1721 two hundred mounted SpaniardH, followed by a large body of Oomanehe warriors, eamo from New Mexico to attack the French at tho Illinois, but were met and routed on tho Missouri by triU'S of that region. 2 In tho next year, IJienville was told that they meant to return, punish tiinso who had defeat(Hl them, and establish a post on the river Kansas; whereupon ho ordered lioisbriant, connnand- ant at tho Illinois, to anticipate them by sending troops to build a French fort .at or near the same I)lace. Hut tho West India (yomi)any had already sent one liourgmont on a similar eiraiid, the object iK'ing to trade with the Spaniards in time of peace, and stop their incursions in time of war.^ It was lioped also that, in the interest of trade, peace might be made between the Comanches and the tribes of the Missouri.* Bourgmont was a man of some education, and well acquainted with these tribes, among whom he had 1 Relatiim de B^nard de la Ilarpc. Autre Relatim du meine. Du Tisn^a Bienville. Margry, vi. 300, 310, 313. 2 Bienville an Conseil de R^fjence, 20 Juillet, 1721. ' Instructions au Sieur de Bourgmont, 17 Janvier, 1722. Margry, vi. 380. * The French had at this time gained a knowledge of the tribes of the Missouri as far up as the Arickaras, who were not, it seems, many days' journey below tlie Yellowstone, and wlio told them of " prodigiously high mountains," — evidently the Rocky Mountains. M€moire de la Renaudikre, 1723. ■i ! 1724.] nOURGMOXT. M\ tmdtMl for years. In pursuance of his ordoin ho built a fort, which lie named Fort OrU'ims, and wliich stood on the Missouri not far al)ove tlie mouth of Grand River. Having tlms accomplished one part of his mission, he addressed himself to the otlier, and prepared to march for the Comanche villages. Leaving a sufficient garrison at tlie fort, ho sent his ensign, Saint-Ange, with a party of soldiei*s and Canadians, in wooden canoes, to the villages of the Kansas higher up the stream, and on the third of July set out by land to join him, with a Inuidred and nine Missouri Indians and sixty-eight Osages in his train. A ride of five days brought him again to the banks of the Missouri, opposite a Kansas town. Saint-Ange had not yet arrived, the angry and turbid current, joined to fevers among his men, having retarded his progress. Meanwhile l^ourgmont drew from the Kansas a promise that their warriora should go with him to the Comanches. Saijit-Ange at lust appeared, and at d^^.rjak of the twenty-fourth the tents were struck and the pack-horses loaded. At six o'clock the pari/y ^rew up in battle array on a hill above the Indian town, and then, with drum beating and flag flying, began their march. "A fine prairie country," writes Bourgmont, "with hills and dales and clumps of trees to right and left." Sometimes the landscape quivered under the sultry sun, and sometimes thunder bellowed over their heads, and rain fell in floods on the steaming plains. 362 FRANCE IN THE FAR WEST. [1724. Renaudifere, engineer of the party, one day stood by the side of the path and watched the whole pro- cession as it passed him. The white men were about twenty in all. He counted about three hundred Indian warriors, with as many squaws, some five hundred children, and a prodigious number of dogs, the largest and strongest of which dragged heavy loads. The squaws also served as beasts of burden ; and, says the journal, " they will carry as much as a dog will drag." Horses were less abundant among these tribes than they afterwards became, so that their work fell largely upon the women. On the sixth day the party was within three leagues of the river Kansas, at a considerable distance above its mouth. Bourgmont had suffered from dysentery on the march, and an access of the malady made it impossible for him to go farther. It is easy to con- ceive the regret with which he saw himself com- pelled to return to Fort Orleans. The party retraced their steps, carrying their helpless commander on a litter. Fii-st, however, he sent one Gaillard on a perilous errand. Taking with him two Comanche slaves bought for the purpose from flie Kansas, Gaillard was ordered to go to the Comanche villages with the message that Bourgmont had been on his way to make them a friendly visit, and, though stopped by illness, hoped soon to try again, with better success. Early in September, Bourgmont, who had arrived l\ 'ii 1724.] BOURGIMONT. 3G3 safely at Fort Orleans, received news that the mission of Gaillard had completely succeeded; on which, though not wholly recovered from his illness, he set out again on his errand of peace, accompanied by his young son, besides llenaudiere, a surgeon, and nine soldiers. On reaching the great village of the Kansas he found there five Comanche chiefs and warriors, whom Gaillard had induced to come thither with him. Seven chiefs of the Otoes presently appeared, in accordance with an invitation of Bourgmont; then six chiefs of the lov/as and the head chief of the Missouris. With these and the Kansas chiefs a solemn council was held around a fire before Bourg- mont's tent; speeches were made, the pipe of peace was smoked, and presents were distributed. On the eighth of October the march began, the five Comanches and the chiefs of several other tribes, including the Omahfis, joining the cavalcade. Gaillard and another Frenchman named Quesnel were sent in advance to announce their approach to the Comanches, while Bourgmont and his followers moved up the north side of the river Kansas till the eleventh, when they forded it at a point twenty leagues from its mouth, and took a westward and south west ward course, sometimes threading the grassy valleys of little streams, sometimes crossing the dry upland prairie, covered with the short, tufted dull -green herbage since known as "buffalo grass." Wild turkeys clamored along every watercourse; deer were seen on all sides, buffalo were without number. 364 FRANCE IN THE FAR WEST. [1724. i !» sometimes in grazing droves, and sometimes dotting the endless plain as far as the eye could reach. Ruffian wolves, white and gray, eyed the travellers askance, keeping a safe distance by day, and howling about the camp all night. Of the antelope and the elk the journal makes no mention. Bourgmont chased a buffalo on horseback and shot him with a pistol, — which is probably the first recorded example of that way of hunting. The stretches of high, rolling, treeless prairie grew more vast as the travellers advanced. On the seven- teenth, they found an abandoned Comanche camp. On the next day as they stopped to dine, and had just unsaddled their horses, they saw a distant smoke towards the west, on which thoy set the dry grass on fire as an answering signal. Half an hour later a body of wild horsemen came towards them at full speed, and among them were their two couriers, Gaillard and Quesnel, waving a French flag. The strangers were eighty Comanche warriors, with the grand chief of the tribe at their head. They dashed up to Bourgmont's bivouac and leaped from their horses, when a general shaking of hands ensued, after which white men and red seated themselves on the ground and smoked the pipe of peace. Then all rode together to the Comanche camp, three leagues distant.^ ^ This meeting took place a little north of the Arkansas, appar- ently where that river makes a northward bend, near the twenty- second degree of west longitude. The Comanche villages were several days' journey to the southwest. This tribe is always [1724. 1724.] THE COMANCHES. 865 Bourgmont pitched his tents at a pistol-shot from the Comanche lodges, whence a crowd of warriors presently came to visit him. They spread buffalo- robes on the ground, placed upon them the French commander, his officers, and his young son; then lifted each, with its honored load, and carried them all, with yells of joy and gratulation, to the lodge of the Great Chief, where there was a feast of cere- mony lasting till nightfall. On the next day Bourgmont displayed to his hosts the marvellous store of gifts he had brought for them, — guns, swords, hatchets, kettles, gunpowder, bullets, red cloth, blue cloth, hand-mirrors, knives, shirts, awls, scissors, needles, hawks' bells, vermilion, beads, and other enviable commodities, of the like of which they had never dreamed. Two hundred savages gathered before the French tents, where Bourgmont, with the gifts spread on the ground before him, stood with a French flag in his hand, surrounded by his officers and the Indian chiefs of his party, and harangued the admiring auditors. He told them that he had come to bring them a message from the King, his master, who was the Great Chief of all the nations of the earth, and whose will it was that the Comanches should live in peace with his other children, — the Missouris, Osages, Kansas, Otoes, Omahas, and Pawnees, — with whom mentioned in the early French narratives as the Padoucas, — a name by which the Comanches are occasionally known to this day. See Whipple and Turner, Reports upon Indian Tribes, in Explora- tions and Surveys fur the Pacific Railroad (Senate Doc, 1853, 1854). 366 FRANCE IN THE FAR WEST. [1724. 11 they had long been at war; that the chiefs of these tribes were now present, ready to renounce their old enmities; that the Comanches should henceforth regard them as friends, share with them the blessing of alliance and trade with the French, and give to theso last free passage through their country to trade with the Spaniards of New Mexico. Bourgmont then gave the French flag to the Great Chief, to be kept forever as a pledge of that day's compact. The chief took the flag, and promised in behalf of his people to keep peace inviolate with the Indian children of the King. Then, with unspeakable delight, he and his tribesmen took and divided the gifts. The next two days were spent in feasts and rejoic- ings. "Is it true that you are men?" asked the Great Chief. " I have heard wonders of the French, but I never could have believed what I see this day." Then, taking up a handful of earth, " The Spaniards are like this; but you are like the sun." And he offered Bourgmont, in case of need, the aid of his two thousand Comanche warriors. The pleasing manners of his visitors, and their unparalleled gen-, erosity, had completely won his heart. As the object of the expedition was accomplished, or seemed to be so, the party set out on their return. A ride of ten days brought them again to the Missouri ; they descended in canoes to Fort Orl(5ans, and sang Te Deum in honor of the peace. ^ 1 Relation dn Voi/nfje du Sieur da Bourfjmont, Juin-Novemhre, 1724, in Margry, vi. 398. Le Page du Tratz, iii, 141. 1740.J THE BROTHERS MALLET. 3G7 No farther discovery in this direction was made for the next fifteen yeai-s. Though the French had explored the Missouri as far as the site of Fort Clark and the Mandan villages, they were possessed by the idea — due, perhaps, to Indian reports concerning the great tributary river, the Yellowstone — that in its upper course the main stream bent so far southward as to form a waterway to New Mexico, with which it was the constant desire of the authorities of Louisiana to open trade. A way thither was at last made known by two brothers named Mallet, who with six companions went up the Platte to its South Fork, which they called River of the Padoucas, — a name given it on some maps down to the middle of this century. They followed the South Fork for some distance, and then, turning southward and southwest- ward, crossed the plains of Colorado. Here the dried dung of the buffalo was their only fuel ; and it has continued to feed the camp-fire of the traveller in this treeless region within the memory of many now living. They crossed the upper Arkansas, and apparently the Cimarron, passed Taos, and on the twenty-second of July reached Santa Fd, where they spent the winter. On the first of May, 1740, they began their return journey, three of them crossing the plains to the Pawnee villages, and the rest descending the Arkansas to the Mississippi.^ ^ Journal dit Voi/age des Freres Mallet, pr€smM a MM. de Bienville et Salmon. This narrative is meagre and confused, but serves to establish the main points. Copie du Certifirat donue a Santa Ftfaux 368 FRANCE IN THE FAR WEST. [1741. The bold exploit of the brothers Mallet attracted great attention at New Orleans, and Bienville resolved to renew it, find if possible a nearer and better way to Santa F^, determine the nature and extent of these mysterious western regions, and satisfy a lingering doubt whether they were not contiguous to China and Tartary.i A naval officer, Fabry de la Bruy^re, was sent on this errand, with the brothers Mallet and a few soldiers and Canadians. He ascended the Cana- dian Fork of the Arkansas, named by him the St. Andrd, became entangled in the shallows and quick- sands of that difficult river, fell into disputes with his men, and, after protracted efforts, returned unsuccessful. 2 While French enterprise was unveiling the remote Southwest, two indomitable Canadians were pushing still more noteworthy explorations into more northern regions of the continent. sept [huit] Fran^ais par le General Hnrtado, 24 Juillet, 1739. Pere Ribald au Pere de Beauhois, sans date. Bienville et Salmon au Mi- nistre, 30 Avril, 1741, in Margry, vi. 466-468. 1 Instructions donn^es par Jean-Baptiste de Bienville a Fabri/ de la Bruyere, 1 Juin, 1741. Bienville was behind his time in geographi- cal knowledge. As early as 1724 Benard de la Harpe knew that in ascending the Missouri or the Arkansas one was moving towards the " Western Sea," — that is, the Pacific, — and might, perhaps, find some river flowing into it. See Routes qti'on pent tenir pour se rendre a la Mer de VOmst, in Journal historique, 387. 2 Extrait des Lettres du Sieur Fabry. [1741. ttracted esolved ber way 3f these ngering ina and re, was b and a 3 Cana- the St. quick- 3s with jturned remote mshing orthern J9. Pere m au Mi- 'bri/ de la jographi- w that in towards perhaps, ir pour se