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to  tbe  Xibtarg 
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of  Toronto 

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AT  THE 


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REV.  CANON  SCADDING,  D.  0. 
TORONTO,    1901. 


FRANCE    AND    ENGLAND 


IN 


NORTH    AMERICA. 


A  SERIES  OF  HISTORICAL  NARRATIVES. 


BY 


FRA.NCIS  PARKMAN, 

*  \  ^ 

AUTHOR  OF  "HISTORY    OF   THE    CONSPIRACY   OF    PONTIAC," 
AND  "THE  OREGON  TRAIL." 


PART   SIXTH. 


BOSTON: 
LITTLE,   BROWN,   AND    COMPANY. 

1892. 


Copyright, 
BY  FRANCIS  PARKMAN. 


Htttoersttg  Press: 
JOHN  WILSON  AND  SON,  CAMBRIDGE. 


A    HALF-CENTURY 


OF 


CONFLICT. 


BY 


FRANCIS  PARKMAN, 


AUTHOR  OF  "PIONEERS  OF  FRANCE  IN  THE  NEW  WORLD,"  "THE  JESUITS 

IN  NORTH  AMERICA,"  "  LA  SALLE  AND  THE  DISCOVERY  OF  THE 

GREAT  WEST,"  "THE  OLD  REGIME  IN  CANADA,"  "COUNT 

FRONTENAC  AND  NEW  FRANCE  UNDER  LOUIS 

xiv.,"  AND  "MONTCALM  AND  WOLFE." 


BOSTON: 
LITTLE,   BROWN,   AND    COMPANY. 

1892, 


Copyright,  1892, 
BY  FRANCIS  PARKMAN. 


Unitevsitu  Press: 
JOHN  WILSON  AND  SON,  CAMBRIDGE. 


PREFACE. 


THIS  book,  forming  Part  VI.  of  the  series 
called  France  and  England  in  North  America, 
fills  the  gap  between  Part  V.,  "  Count  Frontenac," 
and  Part  VII.,  "  Montcalm  and  Wolfe ; "  so  that 
the  series  now  forms  a  continuous  history  of 
the  efforts  of  France  to  occupy  and  control 
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  charac- 
ters and  methods  of  the  rival  claimants  to 
North  America. 

Like  the  rest  of  the  series,  this  work  is 
founded  on  original  documents.  The  statements 
of  secondary  writers  have  been  accepted  only 
when  found  to  conform  to  the  evidence  of  con- 
temporaries, whose  writings  have  been  sifted 
and  collated  with  the  greatest  care.  As  extre- 
mists on  each  side  have  charged  me  with  favor- 
ing the  other,  I  hope  I  have  been  unfair  to 
neither. 


iv  PREFACE. 

The  manuscript  material  collected  for  the  prep- 
aration of  the  series  now  complete  forms  about 
seventy  volumes,  most  of  them  folios.  These 
have  been  given  by  rne  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 
slow,  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  have  sufficed 
under  less  unfavorable  conditions. 

BOSTON,  March  26,  1892. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   I. 
1700-1713. 

EVE   OF   WAR. 


PAGE 

The  Spanish  Succession.  —  Influence  of  Louis  XIV.  on  History.  — 
French  Schemes  of  Conquest  in  America.  —  New  York.  —  Unfit- 
ness  of  the  Colonies  for  War.  —  The  Five  Nations.  —  Doubt  and 
Vacillation. — The  Western  Indians. — Trade  and  Politics  .  .  .  1 


CHAPTER   II. 
1694-1704. 

DETROIT. 

Michillimackinac.  —  La  Mothe-Cadillac.  —  His  Disputes  with  the 
Jesuits.  — Opposing  Views.  —  Plans  of  Cadillac.  —  His  Memorial 
to  the  Court.  —  His  Opponents.  —  Detroit  founded.  —  The  New 
Company.  —  Detroit  changes  Hands.  —  Strange  Act  of  the  Five 
Nations.  15 


CHAPTER  III. 

1703-1713. 
QUEEN  ANNE'S  WAR. 

The  Forest  of  Maine. —  A  Treacherous  Peace.  —  A  Frontier  Village. 
—  Wells  and  its  People.  —  Attack  upon  it.  —  Border  Ravages. — 
Beaubassin's  War-Party.  —  The  "  Woful  Decade."  —  A  Wedding 
Feast.  —  A  Captive  Bridegroom 32 


yi  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  IV. 
1704-1740. 

DEERFIELD. 

PAGE 

Hertel  de  Rouville. —  A  Frontier  Village.  —  Rev.  John  Williams.  — 
The  Surprise.  —  Defence  of  the  Stebbins  House.  —  Attempted 
Rescue.  — The  Meadow  Fight.  —  The  Captives.  —  The  North- 
ward March.  —  Mrs.  Williams  killed.  —  The  Minister's  Journey. 

—  Kindness    of    Canadians.  —  A    Stubborn    Heretic.  —  Eunice 
Williams.  —  Converted   Captives.  —  John  Sheldon's  Mission.  — 
Exchange    of    Prisoners.  —  An    English    Squaw.  —  The   Gill 
Family 52 

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 90 

CHAPTER   VI. 
1700-1710. 

THE  OLD  REGIME  IN  ACADIA. 

The  Fishery  Question.  —  Privateers  and  Pirates. — Port  Royal. — 
Official  Gossip.  —  Abuse  of  Brouillau.  —  Complaints  of  De 
Goutin.  —  Subercase  and  his  Officers.  —  Church  and  State.  — 
Paternal  Government 106 

CHAPTER  VII. 
1704-1710. 

ACADIA   CHANGES    HANDS. 

Reprisal  for  Deerfield.  —  Major  Benjamin  Church. —  His  Ravages 
at  Grand-Pre.  —  Port  Royal  Expedition.  —  Futile  Proceedings. — 
A  Discreditable  Affair.  —  French  Successes  in  Newfoundland.  — 
Schemes  of  Samuel  Vetch.  —  A  Grand  Enterprise.  —  Nicholson's 
Advance.  —  An  Infected  Camp.  —  Ministerial  Promises  broken. 

—  A  New  Scheme. —  Port  Royal  attacked  —  Acadia  conquered  .     116 

CHAPTER   VIII. 

1710,  1711. 
WALKER'S  EXPEDITION. 

Scheme  of  La  Ronde  Denys. — Boston  warned  against  British  De- 
signs. —  Boston  to  be  ruined.  —  Plans  of  the  Ministry.  —  Canada 


CONTENTS.  ^       vil 

PAGE 

doomed.  —  British  Troops  at  Boston.  —  The  Colonists  denounced. 
—  The  Fleet  sails  for  Quebec.  —  Forebodings  of  the  Admiral.  — 
Storm  and  Wreck.  —  Timid  Commanders.  —  Retreat.  —  Joyful 
News  for  Canada.  —  Pious  Exultation.  —  Fanciful  Stories  — 
Walker  disgraced 150 

CHAPTER  IX. 
1712-1749. 

LOUISBOURG    AND   ACADIA. 

Peace  of  Utrecht.  —  Perilous  Questions.  —  Louisbourg  founded.  — 
Annapolis  attacked.  —  Position  of  the  Acadians.  —  Weakness  of 
the  British  Garrison.  —  Apathy  of  the  Ministry.  —  French  In- 
trigue. —  Clerical  Politicians.  —  The  Oath  of  Allegiance.  —  Aca- 
dians refuse  it.  —  Their  Expulsion  proposed.  —  They  take  the 
Oath  176 


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.  —  Governor  and 
Assembly.  —  Speech  of  Samuel  Sewall.  —  Penobscots  attack 
Fort  St.  George.  —  Reprisal.  —  Attack  on  Norridgewock.  — 
Death  of  Rale ,204 


CHAPTER   XI. 

1724,  1725. 
LOVEWELL'S  FIGHT. 

Vaudreuil  and  Dummer.  —  Embassy  to  Canada. — Indians  in- 
tractable. —  Treaty  of  Peace.  —  The  Pequawkets.  —  John  Love- 
well. —  A  Hunting  Party. —  Another  Expedition.  —  The  Am- 
buscade.—The  Fight.  —  Chaplain  Frye.  —  His  Fate.—  The 
Survivors.  —  Susanna  Rogers 241 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XII. 
1712. 

THE  OUTAGAMIES  AT  DETROIT. 

PAGE 

The  West  and  the  Fur-Trade.  —  New  York  and  Canada.  —  Indian 
Population.  —  The  Firebrands  of  the  West.  —  Detroit  in  1712.— 
Dangerous  Visitors.  —  Suspense.  —  Timely  Succors.  —  The  Outa- 
gamies  attacked.  —  Their  Desperate  Position.  —  Overtures.  — 
Wavering  Allies.  —  Conduct  of  Dubuissou.  —  Escape  of  the 
Outagamies.  —  Pursuit  and  Attack.  —  Victory  and  Carnage  .  .  262 

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  Govern- 
ment. —  Crozat's  Monopoly.  —  Factions.  —  The  Mississippi 
Company.  —  New  Orleans.  —  The  Bubble  bursts.  —  Indian  Wars. 

—  The  Colony  firmly  established.  —  The  two  Heads  of  New 
France ...     288 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
1700-1732. 

THE    OUTAGAMIE   WAR. 

The  Western  Posts.  —  Detroit.  —  The  Illinois.  —  Perils  of  the  West. 

—  The  Outagamies.  —  Their  Turbulence.  —  English  Instigation. 
— Louvigny's  Expedition.  —  Defeat  of  Outagamies.  —  Hostilities 
renewed.  —  Lignery's  Expedition.  —  Outagamies   attacked   by 
Villiers. — By  Hurons  and  Iroquois.  —  La  Butte  des  Morts. — 

The  Sacs  and  Foxes .     .     ,  .315 


A  HALF-CENTURY  OF  CONFLICT. 


CHAPTER  I. 

1700-1713. 
EVE  OF  WAR. 

I 

THE  SPANISH  SUCCESSION.  —  INFLUENCE  OF  Louis  XIV.  ON  HISTORY. 
—  FRENCH  SCHEMES  OF  CONQUEST  IN  AMERICA.  —  NEW  YORK. — 
UNFITNESS  OF  THE  COLONIES  FOR  WAR.  —  THE  FIVE  NATIONS.  — 
DOUBT  AND  VACILLATION.  —  THE  WESTERN  INDIANS.  —  TRADE 
AND  POLITICS. 

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  preponder- 
ance 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  contests,  begun  and  waged 
on  European  disputes.  Their  American  part  was 
incidental  and  apparently  subordinate,  yet  it  in- 
volved questions  of  prime  importance  in  the  history 
of  the  world. 

The  War  of  the  Spanish  Succession  sprang  from 
the  ambition  of  Louis  XIV.  We  are  apt  to  regard 
the  story  of  that  gorgeous  monarch  as  a  tale  that 
is  told  ;  but  his  influence  shapes  the  life  of  nations 

VOL    I,  —  1 


2  EVE   OF  WAR.  [1702. 

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,  which 
one  of  them  he  would  choose  :  whether  he  would 
follow  the  wholesome  policy  of  his  great  minister 
Colbert,  or  obey  his  own  vanity  and  arrogance, 
and  plunge  France  into  exhausting  wars ;  whether 
he  would  hold  to  the  principle  of  tolerance  em- 
bodied in  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  or  do  the  work  of 
fanaticism  and  priestly  ambition.  The  one  course 
meant  prosperity,  progress,  and  the  rise  of  a  mid- 
dle 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  wars,  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  rightful  king  the  son  of  James  II.,  whom  she 
had  deposed.  Then  England  declared  war.  Canada 
and  the  northern  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  the  expected  crisis. 
One  of  them  wrote :  "  If  war  be  declared,  it  is  cer- 
tain that  the  King  can  very  easily  conquer  and 
ruin  New  England."  The  French  of  Canada  often 


1701.]  BOSTON   TO  BE  DESTROYED.  3 

use  the  name  "  New  England  "  as  applying  to  the 
British  colonies  in  general.  They  are  twice  as 
populous  as  Canada,  he  goes  on  to  say;  but  the 
people  are  great  cowards,  totally  undisciplined, 
and  ignorant  of  war,  while  the  Canadians  are 
brave,  hardy,  and  well  trained.  We  have,  besides, 
twenty-eight  companies  of  regulars,  and  could 
raise  six  thousand  warriors  from  our  Indian  allies. 
Four  thousand  men  could  easily  lay  waste  all  the 
northern  English  colonies,  to  which  end  we  must 
have  five  ships  of  war,  with  one  thousand  troops 
on  board,  who  must  land  at  Penobscot,  where  they 
must  be  joined  by  two  thousand  regulars,  militia, 
and  Indians,  sent  from  Canada  by  way  of  the 
Chaudiere  and  the  Kennebec.  Then  the  whole 
force  must  go  to  Portsmouth,  take  it  by  assault, 
leave  a  garrison  there,  and  march  to  Boston,  lay- 
ing waste  all  the  towns  and  villages  by  the  way  ; 
after  destroying  Boston,  the  army  must  march  for 
New  York,  while  the  fleet  follows  along  the  coast. 
"  Nothing  could  be  easier,"  says  the  writer,  "  for 
the  road  is  good,  and  there  is  plenty  of  horses  and 
carriages.  The  troops  would  ruin  everything  as 
they  advanced,  and  New  York  would  quickly  be 
destroyed  and  burned."  1 

Another  plan,  scarcely  less  absurd,  was  proposed 
about  the  same  time  by  the  celebrated  Le  Moyne 
d'Iberville.  The  essential  point,  he  says,  is  to  get 
possession  of  Boston ;  but  there  are  difficulties  and 
risks  in  the  way.  Nothing,  he  adds,  referring  to 

1  Premier  Projet  pour  L' Expedition  contre  la  Nouvelle  Angleterre,  1701. 
Second  Projet,  etc.  Compare  N.  Y.  Col.  Docs.,  IX.  725. 


4  EVE  OF  WAR.  [1701. 

the  other  plan,  seems  difficult  to  persons  without 
experience  ;  but  unless  we  are  prepared  to  raise  a 
great  and  costly  armament,  our  only  hope  is  in 
surprise.  We  should  make  it  in  winter,  when  the 
seafaring  population,  which  is  the  chief  strength 
of  the  place,  is  absent  on  long  voyages.  A  thou- 
sand Canadians,  four  hundred  regulars,  and  as 
many  Indians  should  leave  Quebec  in  November, 
ascend  the  Chaudiere,  then  descend  the  Kennebec, 
approach  Boston  under  cover  of  the  forest,  and 
carry  it  by  a  night  attack.  Apparently  he  did  not 
know  that  but  for  its  lean  neck  —  then  but  a  few 
yards  wide  —  Boston  was  an  island,  and  that  all 
around  for  many  leagues  the  forest  that  was  to 
have  covered  his  approach  had  already  been  de- 
voured by  numerous  busy  settlements.  He  offers 
to  lead  the  expedition,  and  declares  that  if  he  is 
honored  with  the  command,  he  will  warrant  that 
the  New  England  capital  will  be  forced  to  submit 
to  King  Louis,  after  which  New  York  can  be  seized 
in  its  turn.1 

In  contrast  to  those  incisive  proposals,  another 
French  officer  breathed  nothing  but  peace.  Brou- 
illan,  governor  of  Acadia,  wrote  to  the  governor  of 
Massachusetts  to  suggest  that,  with  the  consent  of 
their  masters,  they  should  make  a  treaty  of  neu- 
trality. The  English  governor  being  dead,  the 
letter  came  before  the  council,  who  received  it 
coldly.  Canada,  and  not  Acadia,  was  the  enemy 

1  Memoire  du  Sieur  d'Iberville  sur  Boston  et  ses  Dependances,  1700 
(1701?).  Baron  de  Saint-Castin  also  drew  up  a  plan  for  attacking  Boston 
in  1702,  with  lists  of  necessary  munitions  and  other  supplies. 


1701.]  ATTITUDE   OF  NEW   YORK.  5 

they  had  to  fear.  Moreover,  Boston  merchants 
made  good  profit  by  supplying  the  Acadians  with 
necessaries  which  they  could  get  in  no  other  way ; 
and  in  time  of  war  these  profits,  though  lawless, 
were  greater  than  in  time  of  peace.  But  what 
chiefly  influenced  the  council  against  the  overtures 
of  Brouillan  was  a  passage  in  his  letter  reminding 
them  that,  by  the  Treaty  of  Ryswick,  the  New 
England  people  had  no  right  to  fish  within  sight 
of  the  Acadian  coast.  This  they  flatly  denied, 
saying  that  the  New  England  people  had  fished 
there  time  out  of  mind,  and  that  if  Brouillan 
should  molest  them,  they  would  treat  it  as  an  act 
of  war.1 

While  the  New  England  colonies,  and  especially 
Massachusetts  and  New  Hampshire,  had  most 
cause  to  deprecate  a  war,  the  prospect  of  one  was 
also  extremely  unwelcome  to  the  people  of  New 
York.  The  conflict  lately  closed  had  borne  hard 
upon  them  through  the  attacks  of  the  enemy,  and 
still  more  through  the  derangement  of  their  indus- 
tries. They  were  distracted,  too,  with  the  factions 
rising  out  of  the  recent  revolution  under  Jacob 
Leisler.  New  York  had  been  the  bulwark  of  the 
colonies  farther  south,  who,  feeling  themselves  safe, 
had  given  their  protector  little  help,  and  that  lit- 
tle grudgingly,  seeming  to  regard  the  war  as  no 

1  Brouillan  a  BeUomont,  10  Aout,  1701.  Conseil  de  Baston  a  Brouillan, 
22  Aout,  1701.  Brouillan  acted  under  royal  orders,  having  been  told,  in 
case  of  war  being  declared,  to  propose  a  treaty  with  New  England,  unless 
he  should  find  that  he  can  "  se  garantir  des  insultes  des  Anglais  "  and  do 
considerable  harm  to  their  trade,  in  which  case  he  is  to  make  no  treaty. 
Memoire  du  Roy  au  Sieur  de  Brouillan,  23  Mars,  1700. 


6  EVE   OF   WAR.  [1700-1703. 

concern  of  theirs.  Three  thousand  and  fifty-one 
pounds,  provincial  currency,  was  the  joint  contri- 
bution of  Virginia,  Maryland,  East  Jersey,  and 
Connecticut  to  the  aid  of  New  York  during  five 
years  of  the  late  war.1  Massachusetts  could  give 
nothing,  even  if  she  would,  her  hands  being  full 
with  the  defence  of  her  own  borders.  Colonel 
Quary  wrote  to  the  Board  of  Trade  that  New  York 
could'  not  bear  alone  the  cost  of  defending  herself ; 
that  the  other  colonies  were  "  stuffed  with  com- 
monwealth notions,"  and  were  "  of  a  sour  temper 
in  opposition  to  government,"  so  that  Parlia- 
ment ought  to  take  them  in  hand  and  compel 
each  to  do  its  part  in  the  common  cause.2  To  this 
Lord  Cornbury  adds  that  Rhode  Island  and  Con- 
necticut are  even  more  stubborn  than  the  rest, 
hate  all  true  subjects  of  the  Queen,  and  will  not 
give  a  farthing  to  the  war  so  long  as  they  can 
help  it.3  Each  province  lived  in  selfish  isolation, 
recking  little  of  its  neighbor's  woes. 

New  York,  left  to  fight  her  own  battles,  was 
in  a  wretched  condition  for  defence.  It  is  true 
that,  unlike  the  other  colonies,  the  King  had  sent 
her  a  few  soldiers,  counting  at  this  time  about 
one  hundred  and  eighty,  all  told ; 4  but  they  had 
been  left  so  long  without  pay  that  they  were  in  a 
state  of  scandalous  destitution.  They  would  have 
been  left  without  rations  had  not  three  private 


1  Schuyler,  Colonial  New  York,  I.  431,  432. 

2  Col.  Quary  to  the  Lords  of  Trade,  16  June,  1703. 

3  Cornbury  to  the  Lords  of  Trade,  9  Sept.  1703. 
*  Belhmont  to  the  Lords  of  Trade,  28  Feb.  1700. 


1700-1703.]  THE  FIVE  NATIONS.  7 

gentlemen  —  Schuyler,  Livingston,  and  Cortlandt 
—  advanced  money  for  their  supplies,  which  seems 
never  to  have  been  repaid.1  They  are  reported  to 
have  been  "without  shirts,  breeches,  shoes,  or  stock- 
ings/' and  "  in  such  a  shameful  condition  that  the 
women  when  passing  them  are  obliged  to  cover 
their  eyes."  "  The  Indians  ask,"  says  the  Gov- 
ernor, "  '  Do  you  think  us  such  fools  as  to  believe 
that  a  King  who  cannot  clothe  his  soldiers  can 
protect  us  from  the  French,  with  their  fourteen 
hundred  men  all  well  equipped? '"  a 

The  forts  were  no  better  than  their  garrisons. 
The  Governor  complains  that  those  of  Albany  and 
Schenectady  "  are  so  weak  and  ridiculous  that 
they  look  more  like  pounds  for  cattle  than  forts." 
At  Albany  the  rotten  stockades  were  falling  from 
their  own  weight. 

If  New  York  had  cause  to  complain  of  those 
whom  she  sheltered,  she  herself  gave  cause  of  com- 
plaint to  those  who  sheltered  her.  The  Five  Na- 
tions of  the  Iroquois  had  always  been  her  allies 
against  the  French,  had  guarded  her  borders  and 
fought  her  battles.  What  they  wanted  in  return 
was  gifts,  attentions,  just  dealings,  and  active  aid 
in  war ;  but  they  got  them  in  scant  measure. 
Their  treatment  by  the  province  was  short-sighted, 
if  not  ungrateful.  New  York  was  a  mixture  of 
races  and  religions  not  yet  fused  into  a  harmoni- 
ous body  politic,  divided  in  interests  and  torn  with 
intestine  disputes.  Its  Assembly  was  made  up  in 

1  Belhmont  to  the  Lords  of  Trade,  28  Feb.  1700. 
• 2  Schuyler,  Colonial  New  York,  I.  488. 


8  EVE   OF   WAR.  [1700-1703 

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  governors,  even  when 
personally  competent,  were  hampered  by  want  of 
means  and  by  factious  opposition.  The  Five  Na- 
tions 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  Al- 
bany, 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  char- 
acter 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  war- 
riors. They  had  learned  a  bitter  and  humiliating 
lesson,  and  their  arrogance  had  changed  to  dis- 
trust 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  towns.  The 
English  called  the  Five  Nations  British  subjects, 
on  which  the  French  taunted  them  with  being 


1700-1703.]  JESUITS  AND  MINISTERS.  9 

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.1 

After  the  Peace  of  Ryswick,  and  even  before 
it,  the  French  Governor  kept  agents  among 
them.  Some  of  these  were  soldiers,  like  Jon- 
caire,  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  sending  Protestant  clergymen  to  Onondaga. 
u  But,"  writes  Lord  Bellornont,  "it  is  next  to 
impossible  to  prevail  with  the  ministers  to  live 
among  the  Indians.  They  (the  Indians)  are  so 
nasty  as  never  to  wash  their  hands,  or  the 
utensils  they  dress  their  victuals  with."  2  Even 
had  their  zeal  been  proof  to  these  afflictions,  the 

1  N.  Y,  Col.  Docs.,  IV.  658. 

2  Bellornont  to  the  Lords  of  Trade,  17  Oct.  1700. 


10  EVE   OF   WAR.  [1700-1703. 

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."  l  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 
each  other.  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  Eng- 
lish 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,  "  be- 
cause both  of  you  (English  and  French)  have  made 
us  drunk  with  the  noise  of  your  praying." 2 

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  English  wished  to  spur  them  to  active  hos- 
tility ;  but  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 
factions."  There  was  a  French  party  and  an 
English  party  in  every  town,  especially  in  Onon- 
daga,  the  centre  of  intrigue.  French  influence 

1  Conference  of  Bellomont  with  the  Indians,  26  Aug.  1700. 

2  Journal  of  Bleeker  and  Schuyler  on  their  visit  to  Onondaga,  Aug., 
Sept.  1701. 


1700-1703.]  THE  CAUGHNAWAGAS.  11 

was  strongest  at  the  western  end  of  the  con- 
federacy, 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  near- 
est to  the  English  settlements.  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  impor- 
tant part  between  the  rival  European  colonies. 

The  "Far  Indians,"  or  "  Upper  Nations,"  as 
the  French  called  them,  consisted  of  the  tribes 
of  the  Great  Lakes  and  adjacent  regions,  Ottawas, 
Pottawattamies,  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 
thes.e  wild-cats  from  tearing  each  others'  throats, 
and  who  were  in  constant  alarm  lest  they  should 
again  come  to  blows  with  their  old  enemies, 


12  EVE   OF  WAR.  [1700-1703. 

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  distinct  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  English,  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  converted  Iroquois  settled  at  Caughnawaga 
played  a. peculiar  part.  In  the  province  of  New 
York,  goods  for  the  Indian  trade  were  of  excel- 
lent quality  and  comparatively  abundant  and 
cheap ;  while  among  the  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  trade  between 
New  York  and  Canada.  By  way  of  Lake  Cham- 
plain  and  the  Hudson  they  brought  to  Albany 
furs  from  the  country  of  the  "  Far  Indians,"  and 


1700-1713.]  ILLICIT  TRADE.  13 

exchanged  them  for  guns,  blankets,  cloths,  knives, 
beads,  and  the  like.  These  they  carried  to  Can- 
ada and  sold  to  the  French  traders,  who  in  this 
way,  and  often  in  this  alone,  supplied  them- 
selves with  the  goods  necessary  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  ob- 
taining 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  con- 
verted 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  supplies,  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  colony,  from  whom  the 
Governor  of  Canada  gained  information  touching 
English  movements  and  designs. 

The  Dutch  traders  of  Albany  and  the  import- 
ing merchants  who  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 


14  EVE   OF   WAR.  [1700-1707. 

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  peace- 
ful relations  which  the  French  were  anxious  to 
maintain  with  them.  Thus  it  happened  that, 
during  the  first  six  or  seven  years  of  the  eight- 
eenth 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 
Massachusetts,  with  its  outlying  district  of  Maine 
and  its  small  and  weak  neighbor,  New  Hampshire.1 

1  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  Officielle  at  Ottawa. 


CHAPTER  II. 

1694-1704. 
DETROIT. 

MlCHILLIMACKINAC.  —  LA     MOTHE-CADILLAC.  —  HlS     DISPUTES     WITH 

THE  JESUITS.  —  OPPOSING  VIEWS.  —  PLANS  OF  CADILLAC.  —  His 
MEMORIAL  TO  THE  COURT. — His  OPPONENTS.  —  DETROIT  FOUNDED. 
THE  NEW  COMPANY.  —  DETROIT  CHANGES  HANDS.  —  STRANGE  ACT 
OF  THE  EIVE  NATIONS. 

IN;  the  few  years  of  doubtful  peace  that  pre- 
ceded Queen  Anne's  War,  an  enterprise  was  be- 
gun, which,  nowise  in  accord  with  the  wishes 
and  expectations  of  those  engaged  in  it,  was 
destined  to  produce  as  its  last  result  an  Ameri- 
can city. 

Antoine  de  La  Mothe-Cadillac  commanded  at 
Michillimackinac,  whither  Frontenac  had  sent 
him  in  1694.  This  old  mission  of  the  Jes- 
uits, 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  beginnings.  It  was  the 
centre  of  the  Western  fur-trade  and  the  favorite 
haunt  of  the  coureurs  de  bois.  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 

1  See  Old  Regime  in  Canada,  p.  427. 


16  DETROIT.  [1694-1699. 

At  Michillimackinac  was  seen  a  curious  survival 
of  Huron-Iroquois  customs.  The  villages  of  the 
Hurons  and  Ottawas,  which  were  side  by  side, 
separated  only  by  a  fence,  were  surrounded  by  a 
common  enclosure  of  triple  palisades,  which,  with 
the  addition  of  loopholes  for  musketry,  were  pre- 
cisely like  those  seen  by  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  Brebeuf 
found  by  the  shores  of  Matchedash  Bay,  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  palisaded  villages  of  the  Hurons  and  Ottawas. 
The  fort,  known  as  Fort  Buade,  stood  at  the  head 
of  the  little  bay.1 

The  Hurons  and  Ottawas  were  thorough  sav- 
ages, though  the  Hurons  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." 

La  Mothe-Cadillac 2  was  a  captain  in  the  colony 

1  Relation  de  La  Mothe-Cadillac,  in  Margry,  V.  75. 

2  He  wrote  his  name  as  above.     It  is  often  written  La  Motte,  which 


1694-1699.]  LA  MOTHE-CADILLAC.  1J 

troops,  and  an  admirer  of  the  late  governor, 
Frontenac,  to  whose  policy  he  adhered,  and  whose 
prejudices  he  shared.  He  was  amply  gifted  with 
the  kind  of  intelligence  that  consists  in  quick  ob- 
servation, sharpened  by  an  inveterate  spirit  of  sar- 
casm, was  energetic,  enterprising,  well  instructed, 
and  a  bold  and  sometimes  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.1  Carheil  and  Marest,  mis- 
sionaries of  that  order  at  Michillimackinac,  were 
objects  of  his  especial  antipathy,  which  they  fully 
returned.  The  two  priests  were  impatient  of  a 
military  commandant  to  whose  authority  they  were 
in  some  small  measure  subjected  ;  and  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 

has  the  advantage  of  conveying  the  pronunciation  unequivocally  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  mar- 
riage places  it  in  1661,  and  that  of  his  death  in  1657.  Another  record, 
cited  by  Farmer  in  his  History  of  Detroit,  makes  it  1658.  In  1703  he 
himself  declared  that  he  was  forty-seven  years  old.  After  serving  as 
lieutenant  in  the  regiment  of  Clairembault,  he  went  to  Canada  about  the 
year  1683.  He  became  skilled  in  managing  Indians,  made  himself  well 
acquainted  with  the  coasts  of  New  England,  and  strongly  urged  an  at- 
tack by  sea  on  New  York  and  Boston,  as  the  only  sure  means  of  securing 
French  ascendency.  He  was  always  iti  opposition  to  the  clerical  party. 
1  See  La  Mothc- Cad  iliac  a ,  3  Aout,  1695. 

VOL.  I. Z 


18  DETROIT.  [1694-1699 

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  Michillimackinac. 
"  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."  1 

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  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."2 

1  La  Mothe- Cad  iliac  a ,  3  Aout,  1695. 

2  "  II  me  dit  que  je  me  donnois  des  airs  qui  ne  m'appartenoient  pas. 
en  me  portant  le  poing  au  nez.     Je  vous  avoue,  Monsieur,  que  je  pensai 
oublier  qu'il  etoit  pretre,  et  que  je  vis  le  moment  oh  j'allois  luy  demon cer 


1694-1699.1 


OPPOSING  VIEWS.  19 


Such  being  the  relations  of  the  commandant  and 
the  Father  Superior,  it  is  not  surprising  to  find  the 
one  complaining  that  he  cannot  get  absolved  from 
his  sins,  and  the  other  painting  the  morals  and 
manners  of  Michillimackinac  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.1 
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  champion,  and  Cadillac  followed 
in  his  steps.  It  seemed  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  tributaries,  and  it  gave  Canada  her  readi- 
est access  to  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi.  If  the 
French  held  it,  the  English  would  be  shut  out  from 


la  machoire ;  mais,  Dieu  merci,  je  me  contentai  de  le  prendre  par  le  bras 
et  de  le  pousser  dehors,  avec  ordre  de  n'y  plus  rentrer."  Margry,  V. 
(author's  edition),  Introduction,  CIV.  This  introduction,  with  other  edi- 
torial matter,  is  omitted  in  the  edition  of  M.  Margry 's  valuable  collection, 
printed  under  a  vote  of  the  American  Congress. 
1  See  Count  Frontenac,  418. 


20  DETROIT,  [1699-1700. 

the  Northwest ;  if,  as  seemed  likely,  the  English 
should  seize  it,  the  Canadian  fur-trade  would  be 
ruined.1  The  possession  of  it  by  the  French 
would  be  a  constant  curb  and  menace  to  the  Five 
Nations,  as  wrell  as  a  barrier  between  those  still 
formidable  tribes  and  the  Western  Indians,  allies  of 
Canada ;  and  when  the  intended  French  establish- 
ment 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 
Dulhut,  in  1686,  had  occupied  it  for  a  time,  and 
built  a  picket  fort  near  the  site  of  Fort  Gratiot.2 

It  would  be  idle  to  imagine  that  the  motives  of 
Cadillac  were  wholly  patriotic.  Fur-trading  in- 
terests were  deeply  involved  in  his  plans,  and  bitter 
opposition  was  certain.  The  fur-trade,  in  its  na- 
ture, was  a  constant  breeder  of  discord.  The  peo- 
ple of  Montreal  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  establish- 
ment 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  or  an  indi- 


1  Robert  Livingston  urged  the  occupation  of  Detroit  as  early  as  1700. 
N.  Y.  Col.  Docs.,  IV.  650. 

2  Denonville  a  Dulhut,  6  Juin,  1686.     Count  Frontenac,  128. 


1699-1700.]  PLANS  OF  CADILLAC.  21 

vidual  would  rouse  the  animosity  of  those  who  had 
been  licensed  before.  The  prosperity  of  Detroit 
would  be  the  ruin  of  Michilliinackinac,  and  those 
whose  interests  centred  at  the  latter  post  angrily 
opposed  the  scheme  of  Cadillac. 

He  laid  his  plans  before  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  considerable  settlement, 
"  strong  enough  to  bring  the  English  and  the 
Troquois  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.  "  Cadillac  well  knows  that  he  has 
enemies,"  pursues  the  memorial,  "  but  he  keeps  on 
his  way  without  turning  or  stopping  for  the  noise 
of  the  puppies  who  bark  after  him."  1 

Among  the  essential  features  of  his  plan  was  a 
well-garrisoned  fort,  and  a  church,  served  not  by 
Jesuits  alone,  but  also  by  Recollet  friars  and  priests 


1  "  Sans  se  destourner  et  sans  s'arrester  au  bruit  des  jappereaux  qni 
crient  apres  luy."  Memoire  de  La  Mothe-  Cadillac  adresst  au  Comte  de 
Maurepas. 


22  DETROIT.  [1699. 

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 
Cadillac's  proposal  pleased  them  no  better.  This 
was  his  plan  of  civilizing  the  Indians  and  teach- 
ing 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  prac- 
tice of  certain  rites  and  the  passive  acceptance  of 
dogmas  to  him  incomprehensible. 

"It  is  essential,"  says  the  memorial,  "that  in 
this  matter  of  teaching  the  Indians  our  language 
the  missionaries  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  strin- 
gent 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  the  Indians  they  make  themselves  neces- 
sary [as  interpreters]  to  the  King  and  the  Governor. 
The  third  is  that  if  all  Indians  spoke  French,  all 
kinds  of  ecclesiastics  would  be  able  to  instruct 
them.  This  might  cause  them  [the  Jesuits]  to  lose 
some  of  the  presents  they  get ;  for  though  these 
Keverend  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 
Bay  to  Quebec,  there  is  nothing  but  the  seigniory 


1699.]  CADILLAC   AND  THE  PRIESTS.  23 

of  Beauport  that  belongs  to  a  private  person.  All 
the  rest,  which  is  the  best  part,  belongs  to  the 
Jesuits  or  other  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  the 
one  thing  does  not  prevent  the  other.'"  From  this  it 
will  be  seen  that,  in  the  words  of  one  of  his  ene- 
mies, 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  con- 
vert the  Indians  in  any  other  way  [than  that  of 
civilizing  them] ;  for  thus  far  all  the  fruits  of  the 
missions  consist  in  the  baptism  of  infants  who  die 
before  reaching  the  age  of  reason."  1  This  was 
not  literally  true,  though  the  results  of  the  Jesuit 
missions  in  the  West  had  been  meagre  and  transient 
to  a  surprising  degree. 

Cadillac'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  proceeded  to  oppose  them. 

1  Memoire  adresse  au  Comte  de  Maurepas,  in  Margry,  V.  138. 


24  DETROIT.  [1699. 

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 
Cadillac,  "  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."  l 

Champigny's  position,  as  stated  by  his  adver- 
sary, was  that  "  all  intimacy  of  the  Indians  with 
the  French  is  dangerous  and  corrupting  to  their 
morals,"  and  that  their  only  safety  lies  in  keeping 
them  at  a  distance  from  the  settlements.  This 
was  the  view  of  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  Chateau  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."2  He  sailed  for  France,  apparently  in 
the  autumn  of  1699,  to  urge  his  scheme  at  court. 
Here  he  had  an  interview  with  the  colonial 

1  La  Mothe-Cadillac,  Rapport  au  Ministre,  1700,  in  Margry,  V.  157, 

2  Rapport  au  Ministre,  1700. 


1701.]  DETROIT  FOUNDED.  25 

minister,  Ponchartrain,  to  whom  he  represented 
the  military  arid  political  expediency  of  his  pro- 
posed establishment ; l  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  colo- 
nies.2 He  asked  for  fifty  soldiers  and  fifty  Cana- 
dians to  begin  the  work,  to  be  followed  in  the  next 
year  by  twenty  or  thirty  families  and  by  two  hun- 
dred 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,  "  the  efforts  my  enemies  have  made  to 
deprive  me  of  the  honor  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  commissioned  to  execute  it. 
Early  in  June,  1701,  he  left  La  Chine  with  a 
hundred  men  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  lieutenants,  Dugue  and  Chacornacle, 
together  with  a  Jesuit  and  a  Recollet.3  Following 

1  Cadillac's  report  of  this  interview  is  given  in  Sheldon,  Early  History 
of  Michigan,  85-91. 

2  La  Mothe-Cad iliac  a  un  premier  commis,  18   Oct.  1700,  in  Margry, 
V.  166. 

3  Callieres  au  Mhristre,  4  Oct.  1701.     Autre  lettre  du  me  me,  sans  date, 
in  Margry,  V.  187,  190. 


26  DETROIT.  [1701. 

the  difficult  route  of  the  Ottawa  and  Lake  Huron, 
they  reached  their  destination  on  the  24th  of 
July,  and  built  a  picket  fort  sixty  yards  square, 
which  by  order  of  the  Governor  they  named  Fort 
Ponchartrain.1  It  stood  near  the  west  bank  of  the 
strait,  about  forty  paces  from  the  water.2  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 
utterances.  "  None  but  enemies  of  the  truth,"  his 
letter  concludes,  "  are  enemies  of  this  establishment, 
so  necessary  to  the  glory  of  the  King,  the  progress 
of  religion,  and  the  destruction  pf  the  throne  of 
Baal."  3 

What  he  had,  perhaps,  still  more  at  heart  was 
making  money  out  of  it  by  the  fur-trade.  By 
command  of  the  King  a  radical  change  had  lately 
been  made  in  this  chief  commerce  of  Canada,  and 
the  entire  control  of  it  had  been  placed  in  the 
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.4 

1  Callieres  et  Champigny  au  Ministre,  sans  date. 

2  Relation  du  Destroit  (by  the  Jesuit  who  accompanied  the  expedition). 

3  Description  de  la  Riviere  dn  Detroit,  jointe  a  la  lettre  de  MM.  de 
Callitres  et  de  Champigny,  8  Oct.  1701. 

*/ Callieres  au  Ministre,  9  Nov.  1700. 

s 


1703.]  A  NEW  COMPANY.  27 

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.1  The  company  was  to  repay  the  eighty 
thousand  francs  which  the  expedition  to  Detroit 
had  cost ;  and  to  this  was  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  immedi- 
ately 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  who  had  not  taken  shares  in  the  enter- 
prise. Both  in  the  company  and  out  of  it  there  was 
nothing  but  discontent.  None  were  worse  pleased 
than  the  two  Jesuits,  Carheil  and  Marest,  who  saw 
their  flocks  at  Michillimackinac,  both  Hurons  and 
Ottawas,  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  ^he  minister,  Ponch  art  rain,  that  only 
twenty-five  Hurons  are  left  at  Michillimackinac  ; 
and  "I  hope,"  he  adds,  "that  in  the  autumn  I 
shall  pluck  this  last  feather  from  his  wing ;  and  I 
am  convinced  that  this  obstinate  priest  will  die  in 
his  parish  without  one  parishioner  to  bury  him." 2 

1  Traite  fait  avec  la  Compagnie  de  la  Colonie  de  Canada,  31  Oct.  1701. 

2  Lamothe-Cadiltac  a  Ponchartrain,  31  Aoust,  1703  (Margry,  V.  301). 
On  Cadillac's  relations  with  the  Jesuits,  see  Conseils  tenus  par  Lamothe- 
Cadillac  avec  les  Sauvayes  (Margry,  V.  253-300) ;  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 


28  DETROIT.  [1703. 

If  the  Indians  came  to  Detroit,  the  French  would 
not  come.  Cadillac  had  asked  for  five  or  six  fami- 
lies as  the  modest  beginning  of  a  settlement ;  but 
not  one  had  appeared.  The  Indians,  too,  were 
angry  because  the  company  asked  too  much  for  its 
goods ;  while  the  company  complained  that  a  for- 
bidden 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  de- 
plorable ;  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  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  good  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  he  were  put  at  the  head 
of  it,  its  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 


says,  incurred  the  ill-will  of  the  other  Jesuits  by  favoring  the  establish- 
ment of  Detroit,  and  he  also  has  a  word  of  commendation  for  Father 
Germain. 


1703.]  LETTERS   OF  CADILLAC.  29 

troops,  no  inhabitants.  Take  this  business  in 
hand,  Monseigneur,  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  Ponchartrain,  "  that  if  they  ac- 
cept my  proposal  and  you  approve  it,  I  will  make 
our  Detroit  flourish.  Judge  if  it  is  agreeable  to 
me  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  friends,  but, 
impiety  apart,  one  had  better  sin  against  God  than 
against  them  ;  for  in  that  case  one  gets  one's  pardon, 
whereas  in  the  other  the  offence  is  never  forgiven 
in  this  world,  and  perhaps  never  would  be  in  the 
other,  if  their  credit  were  as  great  there  as  it  is 
here."  l 

The  letters  of  Cadillac  to  the  court  are  unique. 
No  governor  of  New  France,  not  even  the  auda- 
cious Frontenac,  ever  wrote  to  a  minister  of  Louis 
XIV.  with  such  off-hand  freedom  of  language  as 
this  singular  personage,  —  a  mere  captain  in  the 
colony  troops ;  and  to  a  more  stable  and  balanced 
character  it  would  have  been  impossible. 

1  La  Mothe- Cadillac  d  Ponchartrain  31  AoAt,  1703.  "Toute  impiete 
a  part,  il  vaudroit  mieux  pescher  centre  Dieu  que  centre  eux,  parce  que 
d'un  coste'  on  en  re9oit  son  pardon,  et  de  1'autre,  1'offense,  mesme  pre'ten- 
due,  n'est  jamais  remise  dans  ce  raonde,  et  ne  le  seroit  peut-estre  jamais 
dans  1'autre,  si  leur  credit  y  estoit  aussi  grand  qu'il  est  dans  ce  pays." 


30  DETROIT.  [1704. 

Cadillac's  proposal  was  accepted.  The  company 
was  required  to  abandon  Detroit  to  him  on  his 
paying  them  the  expenses  they  had  incurred. 
Their  monopoly  was  transferred  to  him  ;  but  as  far 
as  concerned  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,  permit  as  many  persons  to  settle  at 
Detroit  as  might  choose  to  do  so,  and  provide  mis- 
sionaries.1 The  minister  exhorted  him  to  quarrel 
no  more  with  the  Jesuits,  or  anybody  else,  to  ban- 
ish blasphemy  and  bad  morals  from  the  post,  and 
not  to  offend  the  Five  Nations. 

The  promised  era  of  prosperity  did  not  come. 
Detroit  lingered  on  in  a  weak  and  troubled  in- 
fancy, disturbed,  as  we  shall  see,  by  startling  inci- 
dents. Its  occupation  by  the  French  produced  a 
noteworthy  result.  The  Five  Nations,  filled  with 
jealousy  and  alarm,  appealed  to  the  King  of  Eng- 
land for  protection,  and,  the  better  to  insure  it, 
conveyed  the  whole  country  from  Lake  Ontario 
northward  to  Lake  Superior,  and  westward  as  far 
as  Chicago,  "  unto  our  souveraigne  Lord  King  Wil- 
liam the  Third"  and  his  heirs  and  successors  for- 
ever. This  territory  is  described  in  the  deed  as 
being  about  eight  hundred  miles  long  and  four 
hundred  wide,  and  was  claimed  by  the  Five 
Nations  as  theirs  by  right  of  conquest.2  It  of 


1  PoncJiartrain  a  La  Mothe- Cad  iliac,  14  Juin,  1704. 

2  Deed  from  the  Five  Nations  to  the  King  of  their  Beaver  Hunting 
Ground,  in  N.   Y.  Col.  Docs.,  IV.  908.    It  is  signed  by  the  totems  of 
sachems  of  all  the  Nations. 


1701.]  DEED  OF  THE  FIVE  NATIONS.  31 

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  which  the 
signers  could  understand  but  imperfectly,  if  at  all. 
The  Five  Nations  gave  away  their  land  to  no  pur- 
pose. The  French  remained  in  undisturbed  pos- 
session 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. 


CHAPTER  III. 

1703-1713. 

QUEEN  ANNE'S  WAR. 

THE  FOREST  OF  MAINE.  —  A  TREACHEROUS  PEACE. — A  FRONTIER 
VILLAGE.  —  WELLS  AND  ITS  PEOPLE.  —  ATTACK  UPON  IT.  —  BORDER 
RAVAGES.  —  BEAUBASSIN'S  WAR  PARTY.  —  THE  "  WOFUL  DECADE." 
A  WEDDING  FEAST.  —  A  CAPTIVE  BRIDEGROOM. 

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  sun- 
light 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  prodigal- 
ity of  vital  force,  the  same  struggle  for  existence 
and  mutual  havoc  that  mark  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  pre- 
ceded them,  crowding,  choking,  and  killing  each 
other,  perishing  by  their  very  abundance  ;  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  grow, 


1703-1713.]  THE  FOREST  OF  MAINE.  33 

interlock  their  boughs,  and  repeat  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  in- 
fant tree  in  a  thousand  lives  to  maturity  ;  yet 
these  survivors  form  an  innumerable  host, 
pressed  together  in  struggling  confusion,  squeezed 
out  of  symmetry  and  robbed  of  normal  develop- 
ment, as  men  are  said  to  be  in  the  level  sameness 
of  democratic  society.  Seen  from  above,  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,  toadstools  and  rank 
ferns,  protruding  roots,  matted  bushes,  and  rotting 
carcases  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  and  lakes,  from  little 
brooks  stealing  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  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 

VOL.  I.  —  3 


34  QUEEN  ANNE'S   WAK.  [1703-1713. 

mild  compared  to  their  grisly  relatives  of  the  Far 
West,  vegetarians  when  they  can  do  no  better, 
and  not  without  something  grotesque  and  quaint 
in  manners  and  behavior ;  sometimes,  though 
rarely,  the  strong  and  sullen  wolverine ;  fre- 
quently 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  Penobscot,  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.1 
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  toma- 
hawks in  William  and  Mary's  War,  and  what 
havoc  they  made  among  the  scattered  settlements 
of  the  border.2  Another  war  with  France  was 
declared  on  the  4th  of  May,  1702,  on  which  the 
Abenakis  again  assumed  a  threatening  attitude. 
In  June  of  the  next  year  Dudley,  Governor  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, called  the  chiefs  of  the  various  bands 
to  a  council  at  Casco.  Here  presently  appeared 
the  Norridgewocks  from  the  Kennebec,  the  Penob- 

1  Count  Frontenac,  220. 

2  Ibid.,  Chaps.  XI.,  XVI.,  XVII. 


1703-1713.]  A  TREACHEROUS  PEACE.  35 

scots  and  Androscoggins  from  the  rivers  that 
bear  their  names,  the  Penacooks  from  the  Merri- 
mac,  and  the  Pequawkets  from  the  Saco,  all  well 
armed,  and  daubed  with  ceremonial  paint.  The 
principal  among  them,  gathered  under  a  large  tent, 
were  addressed  by  Dudley  in  a  conciliatory  speech. 
Their  orator  replied  that  they  wanted  nothing  but 
peace,  and  that  their  thoughts  were  as  far  from 
war  as  the  sun  was  from  the  earth,  —  words  which 
they  duly  confirmed  by  a  belt  of  wampum.1  Pres- 
ents were  distributed  among  them  and  received 
with  apparent  satisfaction,  while  two  of  their 
principal  chiefs,  known  as  Captain  Samuel  and 
Captain  Bomazeen,  declared  that  several  French 
missionaries  had  lately  come  among  them  to  excite 
them  against  the  English,  but  that  they  were 
"  firm  as  mountains,"  and  would  remain  so  "  as 
long  as  the  sun  and  moon  endured."  They  ended 
the  meeting  with  dancing,  singing,  and  whoops 
of  joy,  followed  by  a  volley  of  musketry,  answered 
by  another  from  the  English.  It  was  discovered, 
however,  that  the  Indians  had  loaded  their  guns 
with  ball,  intending,  as  the  English  believed,  to 
murder  Dudley  and  his  attendants,  if  they  could 


1  Penhallow,  History  of  the  Wars  of  New  England  ivith  the  Eastern 
Indians,  16  (ed.  1859).  Penhallow  was  present  at  the  council.  In  Judge 
Sewall's  clumsy  abstract  of  the  proceedings  (Diary  of  Sewall,  II.  85) 
the  Indians  are  represented  as  professing  neutrality.  The  Governor  and 
Intendant  of  Canada  write  that  the  Abenakis  had  begun  a  treaty  of 
neutrality  with  the  English,  but  that  as  "  les  Jesuites  observoient  les 
sauvages,  le  traite  ne  fut  pas  conclu."  They  add  that  Rale,  Jesuit 
missionary  at  Norridgewock,  informs  them  that  his  Indians  were  ready 
to  lift  the  hatchet  against  the  English.  Vaudreuil  et  Beanharnois  an 
Ministre,  1703. 


36  QUEEN   ANNE'S   WAR.  [1703-1713. 

have  done  so  without  danger  to  their  chiefs,  whom 
the  Governor  had  prudently  kept  about  him.  It 
was  afterwards  found,  if  we  may  believe  a  highly 
respectable  member  of  the  party,  that  two  hun- 
dred French  and  Indians  were  on  their  way, 
"  resolved  to  seize  the  Governor,  Council,  and  gen- 
tlemen, and  then  to  sacrifice  the  inhabitants  at 
pleasure  ; "  but  when  they  arrived,  the  English 
officials  had  been  gone  three  days.1 

The  French  Governor,  Vaudreuil,  says  that 
about  this  time  some  of  the  Abenakis  were  killed 
or  maltreated  by  Englishmen.  It  may  have 
been  so ;  desperadoes,  drunk  or  sober,  were  not 
rare  along  the  frontier :  but  Vaudreuil  gives  no 
particulars,  and  the  only  English  outrage  that 
appears  on  record  at  the  time  was  the  act  of  a  gang 
of  vagabonds  who  plundered  the  house  of  the 
younger  Saint-Castin,  where  the  town  of  Castine 
now  stands.  He  was  Abenaki  by  his  mother  ;  but 
he  was  absent  when  the  attack  took  place,  and  the 
marauders  seem  to  have  shed  no  blood.  Never- 
theless, within  six  weeks  after  the  Treaty  of  Casco, 
every  unprotected  farm-house  in  Maine  was  in  a 
blaze. 

The  settlements  of  Maine,  confined  to  the  south- 
western corner  of  what  is  now  the  State  of  Maine, 


1  Penhallow,  17,  18  (ed.  1859).  There  was  a  previous  meeting  of 
conciliation  between  the  English  and  the  Abenakis  in  1702.  The  Jesuit 
Bigot  says  that  the  Indians  assured  him  that  they  had  scornfully  repelled 
the  overtures  of  the  English,  and  told  them  that  they  would  always  stand 
fast  by  the  French.  Relation  des  Abenakis,  1702.  This  is  not  likely. 
The  Indians  probably  lied  both  to  the  Jesuit  and  to  the  English,  telling 
to  each  what  they  knew  would  be  most  acceptable. 


170-3-1713.]  A  FRONTIER  VILLAGE.  37 

extended  along  the  coast  in  a  feeble  and  broken 
line  from  Kittery  to  Casco.  Ten  years  of  murder- 
ous warfare  had  almost  ruined  them.  East  of  the 
village  of  Wells  little  was  left  except  one  or  two 
forts  and  the  so-called  "garrisons,"  which  were 
private  houses  pierced  with  loopholes  and  having 
an  upper  story  projecting  over  the  lower,  so  that 
the  defenders  could  fire  down  on  assailants  batter- 
ing the  door  or  piling  fagots  against  the  walls. 
A  few  were  fenced  with  palisades,  as  was  the  case 
with  the  house  of  Joseph  Storer,  at  the  east  end 
of  Wells,  where  an  overwhelming  force  of  French 
and  Indians  had  been  gallantly  repulsed  in  the 
summer  of  1692.1  These  fortified  houses  were, 
however,  very  rarely  attacked,  except  by  surprise 
and  treachery.  In  case  of  alarm  such  of  the  inhabit- 
ants as  found  time  took  refuge  in  them  with  their 
families,  and  left  their  dwellings  to  the  flames ;  for 
the  first  thought  of  the  settler  was  to  put  his 
women  and  children  beyond  reach  of  the  scalping- 
knife.  There  were  several  of  these  asylums  in 
different  parts  of  Wells ;  and  without  them  the 
place  must  have  been  abandoned.  In  the  little 
settlement  of  York,  farther  westward,  there  were 
five  of  them,  which  had  saved  a  part  of  the 
inhabitants  when  the  rest  were  surprised  and 
massacred. 

Wells  was  a  long,  straggling  settlement,  consist- 
ing at  the  beginning  of  William  and  Mary's  War 
of  about  eighty  houses  and  log-cabins,2  strung  at 

1  See  Count  Frontenac,  353. 

2  Bourne,  History  of  Wells  and  Kennebunk. 


38  QUEEN  ANNE'S  WAR.  [1703-1713. 

intervals  along  the  north  side  of  the  rough  track, 
known  as  the  King's  Road,  which  ran  parallel  to 
the  sea.  Behind  the  houses  were  rude,  half-cleared 
pastures,  and  behind  these  again,  the  primeval 
forest.  The  cultivated  land  was  on  the  south  side 
of  the  road,  in  front  of  the  houses,  and  beyond  it 
spread  great  salt-marshes,  bordering  the  sea  and 
haunted  by  innumerable  gaine-birds. 

The  settlements  of  Maine  were  a  dependency  of 
Massachusetts, —  a  position  that  did  not  please  their 
inhabitants,  but  which  the}7  accepted  because  they 
needed  the  help  of  their  Puritan  neighbors,  from 
whom  they  differed  widely  both  in  their  qualities 
and  in  their  faults.  The  Indian  wars  that  checked 
their  growth  had  kept  them  in  a  condition  more 
than  half  barbarous.  They  were  a  hard-working 
and  hard-drinking  race ;  for  though  tea  and  cof- 
fee were  scarcely  known,  the  land  flowed  with 
New  England  rum,  which  was  ranked  among  the 
necessaries  of  life.  The  better  sort  could  read 
and  write  in  a  bungling  way ;  but  many  were 
wholly  illiterate,  and  it  was  not  till  long  after 
Queen  Anne's  War  that  the  remoter  settlements 
established  schools,  taught  by  poor  students  from 
Harvard  or  less  competent  instructors,  and  held 
at  first  in  private  houses  or  under  sheds.  The 
church  at  Wells  had  been  burned  by  the  Indians ; 
and  though  the  settlers  were  beggared  by  the 
war,  they  voted  in  town  meeting  to  build  an- 
other. The  new  temple,  begun  in  1699,  was  a 
plain  wooden  structure  thirty  feet  square.  For 
want  of  money  the  windows  long  remained  un- 


1703-1713.]  A  FRONTIER  VILLAGE.  39 

glazed,  the  walls  without  plaster,  and  the  floor 
without  seats  ;  yet  services  were  duly  held  here 
under  direction -of  the  minister,  Samuel  Emery, 
to  whom  they  paid  £45  a  year,  half  in  pro- 
vincial currency,  and  half  in  farm  produce  and 
firewood. 

In  spite  of  these  efforts  to  maintain  public  wor- 
ship, they  were  far  from  being  a  religious  com- 
munity ;  nor  were  they  a  peaceful  one.  Gossip 
and  scandal  ran  riot ;  social  jealousies  abounded ; 
and  under  what  seemed  entire  democratic  equal- 
ity, the  lazy,  drunken,  and  shiftless  envied  the 
industrious  and  thrifty.  Wells  was  infested, 
moreover,  by  several  "  frightfully  turbulent 
women,"  as  the  chronicle  styles  them,  from 
whose  rabid  tongues  the  minister  himself  did 
not  always  escape ;  and  once,  in  its  earlier  days, 
the  town  had  been  indicted  for  not  providing 
a  ducking-stool  to  correct  these  breeders  of 
discord. 

Judicial  officers  were  sometimes  informally  cho- 
sen by  popular  vote,  and  sometimes  appointed  by 
the  Governor  of  Massachusetts  from  among  the 
inhabitants.  As  they  knew  no  Jaw,  they  gave 
judgment  according  to  their  own  ideas  of  justice, 
and  their  sentences  were  oftener  wanting  in  wis- 
dom than  in  severity.  Until  after  1700  the  county 
courts  met  by  beat  of  drum  at  some  of  the  primi- 
tive inns  or  taverns  with  which  the  frontier 
abounded. 

At  Wells  and  other  outlying  and  endangered 
hamlets  life  was  still  exceedingly  rude.  The  log- 


40  QUEEN  ANNE'S   WAR.  [1703. 

cabins  of  the  least  thrifty  were  no  better  furnished 
than  Indian  wigwams.  The  house  of  Edmond 
Littlefield,  reputed  the  richest  man  in  Wells,  con- 
sisted of  two  bedrooms  and  a  kitchen,  which  last 
served  a  great  variety  of  uses,  and  was  supplied 
with  a  table,  a  pewter  pot,  a  frying-pan,  and  a  skil- 
let ;  but  no  chairs,  cups,  saucers,  knives,  forks,  or 
spoons.  In  each  of  the  two  bedrooms  there  was  a 
bed,  a  blanket,  and  a  chest.  Another  village  nota- 
ble —  Ensign  John  Barrett  —  was  better  provided, 
being  the  possessor  of  two  beds,  two  chests  and  a 
box,  four  pewter  dishes,  four  earthen  pots,  two  iron 
pots,  seven  trays,  two  buckets,  some  pieces  of 
wooden-ware,  a  skillet,  and  a  frying-pan.  In  the 
inventory  of  the  patriarchal  Francis  Littlefield, 
who  died  in  1712,  we  find  the  exceptional  items 
of  one  looking-glass,  two  old  chairs,  and  two  old 
books.  Such  of  the  family  as  had  no  bed  slept  on 
hay  or  straw,  and  no  provision  for  the  toilet  is 
recorded.1 

On  the  10th  of  August,  1703,  these  rugged  bor- 
derers were  about  their  usual  callings,  unconscious 
of  danger,  —  the  women  at  their  household  work, 
the  men  in  the  fields  or  on  the  more  distant  salt- 
marshes.  The  wife  of  Thomas  Wells  had  reached 
the  time  of  her  confinement,  and  her  husband  had 
gone  for  a  nurse.  Some  miles  east  of  Wells's  cabin 
lived  Stephen  Harding,  —  hunter,  blacksmith,  and 
tavern-keeper,  a  sturdy,  good-natured  man,  who 

1  The  above  particulars  are  drawn  from  the  History  of  Wells  and 
Kennebunk,  by  the  late  Edward  E.  Bourne,  of  Wells,  —  a  work  of  admir- 
able thoroughness,  fidelity,  and  candor. 


1703.]  STEPHEN   HARDING.  41 

loved  the  woods,  and  whose  frequent  hunting  trips 
sometimes  led  him  nearly  to  the  White  Mountains. 
Distant  gunshots  were  heard  from  the  westward, 
and  his  quick  eye  presently  discovered  Indians 
approaching,  on  which  he  told  his  frightened  wife 
to  go  with  their  infant  to  a  certain  oak-tree  beyond 
the  creek  while  he  waited  to  learn  whether  the 
strangers  were  friends  or  foes. 

That  morning  several  parties  of  Indians  had 
stolen  out  of  the  dismal  woods  behind  the  houses 
and  farms  of  Wells,  and  approached  different  dwell- 
ings of  the  far-extended  settlement  at  about  the 
same  time.  They  entered  the  cabin  of  Thomas 
Wells,  where  his  wife  lay  in  the  pains  of  childbirth, 
and  murdered  her  and  her  two  small  children.  At 
the  same  time  they  killed  Joseph  Sayer,  a  neigh- 
bor of  Wells,  with  all  his  family. 

Meanwhile  Stephen  Harding,  having  sent  his 
wife  and  child  to  a  safe  distance,  returned  to  his 
blacksmith's  shop,  and,  seeing  nobody,  gave  a  de- 
fiant whoop  ;  on  which  four  Indians  sprang  at  him 
from  the  bushes.  He  escaped  through  a  back-door 
of  the  shop,  eluded  his  pursuers,  and  found  his 
wifa  and  child  in  a  cornfield,  where  the  woman 
had  fainted  with  fright.  They  spent  the  night 
in  the  woods,  and  on  the  next  day,  after  a  circuit 
of  nine  miles,  reached  the  palisaded  house  of 
Joseph  Storer. 

They  found  the  inmates  in  distress  and  agita- 
tion. Storer's  daughter  Mary,  a  girl  of  eighteen, 
was  missing.  The  Indians  had  caught  her,  and 
afterwards  carried  her  prisoner  to  Canada.  Samuel 


42  QUEEN   ANNE'S   WAR  [1703. 

Hill  and  his  family  were  captured,  and  the  younger 
children  butchered.  But  it  is  useless  to  record  the 
names  and  fate  of  the  sufferers.  Thirty-nine  in 
all,  chiefly  women  and  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  was  only  part  of  a  com- 
bined 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,  ex- 
cepting the  forts  and  fortified  houses ;  but  the 
inhabitants,  reassured,  no  doubt,  by  the  Treaty 
of  Casco,  had  begun  to  return.  On  this  same  day, 
the  10th  of  August,  they  were  startled  from  their 
security.  A  band  of  Indians  mixed  with  French- 
men fell  upon  the  settlements  about  the  stone  fort 
near  the  Falls  of  the  Saco,  killed  eleven  persons, 
captured  twenty-four,  and  vainly  attackedj,he  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  capitulate.  The 
settlers  at  Scarborough  were  also  in  a  fortified 
house,  where  they  made  a  long  and  obstinate  de- 
fence till  help  at  last  arrived.  Nine  families  were 
settled  at  Purpooduck  Point,  near  the  present  city 
of  Portland.  They  had  no  place  of  refuge,  and 
the  men,  being,  no  doubt,  fishermen,  were  all  ab- 
sent, when  the  Indians  burst  into  the  hamlet, 


1703.]  ATTACK  AT  FALMOUTH.  43 

butchered  twenty-five  women  and  children,  and 
carried  off  eight. 

The  fort  at  Casco,  or  Falmouth,  was  held  by 
Major  March,  with  thirty-six  men.  He  had  no 
thought  of  danger,  when  three  well-known  chiefs 
from  Norridgewock  appeared  with  a  white  flag, 
and  asked  for  an  interview.  As  they  seemed  to 
be  alone  and  unarmed,  he  went  to  meet  them,  fol- 
lowed by  two  or  three  soldiers  and  accompanied  by 
two  old  men  named  Phippeny  and  Kent,  inhab- 
itants of  the  place.  They  had  hardly  reached  the 
spot  when  the  three  chiefs  drew  hatchets  from 
under  a  kind  of  mantle  which  they  wore  and 
sprang  upon  them,  while  other  Indians,  ambushed 
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  l^y  till  Sergeant  Hook  came  to  his  aid  with 
a  file  of  men  and  drove  them  off. 

They  soon  reappeared,  burned  the  deserted  cab- 
ins in  the  neighborhood,  and  beset  the  garrison 
in  numbers  that  continually  increased,  till  in  a 
few  days  the  entire  force  that  had  been  busied 
in  ravaging  the  scattered  settlements  was  gath- 
ered around  the  place.  It  consisted  of  about 
five  hundred  Indians  of  several  tribes,  and  a  few 
Frenchmen  under  an  officer  named  Beaubassin. 
Being  elated  with  past  successes,  they  laid  siege 
to  the  fort,  sheltering  themselves  under  a  steep 
bank  by  the  water-side  and  burrowing  their  way 
towards  the  rampart.  March  could  not  dislodge 


44  QUEEN  ANNE'S  WAR.  [1703. 

them,  and  they  continued  their  approaches  till  the 
third  day,  when  Captain  Southack,  with  the  Mas- 
sachusetts armed  vessel  known  as  the  "  Province 
Galley/'  sailed  into  the  harbor,  recaptured  three 
small  vessels  that  the  Indians  had  taken  along  the 
coast,  and  destroyed  a  great  number  of  their 
canoes,  on  which  they  gave  up  their  enterprise  and 
disappeared.1 

Such  was  the  beginning  of  Queen  Anne's  War. 
These  attacks  were  due  less  to  the  Abenakis  than 
to  the  French  who  set  them  on.  "  Monsieur  de 
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  incorrect.  The  whole  number 
of  persons  killed  and  carried  off:  during  the^ugust 
attacks  did  not  much  exceed  one  hundred  and 
sixty ; 2  and  these  were  of  both  sexes  and  all  ages, 
from  octogenarians  to  new-born  infants.  The  able- 
bodied  men  among  them  were  few,  as  most  of  the 
attacks  were  made  upon  unprotected  houses  in  the 


1  On  these  attacks  on  the  frontier  of  Maine,  Penhallow,  who  well  knew 
the  country  and  the  people,  is  the  best  authority.     Niles,  in  his  Indian 
and  French  Wars,  copies  him  without  acknowledgment,  but  not  without 
blunders.    As  regards  the  attack  on  Wells,  what  particulars  we  have 
are  mainly  due  to  the  research  of  the  indefatigable  Bourne.     Compare 
Belknap,  I.  330;   Folsom,  History  of  Saco  and  Biddeford,   198;   Coll. 
Maine  Hist.  Soc.,  III.  140,  348 ;  Williamson,  History  of  Maine,  II.  42. 
Beambassin  is  called  "Bobasser"  in  most  of  the  English  accounts. 

2  The  careful  and  well-informed  Belknap  puts  it  at  only  130.    History 
of  New  Hampshire,  I.  331. 


1703.]  OBJECTS  OF  THE  FRENCH.  45 

absence  of  the  head  of  the  family  ;  and  the  only 
fortified  place  captured  was  the  garrison-house  at 
Winter  Harbor,  which  surrendered  on  terms  of 
capitulation.  The  instruments  of  this  ignoble 
warfare  and  the  revolting  atrocities  that  accom- 
panied it,  were  all,  or  nearly  all,  converted  Indians 
of  the  missions.  Charlevoix  has  no  word  of  dis- 
approval for  it,  and  seems  to  regard  its  partial 
success  as  a  gratifying  one  so  far  as  it  went. 

One  of  the  objects  was,  no  doubt,  to  check  the 
progress  of  the  English  settlements ;  but,  pursues 
Charlevoix,  "  the  essential  point  was  to  commit 
the  Aberiakis  in  such  a  manner  that  they  could 
not  draw  back."  l  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  as- 
sumed line  of  demarcation.  But  the  Abenakis 
sorely  needed  English  guns,  knives,  hatchets,  and 
kettles,  and  nothing  but  the  utmost  vigilance 
could  prevent  them  from  coining  to  terms  with  those 
who  could  supply  their  necessities.  Hence  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  Eng- 
lish settlers  they  should  stir  up  the  Five  Nations 
to  attack  Canada ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  they 
constantly  spurred  the  Abenakis  against  New  Eng- 

1  Charlevoix,  II.  289  290  (quarto  edition). 


46  QUEEN  ANNE'S  WAK.  [1703. 

land,  in  order  to  avert  the  dreaded  event  of  their 
making  peace  with  her. 

The  attack  on  Wells,  Casco,  and  the  inter- 
vening settlements  was  followed  by  murders  and 
depredations  that  lasted  through  the  autumn 
and  extended  along  two  hundred  miles  of  fron- 
tier. 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  work 
in  the  meadows  were  ambushed  by  two  hundred 
Indians,  and  all  but  one  were  shot  or  captured. 
The  fort  was  next  attacked.  It  was  garrisoned 
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  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  have  been 
on  the  watch  was  killed,  and  several  persons  were 


1703.]  MEASUKES   OF   DEFENCE.  47 

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  delivered  of  an  infant 
in  the  midst  of  the  winter  forest ;  but  the  child 
pined  for  want  of  sustenance,  and  the  Indians  has- 
tened 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.  The  Massa- 
chusetts Government  sent  a  troop  of  horse  to  Ports- 
mouth, and  another  to  Wells.  These  had  the 
advantage  of  rapid  movement  in  case  of  alarm 
along  the  roads  and  forest-paths  from  settlement 
to  settlement;  but  once  in  the  woods,  their 
horses  were  worse  than  useless,  and  they  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 


48  QUEEN  ANNE'S   WAK.  [1704. 

the  Pequawket  tribe  ;  but  the  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  con- 
sequence, surprised  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  Co-os  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.1 

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  Decennium  luctuosum,  or  the  "  woful  decade  " 
of  William  and  Mary's  War.  The  wonder  is  that 
the  outlying  settlements  were  not  abandoned. 
These  ghastly,  insidious,  and  ever-present  dangers 
demanded  a  more  obstinate  courage  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 

1  Peuhallow,  Wars  of  New  England  with  the  Eastern  Indians. 


1712.]  A  FRONTIER  WEDDING.  49 

tribulation,  marrying  and  giving  in  marriage  did 
not  cease  among  the  sturdy  borderers ;  and  on  a  day 
in  September  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  Ports- 
mouth, and  even  beyond  it.  Probably  most  of 
them  came  in  sail-boats  ;  for  the  way  by  land  was 
full  of  peril,  especially  on  the  road  from  York, 
which  ran  through  dense  woods,  where  Indians 
often  waylaid  the  traveller.  The  bridegroom's 
father  was  present  with  the  rest.  It  was  a  con- 
course 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  occasions 
half  a  century  later  among  the  frontiersmen  of 
west  Virginia.1  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  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. 

1  Doddridge,  Notes  on  Western  Virginia  and  Pennsylvania. 
VOL.  i. —  4 


50  QUEEN  ANNE'S   WAR.  [1712. 

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  galloped 
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  house. 
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  marks- 
men went  to  meet  the  Indians,  who  ensconced 
themselves  in  the  edge  of  the  forest,  whence  they 
could  not  be  dislodged.  There  was  some  desultory 
firing,  and  one  of  the  combatants  was  killed  on 
each  side,  after  which  the  whites  gave  up  the  at- 
tack, and  Lieutenant  Banks  went  forward  with  a 
flag  of  truce,  in  the  hope  of  ransoming  the  prison- 
ers. He  was  met  by  six  chiefs,  among  whom  were 
two  noted  Indians  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  English  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 


1712.]  RANSOM   OF   PLAISTED.  51 

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, 
my  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  Cap- 
tain 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 
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 
ransomed  and  restored  to  his  bride.1 

1  On  this  affair,  the  note  of  Elisha  Plaisted  in  Massachusetts  Archives; 
Richard  Waldron  to  Governor  Dudley,  Portsmouth,  19  Sept.  1712;  Bourne, 
Wells  and  Kennebunk,  278. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

1704-1740. 

DEERFIELD. 

HERTEL  DE  ROUVILLE.  —  A  FRONTIER  VILLAGE.  —  REV.  JOHN  WIL- 
LIAMS.—  THE  SURPRISE.  —  DEFENCE  OF  THE  STEBBINS  HOUSE. — 
ATTEMPTED  RESCUE.  —  THE  MEADOW  FIGHT.  —  THE  CAPTIVES. 
—  THE  NORTHWARD  MARCH.  —  MRS.  WILLIAMS  KILLED.  —  THE 
MINISTER'S  JOURNEY.  —  KINDNESS  OF  CANADIANS.  —  A  STUBBORN 
HERETIC.  —  EUNICE  WILLIAMS.  —  CONVERTED  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 
Yaudreuil,  "  because  we  must  do  nothing  that 
might  cause  a  rupture  between  us  and  the  Iro- 
quois  ;  but  we  must  keep  things  astir  in  the  direc- 
tion of  Boston,  or  else  the  Abenakis  will  declare 
for  the  English."  In  short,  the  object  was  fully 
to  commit  these  savages  to  hostility  against  New 
England,  and  convince  them  at  the  same  time  that 
the  French  would  back  their  quarrel.1 

1  Vaudreuil  au  Ministre,  14  Nov.  1703;  Ibid.,  3  Avril,  1704;  Vaudreuil 
et  Beauharnois  au  Ministre,  17  Nov.  1704.  French  writers  say  that  the 
English  surprised  and  killed  some  of  the  Abenakis,  who  thereupon  asked 


1704.]  ROUVILLE'S  WAR-PARTY.  53 

The  party  consisted,  according  to  French  ac- 
counts, of  fifty  Canadians  and  two  hundred  Abe- 
nakis  and  Caughnawagas,  —  the  latter  of  whom, 
while  trading  constantly  with  Albany,  were  rarely 
averse  to  a  raid  against  Massachusetts  or  New 
Hampshire.1  The  command  was  given  to  the 
younger  Hertel  de  Rouville,  who  was  accompanied 
by  four  of  his  brothers.  They  began  their  march 
in  the  depth  of  winter,  journeyed  nearly  three 
hundred  miles  on  snow-shoes  through  the  forest, 
and  approached  their  destination  on  the  afternoon 
of  the  28th  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  Northfield,  a 
little  higher  up  the  Connecticut,  having  been  aban- 
doned during  the  last  war.  Rouville  halted  his 
followers  at  a  place  now  called  Petty's  Plain,  two 
miles  from  the  village ;  and  here,  under  the  shel- 
ter 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  equal  to  the  whole  population  of  Deer- 
field,  —  men,  women,  and  children,  —  they  had  no 
thought  of  an  open  attack,  but  trusted  to  darkness 
and  surprise  for  an  easy  victory. 

Deerfield  stood  on  a  plateau  above  the  river 
meadows,  and  the  houses  —  forty-one  in  all  — 

help  from  Canada.      This  perhaps  refers  to  the  expeditions  of  Colonel 
March  and  Captain  Tyng,  who,  after  the  bloody  attacks  upon  the  settle- 
ments of  Maine,  made  reprisal  upon  Abenaki  camps. 
1  English  accounts  make  the  whole  number  342. 


54  DEERFIELD.  [1704. 

were  chiefly  along  the  road  towards  the  villages 
of  Hadley  and  Hatfield,  a  few  miles  distant.  In 
the  middle  of  the  place,  on  a  rising  ground  called 
Meeting-honse  Hill,  was  a  small  square  wooden 
meeting-house.  This,  with  about  fifteen  private 
houses,  besides  barns  and  sheds,  was  enclosed  by  a 
fence  of  palisades  eight  feet  high,  flanked  by 
"  mounts,"  or  block-houses,  at  two  or  more  of 
the  corners.  The  four  sides  of  this  palisaded  en- 
closure, which  was  called  the  fort,  measured  in 
all  no  less  than  two  hundred  and  two  rods,  and 
within  it  lived  some  of  the  principal  inhabitants 
of  the  village,  of  which  it  formed  the  centre  or 
citadel.  Chief  among  its  inmates  was  John  Wil- 
liams, the  minister,  a  man  of  character  and  educa- 
tion, 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.1  His 
parishioners  built  him  a  house,  he  married,  and 
had  now  eight  children,  one  of  whom  was  absent 
with  friends  at  Hadley.2  His  next  neighbor  was 
Benoni  Stebbins,  sergeant  in  the  county  militia, 
who  lived  a  few  rods  from  the  meeting-house. 
About  fifty  yards  distant,  and  near  the  northwest 
angle  of  the  enclosure,  stood  the  house  of  Ensign 
John  Sheldon,  a  framed  building,  one  of  the  largest 
in  the  village,  and,  like  that  of  Stebbins,  made 

1  Stephen  W.  Williams,  Biographical  Memoir  of  Rev.  John  Williams. 

2  Account  ofy*  destruction  at  Deref*-  Feb.  29,  1703/4. 


1704.]  A  FRONTIER    VILLAGE.  55 

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  houses  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,  Jonathan  Wells,  which  had  a  palisade  of 
its  own,  and,  like  ths  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  owners  and  of  the  in- 
habitants, 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  their  taxes  in  consideration  of 
a  work  which  aided  the  general  defence.1 

Down  to  the  Peace  of  Ryswick  the  neighborhood 
had  been  constantly  infested  by  scalping-parties, 
and  once  the  village  had  been  attacked  by  a  con- 
siderable force  of  French  and  Indians,  who  were 
beaten  off.  Of  late  there  had  been  warnings  of 

1  Papers  in  the  Archives  of  Massachusetts.  Among  these,  a  letter  of 
Rev.  John  Williams  to  the  Governor,  21  Oct.  1703,  states  that  the  palisade 
is  rotten,  and  must  be  rebuilt. 


56  DEERFIELD.  [1704. 

fresh  disturbance.  Lord  Cornbury,  Governor  of 
New  York,  wrote  that  he  had  heard  through  spies 
that  Deerfield  was  again  .to  be  attacked,  and  a 
message  to  the  same  effect  came  from  Peter  Schuy- 
ler,  who  had  received  intimations  of  the  danger 
from  Mohawks  lately  on  a  visit  to  their  Caughna- 
waga  relatives.  During  the  autumn  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  sub- 
sided, and  many,  though  not  all,  had  returned  to 
their  homes.  They  were  reassured  by  the  pres- 
ence of  twenty  volunteers  from  the  villages  below, 
who,  on  application  from  the  minister,  Williams, 
the  General  Court  had  sent  as  a  garrison  to  Deer- 
field,  where  they  were  lodged  in  the  houses  of  the 
villagers.  On  the  night  when  Hertel  de  Rouville 
and  his  band  lay  hidden  among  the  pines  there 
were  in  all  the  settlement  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  visitors  from  Hatfield, 
and  three  were  negro  slaves.  They  were  of  all  ages, 
—  from  the  Widow  Allison,  in  her  eighty-fifth  year, 
to  the  infant  son  of  Deacon  French,  aged  four 
weeks.1 

Heavy  snows  had  lately  fallen  and  buried  the 
clearings,  the  meadow,  and  the  frozen  river  to  the 

1  The  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  Deerfield,  among  contemporary  rec- 
ords. The  house  of  Thomas  French,  the  town  clerk,  was  not  destroyed, 
and  his  papers  were  saved. 


1704].  A  FRONTIER  VILLAGE.  57 

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  ob- 
struction to  an  active  enemy. 

As  the  afternoon  waned,  the  sights  and  sounds 
of  the  little  border  hamlet  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  firewood,  boys  in  homespun  snowballing  each 
other  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  the  corner  with  fingers 
busy  at  the  spinning-wheel,  and  ears  intent  on  the 
stammered  wooings  of  her  rustic  lover.  Deerfield 
kept  early  hours,  and  it  is  likely  that  by  nine 
o'clock  all  were  in  their  beds.  There  was  a  patrol 
inside  the  palisade,  but  there  was  little  discipline 
among  these  extemporized  soldiers  ;  the  .watchers 
grew  careless  as  the  frosty  night  went  on ;  and  it 
is  said  that  towards  morning  they,  like  the  vil- 
lagers, betook  themselves  to  their  beds. 

Rouville  and  his  men,  savage  with  hunger,  lay 
shivering  under  the  pines  till  about  two  hours 


58  DEERFIELD.  [1704. 

before  dawn  ;  then,  leaving  their  packs  and  their 
snow-shoes  behind,  they  moved  cautiously  towards 
their  prey.  There  was  a  crust  on  the  snow  strong 
enough  to  bear  their  weight,  though  not  to  pre- 
vent a  rustling  noise  as  it  crunched  under  the 
feet  of  so  many  men.  It  is  said  that  from  time 
to  time  Kouville  commanded  a  halt,  in  order  that 
the  sentinels,  if  such  there  were,  might  mistake 
the  distant  sound  for  rising  and  falling  gusts  of 
wind.  In  any  case,  no  alarm  was  given  till  they 
had  mounted  the  palisade  and  dropped  silently 
into  the  unconscious  village.  Then  with  one  ac- 
cord they  screeched  the  war-whoop,  and  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 
through  the  shattered  door.  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  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  screams  of  his  terrified  chil- 
dren, 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 


1704.]  THE  STEBBINS    HOUSE.  59 

named  Stoddard,  who  had  time  to  snatch  a  cloak, 
throw  himself  out  of  the  window,  climb  the  pali- 
sade, and  escape  in  the  darkness.  Half-naked  as 
he  was,  he  made  his  way  over  the  snow  to  Hat- 
field,  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.  Mean- 
while the  Indians  and  their  allies  burst  into 
most  of  the  houses,  killed  such  of  the  men  as 
resisted,  butchered  some  of  the  women  and  chil- 
dren, 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 
neighbor,  had  not  been  attacked  so  soon  as  the 
rest,  and  the  inmates  had  a  little  time  for  pre- 
paration. They  consisted  of  Stebbins  himself, 
with  his  wife  and  five  children,  David  Hoyt, 
Joseph  Catlin,  Benjamin  Church,  a  namesake  of 
the  old  Indian  fighter  of  Philip's  War,  and  three 
other  men,  —  probably  refugees  who  had  brought 
their  wives  and  families  within  the  palisaded 
enclosure  for  safety.  Thus  the  house  contained 
seven  men,  four  or  five  women,  and  a  considerable 
number  of  children.  Though  the  walls  were 
bullet-proof,  it  was  not  built  for  defence.  The 


60  DEERFIELD.  [1704. 

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  great  courage,  and 
moulded  bullets,  which  the  men  shot  at  the 
enemy.  Stebbins  was  killed  outright,  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  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  well  barred,  they  could  not 
break  it  open.  After  a  time,  however,  they 
hacked  a  hole  in  it,  through  which  they  fired 


1704.]  THE   SHELDON   HOUSE.  61 

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  prisoners,  and  here  also  was  brought  the 
French  officer  wounded  in  the  attack  on  the 
Stebbins  house.  A  family  tradition  relates  that 
as  he  lay  in  great  torment  he  begged  for  water, 
and  that  it  was  brought  him  by  one  of  the  prison- 
ers, Mrs.  John  Catlin,  whose  husband,  son,  and 
infant  grandson  had  been  killed,  and  who,  never- 
theless, did  all  in  her  power  to  relieve  the 
sufferings  of  the  wounded  man.  Probably  it  was 
in  recognition  of  this  charity  that  when  the  other 
prisoners  were  led  away,  Mrs.  Catlin  was  left 
behind.  She  died  of  grief  a  few  weeks  later. 

The  sun  was-  scarcely  an  hour  high  when  the 
miserable  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 


62  DEERFIELD.  [1704. 

the  palisade  were  burning,  and  that  all  were 
in  the  power  of  the  enemy  except  that  of  his 
neighbor  Stebbins,  where  the  gallant  defenders 
still  kept  their  assailants  at  bay.  Having  col- 
lected 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  inarch.  Several  parties,  however,  still  lin- 
gered 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  yet 
dark,  the  light  of  burning  houses,  reflected  from 
the  fields  of  snow,  had  been  seen  at  Hat  field, 
Hadley,  and  Northampton.  The  alarm  was 
sounded  through  the  slumbering  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  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  neighbor- 
hood were  still  standing,  and  seem  not  to  have 
been  attacked ;  the  stubborn  defence  of  the  Steb- 
bins house  having  apparently  prevented  the 
enemy  from  pushing  much  beyond  the  palisaded 
enclosure.  The  house  of  Wells  was  full  of  refu- 


1704.]  ATTEMPTED   RESCUE.  63 

gee  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. 
The  horsemen  left  their  horses  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  plun- 
derers, and  retook  a  part  of  their  plunder.  The 
assailants  of  the  Stebbins  house,  after  firing  at 
it  for  three  hours,  were  put  to  flight,  and  those 
of  its  male  occupants  who  were  still  alive  joined 
their  countrymen,  while  the  women  and  children 
ran  back  for  harborage  to  the  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  eagerness  of  the  chase  many 
threw  off:  their  overcoats,  and  even  their  jackets. 
Wells  saw  the  danger,  and  vainly  called  on  them 
to  stop.  Their  blood  was  up,  and  most  of  them 
were  young  and  inexperienced. 

Meanwhile  the  firing  at  the  village  had  been 
heard  by  Rouville's  main  body,  who  had  al- 
ready begun  their  retreat  northward.  They 
turned  back  to  support  their  comrades,  and  hid 
themselves  under  the  bank  of  the  river  till  the 
pursuers  drew  near,  when  they  gave  them  a  close 
volley  and  rushed  upon  them  with  the  war- 
whoop.  Some  of  the  English  were  shot  down, 
and  the  rest  driven  back.  There  was  no  panic. 


64  DEERFIELD.  [1704. 

"  We  retreated,"  says  Wells,  "  facing  about  and 
firing."  When  they  reached  the  palisade  they 
made  a  final  stand,  covering  by  their  fire  such 
of  their  comrades  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  had  been  killed, 
several  were  wounded,  and  one  was  captured.1 
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  another  fifty-three,  the  latter  in- 
cluding some  who  were  smothered  in  the  cellars 
of  their  burning  houses.  The  names,  and  in 
most  cases  the  ages,  of  both  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 
statement,  drawn  up  on  the  spot,  sets  the  num- 
ber of  houses  burned  at  seventeen.  The  house 
of  the  town  clerk,  Thomas  French,  escaped,  as 
before  mentioned,  and  the  town  records,  with 

1  On  the  31st  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  the  affair,  followed 
by  a  list  of  all  the  men  engaged.  They  number  fifty-seven,  including  the 
nine  who  were  killed.  A  list  of  the  plunder  re-taken  from  the  enemy, 
consisting  of  guns,  blankets,  hatchets,  etc.,  is  also  added.  Several  other 
petitions  for  the  relief  of  men  wounded  at  the  same  time  are  preserved 
in  the  archives  of  Massachusetts.  In  1736  the  survivors  of  the  party, 
with  the  representatives  of  those  who  had  died,  petitioned  the  General 
Court  for  allotments  of  land,  in  recognition  of  their  services.  This  peti- 
tion also  was  granted.  It  is  accompanied  by  a  narrative  written  by  Wells. 
These  and  other  papers  on  the  same  subject  have  been  recently  printed 
by  Mr.  George  Sheldon,  of  Deerfield. 


1704.]  RETREAT  OF  THE  INDIANS.  65 

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  Memorial  Hall  at  Deerfield.1 

Vaudreuil  wrote  to  the  minister,  Ponch  art  rain, 
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  considerable  number  of 
their  dead.  Wherever  resistance  was  possible,  it 
had  been  of  the  most  prompt  and  determined 
character.2 

Long  before  noon  the  French  and  Indians  were 
on  their  northward  march  with  their  train  of  cap- 
tives. More  armed  men  came  up  from  the  settle- 
ments below,  and  by  midnight  about  eighty  were 
gathered  at  the  ruined  village.  Couriers  had  been 

1  After  the  old  house  was  demolished,  this  door  was  purchased  by  my 
friend  Dr.  Daniel  Denison  Slade,  and  given  by  him  to  the  town  of  Deer- 
field,  on  condition  that  it  should  be  carefully  preserved.    For  an  engrav- 
ing of  "the  Old  Indian  House,"  see  Hoyt,  Indian  Wars  (ed.  1824). 

2  Governor  Dudley,  writing  to  Lord on  21  April,  1704,  says 

that  thirty  dead  bodies  of  the  enemy  were  found  in  the  village  and  on 
the  meadow.    Williams,  the  minister,  says  that  they  did  not  seem  in- 
clined to  rejoice  over  their  success,  and  continued  for  several  days  to 
bury  members  of  their  party  who  died  of  wounds  on  the  return  march. 
He  adds  that  he  learned   in  Canada  that  they  lost  more  than  forty, 
though  Vaudreuil  assured  him  that  they  lost  but  eleven. 

VOL.  i.  —  5 


66  DEERFIELD.  [1704. 

sent  to  rouse  the  country,  and  before  evening  of 
the  next  day  (the  1st  of  March)  the  force  at  Deer- 
field  was  increased  to  two  hundred  and  fifty ;  but 
a  thaw  and  a  warm  rain  had  set  in,  and  as  few  of 
the  men  had  snow-shoes,  pursuit  was  out  of  the 
question.  Even  could  the  agile  savages  and  their 
allies  have  been  overtaken,  the  probable  conse- 
quence would  have  been  the  murdering  of  the 
captives  to  prevent  their  escape. 

In  spite  of  the  foul  blow  dealt  upon  it,  Deerfield 
was  not  abandoned.  Such  of  its  men  as  were  left 
were  taken  as  soldiers  into  the  pay  of  the  province, 
while  the  women  and  children  were  sent  to  the 
villages  below.  A  small  garrison  was  also  sta- 
tioned at  the  spot,  under  command  of  Captain 
Jonathan  Wells,  and  thus  the  village  held  its 
ground  till  the  storm  of  war  should  pass  over.1 

1  On  the  attack  of  Deerfield,  Williams,  The  Redeemed  Captive  Re- 
turning to  Zion.  This  is  the  narrative  of  the  minister,  John  Williams. 
Account  of  the  Captivity  of  Stephen  Williams,  written  by  himself.  This 
is  the  narrative  of  one  of  the  minister's  sons,  eleven  years  old  when  cap- 
tured. It  is  printed  in  the  Appendix  to  the  Biographical  Memoir  of  Rev. 
John  Williams  (Hartford,  1837);  An  account  of  i/e  destruction  at  Derefd. 
febr.  29,  1703  4,  in  Proceedings  of  the  Mass.  Hist.  Soc.,  1867,  p.  478.  This 
valuable  document  was  found  among  the  papers  of  Fitz-John  Winthrop, 
Governor  of  Connecticut.  The  authorities  of  that  province,  on  hearing 
of  the  catastrophe  at  Deerfield,  promptly  sent  an  armed  force  to  its  re- 
lief, which,  however,  could  not  arrive  till  long  after  the  enemy  were  gone. 
The  paper  in  question  seems  to  be  the  official  report  of  one  of  the  Con- 
necticut officers.  After  recounting  what  had  taken  place,  he  gives  a 
tabular  list  of  the  captives,  the  slain,  and  those  who  escaped,  with  the 
estimated  losses  in  property  of  each  inhabitant.  The  list  of  captives  is 
not  quite  complete.  Compare  the  lists  given  by  Stephen  Williams  at 
the  end  of  his  narrative.  The  town  records  of  Platfield  give  various 
particulars  concerning  the  attack  on  its  unfortunate  neighbor,  as  do  the 
letters  of  Col.  Samuel  Partridge,  commanding  the  militia  of  the  county. 
Hoyt,  Antiquarian  Researches,  gives  a  valuable  account  of  it.  The  care- 
ful and  unwearied  research  of  Mr.  George  Sheldon,  the  lineal  descendant 


1704.]  THE  CAPTIVES.  67 

We  have  seen  that  the  minister,  Williams,  with 
his  wife  and  family  were  led  from  their  burning 
house  across  the  river  to  the  foot  of  the  mountain, 
where  the  crowd  of  terrified  and  disconsolate  cap- 
tives —  friends,  neighbors,  and  relatives  —  were 
already  gathered.  Here  they  presently  saw  the 
fight  in  the  meadow,  and  were  told  that  if  their 
countrymen  attempted  a  rescue,  they  should  all  be 
put  to  death.  "  After  this,"  writes  Williams,  "  we 
went  up  the  mountain,  and  saw  the  smoke  of  the 
fires  in  town,  and  beheld  the  awful  desolation  of 
Deerfield ;  and  before  we  marched  any  farther 
they  killed  a  sucking  child  of  the  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  escape.  The  Indians  then  held  a  carousal 
on  some  liquor  they  had  found  in  the  village,  and 

of  Ensign  John  Sheldon,  among  all  sources,  public  or  private,  manuscript 
or  in  print,  that  could  throw  light  on  the  subject  cannot  be  too  strongly 
commended,  and  I  am  indebted  to  him  for  much  valued  information. 

Penhallow's  short  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  particulars. 
Vaudreuil  in  one  letter  sets  the  number  of  prisoners  at  one  hundred  and 
fifty,  and  increases  it  in  another  to  two  hundred  and  fifty.  Ramesay, 
Governor  of  Montreal,  who  hated  Hertel  de  Rouville,  and  bore  no  love  to 
Vaudreuil,  says  that  fifty-six  women  and  children  were  murdered  on  the 
way  to  Canada,  —  which  is  a  gross  exaggeration.  Earnestly  au  Minisire, 
14  Nov.  1704.  The  account  by  Dr.  Ethier  in  the  Revue  Canadienne  of 
1874  is  drawn  entirely  from  the  Redeemed  Captive  of  Williams,  with 
running  comments  by  the  Canadian  writer,  but  no  new  information. 
The  comments  chiefly  consist  in  praise  of  Williams  for  truth  when  he 
speaks  favorably  of  the  Canadians,  and  charges  of  lying  when  he  speaks 
otherwise. 


68  DEERFIELD.  [1704. 

in  their  drunken  rage  murdered  a  negro  man  be- 
longing to  Williams.  In  spite  of  their  precau- 
tions, Joseph  Alexander,  one  of  the  prisoners, 
escaped  during  the  night,  at  which  they  were 
greatly  incensed ;  and  Rouville  ordered  Williams 
to  tell  his  companions  in  misfortune  that  if  any 
more  of  them  ran  off,  the  rest  should  be  burned 
alive.1 

The  prisoners  were  the  property  of  those  who 
had  taken  them.  Williams  had  two  masters ; 
one  of  the  three  who  had  seized  him  having  been 
shot  in  the  attack  on  the  house  of  Stebbins.  His 
principal  owner  was  a  surly  fellow  who  would  not 
let  him  speak  to  the  other  prisoners ;  but  as  he  was 
presently  chosen  to  guard  the  rear,  the  minister 
was  left  in  the  hands  of  his  other  master,  who 
allowed  him  to  walk  beside  his  wife  and  help  her 
on  the  way.  Having  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  complaint,  and  accepted  her  fate  with  res- 
ignation. "  We  discoursed,"  he  says,  "  of  the  hap- 
piness of  those  who  had  God  for  a  father  and 
friend,  as  also  that  it  was  our  reasonable  duty 
quietly  to  submit  to  his  will."  Her  thoughts  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 

1  John  Williams,  The  Redeemed  Captive.     Compare  Stephen  Williams, 
Account  of  the  Captivity,  etc. 


1704.]  FATE  OF  MRS.   WILLIAMS.  69 

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  afflic- 
tions." 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  diffi- 
culty, they  climbed  a  snow-covered  hill  beyond. 
The  minister,  with  strength  almost  spent,  was  per- 
mitted 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  left  long 
in  suspense.  She  had  fallen  from  weakness  in 
fording  the  stream,  but  gained  her  feet  again,  and, 
drenched  in  the  icy  current,  struggled  to  the  far- 
ther bank,  when  the  savage  who  owned  her,  find- 
ing that  she  could  not  climb  the  hill,  killed  her 
with  one  stroke  of  his  hatchet.  Her  body  was 
left  on  the  snow  till  a  few  of  her  townsmen, 
who  had  followed  the  trail,  found  it  a  day  or  two 
after,  carried  it  back  to  Deerfield,  and  buried  it  in 
the  churchyard. 

On  the  next  day  the  Indians  killed  an  infant  and 
a  little  girl  of  eleven  years;  on  the  day  follow- 
ing, Friday,  they  tomahawked  a  woman,  and  on 
Saturday  four  others.  This  apparent  cruelty  was 
in  fact  a  kind  of  mercy.  The  victims  could  not 
keep  up  with  the  party,  and  the  death-blow  saved 
them  from  a  lonely  and  lingering  death  from  cold 
and  starvation.  Some  of  the  children,  when  spent 
with  the  inarch,  were  carried  on  the  backs  of  their 
owners,  —  partly,  perhaps,  through  kindness,  and 
partly  because  every  child  had  its  price. 


70  DEERFIELD.  [1704. 

On  the  fourth  day  of  the  march  they  came 
to  the  mouth  of  West  River,  which  enters  the 
Connecticut  a  little  above  the  present  town  of 
Brattleboro'.  Some  of  the  Indians  were  discon- 
tented with  the  distribution  of  the  captives, 
alleging  that  others  had  got  more  than  their 
share ;  on  which  the  whole  troop  were  mustered 
together,  and  some  changes  of  ownership  were 
agreed  upon.  At  this  place,  dog-trains  and  sledges 
had  been  left,  and  these  served  to  carry  their 
wounded,  as  well  as  some  of  the  captive  children. 
Williams  was  stripped  of  the  better  part  of  his 
clothes,  and  others  given  him  instead,  so  full  of 
vermin  that  they  were  a  torment  to  him  through 
all  the  journey.  The  march  now  continued  with 
pitiless  speed  up  the  frozen  Connecticut,  where  the 
recent  thaw  had  covered  the  ice  with  slush  and 
water  ankle-deep. 

On  Sunday  they  made  a  halt,  and  the  minister 
was  permitted  to  preach  a  sermon  from  the  text, 
a  Hear,  all  people,  and  behold  my  sorrow :  my  vir- 
gins and  my  young  men  are  gone  into  captivity." 
Then  amid  the  ice,  the  snow,  the  forest,  and  the 
savages,  his  forlorn  flock  joined  their  voices  in  a 
psalm.1  On  Monday,  guns  were  heard  from  the 
rear,  and  the  Indians  and  their  allies,  in  great 
alarm,  bound  their  prisoners  fast,  and  prepared  for 
battle.  It  proved,  however,  that  the  guns  had  been 
fired  at  wild  geese  by  some  of  their  own  number ; 
on  which  they  recovered  their  spirits,  fired  a  volley 

1  The  small  stream  at  the  mouth  of  which  Williams  is  supposed  to  have 
preached  is  still  called  Williams  River. 


1704.]  A   WILDERNESS  JOURNEY.  71 

for  joy,  and  boasted  that  the  English  could  not 
overtake  them.1  More  women  fainted  by  the  way 
and  died  under  the  hatchet, —  some  with  pious 
resignation,  some  with  despairing  apathy,  some 
with  a  desperate  joy. 

Two  hundred  miles  of  wilderness  still  lay  be- 
tween them  and  the  Canadian  settlements.  It 
was  a  waste  without  a  house  or  even  a  wigwam ; 
except  here  and  there  the  bark  shed  of  some  savage 
hunter.  At  the  mouth  of  White  River,  the  party 
divided  into  small  bands, —  no  doubt  in  order  to  sub- 
sist by  hunting,  for  provisions  were  fast  failing. 
The  Williams  family  were  separated.  Stephen  was 
carried  up  the  Connecticut ;  Samuel  and  Eunice, 
with  two  younger  children,  were  carried  off  in 
various  directions ;  while  the  wretched  father,  along 
with  two  small  children  of  one  of  his  parishioners, 
was  compelled  to  follow  his  Indian  masters  up  the 
valley  of  White  River.  One  of  the  children  —  a 
little  girl  —  was  killed  on  the  next  morning  by 
her  Caughnawaga  owner,  who  was  unable  to  carry 
her.2  On  the  next  Sunday,  the  minister  was  left 
in  camp  with  one  Indian  and  the  surviving  child,  — 
a  boy  of  nine,  —  while  the  rest  of  the  party  were 
hunting.  "  My  spirit,"  he  says,  "  was  almost  over- 
whelmed 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,  — 

1  Stephen  Williams,  Account  of  the   Captivity,  etc.     His  father  also 
notices  the  incident. 

2  The  name  Macquas  (Mohawks)  is  always  given  to  the  Caughnawagas 
by  the  elder  Williams. 


72  DEERFIELD.  [1704. 

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. 

Of  the  whole  band  of  captives,  only  about  half 
ever  again  saw  friends  and  home.  Seventeen 
broke  down  on  the  way  and  were  killed ;  while 
David  Hoyt  and  Jacob  Hix  died  of  starvation  at 
Coos  meadows,  on  the  upper  Connecticut.  During 
the  entire  march,  no  woman  seems  to  have  been 
subjected  to  violence  ;  and  this  holds  true,  with 
rare  exceptions,  in  all  the  Indian  wars  of  New 
England.  This  remarkable  forbearance  towards 
female  prisoners,  so  different  from  the  practice  of 
many  Western  tribes,  was  probably  due  to  a  form 
of  superstition,  aided  perhaps  by  the  influence  of 
the  missionaries.1  It  is  to  be  observed,  however, 
that  the  heathen  savages  of  King  Philip's  War,  who 
had  never  seen  a  Jesuit,  were  no  less  forbearing  in 
this  respect. 

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  minister  toiled  on,  following  his  masters  along 

1  The  Iroquois  are  well  known  to  have  had  superstitions  in  connection 
with  sexual  abstinence. 


1704.]  SUFFERINGS  OF   WILLIAMS.  73 

the  frozen  current  of  White  River  till,  crossing  the 
snowy  backs  of  the  Green  Mountains,  they  struck 
the  headwaters  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  cramps  of  the  legs  and 
ankles  called  in  Canada  mal  a  la  raquette.  One 
morning  at  dawn,  he  was  waked  by  his  chief 
master  and  ordered  to  get  up,  say  his  prayers,  and 
eat  his  breakf ast,.  f or  they  must  make  a  long  march 
that  day.  The  minister  was  in  despair.  "  After 
prayer,"  he  says,  "  I  arose  from  my  knees ;  but  my 
feet  were  so  tender,  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 
run.  My  master,  pointing  to  his  hatchet,  said  to 
me,  '  Then  I  must  dash  out  your  brains  and  take 
your  scalp.' '  The  Indian  proved  better  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  be  walked  that 
day  forty  miles  on  the  snow.  Following  the 
Winooski  to  its  mouth,  the  party  reached  Lake 
Champlain  a  little  north  of  the  present  city  of 
Burlington.  Here  the  swollen  feet  of  the  prisoner 
were  tortured  by  the  rough  ice,  till  snow  began  to 
fall  and  cover  it  with  a  soft  carpet.  Bending  under 
his  load,  and  powdered  by  the  falling  flakes,  he 
toiled  on  till,  at  noon  of  a  Saturday,  lean,  tired, 


74  DEERFIELD.  [1704. 

and  ragged,  lie  and  his  masters  reached  the  French 
outpost  of  Chambly,  twelve  or  fifteen  miles  from 
Montreal. 

Here  the  unhappy  wayfarer  was  treated  with 
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  masters  set  out  in  a  canoe  for  Sorel.  On 
the  way  a  Frenchwoman  came  down  to  the  bank 
of  the  river  and  invited  the  party  to  her  house, 
telling  the  minister  that  she  herself  had  once  been 
a  prisoner  among  the  Indians,  and  knew  how  to 
feel  for  him.  She  seated  him  at  a  table,  spread  a 
table-cloth,  and  placed  food  before  him,  while  the 
Indians,  to  their  great  indignation,  were  supplied 
with  a  meal  in  the  chimney-corner.  Similar  kind- 
ness was  shown  by  the  inhabitants  along  the  way 
till  the  party  reached  their  destination,  the  Abenaki 
village  of  St.  Francis,  to  which  his  masters  be- 
longed. Here  there  was  a  fort,  in  which  lived  two 
Jesuits,  directors  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  behavior.  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  he  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  bell  rang  for  mass,  one 


1704.]  A   STUBBORN  HERETIC.  75 

of  his  Indian  masters  seized  him  and  dragged  him 
into  the  church,  where  he  got  behind  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  re- 
plied that  he  was  glad  to  know  that  Christ  was  to 
be  his  judge,  and  not  they.  His  chief  master,  who 
was  a  zealot  in  his  way,  and  as  much  bound  to  the 
rites  and  forms  of  the  Church  as  he  had  been  before 
his  conversion,  to  his  "  medicines,"  or  practices  of 
heathen  superstition,  one  day  ordered  him  to 
make  the  sign  of  the  cross,  and  on  his  refusal, 
tried  to  force  him.  But  as  the  minister  was  tough 
and  muscular,  the  Indian  could  not  guide  his  hand. 
Then,  pulling  out  a  crucifix  that  hung  at  his  neck, 
he  told  Williams  in  broken  English  to  kiss  it ;  and 
being  again  refused,  brandished  his  hatchet  over 
him  and  threatened  to  knock  out  his  brains.  This 
failing  of  the  desired  effect,  he  threw  down  the 
hatchet  and  said  he  would  first  bite  out  the  min- 
ister's finger-nails,  —  a  form  of  torture  then  in 
vogue  among  the  northern  Indians,  both  converts 
and  heathen.  Williams  offered  him  a  hand  and 
invited  him  to  begin  ;  on  which  he  gave  the  thumb- 
nail a  gripe  with  his  teeth,  and  then  let  it  go,  saying, 
"  No  good  minister,  bad  as  the  devil."  The  failure 
seems  to  have  discouraged  him,  for  he  made  no 
further  attempt  to  convert  the  intractable  heretic. 
The  direct  and  simple  narrative  of  Williams 
is  plainly  the  work  of  an  honest  and  courageous 
man.  He  was  the  most  important  capture  of  the 


76  DEERFIELD.  [1704. 

year ;  and  the  Governor,  hearing  that  he  was  at 
St.  Francis,  despatched  a  canoe  to  request  the 
Jesuits  of  the  mission  to  send  him  to  Montreal. 
Thither,  therefore,  his  masters  carried  him,  ex- 
pecting, no  doubt,  a  good  price  for  their  prisoner. 
Vaudreuil,  in  fact,  bought  him,  exchanged  his 
tattered  clothes  for  good  ones,  lodged  him  in 
his  house,  and,  in  the  words  of  Williams,  "  was 
in  all  respects  relating  to  my  outward  man 
courteous  and  charitable  to  admiration."  He 
sent  for  two  of  the  minister's  children  who  were 
in  the  town,  bought  his  eldest  daughter  from 
the  Indians,  and  promised  to  do  what  he  could 
to  get  the  others  out  of  their  hands.  His  young- 
est son  was  bought  by  a  lady  of  the  place,  and 
his  eldest  by  a  merchant.  His  youngest  daughter, 
Eunice,  then  seven  or  eight  years  old,  was  at 
the  mission  of  St.  Louis,  or  Caughnawaga.  Vau- 
dreuil 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  wras 
very  angry  at  hearing  of  this  ;  and  a  few  days 
after,  he  went  himself  to  Caughnawaga  with 
the  minister.  This  time  the  Jesuits,  whose  au- 
thority within  their  mission  seemed  almost  to 
override  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,  ex- 
horting her  never  to  forget  her  catechism,  which 
she  had  learned  by  rote.  Vaudreuil  and  his 


1704. 


WILLIAMS  AND   THE   PRIESTS.  77 


wife  afterwards  did  all  in  their  power  to  pro- 
cure her  ransom ;  bub  the  Indians,  or  the  mission- 
aries 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  for- 
gotten her  catechism. 

While  he  was  at  Montreal,  his  movements 
were  continually  watched,  lest  he  should  speak 
to  other  prisoners  and  prevent  their  conversion. 
He  thinks  these  precautions  were  due  to  the 
priests,  whose  constant  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  captive  wolf.  Another  Jesuit  told  him 
that  when  the  mission  Indians  set  out  on  their 
raid  against  Deerfield,  be  charged  them  to  bap- 


78  DEERFIELD.  [1704. 

tize  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  ob- 
jection. Williams  says  that  in  their  dread  lest  he 
should  prevent  the  conversion  of  the  other  prison- 
ers, the  missionaries  promised  him  a  pension  from 
the  King  and  free  intercourse  with  his  children 
and  neighbors  if  he  would  embrace  the  Catholic 
faith  and  remain  in  Canada  ;  to  which  he  an- 
swered 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  black- 
berry." 

To  prevent  him  more  effectually  from  per- 
verting the  minds  of  his  captive  countrymen,  and 
fortifying  them  in  their  heresy,  he  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  com- 
mit outrages  against  the  English,  saying  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  rny  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 


1704.]  AN  UNEXPECTED  BLOW.  79 

present  at  mass ;  and  some  they  industriously 
contrived  to  get  married  among  them.  I  under- 
stood they  would  tell  the  English  that  I  was 
turned,  that  they  might  gain  them  to  change  their 
religion.  These  their  endeavors  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  prisoners.  Lest  the  minis- 
ter should  counteract  the  efforts  of  the  friar,  the 
priests  had  him  sent  back  to  Chateau  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."  l 

The  heaviest  of  all  his  tribulations  now  fell 
upon  him.  His  son  Samuel,  about  sixteen 
years  old,  had  been  kept  at  Montreal  under 
the  tutelage  of  Father  Meriel,  a  priest  of  St.- 
Sulpice.  The  boy  afterwards  declared  that  he 
was  promised  great  rewards  if  he  would  make 
the  sign  of  the  cross,  and  severe  punishment 
if  he  would  not.  Proving  obstinate,  he  was 
whipped  till  at  last  he  made  the  sign  ;  after  which 
he  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 

1  Williams  remarks  that  the  Seminary  had  also  been  burned  three  years 
before.  This  was  the  fire  of  November,  1701.  See  Old  Regime  in  Canada, 
384. 


80  DEERFIELD.  [1704. 

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,  afflicting,  sorrow- 
ful spirit.  Oh,  I  pity  you,  I  mourn  over  you  day 
and  night.  Oh,  I  pity  your  weakness  that, 
through  the  craftiness  of  man,  you  are  turned 
from  the  simplicity  of  the  gospel."  Though  his 
correspondence  was  strictly  watched,  he  managed 
to  convey  to  the  boy  a  long  exposition,  from  his 
own  pen,  of  the  infallible  truth  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.1 

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  conver- 
sion :  it  recruited  the  Church,  weakened  the  enemy, 
and  strengthened  Canada,  since  few  of  the  con- 
verts would  peril  their  souls  by  returning  to  their 
heretic  relatives.  The  means  of  conversion  varied. 
They  were  gentle  when  gentleness  seemed  likely  to 

1  Note  of  Mr  George  Sheldon. 


1704.]  CONVERSION  OF  PRISONERS.  81 

answer  the  purpose.  Little  girls  and  young  women 
were  placed  in  convents,  where  it  is  safe  to  assume 
that  they  were  treated  with  the  most  tender  kind- 
ness by  the  sisterhood,  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  execu- 
tion. Parents  were  rigorously  severed  from  their 
families  ;  though  one  Lalande,  who  had  been  set 
to  watch  the  elder  prisoners,  reported  that  they 
would  persist  in  trying  to  see  their  children,  till 
some  of  them  were  killed  in  the  attempt.  "  Here," 
writes  Williams,  "  might  be  a  history  in  itself  of 
the  trials  and  sufferings  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  them ;  and  among  other  devices, 
some  of  his  parishioners  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  cap- 
ture,   the  prisoners   were  visited  by   a  gleam  of 

VOL.  I.  —  6 


82  DEERFIELD.  [1705. 

hope.  John  Sheldon,  accompanied  by  young 
John  Wells,  of  Deerfield,  and  Captain  Living- 
ston, 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  prisoners  in  Can- 
ada ;  and  so  also  was  the  mother  of  young  Wells. 
In  the  last  December,  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  un- 
willing to  part  with  captives,  many  of  whom 
they  hoped  to  transform  into  Canadians  by  con- 
version 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  Algiers 
trade "  by  buying  them  from  their  pretended 
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  In- 
dians could  not  be  compelled  to  give  up  their 


1705.]  RESTORED  PRISONERS.  83 

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  Can- 
ada till  late  in  spring,  they  accomplished  little. 
At  last,  probably  to  get  rid  of  their  importu- 
nities, five  prisoners  were  given  up  to  them, 
—  Sheldon's  daughter-in-law,  Hannah ;  Esther 
Williams,  eldest  daughter  of  the  minister ;  a  cer- 
tain 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  home- 
ward by  eight  soldiers  under  Courtemanche,  an 
officer  of  distinction,  whose  orders  were  to  "  make 
himself  acquainted  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  negotiation.  With  these, 
at  the  request  of  Courtemanche,  went  young 
William  Dudley,  son  of  the  Governor.1 

1  The  elder  Dudley  speaks  with  great  warmth  of  Courtemanche,  who, 
on  his  part,  seems  equally  pleased  with  his  entertainers.  Young  Dudley 


84  DEERFIELD.  [1706. 

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,  captured  in  Acadia  or  on  the  ad- 
jacent seas.  A  few  only  of  the  English  were 
released,  including  the  boy,  Stephen  Williams, 
whom  Vaudreuil  had  bought  for  forty  crowns 
from  his  Indian  master. 

In  the  following  winter  John  Sheldon  made 
another  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  was  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  mer- 
chants regarded  as  a  pirate.  In  the  same  summer 
Samuel  Appleton  and  John  Bonner,  in  the  brig- 
antine  "Hope,"  brought  a  considerable  number  of 
French  prisoners  to  Quebec,  and  returned  to  Bos- 
ton at  the  end  of  October  with  fifty-seven  Eng- 
lish, of  all  ages.  For  three,  at  least,  of  this 
number  money  was  paid  by  the  English,  prob- 
ably on  account  of  prisoners  bought  by  French- 
men from  the  Indians.  The  minister,  Williams, 
was  exchanged  for  Baptiste,  the  so-called  pirate, 

was  a  boy  of  eighteen.     "II  a  du  me'rite,"  says  Vaudreuil.     Dudley  to 
Vaudreuil,  4  July,  1705;   Vaudreuil  au  Ministre,  19  Oct.   1705. 


1706,1707.]  CAPTIVES   IN  CANADA.  85 

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  frightening  others  with  promises  of  damna- 
tion, joined  with  predictions  of  shipwreck  on  the 
way  home.  He  thinks  that  about  one  hundred 
were  left  in  Canada,  many  of  whom  were  chil- 
dren in  the  hands  of  the  Indians,  who  could 
easily  hide  them  in  the  woods,  and  who  were 
known  in  some  cases  to  have  done  so.  Seven 
more  were  redeemed  in  the  following  year  by 
the  indefatigable  Sheldon,  on  a  third  visit  to 
Canada.1 

The  exchanged  prisoners  had  been  captured 
at  various  times  and  places.  Those  from  Deer- 
field  amounted  in  all  to  about  sixty,  or  a  little 
more  than  half  the  whole  number  carried  off. 
Most  of  the  others  were  dead  or  converted. 
Some  married  Canadians,  and  others  their 
fellow  captives.  The  history  of  some  of  them 
can  be  traced  with  certainty.  Thus,  Thomas 
French,  blacksmith  and  town  clerk  of  Deerfield, 
and  deacon  of  the  church,  was  captured,  with  his 
wife  and  six  children.  His  wife  and  infant  child 

1  In  1878  Miss  C.  Alice  Baker,  of  Cambridge,  Mass.,  a  descendant  of 
Abigail  Stebbins,  read  a  paper  on  John  Sheldon  before  the  Memorial 
Association  at  Deerfield.  It  is  the  result  of  great  research,  and  contains 
much  original  matter,  including  correspondence  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. 


86  DEERFIELD.  [1704-1740. 

were  killed  on  the  way  to  Canada.  He  and 
his  two  eldest  children  were  exchanged  and 
brought  home.  His  daughter  Freedom  was 
converted,  baptized  under  the  name  of  Marie 
Francoise,  and  married  to  Jean  Daulnay,  a 
Canadian.  His  daughter  Martha  was  baptized  as 
Marguerite  and  married  to  Jacques  Roy,  on  whose 
death  she  married  Jean  Louis  Menard,  by  whom 
she  became  ancestress  of  Joseph  Plessis,  eleventh 
bishop  of  Quebec.  Elizabeth  Corse,  eight  years 
old  when  captured,  was  baptized  under  her  own 
name,  and  married  to  Jean  Dumontel.  Abigail 
Stebbins,  baptized  as  Marguerite,  lived  many 
years  at  Boucherville,  wife  of  Jacques  de  Noyon, 
a  sergeant  in  the  colony  troops.  The  widow 
Sarah  Hurst,  whose  youngest  child,  Benjamin, 
had  been  murdered  on  the  Deerfield  meadows, 
was  baptized  as  Marie  Jeanne.1  Joanna  Kellogg, 
eleven  years  old  when  taken,  married  a  Caugh- 
nawaga  chief,  and  became,  at  all  points,  an  In- 
dian squaw. 

She  was  not  alone  in  this  strange  transfor- 
mation. Eunice  Williams,  the  namesake  of  her 
slaughtered  mother,  remained  in  the  wigwams 


1  The  above  is  drawn  mainly  from  extracts  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 
between  Dudley  and  Vaudreuil  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. 


1704-1740.]  EUNICE   WILLIAMS.  87 

of  the  Caughnawagas,  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  Deer- 
field,  and  her  brother  Stephen,  who  became  a 
minister  like  his  parent,  never  ceased  to  pray 
for  her  return  to  her  country  and  her  faith. 
Many  years  after,  in  1740,  she  came  with  her 
husband  to  visit  her  relatives  in  Deerfield,  dressed 
as  a  squaw  and  wrapped  in  an  Indian  blanket. 
Nothing  would  induce  her  to  stay,  though  she 
was  persuaded  on  one  occasion  to  put  on  a 
civilized  dress  and  go  to  church ;  after  which 
she  impatiently  discarded  her  gown  and  resumed 
her  blanket.  As  she  was  kindly  treated  by  her 
relatives,  and  as  no  attempt  was  made  to  detain 
her  against  her  will,  she  came  again  in  the 
next  year,  bringing  two  of  her  half-breed  chil- 
dren ;  and  twice  afterwards  repeated  the  visit. 
She  and  her  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.1 

One  of  her  grandsons,  Eleazer  Williams,  turned 
Protestant,    was    educated    at    Dartmouth    Col- 

1  Stephen  W.  Williams,  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  John  Williams,  53.  Sermon 
preached  at  Mansfield,  Aug.  4,  1741,  on  behalf  of  Mrs.  Eunice,  the  daughter 
of  Rev.  John  Williams;  bi/ Solomon  Williams,  A.M.  Letter  of  Mrs.  Colton, 
great  granddaughter  of  John  Williams  (in  appendix  to  the  Memoir  of  Rev. 
John  Williams). 


88  DEERFIELD.  [1704-1866. 

lege  at  the  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,  Hoyt,  by  various  inven- 
tions 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.1 

Here  it  may  be  observed  that  the  descendants 
of  young  captives  brought  into  Canada  by  the 
mission  Indians  during  the  various  wars  with  the 
English  colonies  became  a  considerable  element 
in  the  Canadian  population.  Perhaps  the  most 
prominent  example  is  that  of  the  Gill  family. 
A  few  years  after  the  capture  of  Deerfield, 
Samuel  Gill,  a  boy  of  fourteen,  was  taken  by 
the  Abenakis  on  the  Connecticut,  near  the 
present  town  of  Greenfield.  They  carried  him 
to  St.  Francis,  where  he  was  converted,  and  in 
1715  married  to  a  young  girl  whose  family 

1  I  remember  to  have  seen  Eleazer  Williams  at  my  father's  house  in 
Boston,  when  a  boy.  My  impression  of  him  is  that  of  a  good-looking 
and  somewhat  portly  man,  showing  little  trace  of  Indian  blood,  and  whose 
features,  I  was  told,  resembled  those  of  the  Bourbons.  Probably  this 
likeness,  real  or  imagined,  suggested  the  imposition  he  was  practising  at 
the  time.  The  story  of  the  "  Bell  of  St.  Regis  "  is  probably  another  of 
his  inventions.  It  is  to  the  effect  that  the  bell  of  the  church  at  Deerfield 
was  carried  by  the  Indians  to  the  mission  of  St.  Rogis,  and  that  it  is  there 
still.  But  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  there  was  no  church  bell  at  Deer- 
field,  and  it  is  certain  that  St.  Regis  did  not  exist  till  more  than  a  half 
century  after  Deerfield  was  attacked.  It  has  been  said  that  the  story  is 
true,  except  that  the  name  of  Caughnawaga  should  be  substituted  for  that 
of  St.  Regis ;  but  the  evidence  for  this  conjecture  is  weak.  On  the  legend 
of  the  bell,  see  Le  Moine,  Maple  Leaves,  New  Series  (1873)  29;  Proceed- 
ings of  the  Mass.  Hist.  Soc.,  1869,  1870,  311 ;  Hist.  Man.  2d  Series,  IX.  401. 
Hough,  Hist.  St.  Lawrence  and  Franklin  Counties,  116,  gives  the  story 
without  criticism. 


1704-1866.]  THE   GILL  FAMILY.  89 

name  was  James,  and  who  had  been  captured 
at  the  same  time  and  place.  In  1866  the  late 
Abbe  Maurault,  missionary  at  St.  Francis,  com- 
puted their  descendants  at  nine  hundred  and 
fifty-two,  in  whose  veins  French,  English,  and 
Abenaki  blood  were  mixed  in  every  conceivable 
proportion.  He  gives  the  tables  of  genealogy 
in  full,  and  says  that  two  hundred  and  thirteen 
of  this  prolific  race  still  bear  the  surname  of 
Gill.  "If,"  concludes  the  worthy  priest,  "one 
should  trace  out  all  the  English  families  brought 
into  Canada  by  the  Abenakis,  one  would  be 
astonished  at  the  number  of  persons  who  to- 
day are  indebted  to  these  savages  for  the  blessing 
of  being  Catholics  and  the  advantage  of  being 
Canadians,"1  —  an  advantage  for  which  French- 
Canadians  are  so  ungrateful  that  they  migrate 
to  the  United  States  by  myriads. 

1  Maurault,  Hist,  des  Abenakis,  377.  I  am  indebted  to  R.  A.  Ramsay, 
Esq.,  of  Montreal,  for  a  paper  on  the  Gill  family,  by  Mr.  Charles  Gill,  who 
confirms  the  statements  of  Maurault  so  far  as  relates  to  the  genealogies. 

John  and  Zechariah  Tarbell,  captured  when  boys  at  Groton,  became 
Caughnawaga  chiefs,  and  one  of  them,  about  1760,  founded  the  mission 
of  St.  Regis.  Green,  Groton  during  the  Indian  Wars,  116,  117-120. 


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. 

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  pursued.  Eight 
of  the  prisoners  were  rescued,  and  three  escaped ; 
most  of  the  others  being  knocked  in  the  head  by 
their  captors.  At  Oyster  River  the  Indians  attacked 
a  loopholed  house,  in  which  the  women  of  the  neigh- 
boring farms  had  taken  refuge  while  the  men  were 
at  work  in  the  fields.  The  women  disguised  them- 
selves in  hats  and  jackets,  fired  from  the  loopholes, 


1704-1709.]  AN  UNSUCCESSFUL  RAID.  91 

and  drove  off  the  assailants.  In  1709,  a  hundred 
and  eighty  French  and  Indians  again  attacked 
Deerfield,  but  failed  to  surprise  it,  and  were  put  to 
flight.  At  Dover,  on  a  Sunday,  while  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  within,  "  Here 
they  are!  come  on!  come  on!"  —  on  which  the 
Indians  disappeared. 

Soon  after  the  capture  of  Deerfield,  the  French 
authorities,  being,  according  to  the  prisoner 
Williams,  u  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.1  They 
declared  that  they  would  lay  waste  all  the  settle- 
ments on  the  Connecticut, —  meaning,  it  seems,  to 
begin  with  Hatfield.  "  This  army,"  says  Williams, 
"  went  away  in  such  a  boasting,  triumphant  man- 
ner that  I  had  great  hopes  God  would  discover 
and  disappoint  their  designs."  In  fact,  their  plans 
came  to  nought,  owing,  according  to  French  ac- 
counts, to  the  fright  of  the  Indians ;  for  a  sol- 
dier having  deserted  within  a  day's  march  of  the 
English  settlements,  most  of  them  turned  back, 
despairing  of  a  surprise,  and  the  rest  broke  up 

1  Vaudreuil  et  Beauharnois  au  Ministre,  17  Nov.  1704. 


92  THE  TORMENTED  FRONTIER.  [1708. 

into  small  parties  to  gather  scalps  on  the  outlying 
farms.1 

In  the  summer  of  1708  there  was  a  more 
successful  attempt.  The  converts  of  all  the  Cana- 
dian 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,  arid  other  New  England 
villages.  Fortunately  for  the  English,  the  Caugh- 
nawagas  were  only  half-hearted  towards  the  enter- 
prise ;  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  by 
Saint-Ours  des  Chaillons  and  Hertel  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  Bay,  — 
where,  after  waiting  in  vain  for  their  Eastern  allies, 
they  resolved  to  make  no  attempt  on  Portsmouth 
or  Newbury,  but  to  turn  all  their  strength  upon 
the  smaller  village  of  Haverhill,  on  the  Merrimac. 

1  Vaudreuil  et  Beauharnois  au  Ministre,  17  Nov.  1704;  Vaudreuil  an 
Ministre,  16  Nov.  1704;  Ramesay  au  Ministre,  14  Nov.  1704.  Compare 
Penhallow. 


1708.]  HAVERHILL  ATTACKED.  93 

Advancing  quickly  under  cover  of  night,  they  made 
their  onslaught  at  half  an  hour  before  dawn,  on 
Sunday,  the  29th  of  August. 

Haverhill  consisted  of  between  twenty  and  thirty 
dwelling-houses,  a  meeting-house,  and  a  small  pick- 
et fort.  A  body  of  militia  from  the  lower  Mas- 
sachusetts 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  scattered.  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  stiff  resistance  and  a  hot  and  persistent 
fusillade.  Vaudreuil  says  that  they  could  dis- 
lodge 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,  drove  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 
others  —  little  girls  of  six  and  eight  years  —  were 
saved  by  the  self-devotion  of  his  maid-servant, 
Hagar,  apparently  a  negress,  who  dragged  them 
into  the  cellar  and  hid  them  under  two  inverted 


94  THE  TORMENTED  FRONTIER.  [1708. 

tabs,  where  they  crouched,  dumb  with  terror, 
while  the  Indians  ransacked  the  place  without 
finding  them.  English  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  hasty  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,  they  ambushed  them- 
selves 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  of  their 
number  dead  on  the  spot,  along  with  their  medi- 
cine chest  and  all  their  packs.1 

1  Vaudreuil  an  Ministre,  5  Nov.  1708 ;  Vaudreuil  et  Raudot  au  Mim'stre, 
14  Nov.  1708  ;  Hutchinson,  II.  156;  Mass.  Hist.  Coll.,  2d  Series,  IV.  129  ; 
Sewall,  Diary,  II.  234.  Penhallow. 


1708.]  HARASSING  WARFARE.  95 

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,  Brookfield,  Amesbiiry,  Marlborough,  were 
all  more  or  less  infested,  usually  by  small  scalping 
parties,  hiding  in  the  outskirts,  waylaying  strag- 
glers, or  shooting  men  at  work  in  the  fields,  and 
disappearing  as  soon  as  their  blow  was  struck. 
These  swift  and  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  ;  though  now  and  then,  as  at  Exeter, 
they  would  roast  some  poor  wretch  alive,  or  bite 
off  his  fingers  and  sear  the  stumps  with  red-hot 
tobacco  pipes. 

This  system  of  petty,  secret,  and  transient 
attack  put  the  impoverished  colonies  to  an  im- 
mense 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  diffi- 
culty in  dodging  the  scouting-parties,  pouncing 
on  their  victims,  and*  escaping.  Kewards  were 
offered  for  scalps ;  but  one  writer  calculates  that, 
all  things  considered,  it  cost  Massachusetts  a 
thousand  pounds  of  her  currency  to  kill  an 
Indian.1 

1  The  rewards  for  scalps  were  confined  to  male  Indians  thought  old 
enough  to  bear  arms,  —  that  is  to  say,  above  twelve  years.  Act  of  General 
Court,  19  Aug.  1706. 


96  THE   TORMENTED   FRONTIER.  [1703-1704. 

In  1703-1704,  six  hundred  men  were  kept  rang- 
ing the  woods  all  winter  without  finding  a  single 
Indian,  the  enemy  having  deserted  their  usual 
haunts  and  sought  refuge  with  the  French,  to 
emerge  in  February  for  the  destruction  of  Deer- 
field.  In  the  next  summer,  nineteen  hundred 
men  were  posted  along  two  hundred  miles  of 
frontier.1  This  attitude  of  passive  defence  exas- 
perated the  young  men  of  Massachusetts,  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  bor- 
ders no  more,  the  raid  was  countermanded,  lest  it 
should  waken  the  tempest  anew.2 

What  was  the  object  of  these  murderous  attacks, 
which  stung  the  enemy  without  disabling  him,  con- 
firmed the  Indians  in  their  native  savagery,  and 
taught  the  French  to  emulate  it  ?  In  the  time  of 
Frontenac  there  was  a  palliating  motive  for  such 
barbarous  warfare.  Canada  was  then  prostrate 
and  stunned  under  the  blows  of  the  Iroquois  war. 

1  Dudley  to  Lord ,  21  April,  1704.     Address  of  Council  and  As- 
sembly to  the  Queen,  12  July,  1704.     The  burden  on  the  people  was  so  severe 
that  one  writer  —  not  remarkable,  however,  for  exactness  of  statement  — 
declares  that  he  "  is  credibly  informed  that  some  have  been  forced  to  cut 
open  their  beds  and  sell  the  feathers  to  pay  their  taxes."    The  general 
poverty  did  not  prevent  a  contribution  in  New  England  for  the  suffering 
inhabitants  of  the  island  of  St.  Christopher. 

2  Vaudreuil  au  Ministre,  12  Nov.  1708.     Vaudreuil  says  that  he  got  his 
information  from  prisoners. 


1703-1704.]  ALLIES  OF  FRANCE.  97 

Successful  war-parties  were  needed  as  a  tonic  and 
a  stimulant  to  rouse  the  dashed  spirits  of  French 
and  Indians  alike ;  but  the  remedy  was  a  danger- 
ous one,  and  it  drew  upon  the  colony  the  attack 
under  Sir  William  Phips,  which  was  near  proving 
its  ruin.  At  present  there  was  no  such  pressing 
call  for  butchering  women,  children,  and  peaceful 
farmers.  The  motive,  such  as  it  was,  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  Christian  savages  of  the  mis- 
sions, who,  all  told,  from  the  Caughnawagas  to  the 
Micmacs,  could  hardly  have  mustered  a  thousand 
warriors.  The  danger  was  that  the  Caughnawa- 
gas, 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  them  irrev- 
ocably to  war  against  New  England.  With  the 
Abenaki  tribes  of  Maine  and'  New  Hampshire  the 
need  was  still  more  urgent,  for  they  were  continu- 
ally 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  to  incite  them  to  kill  him.  Some  of  these 
savages  had  been  settled  in  Canada,  to  keep  them 
under  influence  and  out  of  temptation ;  but  the 
rest  were  still  in  their  native  haunts,  where  it 
was  thought  best  to  keep  them  well  watched  by 
their  missionaries,  as  sentinels  and  outposts  to 
the  colony. 

VOL.  I.  —  7 


98  THE  TORMENTED  FRONTIER.  [1703-1708. 

There  were  those  among  the  French  to  whom 
this  barbarous  warfare  was  repugnant.  The 
minister,  Ponchartrain,  by  no  means  a  person 
of  tender  scruples,  also  condemned  it  for  a  time. 
After  the  attack  on  Wells  and  other  places  under 
Beaubassin  in  1703,  he  wrote  :  "  It  would  have 
been  well  if  this  expedition  had  not  taken  place. 
I  have  certain  knowledge  that  the  English  want 
only  peace,  knowing  that  war  is  contrary  to  the 
interests  of  all  the  colonies.  Hostilities  in  Canada 
have  always  been  begun  by  the  French."  After- 
wards, 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  con- 
quest of  Canada,  Ponchartrain  changed  his  mind 
and  encouraged  the  sending  out  of  war-parties,  to 
keep  the  English  busy  at  home. 

The  schemes  of  a  radical  cure  date  from  the  at- 
tack on  Deerfield  and  the  murders  of  the  following 
summer.  In  the  autumn  we  find  Governor  Dud- 
ley urging  the  capture  of  Quebec.  "  In  the  last  two 
years,"  he  says,  "the  Assembly  of  Massachusetts  has 
spent  about  £50,000  in  defending  the  Province, 
whereas  three  or  four  of  the  Queen's  ships  and 

1  Resum€  d'une  Lettre  de  MM.  de  Vaudreuil  et  de  Beauharnois  du 
15  Nov.  1703,  avec  les  Observations  du  Ministre.  Subercase,  governor  of 
Acadia,  writes  on  25  Dec.  1708,  that  he  hears  that  a  party  of  Canadians 
and  Indians  have  attacked  a  place  on  the  Maramet  (Merrimac),  "  et  qu'ils 
y  ont  egorge  4  a  500  personues  sans  faire  quartier  aux  femmes  ni  aux 
enfans."  This  is  an  exaggerated  report  of  the  affair  of  Haverhill. 
M.  de  Chevry  writes  in  the  margin  of  the  letter :  "  Ces  actions  de  cruaute 
devroient  etre  moderees ; "  to  which  Ponchartrain  adds :  "  Bon  ;  les  defen- 
dre."  His  attitude,  however,  was  uncertain;  for  as  early  as  1707  we  find 
him  approving  Vaudreuil  for  directing  the  missionaries  to  prompt  the 
Abenakis  to  war.  N.  Y.  Col.  Docs.,  IX.  805. 


1705.]  NEGOTIATIONS.  99 

fifteen  hundred  New  England  men  would  rid 
us  of  the  French  and  make  further  outlay  need- 
less," —  a  view,  it  must  be  admitted,  sufficiently 


sanguine.1 


But  before  seeking  peace  with  the  sword,  Dud- 
ley tried  less  strenuous  methods.  It  may  be  re- 
membered that  in  1705  Captain  Vetch  and  Samuel 
Hill,  together  with  the  Governor's  young  son  Wil- 
liam, went  to  Quebec  to  procure  an  exchange  of 
prisoners.  Their  mission  had  also  another  object. 
Vetch  carried  a  letter  from  Dudley  to  Vaudreuil, 
proposing  a  treaty  of  neutrality  between  their  re- 
spective 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  other  Eng- 
lish colonies  should  be  included  in  the  treaty,  and 
that  the  English  should  be  excluded  from  fishing 
in  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Acadian  seas. 
The  first  condition  was  difficult,  and  the  second  im- 
practicable ;  for  nothing  could  have  induced  the 
people  of  New  England  to  accept  it.  Vaudreuil, 
moreover,  would  not  promise  to  give  up  prisoners 
in  the  hands  of  the  Indians,  but  only  to  do  what 
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 

i  Dudley  to ,  26  Nov.  1704. 


100  THE  TORMENTED  FRONTIER.  [1702-1715. 

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  ready  to  accept  his  terms.  The 
French  court  approved  the  plan,  though  not  with- 
out distrust ;  for  some  enemy  of  the  Governor  told 
Ponchartrain  that  under  pretence  of  negotiations 
he  and  Dudley  were  carrying  on  trading  specula- 
tions,—  which  is  certainly  a  baseless  slander. l  Vau- 
dreuil  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  sus- 
picion. 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. 2 

Joseph  Dudley,  governor  of  Massachusetts  and 
New  Hampshire,  was  the  son  of  a  former  Governor 
of  Massachusetts,  that  upright,  sturdy,  narrow,  big- 
oted old  Puritan,  Thomas  Dudley,  in  whose  pocket 
was  found  after  his  death  the  notable  couplet : 

"  Let  men  of  God  in  courts  and  churches  watch 
O'er  such  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- 

1  Abregtf  d'une  lettre  de  M.  de  Vaudreuil,  avec  les  notes  du  Minislre,  19 
Oct.  1705. 

2  On  the  negotiations  for  neutrality,  see  the  correspondence  and  other 
papers  in  the  Paris  Documents  in  the  Boston  State  House;  also  N.  Y. 
Col.  Docs.,  IX.  770,  776,  779,  809 ;  Hutchinson,  II.  141. 


1702-1715.]  JOSEPH  DUDLEY.  101 

tions  and  mourned  for  the  old  theocracy  under 
the  old  charter,  hated  Joseph  Dudley  as  a  rene- 
gade; and  the  worshippers  of  the  Puritans  have 
not  forgiven  him  to  this  day.  He  had  been  presi- 
dent of  the  council  under  the  detested  Andros,  and 
when  that  representative  of  the  Stuarts  was  over- 
thrown by  a  popular  revolution,  both  he  and  Dud- 
ley were  sent  prisoners  to  England.  Here  they 
found  a  reception  different  from  the  expectations 
and  wishes  of  those  who  sent  them.  Dudley  be- 
came 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 
governor  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 
party.  The  two  Mathers,  father  and  son,  who 
through  policy  had  at  first  favored  him,  soon  de- 
nounced him  with  insolent  malignity,  and  the 
honest  and  conscientious  Samuel  Sewall  regarded 
him  with  as  much  asperity  as  his  kindly  nature 
would  permit.  To  the  party  of  religious  and  po- 
litical independency  he  was  an  abomination,  and 
great  efforts  were  made  to  get  him  recalled.  Two 
pamphlets  of  the  time,  one  printed  in  1707  and 
the  other  in  the  next  year,  reflect  the  bitter  ani- 
mosity he  excited.1  Both  seem  to  be  the  work  of 


1  A  Memorial  of  the  Present  Deplorable  State  of  New  England,  Boston, 
1707.  The  Deplorable  State  of  New  England,  by  Reason  of  a  Covetous  and 
Treacherous  Governour  and  Pusillanimous  Counsellors,  London,  1708.  The 


102  THE  TORMENTED  FRONTIER.  [1702-1715. 

several  persons,  one  of  whom,  there  can  be  little 
doubt,  was  Cotton  Mather ;  for  it  is  not  easy  to 
mistake  the  mingled  flippancy  and  pedantry  of  his 
style.  He  bore  the  Governor  a  grudge,  for  Dudley 
had  chafed  him  in  his  inordinate  vanity  and  love 
of  power. 

If  Dudley  loved  himself  first,  he  loved  his  native 
New  England  next,  and  was  glad  to  serve  her  if 
he  could  do  so  in  his  own  way  and  without  too 
much  sacrifice  of  his  own  interests.  He  was 
possessed  by  a  restless  ambition,  apparently  of  the 
cheap  kind  that  prefers  the  first  place  in  a  small 
community  to  the  second  in  a  large  one.  He  was 
skilled  in  the  arts  of  the  politician,  and  knew  how, 
by  attentions,  dinners,  or  commissions  in  the  mili- 
tia, to  influence  his  Council  and  Assembly  to  do  his 
will.  His  abilities  were  beyond  question,  and  his 
manners  easy  and  graceful ;  but  his  instincts 
were  arbitrary.  He  stood  fast  for  prerogati^^nd 
even  his  hereditary  Calvinism  had  strong  Episco- 
pal leanings.  He  was  a  man  of  the  world  in  the 
better  as  well  as  the  worse  sense  of  the  term ;  was 
loved  and  admired  by  some  as  much  as  he  was 
hated  by  others ;  and  in  the  words  of  one  of  his 
successors,  "  had  as  many  virtues  as  can  consist 
with  so  great  a  thirst  for  honor  and  power."  l 

His  enemies,  however,  set  no  bounds  to  their 
denunciation.  "  All  the  people  here  are  bought 
and  sold  betwixt  the  Governour  and  his  son  Paul," 


first  of  the  above  is  answered  by  a  pamphlet  called  a  Modest  Inquiry. 
All  three  are  reprinted  in  Mass.  Hist.  Coll.,  5th  Series,  VI. 
1  Hutchinson,  II.  194. 


1704-1 709. J  ILLICIT    TRADERS.  103 

says  one.  "  It  is  my  belief,"  says  another,  prob- 
ably 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  coun- 
try." The  meagreness  and  uncertainty  of  his 
salary,  which  was  granted  by  yearly  votes  of  the 
Assembly,  gave  color  to  the  charge  that  he  abused 
his  official  position  to  improve  his  income.  The 
worst  accusation  against  him  was  that  of  conniv- 
ing in  trade  with  the  French  and  Indians  under 
pretence  of  exchanging  prisoners.  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  Royal,  and  it 
was  said  that  Dudley,  though  he  had  no  direct 
share  in  the  business,  found  means  to  make  profit 
from  ^t.  All  the  accused  were  convicted  and 
fined.  The  more  strenuous  of  th,eir  judges  were 
for  sending  them  to  jail,  and  Rous  was  to  have 
been  sentenced  to  "  sit  an  hour  upon  the  gallows 
with  a  rope  about  his  neck ;  "  but  the  Governor 
and  Council  objected  to  these  severities,  and  the 
Assembly  forbore  to  impose  them.  The  popu- 
lar indignation  against  the  accused  was  extreme, 
and  probably  not  without  cause.1  There  was  no 
doubt  an  illicit  trade  between  Boston  and  the 


1  The  agent  of  Massachusetts  at  London,  speaking  of  the  three  chief 
offenders,  says  that  they  were  neither  "  of  English  extraction,  nor  natives 
of  the  place,  and  two  of  them  were  very  new  comers."  Jeremiah  Dummer, 
Letter  to  a  Noble  Lord  concerning  the  late  Expedition  to  Canada. 


104  THE  TORMENTED  FRONTIER.  [1704-1709. 

French  of  Acadia,  who  during  the  war  often  de- 
pended on  their  enemies  for  the  necessaries  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,  powder,  and  lead.1  What  with  privateer- 
ing 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,  w^liile  the  borders  were  stung 
from  end  to  end  as  by  a  swarm  of  wasps;  and  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.  This  was  far  from  being 
wholly  true ;  but  the  notion  that  the  rural  popu- 
lation 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  mis- 

1  The  French  naval  captain  Bonaventure  says  that  the  Acadians  were 
forced  to  depend  on  Boston  traders,  who  sometimes  plundered  them,  and 
sometimes  sold  them  supplies.  Bonaventure  au  Ministre,  30  Nov.  1705. 
Colonel  Quary,  Judge  of  Admiralty  at  New  York,  writes :  "  There  hath 
been  and  still  is,  as  I  am  informed,  a  Trade  carried  on  with  Port  Royal 
by  some  of  the  topping  men  of  that  government  [Boston],  under  colour 
of  sending  and  receiving  Flaggs  of  truce."  Quary  to  the  Lords  of  Trade, 
10  Jan.  1708. 


1704-1709.]  DUDLEY  SUSTAINED.  105 

takes  touching  the    character  and  disposition  of 
their  English  neighbors. 

The  sentences  on  Borland  and  his  five  compan- 
ions were  annulled  by  the  Queen  and  Council,  on 
the  ground  that  the  Assembly  was  not  competent 
to  try  the  case.1  The  passionate  charges  against 
Dudley  and  a  petition  to  the  Queen  for  his  removal 
were  equally  unavailing.  The  Assemblies  of  Mas- 
sachusetts and  New  Hampshire,  the  chief  mer- 
chants, 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  re- 
call was  prevented,  and  he  held  his  office  seven 
years  longer. 

1  Council  Record,  in  Hutchinson,  II.  144. 

2  These  addresses  are  appended  to  A  Modest  Inquiry  into  the  Grounds 
and  Occasions  of  a  late  Pamphlet  intituled  a  Memorial  of  the  present  Deplor- 
able State  of  New  England.    London,  1707. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

1700-1710. 
THE  OLD  REGIME  IN  ACADIA. 

THE  FISHERY  QUESTION. — PRIVATEERS  AND  PIRATES.  —  PORT  ROYAL. 
—  OFFICIAL  GOSSIP.  —  ABUSE  OF  BROUILLAN.  —  COMPLAINTS  OP 
Dfi  GOUTIN.  — SUBERCASE  AND  HIS  OFFICERS.  —  ClIURCH  AND 
STATE.  -1-  PATERNAL  GOVERNMENT. 

THE  French  province  of  Acadia,  answering  to  the 
present  Nova  Scotia  and  New  Brunswick,  was  a 
government  separate  from  Canada  and  subordinate 
to  it.  Jacques  Francois  de  Brouillan,  appointed 
to  command  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  settlement.  "  It  seems  to  me,"  he 
wrote  to  the  minister,  "  that  these  people  live  like 
true  republicans,  acknowledging  neither  royal  au- 
thority nor  courts  of  law."1  It  was  merely  that 
their  remoteness  and  isolation  made  them  inde- 
pendent, of  necessity,  so  far  as  concerned  temporal 
government.  When  Brouillan  reached  Port  Koyal 
he  found  a  different  state  of  things.  The  fort  and 
garrison  were  in  bad  condition ;  but  the  adjacent 
settlement,  primitive  as  it  was,  appeared  on  the 
whole  duly  submissive. 

1  Brouillan  au  Ministre.  6  Oct.  1702. 


1700-1710.]  THE  FISHERY   QUESTION.  107 

Possibly  it  would  have  been  less  so  if  it  had 
been  more  prosperous  ;  but  the  inhabitants  had 
lately  been  deprived  of  fishing,  their  best  resource, 
by  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  hundred  vessels  every  year  in 
these  waters.1  Before  the  war  a  French  officer  pro- 
posed that  New  England  sailors  should  be  hired  to 
teach  the  Acadians  how  to  fish,  and  the  King 
seems  to  have  approved  the  plan.2  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  Subercase, 
Brouillan's  successor,  "  to  see  Messieurs  les  Bas- 
tonnais  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  de- 
pend largely  for  help  on  sea-rovers  of  more  than 
doubtful  character.  They  came  chiefly  from  the 
W.est  Indies,  —  the  old  haunt  of  buccaneers,  — 
and  were  sometimes  mere  pirates,  and  sometimes 
semi-piratical  privateers  commissioned  by  French 

1  Memoire  de  Subercase. 

2  Memoire  du  Roy  au  Sieur  de  Brouillan,  23  Mars,  1700;  Le  Ministre 
a  Villebon,  9  Avril,  1700. 


108  THE  OLD   REGIME  IN  ACADIA.          [1700-1710. 

West  Indian  governors.  Brouillan's  successor 
writes  that  their  opportunities  are  good,  since  at 
least  a  thousand  vessels  enter  Boston  every  year.1 
Besides  these  irregular  allies,  the  Governor  usually 
had  at  his  disposal  two  French  frigates  of  thirty 
and  sixty  guns,  to  which  was  opposed  the  Massa- 
chusetts navy,  consisting  of  a  ship  of  fifty-six 
guns,  and  the  "  province  galley,"  of  twenty-two. 
In  1710  one  of  these  Massachusetts  vessels  ap- 
peared off  the  coast  escorting  a  fishing  fleet  of  no 
less  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  sail,  some  of 
which  were  afterwards  captured  by  French  cor- 
sairs. A  good  number  of  these  last,  however, 
were  taken  from  time  to  time  by  Boston  sea- 
rovers,  who,  like  their  enemies,  sometimes  bore  a 
close  likeness  to  pirates.  They  seized  French  fish- 
ing and  trading  vessels,  attacked  French  corsairs, 
sometimes  traded  with  the  Acadians,  and  some- 
times plundered  them.  What  with  West  India 
rum  brought  by  the  French  freebooters,  and  New 
England  rum  brought  by  the  English,  it  is  reported 
that  one  could  get  drunk  in  Acadia  for  two  sous. 

Port  Royal,  now  Annapolis,  was  the  seat  of 
government,  and  the  only  place  of  any  strength  in 
the  colony.  The  fort,  a  sodded  earthwork,  lately 
put  into  tolerable  repair  by  the  joint  labor  of  the 
soldiers  and  inhabitants,  stood  on  the  point  of  land 
between  the  mouth  of  the  River  Annapolis  and 
that  of  the  small  stream  now  called  Allen's  River, 
whence  it  looked  down  the  long  basin,  or  land- 
locked bay,  which,  framed  in  hills  and  forests,  had 

1  Subercase  au  Minlstre,  3  Jan.  1710. 


1700-1710.]  PORT  ROYAL.  109 

so  won  the  heart  of  the  Baron  de  Poutrincourt  a 
century  before.1  The  garrison  was  small,  count- 
ing in  1704  only  a  hundred  and  eighty-five  sol- 
diers and  eight  commissioned  officers.  At  the 
right  of  the  fort,  between  it  and  the  mouth  of  the 
Annapolis,  was  the  Acadian  village,  consisting  of 
seventy  or  eighty  small  houses  of  one  story  and  an 
attic,  built  of  planks,  boards,  or  logs,  simple  and 
rude,  but  tolerably  comfortable.  It  had  also  a 
small,  new  wooden  church,  to  the  building  of 
which  the  inhabitants  had  contributed  eight  hun- 
dred francs,  while  the  King  paid  the  rest.  The 
inhabitants  had  no  voice  whatever  in  public  affairs, 
though  the  colonial  minister  had  granted  them  the 
privilege  of  travelling  in  time  of  peace  without 
passports.  The  ruling  class,  civil  and  military, 
formed  a  group  apart,  living  in  or  near  the  fort,  in 
complete  independence  of  public  opinion,  suppos- 
ing such  to  have  existed.  They  looked  only  to 
their  masters  at  Versailles  ;  and  hence  a  state  of 
things  as  curious  as  it  was  lamentable.  The  little 
settlement  was  a  hotbed  of  gossip,  backbiting,  and 
slander.  Officials  of  every  degree  were  continually 
trying  to  undermine  and  supplant  each  other,  be- 
sieging the  minister  with  mutual  charges.  Brouil- 
lan,  the  governor,  was  a  frequent  object  of  attack. 
He  seems  to  have  been  of  an  irritable  temper, 
aggravated  perhaps  by  an  old  unhealed  wound  in 
the  cheek,  which  gave  him  constant  annoyance. 
One  writer  declares  that  Acadia  languishes  under 
selfish  greed  and  petty  tyranny ;  that  everything 

1  Pioneers  of  France  in  the  New  World,  247,  248. 


110  THE   OLD  REGIME   IN  AC  ADI  A.          [1700-1710. 

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  who  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.1 

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  min- 
ister 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  con- 
nection with  the  Widow  de  Freneuse.  Nor  will  he 
reply,  he  says,  to  the  Governor'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,  incapable  of  any 
kind  of  deviation,  who  used  to  meet  in  a  friendly 
way,  and  had  given  offence  by  not  bowing  down 
before  the  beast.2 

1  La  Touche,  Mfmoire  sur  I'Acadie,  1702  (adresse  a  Ponchartrain). 

2  "  Que  trois  ou  quatre  amis,  honnetes  gens,  incapables  de  gauchir  en 
quoique  ce  soit,  pour  n'avoir  pas  fleche  devant  la  bete,  aient  ete  qualifies  de 
cabalistes."    De  Goutin  au  Ministre,  4  D€c.  1 705. 


1700-1710.]         ACADIANS    AND   " BASTONNAIS."  HI 

Then  lie  changes  the  subject,  and  goes  on  to  say 
that  on  a  certain  festal  occasion  he  was  invited  by 
Bonaventure,  who  acted  as  governor  after  the 
death  of  Brouillan,  to  share  with  hiin  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  honor  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 
would  continue  to  supply  our  necessities  and 
take  the  beaver-skins  with  which  the  colony  is 
gorged  ;  "  adding,  however,  that  the  Acadians  hate 
the  English,  and  will  not  trade  with  them  if  they 
can  help  it.1 

In  the  next  year  the  "  Bastonnais  "  were  again 
bringing  supplies,  and  the  Acadians  again  receiv- 
ing them.  The  new  Governor,  Subercase,  far  from 
being  pleased  at  this,  was  much  annoyed,  or  pro- 
fessed to  be  so,  and  wrote  to  Ponchartrain,  "  No- 
body could  suffer  more  than  I  do  at  seeing  the 
English  so  coolly  carry  on  their  trade  under  our 
very  noses."  Then  he  proceeds  to  the  inevitable 

1  De  Goutin  au  Ministre,  22  Dec.  1707.  In  1705  Bonaventure,  in  a 
time  of  scarcity,  sent  a  vessel  to  Boston  to  buy  provisions,  on  pretence  of 
exchanging  prisoners.  Bonaventure  au  Ministre,  30  Nov.  1705. 


112  THE   OLD   REGIME   IN  ACADIA.        [1700-1710. 

personalities.  "  You  wish  me  to  write  without 
reserve  of  the  officers  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  who  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 
madhouse  as  of  barracks  ;  and  what  is  worse,  I 
am  afraid  that  the  mauvais  esprit  of  this  country 
will  drive  me  crazy  too."  l  "  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  off  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  with  his 
behavior ;  he  always  acts  very  strangely  when 
she  is  on  the  wane." 

The  charge  brought  against  Brouillan  in  regard 
to  Madame  de  Freneuse  was  brought  also  against 
Bonaventure  in  connection  with  the  same  lady. 
"  The  story,"  says  Subercase,  "was  pushed  as  far 
as  hell  could  desire  ; " 2  and  he  partially  defends 
the  accused,  declaring  that  at  least  his  fidelity  to 
the  King  is  beyond  question. 

De  Goutin  had  a  quarrel  with  Subercase,  and 
writes  :  "  I  do  all  that  is  possible  to  live  on  good 
terms  with  him,  and  to  that  end  I  walk  as  if  in  the 

1  "  Ne  me  fasse  a  mon  tour  tourner  la  cervelle."     Subercase  au  Mi- 
nistre,  20  Dec.  1708. 

2  "  On  a  pousse  la  chose  aussi  loin  que  1'enfer  le  pouvait  desirer." 
Subercase  au  Ministre,  20  Dec.  1708. 


1700-1710]  OFFICIAL  GOSSIP.  113 

chamber  of  a  sick  prince  whose  sleep  is  of  the 
lightest."  As  Subercase  defends  Bonaventure,  De 
Goutin  attacks  him,  and  gives  particulars  concern- 
ing him  and  Madame  de  Freneuse  which  need  not 
be  recounted  here.  Then  comes  a  story  about  a 
quarrel  caused  by  some  cows  belonging  to  Madame 
de  Freneuse  which  got  into  the  garden  of  Madame 
de  Saint-Vincent,  and  were  driven  out  by  a  soldier 
who  presumed  to  strike  one  of  them  with  a  long 
stick.  "  The  facts,"  gravely  adds  De  Goutiri, 
"  have  been  certified  to  me  as  I  have  the  honor  to 
relate  them  to  your  Grandeur."1  Then  the  min- 
ister 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  four- 
teen, 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."  Subercase,  on  his  side,  after 
complaining  that  the  price  of  a  certain  canoe  had 
been  unjustly  deducted  from  his  pay,  though  he 
never  had  the  said  canoe  at  all,  protests  to  Pon- 
chartrain,  "  there  is  no  country  on  earth  where 
I  would  not  rather  live  than  in  this,  by  reason 
of  the  ill-disposed  persons  who  inhabit  it."2 

There  was  the  usual  friction  between  the  tem- 
poral and  the  spiritual  powers.  "The  Church," 
writes  Subercase,  "  has  long  claimed  the  right  of 
commanding  here,  or  at  least  of  sharing  authority 
with  the  civil  rulers."  3  The  Church  had  formerly 

1  De  Goutin  au  Ministre,  29  Dec.  1708. 

2  Subercase  au  Ministre,  20  Dec.  1708. 

3  Ibid. 

VOL.  I.  —  8 


114  THE   OLD   REGIME   IN  ACADIA.         [1700-1710. 

been  represented  by  the  Capuchin  friars,  and  after- 
wards by  the  Recollets.  Every  complaint  was  of 
course  carried  to  the  minister.  In  1700  we  find 
M.  de  Villieu,  who  then  held  a  provisional  com- 
mand in  the  colony,  accusing  the  ecclesiastics  of 
illicit  trade  with  the  English.1  Bonaventure  re- 
ports to  Ponchartrain  that  Pere  Felix,  chaplain 
of  the  fort,  asked  that  the  gate  might  be  opened, 
in  order  that  he  might  carry  the  sacraments  to  a 
sick  man,  his  real  object  being  to  marry  Captain 
Duvivier  to  a  young  woman  named  Marie  Muis  de 
Poubomcoup, —  contrary,  as  the  Governor  thought, 
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  any- 
thing, nobody  had  power  to  turn  them  from  it ; 
and  the  chaplain  presently  added  that  he  cared  no 
more  for  the  Governor  than  for  the  mud  on  his 
shoes.2  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  year,  1703,  he  got  at  least  fourteen  such.  If 
half  of  what  Saint-Simon  tells  us  of  him  is  true,  it 
is  not  to  be  supposed  that  he  gave  himself  much 
trouble  concerning  them.  This  does  not  make  it 
the  less  astonishing  that  in  the  midst  of  a  great 
and  disastrous  war  a  minister  of  state  should  be 
expected  to  waste  time  on  matters  worthy  of  a 


1  Villieu  au  Ministre,  20  Oct.  1700. 

2  "  II  rcpondit  qu'il  se  soucioit  de  moi  comme  de  la  boue  de  ses  souliers." 
Bonaventure  au  Ministre,  30  Nov.  1705. 


1700-1710.]  PATERNAL  GOVERNMENT.  115 

knot  of  old  gossips  babbling  round  a  tea-table. 
That  pompous  spectre  which  calls  itself  the  Dig- 
nity 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  narrow- 
ness of  the  field,  the  workings  of  an  unmitigated 
paternalism  acting  from  across  the  Atlantic.  The 
King's  servants  in  Acadia  pestered  his  minister 
at  Versailles  with  their  pettiest  squabbles,  while 
Marlborough  and  Eugene  were  threatening  his 
throne  with  destruction.1  The  same  system  pre- 
vailed 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  microscope.  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  Bonaventure.2 

1  These  letters  of  Acadian  officials  are  iu  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  Correspondance  Officieile  at  Ottawa. 

2  Raudot  au  Ministre,  20  Sept.  1709.    The  copy  before  me  covers  108 
folio  pages,  filled  with  gossiping  personalities. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

1704-1710. 

ACAD1A  CHANGES  HANDS. 

REPRISAL  FOR  DEERFIELD.  —  MAJOR  BENJAMIN  CHURCH.  —  His 
RAVAGES  AT  GRAND-PRE. —  PORT  ROYAL  EXPEDITION. — FUTILE 
PROCEEDINGS. — A  DISCREDITABLE  AFFAIR.  —  FRENCH  SUCCESSES 
IN  NEWFOUNDLAND.  —  SCHEMES  OF  SAMUEL  VETCH.  —  A  GRAND 
ENTERPRISE.  —  NICHOLSON'S  ADVANCE.  —  AN  INFECTED  CAMP.  — 
MINISTERIAL  PROMISES  BROKEN.  —  A  NEW  SCHEME.  —  PORT 
ROYAL  ATTACKED.  —  ACADIA  CONQUERED. 

WHEN  war-parties  from  Canada  struck  the  Eng- 
lish borders,  reprisal  was  difficult  against  those 
who  had  provoked  it.  Canada  was  made  almost 
inaccessible  by  a  hundred  leagues  of  pathless  for- 
est, 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  privateers  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. 

Major  Benjamin  Church,  the  noted  Indian  fighter 
of  King  Philip's  War,  was  at  Tiverton  in  Rhode 
Island  when  he  heard  of  Hertel  de  Rouville's  at- 


1704.]  BENJAMIN   CHUIK  II.  H7 

tack  on  Deerfield.  Boiling  with  rage,  he  mounted 
his  horse  and  rode  to  Boston  to  propose  a  stroke  of 
retaliation.  Church  was  energetic,  impetuous,  and 
bull-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.  Governor  Dudley  ap- 
proved his  scheme,  and  appointed  him  to  command 
the  expedition,  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,  and  the  veteran  readily 
persuaded  a  sufficient  number  to  volunteer  under 
him.  With  the  Indians  of  Cape  Cod  he  found 
more  difficulty  ;  they  being,  as  his  son  observes,  "  a 
people  that  need  much  treating,  especially  with 
drink."  At  last,  however,  some  of  them  were  in- 
duced to  join  him.  Church  now  returned  to  Bos- 
ton \  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, 
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 


118  ACADIA   CHANGES  HANDS.  [1704. 

eastward  in  whale-boats.  Touching  at  St.  Castin's 
fort,  where  the  town  of  Castine  now  stands,  they 
killed  or  captured  everybody  they  found  there. 
Keceiving  false  information  that  there  was  a  large 
war-party  on  the  west  side  of  Passarnaquoddy 
Bay,  they  hastened  to  the  place,  reached  it  in  the 
night,  and  pushed  into  the  woods  in  hope  of  sur- 
prising 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  confusion,  descrying  a  hut  or  cabin 
on  the  farther  side  of  a  small  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.  Afterwards,  when 
Church  returned  to  Boston,  there  was  an  outcry 
of  indignation  against  him  for  this  butchery.  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 
were  surer  game.  Church  sailed  with  a  part  of  his 
force  up  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  and  landed  at  Grand- 
Pre,  —  a  place  destined  to  a  dismal  notoriety  half 
a  century  later.  The  inhabitants  of  this  and  the 
neighboring  settlements  made  some  slight  resist- 
ance, and  killed  a  lieutenant  named  Baker,  and 


1704.]  CHURCH  AT  POET  ROYAL.  119 

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.1  In 
spite  of  these  harsh  proceedings,  he  fell  far  short 
in  his  retaliation  for  the  barbarities  at  Deerfield  ; 
since  he  restrained  his  Indians  and  permitted  no 
woman  or  child  to  be  hurt,  at  the  same  time  tell- 
ing 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  them  as  were  needed  for  purposes  of  exchange. 
A  small  detachment  was  sent  to  Beaubassin, 
where  it  committed  similar  havoc. 

Church  now  steered  for  Port  Koyal,  which  he 
had  been  forbidden  to  attack.  The  two  frigates 
and  the  transports  had  by  this  time  rejoined  him, 
and  in  spite  of  Dudley's  orders  to  make  no  at- 
tempt on  the  French  fort,  the  British  and  pro- 
vincial officers  met  in  council  to  consider  whether 
to  do  so.  With  one  voice  they  decided  in  the 
negative,  since  they  had  only  four  hundred  men 
available  for  landing,  while  the  French  garrison 
was  no  doubt  much  stronger,  having  had  ample 

1  Church,  Entertaining  Passages.  "  Tin  habitant  des  Mines  a  dit  que 
les  ennemis  avaient  etc  dans  toutes  les  rivieres,  qu'il  n'y  restait  plus  que 
quatre  habitations  en  entier,  le  restant  ayant  ete'  brule."  Expeditions  faites 
par  les  Anglois,  1704.  "Qu'ils  avaient  .  .  .  brule  toutes  les  maisons  a  la 
reserve  du  haut  des  rivieres."  Labat,  Invasion  des  Angfois,  1704. 


120  ACADIA   CHANGES  HANDS.  [1707. 

time  to  call  the  inhabitants  to  its  aid.  Church, 
therefore,  after  trying  the  virtue  of  a  bombastic 
summons  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.1 

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  cor- 
sairs it  sent  out  to  prey  on  trading  and  fishing- 
vessels,  while  at  the  same  time  it  was  a  standing 
menace  as  the  possible  naval  base  for  one  of  those 
armaments  against  the  New  England  capital  which 
were  often  threatened,  though  never  carried  into 
.effect.  Hence,  in  1707  the  New  England  colonists 
made,  in  their  bungling  way,  a  serious  attempt  to 
get  possession  of  it. 

Dudley's  enemies  raised  the  old  cry  that  at 
heart  he  wished  Port  Royal  to  remain  French, 
and  was  only  forced  by  popular  clamor  to  counte- 
nance an  attack  upon  it.  The  charge  seems  a 
malicious  slander.  Early  in  March  he  proposed 
the  enterprise  to  the  General  Court ;  and  the  ques- 
tion being  referred  to  a  committee,  they  reported 
rthat  a  thousand  soldiers  should  be  raised,  vessels 
impressed,  and  her  Majesty's  frigate  "Deptford," 

1  On  this  affair,  Thomas  Church,  Entertaining  Passages  (1716).  The 
writer  was  the  son  of  Benjamin  Church.  Penhallow ;  Belknap,  I.  266  ; 

Dudley  to ,21  April,  1704;  Hutchinson,  II.  132;  Deplorable  State 

of  New  England;  Entreprise  des  Anglais  surl'Acadie,  1704;  Expeditions 
faites  par  les  Anglais  de  la  NouvelleAngleterre,  1704;  Labat,  Invasion  des 
Anglois  de  Baston,  1704. 


1707.]  EXPEDITION  TO  PORT  ROYAL.  121 

with  the  province  galley,  employed  to  convoy 
them.  An  Act  was  passed  accordingly.1  Two 
regiments  were  soon  afoot,  one  uniformed  in  red, 
and  the  other  in  blue  ;  one  commanded  by  Colonel 
Francis  Wainwright,  and  the  other  by  Colonel  Win- 
throp  Hilton.  Rhode  Island  sent  eighty  more  men, 
and  New  Hampshire  sixty,  while  Connecticut  would 
do  nothing.  The  expedition  sailed  on  the  13th  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  days."  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  Col- 
onel John  March,  of  Newbury,  who  had  popular 
qualities,  had  seen  frontier  service,  and  was  per- 
sonally brave,  but  totally  unfit  for  his  present 
position.  Most  of  the  officers  were  civilians  from 
country  towns,  —  Ipswich,  Topsfield,  Lynn,  Salem, 
Dorchester,  Taunton,  or  Wey mouth.2  In  the  prov- 
ince galley  went,  as  secretary  of  the  expedition, 
that  intelligent  youth,  William  Dudley,  son  of  the 
Governor. 

1  Report  of  a  Committee  to  consider  his  Excellences  Speech,  12  March, 
1707.  Resolve  for  an  Expedition  against  Port  Royal  (Massachusetts 
Archives). 

'2  Autobiography  of  Rev.  John  Barnard,  one  of  the  five  chaplains  of  the 
expedition. 


122  ACADIA   CHANGES  HANDS.  [1707. 

New  England  has  been  blamed  for  not  employ- 
ing trained  officers  to  command  her  levies ;  but 
with  the  exception  of  Kednap,  and  possibly  of 
Captain  Samuel  Vetch,  there  were  none  in  the 
country,  nor  were  they  wanted.  In  their  stubborn 
and  jealous  independence,  the  sons  of  the  Puritans 
would  have  resented  their  presence.  The  provin- 
cial officers  were,  without  exception,  civilians. 
British  regular  officers,  good,  bad,  or  indifferent, 
were  apt  to  put  on  airs  of  superiority  which  galled 
the  democratic  susceptibilities  of  the  natives,  who, 
rather  than  endure  a  standing  military  force  im- 
posed 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  de- 
veloped good  partisan  leaders,  which  was  rarely  the 
case  with  New  England  democracy.  Colonel  John 
March  was  a  tyro  set  over  a  crowd  of  ploughboys, 
fishermen,  and  mechanics,  officered  by  trades- 
men, farmers,  blacksmiths,  village  magnates,  and 
deacons  of  the  church ;  for  the  characters  of  dea- 
con 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  outnumbered,  presently  took  to  their 


1707.]  A  DISORDERLY  CAMP.  123 

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  Ram- 
pant, 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  command,  and  the  greenness  and  ignorance 
of  both  himself  and  his  subordinates.  There  were 
conflicting  opinions,  wranglings,  and  disputes.  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  soon  lost  temper,  and  declared  that 
"  it  was  not  for  him  to  venture  his  reputation  with 
such  ungovernable  and  undisciplined  men  and  in- 
constant officers."  He  refused  to  bring  up  the 

1  A  Boston  Gentleman  to  his  Friend,  13  June,  1707  (Mass.  Archives). 


124  ACADIA  CHANGES  HANDS.  [1707. 

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.  John  Barnard, 
being  of  a  martial  turn  and  full  of  zeal,  took  it 
upon  him  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.1 

French  deserters  reported  that  there  were  five 
hundred  men  in  the  fort,  with  forty-two  heavy 
cannon,  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  to  persist ;  and  after  hot  debate  and  contra- 
diction, it  was  resolved  to  decamp.  Three  days 
after,  there  was  another  council,  which  voted  to 
bring  up  the  cannon  and  open  fire,  in  spite  of  Red- 
nap  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 

1  Autobiography  of  Rev.  John  Barnard. 


1707.]  DISPUTES  AND  JEALOUSIES.  125 

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 
miscarriage  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  lamentable  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  its  president,  —  capable,  no 
doubt,  of  preaching  Calvinistic  sermons  to  the  stu- 
dents, but  totally  unfit  to  command  men  or  conduct 
a  siege. 

Young  William  Dudley  was  writing  meanwhile 
to  his  father  how  jealousies  and  quarrels  were 
rife  among  the  officers,  how  their  conduct  bred 
disorder  and  desertion  among  the  soldiers,  and 
how  Colonel  March  and  others  behaved  as  if 
they  had  nothing  to  do  but  make  themselves 
popular.2  Many  of  the  officers  seem,  in  fact,  to 
have  been  small  politicians  in  search  of  noto- 
riety, with  an  eye  to  votes  or  appointments. 
Captain  Stuckley,  of  the  British  frigate,  wrote 

1  A  Boston   Gentleman  to  his  Friend,  13  June  (old  style),  1707.     The 
final  attack  here  alluded  to  took  place  on  the  night  of  the  16th  of  June 
(new  style). 

2  William  Dudley  to  Governor  Dudley,  24  June,  1707. 


126  ACADIA  CHANGES  HANDS.  [1707. 

to  the  Governor  in  great  discontent  about  the 
"  nonsensical  malice "  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  Ap- 
pleton,  and  adds,  "I  don't  see  what  good  I  can 
do  by  lying  here,  where  I  am  almost  murdered 
by  mosquitoes."  * 

The  three  commissioners  came  at  last,  with  a 
reinforcement  of  another  frigate  and  a  hundred 
recruits,  which  did  not  supply  losses,  as  the  soldiers 
had  deserted  by  scores.  In  great  ill-humor,  the 
expedition  sailed  back  to  Port  Royal,  where  it  was 
found  that  reinforcements  had  also  reached  the 
French,  including  a  strongly  manned  privateer 
from  Martinique.  The  New  England  men  landed, 
and  there  was  some  sharp  skirmishing  in  an  or- 
chard. Chaplain  Barnard  took  part  in  the  fray. 
"  A  shot  brushed  my  wig,"  he  says,  "  but  I  was 
mercifully  preserved.  We  soon  drove  them  out  of 
the  orchard,  killed  a  few  of  them,  desperately 
wounded  the  privateer  captain,  and  after  that  we 
all  embarked  and  returned  to  Boston  as  fast  as  we 
could/'  This  summary  statement  is  imperfect,  for 
there  was  a  good  deal  of  skirmishing  from  the  13th 
August  to  the  20th,  when  the  invaders  sailed  for 
home.  March  was  hooted  as  he  walked  Boston 
streets,  and  children  ran  after  him  crying  "  Wooden 
sword !  "  There  was  an  attempt  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.  With  one  re- 
markable exception,  the  New  England  militia 
reaped  scant  laurels  on  their  various  expeditions 

1  Stuckley  to  Dudley,  28  June,  1707. 


1705-1709.]  NEWFOUNDLAND.  127 

eastward ;  but  of  all  their  shortcomings,  this  was 
the  most  discreditable.1 

Meanwhile  events  worthy  of  note  were  passing 
in  Newfoundland.  That  island  was  divided  be- 
tween the  two  conflicting  powers ;  the  chief  sta- 
tion of  the  French  being  at  Placentia,  and  that 
of  the  English  at  St.  John.  In  January,  1705, 
Subercase,  who  soon  after  became  governor  of 
Acadia,  inarched  with  four  hundred  and  fifty 
soldiers,  Canadians,  and  buccaneers,  aided  by  a 
band  of  Indians,  against  St.  John,  a  fishing- village 
defended  by  two  forts,  the  smaller,  known  as 
the  castle,  held  by  twelve  men,  and  the  larger, 
called  Fort  William,  by  forty  men  under  Captain 
Moody.  The  latter  was  attacked  by  the  French, 
who  were  beaten  off ;  on  which  they  burned  the 
unprotected  houses  and  fishing-huts  with  a  bru- 
tality equal  to  that  of  Church  in  Acadia,  and 
followed  up  the  exploit  by  destroying  the  ham- 
let at  Ferryland  and  all  the  defenceless  hovels  and 
fish-stages  along  the  shore  towards  Trinity  Bay 
and  Bonavista.2 

1  A  considerable  number  of  letters  and  official  papers  on  this  expedition 
will  be  found  in  the  51st  and  71st  volumes  of  the  Massachusetts  Archives. 
See  also  Hutchinson,  II.  151,  and  Belknap,  I.  273.     The  curious  narrative 
of  the  chaplain,  Barnard,  is  in  Mass.  Hist.  Coll.,  3d  Series,  V.  189-196.   The 
account  in  the  Deplorable  State  of  New  England  is  meant  solely  to  injure 
Dudley.      The  chief   French  accounts  are  Entreprise  des  Anglois   contre 
I'Acadie,  26  Juin,  1707  ;  Subercase  au  Ministre,  me  me  date ;  Labat  au  Mi- 
nistre,  6  Juillet,  1707  ;  Relation  appended  to  Diereville,  Voi/age  de  I'Acadie. 
The  last  is  extremely  loose  and  fanciful.     Subercase  puts  the  English 
force  at  three  thousand  men,  whereas  the  official  returns  show  it  to  have 
been,  soldiers  and  sailors,  about  half  this  number. 

2  Penhallow  puts  the  French  force  at  five  hundred  and  fifty.    Jeremiah 
Dummer,  Letter  to  a  Noble  Lord  concerning  the  late  Expedition  to  Canada, 
says  that  the  havoc  committed  occasioned  a  total  loss  of  £80,000. 


128  ACADIA  CHANGES  HANDS.  [1708-1709. 

Four  years  later,  the  Sieur  de  Saint-Ovide,  a 
nephew  of  Brouillan,  late  governor  at  Port  Royal, 
struck  a  more  creditable  blow.  He  set  out  from 
Placentia  on  the  13th  of  December,  1708,  with  one 
hundred  and  sixty-four  men,  and  on  the  1st  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,  who  showed  great  courage,  was 
struck  down  by  three  shots,  and  after  some  sharp 
fighting  the  place  was  in  the  hands  of  the  as- 
sailants. The  small  fort  at  the  mouth  of  the 
harbor  capitulated  on  the  second  day,  and  the 
palisaded  village  of  the  inhabitants,  which,  if  we 
are  to  believe  Saint-Ovide,  contained  nearly  six 
hundred  men,  made  little  resistance.  St.  John  be- 
came for  the  moment  a  French  possession ;  but 
Costebelle,  governor  at  Placentia,  despaired  of 
holding  it,  and  it  was  abandoned  in  the  following 
summer.1 

About  this  time  a  scheme  was  formed  for  the 
permanent  riddance  of  New  England  from  war- 
parties  by  the  conquest  of  Canada.2  The  prime 

1  Saint-Ovide  au  Ministre,  20  Jan.  1709;  Ibid.,  6  Sept.  1709;  Rapport 
de  Costebelle,  26  Fee.  1709.    Costebelle  makes  the  French  force  one  hundred 
and  seventy-five. 

2  Some  of  the  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  vieuuent  de  faire,  ou  Mars,  plus  feroce  qu'en 


1708-1709]  SAMUEL   VETCH.  129 

mover  in  it  was  Samuel  Vetch,  whom  we  have 
seen  as  an  emissary  to  Quebec  for  the  exchange  of 
prisoners,  and  also  as  one  of  the  notables  fined  for 
illicit  trade  with  the  French.     He  came  of  a  re- 
spectable   Scotch   family.      His    grandfather,    his 
father,  three  of  his  uncles,  and  one  of  his  brothers 
were  Covenanting  ministers,  who  had  suffered  some 
persecution   under   Charles  II.      He  himself  was 
destined  for  the  ministry;  but  his  inclinations  being 
in  no  way  clerical,  he  and  his  brother  William  got 
commissions  in  the  army  and  took  an  active  part 
in  the  war  that  ended  with  the  Peace  of  Ryswick. 
In  the  next  year  the  two  brothers  sailed  for  the 
Isthmus  of  Panama  as  captains   in   the   band  of 
adventurers  embarked  in  the  disastrous  enterprise 
known  as  the  Darien  Scheme.    William  Vetch  died 
at  sea,  and  Samuel  repaired  to  New  York,  where 
he  married  a  daughter  of  Robert  Livingston,  one 
of  the  chief  men  of  the -colony,  and  engaged  largely 
in  the  Canadian  trade.     From  New  York  he  went 
to  Boston,  where  we  find  him  when  the  War  of  the 
Spanish    Succession   began.      During   his   several 
visits  to  Canada  he  had  carefully  studied  the  St. 
Lawrence  and  its  shores,  and  boasted  that  he  knew 
them  better  than  the  Canadians  themselves.1     He 
was    impetuous,    sanguine,    energetic,    and    head- 
strong, astute  withal,   and  full    of   ambition.     A 
more  vigorous  agent  for  the  execution  of  the  pro- 
Europe,  a  donne  carriere  a  sa  rage,  me  fait  appre'hender  une  represaille." 
De  Goutin  au  Ministre,  29  D&.  1708. 

1  Patterson,  Memoir  of  Hon.  Samuel  Vetch,  in  Collections  of  the  Norn 
Scotia  Historical  Societi/,  IV.     Compare  a  paper  by  Gen.  James  Grant 
Wilson  in  International  Review,  November,  1881. 
VOL.  i.  —  9 


130  ACADIA  CHANGES  HANDS.  [1709. 

posed  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  Vetch  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 ;  he  proposed 
to  add  Newfoundland  to  the  other  conquests,  and 
when  all  was  done  in  the  North,  to  sail  to  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico  and  wrest  Pensacola  from  the  Spaniards ; 
by  which  means,  he  writes,  "  Her  Majesty  shall  be 
sole  empress  of  the  vast  North  American  con- 
tinent." The  idea  was  less  visionary  than  it  seems. 
Energy,  helped  by  reasonable  good  luck,  might 
easily  have  made  it  a  reality,  so  far  as  concerned 
the  possessions  of  France. 

The  court  granted  all  that  Vetch  asked.  On 
the  llth  of  March  he  sailed  for  America,  fully  em- 
powered to  carry  his  plans  into  execution,  and  with 
the  assurance  that  when  Canada  was  conquered, 
he  should  be  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  Jersey,  two  hundred ;  Penn- 
sylvania, one  hundred  and  fifty ;  and  Connecticut, 
three  hundred  and  fifty  ;  the  whole  to  be  at  Albany 
by  the  middle  of  May,  and  to  advance  on  Montreal 
by  way  of  Wood  Creek  and  Lake  Champlain,  as 
soon  as  they  should  hear  that  the  squadron  had 


1709.]  VETCH  AND  NICHOLSON.  131 

reached  Boston.  Massachusetts,  New  Hampshire, 
and  Rhode  Island  were  to  furnish  twelve  hun- 
dred men,  to  join  the  regulars  in  attacking 
Quebec  by  way  of  the  St.  Lawrence.1 

Vetch  sailed  from  Portsmouth  in  the  ship 
"Dragon,"  accompanied  by  Colonel  Francis  Nich- 
olson, late  Lieutenant-Governor  of  New  York,  who 
was  to  take  an  important  part*  in  the  enterprise. 
The  squadron  with  the  five  regiments  was  to  fol- 
low without  delay.  The  weather  was  bad,  and  the 
"Dragon,"  beating  for  five  weeks  against  head- 
winds, did  not  enter  Boston  harbor  till  the  even- 
ing of  the  28th  of  April.  Vetch,  chafing  with 
impatience,  for  every  moment  was  precious,  sent 
off  expresses  that  same  night  to  carry  the  Queen's 
letters  to  the  Governors  of  Rhode  Island,  Connec- 
ticut, New  Jersey,  and  Pennsylvania.  Dudley  and 
his  council  met  the  next  morning,  and  to  them 
Vetch  delivered  the  royal  message,  which  was 
received,  he  says,  "  with  the  dutiful  obedience  be- 
coming good  subjects,  and  all  the  marks  of  joy 
and  thankfulness." 2  Vetch,  Nicholson,  and  the 
Massachusetts  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, 

1  Instructions  to  Colonel  Vetch,  1  March,  1709  ;  The  Earl  of  Sunderland 
to  Dudley,  28  April,  1709 ;  The  Queen  to  Lord  Lovelace,  1  March,  1709  ;  The 
Earl  of  Sunderland  to  Lord  Lovelace,  28  April,  1709. 

2  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. 


132  ACADIA  CHANGES  HANDS.  [1709. 

found  it  in  the  throes  of  the  annual  election  of 
governor.  Yet  every  warlike  preparation  was  al- 
ready made,  and  Vetch  and  his  companion  sailed 
at  once  for  New  Haven  to  meet  Saltonstall,  the 
newly  elected  governor  of  Connecticut.  Here,  too, 
all  was  ready,  and  the  envoys,  well  pleased,  con- 
tinued their  voyage  to  New  York,  which  they 
reached  on  the  18th  of  May.  The  governor,  Lord 
Lovelace,  had  lately  died,  and  Colonel  Ingoldsby, 
the  lieutenant-governor,  acted  in  his  place.  The 
Assembly  was  in  session,  and  being  summoned  to 
the  council  chamber,  the  members  were  addressed 
by  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  neighbors  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  pros- 
pects of  the  campaign  so  flattering  that  she 
threw  herself  into  the  enterprise,  though  not  with- 
out 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.1 

With  Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey  the  case  was 
different.  The  one,  controlled  by  non-combatant 

1  Thomas  Cockerill  to  Mr.  Popple,  2  July,  1709. 


1709.]  IROQUOIS  ALLIES.  133 

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,  taking  care  to  suppress  on  the  record  every 
indication  that  the  money  was  meant  for  military 
uses.  New  York,  on  the  other  hand,  raised  her 
full  contingent,  and  Massachusetts  and  New  Hamp- 
shire something  more,  being  warm  in  the  faith  that 
their  borders  would  be  plagued  with  war-parties  no 
longer. 

It  remained  for  New  York  to  gain  the  help  of 
the  Five  Nations  of  the  Iroquois,  to  which  end 
Abraham  Schuyler  went  to  Onondaga,  well  sup- 
plied with  presents.  The  Iroquois  capital  was 
now,  as  it  had  been  for  years,  divided  between 
France  and  England.  French  interests  were  rep- 
resented by  the  two  Jesuits,  Mareuil  and  Jacques 
Lamberville.  The  skilful  management  of  Schuy- 
ler, joined  to  his  gifts  and  his  ruin,  presently  won 
over  so  many  to  the  English  party,  and  raised  such 
excitement  in  the  town,  that  Lamberville  thought 
it  best  to  set  out  for  Montreal  with  news  of  what 
was  going  on.  The  intrepid  Joncaire,  agent  of 
France  among  the  Senecas,  was  scandalized  at  what 
he  calls  the  Jesuit's  flight,  and  wrote  to  the  com- 
mandant of  Fort  Frontenac  that  its  effect  on  the 
Indians  was  such  that  he,  Joncaire,  was  in  peril 
of  his  life.1  Yet  he  stood  his  ground,  and  man- 
aged so  well  that  he  held  the  Senecas  firm  in 
their  neutrality.  Lamberville's  colleague,  Mareuil, 

i  Joncaire  in  N.  Y.  Col  Docs.,  IX.  838. 


134  ACADIA  CHANGES  HANDS.  [1709. 

whose  position  was  still  more  critical,  was  persuaded 
by  Schuyler  that  his  only  safety  was  in  going  with 
him  to  Albany,  which  he  did ;  and  on  this  the 
Onondagas,  excited  by  rum,  plundered  and  burned 
the  Jesuit  mission-house  arid  chapel.1  Clearly,  the 
two  priests  at  Onondaga  were  less  hungry  for  mar- 
tyrdom than  their  murdered  brethren,  Jogues,  Bre- 
beuf,  Lallemant,  and  Charles  Gamier;  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 
confederacy,  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 
making  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,  the  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  government  of  the  province,  jointly  with  the 
governors  of  several  adjacent  colonies  who  had 

1  Mareuil  in  N.  Y.  Col.  Docs.,  IX.  836,  text  and  note.  Vaudreuil  au 
Ministre,  14  Nov.  1709. 


1709.]  NICHOLSON'S  ADVANCE.  135 

met  at  New  York,  appointed  Colonel  Nicholson  in 
his  stead.1  Nicholson  went  to  Albany,  whence, 
with  about  fifteen  hundred  men,  he  moved  up 
the  Hudson,  built  a  stockade  fort  opposite  Sara- 
toga, and  another  at  the  spot  known  as  the  Great 
Carrying  Place.  This  latter  he  called  Fort  Nichol- 
son, —  a  name  which  it  afterwards  exchanged  for 
that  of  Fort  Lydius,  and  later  still  for  that  of  Fort 
Edward,  which  the  town  that  occupies  the  site 
owns  to  this  day.2  Thence  he  cut  a  rough  road- 
way through  the  woods  to  where  Wood  Creek, 
choked  with  beaver  dams,  writhed  through  flat 
green  meadows,  walled  in  by  rock  and  forest. 
Here  he  built  another  fort,  which  was  afterwards 
rebuilt  and  named  Fort  Anne.  Wood  Creek  led  to 
Lake  Champlain,  and  Lake  Champlain  to  Chambly 
and  Montreal,  —  the  objective  points  of  the  expedi- 
tion. All  was  astir  at  the  camp.  Flat-boats  and 
canoes  were  made,  and  stores  brought  up  from 
Albany,  till  everything  was  ready  for  an  advance 
the  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  Rame- 
say,  governor  of  Montreal,  with  fifteen  hundred 
troops,  Canadians,  and  Indians,  to  surprise  his 

1  "If  I  had  not  accepted  the  command,  there  would  have  been  insu- 
perable difficulties"  (arising   from   provincial   jealousies).     Nicholson    to 
Sunderland,  8  July,  1709. 

2  Forts  Nicholson,  Lydius,  and  Edward  were  not  the  same,  but  succeeded 
each  other  on  the  same  ground. 


136  ACADIA  CHANGES   HANDS.  [1709. 

camp.  Rarnesay's  fleet  of  canoes  had  reached 
Lake  Champlain,  and  was  half  way  to  the  mouth 
of  Wood  Creek,  when  his  advance  party  was  dis- 
covered by  English  scouts,  and  the  French  com- 
mander began  to  fear  that  he  should  be  surprised 
in  his  turn  ;  in  fact,  some  of  his  Indians  were  fired 
upon  from  an  ambuscade.  All  was  now  doubt, 
perplexity,  and  confusion.  Ramesay  landed  at  the 
narrows  of  the  lake,  a  little  south  of  the  place  now 
called  Crown  Point.  Here,  in  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  lost  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  excitement 
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  English 
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.1 

1  Memoire  sur  le  Canada,  Annee  1709.  This  paper,  which  has  been 
ascribed  to  the  engineer  De  Lery,  is  printed  in  Collection  de  Manuscrits 
relatifs  a  la  Nouvelle  France,  I.  615,  (Quebec,  1883,)  printed  from  the 
MS.  Par/s  Documents  in  the  Boston  State  House.  The  writer  of  the 
Memoire  was  with  Ramesay's  expedition.  Also  Ramesay  d  Vaudreuil,  19 
Oct.  1709,  and  Vaudreuil  au  Ministre,  14  Nov.  1709.  Charlevoix  says  that 
Ramesay  turned  back  because  he  believed  that  there  were  five  thousand 
English  at  Wood  Creek ;  but  Ramesay  himself  makes  their  number  only 


1709.]  ALARM  IN  CANADA.  137 

Great  was  the  alarm  in  Canada  when  it  became 
known  that  the  enemy  aimed  at  nothing  less  than 
the  conquest  of  the  colony.  One  La  Plaiue  spread 
a  panic  at  Quebec  by  reporting  that,  forty-five 
leagues  below,  he  had  seen  eight  or  ten  ships  under 
sail  and  heard  the  sound  of  cannon.  It  was  after- 
wards surmised  that  the  supposed  ships  were 
points  of  rocks  seen  through  the  mist  at  low  tide, 
and  the  cannon  the  floundering  of  whales  at  play.1 
Quebec,  however,  was  all  excitement,  in  expectation 
of  attack.  The  people  of  the  Lower  Town  took 
refuge  on  the  rock  above ;  the  men  of  the  neigh- 
boring parishes  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  con- 
centrate all  available  force  to  defend  the  heart  of 
the  colony.  "  A  most  bloody  war  is  imminent," 
wrote  Yaudreuil  to  the  minister,  Ponchartrain. 

Meanwhile,  for  weeks  and  months  Nicholson's 
little  army  lay  in  the  sultry  valley  of  Wood 
Creek,  waiting  those  tidings  of  the  arrival  of 
the  British  squadron  at  Boston  which  were  to 
be  its  signal  of  advance.  At  length  a  pestilence 

one  thousand  whites  and  two  hundred  Indians.  He  got  his  information 
from  two  Dutchmen  caught  just  after  the  alarm  near  Pointe  a  la  Cheve- 
lure  (Crown  Point).  He  turned  back  because  he  had  failed  to  surprise 
the  English,  and  also,  it  seems,  because  there  were  disagreements  among 
his  officers. 

1  Monseigneur  de  Saint-  Vallier  et  VHopltal  General  de  Quebec,  203. 


138  ACADIA   CHANGES   HANDS.  [1709. 

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  hunt- 
ing. The  story  may  have  some  foundation,  though 
it  rests  only  on  the  authority  of  Charlevoix.  No 
contemporary  wrriter  mentions  it ;  and  Vaudreuil 
says  that  the  malady  was  caused  by  the  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 
autumn,  found  it  filled  with  innumerable  graves. 

The  British  squadron,  with  the  five  regiments 
on  board,  was  to  have  reached  Boston  at  the 
middle  of  May.  On  the  20th  of  that  month  the 
whole  contingent  of  Massachusetts,  New  Hamp- 
shire, and  Rhode  Island  was  encamped  by  Boston 
harbor,  with  transports  and  stores,  ready  to  em- 
bark for  Quebec  at  ten  hours'  notice.1  When 
Vetch,  after  seeing  everything  in  readiness  at  New 
York,  returned  to  Boston  on  the  3d  of  July,  he 

1  Dudley  to  Sunderland,  14  Aug.  1709. 


1709.]  SUSPENSE.  139 

found  the  New  England  levies  encamped  there 
still,  drilled  diligently  every  day  by  officers  whom 
he  had  brought  from  England  for  the  purpose. 
"The  bodies  of  the  men,"  he  writes  to  Lord 
Simderland,  "  are  in  general  better  than  in  Europe, 
and  I  hope  their  courage  will  prove  so  too ;  so  that 
nothing  in  human  probability  can  prevent  the  suc- 
cess of  this  glorious  enterprise  but  the  too  late 
arrival  of  the  fleet."  l  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  hereafter. 
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,  "  it 
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  been 
undertaken."  Time  passed,  and  no  ships  appeared. 
Vetch  wrote  again  :  "  I  shall  only  presume  to  ac- 
quaint your  Lordship  how  vastly  uneasy  all  her 
Majesty's  loyall  subjects  here  on  this  continent  are. 
Pray  God  hasten  the  fleet."  2  Dudley,  scarcely  less 
impatient,  -wrote  to  the  same  effect.  It  was  all  in 
vain,  and  the  soldiers  remained  in  their  camp, 
monotonously  drilling  day  after  day  through  all 

1  Vetch  to  Sunderland,  2  Aug.  1709.     The  pay  of  the  men  was  nine 
shillings  a  week,  with  eightpence  a  day  for  provisions ;  and  most  of  them, 
had  received  an  enlistment  bounty  of  ,£12. 

2  Vetch  to  Sunderland,  12  Aug.  1709.    Dudley  writes  with  equal  urgency 
two  davs  later. 


140  ACADIA  CHANGES  HANDS.  [1709. 

the  summer  and  half  the  autumn.  At  length,  on 
the  llth  of  October,  Dudley  received  a  letter  from 
Lord  Sunderland,  informing  him  that  the  promised 
forces  had  been  sent  to  Portugal  to  meet  an  exi- 
gency of  the  European  war.  They  were  to  have 
reached  Boston,  as  we  have  seen,  by  the  middle  of 
May.  Sunderland's  notice  of  the  change  of  desti- 
nation was  not  written  till  the  27th  of  July,  and  was 
eleven  weeks  on  its  way,  thus  imposing  on  the 
colonists  a  heavy  and  needless  tax  in  time,  money, 
temper,  and,  in  the  case  of  the  expedition  against 
Montreal,  health  and  life.1  What  was  left  of 
Nicholson's  force  had  fallen  back  before  Sunder- 
land's letter  came,  making  a  scapegoat  of  the 
innocent  -Vetch,  cursing  him,  and  wishing  him 
hanged. 

In  New  England  the  disappointment  and  vexa- 
tion were  extreme ;  but,  not  to  lose  all  the  fruits 
of  their  efforts,  the  governors  of  Massachusetts, 
Connecticut,  New  Hampshire,  arid  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  enter- 
prise. To  the  disgust  of  the  provincials,  the 
captains,  with  one  exception,  refused,  on  the  score 
of  the  late  season  and  the  want  of  orders. 

A  tenacious  energy  has  always  been  a  charac- 
teristic of  New  England,  and  the  hopes  of  the 
colonists  had  been  raised  too  high  to  be  readily 
abandoned.  Port  Royal  was  in  their  eyes  a  pesti- 
lent nest  of  privateers  and  pirates  that  preyed  on 

1  Letters  of  Nicholson,  Dudley,  and  Vetch,  20  June  to  24  Oct.  1709. 


1709,  1710.]  A  NEW  ENTERPRISE.  141 

the  New  England  fisheries ;  and  on  the  refusal  of 
the  naval  commanders  to  join  in  an  immediate  at- 
tack, they  offered  to  the  court  to  besiege  the  place 
themselves  next  year,  if  they  could  count  on  the 
help  of  four  frigates  and  five  hundred  soldiers,  to 
be  at  Boston  by  the  end  of  March.1  The  Assembly 
of  Massachusetts  requested  Nicholson,  who  was  on 
the  point  of  sailing  for  Europe,  to  beg  her  Majesty 
to  help  them  in  an  enterprise  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."  2 
Nicholson  sailed  in  December,  and  Peter  Schuyler 
soon  followed.  New  York,  having  once  entered  on 
the  path  of  war,  saw  that  she  must  continue  in  it ; 
and  to  impress  the  Five  Nations  with  the  might 
and  majesty  of  the  Queen,  and  so  dispose  them  to 
hold  fast  to  the  British  cause,  Schuyler  took  five 
Mohawk  chiefs  with  him  to  England.  One  died 
on  the  voyage ;  the  rest  arrived  safe,  and  their 
appearance  was  the  sensation  of  the  hour.  They 
were  clad,  at  the  Queen's  expense,  in  strange  and 
gay  attire,  invented  by  the  costumer  of  one  of  the 
theatres ;  were  lodged  and  feasted  as  the  guests  of 

1  Joint  Letter  of  Nicholson,  Dudley,  Vetch,  and  Moody  to  Sunderland, 
24  Oct.  1709;  also  Joint  Letter  of  Dudley,  Vetch,  and  Moody  to  Sunder- 
land, 25  Oct.  1709  ;  Abstracts  of  Letters  and  Papers  relating  to  the  Attack 
of  Port  Royal,  1709  (Public  Record  Office)  ;  Address  of  ye  Inhabitants  of 
Boston  and  Parts  adjacent,  1709.     Moody,  named  above,  was  the  British 
naval  captain  who  had  consented  to  attack  Port  Royal. 

2  Order  of  Assembly,  27    Oct.  1709.     Massachusetts   had  spent  about 
£22,000  on  her  futile  expedition  of  1707,  and,  with  New  Hampshire  and 
Rhode  Island,  a  little  more  than  £46,000  on  that  of  1709,  besides  con- 
tinual outlay  in  guarding  her  two  hundred  miles  of  frontier,  —  a  heavy 
expense  for  the  place  and  time. 


142  ACADIA  CHANGES  HANDS.  [1710. 

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  Shrewsbury  presented  them  to 
Queen  Anne,  —  one  as  emperor  of  the  Mohawks, 
and  the  other  three  as  kings,  —  and  the  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury  solemnly  gave  each  of  them  a  Bible. 
Steele  and  Addison  wrote  essays  about  them,  and 
the  Dutch  artist  Verelst  painted  their  portraits, 
which  were  engraved  in  mezzotint.1  Their  presence 
and  the  speech  made  in  their  name  before  the 
court  seem  to  have  had  no  small  effect  in  drawing 
attention  to  the  war  in  America  and  inclining 
the  ministry  towards  the  proposals  of  Nicholson. 
These  were  accepted,  and  he  sailed  for  America 
commissioned  to  command  the  enterprise  against 
Port  Royal,  with  Vetch  as  adjutant-general.2 

Colonel  Francis  Nicholson  had  held  some  mod- 
est military  positions,  but  never,  it  is  said,  seen 
active  service.  In  colonial  affairs  he  had  played 
an  important  part,  and  in  the  course  of  his  life 
governed  at  different  times,  Virginia,  New  York, 
Maryland,  and  Carolina.  He  had  a  robust,  practical 
brain,  capable  of  broad  views  and  large  schemes. 
One  of  his  plans  was  a  confederacy  of  the  prov- 

1  See  J.  R.  Bartlett,  in  Magazine  of  American  History,  March,  1878,  and 
Schuyler,  Colonial  New  York,  II.  34-39.     The  chiefs  returned  to  America 
in  May  on  board  the  "  Dragon."     An  elaborate  pamphlet  appeared  in 
London,  giving  an  account  of  them  and  their  people.     A  set  of  the  mezzo- 
tint portraits,  which  are  large  and  well  executed,  is  in  the  John  Carter 
Brown   collection  at   Providence.     For  photographic   reproductions,  see 
Winsor,  Nar.  and  Crit.  Hist ,  V.  107.     Compare  Smith,  Hist.  N.  Y.,  I. 
204  (1830). 

2  Commission  of  Colonel  Francis  Nicholson,  18  May,  1710.     Instructions 
to  Colonel  Nicholson,  same  date. 


1710.]  VISCOUNT  SHANNON.  143 

inces  to  resist  the  French,  which,  to  his  great  in- 
dignation, Virginia  rejected.  He  had  Jacobite 
leanings,  and  had  been  an  adherent  of  James  II. ; 
but  being  no  idealist,  and  little  apt  to  let  his 
political  principles  block  the  path  of  his  interests, 
he  turned  his  back  on  the  fallen  cause  and  offered 
his  services  to  the  Revolution.  Though  no  pattern 
of  domestic  morals,  he  seems  to  have  been  officially 
upright,  and  he  wished  well  to  the  colonies,  saving 
always  the  dominant  interests  of  England.  He 
was  bold,  ambitious,  vehement,  and  sometimes 
headstrong  and  perverse. 

Though  the  English  ministry  had  promised  aid, 
it  was  long  in  coming.  The  Massachusetts  Assem- 
bly had  asked  that  the  ships  should  be  at  Boston 
before  the  end  of  March  ;  but  it  was  past  the 
middle  of  May  before  they  sailed  from  Plymouth. 
Then,  towards  midsummer,  a  strange  spasm  of 
martial  energy  seems  •  to  have  seized  the  ministry, 
for  Viscount  Shannon  was  ordered  to  Boston  with 
an  additional  force,  commissioned  to  take  the 
chief  command  and  attack,  not  Port  Royal,  but 
Quebec.1  This  ill-advised  change  of  plan  seems 
to  have  been  reconsidered ;  at  least,  it  came  to 
nothing.2 

1  Instructions  to  Richard   Viscount  Shannon,  July,  1710.     A  report  of 
the  scheme  reached  Boston.     Hutchinson,  II.  164. 

2  The  troops,  however,  were  actually  embarked.      True  State  of  the 
Forces  commanded   by  the  Right  HonKe   The  Lord   Viscount   Shannon,  as 
they  were  Embark'*  the  14'*  of  October,  1710.     The  total  was  three  thou- 
sand  two  hundred  and  sixty-five  officers  and  men.     Also,  Shannon  to 
Sunderland,  16  Oct.   1710.     The  absurdity  of  the  attempt  at  so  late  a 
season  is  obvious.     Yet  the  fleet  lay  some  weeks  more  at  Portsmouth, 
waiting  for  a  fair  wind. 


144  ACADIA   CHANGES  HANDS.  [1710. 

Meanwhile,  the  New  England  people  waited  im- 
patiently for  the  retarded  ships.  No  order  had 
come  from  England  for  raising  men,  and  the 
colonists  resolved  this  time  to  risk  nothing  till 
assured  that  their  labor  and  money  would  not  be 
wasted.  At  last,  not  in  March,  but  in  July,  the 
ships  appeared.  Then  all  was  astir  with  prepara- 
tion. First,  the  House  of  Representatives  voted 
thanks  to  the  Queen  for  her  "  royal  aid."  Next,  it 
was  proclaimed  that  no  vessel  should  be  permitted 
to  leave  the  harbor  "  till  the  service  is  provided ; " 
and  a  committee  of  the  House  proceeded  to  impress 
fourteen  vessels  to  serve  as  transports.  Then  a 
vote  was  passed  that  nine  hundred  men  be  raised 
as  the  quota  of  Massachusetts,  and  a  month's  pay 
in  advance,  together  with  a  coat  worth  thirty 
shillings,  was  promised  to  volunteers ;  a  committee 
of  three  being  at  the  same  time  appointed  to 
provide  the  coats.  On  the  next  day  appeared 
a  proclamation  from  the  Governor  announcing 
the  aforesaid  "encouragements,"  calling  on  last 
year's  soldiers  to  enlist  again,  promising  that  all 
should  return  home  as  soon  as  Port  Royal 
was  taken,  and  that  each  might  keep  as  his  own 
forever  the  Queen's  musket  that  would  be  furnished 
him.  Now  came  an  order  to  colonels  of  militia  to 
muster  their  regiments  on  a  day  named,  read  the 
proclamation  at  the  head  of  each  company,  and  if 
volunteers  did  not  come  forward  in  sufficient  num- 
ber, to  draft  as  many  men  as  might  be  wanted, 
appointing,  at  the  same  time,  officers  to  conduct 
them  to  the  rendezvous  at  Dorchester  or  Cambridge; 


1710.]  THE  ENGLISH  AT  PORT  ROYAL.  145 

and,  by  a  stringent  and  unusual  enactment,  the 
House  ordered  that  they  should  be  quartered  in 
private  houses,  with  or  without  the  consent  of  the 
owners,  "  any  law  or  usage  to  the  contrary  not- 
withstanding." Sailors  were  impressed  without 
ceremony  to  man  the  transports ;  and,  finally,  it 
was  voted  that  a  pipe  of  wine,  twenty  sheep,  five 
pigs,  and  one  hundred  fowls  be  presented  to  the 
Honorable  General  Nicholson  for  his  table  during 
the  expedition.1  The  above,  with  slight  variation, 
may  serve  as  an  example  of  the  manner  in  which, 
for  several  generations,  men  were  raised  in  Massa- 
chusetts 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 
Dragon  Tavern  in  honor  of  Nicholson,  Vetch,  and 
Sir  Charles  Hobby,  the  chief  officers  of  the  expe- 
dition ;  and  on  the  18th  of  September  the  whole 
put  to  sea. 

On  the  24th  the  squadron  sailed  into  the 
narrow  entrance  of  Port  Royal,  where  the  tide 
runs  like  a  mill-stream.  One  vessel  was  driven 
upon  the  rocks,  and  twenty-six  men  were  drowned. 
The  others  got  in  safely,  and  anchored  above  Goat 
Island,  in  sight  of  the  French  fort.  They  con- 
sisted of  three  fourth-rates,  —  the  "Dragon,"  the 
"  Chester,"  and  the  "  Falmouth  ;  "  two  fifth-rates, 
—  the  "Lowestoffe"  and  the  "  Feversham  ;  "  the 
province  galley,  one  bomb-ketch,  twenty-four 

1  Archives  of  Massachusetts,  Vol.  LXXL,  where  the  original  papers 
are  preserved. 

VOL.  i.  — 10 


146  ACADIA  CHANGES   HANDS.  [1710. 

small  transports,  two  or  three  hospital  ships,  a 
tender,  and  several  sloops  carrying  timber  to  make 
beds  for  cannon  and  mortars.  The  landing  force 
consisted  of  four .  hundred  British  marines,  and 
about  fifteen  hundred  provincials,  divided  into 
four  battalions.1  Its  unnecessary  numbers  were 
due  to  the  belief  of  Nicholson  that  the  fort  had 
been  reinforced  and  strengthened. 

In  the  afternoon  of  the  25th  they,  were  all  on 
shore ;  Vetch  with  his  two  battalions  on  the  north 
side,  and  Nicholson  with  the  other  two  on  the 
south.  Vetch  marched  to  his  camping-ground,  on 
which,  in  the  words  of  Nicholson's  journal,  "  the 
French  began  to  fire  pretty  thick."  On  the  next 
morning  Nicholson's  men  moved  towards  the  fort, 
hacking  their  way  through  the  woods  and  crossing 
the  marshes  of  Allen's  River,  while  the  French 
fired  briskly  with  cannon  from  the  ramparts,  and 
small-arms  from  the  woods,  houses,  and  fences. 
They  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  from  the  English  bomb-ketch,  when  on  the 
29th,  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  protection  certain  ladies  of  the 

1  Nicholson  and  Vetch  to  the  Secretary  of  State,  16  Sept.  1710;  Hutch- 
inson,  II.  164;  Penhallow.  Massachusetts  sent  two  battalions  of  four 
hundred  and  fifty  men  each,  and  Connecticut  one  battalion  of  three 
hundred  men,  while  New  Hampshire  and  Khode  Island  united  their 
contingents  to  form  a  fourth  battalion. 


1710.]  PORT  ROYAL  SUMMONED.  147 

fort  who  were  distressed  by  the  bursting  of  the 
English  shells.  The  conduct  of  Perelle  was  irregu- 
lar, as  he  had  not  given  notice  of  his  approach  by 
beat  of  drum  and  got  himself  and  attendants  blind- 
folded before  entering  the  camp.  Therefore  Nichol- 
son detained  him,  sending  back  an  officer  of  his 
own  with  a  letter  to  the  effect  that  he  would  re- 
ceive 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."  Subercase  on  his  part  detained 
the  English  officer,  and  wrote  to  Nicholson : 

SIR, — You  have  one  of  my  officers,  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  word, 
you  will  keep  it  very  exactly.  On  that  ground  I  now  write 
to  tell  you,  sir,  that  to  prevent  the  spilling  of  both  English 
and  French  blood,  I  am  ready  to  hold  up  both  hands  for  a 
capitulation  that  will  be  honorable  to  both  of  us.1 

In  view  of  which  agreement  he  adds  that  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 
1st,  the  siege-guns,  mortars,  and  coehorns  were  in 
position ;  and  after  some  firing  on  both  sides, 
Nicholson  sent  Colonel  Tailor  and  Captain  Aber- 
crombie  with  a  summons  to  surrender  the  fort. 
Subercase  replied  that  he  was  ready  to  listen  to 

1  The  contemporary  English  translation  of  this  letter  is  printed  among 
the  papers  appended  to  Nicholson's  Journal  in  Collections  of  the  Nova  Scotia 
Historical  Society,  I. 


148  AC  ADI  A   CHANGES  HANDS.  [1710. 

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  Roche- 
fort.  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  inarched  to  the  fort 
gate  and  formed  in  two  lines  on  the  right  and  left. 
Nicholson  advanced  between  the  ranks,  with  Vetch 
on  one  hand  and  Hobby  on  the  other,  followed  by 
all  the  field-officers.  Subercase  came  to  meet  them, 
and  gave  up  the  keys,  with  a  few  words  of  com- 
pliment. The  French  officers  and  men  marched 
out  with  shouldered  arms,  drums  beating,  and 
colors  flying,  saluting  the  English  commander  as 
they  passed ;  then  the  English  troops  marched  in, 
raised  the  union  flag,  and  drank  the  Queen's  health 
amid  a  general  firing  of  cannon  from  the  fort  and 
ships.  Nicholson  changed  the  name  of  Port  Royal 
to  Annapolis  Royal ;  and  Vetch,  already  com- 
missioned as  governor,  took  command  of  the  new 
garrison,  which  consisted  of  two  hundred  British 
marines,  and  two  hundred  and  fifty  provincials 
who  had  offered  themselves  for  the  service. 

The  English  officers  gave  a  breakfast  to  the 
French  ladies  in  the  fort.  Sir  Charles  Hobby  took 
in  Madame  de  Bonaventure,  and  the  rest  followed 
in  due  order  of  precedence  ;  but  as  few  of  the  hosts 
could  speak  French,  and  few  of  the  guests  could 


1710.]  CAPTURE  OF  PORT  ROYAL.  149 

speak  English,  the  entertainment  could  hardly 
have  been  a  lively  one. 

The  French  officers  and  men  in  the  fort  when  it 
was  taken  were  but  two  hundred  and  fifty  eight. 
Some  of  the  soldiers  and  many  of  the  armed  in- 
habitants deserted  during  the  siege,  which,  no  doubt, 
hastened  the  surrender ;  for  Subercase,  a  veteran 
of  more  than  thirty  years'  service,  had  borne  fair 
repute  as  a  soldier. 

Port  Royal  had  twice  before  been  taken  by  New 
England  men,  —  once  under  Major  Sedgwick  in 
1654,  and  again  under  Sir  William  Phipps  in  the 
last  war ;  and  in  each  case  it  had  been  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  conquest  of  Acadia.1 

1  In  a  letter  to  Ponchartrain,  1  Oct.  1710  (new  style),  Subercase  de- 
clares that  he  has  not  a  sou  left,  nor  any  credit.  "  I  have  managed  to 
borrow  enough  to  maintain  the  garrison  for  the  last  two  years,  and  have 
paid  what  I  could  by  selling  all  my  furniture."  Charlevoix'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,  appar- 
ently an  officer  under  Subercase,  in  a  paper  called  Observations  sur  les 
Errears  de  la  Relation  du  Siege  du  Port  ftoi/al  .  .  .  faittes  sur  de  faux 
memoires  par  le  reve'rend  Pere  Charlevoix,  whom  De  Gannes  often  con- 
tradicts flatly.  Thus  Charlevoix  puts  the  besieging  force  at  thirty-four 
hundred  men,  besides  officers  and  sailors,  while  De  Gannes  puts  it  at  four- 
teen hundred ;  and  while  Charlevoix  says  that  the  garrison  were  famish- 
ing, his  critic  says  that  they  were  provisioned  for  three  months.  See  the 
valuable  notes  to  Shea's  Charlevoix,  V.  227-232. 

The  journal  of  Nicholson  was  published  "  by  authority  "  in  the  Boston 
News  Letter,  Nov.  1710,  and  has  been  reprinted,  with  numerous  accom- 
panying documents,  including  the  French  and  English  correspondence  dur- 
ing the  siege,  in  the  Collections  of  the  Nova  Scotia  Historical  Society,  I. 

Vaudreuil,  before  the  siege,  sent  a  reinforcement  to  Subercase,  who, 
by  a  strange  infatuation,  refused  it.  N.  Y.  Col.  Docs.,  IX.  853. 


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  COLONISTS 

DENOUNCED. TlIE  FLEET  SAILS  FOR  QUEBEC. FOREBODINGS  OF 

THE  ADMIRAL.  —  STORM  AND  WRECK.  —  TIMID  COMMANDERS.  — 
RETREAT. — JOYFUL  NEWS  FOR  CANADA. — Pious  EXULTATION. — 
FANCIFUL  STORIES.  —  WALKER  DISGRACED. 

MILITARY  aid  from  Old  England  to  New,  prom- 
ised in  one  year  and  actually  given  in  the  next," 
was  a  fact  too  novel  and  surprising  to  escape  the 
notice  either  of  friends  or  of  foes. 

The  latter  drew  strange  conclusions  from  it. 
Two  Irish  deserters  from  an  English  station  in 
Newfoundland  appeared  at  the  French  post  of 
Placentia  full  of  stories  of  British  and  provincial 
armaments  against  Canada.  On  this,  an  idea 
seized  the  French  commandant,  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  submission,  especially  Massa- 
chusetts,—  a  kind  of  republic  which  has  never 
willingly  accepted  a  governor  from  its  king.1  In 
sending  ships  and  soldiers  to  the  "  Bastonnais " 

1  Rapport  de  Costebelle,  14  Oct.  1709.     Ibid.,  3  Dec.  1709. 


1710,  1711.]  SCHEME   OF  COSTEBELLE.  151 

under  pretence  of  helping  them  to  conquer  their 
French  neighbors,  Costebelle  is  sure  that  England 
only  means  to  bring  them  to  a  dutiful  subjection. 
"  I  do  not  think/'  he  writes  on  another  occasion, 
"  that  they  are  so  blind  as  not  to  see  that  they  will 
insensibly  be  brought  under  the  yoke  of  the  Parlia- 
ment of  Old  England  ;  but  by  the  cruelties  that  the 
Canadians  and  Indians  exercise  in  continual  in- 
cursions upon  their  lands,  I  judge  that  they  would 
rather  be  delivered  from  the  inhumanity  of  such 
neighbors  than  preserve  all  the  former  powers  o£ 
their  little  republic."  *  He  thinks,  however,  that 
the  design  of  England  ought  to  be  strongly  repre- 
sented to  the  Council  at  Boston,  and  that  M.  de  la 
Ronde  Denys  will  be  a  good  man  to  do  it,  as  he 
speaks  English,  has  lived  in  Boston,  and  has  many 
acquaintances  there.2 

The  minister,  Ponchartrain,  was  struck  by  Coste- 
belle's  suggestion,  and  wrote  both  to  him  and  to 
Vaudreuil  in  high  approval  of  it.  To  Vaudreuil  he 
says :  "  Monsieur  de  Costebelle  has  informed  me 
that  the  chief  object  of  the  armament  made 
by  the  English  last  year  was  to  establish  their 

1  "  Je  ne  les  crois  pas  assez  aveugles  pour  ne  point  s'apercevoir  qu'in- 
sensiblement  ils  vont  subir  le  joug  du  parlement  de  la  vieille  Angle- 
terre,  mais  par  les  cruautes  que  les  Canadiens  et  sauvages  exercent  sur 
leurs  terres  par  des  courses  continuelles   je   juge  qu'ils  aiment  encore 
mieux  se  dclivrer  de  I'inhuinanite  de  semblables  voisins  que  de  conserver 
toute  1'ancienne  autorite  de  leur  petite  republique."    Costebelle  au  Ministre, 
3  Dec.  1710.     He  clung  tenaciously  to  this  idea,  and  wrote  again  in  1712 
that  "  les  cruautes  de  nos  sauvages,  qui  font  horreur  a  rapporter,"  would 
always  incline  the  New  England  people  to  peace.     They  had,  however, 
an  opposite  effect. 

2  It  is  more  than  probable  that  La  Ronde  Denys,  who  had  studied  the 
"  Bastonnais  "  with  care,  first  gave  the  idea  to  Costebelle. 


152  WALKER'S  EXPEDITION.  [1710. 

sovereignty  at  Boston  and  New  York,  the  people 
of  these  provinces  having  always  maintained  a  sort 
of  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  in- 
formed of  the  designs  of  the  English  court,  and 
shown  how  important  it  is  for  that  province  to 
remain  in  the  state  of  a  republic.  The  King  would 
even  approve  our  helping  it  to  do  so.  If  you  see 
any  prospect  of  success,  no  means  should  be  spared 
to  secure  it.  The  matter  is  of  the  greatest  im- 
portance, but  care  is  essential  to  employ  persons 
who  have  the  talents  necessary  for  conducting  it, 
besides  great  secrecy  and  prudence,  as  well  as  tried 
probity  and  fidelity.  This  affair  demands  your 
best  attention,  and  must  be  conducted  with  great 
care  and  precaution,  in  order  that  no  false  step  may 
be  taken."  1 

Ponchartrain  could  not  be  supposed  to  know 
that  while,  under  her  old  charter,  Massachusetts, 
called  by  him  and  other  Frenchmen,  the  govern- 
ment of  Boston,  had  chosen  her  own  governor, 
New  York  had  always  received  hers  from  the 
court.  What  is  most  curious  in  this  affair  is  the 
attitude  of  Louis  XIV.,  who  abhorred  republics, 
and  yet  was  prepared  to  bolster  up  one  or  more 
of  them  beyond  the  Atlantic,  —  thinking,  no 


1  Ponchartrain  a  Vaudreuil,  10  Aouf,  1710.  Ponchartrain  a  Costebdle, 
meme  date.  These  letters  are  in  answer  to  the  reports  of  Costebelle, 
before  cited. 


1710.]  MISSION  OF  LA  RONDE  DENYS.  153 

doubt,  that  they  would  be  too  small  and  remote 
to  be   dangerous. 

Costebelle,  who  had  suggested  the  plan  of  warn- 
ing the  Council  at  Boston,  proceeded  to  unfold  his 
scheme  for  executing  it.  This  was  to  send  La 
Ronde  Denys  to  Boston  in  the  spring,  under  the 
pretext  of  treating  for  an  exchange  of  prisoners, 
which  would  give  him  an  opportunity  of  insinu- 
ating 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  have  kept  so  firmly  and  so  long, 
but  which  would  be  near  ruin  if  the  Queen 
should  become  mistress  of  New  France  by  the 
fortune  of  war  ;  and  that  either  they  must  have 
sadly  fallen  from  their  ancient  spirit,  or  their 
chiefs  have  been  corrupted  by  the  Court  of  London, 
if  they  do  not  see  that  they  are  using  their  own 
weapons  for  the  destruction  of  their  republic."  l 

La  Ronde  Denys  accordingly  received  his  in- 
structions, which  authorized  him  to  negotiate  with 
the  "  Bastonnais  "  as  with  an  independent  people, 
and  offer  them  complete  exemption  from  French 
hostility  if  they  would  promise  to  give  no  more  aid 
to  Old  England  either  in  ships  or  men.  He  was 
told  at  the  same  time  to  approach  the  subject  with 
great  caution,  and  unless  he  found  willing  listeners, 
to  pass  off  the  whole  as  a  pleasantry.2  He  went 


1  CostebeJle  a  Ponchortrain,  3  Dec.  1710. 

2  Instructions  pour  Monsieur  de  la  Ronde,   Capifaine  d'Infanterie  dfs 
Detachements   de  la  Marine,  1711.     "Le  dit  sieur  de  la  Ronde  pourroit 


154  WALKER'S  EXPEDITION.  [1710. 

to  Boston,  where  he  was  detained  in  consequence  of 
preparations  then  on  foot  for  attacking  Canada. 
He  tried  to  escape ;  but  his  vessel  was  seized  and 
moored  under  the  guns  of  the  town,  and  it  is  need- 
less to  say  that  his  mission  was  a  failure. 

The  idea  of  Costebelle,  or  rather  of  La  Ronde, 
—  for  it  probably  originated  with  him,  —  was  not 
without  foundation ;  for  though  there  is  no  reason 
to  believe  that  in  sending  ships  and  soldiers  against 
the  French,  England  meant  to  use  them  against 
the  liberties  of  her  own  colonies,  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  she  thought  those  liberties  excessive 
and  troublesome ;  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  Ronde  Denys  was  warning  Massa- 
chusetts of  the  danger  of  helping  England  to 
conquer  Canada,  another  Frenchman,  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 
affirms,  "  between  the  English  of  Europe  and  those 
of  America,  who  will  not  endure  troops  from  Eng- 
land even  to  guard  their  forts ; "  and  he  goes  on 
to  say  that  if  the  French  colonies  should  fall,  those 

entrer  en  negociation  et  se  promettre  de  faire  cesser  toutes  sortes  d'hosti- 
lite's  du  cote  du  Canada,  suppose  que  les  Bastonnais  promissent  d'en  faire 
de  meme  de  leur  cote',  et  qu'ils  ne  donassent  aucun  secours  a  1'avenir, 
d'hommes  ni  de  vaisseaux,  aux  puissances  de  la  vieille  Angleterre  et 
d'Ecosse." 


1710.]  BOSTON  TO  BE   RUINED.  155 

of  England  would  control  the  continent  from  New- 
foundland to  Florida.  •"  Old  England  " —  such  are 
his  words  —  ".will  not  imagine  that  these  various 
provinces  will  then  unite,  shake  off  the  yoke  of 
the  English  monarchy,  and  erect  themselves  into 
a  democracy." 1  Forty  or  fifty  years  later,  several 
Frenchmen  made  the  same  prediction;  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  all,  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, 
who  would  pay  heavy  sums  to  be  spared  from  the 
flames.  As  for  Boston,  it  should  be  pillaged,  its 
workshops,  manufactures,  shipyards,  all  its  fine 
establishments  ruined,  and  its  ships  sunk."  If 
these  gentle  means  are  used  thoroughly,  he  thinks 
that  New  England  will  cease  to  be  a  dangerous 
rival  for  some  time,  especially  if  "Rhodelene" 
(Rhode  Island)  is  treated  like  Boston.2 

1  "  La  vieille  Angleterre  ne  s'imaginera  pas  que  ces  diverses  Provinces 
se  reuniront,  et,  secouant  le  joug  de  la  monarchic  Anglaise,  s'erigeront  en 
democratic."     Memoire  sur  la  Nouvelle  Angleterre,  1710, 1711.     (Archives 
de  la  Marine.) 

2  "  Pour  Baston,  il  faudrait  la  piller,  miner  ses  ateliers,  ses  manufac- 
tures, tous  ses  beaux  etablissements,  couler  has  ses  navires,  .  .  .  ruiner 
les  ateliers  de  construction  de  navires."     Memoire  sur  la  Nouvelle  Angle- 
terre,  1710,  1711.     The  writer  was  familiar  with  Boston  and  its  neighbor- 
hood, and  had  certainly  spent  some  time  there.     Possibly  he  was  no  other 
than  La  Ronde  Denys  himself,  after  the  failure  of  his  mission  to  excite 


156  WALKER'S   EXPEDITION.  [1710,1711. 

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  her  under  British  rule  half  a  century 
later.  But  here  all  comparison  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 
England,  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  ministry  to  the  New  World,  and  the  ex- 
pediency of  driving  the  French  out  of  it.  Other 
influences  conspired  to  the  same  end,  or  in  all 
likelihood  little  or  nothing  would  have  been  done. 
England  was  tiring  of  the  Continental  war,  the 
costs  of  which  threatened  ruin.  Marlborough  was 
rancorously  attacked,  and  his  most  stanch  sup- 
porters, the  Whigs,  had  given  place  to  the  Tories,  led 
by  the  Lord  Treasurer,  Harley,  and  the  Secretary 
of  State,  St.  John,  soon  afterwards  Lord  Boling- 
broke.  Never  was  party  spirit  more  bitter ;  and 
the  new  ministry  found  a  congenial  ally  in  the 

the  "  Bastonnais "  to  refuse  co-operatiori  with  British  armaments.  He 
enlarges  with  bitterness  on  the  extent  of  the  fisheries,  foreign  trade,  and 
ship-building  of  New  England. 


1710,  1711.]  PLAN  OF  THE   MINISTRY.  157 

coarse  and  savage  but  powerful  genius  of  Swift, 
who,  incensed  by  real  or  imagined  slights  from  the 
late  minister,  Godolphin,  gave  all  his  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  the  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  would  be  the  gainer ; 
whereas  the  enemies  of  Marlborough,  with  Swift 
at  their  head,  contended  that  his  greatest  triumphs 
turned  more  to  the  profit  of  Holland  or  Germany 
than  of  England.1  Moreover,  to  send  a  part  of  his 
army  across  the  Atlantic  would  tend  to  cripple  his 
movements  and  diminish  his  fame. 

St.  John  entered  with  ardor  into  the  scheme. 
Seven  veteran  regiments,  five  of  which  were  from 
the  army  in  Flanders,  were  ordered  to  embark. 
But  in  the  choice  of  commanders  the  judgment  of 
the  ministers  was  not  left  free ;  there  were  in- 
fluences that  they  could  not  disregard.  The 
famous  Sarah,  Duchess  of  Marlborough,  lately 
the  favorite  of  the  feeble  but  wilful  Queen,  had 
lost  her  good  graces  and  given  place  to  Mrs. 
Masham,  one  of  the  women  of  her  bedchamber. 
The  new  favorite  had  a  brother,  John  Hill,  known 
about  the  court  as  Jack  Hill,  whom  Marlborough 
had  pronounced  good  for  nothing,  but  who  had 

1  See  Swift,  Conduct  of  the  Allies. 


158  WALKER'S  EXPEDITION.  [1711. 

been  advanced  to  the  rank  of  colonel,  and  then  of 
brigadier,  through  the  influence  of  Mrs.  Masham ; 
and  though  his  agreeable  social  qualities  were  his 
best  recommendation,  he  was  now  appointed  to 
command  the  troops  on  the  Canada  expedition.  It 
is  not  so  clear  why  the  naval  command  was  given 
to  Admiral  Sir  Hovenden  Walker,  a  man  whose  in- 
competence 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  8th  of  June. 
The  people  of  the  town,  who  were  nearly  all 
Whigs,  were  taken  by  surprise,  expecting  no  such 
enterprise  on  the  part  of  the  Tory  ministry  ;  and 
their  perplexity  was  not  diminished  when  they 
were  told  that  the  fleet  was  at  hand,  and  that  they 
were  to  supply  it  forthwith  with  provisions  for 
ten  weeks.1  There  was  no  time  to  lose.  The 
governors  of  New  York,  Connecticut,  and  Rhode 
Island  were  summoned  to  meet  at  New  London, 
and  Dudley  and  Nicholson  went  thither  to  join 
them.  Here  plans  were  made  for  the  double  at- 
tack ;  for  while  Walker  and  Hill  sailed  up  the 

1  Boston,  devoted  to  fishing,  shipbuilding,  and  foreign  trade,  drew  most 
of  its  provisions  from  neighboring  colonies.  Dummer,  letter  to  a  Noble 
Lord.  The  people  only  half  believed  that  the  Tory  ministry  were  sincere 
in  attacking  Canada,  and  suspected  that  the  sudden  demand  for  provi- 
sions, so  difficult  to  meet  at  once,  was  meant  to  furnish  a  pretext  for 
throwing  the  blame  of  failure  upon  Massachusetts.  Hutchinson,  II.  173. 


1711.]  WALKER  AT  BOSTON.  159 

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  governors  hast- 
ened back  to  their  respective  posts.1 

When  Dudley  reached  Boston,  he  saw  Nantas- 
ket  Roads  crowded  with  transports  and  ships  of 
war,  and  the  pastures  of  Noddle'  s  Island  studded 
with  tents.  The  fleet  had  come  on  the  24th,  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."2 

The  Admiral  and  the  General  had  been  wel- 
comed with  all  honor.  The  provincial  Secretary, 
with  two  members  of  the  Council,  conducted  them 
to  town  amid  salutes  from  the  batteries  of  Copp's 
Hill  and  Fort  Hill,  and  the  Boston  militia  regi- 
ment received  them  under  arms ;  after  which 
they  were  feasted  at  the  principal  tavern  and  ac- 
companied in  ceremony  to  the  lodgings  provided 
for  them.3  When  the  troops  were  disembarked 
and  the  tents  pitched,  curious  townspeople  and 
staring  rustics  crossed  to  Noddle's  Island,  now 
East  Boston,  to  gaze  with  wonder  on  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  distrust  and  jeal- 
ousy. They  dreaded  these  new  and  formidable 

1  Minutes  of  Proceedings  of  the  Congress  of  Governors,  June,  1711. 
a   Walker  to  Bnrchett,  Secretary  of  the  Admiralty,  14  Aug.  1711. 
3  Abstract  of  the  Journal  of  the  Governor,  Council,  and  Assembly  of  the 
Province  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay. 


160  WALKER'S  EXPEDITION.  [1711. 

friends,  with  their  imperious  demeanor  and  exact- 
ing demands.  The  British  officers,  on  their  part, 
were  no  better  pleased  with  the  colonists,  and  one 
of  them,  Colonel  King,  of  the  artillery,  thus  gives 
vent  to  his  feelings  :  u  You  '11  find  in  my  Journal 
what  Difficultyes  we  mett  with  through  the  Mis- 
fortune that  the  Coloneys  were  not  inform'd  of 
our  Coming  two  Months  sooner,  and  through  the 
Interestedness,  ill  Nature,  and  Soberness  of  these 
People,  whose  Government,  Doctrine,  and  Man- 
ners, whose  Hypocracy  and  canting,  are  insup- 
portable ;  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,  altho'  vested  with 
the  Queen's  Royal  Power  and  Authority,  and 
Supported  by  a  Number  of  Troops  sufficient  to 
reduce  by  force  all  the  Coloneys,  't  is  easy  to 
determine  the  Respect  and  Obedience  her  Majesty 
may  reasonably  expect  from  them."  And  he 
gives  it  as  his  conviction  that  till  all  the  colonies 
are  deprived  of  their  charters  and  brought  under 
one  government,  "  they  will  grow  more  stiff  and 
disobedient  every  Day."  l 

It  will  be  seen  that  some  coolness  on  the  part 
of  the  Bostonians  was  not  unnatural.  But  what- 
ever may  have  been  the  popular  feeling,  the  pro- 
vincial authorities  did  their  full  part  towards 
supplying  the  needs  of  the  new-comers ;  for 
Dudley,  with  his  strong  Tory  leanings,  did  not 
share  the  prevailing  jealousy,  and  the  country 

1  Kin*)  to  Secretary  St.  John,  25  July,  1711. 


1711.]  PREPARATION.  161 

members  of  the  Assembly  were  anxious  before  all 
things  to  be  delivered  from  war-parties.  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  slackness, 
was  worthy  of  a  military  dictatorship.  All  ordi- 
nary business  was  set  aside.  Bills  of  credit  for 
£40,000  were  issued  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  ex- 
pedition. It  was  ordered  that  the  prices  of  pro- 
visions 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  constables,  jointly  with  the  Queen's  officers, 
were  ordered  to  search  all  the  town  for  provisions 
and  liquors,  and  if  the  owners  refused  to  part  with 
them  at  the  prescribed  prices,  to  break  open  doors 
and  seize  them.  Stringent  and  much-needed  Acts 
were  passed  against  harboring  deserters.  Provin- 
cial troops,  in  greater  number  than  the  ministry 
had  demanded,  were  ordered  to  be  raised  at  once, 
and  quartered  upon  the  citizens,  with  or  with- 
out their  consent,  at  the  rate  of  eightpence  a 
day  for  each  man.1  Warrants  were  issued  for 
impressing  pilots,  and  also  mechanics  and  laborers, 
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, 

1  The  number  demanded  from  Massachusetts  was  one  thousand,  and 
that  raised  by  her  was  eleven  hundred  and  sixty.  Dudley  to  Walker, 
27  July,  1711. 

VOL.  i.  — 11 


162  WALKER'S  EXPEDITION.  [1711. 

and  greatly  increased  the  popular  dislike  of  their 
military  visitors.  It  was  certain  that  when  the 
expedition  sailed  and  the  operation  of  the  new  en- 
actments 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  inhabi- 
tants 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  irritation  of 
the  British  officers,  aggravated  by  frequent  deser- 
tions, which  the  colonists  favored,  and  by  the 
impossibility  of  finding  pilots  familiar  with  the 
St.  Lawrence.  Some  when  forced  into  the  ser- 
vice made  their  escape,  to  the  great  indignation  of 
Walker,  who  wrote  to  the  Governor  :  "  Her  Maj- 
esty will  resent  such  actions  in  a  very  signal  man- 
ner ;  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  be  taken  to  put  things  upon  a 
better  foot  for  the  future."  1  At  length,  however, 
every  preparation  was  made,  the  supplies  were 
all  on  board,  and  after  a  grand  review  of  the 
troops  on  the  fields  of  Noddle's  Island,  the  whole 

1  Walker  prints  this  letter  in  his  Journal.  Colonel  King  writes  in  his 
own  Journal :  "  The  conquest  of  Canada  will  naturally  lead  the  Queen 
into  changing  their  present  disorderly  government ; "  and  he  thinks  that 
the  conviction  of  this  made  the  New  Englanders  indifferent  to  the  success 
of  the  expedition. 


1711.]  DIFFICULTIES.  163 

force  set  sail  on  the  30th  of  July,  the  provincials 
wishing  them  success,  and  heartily  rejoicing  that 
they  were  gone. 

The  fleet  consisted  of  nine  ships  of  war  and  two 
bomb-ketches,  with  about  sixty  transports,  store- 
ships,  hospital-ships,  and  other  vessels,  British 
and  provincial.  They  carried  the  seven  British 
regiments,  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.1 

Vetch  commanded  the  provincials,  having  been 
brought  from  Annapolis  for  that  purpose.  The 
great  need  was  of  pilots.  Every  sailor  in  New 
England  who  had  seen  the  St.  Lawrence  had  been 
pressed  into  the  service,  though  each  and  all  declar- 
ed themselves  incapable  of  conducting  the  fleet  to 
Quebec.  Several  had  no  better  knowledge  of 
the  river  than  they  had  picked  up  when  serving 
as  soldiers  under  Phips  twenty-one  years  before. 
The  best  among  them  was  the  veteran  Captain 
Bonner,  who  afterwards  amused  his  old  age  by 
making  a  plan  of  Boston,  greatly  prized  by  con- 
noisseurs in  such  matters.  Vetch  had  studied  the 
St.  Lawrence  in  his  several  visits  to  Quebec,  but, 
like  Bonner,  he  had  gone  up  the  river  only  in 
sloops  or  other  small  craft,  and  was,  moreover,  no 
sailor.  One  of  Walker's  ships,  the  "  Chester," 

1  The  above  is  drawn  from  the  various  lists  and  tables  in  Walker, 
Journal  of  the  Canada  Expedition.  The  armed  ships  that  entered  Bos- 
ton in  June  were  fifteen  in  all ;  but  several  had  been  detached  for  cruis- 
ing. The  number  of  British  transports,  store-ships,  etc.,  was  forty,  the 
rest  being  provincial. 


164  WALKER'S  EXPEDITION.  [1711. 

sent  in  advance  to  cruise  in  the  Gulf,  had  cap- 
tured a  French  vessel  commanded  by  one  Paradis, 
an  experienced  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  recorded  in  his  Journal.  "  That 
which  now  chiefly  took  up  my  thoughts,  was  con- 
triving how  to  secure  the  ships  if  we  got  up  to 
Quebec ;  for  the  ice  in  the  river  freezing  to  the 
'bottom  would  have  utterly  destroyed  and  bilged 
them  as  much  as  if  they  had  been  squeezed 
between  rocks." l  These  misgivings  may  serve 
to  give  the  measure  of  his  professional  judgment. 
Afterwards,  reflecting  on  the  situation,  he  sees 
cause  for  gratitude  in  his  own  mishaps  ;  "  because, 
had  we  arrived  safe  at  Quebec,  our  provisions 
would  have  been  reduced  to  a  very  small  propor- 
tion, not  exceeding  eight  or  nine  weeks  at  short 
allowance,  so  that  between  ten  and  twelve  thou- 
sand men  must  have  been  left  to  perish  with  the 
extremity  of  cold  and  hunger.  I  must  confess  the 
melancholy  contemplation  of  this  (had  it  hap- 
pened) strikes  me  with  horror ;  for  how  dismal 
must  it  have  been  to  have  beheld  the  seas  and 
earth  locked  up  by  adamantine  frosts,  and  swoln 
with  high  mountains  of  snow,  in  a  barren  and  un- 
cultivated region ;  great  numbers  of  brave  men 

1  Walker,  Journal :  Introduction. 


1711.]  ALARMS   AND   BLUNDERS.  165 

famishing   with   hunger,   and   drawing   lots   who 
should  die  first  to  feed  the  rest."  l 

All  went  well  till  the  18th  of  August,  when  there 
was  a  strong  head-wind,  and  the  ships  ran  into  the 
Bay  of  Gasp6.  Two  days  after,  the  wind  shifted  to 
the  southeast,  and  they  set  sail  again,  Walker  in 
his  flagship,  the  "Edgar,"  being  at  or  near  the 
head  of  the  fleet.  On  the  evening  of  the  22d  they 
were  at  some  distance  above  the  great  island  of 
Anticosti.  The  river  is  here  about  seventy  miles 
wide,  and  no  land  had  been  seen  since  noon  of  the 
day  before.  There  was  a  strong  east  wind,  with 
fog.  Walker  thought  that  he  was  not  far  from 
the  south  shore,  when  in  fact  he  was  at  least 
fifty  miles  from  it,  and  more  than  half  that  dis- 
tance north  of  his  true  course.  At  eight  in  the 
evening  the  Admiral  signalled  the  fleet  to  bring  to, 
under  mizzen  and  maintopsails,  with  heads  turned 
southward.  At  half-past  ten,  Paddon,  the  captain 
of  the  "  Edgar,"  came  to  tell  him  that  he  saw  land 
which  he  supposed  must  be  the  south  shore ;  on 
which  Walker,  in  a  fatal  moment,  signalled  for  the 
ships  to  wear  and  bring  to,  with  heads  northward. 
He  then  turned  into  his  berth,  and  was  falling 
asleep,  when  a  military  officer,  Captain  Goddard, 
of  Seymour's  regiment,  hastily  entered,  and  begged 
him  to  come  on  deck,  saying  that  there  were 
breakers  on  all  sides.  Walker,  scornful  of  a 
landsman,  and  annoyed  at  being  disturbed,  an- 
swered impatiently  and  would  not  stir.  Soon 
after,  Goddard  appeared  again,  and  implored  him 

1  Walker,  Journal :  Introduction,  25. 


166  WALKER'S  EXPEDITION.  [1711. 

for  Heaven's  sake  to  come  up  and  see  for  himself, 
or  all  would  be  lost.  At  the  same  time  the  Ad- 
miral heard  a  great  noise  and  trampling,  on  which 
he  turned  out  of  his  berth,  put  on  his  dressing- 
gown  and  slippers,  and  going  in  this  attire  on 
deck,  found  a  scene  of  fright  and  confusion.  At 
first  he  could  see  nothing,  and  shouted  to  the  men 
to  reassure  them  ;  but  just  then  the  fog  opened, 
the  moon  shone  out,  and  the  breaking  surf  was 
plainly  visible  to  leeward.  The  French  pilot,  who 
at  first  could  not  be  found,  now  appeared  on  deck, 
and  declared,  to  the  astonishment  of  both  the  Ad- 
miral and  Captain  Paddon,  that  they  were  off  the 
north  shore.  Paddon,  in  his  perplexity,  had  ordered 
an  anchor  to  be  let  go ;  Walker  directed  the  cable 
to  be  cut,  and,  making  all  sail,  succeeded  in  beating 
to  windward  and  gaining  an  offing.1 

The  ship  that  carried  Colonel  King,  of  the 
artillery,  had  a  narrow  escape.  King  says  that 
she  anchored  in  a  driving  rain,  "  with  a  shoal  of 
rocks  on  each  quarter  within  a  cable's  length  of  us, 
which  we  plainly  perceived  by  the  waves  breaking 
over  them  in  a  very  violent  manner."  They  were 
saved  by  a  lull  in  the  gale ;  for  if  it  had  continued 
with  the  same  violence,  he  pursues,  "  our  anchors 
could  not  have  held,  and  the  wind  and  the  vast 
seas  which  ran,  would  have  broke  our  ship  into 
ten  thousand  pieces  against  the  rocks.  All  night 
we  heard  nothing  but  ships  firing  and  showing 
lights,  as  in  the  utmost  distress."2 

1  Walker,  Journal,  124,  125. 

2  King,  Journal. 


THE   WRECK.  167 

Vetch,  who  was  on  board  the  little  frigate 
"  Despatch,"  says  that  he  was  extremely  uneasy 
at  the  course  taken  by  Walker  on  the  night  of  the 
storm.  "I  told  Colonel  Dudley  and  Captain 
Perkins,  commander  of  the  '  Despatch/  that  I 
wondered  what  the  Flag  meant  by  that  course,  and 
why  he  did  not  steer  west  and  west-by-south/'1 
The  "  Despatch  "  kept  well  astern,  and  so  escaped 
the  danger.  Vetch  heard  through  the  fog  guns 
firing  signals  of  distress;  but  three  days  passed 
before  he  knew  how  serious  the  disaster  was.  The 
ships  of  war  had  all  escaped ;  but  eight  British 
transports,  one  storeship,  and  one  sutler's  sloop 
were  dashed  to  pieces.2  "  It  was  lamentable  to 
hear  the  shrieks  of  the  sinking,  drowning,  departing 
souls,"  writes  the  New  England  commissary,  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  (Eufs.  On  the  second 
day  after  it  happened,  Walker  was  told  by  the 
master  of  one  of  the  wrecked  transports  that  884 
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,  soldiers,  and  sailors  was  scarcely  nine 
hundred.3  According  to  a  later  and  more  trust- 
worthy statement,  the  loss  of  the  troops  was  29 
officers,  676  sergeants,  corporals,  drummers,  and 

1  Vetch,  Journal.  2  King,  Journal. 

8  Compare  Walker,  Journal,  45,  and  Ibid.,  127,  128.  He  elsewhere 
intimates  that  his  first  statement  needed  correction. 


168  WALKER'S  EXPEDITION.  [1711. 

private  soldiers,  and  35  women  attached  to  the 
regiments ;  that  is,  a  total  of  740  lives.1  The  loss 
of  the  sailors  is  not  given ;  but  it  could  scarcely 
have  exceeded  two  hundred. 

The  fleet  spent  the  next  two  days  in  standing  to 
and  fro  between  the  northern  and  southern  shores, 
with  the  exception  of  some  of  the  smaller  vessels 
employed  in  bringing  off  the  survivors  from  the 
rocks  of  Isle  aux  (Eufs.  The  number  thus  saved 
was,  according  to  Walker,  499.  On  the  25th  he 
went  on  board  the  General'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 
command  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 


1  Report  of  ye Soldiers,  etc.,  Lost.  (Public  Record  Office.)  This  is  a 
tabular  statement,  giving  the  names  of  the  commissioned  officers  and  the 
positions  of  their  subordinates,  regiment  by  regiment.  All  the  French 
accounts  of  the  losses  are  exaggerations. 


1711.]  RETREAT.  169 

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 
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  forward  when  the  fleet  left  Boston.  All 
the  war-ships  were  safe,  and  the  loss  of  men  was 
not  greater  than  might  have  happened  in  a  single 
battle.  Hill  says  that  Vetch,  when  asked  if  he 
would  pilot  the  fleet  to  Quebec,  refused  to  under- 
take it;1  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  ahead  and 
showing  them  where  the  difficulty  of  the  river 
was,  which  I  knew  pretty  well." 2  The  naval 
captains,  however,  resolved  that  by  reason  of  the 
ignorance  of  the  pilots  and  the  dangerous  currents 
it  was  impossible  to  go  up  to  Quebec.3  So  dis- 
creditable a  backing  out  from  a  great  enterprise 
will  hardly  be  found  elsewhere  in  English  annals. 
On  the  next  day  Vetch,  disappointed  and  indignant, 
gave  his  mind  freely  to  the  Admiral.  "  The  late 

1  Hill  to  Dudley,  25  Aug.  1711. 

2  Vetch,  Journal.     His  statement  is  confirmed  by  the  report  of  the 
council. 

3  Report  of  a    Consultation  of  Sea  Officers  belonging  to  the  Squadron 
under  Command  of  Sir  Hovenden  Walker,  Kt.,  25  Aug.  1711.     Signed  by 
Walker  and  eight  others. 


170  WALKER'S  EXPEDITION.  [1711. 

disaster  cannot,  in  my  humble  opinion,  be  anyways 
imputed  to  the  difficulty  of  the  navigation,  but  to 
the  wrong  course  we  steered,  which  most  unavoid- 
ably carried  us  upon  the  north  shore.  Who 
directed  that  course  you  best  know;  and  as  our 
return  without  any  further  attempt  would  be  a 
vast  reflection  upon  the  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  Ad- 
miral consoling  himself  with  the  reflection  that  the 
wreck  was  a  blessing  in  disguise  and  a  merciful 
intervention  of  Providence  to  save  the  expedition 
from  the  freezing,  starvation,  and  cannibalism 
which  his  imagination  had  conjured  up.2 

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.  Captain  Butler,  a  New  York  officer 
at  the  camp,  afterwards  told  Kalm,  the  Swedish 
naturalist,  that  when  Nicholson  heard  what  had 
happened,  he  was  beside  himself  with  rage,  tore  off 

1  Vetch  to  Walker,  26  Aug.  1711. 

2  Walker,  Journal,  Introduction,  25. 


1711.]  ALARM  IN  CANADA.  171 

his  wig,  threw  it  on  the  ground  and  stamped  upon 
it,  crying  out  "  Koguery  !  Treachery!"1  When 
his  fit  was  over,  he  did  all  that  was  now  left  for 
him  to  do,  —  burned  the  wooden  forts  he  had  built, 
marched  back  to  Albany,  and  disbanded  his  army, 
after  leaving  one  hundred  and  fifty  men  to  protect 
the  frontier  against  scalping-parties.2 

Canada  had  been  warned  of  the  storm  gathering 
against  her.  Early  in  August,  Vaudreuil  received 
letters  from  Costebelle,  at  Placentia,  telling  him 
that  English  prisoners  had  reported  mighty  pre- 
parations at  Boston  against  Quebec,  and  that 
Montreal  was  also  to  be  attacked.3  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  to- 
gether, 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  glory  was  involved,  seeing  that  the  true 
religion  would  quickly  perish  if  the  English  should 
prevail."  The  general  alarm  produced  effects 
which,  though  transient,  were  thought  highly 
commendable  while  they  lasted.  The  ladies, 
according  to  Mother  Juchereau,  gave  up  their  orna- 


1  Kalm,  Travels,  II.  135. 

2  Schuyler,  Colonial  New  York,  II.  48. 

3  Vaudreuil  au  Ministre,  25  Oct.  1711 


172  WALKER'S  EXPEDITION.  [1711. 

merits,  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  nor 
lace,  to  keep  their  throats  covered,  and  to  observe 
various  holy  practices  for  the  space  of  a  year." 
The  recluse  of  Montreal,  Mademoiselle  Le  Ber, 
who,  by  reason  of  her  morbid  seclusion  and  ascetic 
life,  was  accounted  almost  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  ex- 
pectancy till  the  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  19th,  the  Sieur  de  la  Yalterie,  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  (Eufs  on  the  1st  of  October, 
they  met  two  French  sailors  or  fishermen  loaded 
with  plunder,  and  presently  discovered  the  wrecks 
of  seven  English  ships,  with,  as  they  declared, 


1711.]  WILD   REPORTS.  173 

fifteen  or  sixteen  hundred  dead  bodies  on  the 
strand  hard  by,  besides  dead  horses,  sheep,  dogs, 
and  hens,  three  or  four  hundred  large  iron-hooped 
casks,  a  barrel  of  wine  and  a  barrel  and  a  keg 
of  brandy,  cables,  anchors,  chains,  planks,  boards, 
shovels,  picks,  mattocks,  and  piles  of  old  iron 
three  feet  high.1 

"  The  least  devout,"  writes  Mother  Juchereau, 
"  were  touched  by  the  grandeur  of  the  miracle 
wrought  in  our  behalf,  —  a  marvellous  effect  of 
God's  love  for  Canada,  which,  of  all  these  countries, 
is  the  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.2  Amazing  reports  were 
spread  concerning  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 
the  like  ;  bringing  also  the  gratifying  announce- 
ment that  though  the  autumn  tides  had  swept 
away  many  corpses,  more  than  two  thousand  still 

1  Deposition  de  Francois  de  Margarine,  Sieur  de  la   Valterie ;  par  de- 
vant  Nous,  Paul  Dupuy,  Ecuyer,  Conseiller  du  Roy,  etc.,  19  Oct.  1711. 

2  Monseigneur  de  Saint-Vallier  et  t'Histoire  de  I'Hopital  General  de 
Quebec,  209. 


174  WALKER'S  EXPEDITION.  [1711. 

lay  on  the  rocks,  naked  and  in  attitudes  of  de- 
spair.1 These  stories,  repeated  by  later  writers, 
find  believers  to  this  day.2 

When  Walker  and  his  ships  reached  Spanish 
River,  he  called  another  council  of  war.  The 
question  was  whether,  having  failed  to  take 
Quebec,  they  should  try  to  take  Placentia ;  and 
it  was  resolved  that  the  short  supply  of  provisions, 
the  impossibility  of  getting  more  from  Boston 
before  the  1st  of  November,  and  the  risks  of  the 
autumnal  storms,  made  the  attempt  impracticable. 
Accordingly,  the  New  England  transports  sailed 
homeward,  and  the  British  fleet  steered  for  the 
Thames. 

Swift  writes  on  the  6th  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  16th  writes  thus :  "  I  was  to  see  Jack  Hill 
this  morning,  who  made  that  unfortunate  expedi- 
tion ;  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  was  going,  as  they 

1  Juchereau,  Histoire  de  l'H6tel~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  au  Ministre,  30  Dec. 
1711. 

2  Some  exaggeration  was  natural  enough.     Colonel  Lee,  of  the  Rhode 
Island  contingent,  says  that  a  day  or  two  after  the  wreck  he  saw  "  the 
bodies  of  twelve  or  thirteen  hundred  brave  men,  with  women  and  chil- 
dren, lying  in  heaps."    Lee  to  Governor  Cranston,  12  Sept.  1711. 


1711.]  WALKER  AND  HILL.  175 

think,  to  steal  some  gunpowder :  five  hundred  men 
are  lost." 

A  report  of  this  crowning  disaster  reached 
Quebec,  and  Mother  Juchereau  does  not  fail  to 
improve  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, 
strong  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, 
however,  blow  himself  up,  but  left  England  and 
emigrated  to  South  Carolina,  whence,  thinking 
himself  ill-treated  by  the  authorities,  he  removed 
to  Barbadoes,  and  died  some  years  later.1 

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  Eecord  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  man- 
ning 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. 
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. 

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  favorable  to  her  than  it  would  have 
been  under  the  imperious  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  was  the 
Treaty  of  Utrecht,  which  satisfied  none  of  the 
allies  of  England,  and  gave  to  France  conditions 


1712.]  CRITICAL   QUESTIONS.  177 

more  favorable  than  she  had  herself  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 
concessions.  The  Five  Nations  of  the  Iroquois 
were  acknowledged  to  be  British  subjects;  and 
this  became  in  future  the  preposterous  foundation 
for  vast  territorial  claims  of  England.  Hudson 
Bay,  Newfoundland,  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.1 

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,  but  never  quite  at  rest. 
The  standing  subjects  of  dispute  were  three,  very 
different  in  importance.  First,  the  question  of 
Acadia :  whether  the  treaty  gave  England  a  vast 

1  Offres  de  la  France;  Demandes  de  VAngleterre  et  Rtponscs  de  h 
France,  in  Memorials  of  the  English  and  French  Commissaries  concerning 
the  Limits  of  Acadia. 

VOL.  I.  —  12 


178  LOUISBOURG  AND  AC  ADI  A.  [1711,  1712. 

country,  or  only  a  strip  of  sea- coast.  Next,  that  of 
northern  New  England  and  the  Abenaki  Indians, 
many  of  whom  French  policy  still  left  within  the 
borders  of  Maine,  and  whom  both  powers  claimed 
as  subjects  or  allies.  Last  and  greatest  was  the 
question  whether  France  or  England  should  hold 
the  valleys  of  the  Mississippi  and  the  Great  Lakes, 
and  with  them  the  virtual  control  of  the  continent. 
This  was  the  triple  problem  that  tormented  the 
northern  English  colonies  for  more  than  a  genera- 
tion, till  it  found  a  solution  at  last  in  the  Seven 
Years'  War. 

Louis  XIV.  had  deeply  at  heart  the  recovery  of 
Acadia.  Yet  the  old  and  infirm  King,  whose  sun 
was  setting  in  clouds  after  half  a  century  of  un- 
rivalled splendor,  felt  that  peace  was  a  controlling 
necessity,  and  he  wrote  as  follows  to  his  plenipo- 
tentiaries at  Utrecht :  "  It  is  so  important  to  pre- 
vent the  breaking  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."  1  And  he  adds  that  if  the  English  will 
restore  Acadia,  he,  the  King,  will  give  them,  not 
only  St.  Christopher,  but  also  the  islands  of  St. 
Martin  and  St.  Bartholomew. 

The  plenipotentiaries  replied  that  the  offer  was 
refused,  and  that  the  best  they  could  do  without 

1  Memoire  du  Roy  a  ses  Ple'nipotentiaires,  20  Mars.  1712. 


1711,1712.]          CAPE  BRETON  REMAINS  FRENCH.  179 

endangering  the  peace  was  to  bargain  that  Cape 
Breton  should  belong  to  France.1  On  this,  the 
King  bid  higher  still  for  the  coveted  province,  and 
promised  that  if  Acadia  were  returned  to  him,  the 
fortifications  of  Placentia  should  be  given  up  un- 
touched, the  cannon  in  the  forts  of  Hudson  Bay 
abandoned  to  the  English,  and  the  Newfoundland 
fisheries  debarred  to  Frenchmen,2  —  a  remarkable 
concession ;  for  France  had  fished  on  the  banks  of 
Newfoundland  for  two  centuries,  and  they  were 
invaluable  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  large 
island,  henceforth  called  by  its  owners  Isle  Royale, 
lies  east  of  Acadia,  and  is  separated  from  it  only  by 
the  narrow  Strait  of  Canso.  From  its  position,  it 
commands  the  chief  entrance  of  the  gulf  and  river 
of  St.  Lawrence.  Some  years  before,  the  Intendant 
Baudot  had  sent  to  the  court  an  able  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  effect,  and  Isle  Royale  was  still  a 
wilderness.  It  was  now  proposed  to  occupy  it  for 
military  and  political  reasons.  One  of  its  many 
harbors,  well  fortified  and  garrisoned,  would  guard 
the  approaches  of  Canada,  and  in  the  next  war 
furnish  a  base  for  attacking  New  England  and 
recovering  Acadia. 

1  Precis  de  ce  qui  s'est  passe*  pendant  hi  Negotiation  de  la  Paix  d' Utrecht 
au  Sujet  de  I'Acadie;  Juillet,  \7ll-Mai,  1712. 

2  Memoire  du  Roy,  20  Avril,  1712. 


180  LOUISBOURG  AND   ACADIA.  [1709-1713. 

After  some  hesitation  the  harbor  called  Port  a 
TAnglois  was  chosen  for  the  proposed  establish- 
ment, to  which  the  name  of  Louisbourg  was  given, 
in  honor  of  the  King.  It  lies  near  the  south- 
eastern point  of  the  island,  where  an  opening  in 
the  iron-bound  coast,  at  once  easily  accessible  and 
easily  defended,  gives  entrance  to  a  deep  and 
sheltered  basin,  where  a  fleet  of  war-ships  may 
find  good  anchorage.  The  proposed  fortress  was 
to  be  placed  on  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  being  barren  hills  studded  with 
spruce  and  fir,  and  broad  marshes  buried  in  moss. 

In  spite  of  the  losses  and  humiliations  of  the 
war,  great  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.  The  King  was  to  build  the 
fortifications,  supply  them  with  cannon,  send  out 
eight  companies  of  soldiers,  besides  all  the  usual 
officers  of  government,  establish  a  well-endowed 
hospital,  conducted  by  nuns,  as  at  Quebec,  provide 
Jesuits  and  Recollets  as  chaplains,  besides  Filles 
de  la  Congregation  to  teach  girls,  send  families  to 
the  spot,  support  them  for  two  years,  and  fur- 
nish a  good  number  of  young  women  to  marry 
the  soldiers.1 

1  Memoire  sur  I'hle  du  Cap  Breton,  1709. 


1713.]  LOUISBOURG  FOUNDED.  181 

This  plan,  or  something  much  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  ram- 
parts 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  the 
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  Newfound- 
land, whose  inhabitants  were  to  be  transported  to 
Louisbourg  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  New- 
foundland, —  received  the  following  mandate  from 
the  King :  — 

MONSIEUR  DE  COSTEBELLE,  —  I  have  caused  my  orders 
to  be  given  you  to  evacuate  the  town  and  forts  of  Plaisance 
and  the  other  places  of  your  government  of  Newfoundland, 
ceded  to  my  dear  sister  the  Queen  of  Great  Britain.  I  have 
given  my  orders  for  the  equipment  of  the  vessels  necessary  to 
make  the  evacuation  and  transport  you,  with  the  officers, 
garrison,  and  inhabitants  of  Plaisance  and  other  places  of 
Newfoundland,  to  my  Isle  Royale,  vulgarly  called  Cape 
Breton  ;  but  as  the  season  is  so  far  advanced  that  this 


182  LOUISBOURG  AND   ACADIA.  [1713. 

cannot  be  done  without  exposing  my  troops  and  my  subjects 
to  perishing  from  cold  and  misery,  and  placing  my  vessels 
in  evident  peril  of  wreck,  I  have  judged  it  proper  to  defer 
the  transportation  till  the  next  spring.1 

The  inhabitants  of  Placentia  consisted  only  of 
twenty-five  or  thirty  poor  fishermen,  with  their 
families,2  and  some  of  them  would  gladly  have 
become  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." 3  They  and 
their  fishing-boats  were  in  due  time  transported  to 
Isle  Koyale,  where  for  a  while  their  sufferings 
were  extreme. 

Attempts  were  made  to  induce  the  Indians  of 
Acadia  to  move  to  the  new  colony ;  but  they 
refused,  and  to  compel  them  was  out  of  the 
question.  But  by  far  the  most  desirable  accession 
to  the  establishment  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,  especially  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 

1  Le  Roy  d  Costebelle,  29  Sept.  1713. 

2  Recensement  des  Haitians  de  Plaisance  et  lies  de  St.  Pierre,  rendus  a 
Louisbourg  avec  leurs  Femmes  ct  En  fans,  5  Nov.  1714. 

3  Costebelle  au  Ministre,  19  Juillet,  1713. 


1711-1713.]  ENGLISH  AND  ACADIAN S.  183 

wished  to  stay  in  Acadia ;  and  he  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.1  "  Never- 
theless," he  concludes,  "  we  shall  fulfil  the  in- 
tentions of  his  Majesty  by  often  holding  before 
their  eyes  that  religion  for  which  they  ought  to 
make  every  sacrifice."  He  and  his  brother  priests 
kept  their  word.  Freedom  of  worship  was  pledged 
on  certain  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 
Koyal,  thenceforth  called  Annapolis  Royal,  or  sim- 
ply Annapolis,  had  been  left,  as  before  mentioned, 
in  charge  of  Colonel  Vetch,  with  a  heterogeneous 
garrison  of  four  hundred  and  fifty  men.2  The 
Acadians  of  the  banlieue  —  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  the  province.  Some 
of  them  worked  for  the  garrison  and  helped  to 

1  Fdix  Pain  a  Costebelle,  23  Sept.  1713. 

2  Vetch  was    styled   "  General   and   Commander-in-chief  of    all    his 
Majesty's  troops  in  these  parts,  and  Governor  of  the  fort  of  Annapolis 
Royal,  country  of  1'Accady  and  Nova  Scotia."     Hence  he  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. 


184  LOUISBOURG  AND  ACADIA.  [1711-1713. 

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 
or  captured  nearly  seventy  of  them.  This  com- 
pletely changed  the  attitude  of  the  Acadian  s. 
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,  desertion,  and  the  ambuscade  had  reduced 
the  garrison  to  about  two  hundred  effective  men, 
and  the  defences  of  the  place  were  still  in  bad 
condition.1  The  assailants,  on  the  other  hand,  had 
no  better  leader  than  the  priest,  Gaulin,  missionary 
of  the  Micmacs  and  prime  mover  in  the  rising. 
He  presently  sailed  for  Placentia  to  beg  for 
munitions  and  a  commander;  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,  instruc- 


1  Narrative  of  Paul  Mascarene,  addressed  to  Nicholson.  According 
to  French  accounts,  a  pestilence  at  Annapolis  had  carried  off  three  fourths 
of  the  garrison.  Gaulin  a  -  5  Sept.  1711;  Cahouet  au  Ministre,  20 
Juillet,  1711.  In  reality  a  little  more  than  one  hundred  had  died. 


1713.]  CREEDS  AND  POLITICS.  185 

tions,  or  money.1  Acadia  seemed  forgotten  by  the 
ministry,  till  Vetch  heard  at  last  that  Nicholson 
was  appointed  to  succeed  him. 

Now  followed  the  Treaty  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  other 
distant  French  colony,  and  its  place  supplied  by 
Protestant  families  sent  from  England  or  Ireland.2 
Since  the  English  Revolution,  Protestantism  was 
bound  up  with  the  new  political  order,  and  Catholi- 
cism with  the  old.  No  Catholic  could  favor  the 
Protestant  succession,  and  hence  politics  were  in- 
separable from  creed.  Vetch,  who  came  of  a  race 
of  hot  and  stubborn  Covenanters,  had  been  one 
of  the  most  earnest  for  replacing  the  Catholic  Aca- 
dians by  Protestants ;  but  after  the  peace  he  and 
others  changed  their  minds.  No  Protestant  colo- 
nists 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  Isle  Royale,  which  would 
thus  become  a  strong  and  dangerous  neighbor  to  the 
feeble  British  post  of  Annapolis.  Moreover,  the 
labor  of  the  French  inhabitants  was  useful  and 


1  Passages  from  Vetch's  letters,  in  Patterson,  Memoir  of  Vetch. 

2  Vetch  to  the  Earl  of  Dartmouth,  22  Jan.  1711  ;  Memorial  of  Council  of 
War  at  Annapolis,  14  Oct.  1710. 


186  LOUISBOURG  AND  ACADIA.  [1713,  1714. 

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 
inclination  to  leave  their  homes.  But  the  French 
authorities  needed  them  at  Isle  Koyale,  and  made 
every  effort  to  draw  them  thither.  By  the  four- 
teenth 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  with  them 
their  personal  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  Felix  Pain  had  reported,  as  we 
have  seen,  that  they  were,  in  general,  disposed  to 
remain  where  they  were ;  on  which  Costehelle, 
who  now  commanded  at  Louisbourg,  sent  two  offi- 
cers, La  Ronde  Denys  and  Pensens,  with  instruc- 
tions to  set  the  priests  at  work  to  persuade  their 
flocks  to  move.1  La  Ronde  Denys  and  his  col- 
league repaired  to  Annapolis,  where  they  promised 
the  inhabitants  vessels  for  their  removal,  provi- 
sions for  a  year,  and  freedom  from  all  taxation  for 
ten  years.  Then,  having  been  well  prepared  in 
advance,  the  heads  of  families  were  formed  in  a 
circle,  and  in  presence  of  the  English  Governor, 

1  Costebelle,  Instruction  au  Capitaine  de  la  Ronde,  1714. 


1713-1715.]  ENGLISH  AND  ACADIANS.  187 

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.1  A 
few  embarked  at  once  for  Isle  Royale  in  the  ves- 
sel u  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  all.  The  Acadians  about  Annapolis 
had  been  alienated  by  the  conduct  of  the  English 
authorities,  which  was  not  conciliating,  and  on  the 
part  of  the  Governor  was  sometimes  outrageous.2 
Yet  those  of  the  banlieue  had  no  right  to  com- 
plain, since  they  had  made  themselves  liable  to 
the  penalties  of  treason  by  first  taking  an  oath 
of  allegiance  to  Queen  Anne,  and  then  breaking 
it  by  trying  to  seize  her  fort.3 

Governor  Nicholson,  like  his  predecessor,  was 
resolved  to  keep  the  Acadians  in  the  province  if 
he  could.  This  personage,  able,  energetic,  per- 
verse, headstrong,  and  unscrupulous,  conducted 
himself,  even  towards  the  English  officers  and  sol- 


1  Ecrit  des  Habitants  d" Annapolis  Royale,  25  Aoust,  1714;  Memoire  de 
La  Ronde  Denys,  30  Aoust,  1714. 

2  In  1711,  however,  the  missionary  Felix  Pain  says,  "  The  English  have 

treated  the  Acadians  with  much  humanity."    Pere  Felix  a 8  Sept. 

1711. 

3  This  was  the  oath  taken  after  the  capitulation,  which  bound  those 
who  took  it  to  allegiance  so  long  as  they  remained  in  the  province. 


188  LOUISBOURG  AND  ACADIA.  [1713-1715. 

diers,  in  a  manner  that  seems  unaccountable,  and 
that  kindled  their  utmost  indignation.1  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,  and  the  French  authorities  at 
Louisbourg  sent  them  the  necessary  rigging.  Nich- 
olson ordered  it  back,  forbade  the  sale  of  their 
lands  and  houses,  —  a  needless  stretch  of  power, 
as  there  was  nobody  to  buy,  —  and  would  not  let 
them  sell  even  their  personal  effects,  coolly  setting 
at  nought  both  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht  and  the  letter 
of  the  Queen.2 

Nicholson  was  but  a  short  time  at  Annapolis, 
leaving  the  government,  during  most  of  his  term, 
to  his  deputies,  Caulfield  and  afterwards  Doucette, 
both  of  whom  roundly  denounce  their  principal  for 
his  general  conduct,  while  both,  in  one  degree  or 
another,  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 
hunger.3 

From  Annapolis  the  French  agents,  La  Eonde 
Denys  and  Pensens,  proceeded  to  the  settlements 


1  "As  he  used  to  curse  and  Damm  Governor  Vetch  and  all  his  friends, 
he  is  now  served  himself  in  the  same  manner."    Adams  to  Steele,  24  Jan. 
1715. 

2  For  a  great  number  of  extracts  from  documents  on  this  subject  see 
a  paper  by  Abbe   Casgrain   in    Canada  Fran$ais,  I.  411-414;   also  the 
documentary  supplement  of  the  same  publication. 

3  La  Ronde  Denys  au  Ministre,  3  D&.  1715. 


1713-1720.]  ENGLISH  AND   ACADIANS.  189 

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  enough  to 
promise,  but  slow  to  perform.  While  declaring 
with  perfect  sincerity  their  devotion  to  "  our  in- 
vincible monarch,"  as  they  called  King  Louis,  who 
had  just  been  compelled  to  surrender  their  country, 
they  clung  tenaciously  to  the  abodes  of  their  fa- 
thers. If  they  had  wished  to  emigrate,  the  English 
Governor  had  no  power  to  stop  them.  From  Baye 
Yerte,  on  the  isthmus,  they  had  frequent  and  easy 
communication  with  the  French  at  Louisbourg, 
which  the  English  did  not  and  could  not  interrupt. 
They  were  armed,  and  they  far  outnumbered  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  itself,  is  an 
unjust  reproach  upon  a  people  who,  though  igno- 
rant and  weak  of  purpose^  were  not  wanting  in 
physical  courage.  The  truth  is  that  from  this 
time  to  their  forced  expatriation  in  1755,  all  the 
Acadians  except  those  of  Annapolis  and  its  imme- 
diate neighborhood  were  free  to  go  or  stay  at  will. 
Those  of  the  eastern  parts  of  the  province  espe- 
cially, who  formed  the  greater  part  of  the  popu- 
lation, were  completely  their  own  masters.  This 
was  well  known  to  the  French  authorities.  The 


190  LOUISBOURG  AND  AC  ADI  A.  [1713-1720. 

Governor  of  Louisbourg  complains  of  the  apathy  of 
the  Acadians.1  Saint-Ovide  declares  that  they  do 
not  want  to  fulfil  the  intentions  of  the  King  and 
remove  to  IsleRoyale.  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,  and  the  nominal 
sovereignty  resided  at  Annapolis,  in  the  keeping 
of  the  miserable  little  fort  and  the  puny  garrison, 
which  as  late  as  1743  consisted  of  but  five  com- 
panies, counting,  when  the  ranks  were  full,  thirty- 
one  men  each.2  More  troops  were  often  asked  for, 
and  once  or  twice  were  promised ;  but  they  were 
never  sent.  "  This  has  been  hitherto  no  more 
than  a  mock  government,  its  authority  never  yet 
having  extended  beyond  cannon-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."3 
Philipps  repaired  the  fort,  which,  as  the  engineer 

1  Costebelle  au  Ministre,  15  Jan.  1715. 

2  Governor  Mascarene  to  the  Secretary  of  State,  1  Dec.  1743.     At  this 
time  there  was  also  a  blockhouse  at  Canso,  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  breaches  sufficiently  wide  for  fifty 
men  to  enter  abreast." 

8  Philipps  to  Secretary  Craggs,  26  Sept.  1720. 


1715-1749.]  ACADIAN  POPULATION.  191 

Mascarene  says,  "  had  lain  tumbling  down  "  before 
his  arrival ;  but  Annapolis  and  the  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.1 

While  this  seat  of  British  sovereignty  remained 
in  unchanging  feebleness  for  more  than  forty 
years,  the  French  Acadians  were  multiplying 
apace.  Before  1749  they  were  the  only  white 
inhabitants  of  the  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  banlieue  of  Annapolis, 
and  were  therefore  more  or  less  under  English 
control.  They  were  all  alike  a  simple  and  igno- 
rant peasantry,  prosperous  in  their  humble  way, 
and  happy  when  rival  masters  ceased  from  troub- 
ling, though  vexed  with  incessant  quarrels  among 
themselves,  rising  from  the  unsettled  boundaries 
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  their  strong  appetite  for  litiga- 
tion free  of  cost ;  for  when,  as  often  happened, 
they  brought  their  land  disputes  before  the  Council 

1  Selections  from  the  Public  Documents  of  Nova  Scotia,  18,  note. 


192  LOUISBOURG  AND   ACADIA.  [1715-1749. 

at  Annapolis,  the  cases  were  settled  and  the  liti- 
gants paid  no  fees.  Their  communication  with 
the  English  officials  was  carried  on  through  depu- 
ties 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,  Aca- 
dia  was  as  completely  let  alone  by  the  British 
government  as  Rhode  Island  or  Connecticut.  Un- 
fortunately, the  traditional  British  policy  of  inac- 
tion towards  her  colonies  was  not  applicable  in 
the  case  of  a  newly  conquered  province  with  a 
disaffected  population  and  active,  enterprising, 
and  martial  neighbors  bent  on  recovering  what 
they  had  lost.  Yet  it  might  be  supposed  that  a 
neglect  so  invigorating  in  other  cases,  might  have 
developed  among  the  Acadians  habits  of  self- 
reliance  and  faculties  of  self -care.  The  reverse 
took  place ;  for  if  England  neglected  Acadia, 
France  did  not;  and  though  she  had  renounced 
her  title  to  it,  she  still  did  her  best  to  master  it 
and  make  it  hers  again.  The  chief  instrument  of 
her  aggressive  policy  was  the  Governor  of  Isle 
Royale,  whose  station  was  the  fortress  of  Louis- 
bourg,  and  who  was  charged  with  the  management 
of  Acadian  affairs.  At  all  the  Acadian  settle- 
ments he  had  zealous  and  efficient  agents  in  the 
missionary  priests,  who  were  sent  into  the  province 
by  the  Bishop  of  Quebec,  or  in  a  few  cases  by  their 
immediate  ecclesiastical  superiors  in  Isle  Royale. 

The  Treaty  of  Utrecht  secured  freedom  of  wor- 
ship to  the  Acadians  under  certain  conditions. 


1713-1749.]  ACADIAN  MISSIONARIES.  193 

These  were  that  they  should  accept  the  sovereignty 
of  the  British  Crown,  and  that  they  and  their 
pastors  should  keep  within  the  limits  of  British 
law.1  Even  supposing  that  by  swearing  allegiance 
to  Queen  Anne  the  Acadians  had  acquired  the 
freedom  of  worship  which  the  treaty  gave  them 
on  condition  of  their  becoming  British  subjects,  it 
would  have  been  an  abuse  of  this  freedom  to  use 
it  for  subverting  the  power  that  had  granted  it. 
Yet  this  is  what  the  missionaries  did.  They  were 
not  only  priests  of  the  Roman  Church,  they  were 
also  agents  of  the  King  of  France ;  and  from  first 
to  last  they  labored  against  the  British  govern- 
ment in  the  country  that  France  had  ceded  to  the 
British  Crown.  So  confident  were  they,  and  with 
so  much  reason,  of  the  weakness  of  their  oppo- 
nents that  they  openly  avowed  that  their  object 
was  to  keep  the  Acadians  faithful  to  King  Louis. 
When  two  of  their  number,  Saint-Poncy  and 
Chevereaux,  were  summoned  before  the  Council  at 
Annapolis,  they  answered,  with  great  contempt, 
"  We  are  here  on  the  business  of  the  King  of 
France."  They  were  ordered  to  leave  Acadia. 
One  of  them  stopped  among  the  Indians  at  Cape 
Sable  ;  the  other,  in  defiance  of  the  Council,  was 
sent  back  to  Annapolis  by  the  Governor  of  Isle 
Royale.2  Apparently  he  was  again  ordered  away  ; 

1  "Those  who  are  willing  to  remain  there  fin  Acadia]  and  to  be  subject 
to  the  kingdom  of  Great  Britain,  are  to  enjoy  the  free  exercise  of  their 
religion  according  to  the  usage  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  as  far  as  the  laws 
of  Great  Britain  do  allow  the  same."     Treaty  of  Utrecht,  14th  article. 

2  Minutes  of  Council,  18  May,  1736.     Governor  Armstrong  to  the  Sec- 
retary of  State,  22  Nov.  1736. 

VOL.  I.  —  13 


194  LOUISBOURG  AND  ACADIA.  [1713-1749. 

for  four  years  later  the  French  Governor,  in  expec- 
tation of  speedy  war,  sent  him  to  Chignecto  with 
orders  secretly  to  prepare  the  Acadians  for  an 
attack  on  Annapolis.1 

The  political  work  of  the  missionaries  began 
with  the  cession  of  the  colony,  and  continued  with 
increasing  activity  till  1755,  kindling  the  impo- 
tent wrath  of  the  British  officials,  and  drawing 
forth  the  bitter  complaints  of  every  successive 
Governor.  For  this  world  and  the  next,  the  priests 
were  fathers  of  their  flocks,  generally  commanding 
their  attachment,  and  always  their  obedience.  Ex- 
cept in  questions  of  disputed  boundaries,  where 
the  Council  alone  could  settle  the  title,  the  ecclesi- 
astics took  the  place  of  judges  and  courts  of  jus- 
tice, enforcing  their  decisions  by  refusal  of  the 
sacraments.2  They  often  treated  the  British  offi- 
cials with  open  scorn.  Governor  Armstrong  writes 
to  the  Lords  of  Trade  :  "  Without  some  particular 
directions  as  to  the  insolent  behavior  of  those 
priests,  the  people  will  never  be  brought  to  obedi- 
ence, being  by  them  incited  to  daily  acts  of  rebel- 
lion." Another  Governor  complains  that  they  tell 
the  Acadians  of  the  destitution  of  the  soldiers 
and  the  ruinous  state  of  the  fort,  and  assure  them 
that  the  Pretender  will  soon  be  king  of  England, 
and  that  Acadia  wrill  then  return  to  France.3  "  The 
bearer,  Captain  Bennett,"  writes  Armstrong,  "  can 
further  tell  your  Grace  of  the  disposition  of  the 

1  Minutes  of  Council,  18  Sept.  1740,  in  2Vbya  Scotia  Archives. 

2  Governor  Mascarene  to  Pere  dcs  Enclaves,  29  Juin,  1741. 

8  Deputy-Governor  Doucette  to  the  Secretary  of  State,  5  Nov.  1717. 


1723-1749.]        COMPLAINTS  AGAINST  PRIESTS.  195 

French  inhabitants  of  this  province,  and  of  the 
conduct  of  their  missionary  priests,  who  instil 
hatred  into  both  Indians  and  French  against  the 
English."  1  As  to  the  Indians,  Governor  Philipps 
declares  that  their  priests  hear  a  general  confes- 
sion from  them  twice  a  year,  and  give  them  abso- 
lution on  condition  of  always  being  enemies  of  the 
English.2  The  condition  was  easy,  thanks  to  the 
neglect  of  the  British  government,  which  took  no 
pains  to  conciliate  the  Micmacs,  while  the  French 
Governor  of  Isle  Royale  corresponded  secretly  with 
them  and  made  them  yearly  presents. 

In  1720  Philipps  advised  the  recall  of  the 
French  priests,  and  the  sending  of  others  in  their 
place,  as  the  only  means  of  making  British  subjects 
of  the  Acadians,3  who  at  that  time,  having  con- 
stantly refused  the  oath  of  allegiance,  were  not 
entitled,  under  the  treaty,  to  the  exercise  of  their 
religion.  Governor  Armstrong  wrote  sixteen  years 
after :  "  By  some  of  the  above  papers  your  Grace 
will  be  informed  how  high  the  French  government 
carries  its  pretensions  over  its  priests'  obedience ; 
and  how  to  prevent  the  evil  consequences  I  know 
not,  unless  we  could  have  missionaries  from  places 
independent  of  that  Crown."4  He  expresses  a 
well-grounded  doubt  whether  the  home  govern- 
ment will  be  at  the  trouble  and  expense  of  such  a 

1  Governor  Armstrong  to  the  Secretary  of  State,  30  April,  1727. 

2  Governor  Philipps  to  Secretary  Craggs,  26  Sept.  1720. 

3  Governor  Philipps  to  Secretary  Craggs,  26  May,  1720. 

4  Armstrong  to  the  Secretary  of  State,  22  Nov.  1736.      The  dismissal 
of  French  priests  and  the  substitution  of  others  was  again  recommended 
some  time  after. 


196  LOUIS  BOURG  AND   ACADIA.  [1713-1749. 

change,  though  he  adds  that  there  is  not  a  mis- 
sionary among  either  Acadians  or  Indians  who  is 
not  in  the  pay  of  France.1  Gaulin,  missionary  of 
the  Micmacs,  received  a  "  gratification  "  of  fifteen 
hundred  livres,  besides  an  annual  allowance  of  five 
hundred,  and  is  described  in  the  order  granting  it 
as  a  "brave  man,  capable  even  of  leading  these 
savages  on  an  expedition." 2  In  1726  he  was 
brought  before  the  Council  at  Annapolis  charged 
with  incendiary  conduct  among  both  Indians  and 
Acadians ;  but  on  asking  pardon  and  promising 
never  more  to  busy  himself  with  affairs  of  govern- 
ment, he  was  allowed  to  remain  in  the  province, 
and  even  to  act  as  cure  of  the  Mines.3  No  evi- 
dence appears  that  the  British  authorities  ever 
molested  a  priest,  except  when  detected  in  prac- 
tices alien  to  his  proper  functions  and  injurious 
to  the  government.  On  one  occasion  when  two 
cures  were  vacant,  one  through  sedition  and  the 
other  apparently  through  illness  or  death,  Lieute- 
nant-Governor  Armstrong  requested  the  Governor 
of  Isle  Royale  to  send  two  priests  "  of  known 
probity"  to  fill  them.4 

1  The  motives  for  paying  priests  for  instructing  the  people  of  a  pro- 
vince ceded  to  England  are  given  in  a  report  of  the  French  Marine 
Council.     The   Acadiaus   "ne   pourront   jamais   conserver  un   veritable 
attachement  a  la  religion  et  a  leur  le'gitime  souverain  sans  le  secours  d'un 
missionnaire  "  (Deliberations  du  Conseil  de  Marine,  23  Mai,    1719,  in   Le 
Canada-Francais).     The  Intendant  Begon  highly  commends  the  efforts 
of  the  missionaries  to  keep  the  Acadians  in  the  French  interest  (Begon 
an  Ministre,  25  Sept.  1715),  and  Vaudreuil  praises  their  zeal  in  the  same 
cause  (Vaudreuil  au  Ministre,  31  Oct.  1717). 

2  Deliberations  du  Conseil  de  Marine,  3  Mai,  1718. 

3  Record  of  Council  at  Annapolis,  11  and  24  Oct.  1726. 

4  Armstrong  to  Saint-Ovide,  17  June,  1732. 


1713-1749.]  THE  OATH   OF    ALLEGIANCE.  197 

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  was  not  mainly  the  Crown  of 
France  nor  its  agents,  secular  or  clerical.  Their 
action  under  the  circumstances,  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  prov- 
ince 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  consid- 
ering, 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  bind  the  inhabitants  by  an  oath  of  alle- 
giance which  the  weakness  of  the  government 
would  constantly  tempt  them  to  break.  When 


198  LOUISBOURG  AND  ACADIA.  [1714-1720. 

George  I.  came  to  the  throne,  Deputy-Governor 
Caulfield  tried  to  induce  the  inhabitants  to  swear 
allegiance  to  the  new  monarch.  The  Acadians 
asked  advice  of  Saint-Ovide,  governor  at  Louis- 
bourg,  who  sent  them  elaborate  directions  how  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  the 
Acadians  a  year  in  which  to  choose  between  re- 
maining 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  officers  at  Isle  Royale  strenuously  opposed 
his  efforts.  He  issued  a  proclamation  ordering 
the  Acadians  to  swear  allegiance  to  the  King  of 
England  or  leave  the  country,  without  their  prop- 
erty, within  four  months.  In  great  alarm,  they 
appealed  to  their  priests,  and  begged  the  Recollet, 
Pere  Justinien,  cure  of  Mines,  to  ask  advice  and 
help  from  Saint-Ovide,  successor  of  Costebelle  at 
Louisbourg,  protesting  that  they  would  abandon 
all  rather  than  renounce  their  religion  and  their 
King.1  At  the  same  time  they  prepared  for  a 

1  The  Acadians  to  Saint-Ovide,  6  May,  1720,  in  Public  Documents  of 
Nova  Scotia,  25.  This  letter  was  evidently  written  for  them,  —  no  doubt 
by  a  missionary. 


1720.]  THE   OATH  OF  ALLEGIANCE.  199 

general  emigration  by  way  of  the  isthmus  and 
Baye  Verte,  where  it  would  have  been  impossible 
to  stop  them.1 

Without  the  influence  of  their  spiritual  and 
temporal  advisers,  to  whom  they  turned  in  all 
their  troubles,  it  is  clear  that  the  Acadians  would 
have  taken  the  oath  and  remained  in  tranquil  en- 
joyment 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  Brit- 
ish 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  proclamation ; 
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,  with- 
out 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  ob- 
served that  while  the  French  officers  and  priests 
had  such  influence  over  the  Acadians,  they  would 
never  be  good  subjects,  and  so  had  better  be  put 

1  "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, 
26  Alay,  1720. 


200  LOUISBOURG  AND   ACADIA.  [1726-1730. 

out  of  the  country.1  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.2 

Philipps  was  succeeded  by  a  deputy-governor, 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Armstrong,  —  a  person  of  ar- 
dent impulses  and  unstable  disposition.  He  applied 
himself  with  great  zeal  and  apparent  confidence  to 
accomplishing  the  task  in  which  his  principal  had 
failed.  In  fact,  he  succeeded  in  1726  in  persuad- 
ing the  inhabitants  about  Annapolis  to  take  the 
oath,  with  a  proviso  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  en- 
voy's instructions  left  much  to  his  discretion  or 
his  indiscretion,  and  he  came  back  with  the  signa- 
tures, 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 

1  The  Board  of  Trade  to  Philipps,  28  Dec.  1720. 

2  Deliberations  du  Conseil  de  Marine,  Aoust,  1720.     The  attempt  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.  201 

were  brought  to  do  so.  Compulsion  was  out  of 
the  question.  They  could  have  cut  to  pieces 
any  part  of  the  paltry  English  garrison  that 
might  venture  outside  the  ditches  of  Annapolis, 
or  they  might  have  left  Acadia,  with  all  their 
goods  and  chattels,  with  no  possibility  of  stop- 
ping them.  The  taking  of  the  oath  was  there- 
fore a  voluntary  act. 

But  what  was  the  oath  ?  The  words  reported 
by  Philipps  were  as  follows :  u  I  promise  and 
swear  sincerely,  on  the  faith  of  a  Christian,  that  I 
will  be  entirely  faithful,  and  will  truly  obey  his 
Majesty  King  George  the  Second,  whom  I  recog- 
nize as  sovereign  lord  of  Acadia  or  Nova  Scotia. 
So  help  me  God."  To  this  the  Acadians  affixed 
their  crosses,  or,  in  exceptional  cases,  their  names. 
Kecently,  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  Eng- 
lish. This  statement  is  made  by  Gaudalie,  cure 
of  the  parish  of  Mines,  and  Noiville,  priest  at 
Pigiquid,  or  Pisiquid,  now  Windsor.1  In  fact,  the 
English  never  had  the  folly  to  call  on  the  Acadi- 
ans to  fight  for  them  ;  and  the  greater  part  of  this 
peace-loving  people  were  true  to  their  promise  not 

1  Certificat  de  Charles  de  la  Gaudalie,  pretre,  cure  missionnaire  de  la 
paroisse  des  Mines,  et  Noel-AIexandre  Noiville,  .  .  .  cure  de  I'Assomption 
et  de  la  Sainte  Famille  de  Piaiguit ;  printed  in  Rameau,  Une  Colonie 
Fe'odale  en  Ame'rique  (ed.  1889)  II.  53. 


202  LOUISBOURG  AND  AC  ADI  A.  [1730. 

to  take  arms  against  the  English,  though  a  consid- 
erable number  of  them  did  so,  especially  at  the 
beginning  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  tem- 
poral guides.  Not  one  of  their  number  stands  out 
prominently  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  others.  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  popu- 
lation, which  increased  rapidly,  and  could  always 
be  kept  French  at  heart,  might  be  made  more  use- 
ful to  France  in  Acadia  than  out  of  it,  and  that 
it  was  needless  farther  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  sometimes  complained  of  the  reluctance 
of  the  Acadians  to  move  to  Isle  Royale,  those  who 
directed  them  in  their  own  country  seem  to  have 
become  willing  that  they  should  stay  where  they 


1730.]  THE   OATH  TAKEN.  203 

were  and  place  themselves  in  such  relations  with 
the  English  as  should  leave  them  free  to  increase 
and  multiply  undisturbed.  Deceived  by  the  long 
apathy  of  the  British  government,  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.1 

1  The  preceding  chapter  is  based  largely  on  two  collections  of  doc- 
uments relating  to  Acadia,  —  the  Nova  Scotia  Archives,  or  Selections  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-Fran$ais,  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  the  Nova  Scotia  Archives,  leans 
to  the  other  side,  so  that  the  two  collections  supplement  each  other. 
Both  are  copious  and  valuable.  Besides  these,  I  have  made  use  of  various 
documents  from  the  archives  of  Paris  not  to  be  found  in  either  of  the 
above-named  collections. 


CHAPTER  X. 

1713-1724. 

SEBASTIEN  RALE. 

BOUNDARY  DISPUTES.  —  OUTPOSTS  OP  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. 

—  GOVERNOR  AND  ASSEMBLY.  —  SPEECH   OF   SAMUEL   SEWALL.  — 
PENOBSCOTS  ATTACK    FORT    ST.   GEORGE.  —  REPRISAL.  —  ATTACK 
ON  NORRIDGEWOCK.  —  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  of  all  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  was  put  off  for  forty 
years,  and  then  their  discussions  ended  in  the 
Seven  Years'  War.  The  claims  of  the  rival 
nations  were  in  fact  so  discordant  that  any 


1713-1720.]  THE   KENNEBEC.  205 

attempt  to  reconcile  them  must  needs  produce 
a  fresh  quarrel.  The  treaty  had  left  a  choice 
of  evils.  To  discuss  the  boundary  question  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  produced  a 
small  one. 

The  river  Kennebec,  which  was  generally  ad- 
mitted by  the  French  to  be  the  dividing  line 
between  their  possessions  and  New  England,1  was 
regarded  by  them  with  the  most  watchful  jealousy. 
Its  headwaters  approached  those  of  the  Canadian 
river  Chaudiere,  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  purpose  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  to  aid  in 
opposing  a  living  barrier  to  English  intrusion. 
Missionaries  were  stationed  among  all  these 

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. 


206  SEBASTIEN  KALE.  [1630-1650. 

Indians  to  keep  them  true  to  Church  and  King. 
The  most  important  station,  that  of  the  Norridge- 
wocks,  was  in  charge  of  Father  Sebastien  Rale,  the 
most  conspicuous  and  interesting  figure  among  the 
later  French-American  Jesuits. 

Since  the  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.1  The  movement  in  Western  Europe  known 
as  the  Renaissance  was  far  more  than  a  revival 
of  arts  and  letters,  —  it  was  an  awakening  of  in- 
tellectual, moral,  and  religious  life ;  the  offspring 
of  causes  long  in  action,  and  the  parent  of  other 
movements  in  action  to  this  day.  The  Protestant 
Reformation  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  herself  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  mar- 
tyrs. That  time  of  danger  produced  the  exalted 
zeal  of  Xavier  and  the  intense,  thoughtful,  or- 
ganizing zeal  of  Loyola.  After  a  century  had 
passed,  the  flame  still  burned,  and  it  never  shone 
with  a  purer  or  brighter  radiance  than  in  the 
early  missions  of  New  France. 

Such  ardors  cannot  be  permanent ;    they  must 
subside,  from  the  law  of  their  nature.    If  the  great 

1  See  Jesuits  in  North  America  in  the  Seventeenth  Century. 


1713-1720.]  EARLIER   AND   LATER  JESUITS.  207 

Western  mission  had  been  a  success,  the  enthusiasm 
of  its  founders  might  have  maintained  itself  for 
some  time  longer;  but  that  mission  was  extin- 
guished in  blood.  Its  martyrs  died  in  vain,  and 
the  burning  faith  that  had  created  it  was  rudely 
tried.  Canada  ceased  to  be  a  mission.  The  civil 
and  military  powers  grew  strong,  and  the  Church 
no  longer  ruled  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  members, 
and  gives  to  each  the  task  for  which  he  is  fitted 
best.  When  its  aim  was  to  convert  savage  hordes 
and  build  up  another  Paraguay  in  the  Northern 
wilderness,  it  sent  a  Jogues,  a  Brebeuf,  a  Charles 
Gamier,  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 
himself  necessary  to  them,  and  in  good  measure  he 
succeeded.  Nobody  was  so  able  to  manage  the 
Indian  tribes  and  keep  them  in  the  interest  of 
France.  "Religion,"  says  Charlevoix,  "is  the 
chief  bond  by  which  the  savages  are  attached  to 


208  SEBASTIEN  RALE.  [1713-1724. 

us ; "  and  it  was  the  Jesuit  above  all  others  who 
was  charged  to  keep  this  bond  firm. 

The  Christianity  that  was  made  to  serve  this 
useful  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 
the  Jesuits  remained  a  savage  still.  They  did  not 
even  try  to  civilize  him.  They  taught  him  to 
repeat  a  catechism  which  he  could  not  understand, 
and  practise  rites  of  which  the  spiritual  signifi- 
cance was  incomprehensible  to  him.  He  saw  the 
symbols  of  his  new  faith  in  much  the  same  ligbt 
as  the  superstitions  that  had  once  enchained 
him.  To  his  eyes  the  crucifix  was  a  fetich  of  sur- 
passing power,  and  the  Mass  a  beneficent  "  medi- 
cine," 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  among  them  had  received  less  atten- 
tion, and  most  of  these  tribes  had  relapsed  into 
heathenism.  The  chief  danger  had  shifted  east- 
ward, and  was,  or  was  supposed  to  be,  in  the 
direction  of  New  England.  Therefore  the  Eastern 
missions  were  cultivated  with  diligence,  whether 
those  within  or  adjoining  the  settled  limits  of 
Canada,  like  the  Iroquois  mission  of  Caughnawaga, 
the  Abenaki  missions  of  St.  Francis  and  Becan- 
cour,  and  the  Huron  mission  of  Lorette,  or  those 


1713-1724*.]  NORRIDGEWOCK.  209 

that  served  as  outposts  and  advance-guards  of 
the  colony,  like  the  Norridgewock  Abenakis  of  the 
Kennebec,  or  the  Penobscot  Abenakis  of  the  Penob- 
scot.  The  priests  at  all  these  stations  were  in  close 
correspondence  with  the  government,'  to  which 
their  influence  over  their  converts  was  invaluable. 
In  the  wilderness  dens  of  the  Hurons  or  the  Iro- 
quois,  the  early  Jesuit  was  a  marvel  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,1  born  in  Franche-Comte  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  thence  to  the  Abenakis  of 
the  Kennebec,  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  the  Norridgewocks,  fenced  with 
a  stockade  of  round  logs  nine  feet  high.  The 
enclosure  was  square ;  each  of  its  four  sides 
measured  one  hundred  and  sixty  feet,  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, 

1  So  written  by  himself  in  an  autograph  letter  of  18  Nov.  1712.     It  is 
also  spelled  Rasle,  Rasles,  Ralle,  and,  very  incorrectly,  Ralle,  or  Rallee. 
VOL.  i.  — 14 


210  SEBASTIEN  RALE.  [1713-1720. 

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.1  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 
purpose.2  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 
converts,  counselled  their  seniors  for  this  world 
and  the  next,  nursed  them  in  sickness,  composed 
their  quarrels,  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.3  Twice  a  year,  summer  and  winter, 
he  followed  his  flock  to  the  sea-shore  and  the  islands, 


1  The  above  particulars  are  taken  from  an  inscription  on  a  manuscript 
map  in  the  library  of  the  Maine  Historical  Society,  made  in  1716  by  Joseph 
Heath,  one  of  the  principal  English  settlers  on  the  Kennebec,  and  for 
a  time  commandant  of  the  fort  at  Brunswick. 

2  When  Colonel  Westbrook  and  his  men  came  to  Norridgewock  in 
1722,  they  found  a  paper  pinned  to  the  church  door,  containing,  among 
others,  the  following  words,  in  the  handwriting  of  "Rale,  meant  as  a  fling 
at  the  English  invaders  :  "It  [the  church]  is  ill  built,  because  the  English 
don't  work  well.     It  is  not  finished,  although  five  or  six  Englishmen  have 
wrought  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. 

8  Myrica  cerifera. 


1713-1720.]  THE  KENNEBEC  MISSION.  .        211 

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  conjurors,  or 
"  medicine  men,"  —  natural  enemies  of  the  mission- 
ary, —  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  reverence.  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.1 

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  other  Indian  languages  as  he  was  with 
Latin.2  Of  the  genuineness  of  his  zeal  there  is  no 
doubt,  nor  of  his  earnest  and  lively  interest  in  the 
fortunes  of  the  wilderness  flock  of  which  he  was 
the  shepherd  for  half  his  life.  The  situation  was 
critical  for  them  and  for  him.  The  English 
settlements  were  but  a  short  distance  below,  while 

1  The  site  of  the  Indian  village   is  still   called  Indian  Old  Point. 
Norridgewock  is  the  Naurantsouak,   or  Narantsouak,  of    the    French. 
For  Rale's  mission  life,  see  two  letters  of  his,  15  Oct.  1722,  and  12  Oct. 
1722,  and  a  letter  of  Pere  La  Chasse,  Superior  of  the  Missions,  29  Oct. 
1724.     These  are  printed  in  the  Lettres  Edifiantes,  XVII.,  XXIII. 

2  Pere  La  Chasse,  in  his  eulogy  of  Rale,  says  that  there  was  not  a 
language  on  the  continent  with  which  he  had  not  some  acquaintance. 
This  is  of  course  absurd.     Besides  a  full  knowledge  of  the  Norridgewock 
Abenaki,  he  had  more  or  less  acquaintance  with  two  other  Algonkin 
languages,  —  the  Ottawa  and  the  Illinois,  —  and  also  with  the  Huron  ; 
which  is  enough  for  one  man. 


212        .  SEBASTIEN  RALE.  [1713. 

those  of  the  French  could  be  reached  only  by  a 
hard  journey  of  twelve  or  fourteen  days. 

With  two  intervals  of  uneasy  peace,  the  borders 
of  Maine  had  been  harried  by  war-parties  for 
thirty-eight  years ;  and  since  1689  these  raids  had 
been  prompted  and  aided  by  the  French.  Thus  it 
happened  that  extensive  tracts,  which  before 
Philip's  War  were  dotted  with  farm-houses  and 
fishing  hamlets,  had  been  abandoned,  and  culti- 
vated fields  were  turning  again  to  forests.  The 
village  of  Wells  had  become  the  eastern  frontier. 
But  now  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht  gave  promise  of 
lasting  tranquillity.  The  Abenakis,  hearing  that 
they  were  to  be  backed  no  longer  by  the  French, 
became  alarmed,  sent  messengers  to  Casco,  and 
asked  for  peace.  In  July  there  was  a  convention 
at  Portsmouth,  when  delegates  of  the  Norridge- 
wocks,  Penobscots,  Malecites,  arid  other  Abenaki 
bands  met  Governor  Dudley  and  the  councillors  of 
Massachusetts  and  New  Hampshire.  A  paper  was 
read  to  them  by  sworn  interpreters,  in  which  they 
confessed  that  they  had  broken  former  treaties, 
begged  pardon  for  "  past  rebellions,  hostilities,  and 
violations  of  promises,"  declared  themselves  sub- 
jects of  Queen  Anne,  pledged  firm  friendship  with 
the  English,  and  promised  them  that  they  might 
re-enter  without  molestation  on  all  their  former 
possessions.  Eight  of  the  principal  Abenaki  chiefs 
signed  this  document  with  their  totemic  marks, 
and  the  rest  did  so,  after  similar  interpretation,  at 
another  convention  in  the  next  year.1  Indians 

1  This  treaty  is  given  in  full  by  Penhallow.     It  is  also  printed  from 
the  original  draft  by  Mr.  Frederic  Kidder,  in  his  Abenaki  Indians :  their 


1713-1720.]  SETTLEMENTS  OF   MAINE.  213 

when  in  trouble  can  waive  their  pride  and  lavish 
professions  and  promises ;  but  when  the}7  called 
themselves  subjects  of  Queen  Anne,  it  is  safe  to 
say  that  they  did  not  know  what  the  wrords 
meant. 

Peace  with  the  Indians  was  no  sooner  concluded 
than  a  stream  of  settlers  began  to  move  eastward 
to  reoccupy  the  lands  that  they  owned  or  claimed 
in  the  region  of  the  lower  Kenriebec.  Much  of 
this  country  was  held  in  extensive  tracts,  under 
old  grants  of  the  last  century,  and  the  proprietors 
offered  great  inducements  to  attract  emigrants. 
The  government  of  Massachusetts,  though  im- 
poverished by  three  wars,  of  which  it  had  borne 
the  chief  burden,  added  what  encouragements  it 
could.  The  hamlets  of  Saco,  Scarborough,  Fal- 
inouth,  and  Georgetown  rose  from  their  ashes, 
mills  were  built  on  the  streams,  old  farms  were 
re  tilled,  and  new  ones  cleared.  A  certain  Dr. 
Noyes,  who  had  established  a  sturgeon  fishery  on 
the  Kennebec,  built  at  his  own  charge  a  stone  fort 
at  Cushnoc,  or  Augusta ;  and  it  is  said  that  as 
early  as  1714  a  blockhouse  was  built  many  miles 
above,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Sebasticook.1  In  the 
next  year,  Fort  George  was  built  at  the  lower  falls 

Treaties  of  17 13  and  17 17.  The  two  impress! ODS  are  substantially  the  same, 
but  with  verbal  variations.  The  version  of  Kidder  is  the  more  complete, 
in  giving  not  only  the  Indian  totemic  marks,  but  also  the  autographs  in 
fac-simile  of  all  the  English  officials.  Rale  gives  a  dramatic  account  of 
the  treaty,  which  he  may  have  got  from  the  Indians,  and  which  omits 
their  submission  and  their  promises. 

1  It  was  standing  in  1852,  and  a  sketch  of  it  is  given  by  Winsor, 
Narrative  and  Critical  History,  V-  185.  I  have  some  doubts  as  to  the 
date  of  erection. 


214  SEBASTIEN   RALE.  [1713-1720 

of  the  Androscoggin ;  and,  some  years  later,  Fort 
Richmond,  on  the  Kennebec,  at  the  site  of  the 
present  town  of  Richmond.1 

Some  of  the  claims  to  these  Kennebec  lands 
were  based  on  old  Crown  patents,  some  on  mere 
prescription,  some  on  Indian  titles,  good  or  bad. 
Rale  says  that  an  Englishman  would  give  an  In- 
dian a  bottle  of  rum,  and  get  from  him  in  return 
a  large  tract  of  land.2  Something  like  this  may 
have  happened;  though  in  other  cases  the  titles 
were  as  good  as  Indian  titles  usually  are,  the  deeds 
being  in  regular  form  and  signed  by  the  principal 
chiefs  for  a  consideration  which  they  thought 
sufficient.  The  lands  of  Indians,  however,  are 
owned,  so  far  as  owned  at  all,  by  the  whole  com- 
munity ;  and  in  the  case  of  the  Algonquin  tribes 
the  chiefs  had  no  real  authority  to  alienate  them 
without  the  consent  of  the  tribesmen.  Even 
supposing  this  consent  to  have  been  given,  the 
Norridgewocks  would  not  have  been  satisfied ;  for 
Rale  taught  them  that  they  could  not  part  with 
their  lands,  because  they  held  them  in  trust  for 
their  children,  to  whom  their  country  belonged  as 
much  as  to  themselves. 

Long  years  of  war  and  mutual  wrong  had  em- 
bittered the  Norridgewocks  against  their  English 
neighbors,  with  whom,  nevertheless,  they  wished 
to  be  at  peace,  because  they  feared  them,  and  be- 
cause their  trade  was  necessary  to  them. 

1  Williamson,  History  of  Maine,  II.  88,  97.     Compare  Penhallow. 

2  Remarks  out  of  the  Fryar  Sebastian  Rale's  Lftter  from  Norridgewock, 
Feb.  7,  1720,  in  the  Common  Place  Book  of  Rev.  Henry  Flynt. 


1713-1720.]  THE   INDIANS  ALARMED.  215 

The  English  borderers,  on  their  part,  regarded  the 
Indians  less  as  men  than  as  vicious  and  dangerous 
wild  animals.  In  fact,  the  benevolent  and  philan- 
thropic view  of  the  American  savage  is  for  those 
who  are  beyond  his  reach.  It  has  never  yet  been 
held  by  any  whose  wives  and  children  have  lived  in 
danger  of  his  scalping-knife.  In  Boston  and  other 
of  the  older  and  safer  settlements,  the  Indians  had 
found  devoted  friends  before  Philip's  War ;  and 
even  now  they  had  apologists  and  defenders, 
prominent  among  whom  was  that  relic  of  antique 
Puritanism,  old  Samuel  Sewall,  who  was  as  con- 
scientious and  humane  as  he  was  prosy,  narrow, 
and  sometimes  absurd,  and  whose  benevolence 
towards  the  former  owners  of  the  soil  was  trebly 
reinforced  by  his  notion  that  they  were  descend- 
ants of  the  ten  lost  tribes  of  Israel.1 

The  intrusion  of  settlers,  and  the  building  of 
forts  and  blockhouses  on  lands  which  they  still 
called  their  own,  irritated  and  alarmed  the  Nor- 
ridgewocks,  and  their  growing  resentment  was 
fomented  by  Rale,  both  because  he  shared  it  him- 
self, and  because  he  was  prompted  by  Vaudreuil. 
Yet,  dreading  another  war  with  the  English,  the 
Indians  kept  quiet  for  a  year  or  two,  till  at  length 
the  more  reckless  among  them  began  to  threaten 
and  pilfer  the  settlers. 

In  1716,  Colonel  Samuel  Shute  came  out  to  suc- 
ceed Dudley  as  governor,  and  in  the  next  summer 
he  called  the  Indians  to  a  council  at  Georgetown, 

1  SewaH's  Memorial  relating  to  the  Kennebec  Indians  is  an  argument 
against  war  with  them. 


216  SEBASTIEN  RALE.  [1717. 

a  settlement  on  Arrowsick  Island,  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Kennebec.  Thither  he  went  in  the  frigate 
"  Squirrel,"  with  the  councillors  of  Massachusetts 
and  New  Hampshire  ;  while  the  deputies  of  the 
Norridgewocks,  Penobscots,  Pequawkets,  or  Aben- 
akis  of  the  Saco,  and  Assagunticooks,  or  Abenakis 
of  the  Androscoggin,  came  in  canoes  to  meet  him, 
and  set  up  their  wigwams  on  a  neighboring  island. 
The  council  opened  on  the  9th  of  August,  under  a 
large  tent,  over  which  waved  the  British  flag. 
The  oath  was  administered  to  the  interpreters  by 
the  aged  Judge  Sewall,  and  Shute  then  made  the 
Indians  a  speech  in  which  he  told  them  that  the 
English  and  they  were  subjects  of  the  great,  good, 
and  wise  King  George  ;  that  as  both  peoples  were 
under  the  same  king,  he  would  gladly  see  them 
also  of  the  same  religion,  since  it  was  the  only 
true  one  ;  and  to  this  end  he  gave  them  a  Bible 
and  a  minister  to  teach  them,  —  pointing  to  Rev. 
Joseph  Baxter,  who  stood  near  by.  And  he  further 
assured  them  that  if  any  wrong  should  be  done 
them,  he  would  set  it  right.  He  then  conde- 
scended to  give  his  hand  to  the  chiefs,  telling 
them,  through  the  interpreter,  that  it  was  to  show 
his  affection. 

.  The  Indians,  after  their  usual  custom,  deferred 
their  answer  to  the  next  day,  when  the  council 
again  met,  and  the  Norridgewock  chief,  Wiwurna, 
addressed  the  Governor  as  spokesman  for  his  peo- 
ple. In  defiance  of  every  Indian  idea  of  propriety, 
Shute  soon  began  to  interrupt  him  with  questions 
and  remarks.  Wiwurna  remonstrated  civilly ;  but 


1717.]  COUNCIL  AT  GEORGETOWN.  217 

Shute  continued  his  interruptions,  and  the  speech 
turned  to  a  dialogue,  which  may  be  abridged  thus, 
Shute  always  addressing  himself,  not  to  the  Indian 
orator,  but  to  the  interpreter. 

The  orator  expressed  satisfaction  at  the  arrival 
of  the  Governor,  and  hoped  that  peace  and  friend- 
ship would  now  prevail. 

GOVERNOR  (to  the  interpreter).  Tell  them  that 
if  they  behave  themselves,  I  shall  use  them  kindly. 

ORATOR  (as  rendered  by  the  interpreter).  Your 
Excellency  was  pleased  to  say  that  we  must  obey 
King  George.  We  will  if  we  like  his  way  of 
treating  us. 

GOVERNOR.     They  must  obey  him. 

ORATOR.  We  will  if  we  are  not  disturbed  on 
our  lands. 

GOVERNOR.  Nor  must  they  disturb  the  English 
on  theirs. 

ORATOR.  We  are  pleased  that  your  Excellency 
is  ready  to  hear  our  complaints  when  wrong  is 
done  us. 

GOVERNOR.  They  must  not  pretend  to  lands 
that  belong  to  the  English. 

ORATOR.  We  beg  leave  to  go  on  in  order  with 
our  answer. 

GOVERNOR.     Tell  him  to  go  on. 

ORATOR.  If  there  should  be  any  quarrel  and 
bloodshed,  we  will  not  avenge  ourselves,  but  apply 
to  your  Excellency.  We  will  embrace  in  our 
bosoms  the  English  that  have  come  to  settle  on 
our  land. 

GOVERNOR.     They  must  not  call  it  their  land, 


218  SEBASTIEN  RALE.  [1717. 

for  the  English  have  bought  it  of  them  and  their 
ancestors. 

ORATOR.  We  pray  leave  to  proceed  with  our 
answer,  and  talk  about  the  land  afterwards. 

Wiwurna,  then,  with  much  civility,  begged  to 
be  excused  from  receiving  the  Bible  and  the  minis- 
ter, and  ended  by  wishing  the  Governor  good 
wind  and  weather  for  his  homeward  voyage. 

There  was  another  meeting  in  the  afternoon,  in 
which  the  orator  declared  that  his  people  were 
willing  that  the  English  should  settle  on  the  west 
side  of  the  Kennebec  as  far  up  the  river  as  a  cer- 
tain mill ;  on  which  the  Governor  said  to  the 
interpreter:  "Tell  them  we  want  nothing  but 
our  own,  and  that  that  we  will  have  ;  "  and  he 
ordered  an  old  deed  of  sale,  signed  by  six  of 
their  chiefs,  to  be  shown  and  explained  to  them. 
Wiwurna  returned  that  though  his  tribe  were  un- 
easy about  their  lands,  they  were  willing  that  the 
English  should  keep  what  they  had  got,  excepting 
the  forts.  On  this  point  there  was  a  sharp  dia- 
logue, and  Shute  said  bluntly  that  if  he  saw  fit,  he 
should  build  a  fort  at  every  new  settlement.  At 
this  all  the  Indians  rose  abruptly  and  went  back 
to  their  camp,  leaving  behind  an  English  flag  that 
had  been  given  them. 

Rale  was  at  the  Indian  camp,  and  some  of  them 
came  back  in  the  evening  with  a  letter  from  him, 
in  which  he  told  Shute  that  the  Governor  of  Can- 
ada had  asked  the  King  of  France  whether  he  had 
ever  given  the  Indians'  land  to  the  English,  to 
which  the  King  replied  that  he  had  not,  and 


1717.]  THE  TREATY.  219 

would  help  the  Indians  to  repel  any  encroachment 
upon  them.  This  cool  assumption  on  the  part  of 
France  of  paramount  right  to  the  Abenaki  coun- 
try incensed  Shute,  who  rejected  the  letter  with 
contempt. 

As  between  the  Governor  and  the  Indian  orator, 
the  savage  had  shown  himself  by  far  the  more 
mannerly;  yet  so  unwilling  were  the  Indians  to 
break  with  the  English  that  on  the  next  morning, 
seeing  Shute  about  to  re-embark,  they  sent  mes- 
sengers to  him  to  apologize  for  what  they  called 
their  rudeness,  beg  that  the  English  flag  might  be 
returned  to  them,  and  ask  for  another  interview, 
saying  that  they  would  appoint  another  spokes- 
man instead  of  Wiwurna,  who  had  given  so  much 
offence.  Shute  consented,  and  the  meeting  was 
held.  The  new  orator  presented  a  wampum  belt, 
expressed  a  wish  for  peace,  and  said  that  his  peo- 
ple wished  the  English  to  extend  their  settlements 
as  far  as  they  had  formerly  done.  Shute,  on  his 
part,  promised  that  trading-houses  should  be  estab- 
lished for  supplying  their  needs,  and  that  they 
should  have  a  smith  to  mend  their  guns,  and  an 
interpreter  of  their  own  choice.  Twenty  chiefs 
and  elders  then  affixed  their  totemic  marks  to  a 
paper,  renewing  the  pledges  made  four  years  be- 
fore at  Portsmouth,  and  the  meeting  closed  with  a 
dance  in  honor  of  the  Governor.1 

1  A  full  report  of  this  conference  was  printed  at  the  time  in  Boston. 
It  is  reprinted  in  N.  H.  Historical  Collections,  II.  242,  and  N.  H.  Pro- 
vincial Papers,  III.  693.  Penhallow  was  present  at  the  meeting,  but  his 
account  of  it  is  short.  The  accounts  of  Williamson  and  Hutchinson  are 
drawn  from  the  above-mentioned  report. 


220  SEBASTIEN  RALE.  [1717,1718. 

The  Indians,  as  we  have  seen,  had  shown  no  eager- 
ness to  accept  the  ministrations  of  Rev.  Joseph 
Baxter.  The  Massachusetts  Assembly  had  absurdly 
tried  to  counteract  the  influence  of  Rale  by  offer- 
ing £150  a  year  in  their  depreciated  currency 
to  any  one  of  their  ministers  who  would  teach 
Calvinism  to  the  Indians.  Baxter,  whom  Rale, 
with  characteristic  exaggeration,  calls  the  ablest 
of  the  Boston  ministers,  but  who  was  far  from 
being  so,  as  he  was  the  pastor  of  the  small  coun- 
try village  of  Medfield,  took  up  the  task,  and,  with 
no  experience  of  Indian  life  or  knowledge  of  any 
Indian  language,  entered  the  lists  against  an  ad- 
versary who  had  spent  half  his  days  among  sav- 
ages, had  gained  the  love  and  admiration  of  the 
Norridgewocks,  arid  spoke  their  language  fluently. 
Baxter,  with  the  confidence  of  a  novice,  got  an 
interpreter  and  began  to  preach,  exhort,  and  launch 
sarcasms  against  the  doctrines  and  practices  of  the 
Roman  Church.  Rale  excommunicated  such  of  his 
flock  as  listened  to  him  ; l  yet  some  persisted  in 
doing  so,  and  three  of  these  petitioned  the  English 
Governor  to  order  "  a  small  praying-house  "  to  be 
built  for  their  use.2 

Rale,  greatly  exasperated,  opened  a  correspon- 
dence with  Baxter,  and  wrote  a  treatise  for  his 
benefit,   in  which,  through  a   hundred   pages    of 
polemical  Latin,  he  proved   that  the  Church  of- 
Rome  was  founded  on  a  rock.     This  he  sent  to 


1  Shute  to  Rale,  21  Feb.  1718. 

2  This  petition  is  still  in  the  Massachusetts  Archives,  and  is  printed 
by  Dr.  Francis  in  Sparks's  American  Biography,  New  Series,  XVII.  259. 


1717-1720.]  BAXTER  AND  RALE.  221 

Baxter,  and  challenged  him  to  overthrow  his  rea- 
sons. Baxter  sent  an  answer  for  which  Rale  ex- 
presses great  scorn  as  to  both  manner  and  matter. 
He  made  a  rejoinder,  directed  not  only  against  his 
opponent's  arguments,  but  against  his  Latin,  in 
which  he  picked  flaws  with  great  apparent  satis- 
faction. He  says  that  he  heard  no  more  from 
Baxter  for  a  long  time,  but  at  last  got  another 
letter,  in  which  there  was  nothing  to  the  purpose, 
the  minister  merely  charging  him  with  an  irasci- 
ble and  censorious  spirit.  This  letter  is  still  pre- 
served, and  it  does  not  answer  to  Rale's  account 
of  it.  Baxter  replies  to  his  correspondent  vigor- 
ously, defends  his  own  Latin,  attacks  that  of  Rale, 
arid  charges  him  with  losing  temper.1 

Rale's  correspondence  with  the  New  England 
ministers  seems  not  to  have  been  confined  to  Bax- 
ter. A  paper  is  preserved,  translated  apparently 
from  a  Latin  original,  and  entitled,  "  Remarks  out 
of  the  Fryar  Sebastian  Rale's  Letter  from  Nor- 
ridgewock,  Feb.  7,  1720."  This  letter  appears  to 
have  been  addressed  to  some  Boston  minister,  and 
is  of  a  scornful  and  defiant  character,  using  lan- 
guage ill-fitted  to  conciliate,  as  thus  :  "  You  must 
know  that  a  missionary  is  not  a  cipher,  like  a  min- 
ister ;  "  or  thus  :  "A  Jesuit  is  not  a  Baxter  or  a 
Boston  minister."  The  tone  is  one  of  exaspera- 
tion dashed  with  contempt,  and  the  chief  theme 

1  This  letter  was  given  by  Mr.  Adams,  of  Medfield,  a  connection  of  the 
Baxter  family,  to  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  in  whose  possession 
it  now  is,  in  a  worn  condition.  It  was  either  captured  with  the  rest  of 
Rale's  papers  and  returned  to  the  writer,  or  else  is  a  duplicate  kept  by 
Baxter. 


222  SEBASTIEN  RALE.  [1717-1720. 

is  English  encroachment  and  the  inalienability  of 
Indian  lands.1  Rale  says  that  Baxter  gave  up 
his  mission  after  receiving  the  treatise  on  the  in- 
fallible supremacy  of  the  true  Church ;  but  this  is 
a  mistake,  as  the  minister  made  three  successive 
visits  to  the  Eastern  country  before  he  tired  of  his 
hopeless  mission. 

In  the  letter  just  quoted.  Rale  seems  to  have 
done  his  best  to  rasp  the  temper  of  his  New  Eng- 
land correspondent.  He  boasts  of  his  power  over 
the  Indians,  who,  as  he  declares,  always  do  as  he 
advises  them.  "  Any  treaty  with  the  Governor," 
he  goes  on  to  say,  "  and  especially  that  of  Arrow- 
sick,  is  null  and  void  if  I  do  not  approve  it,  for  I 
give  them  so  many  reasons  against  it  that  they 
absolutely  condemn  what  they  have  done."  He 
says  further  that  if  they  do  not  drive  the  English 
from  the  Kennebec,  he  will  leave  them,  and  that 
they  will  then  lose  both  their  lands  and  their 
souls;  and  he  adds  that,  if  necessary,  he  will 
tell  them  that  they  may  make  war.2  Rale  wrote 
also  to  Shute ;  and  though  the  letter  is  lost,  the 
Governor's  answer  shows  that  it  was  sufficiently 
aggressive. 

The  wild  Indian  is  unstable  as  water.  At  Ar- 
rowsick,  the  Norridgewocks  were  all  for  peace  ; 
but  when  they  returned  to  their  village  their  mood 
changed,  and,  on  the  representations  of  Rale,  they 
began  to  kill  the  cattle  of  the  English  settlers  on 

1  This  curious  paper  is  in  the  Common  Place  Book  of  Rev.   Henry 
Flynt,  of  which  the  original  is  in  the  library  of  the  Massachusetts  His- 
torical Society. 

2  See  Francis,  Life  of  Rale,  where  the  entire  passage  is  given. 


1717-1720.]        ATTITUDE  OF  NORRIDGEWOCKS.  223 

the  river  below,  burn  their  haystacks,  and  other- 
wise annoy  them.1  The  English  suspected  that 
the  Jesuit  was  the  source  of  their  trouble ;  and  as 
they  had  always  regarded  the  lands  in  question  as 
theirs,  by  virtue  of  the  charter  of  the  Plymouth 
Company  in  1620,  and  the  various  grants  under 
it,  as  well  as  by  purchase  from  the  Indians,  their 
ire  against  him  burned  high.  Yet  afraid  as  the 
Indians  were  of  another  war,  even  Rale  could 
scarcely  have  stirred  them  to  violence,  but  for  the 
indignities  put  upon  them  by  Indian-hating  ruf- 
fians of  the  border,  vicious  rum-selling  traders, 
and  hungry  land-thieves.  They  had  still  another 
cause  of  complaint.  Shute  had  promised  to  build 
trading-houses  where  their  wants  should  be  sup- 
plied without  fraud  and  extortion ;  but  he  had  not 
kept  his  word,  and  could  not  keep  it,  for  reasons 
that  will  soon  appear. 

In  spite  of  such  provocations,  Norridgewock  was 
divided  in  opinion.  Not  only  were  the  Indians  in 
great  dread  of  war,  but  they  had  received  English 
presents  to  a  considerable  amount,  chiefly  from 
private  persons  interested  in  keeping  them  quiet. 
Hence,  to  Rale's  great  chagrin,  there  was  an  Eng- 
lish party  in  the  village  so  strong  that  when  the 

1  Rale  wrote  to  the  Governor  of  Canada  that  it  wns  "  sur  Les  Repre- 
sentations qu'Il  Avoit  fait  aux  Sauvages  de  Sa  Mission  "  that  they  had 
killed  "un  grand  nombre  de  Bestiaux  apartenant  aux  Anglois,"  and 
threatened  them  with  attack  if  they  did  not  retire.  Reponse  fait  par 
MM.  Vaudreuil  et  Begon  au  Me'moire  du  Roy  du  8  Juin,  1721.  Rale 
told  the  Governor  of  Massachusetts,  on  another  occasion,  that  his  char- 
acter as  a  priest  permitted  him  to  give  the  Indians  nothing  but  counsels 
of  peace.  Yet  as  early  as  1703  he  wrote  to  Vaudreuil  that  the  Abenakis 
were  ready,  at  a  word  from  him,  to  lift  the  hatchet  against  the  English. 
Beauharnois  et  Vaudreuil  au  Ministre,  15  Nov.  1703. 


224  SEBASTIEN  RALE.  [1717-1720. 

English  authorities  demanded  reparation  for  the 
mischief  done  to  the  settlers,  the  Norridgewocks 
promised  two  hundred  beaver-skins  as  damages, 
and  gave  four  hostages  as  security  that  they 
would  pay  for  misdeeds  in  the  past,  and  commit 
no  more  in  the  future.1 

Rale  now  feared  that  his  Indians  would  all  go 
over  to  the  English  and  tamely  do  their  bidding ; 
for  though  most  of  them,  when  he  was  present, 
would  denounce  the  heretics  and  boast  of  the  brave 
deeds  they  would  do  against  them,  yet  after  a  meet- 
ing with  English  officials,  they  would  change  their 
minds  and  accuse  their  spiritual  father  of  lying. 
It  was  clear  that  something  must  be  done  to  end 
these  waverings,  lest  the  lands  in  dispute  should 
be  lost  to  France  forever. 

The  Norridgewocks  had  been  invited  to  another 
interview  with  the  English  at  Georgetown ;  and 
Rale  resolved,  in  modern  American  phrase,  to 
"  capture  the  meeting."  Yaudreuil  and  the  Jesuit 
La  Chasse,  superior  of  the  mission,  lent  their  aid. 
Messengers  were  sent  to  the  converted  Indians 
of  Canada,  whose  attachment  to  France  and  the 
Church  was  past  all  doubt,  and  who  had  been 
taught  to  abhor  the  English  as  children  of  the 
devil.  The  object  of  the  message  was  to  induce 

1  Joseph  Heath  and  John  Minot  to  Shute,  1  May,  1719.  Rale  says  that 
these  hostages  were  seized  by  surprise  and  violence ;  but  Vaudreuil  com- 
plains bitterly  of  the  faintness  of  heart  which  caused  the  Indians  to  give 
them  (Vaudreuil  a  Rale,  15  Juin,  1721),  and  both  he  and  the  Intendant 
lay  the  blame  on  the  English  party  at  Norridgewock,  who,  "with  the 
consent  of  all  the  Indians  of  that  mission,  had  the  weakness  to  give 
four  hostages."  lie'ponse  de  Vaudreuil  et  Be'gon  au  Me'moire  du  Roy  du 
8  Juin,  1721. 


1721.]  INDIAN  HOSTILITY.  225 

them  to  go  to  the  meeting  at  Georgetown  armed 
and  equipped  for  any  contingency. 

They  went  accordingly,  —  Abenakis  from  Becan- 
cour  and  St.  Francis,  Hurons  from  Lorette,  and 
Iroquois  from  Cauglmawaga,  besides  others,  all 
stanch  foes  of  heresy  and  England.  Rale  and 
La  Chasse  directed  their  movements  and  led  them 
first  to  Norridgewock,  where  their  arrival  made  a 
revolution.  The  peace  party  changed  color. like 
a  chameleon,  and  was  all  for  war.  The  united 
bands,  two  hundred  and  fifty  warriors  in  all, 
paddled  down  the  Kennebec  along  with  the  two 
Jesuits  and  two  French  officers,  Saint-Castin  and 
Croisil.  In  a  few  days  the  English  at  George* 
town  saw  them  parading  before  the  fort,  well 
armed,  displaying  French  flags,  —  feathers  dang- 
ling from  their  scalp-locks,  and  faces  fantastically 
patterned  in  vermilion,  ochre,  white  clay,  soot, 
and  such  other  pigments  as  they  could  find  or 
buy. 

They  were  met  by  Captain  Penhallow  and  other 
militia  officers  of  the  fort,  to  whom  they  gave  the 
promised  two  hundred  beaver-skins,  and  demanded 
the  four  hostages  in  return ;  but  the  hostages  had 
been  given  as  security,  not  only  for  the  beaver- 
skins,  but  also  for  the  future  good  behavior  of  the 
Indians,  and  Penhallow  replied  that  he  had  no 
authority  to  surrender  them.  On  this  they  gave 
him  a  letter  to  the  Governor,  written  for  them  by 
Pere  de  la  Chasse,  and  signed  by  their  totems. 
It  summoned  the  English  to  leave  the  country  at 
once,  and  threatened  to  rob  and  burn  their  houses 

VOL.   I.  — 15 


226  SEBASTIEN  KALE.  [1721. 

in  case  of  refusal.1  The  threat  was  not  executed, 
and  they  presently  disappeared,  but  returned  in 
September  in  increased  numbers,  burned  twenty- 
six  houses  and  attacked  the  fort,  in  which  the 
inhabitants  had  sought  refuge.  The  garrison  con- 
sisted of  forty  men,  who,  being  reinforced  by  the 
timely  arrival  of  several  whale-boats  bringing 
thirty  more,  made  a  sortie.  A  skirmish  followed ; 
but  being  outnumbered  and  outflanked,  the  Eng- 
lish fell  back  behind  their  defences.2 

The  French  authorities  were  in  a  difficult  posi- 
tion. They  thought  it  necessary  to  stop  the  pro- 
gress of  English  settlement  along  the  Kennebec ; 
and  yet,  as  there  was  peace  between  the  two 
Crowns,  they  could  not  use  open  force.  There 
was  nothing  for  it  but  to  set  on  the  Abenakis 

1  Eastern  Indians'  Letter  to  the  Governour,  27  July,  1721,  in  Mass.  Hist. 
Coll.,  Second  Series,   VIII.   259.     This  is  the  original  French.     It  is 
signed  with  totems  of  all  the  Abenaki  bands,  and  also  of  the  Caugh- 
nawagas,  Iroquois  of  the  Mountain,  Hurons,  Micmacs,  Montagnais,  and 
several  other  tribes.     On  this  interview,  Penhallow ;   Belknap  II.  51 ; 
Shute  to  Vaudreuil,  21  July,  1721  (O.  S.) ;  Ibid.,  23  April,  1722;  Rale  in 
Lettres  Edifiantes,  XVII.  285.    Rale  blames  Shute  for  not  being  present 
at  the  meeting,  but  a  letter  of  the  Governor  shows  that  he  had  never 
undertaken  to  be  there.     He  could  not  have  come  in  any  case,  from  the 
effects  of  a  fall,  which  disabled  him  for  some  months  even  from  going 
to  Portsmouth   to  meet   the   Legislature.     Provincial   Papers  of  New 
Hampshire,  III.  822. 

2  Williamson,  Hist,  of  Maine,  II.  119;  Penhallow.    Rale's  account  of 
the  affair,  found  among  his  papers  at  Norridgewock,  is  curiously  exag- 
gerated.    He  says  that  he  himself  was  with  the  Indians,  and  "  to  pleas- 
ure the  English  "  showed  himself  to  them  several  times,  —  a  point  which 
the  English  writers  do  not  mention,  though  it  is  one  which  they  would 
be  most  likely  to  seize  upon.     He  says  that  fifty  houses  were  burned,  and 
that  there  were  five  forts,  two  of  which  were  of  stone,  and  that  in  one  of 
these  six  hundred  armed  men,  besides  women  and  children,  had  sought 
refuge,  though  there  was  not  such  a  number  of  men  in  the  whole  region 
of  the  Kenuebec. 


1721.]  FRENCH  AND  ABENAKIS.  227 

to  fight  for  them.  "  I  am  well  pleased,"  wrote 
Vaudreuil  to  Rale,  "that  you  and  Pere  de  la 
Chasse  have  prompted  the  Indians  to  treat  the 
English  as  they  have  done.  My  orders  are  to  let 
them  want  for  nothing,  and  I  send  them  plenty  of 
ammunition."  Rale  says  that  the  King  allowed 
him  a  pension  of  six  thousand  livres  a  year,  and 
that  he  spent  it  all  "in  good  works."  As  his 
statements  are  not  remarkable  for  precision,  this 
may  mean  that  he  was  charged  with  distributing 
the  six  thousand  livres  which  the  King  gave  every 
year  in  equal  shares  to  the  three  Abenaki  missions 
of  MeSoctec,  Norridgewock,  and  Panawamske,  or 
Penobscot,  and  which  generally  took  the  form  of 
presents  of  arms,  gunpowder,  bullets,  and  other 
munitions  of  war,  or  of  food  and  clothing  to  sup- 
port the  squaws  and  children  while  the  warriors 
were  making  raids  on  the  English.1 

Vaudreuil  had  long  felt  the  delicacy  of  his  posi- 
tion, and  even  before  the  crisis  seemed  near  he 
tried  to  provide  against  it,  and  wrote  to  the  min- 
ister that  he  had  never  called  the  Abenakis  sub- 
jects of  France,  but  only  allies,  in  order  to  avoid 
responsibility  for  anything  they  might  do.2  "  The 
English,"  he  says  elsewhere,  "  must  be  prevented 
from  settling  on  Abenaki  lands ;  and  to  this  end 
we  must  let  the  Indians  act  for  us  (laisser  agir 
les  sauvages)"  3 


1  Vaudreuil,  Memoire  adresseau  Roy,  5  Juin,  1723. 

2  Vaudreuil  au  Ministre,  6  Sept.  1716. 

3  Extrait  d'une  Liasse  de  Papiers  concernant le  Canada,  1 720.    (Archives 
du  Ministere  des  Affaires  Etrangeres.) 


228  SEBASTIEN  RALE.  [1721. 

Yet  while  urging  the  need  of  precaution,  he 
was  too  zealous  to  be  always  prudent ;  and  once,  at 
least,  he  went  so  far  as  to  suggest  that  French 
soldiers  should  be  sent  to  help  the  Abenakis, 
—  which,  he  thought,  would  frighten  the  English 
into  retreating  from  their  settlements ;  whereas  if 
such  help  were  refused,  the  Indians  would  go  over 
to  the  enemy.1  The  court  was  too  anxious  to 
avoid  a  rupture  to  permit  the  use  of  open  force, 
and  would  only  promise  plenty  of  ammunition  to 
Indians  who  would  fight  the  English,  directing  at 
the  same  time  that  neither  favors  nor  attentions 
should  be  given  to  those  who  would  not.2 

The  half-breed  officer,  Saint-Castin,  son  of  Baron 
Vincent  de  Saint-Castin  by  his  wife,  a  Penobscot 
squaw,  bore  the  double  character  of  a  French 
lieutenant  and  an  Abenaki  chief,  and  had  joined 
with  the  Indians  in  their  hostile  demonstration  at 
Arrowsick  Island.  Therefore,  as  chief  of  a  tribe 
styled  subjects  of  King  George,  the  English  seized 
him,  charged  him  with  rebellion,  and  brought  him 
to  Boston,  where  he  was  examined  by  a  legislative 
committee.  He  showed  both  tact  and  temper, 
parried  the  charges  against  him,  and  was  at  last 
set  at  liberty.  His  arrest,  however,  exasperated 
his  tribesmen,  who  soon  began  to  burn  houses,  kill 
settlers,  and  commit  various  acts  of  violence,  for 
all  of  which  Rale  was  believed  to  be  mainly  answer- 
able. There  was  great  indignation  against  him. 
He  himself  says  that  a  reward  of  a  thousand 

1  Reponse  de  Vaudreuil  et  Begon  au  Me'moire  du  Roy,  8  Juin,  1721. 

2  Begon  a  Rale,  14  Juin,  1721. 


1721.]  WESTBROOK'S  EXPEDITION.  229 

pounds  sterling  was  offered  for  his  head,  but  that 
the  English  should  not  get  it  for  all  their  sterling 
money.  It  does  not  appear  that  such  a  reward 
was  offered,  though  it  is  true  that  the  Massachu- 
setts House  of  Representatives  once  voted  five 
hundred  pounds  in  their  currency  —  then  equal 
to  about  a  hundred  and  eighty  pounds  sterling  — 
for  the  same  purpose ;  but  as  the  Governor  and 
Council  refused  their  concurrence,  the  Act  was  of 
no  effect. 

All  the  branches  of  the  government,  however, 
presently  joined  in  sending  three  hundred  men  to 
Norridgewock,  with  a  demand  that  the  Indians 
should  give  up  Rale  "  and  the  other  heads  and 
fomentors  of  their  rebellion."  In  case  of  refusal 
they  were  to  seize  the  Jesuit  and  the  principal 
chiefs  and  bring  them  prisoners  to  Boston.  Colonel 
Westbrook  was  put  in  command  of  the  party. 
Rale,  being  warned  of  their  approach  by  some  of 
his  Indians,  swallowed  the  consecrated  wafers,  hid 
the  sacred  vessels,  and  made  for  the  woods,  where, 
as  he  thinks,  he  was  saved  from  discovery  by  a 
special  intervention  of  Providence.  His  papers 
fell  into  the  hands  of  Westbrook,  including  letters 
that  proved  beyond  all  doubt  that  he  had  acted  as 
agent  of  the  Canadian  authorities  in  exciting  his 
flock  against  the  English.1 

Incensed  by  Westbrook's  invasion,  the  Indians 

1  Some  of  the  papers  found  in  Rale's  "  strong  box  "  are  still  preserved 
in  the  Archives  of  Massachusetts,  including  a  letter  to  him  from  Vaudreuil, 
dated  at  Quebec,  25  Sept.  1721,  in  which  the  French  Governor  expresses 
great  satisfaction  at  the  missionary's  success  in  uniting  the  Indians  against 
the  English,  and  promises  military  aid,  if  necessary. 


230  SEBASTIEN  RALE.  [1721,  1722. 

came  down  the  Kennebec  in  large  numbers,  burned 
the  village  of  Brunswick,  and  captured  nine  fam- 
ilies at  Merry-meeting  Bay ;  though  they  soon  set 
them  free,  except  five  men  whom  they  kept  to 
exchange  for  the  four  hostages  still  detained  at 
Boston.1  At  the  same  time  they  seized  several  small 
vessels  in  the  harbors  along  the  coast.  On  this 
the  Governor  and  Council  declared  war  against  the 
Eastern  Indians,  meaning  the  Abenakis  and  their 
allies,  whom  they  styled  traitors  and  robbers. 

In  Massachusetts  many  persons  thought  that 
war  could  not  be  justified,  and  were  little  disposed 
to  push  it  with  vigor.  The  direction  of  it  belonged 
to  the  Governor  in  his  capacity  of  Captain-General 
of  the  Province.  Shute  was  an  old  soldier  who 
had  served  with  credit  as  lieutenant-colonel  under 
Marlborough ;  but  he  was  hampered  by  one  of 
those  disputes  which  in  times  of  crisis  were  sure 
to  occur  in  every  British  province  whose  governor 
was  appointed  by  the  Crown.  The  Assembly,  jeal- 
ous of  the  representative  of  royalty,  and  looking 
back  mournfully  to  their  virtual  independence  under 
the  lamented  old  charter,  had  from  the  first  let  slip 
no  opportunity  to  increase  its  own  powers  and 
abridge  those  of  the  Governor,  refused  him  the 
means  of  establishing  the  promised  trading-houses 
in  the  Indian  country,  and  would  grant  no  money 
for  presents  to  conciliate  the  Norridgewocks. 
The  House  now  wanted,  not  only  to  control 
supplies  for  the  war,  but  to  direct  the  war  it- 
self and  conduct  operations  by  committees  of  its 

1  Wheeler,  History  of  Brunswick,  Topsham,  and  Harpswell,  54. 


1722,  1723.]  GOVERNOR  AND  ASSEMBLY.  231 

own.  Shute  made  his  plans  of  campaign,  and 
proceeded  to  appoint  officers  from  among  the 
frontier  inhabitants,  who  had  at  least  the  quali- 
fication of  being  accustomed  to  the  woods.  One 
of  them,  Colonel  Walton,  was  obnoxious  to  some 
of  the  representatives,  who  brought  charges  against 
him,  and  the  House  demanded  that  he  should  be 
recalled  from  the  field  to  answer  to  them  for  his 
conduct.  The  Governor  objected  to  this  as  an  en- 
croachment on  his  province  as  commander-in-chief . 
Walton  was  now  accused  of  obeying  orders  of  the 
Governor  in  contravention  of  those  of  the  repre- 
sentatives, who  thereupon  passed  a  vote  requiring 
him  to  lay  his  journal  before  them.  This  was 
more  than  Shute  could  bear.  He  had  the  char- 
acter of  a  good-natured  man ;  but  the  difficulties 
and  mortifications  of  his  position  had  long  galled 
him,  and  he  had  got  leave  to  return  to  England 
and  lay  his  case  before  the  King  and  Council. 
The  crisis  had  now  come.  The  Assembly  were 
for  usurping  all  authority,  civil  and  military. 
Accordingly,  on  the  1st  of  January,  1723,  the 
Governor  sailed  in  a  merchant  ship  for  London, 
without  giving  notice  of  his  intention  to  anybody 
except  two  or  three  servants.1 

The  burden  of  his  difficult  and  vexatious  office 
fell  upon  the  Lieutenant-Governor,  William  Dum- 
mer.  When  he  first  met  the  Council  in  his  new 
capacity,  a  whimsical  scene  took  place.  Here, 
among  the  rest,  was  the  aged,  matronly  counte- 

1  Hutchinson,  II.  261.  On  these  dissensions  compare  Palfrey,  Hist,  of 
New  England,  IV.,  406-428. 


232  SEBASTIEN  RALE.  [1722,  1723. 

nance  of  the  worthy  Samuel  Sewall,  deeply  im- 
pressed with  the  dignity  and  importance  of  his 
position  as  senior  member  of  the  Board.  At  his 
best  he  never  had  the  faintest  sense  of  humor 
or  perception  of  the  ludicrous,  and  being  now 
perhaps  touched  with  dotage,  he  thought  it  in- 
cumbent upon  him  to  address  a  few  words  of 
exhortation  and  encouragement  to  the  incoming 
chief  magistrate.  He  rose  from  his  seat  with 
long  locks,  limp  and  white,  drooping  from  under 
his  black  skull-cap,  —  for  he  abhorred  a  wig  as 
a  sign  of  backsliding,  —  and  in  a  voice  of  quaver- 
ing solemnity  spoke  thus  :  — 

"  If  your  Honour  and  this  Honourable  Board  please  to 
give  me  leave,  I  would  speak  a  Word  or  two  upon  this  sol- 
emn Occasion.  Altho  the  unerring  Providence  of  God  has 
brought  you  to  the  Chair  of  Government  in  a  cloudy  and 
tempestuous  season,  yet  you  have  this  for  your  Encour- 
agement, that  the  people  you  Have  to  do  with  are  a  part 
of  the  Israel  of  God,  and  you  may  expect  to  have  of  the 
Prudence  and  Patience  of  Moses  communicated  to  you  for 
your  Conduct.  It  is  evident  that  our  Almighty  Saviour  coun- 
selled the  first  planters  to  remove  hither  and  Settle  here, 
and  they  dutifully  followed  his  Advice,  and  therefore  He  will 
never  leave  nor  forsake  them  nor  Theirs  ;  so  that  your  Hon- 
our must  needs  be  happy  in  sincerely  seeking  their  Interest 
and  Welfare,  which  your  Birth  and  Education  will  incline 
you  to  do.  Difficilia  quce  pulchra.  I  promise  myself  that 
they  who  sit  at  this  Board  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  susceptible  of  the  ludicrous  than  he 
was,  the  old  man  went  home  well  pleased,  and  re- 
corded in  his  diary  that  the  Lieutenant-Governor 


1722,  1723.]  THE  NEW  GOVERNOR.  233 

and  Councillors  rose  and  remained  standing  while 
he  was  speaking,  "  and  they  expressed  a  handsom 
Acceptance  of  what  I  had  said ;  Lam  Deo!' l 

Dummer  was  born  in  New  England,  and  might, 
therefore,  expect  to  find  more  favor  than  had  fallen 
to  his  predecessor ;  but  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,  be- 
cause he  had  sided  with  the  Governor  in  the  late 
quarrel.  The  House  voted  to  dismiss  Colonel 
Walton  and  Major  Moody,  the  chief  officers  ap- 
pointed by  Shute ;  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  the 
war  till  they  should  be  removed.  Dummer  was 
forced  to  yield.2  The  House  would  probably 
have  pushed  him  still  farther,  if  the  members 
had  not  dreaded  the  effect  of  Shute's  represen- 
tations at  court,  and  feared  lest  persistent  en- 
croachment on  the  functions  of  the  Governor 
might  cost  them  their  charter,  to  which,  insuffi- 
cient as  they  thought  it,  and  far  inferior  to  the 
one  they  had  lost,  they  clung  tenaciously  as  the 
palladium  of  their  liberties.  Yet  Dummer  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  im- 
prove the  situation.  The  new  House  was  worse 
than  the  old,  being  made  up  largely  of  narrow- 

1  Sewall  Papers,  III.  317,  318.  2  Palfrey,  IV.  432,  433. 


234  SEBASTIEN  RALE.  [1723. 

minded  rustics,  who  tried  to  relieve  the  Governor 
of  all  conduct  of  the  war  by  assigning  it  to  a  com- 
mittee 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  en- 
counters 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  himself  through  the  hole,  ran  to  him  in 
desperation  and  shot  him ;  on  which  the  others 
dragged  the  body  back  and  disappeared.1 

There  were  several  attempts  of  a  more  serious 
kind.  The  small  wooden  fort  at  the  river  St. 
George,  the  most  easterly  English  outpost,  was 
attacked,  but  the  assailants  were  driven  off.  A 
few  weeks  later  it  was  attacked  again  by  the  Pe- 
nobscots  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.  The 
warlike  contagion  spread  to  the  Indians  of  Nova 
Scotia.  In  July  the  Micrnacs  seized  sixteen  or 
seventeen  fishing-smacks  at  Can  so ;  on  which 
John  Eliot,  of  Boston,  and  John  Robinson,  of 
Cape  Ann,  chased  the  marauders  in  two  sloops, 
retook  most  of  the  vessels,  and  killed  a  good  num- 

1  Penhallow.    Hutchinson  II.  279. 


1723,  1724.]  PENOBSCOTS  ATTACKED.  235 

her  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.1 

The  representatives  had  long  been  bent  on  de- 
stroying the  mission  village  of  the  Penobscots  on 
the  river  of  that  name ;  and  one  cause  of  their 
grudge  against  Colonel  Walton  was  that,  by  order 
of  the  Governor,  he  had  deferred  a  projected  at- 
tack upon  it.  His  successor,  Colonel  Westbrook, 
now  took  the  work  in  hand,  went  up  the  Penob- 
scot  in  February  with  two  hundred  and  thirty 
men  in  sloops  and  whaleboats,  left  these  at  the 
head  of  navigation,  and  pushed  through  the  forest 
to  the  Indian  town  called  Panawamske  by  the 
French.  It  stood  apparently  above  Bangor,  at  or 
near  Passadumkeag.  Here  the  party  found  a 
stockade  enclosure  fourteen  feet  high,  seventy 
yards  long,  and  fifty  yards  wide,  containing  twen- 
ty-three houses,  which  Westbrook,  a  better  woods- 
man than  grammarian,  reports  to  have  been 
"  built  regular."  Outside  the  stockade  stood  the 
chapel,  "well  and  handsomely  furnished  within 
and  without,  and  on  the  south  side  of  that  the 
Fryer's  dwelling-house."  2  This  "  Fryer "  was 
Father  Lauverjat,  who  had  led  his  flock  to  the 
attack  of  the  fort  at  the  St.  George.  Both 

1  Penhallow.    Temple  and  Sheldon,  History  of  Northfield,  195. 

2  Westbrook  to  Dummer,  23  March,  1723,  in  Collections  Mass.  Hist.  Soc., 
2d  Series,  VIII.  264. 


236  SEBASTIEN  KALE.  [1724. 

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  Nor- 
ridgewock.  Two  hundred  and  eight  men  in  four 
companies,  under  Captains  Harmon,  Moulton,  and 
Brown,  and  Lieutenant  Bean,  set  out  from  Fort 
Richmond  in  seventeen  whaleboats  on  the  8th  of 
August.  They  left  the  boats  at  Taconic  Falls  in 
charge  of  a  lieutenant  and  forty  men,  and  on  the 
morning  of  the  10th  the  main  body,  accompanied 
by  three  Mohawk  Indians,  marched  through  the 
forest  for  Norridgewock.  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  of  the  12th. 
In  the  belief  that  some  of  the  Indians  would  be 
in  their  cornfields  on  the  river  above,  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  vil- 
lage, advancing  through  the  forest  with  all  possi- 
ble 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  stockade,  but  open  and 


1724.]  HIS  DEATH.  237 

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  or- 
dered 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, 
returned  a  volley  with  deadly  effect.  The  Indians 
gave  one  more  fire,  and  then  ran  for  the  river. 
Some  tried  to  wade  to  the  farther  side,  the  wa- 
ter being  low ;  others  swam  across,  while  many 
jumped  into  their  canoes,  but  could  not  use  them, 
having  left  the  paddles  in  their  houses.  Moul ton'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  comrades  who  had  not  joined  in  the  pursuit. 
He  presently  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  through  the  head.1  Moulton,  who  had 

1  Hutchinson,  II.  283  (ed.  1795).  Hutchinson  had  the  story  from 
Moulton.  Compare  the  tradition  in  the  family  of  Jaques,  as  told  by 
his  great-grandson,  in  Historical  Magazine,  VIII.  177. 


238  SEBASTIEN  KALE.  [1724. 

given  orders  that  Rale  should  not  be  killed, 
doubted  this  report  of  his  subordinate  so  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  Eng- 
lish followed,  and  brutally  murdered  Mogg's  squaw 
and  his  two  children.  Such  plunder  as  the  village 
afforded,  consisting  of  three  barrels  of  gunpowder, 
with  a  few  guns,  blankets,  and  kettles,  was  then 
seized  ;  and  the  Puritan  militia  thought  it  a  meri- 
torious 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  made  for  the  dead,  and  twenty-six 
Indians  were  found  and  scalped,  including  the 
principal  chiefs  and  warriors  of  the  place.  Then, 
being  anxious  for  the  safety  of  their  boats,  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  the 
houses,  and  then  rejoined  the  party.  The  boats 
were  found  safe,  and  embarking,  they  rowed  down 
to  Richmond  with  their  trophies.1 

1  The  above  rests  on  the  account  of  Hutchinson,  which  was  taken 
from  the  official  Journal  of  Harmon,  the  commander  of  the  expedition, 


1724.]  HIS  CHARACTER.  239 

/I  The  news  of  the  fate  of  the  Jesuit  and  his  mis- 
/  sion  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.  While 
they  thought  him  a  devil,  he  passed  in  Canada  for 
a  martyred  saint.  He  was  neither  the  one  nor 
the  other,  but  a  man  v/ith  the  qualities  and  faults 
of  a  man,  —  fearless,  resolute,  enduring  ;  boastful, 
sarcastic,  often  bitter  and  irritating ;  a  vehement 
partisan ;  apt  to  see  things,  not  as  they  were,  but 
as  he  wished  them  to  be ;  given  to  inaccuracy  and 
exaggeration,  yet  no  doubt  sincere  in  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  considering 
the  ascription  of  martyrdom,  it  is  to  be  remembered 
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 
exercised  a  humanizing  influence  over  his  flock. 

and  from  the  oral  statements  of  Moulton,  whom  Hutchinson  examined 
on  the  subject.  Charlevoix,  following  a  letter  of  La  Chasse  in  the 
Jesuit  Lettres  Edifiantes,  gives  a  widely  different  story.  According  to 
him,  Norridgewock  was  surprised  by  eleven  hundred  men,  who  first  an- 
nounced their  presence  by  a  general  volley,  riddling  all  the  houses  with 
bullets.  Rale,  says  La  Chasse,  ran  out  to  save  his  flock  by  drawing  the 
rage  of  the  enemy  on  himself;  on  which  they  raised  a  great  shout  and 
shot  him  dead  at  the  foot  of  the  cross  in  the  middle  of  the  village. 
La  Chasse  does  not  tell  us  where  he  got  the  story ;  but  as  there  were  no 
French  witnesses,  the  story  must  have  come  from  the  Indians,  who  are 
notorious  liars  where  their  interest  and  self-love  are  concerned.  Nobody 
competent  to  judge  of  evidence  can  doubt  which  of  the  two  statements 
is  the  more  trustworthy. 


240  SEBASTIEN  RALE.  [1724. 

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  settlements.1 

J  It  is  also  said  that  Rale  taught  some  of  his  Indians  to  read  and  write, 

—  which  was  unusual  in  the  Jesuit  missions.    On  his  character,  com- 
pare the  judicial  and  candid  Life  of  Rale,  by  Dr.  Convers  Francis,  in 
Sparks's  American  Biography,  New  Series,  VII. 


CHAPTER  XL 

1724,  1725. 

LOVEWELL'S  FIGHT. 

VAUDREUIL  AND  DUMMER.  —  EMBASSY  TO  CANADA.  —  INDIANS  IN- 
TRACTABLE. —  TREATY  OF  PEACE.  —  THE  PEQUAWKETS.  —  JOHN 
LOVEWELL.  —  A  HUNTING  PARTY.  —  ANOTHER  EXPEDITION.  —  THE 
AMBUSCADE. —  THE  FIGHT.  —  CHAPLAIN  FRYE. — His  FATE.  —  THE 
SURVIVORS.  —  SUSANNA  ROGERS. 

THE  death  of  Rale  and  the  destruction  of  Nor- 
ridgewock  did  not  at  once  end  the  war.  Vaudreuil 
turned  all  the  savages  of  the  Canadian  missions 
against  the  borders,  not  only  of  Maine,  but  of 
western  Massachusetts,  whose  peaceful  settlers 
had  given  no  offence.  Soon  after  the  Norridge- 
wock  expedition,  Dummer  wrote  to  the  French 
Governor,  who  had  lately  proclaimed  the  Abena- 
kis  his  allies :  "  As  they  are  subjects  of  his 
Britannic  Majesty,  they  cannot  be  your  allies,  ex- 
cept through  me,  his  representative.  You  have 
instigated  them  to  fall  on  our  people  in  the  most 
outrageous  manner.  I  have  seen  your  commission 
to  Sebastien  Rale.  But  for  your  protection  and 
incitements  they  would  have  made  peace  long 
ago."1 

In  reply,  Vaudreuil  admitted  that  he  had  given 
a  safe-conduct  and  a  commission  to  Rale,  which  he 

1  Dummer  to  Vaudreuil,  15  Sept.  1724. 
VOL.  i.  — 16 


242  LOVE  WELL'S  FIGHT.  [1724,  1725. 

could  not  deny,  as  the  Jesuit's  papers  were  in  the 
hands  of  the  English  Governor.  "  You  will  have 
to  answer  to  your  King  for  his  murder,"  he  tells 
Dummer.  "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  Norridge- 
wocks.  As  to  the  murder  of  Rale,  I  leave  that  to 
be  settled  between  the  two  Crowns."  l 

Apparently  the  French  court  thought  it  wise  to 
let  the  question  rest,  and  make  no  complaint. 
Dummer,  however,  gave  his  views  on  the  subject 
to  Yaudreuil.  "  Instead  of  preaching  peace,  love, 
and  friendship,  agreeably  to  the  Christian  religion, 
Rale  was  an  incendiary,  as  appears  by  many  letters 
I  have  by  me.  He  has  once  and  again  appeared 
at  the  head  of  a  great  many  Indians,  threatening 
and  insulting  us.  If  such  a  disturber  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  against  Rale, 
and  always  confined  himself  to  preaching  the 
Gospel,  was  slain  and  scalped  by  your  Indians, 
and  his  scalp  carried  in  triumph  to  Quebec." 

Dummer  then  denies  that  France  has  any  claim 
to  the  Abenakis,  and  declares  that  the  war  between 
them  and  the  English  is  due  to  the  instigations  of 

1  Vaudreuil  a  Dummer,  29  Oct.  1724. 


1725.]  EMBASSY  TO  CANADA.  243 

Rale  and  the  encouragements  given  them  by  Vau- 
dreuil. But  he  adds  that  in  his  wish  to  promote 
peace  he  sends  two  prominent  gentlemen,  Colonel 
Samuel  Thaxter  and  Colonel  William  Dudley,  as 
bearers  of  his  letter.1 

Mr.  Atkinson,  envoy  on  the  part  of  New  Hamp- 
shire, joined  Thaxter  and  Dudley,  and  the  three 
set  out  for  Montreal,  over  the  ice  of  Lake  Cham- 
plain.  Yaudreuil  received  them  with  courtesy.  As 
required  by  their  instructions,  they  demanded  the 
release  of  the  English  prisoners  in  Canada,  and 
protested  against  the  action  of  the  French  Governor 
in  setting  on  the  Indians  to  attack  English  settle- 
ments when  there  was  peace  between  the  two 
Crowns.  Vaudreuil  denied  that  he  had  done  so, 
till  they  showed  him  his  own  letters  to  Eale,  cap- 
tured at  Norridgewock.  These  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 
prisoners,  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 
bought  from  their  captors,  on  paying  back  the 
price  they  had  cost.  The  demands  were  exorbi- 
tant, but  sixteen  prisoners  were  ransomed,  and 
bargains  were  made  for  ten  more.  Vaudreuil 
proposed  to  Thaxter  and  his  colleagues  to  have  an 
interview  with  the  Indians,  which  they  at  first  de- 
clined, saying  that  they  had  no  powers  to  treat  with 

1  Dummer  to  Vaudreuil,  19  Jan.  1725.  This,  with  many  other  papers 
relating  to  these  matters,  is  in  the  Massachusetts  Archives. 


244  LOVEWELL'S  FIGHT.  [1725. 

them,  though,  if  the  Indians  wished  to  ask  for  peace, 
they  were  ready  to  hear  them.  At  length  a  meet- 
ing was  arranged.  The  French  Governor  writes  : 
"  Being  satisfied  that  nothing  was  more  opposed 
to  our  interests  than  a  peace  between  the  Abenakis 
and  the  English,  I  thought  that  I  would  sound  the 
chiefs  before  they  spoke  to  the  English  envoys,  and 
insinuate  to  them  everything  that  I  had  to  say."1 
This  he  did  with  such  success  that,  instead  of 
asking  for  peace,  the  Indians  demanded  the  dem- 
olition of  the  English  forts,  and  heavy  damages 
for  burning  their  church  and  killing  their  mission- 
ary. In  short,  to  VauctreuiTs  great  satisfaction, 
they  talked  nothing  but  war.  The  French  de- 
spatch reporting  this  interview  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."  2  This  was,  in  fact,  the  policy 
pursued  from  the  first,  and  Rale  had  been  an  instru- 
ment of  it.  The  Jesuit  La  Chasse,  who  spoke  both 
English  and  Abenaki,  had  acted  as  interpreter,  and 
so  had  had  the  meeting  in  his  power,  as  he  could 
make  both  parties  say  what  he  pleased.  The 
envoys  thought  him  more  anti-English  than  Vau- 
dreuil  himself,  and  ascribed  the  intractable  mood 

1  Depeche  de  Vaudreuil,  7  Aout,  1725.     "Comme  j'ai  toujours  etc  per- 
suade que  rien  n'est  plus  oppose  a  nos  interets  que  la  paix  des  Abenakis 
avec  les  Anglais  (la  surete  de  cette  colonie  du  cote  de  1'est  ayant  etc 
1'unique  objet  de  cette  guerre),  je  songeai  a  pressentir  ces  sauvages  avant 
qu'ils  parlassant  aux  Anglais  et  a  leur  insinuer  tout  ce  que  j'avais  a  leur 
dire."     Vaudreuil  au  Ministre,  22  Mai,  1725. 

2  N.  Y.  Col.  Docs ,  IX.  949. 


1725.]  TREATY  OF  PEACE.  245 

of  the  Indians  to  his  devices.  Under  the  circum- 
stances, they  made  a  mistake  in  consenting  to  the 
interview  at  all.  The  Governor,  who  had  treated 
them  with  civility  throughout,  gave  them  an  escort 
of  soldiers  for  the  homeward  journey,  and  they  and 
the  redeemed  prisoners  returned  safely  to  Albany. 

The  war  went  on  as  before,  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  West- 
brook'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  conclude  a  solid  peace.  After 
long  delay,  four  chiefs  appeared,  fully  empowered, 
as  they  said,  to  make  peace,  not  for  the  Penobscots 
only,  but  for  the  other  Abenaki  tribes,  their  allies. 
The  speeches  and  ceremonies  being  at  last  ended, 
the  four  deputies  affixed  their  marks  to  a  paper  in 
which,  for  themselves  and  those  they  represented, 


246  LOVEWELL'S  FIGHT.  [1725. 

they  made  submission  "unto  his  most  excellent 
Majesty  George,  by  the  grace  of  God  king  of 
Great  Britain,  France,  and  Ireland,  defender  of  the 
Faith,"  etc.,  promising  to  "  cease  and  forbear  all 
acts  of  hostility,  injuries,  and  discord  towards  all 
his  subjects,  and  never  confederate  or  combine  with 
any  other  nation  to  their  prejudice."  Here  was  a 
curious  anomaly.  The  English  claimed  the  Abena- 
kis  as  subjects  of  the  British  Crown,  and  at  the 
same  time  treated  with  them  as  a  foreign  power. 
Each  of  the  four  deputies  signed  the  above-men- 
tioned paper,  one  with  the  likeness  of  a  turtle,  the 
next  with  that  of  a  bird,  the  third  with  the  un- 
tutored 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  Lieuten ant-Governor  added  the  seal  of  the 
province  of  Massachusetts,  coupled  with  his  own 
autograph. 

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.1  This  time 
the  Massachusetts  Assembly,  taught  wisdom  by 
experience,  furnished  a  guarantee  of  peace  by 
providing  for  government  trading  houses  in  the  In- 
dian country,  where  goods  were  supplied,  through 
responsible  hands,  at  honest  prices. 

The   Norridgewocks,    with   whom   the    quarrel 

1  Penhallow  gives  the  Boston  treaty.  For  the  ratifications,  see  Col- 
lections of  the  Maine  Hist.  Soc.,  III.  377,  407. 


1725-1728.]  THE   PEQUAWKETS.  247 

began,  were  completely  broken.  Some  of  the 
survivors  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  popu- 
lar 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 
by  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  and  other  Abenaki  settle- 
ments in  Canada ;  but  a  Sokoki  band  called  Pig- 
wackets,  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.  Ex- 
cept a  small  band  of  their  near  kindred  on  Lake 
Ossipee,  they  were  the  only  human  tenants  of  a 


248  LOVEWELL'S  FIGHT.  [1725. 

wilderness  many  thousand  square  miles  in  extent. 
In  their  wild  and  remote  abode  they  were  difficult 
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  them- 
selves 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  clus- 
tered in  a  bend  of  the  Saco  was  the  small  lake 
now  called  Love  well's  Pond,  named  for  John  Love- 
well  of  Dunstable,  a  Massachusetts  town  on  the 
New  Hampshire  line.  Lovewell's  father,  a  person 
of  consideration  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  "  under-bed,"  or  mattress, 
along  with  sundry  tools,  pots,  barrels,  chests,  tubs, 
and  the  like,  —  the  equipment,  in  short,  of  a  de- 
cent frontier  yeoman  of  the  time.1  But  being,  like 
the  tough  veteran,  his  father,  of  a  bold  and  adven- 

1  See  the  inventory,  in  Kidder,  The  Expeditions  of  Captain  John 
Lovewell,  93,  94. 


1725.]  HUNTING  INDIANS.  249 

turous  disposition,  he  seems  to  have  been  less  given 
to  farming  than  to  hunting  and  bush-fighting. 

Dunstable  was  attacked  by  Indians  in  the  au- 
tumn 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.1  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  In- 
dians," the  petitioners  and  forty  or  fifty  others 
are  ready  to  spend  one  whole  year  in  hunting 
them,  "  provided  they  can  meet  with  Encourage- 
ment suitable."  The  petition  is  signed  by  John 
Love  well,  Josiah  Farwell,  and  Jonathan  Robbins, 
all  of  Dunstable,  Lovewell's  name  being  well  writ- 
ten, and  the  others  after  a  cramped  and  unaccus- 
tomed fashion.  The  representatives  accepted  the 
proposal  and  voted  to  give  each  adventurer  two 
shillings  and  sixpence  a  day,  —  then  equal  in  Mas- 
sachusetts currency  to  about  one  English  shilling, 
—  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.  Love- 
well  was  chosen  captain,  Farwell,  lieutenant,  and 
Robbins,  ensign.  They  set  out  towards  the  end  of 

1  Other  accounts  say  that  eight  of  the  ten  were  killed.  The  headstone 
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." 


250  LOVE  WELL'S  FIGHT.  [1725. 

November,  and  reappeared  at  Dunstable  early  in 
January,  bringing  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,  Lancaster, 
Haverhill,  and  Billerica.  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  com- 
pelled by  want  of  food  to  send  back  a  good  num- 
ber of  his  men.  The  rest  held  their  way,  filing  on 
snow-shoes  through  the  deathlike  solitude  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 
20th  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  dis- 
tance out  of  the  gray  forest.  The  party  lay  close 
till  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  ;  then  cautiously 
approached,  found  one  or  more  wigwams,  sur- 
rounded them,  and  killed  all  the  inmates,  ten  in 
number.  They  were  warriors  from  Canada  on  a 
winter  raid  against  the  borders.  Lovewell  and 
his  men,  it  will  be  seen,  were  much  like  hunters 
of  wolves,  catamounts,  or  other  dangerous  beasts, 
except  that  the  chase  of  this  fierce  and  wily  hu- 
man game  demanded  far  more  hardihood  and  skill. 


1725.]  ANOTHER  EXPEDITION.  251 

They  brought  home  the  scalps  in  triumph,  to- 
gether with  the  blankets  and  the  new  guns  fur- 
nished to  the  slain  warriors  by  their  Canadian 
friends  ;  and  Lovewell  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,  how- 
ever, 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  com- 
missioned 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  men- 
tion. One  was  Seth  Wyman,  of  Woburn,  an 
ensign,  and  the  other  was  Jonathan  Frye,  of  An- 
dover,  the  chaplain,  a  youth  of  twenty-one,  grad- 
uated at  Harvard  College  in  1723,  and  now  a 
student  of  theology.  Chaplain  though  he  was,  he 
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  15th.  A  few 
days  afterwards,  one  William  Cumrnings,  of  Dun- 
stable,  became  so  disabled  by  the  effects  of  a 
wound  received  from  Indians  some  time  before, 
that  he  could  not  keep  on  with  the  rest,  and  Love- 
well  sent  him  back  in  charge  of  a  kinsman,  thus 
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 


252  LOVEWELL'S  FIGHT.  [1725. 

thought  of ;  and  his  comrades  built  a  small  fort, 
or  palisaded  log-cabin,  near  the  water,  where  they 
left  the  sick  man  in  charge  of  the  surgeon,  to- 
gether with  Sergeant  Woods  and  a  guard  of  seven 
men.  The  rest,  now  reduced  to  thirty-four,  con- 
tinued their  march  through  the  forest  northeast- 
ward 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,  listen- 
ing to  a  prayer  from  the  young  chaplain,  they 
heard  the  report  of  a  gun,  and  soon  after  discov- 
ered an  Indian  on  the  shore  of  the  pond  at  a  con- 
siderable 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  forward  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.  He  ordered  them  to 
lay  down  their  packs  and  advance  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  lead- 
ing men.  His  gun  was  charged  with  beaver-shot ; 
but  he  was  so  near  his  mark  that  the  effect  was 


1725.]  AMBUSCADE.  253 

equal  to  that  of  a  bullet,  and  he  severely  wounded 
Lovewell  and  one  Whiting  ;  on  which  Seth  Wy- 
man  shot  him  dead,  and  the  chaplain  and  another 
man  scalped  him.  Lovewell,  though  believed  to 
be  mortally  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  sud- 
denly, 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  confidence  in  their  numerical 
strength.1  They  no  doubt  expected  to  strike  their 
enemies  with  a  panic.  Lovewell  received  another 
mortal  wound ;  but  he  fired  more  than  once  on  the 
Indians  as  he  lay  dying.  His  two  lieutenants, 
Farwell  and  Bobbins,  were  also  badly  hurt.  Eight 
others  fell;  but  the  rest  stood  their  ground,  and 
pushed  the  Indians  so  hard  that  they  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 


1  Penhallow  puts  their  number  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. 


254  LOVE  WELL'S  EIGHT.  [1725. 

of  whom,  Ensign  Wyman,  had  escaped  unhurt. 
It  was  probably  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  be- 
hind 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,  where,  by  the  noise  they  made,  they 
seemed  to  be  holding  a  "  pow-wow,"  or  incanta- 
tion to  procure  victory ;  but  the  keen  and  fearless 
Seth  Wyman  crept  up  among  the  bushes,  shot  the 
chief  conjuror,  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  com- 
rades in  a  faint  but  audible  voice. 


1725.]  AFTER  THE  BATTLE.  255 

Solomon  Keyes,  of  Billerica,  received  two 
wounds,  but  fought  on  till  a  third  shot  struck 
him.  He  then  crawled  up  to  Wyrnan  in  the  heat 
of  the  fight,  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  himself 
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  stopping  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  Bobbins  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 
setting  of  the  moon,  such  as  had  strength  to  walk 
left  the  ground.  Bobbins,  as  he  lay  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 


256  LOVE  WELL'S  FIGHT.  [1725. 

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  im- 
possible. Any  but  the  most  skilful  woodsmen  would 
have  lost  their  way.  The  Indians,  sick  of  fight- 
ing, 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  par- 
ties 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  be- 
fore them,  and  to  excuse  his  flight  told  so  fright- 
ful a  story  of  the  fate  of  his  comrades  that  his 
hearers  were  seized  with  a  panic,  shamefully 
abandoned  their  post,  and  set  out  for  the  settle- 
ments, leaving  a  writing  on  a  piece  of  birch  bark 
to  the  effect  that  all  the  rest  were  killed.  They 
had  left  a  supply  of  bread  and  pork,  and  while 
the  famished  eleven  rested  and  refreshed  them- 
selves they  were  joined  by  Solomon  Keyes,  the 
man  who,  after  being  thrice  wounded,  had  floated 
away  in  a  canoe  from  the  place  of  the  fight. 


1725.]  DEATH  OF  FRYE.  257 

After  drifting  for  a  considerable  distance,  the  wind 
blew  him  ashore,  when,  spurred  by  necessity  and 
feeling  himself  "  wonderfully  strengthened,"  he 
succeeded  in  gaining  the  fort. 

Meanwhile  Frye,  Farwell,  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  others  to  keep  on  their  way,  and 
saying  to  Davis,  "  Tell  my  father  that  I  expect  in 
a  few  hours  to  be  in  eternity,  and  am  not  afraid 
to  die."  They  left  him,  and,  says  the  old  narra- 
tive, "  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 
wandering  eleven  days,  Davis  reached  the  fort  at 
Lake  Ossipee,  and  finding  food  there,  came  into 
Berwick  on  the  27th.  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 
there,  came  into  Dunstable  during  the  night  of  the 
13th,  and  the  rest  followed  one  or  two  days  later. 
Ensign  Wyman,  who  was  now  the  only  commis- 
sioned officer  left  alive,  and  who  had  borne  himself 
throughout  with  the  utmost  intrepidity,  decision, 
and  good  sense,  reached  the  same  place  along  with 
three  other  men  on  the  15th. 

The  runaway,  Hassell,  and  the   guard   at  the 

VOL.  I.  —  17 


258  LOVEWELL'S  FIGHT.  [1725. 

fort,  whom  he  had  infected  with  his  terror,  had 
lost  no  time  in  making  their  way  back  to  Dunsta- 
ble,  which  they  seem  to  have  reached  on  the  even- 
ing of  the  llth.  Horsemen  were  sent  in  haste  to 
carry  the  doleful  news  to  Boston,  on  which  the 
Governor  gave  orders  to  Colonel  Tyng  of  the  mili- 
tia, 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 
fight  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 
Lovewell,  Bobbins,  and  ten  others.  The  Indians, 
after  their  usual  custom,  had  carried  off  or  hid- 
den 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,  according  to  a  more  than  doubtful 
tradition,  by  John  Chamberlain.1  Not  a  living 
Indian  was  to  be  seen. 

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,  "May  be  not."  His  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 


1725.]  FRYE   AND  HIS  BETROTHED.  259 

The  Pequawkets  were  cowed  by  the  rough  hand- 
ling they  had  met  when  they  plainly  expected  a 
victory.  Some  of  them  joined  their  Abenaki  kins- 
men in  Canada  and  remained  there,  while  others 
returned  after  the  peace  to  their  old  haunts  by  the 
Saco ;  but  they  never  again  raised  the  hatchet 
aga'inst  the  English. 

LovewelFs  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 
peaceful  shores,  and  hard  by,  where,  at  the  bend 
of  the  Saco,  once  stood,  in  picturesque  squalor,  the 
wigwams  of  the  vanished  Pequawkets,  the  village 
of  Fryeburg  preserves  the  name  of  the  brave 
young  chaplain,  whose  memory  is  still  cherished, 
in  spite  of  his  uncanonical  turn  for  scalping.1 
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  that  Frye's  parents  thought  her  beneath  him 
in  education  and  position ;  but  this  is  not  likely, 
for  her  father  belonged  to  what  has  been  called 
the  "  Brahmin  caste  "  of  New  England,  and,  like 

sooner  than  his  enemy,  whom  he  shot  dead  just  as  Paugus  pulled  trig- 
ger 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,  — 

11  Who  shot  the  old  chief  Paugus,  which  did  the  foe  defeat, 
Then  set  his  men  in  order  and  brought  off  the  retreat." 

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. 


260  LOVEWELL'S  FIGHT.  [1725. 

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 
contributed  greatly  to  the  pacification  which  in 
the  next  year  relieved  the  borders  from  the 
scourge  of  Indian  war.1 

1  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  Engage- 
ment." Wyman  had  just  been  made  a  captain,  in  recognition  of  his  con- 
duct. The  narrative  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  pre- 
served in  the  Massachusetts  Archives,  from  Benjamin  Hassell,  Colonel 
Tyng,  Governor  Dunimer  of  Massachusetts,  and  Governor  Wentworth  of 
New  Hampshire.  They  give  the  various  reports  received  from  those  in 
the  fight,  and  show  the  action  taken  in  consequence.  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  contracted  in  raising  men  for  his  expeditions 
were  also  paid. 

The  papers  mentioned  above,  with  other  authentic  records  concerning 
the  affair,  have  been  printed  by  Kidder  in  his  Expeditions  of  Captain  John 
Lovewell,  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,  Hutchinson,  Fox,  History  of  Dunstable, 
and  Bouton,  Lovewell's  Great  Fight.  For  various  suggestions  touching 
Lovewell's  Expedition,  I  am  indebted  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  :  — 


1725.]  VERSES  UPON  IT.  261 


"  'Twas  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  returned  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  Robbing,  ana  wounded  good  young  Frye, 
Who  was  our  English  chaplain ;  he  many  Indians  slew, 
And  some  of  them  he  scalped  when  bullets  round  him  flew." 

Frye,  as  mentioned  in  the  text,  had  engaged  himself  to  Susanna  Rogers, 
a  young  girl  of  the  village  of  Boxford,  who,  after  his  death,  wrote  some 
untutored  verses  to  commemorate  his  fate.  They  are  entitled,  A  Mournful 
Elegy  on  Mr.  Jonathan  Frye,  and  begin  thus :  — 

"Assist,  ye  muses,  help  my  quill, 
Whilst  floods  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,  ex- 
horts 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. 
LovewelFs  Fight,  as  Dr.  Palfrey  observes,  was  long  as  famous  in  New 
England  as  Chevy  Chase  on  the  Scottish  Border. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

1712. 

THE  OUTAGAMIES  AT  DETROIT. 

THE  WEST  AND  THE  FUR  TRADE.  —  NEW  YORK  AND  CANADA.  — 
INDIAN  POPULATION.  —  THE  FIREBRANDS  OF  THE  WEST.  —  DETROIT 
IN  1712.  —  DANGEROUS  VISITORS.  —  SUSPENSE. — TIMELY  SUCCORS. 
—  THE  OUTAGAMIES  ATTACKED.  —  THEIR  DESPERATE  POSITION. — 
OVERTURES.  —  WAVERING  ALLIES.  —  CONDUCT  OF  DUBUISSON.  — 
ESCAPE  OF  THE  OUTAGAMIES.  —  PURSUIT  AND  ATTACK.  —  VICTORY 
AND  CARNAGE. 

WE  have  seen  that  the  Peace  of  Utrecht  was 
followed  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  natural  thorough- 
fare to  the  West,  not  comparable,  however,  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 


1712-1720.]  NEW   YORK  AND  CANADA.  263 

out  from  it  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  purchase,  exchange,  or  conquest,  of  this  trouble- 
some 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  im- 
portance of  the  object,  would  have  been  far  from 
hopeless.  With  New  York  in  French  hands,  the 
fate  of  the  continent  would  probably  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  dis- 
ciplined 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  accus- 
tomed to  call  them,  were  known  to  the  English 


264  THE  OUTAG AMIES  AT  DETROIT.        [1712-1720. 

as  the  Five  Nations,  —  a  name  which  during  the 
eighteenth  century  the  French  also  adopted.  Soon 
after  the  Peace  of  Utrecht,  a  kindred  tribe,  the  Tus- 
caroras,  was  joined  to  the  original  five  members  of 
the  confederacy,  which  thenceforward  was  some- 
times called  the  Six  Nations,  though  the  Tuscaroras 
were  never  very  prominent  in  its  history ;  and  to 
avoid  confusion,  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 
tribes  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  between  the  rival  European  nations, 
both  of  whom  they  distrusted.  Their  tradi- 
tional hatred  of  the  French  would  have  given 
the  English  of  New  York  a  controlling  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  the  forces  of  his  province  by 
a  word,  to  meet  the  exigency.  The  small  rev- 
enues of  New  York  were  not  at  his  disposal. 
Without  the  votes  of  the  frugal  representatives 
of  an  impoverished  people,  his  hands  were  tied. 


1712-1720.]  INDIAN  POPULATION.  265 

Hence  the  Five  Nations,  often  left  unaided  when 
they  most  needed  help,  looked  upon  their  Dutch 
and  English  neighbors  as  slothful  and  unwarlike. 

Yet  their  friendship  was  of  the  greatest  impor- 
tance 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  Western  fur-trade.  The  Five  Nations,  as  we 
have  seen,1  acted  as  middlemen  between  the  New 
York  merchants  and  the  tribes  of  the  far  interior, 
and  through  them  English  goods  and  English  in- 
fluence 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 
incessant  mutual  slaughter.  This  wild  popula- 
tion had  various  centres  or  rallying  points,  usually 
about  the  French  forts,  which  protected  them  from 
enemies  and  supplied  their  wants.  Thus  the  Pot- 
tawattamies,  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  neigh- 
boring fur-trade.  Another  focus  of  Indian  popula- 
tion was  near  the  Green  Bay  of  Lake  Michigan, 
and  on  Fox  River,  which  enters  it.  Here  were 
grouped  the  Sacs,  Winnebagoes,  and  Menomonies, 
with  the  Outagamies,  or  Foxes,  a  formidable  tribe, 
the  source  of  endless  trouble  to  the  French. 

1  See  Chapter  I. 


266  THE  OUTAGAMIES  AT  DETROIT.        [1712-1720. 

The  constant  aim  of  the  Canadian  authorities 
was  to  keep  these  Western  savages  at  peace  among 
themselves,  while  preventing  their  establishing 
relations  of  trade  with  the  Five  Nations,  and 
carrying  their  furs  to  them  in  exchange  for  Eng- 
lish goods.  The  position  was  delicate,  for  while 
a  close  understanding  between  the  Western  tribes 
and  the  Five  Nations  would  be  injurious  to  French 
interests,  a  quarrel  would  be  still  more  so,  since  the 
French  would  then  be  found  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  without  friend- 
ship between  these  tribes  and  the  Five  Nations,  — 
thus  became  maxims  of  French  policy.  The  Ca- 
nadian 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  detriment  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  Eng- 
lish traders,  it  is  true,  took  their  lives  in  their 
hands  if  they  ventured  among  the  Western  In- 
dians, who  were  encouraged  by  their  French 
father  to  plunder  and  kill  them,  and  who  on 
occasion  rarely  hesitated  to  do  so.  Hence  Eng- 
lish communication  with  the  West  was  largely 
'carried  on  through  the  Five  Nations.  Iroquois 


1712-1720.]  INDIAN  TRADE.  267 

messengers,  hired  for  the  purpose,  carried  wam- 
pum belts  "underground,"  —  that  is,  secretly, — 
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  that  of  Eng- 
lish 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 
always  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  Eng- 
lish seductions,  look  askance  at  their  father 
Onontio,  and  turn  their  canoes,  not  towards  Mon- 
treal, but  towards  Albany.  Nor  was  this  the 
worst ;  for  there  were  some  of  Onontio' s  wild 
and  unruly  Western  family  too  ready  to  lift  their 
hatchets  against  their  brethren  and  fill  the  wilder- 
ness 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  Eng- 
lish, because  it  barred  their  way  to  the  northern 


268  THE   OUT  AGAMIES  AT  DETROIT.        [1712-1720. 

lakes,  so  that  they  were  extremely  anxious  to  rid 
themselves  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  with  a  spirit  of  conquest  and  havoc  that 
made  it  the  terror  of  its  neighbors.  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  Northwest, 
another  people,  inferior  in  number,  organization, 
and  mental  capacity,  but  not  in  ferocity  or  cour- 
age, had  begun  on  a  smaller  scale,  and  with 
less  conspicuous  success,  to  play  a  similar  part. 
These  were  the  Outagamies,  or  Foxes,  with  their 
allies,  the  Kickapoos  and  the  Mascoutins,  all  liv- 
ing at  the  time  within  the  limits  of  the  present 
States  of  Wisconsin  and  Illinois,  —  the  Outagamies 
near  Fox  River,  and  the  others  on  Rock  River.1 
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. 


1712.]  INFANCY  OF  DETROIT.  269 

them  to  kill  French  traders  and  destroy  the  French 
fort  at  Detroit.  This  is  not  unlikely,  though  the 
evidence  on  the  point  is  far  from  conclusive. 

Fort  Ponchartrain,  better  known  as  Fort  Detroit, 
was  an  enclosure  of  palisades,  flanked  by  block- 
houses at  the  corners,  with  an  open  space  within 
to  serve  as  a  parade-ground,  around  which  stood 
small  wooden  houses  thatched  with  straw  or  mea- 
dow-grass. La  Mothe-Cadillac,  founder  of  the 
post,  had  been  made  governor  of  the  new  colony 
of  Louisiana,  and  the  Sieur  Dubuisson  now  com- 
manded at  Detroit.  There  were  about  thirty 
French  traders,  voyageurs,  and  coureurs  de  bois  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  Hoche- 
laga,  and  Cham-plain  in  the  Onondaga  country. 
Their  neighbors,  the  Ottawas,  who  were  on  the 
east  side  of  the  river,  had  imitated,  with  imper- 
fect success,  their  way  of  housing  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  mission 
villages,  in  red  or  blue  cloth.1  The  Hurons  were 

1  Memoir  on  the  Indians  between  Lake  Erie  and  the  Mississippi, 


270  THE  OUTAGAMIES  AT  DETROIT.  [1712. 

reputed  the  most  intelligent  as  well  as  the  bravest 
of  all  the  Western  tribes,  and  being  incensed  by 
various  outrages,  they  bore  against  the  Outagamies 
a  deadly  grudge,  which  was  shared  by  the  other 
tribes,  their  neighbors. 

All  these  friendly  Indians  were  still  absent  on 
their  winter  hunt,  wrhen,  at  the  opening  of  spring, 
Dubuisson  and  his  Frenchmen  were  startled  by  a 
portentous  visitation.  Two  bands  of  Outagamies 
and  Mascoutins,  men,  women,  and  children,  count- 
ing in  all  above  a  thousand,  of  whom  about  three 
hundred  were  warriors,  appeared  on  the  meadows 
behind  the  fort,  approached  to  within  pistol-shot 
of  the  palisades,  and  encamped  there.  It  is  by  no 
means  certain  that  they  came  with  deliberate  hos- 
tile intent.  Had  this  been  the  case,  they  would 
not  have  brought  their  women  and  children.  A 
paper  ascribed  to  the  engineer  Lery  says,  moreover, 
that  their  visit  was  in  consequence  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.1 
Dubuisson,  however,  was  satisfied  that  they  meant 
mischief,  especially  when,  in  spite  of  all  his  efforts 
to  prevent  them,  they  fortified  themselves  by  cut- 
ting 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 
belonging  to  the  French,  who,  in  the  absence  of 

1  This  paper  is  printed,  not  very  accurately,  in  the  Collection  de  Docu- 
ments relatifs  a  la  Nouvelle  France,  I.  623  (Quebec,  1883). 


1712.]  DANGEROUS  VISITORS.  271 

their  friends,  the  Hurons  and  Ottawas,  dared  not 
even  remonstrate.  Dubuisson  himself  was  forced 
to  submit  to  their  insults  in  silence,  till  a  party  of 
them  came  one  day  into  the  fort  bent  on  killing 
two  of  the  French,  a  man  and  a  girl,  against 
whom  they  had  taken  some  offence.  The  com- 
mandant then  ordered  his  men  to  drive  them  out ; 
which  was  done,  and  henceforward  he  was  con- 
vinced that  the  Outagamies  and  Mascoutins  were 
only  watching  their  opportunity  to  burn  the  fort 
and  butcher  its  inmates.  Soon  after,  their  excite- 
ment redoubled.  News  came  that  a  band  of  Mas- 
coutins, who  had  wintered  on  the  river  St.  Joseph, 
had  been  cut  off  by  the  Ottawas  and  Pottawatta- 
mies,  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  0  jib  was  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  wreek,  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. 

The  church  was  outside  the  palisade,  as  were 


272  THE  OUTAGAMIES  AT  DETROIT.  [1712. 

also  several  houses,  one  of  which  was  stored  with 
wheat.  This  the  Outagamies  tried  to  seize.  The 
French  fired  on  them,  drove  them  back,  and 
brought  most  of  the  wheat  into  the  fort ;  then 
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  desperation,  for 
they  thought  that  all  was  lost. 

The  irritation  of  their  savage  neighbors  so  in- 
creased that  an  outbreak  seemed  imminent,  when, 
on  the  loth  of  May,  the  Sieur  de  Vincennes  arrived, 
with  seven  or  eight  Frenchmen,  from  the  Miami 
country.  The  reinforcement  was  so  small  that 
instead  of  proving  a  help  it  might  have  pro- 
voked 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  Ot- 
tawas  were  close  at  hand.  Nor  was  this  all.  The 
Huron  messenger  announced  that  Makisabie,  war- 
chief  of  the  Pottawattamies,  was  then  at  the  Hu- 
ron 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 
approaching  succor,  might  make  a  desperate 


1712.]  TIMELY  SUCCORS.  273 

onslaugnt,  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  command- 
ant mounted  to  the  top  of  a  blockhouse,  and,  look- 
ing across  the  meadows  behind  the  fort,  saw  a 
throng  of  savages  coming  out  of  the  woods,  — 
Pottawattamies,  Sacs,  Menomonies,  Illinois,  Mis- 
souris,  and  other  tribes  yet  more  remote,  each  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  warriors,  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  fathers,  the  French,  and  fight 

VOL.  I.  —  18 


274  THE  OUTAGAMIES  AT  DETROIT.  [1712. 

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  ;  but  the  burning 
was  an  invention  of  the  crafty  Huron.  It  an- 
swered 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  defences  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  tomahawks  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.  There- 
fore, when  they  called  out  for  admittance,  he  did 
not  venture  to  refuse  it,  but  threw  open  the  gate. 


1712.]  THEIR   CAMP  ATTACKED.  275 

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  perfidi- 
ous Outagamies.  Then  he  begged  for  food,  to- 
bacco, 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  war- 
riors stalked  about  the  fort,  haranguing  their  fol- 
lowers, exhorting  them  to  fight  like  men  and  obey 
the  orders  of  their  father.  The  powder  and  bul- 
lets 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.1  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. 

The  French  and  their  allies  outnumbered  their 
enemies  fourfold,  while  the  Outagamie  and  Mascou- 

1  "  Cri  horrible,  dont  la  terre  trembla."  Dubuisson  a  Vaudreuil,  15  Juin, 
1712.  This  is  the  official  report  of  the  affair. 


276  THE  OUTAGAMIES  AT  DETROIT.  [1712. 

tin  warriors  were  encumbered  with  more  than 
seven  hundred  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,  therefore,  of  storming  the  pali- 
saded camp,  the  allies  beleaguered  it  with  vin- 
dictive patience,  and  wore  out  its  defenders  by  a 
fire  that  ceased  neither  day  nor  night.  The  French 
raised  two  tall  scaffolds,  from  which  they  over- 
looked 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  situation  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, 
calling  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  scaf- 
folds, 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  English.  Their  bad  advice  will 
be  your  ruin.  They  are  enemies  of  religion,  and 


1712.]  THEIR  DESPERATE  POSITION.  277 

that  is  why  the  Master  of  Life  punishes  both  them 
and  yon.  They  are  cowards,  and  can  only  defend 
themselves  by  poisoning  people  with  their  fire- 
water, which  kills  a  man  the  instant  he  drinks  it. 
We  shall  soon  see  what  you  will  get  for  listening 
to  them." 

This  Homeric  dialogue  between  the  chief  com- 
batants was  stopped  by  Dubuisson,  who  saw  that 
it  distracted  the  attention  of  the  warriors,  and  so 
enabled  the  besieged  to  run  to  the  adjacent  river 
for  water.  The  firing  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  pali- 
sades, 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  Ottawa  women  whom  they 
held  prisoners.  The  commandant,  therefore,  told 


278  THE  OUTAGAMIES  AT  DETROIT.  [1712. 

them  that  if  they  had  anything  to  say  to  their 
father  before  dying,  they  might  come  and  say 
it  in  safety. 

In  the  morning  all  the  red  blankets  had  disap- 
peared, and  a  white  flag  was  waving  over  the 
hostile  camp.  The  great  Outagamie  chief,  Pe- 
moussa,  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  brought  back  the  three  women  who 
are  prisoners  in  your  hands.  As  you  have  not 


1712,]  OVERTURES.  279 

done  so,  I  think  that  your  hearts  are  still  bad. 
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  French- 
men 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  away  the  nations  that  are  with  you,  so 
that  we  may  seek  food  for  our  women  and  chil- 
dren, 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 
recovered  the  squaws,  spoke  to  them  sternly,  and 
referred  them  to  his  Indian  allies  for  their  answer. 
Whereupon  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  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 


280  THE  OUTAGAMIES  AT  DETROIT.  [1712. 

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 
Mascoutins  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  extinguished,  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  that  they  could  never  conquer  those  people, 
that  they  knew  them  well,  and  that  they  were 
braver  than  anybody  else.  In  short,  the  French 


1712.]  WAVERING  ALLIES.  281 

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  Michillimackinac  be- 
fore it  was  too  late.  Dubuisson  appears  to  have 
met  the  crisis  with  equal  resolution  and  address. 
He  braced  the  shaken  nerves  of  his  white  fol- 
lowers 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,  per- 
suading them,  flattering  them,  and  stripping  him- 
self of  all  he  had  to  make  them  presents.  When 
at  last  he  had  gained  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  re- 
minded them  that  their  enemies  were  already  half 
dead  with  famine,  and  that  they  could  easily  make 
an  end  of  them,  thereby  gaining  great  honor 
among  the  nations,  besides  the  thanks  and  favors 
of  Onontio,  the  father  of  all. 


282  THE   OUTAGAMIES  AT  DETROIT.  [1712. 

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  con- 
tagion, 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, 
fighting  for  the  Outagamies,  while  others  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  be  buried,  and  that  the  camp 
of  the  Outagamies  and  Mascoutins  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  waist,  and  others  hanging  from  his 


1712.]  THEY  BEG  FOR  MERCY.  283 

shoulders,  besides  a  kind  of  crown  of  wampum 
beads  on  his  head.  With  him  came  seven  women, 
meant  as  a  peace-offering,  all  painted  and  adorned 
with  wampum.  Three  other  principal  chiefs  fol- 
lowed, 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  help  and  pity.  They  were  con- 
ducted to  the  parade,  where  the  French  and  the 
allied  chiefs  were  already  assembled,  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  allied  savages  presently  came  to 
Dubuisson,  and  one  of  them  said  in  a  low  voice  : 
"  My  Father,  we  come  to  ask  your  leave  to  knock 


284  THE  OUTAGAMIES  AT  DETROIT.  [1712. 

these  four  great  chiefs  in  the  head.  It  is  they 
who  prevent  our  enemies  from  surrendering  with- 
out conditions.  When  they  are  dead,  the  rest  will 
be  at  our  mercy." 

Dubuisson  told  them  that  they  must  be  drunk 
to  propose  such  a  thing.  "  Remember/'  he  said, 
"  that  both  you  and  I  have  given  our  word  for 
their  safety.  If  I  consented  to  what  you  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  murderers  consented  to  bide  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  com- 
passion ;  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  aban- 
doned them  to  their  fate." 

The  firing  began  once  more,  and  the  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.1  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 

1  According  to  the  paper  ascribed  to  Lery  it  was  only  the  eighth. 


1712.]  THEY  SURRENDER.  285 

gloom  with  the  silence  of  shadows,  passed  the 
camps  of  their  sleeping  enemies,  and  reached  a 
point  of  land  projecting  into  the  river  opposite 
the  end  of  Isle  au  Cochon,  and  a  few  miles 
above  the  French  fort.  Here,  knowing  that  they 
would  be  pursued,  they  barricaded  themselves 
with  trunks  and  branches  of  trees.  When  the 
astonished  allies  discovered  their  escape,  they 
hastily  followed  their  trail,  accompanied  by  some 
of  the  French,  led  by  Vincennes.  In  their  eager- 
ness they  ran  upon  the  barricade  before  seeing  it, 
and  were  met  by  a  fire  that  killed  and  wounded 
twenty  of  them.  There  was  no  alternative  but  to 
forego  their  revenge  and  abandon  the  field,  or  be- 
gin another  siege.  Encouraged  by  Dubuisson,  they 
built  their  wigwams  on  the  new  scene  of  opera- 
tions ;  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  0  jib  was,  who  had  lately  ar- 
rived, fished  and  hunted  for  the  allies,  while  the 
French  furnished  them  with  powder,  ball,  tobacco. 
Indian  corn,  and  kettles.  The  enemy  fought  des- 
perately for  four  days,  and  then,  in  utter  exhaus- 
tion, surrendered  at  discretion.1 

The  women  and  children  were  divided  among 
the  victorious  hordes,  and  adopted  or  enslaved. 

1  The  paper  ascribed  to  Lery  says  that  they  surrendered  on  a  promise 
from  Vineennes  that  their  lives  should  be  spared,  but  that  the  promise 
availed  nothing. 


286  THE  OUTAGAMIES  AT  DETROIT.  [1712. 

To  the  men  no  quarter  was  given.  "  Our  Indians 
amused  themselves,"  writes  Dubuisson,  "  with 
shooting  four  or  five  of  them  every  day."  Here, 
however,  another  surprise  awaited  the  conquerors 
and  abridged  their  recreation,  for  about  a  hundred 
of  these  intrepid  warriors  contrived  to  make  their 
escape,  and  among  them  was  the  great  war-chief 
Pemoussa. 

The  Outagamies  were  crippled,  but  not  dis- 
abled, for  but  a  part  of  the  tribe  was  involved 
in  this  bloody  affair.  The  rest  were  wrought 
to  fury  by  the  fate  of  their  kinsmen,  and  for 
many  years  they  remained  thorns  in  the  sides 
of  the  French. 

There  is  a  disposition  to  assume  that  events  like 
that  just  recounted  were  a  consequence  of  the  con- 
tact of  white  men  with  red;  but  the  primitive 
Indian  was  quite  able  to  enact  such  tragedies 
without  the  help  of  Europeans.  Before  French  or 
English  influence  had  been  felt  in  the  interior  of  the 
continent,  a  great  part  of  North  America  was  the 
frequent  witness  of  scenes  still  more  lurid  in  color- 
ing, and  on  a  larger  scale  of  horror.  In  the  first 
half  of  the  seventeenth  century  the  whole  country, 
from  Lake  Superior  to  the  Tennessee,  and  from 
the  Alleghanies  to  the  Mississippi,  was  ravaged  by 
wars  of  extermination,  in  which  tribes,  large  and 
powerful,  by  Indian  standards,  perished,  dwindled 
into  feeble  remnants,  or  were  absorbed  by  other 
tribes  and  vanished  from  sight.  French  pioneers 
were  sometimes  involved  in  the  carnage,  but 


1712.]  INTESTINE   WARS.  287 

neither  they  nor  other  Europeans  were  answerable 
for  it.1 

1  Dubuisson  a  Vaudreuil,  15  Juin,  1712.  This  is  Dubuisson's  report 
to  the  Governor,  which  soon  after  the  event  he  sent  to  Montreal  by  the 
hands  of  Vincennes.  He  says  that  the  great  fatigue  through  which  he 
has  just  passed  prevents  him  from  giving  every  detail,  and  he  refers 
Vaudreuil  to  the  bearer  for  further  information.  The  report  is,  however, 
long  and  circumstantial. 

Etut  de  ce  que  M.  Dubuisson  a  depense  pour  le  service  du  Roy  pour 
s'attirer  les  Nations  et  les  mettre  dans  ses  interets  afin  de  resister  aux 
Outagamis  et  aux  Mascoutins  gui  etaient  payes  des  Anglais  pour  de'truire 
le  poste  du  Fort  de  Ponchartrain  du  Detroit,  14  Oct.  1712.  Dubuisson 
reckons  his  outlay  at  2,901  livres. 

These  documents,  with  the  narrative  ascribed  to  the  engineer  Lery,  are 
the  contemporary  authorities  on  which  the  foregoing  account  is  based. 


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- 
SISSIPPI COMPANY.  —  NEW  ORLEANS.  —  THE  BUBBLE  BURSTS.  — 
INDIAN  WARS.  —  THE  COLONY  FIRMLY  ESTABLISHED.  —  THE  TWO 
HEADS  OF  NEW  FRANCE. 

AT  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century  an  event 
took  place  that  was  to  have  a  great  influence  on 
the  future  of  French  America.  This  was  the  oc- 
cupation by  France  of  the  mouth  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, and  the  vindication  of  her  claim  to  the  vast 
and  undefined  regions  which  La  Salle  had  called 
Louisiana.  La  Salle's  schemes  had  come  to  nought, 
but  they  were  revived,  seven  years  after  his  death, 
by  his  lieutenant,  the  gallant  and  faithful  Henri 
de  Tonty,  who  urged  the  seizure  of  Louisiana  for 
three  reasons :  first,  as  a  base  of  attack  upon 
Mexico ;  secondly,  as  a  depot  for  the  furs  and  lead 
ore  of  the  interior  ;  and  thirdly,  as  the  only  means 
of  preventing  the  English  from  becoming  masters 
of  the  West.1 

Three    years   later,   the    Sieur   de    Remonville, 
a  friend  of  La  Salle,  proposed  the  formation  of 

1  Henri  de  Tonty  a  Cabart  de  Villermont,  11  Sept.  1694  (Margry,  IV.  3). 


1697-1699.]  ENGLISH  RIVALRY.  289 

a  company  for  the  settlement  of  Louisiana,  and 
called  for  immediate  action  as  indispensable  to 
anticipate  the  English.1  The  English  were,  in 
fact,  on  the  point  of  taking  possession  of  the 
mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  and  were  prevented  only 
by  the  prompt  intervention  of  the  rival  nation. 

If  they  had  succeeded,  colonies  would  have 
grown  up  on  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  after  the  type  of 
those  already  planted  along  the  Atlantic :  volun- 
tary immigrants  would  have  brought  to  a  new 
home  their  old  inheritance  of  English  freedom  ; 
would  have  ruled  themselves  by  laws  of  their  own 
making,  through  magistrates  of  their  own  choice ; 
would  have  depended  on  their  own  efforts,  and  not 
on  government  help,  in  the  invigorating  conscious- 
ness that  their  destinies  were  in  their  own  hands, 
and  that  they  themselves,  and  not  others,  were  to 
gather  the  fruits  of  their  toils.  Out  of  conditions 
like  these  would  have  sprung  communities,  not 
brilliant,  but  healthy,  orderly,  well  rooted  in  the 
soil,  and  of  hardy  and  vigorous  growth. 

But  the  principles  of  absolutism,  and  not  those 
of  a  regulated  liberty,  were  to  rule  in  Louisiana. 
The  new  French  colony  was  to  be  the  child  of  the 
Crown.  Cargoes  of  emigrants,  willing  or  unwilling, 
were  to  be  shipped  by  authority  to  the  fever- 
stricken  banks  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 

1  Mtmoire  sur  le  Projet  d'establir  une  nouvelle  Colonie  au  Mississippi, 
1697  (Margry,  IV.  21). 
VOL.  i.  — 19 


290  LOUISIANA.  [1698, 1699. 

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  military  rulers  set  over  them  by 
the  King,  and  agreeing  in  nothing  except  in  en- 
forcing the  mandates  of  arbitrary  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  Remonville  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.1  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.2  He  sailed  with  two  frigates,  the  "  Badine  " 
and  the  "  Marin,"  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 

1  Iberville  au  Ministre,  18  Jii/n,  1698  (Margry,  IV.  51). 

2  Memoire  pour  servir  d' Instruction  au  Sieur  d'Iberville  (Margry,  IV.  72). 


1699.]  IBERVILLE   ON  THE   MISSISSIPPI.  291 

had  been  landed,  and  a  stockade  fort  was  already 
built.  Iberville  left  the  Spaniards  undisturbed  and 
unchallenged,  and  felt  his  way  westward  along  the 
coasts  of  Alabama  and  Mississippi,  exploring  and 
sounding  as  he  went.  At  the  beginning  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  3d,  twelve  leagues  above  its  mouth, 
climbed  a  solitary  tree,  and  could  see  nothing  but 
broad  flats  of  bushes  and  canebrakes.1 

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,  thirteen  years  before.  Young  Le  Moyne  de 
Bienville,  who  accompanied  his  brother  Iberville 
in  a  canoe,  brought  him,  some  time  after,  a  let- 
ter from  Tonty  which  the  writer  had  left  in  the 
hands  of  another  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.2  After  pushing  up  the 

1  Journal  d' Iberville  (Margry,  IV.  131). 

2  This  letter,  which  D'Iberville  gives  in  his  Journal,  is  dated  "  Du 
Village   des    Quinipissas,   le  20  Avril,   1685."     Iberville  identifies  the 
Quinipissas  with  the  Bayagoulas.     The  date  of  the  letter  was  evidently 
misread,  as  Tonty's  journey  was  in  1686.     See  La  Salle  and  the  Discovery 


292  LOUISIANA.  [1699. 

stream  till  the  24th?  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  XIY. ;  and  this  done,  he 
sailed  for  France.  Thus  the  first  foundations  of 
Louisiana  were  laid  in  Mississippi. 

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  a  T 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,  Cap- 
tain Louis  Bank,  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  Chicka- 
saws,  with  whom  they  were  trading  for  Indian 
slaves.  Bienville  assured  Bank  that  he  was  not 

of  the  Great  West,  429,  note.  Iberville 's  lieutenant,  Sugeres,  commanding 
the  "  Marin,"  gives  the  date  correctly.  Journal  de  la  Frigate  le  Marin, 
1698,  1699  (Margry,  IV.)- 

1  Journal  du  Voyage  du  Chevalier  d'Iberville  sur  le  Vaisseau  du  Roy  la 
Renomme'e  en  1699  (Margry,  IV.  395). 


1699.]  PETITION  OF  HUGUENOTS.  293 

upon  the  Mississippi,  but  on  another  river  belonging 
to  King  Louis,  who  had  a  strong  fort  there  and 
several  settlements.  "  The  too-credulous  English- 
man," 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  their  answer.  The  King  replied,  through 
the  minister,  Ponchartrain,  that  he  had  not  ex- 
pelled heretics  from  France  in  order  that  they 
should  set  up  a  republic  in  America.2  Thus,  by 
the  bigotrjr  that  had  been  the  bane  of  Canada  and 
of  France  herself,  Louis  XIV.  threw  away  the 
opportunity  of  establishing  a  firm  and  healthy 
colony  at  the  mouth  of  the  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 

1  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  English  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. 

2  Gayarre,  Histoire  de  la  Louisiane  (1846),  I.  69. 


294  LOUISIANA.  [1699, 1701. 

reinforcement.  The  colonial  views  of  the  King 
may  be  gathered  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  pearls  of  Louisiana  were  un- 
commonly bad.  He  was  also  to  catch  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  docu- 
ment declares  to  be  "  la  grande  affaire." l 

On  the  8th  of  January,  Iberville  reached  Biloxi, 
and  soon  after  went  up  the  Mississippi  to  that  re- 
markable 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  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.2 

Retracing  his  course,  he  built  a  wooden  redoubt 
near  one  of  the  mouths  of  the  Mississippi  to  keep 
out  the  dreaded  English. 

In  the  next  year  he  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. 

1  Me'moire  pour  servir  cT 'Instruction  au  Sieur  d'Iberville  (Margry,  IV. 
348). 

2  Journal  du  Voyage  du  Chevalier  d'Iberville  sur  le  Vaisseau  du  Roy  la 
Renomme'e,  1699,  1700. 


1700-1704.]  FRANCE  AND   SPAIN.  295 

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.1 
Spain  was  then  at  peace  with  France,  and  her  new 
king,  the  Due  d'Anjou,  grandson  of  Louis  XIV., 
needed  the  support  of  his  powerful  kinsman ; 
hence  his  remonstrance  against  French  encroach- 
ment was  of  the  mildest.2 

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 
u  beggars  sent  out  to  enrich  themselves,"  and  who 
expected  the  government  to  feed  them  while  they 
looked  for  pearls  and  gold  mines.  The  paternal 

1  Memoire  de  la  Junte  de  Guerre  des  Indes.     Le  Ministre  de  la  Marine 
au  Due  d'Harcourt  (Margry,  IV  553,  568). 

2  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  England,  which, 
he  says,  were  about  to  seize  the  country  ayfar  as  the  Mississippi  and 
beyond  it. 


296  LOUISIANA.  [1704-1706. 

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  pestilence  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  brothers,  Bienville  and  Chateauguay,  were 
"  thieves  and  knaves." l  La  Vente,  cure  of  Mobile, 
joined  in  the  cry  against  Bienville,  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  her- 
self as  well  as  for  her  charge ;  and  she  wrote  to 
Ponchartrain  that  Major  Boisbriant,  commander  of 
the  garrison,  would  certainly  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." 2 

1  Nicolas  de  la  Salle  au  Ministre,  7  Sept.  1706. 

2  "  II  est  clair  que  M.  de  Bienville  n'a  pas  les  qualites  necessaires  pour 


1708.]  OFFICIAL  DISPUTES.  297 

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  voyage.  Artaguette,  the  new  inten- 
dant,  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.  Never- 
theless, when  he  had  finished  his  investigation 
he  reported  to  the  minister  that  the  accused  was 
innocent ;  on  which  Nicolas  de  la  Salle,  whom  he 
had  supplanted  as  intendant,  wrote  to  Ponchartrain 
that  Artaguette  had  deceived  him,  being  no  better 
than  Bienville  himself.  La  Salle  further  declared 
that  Barrot,  the  surgeon  of  the  colony,  was  an 
ignoramus,  and  that  he  made  money  by  selling 
the  medicines  supplied  by  the  King  to  cure  his 
Louisianian  subjects.  Such  were  the  transatlan- 
tic 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 
are  dying  of  hunger,  —  not  all,  however,  for  he 
mentions  a  few  exceptional  cases  of  prosperity. 
These  were  certain  thrifty  colonists  from  Kochelle, 
who,  says  Bienville,  have  grown  rich  by  keeping 
dram-shops,  and  now  want  to  go  back  to  France  ; 
but  he  has  set  a  watch  over  them,  thinking  it  just 

Men  gouverner  la  colonie."     Gayarre  found  this  curious  letter  in  the 
Archives  de  la  Marine. 


298  LOUISIANA.  [1710. 

that  they  should  be  forced  to  stay  in  the  colony.1 
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  continually  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  ad- 
vantageous, 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  worst  negroes  in  exchange, 
and  that  the  only  way  to  get  good  ones  was  to 
fetch  them  from  Guinea. 

Complaints  against  Bienville  were  renewed  till 
the  court  sent  out  La  Mothe-Cadillac  to  succeed 
him,  with  orders  to  examine  the  charges  against 
his  predecessor,  whom  it  was  his  interest  to  con- 
demn, in  order  to  keep  the  governorship.  In  his 
new  post,  Cadillac  displayed  all  his  old  faults,  be- 
gan by  denouncing  the  country  in  unmeasured 
terms,  and  wrote  in  his  usual  sarcastic  vein  to  the 
colonial  minister  :  "I  have  seen  the  garden  on 
Dauphin  Island,  which  had  been  described  to  me 
as  a  terrestrial  paradise.  I  saw  there  three  seed- 
ling 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 

1  Depeche  de  Bienville ,  12  Oct.  1708. 


1711,  1712.]  STATE  OF  THE  COLONY.  299 

of  French  melons,  and  a  few  pumpkins.  This 
is  M.  d ' Artaguette's  terrestrial  paradise,  M.  de 
Rernonville's  Pomona,  and  M.  de  Mandeville's  For- 
tunate Islands.  Their  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  when  persons  are  sent  us 
who  understand  that  business."  l 

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  en- 
force. The  royal  edicts  and  arbitrary  commands 
that  took  the  place  of  law  proceeded  from  masters 
thousands  of  miles  away,  who  knew  nothing  of 
the  country,  could  not  understand  its  needs,  and 
scarcely  tried  to  do  so. 

In  1711,  though  the  mischievous  phantom  of 
gold  and  silver  mines  still  haunted  the  colony, 
we  find  it  reported  that  the  people  were  beginning 

1  D'Artaguette  in  Gayarre,  Histoire  de  la  Louisiane.  This  valuable 
work  consists  of  a  series  of  documents,  connected  by  a  thread  of  narrative. 


300  LOUISIANA.  [1712. 

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  supernu- 
merary 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  An- 
toine  Crozat,  a  wealthy  man  of  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,  in- 
cluding the  entire  region  watered  by  the  Missis- 
sippi, the  Missouri,  the  Ohio,  and  their  tributaries, 
as  far  north  as  the  Illinois.  In  comparison  with 
this  immense  domain,  which  was  all  included  un- 
der 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  countries,  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  dur- 
ing 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, 


1712-1714.]  MONOPOLY  OF  CROZAT.  301 

the  grantee  was  bound  to  send  to  Louisiana  a  spe- 
cified number  of  settlers  every  year.  His  charter 
provided  that  the  royal  edicts  and  the  Coutume  de 
Paris  should  be  the  law  of  the  colony,  to  be  ad- 
ministered by  a  council  appointed  by  the  King. 

When  Louisiana  was  thus  handed  over  to  a 
speculator  for  a  term  of  years,  it  needed  no  prophet 
to  foretell  that  he  would  get  all  he  could  out  of  it, 
and  put  as  little  into  it  as  possible.  When  Crozat 
took  possession  of  the  colony,  the  French  court 
had  been  thirteen  years  at  work  in  building  it  up. 
The  result  of  its  labors  was  a  total  population,  in- 
cluding 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  sta- 
tion 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  Pensa- 
cola  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  each  other.  They 
were  forbidden  to  hold  meetings  without  permis- 


302  LOUISIANA.  [1712-1714. 

sion ;  but  some  of  them  secretly  drew  up  a  peti- 
tion to  La  Mothe-Cadillac,  who  was  still  the 
official  chief  of  the  colony,  begging  that  the  agents 
of  Crozat  should  be  restricted  to  wholesale  deal- 
ings, and  that  the  inhabitants  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 
(ne  vaut  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  can- 
didates, the  first  of  these,  the  Sieur  de  Lafresniere, 
learned  to  sign  his  name  only  four  months  ago,  and 
the  other,  being  chief  surgeon  of  the  colony,  is  too 
busy  to  serve.1 

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  mu- 
tual accusations,  and  Bienville  wrote  that  his  re- 
fusal to  marry  Cadillac's  daughter  was  the  cause 
of  the  spite  the  Governor  bore  him.2 

1  La  Mothe-Cadillac  au  Ministre,  in  Gayarre,  I.  104,  105. 

2  "Que  si  M.  de  Lamothe-Cadillac  lui  portoit  tant  d'animositie,  c'etoit 
a  cause  du  refus  qu'il  avoit  fait  d'epouser  sa  fille."    Bieuville  in  Gayarre, 
I.  116. 


1710-1714.]  WIVES  FOR   THE  COLONISTS.  3Q3 

The  indefatigable  cure  De  la  Yente  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  Loui- 
siana, 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  drunkards,  gamblers,  blasphemers,  and 
enemies  of  everything  good  ;  "  and  he  proceeds  to 
illustrate  the  statement  with  many  particulars.1 

As  the  inhabitants  were  expected  to  work  for 
Crozat,  and  not  for  themselves,  it  naturally  fol- 
lowed that  they  would  not  work  at  all ;  and  idle- 
ness produced  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  inten- 
dant,  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  vigorous  and  valuable  part  of  the  population, 
much  preferred  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  matrimony  were 
drawn  from  the  Parisian  hospitals  and  houses  of 

1  Me'moire  du  Cure  de  la  Vente,  1714. 

2  The  earlier  cargoes  of  girls  seem  to  have  been  better  chosen,  and 
there  was  no  difficulty  in  mating  them.     Serious  disputes  sometimes  rose 
from  the  competition  of  rival  suitors.     Dumont,  Memoires  historiques  de  la 
Louisiane,  chap.  v. 


304  LOUISIANA.  [1717. 

correction,  from  the  former  of  which  Crozat  was 
authorized  to  take  one  hundred  girls  a  year,  "  in 
order  to  increase  the  population."  These  hospi- 
tals were  compulsory  asylums  for  the  poor  and 
vagrant  of  both  sexes,  of  whom  the  great  Hopital 
General  of  Paris  contained  at  one  time  more  than 
six  thousand.1 

Crozat  had  built  his  chief  hopes  of  profit  on  a 
trade,  contraband  or  otherwise,  with  the  Mexican 
ports  ;  but  the  Spanish  officials,  faithful  instru- 
ments 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  Loui- 
siana, 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  Yera  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  Com- 
pany, called  also  the  Western  Company.2 

That  charlatan  of  genius,  the  Scotchman  John 
Law,  had  undertaken,  with  the  eager  support  of 

1  Prominent  officials  of  the  colony  are  said  to  have  got  wives  from 
these  sources.     Nicolas  de  la  Salle  is  reported  to  have  had  two  in  suc- 
cession, both  from  the  hospitals.     Be'nard  de  la  Harpe,  107  (ed.  1831). 

2  Lettres  patentes  en  forme  d'Edit  portant  e'tablissement  de  la  Compagnie 
d'Occident,  in  Le  Page  du  Pratz,  Histoire  de  la  Louisiane,  I.  47. 


1717-1720.]  THE  MISSISSIPPI  COMPANY.  305 

the  Kegent  Duke  of  Orleans,  to  deliver  France 
from  financial  ruin  through  a  prodigious  system 
of  credit,  of  which  Louisiana,  with  its  imaginary 
gold  mines,  was  made  the  basis.  The  government 
used  every  means  to  keep  up  the  stock  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi Company.  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  farming  of  the  revenues 
of  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  hun- 
dred souls,  including  soldiers,  but  not  blacks  or 
Indians.  Crozat's  successors,  however,  say  that 
the  whole  number  of  whites,  men,  women,  and 
children,'was  not  above  four  hundred.1  When  the 
Mississippi  Company  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 

1  Reglement  de  Regie,  1721. 

VOL.  1—20 


306  LOUISIANA.  [1717-1721. 

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  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  de- 
nied. Hence  voluntary  immigration  was  not  to  be 
expected;  "but,"  says  the  Due  de  Saint-Simon, 
"  the  government  wished  to  establish  effective  set- 
tlements 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  proceed- 
ings in  themselves,  as  tending  at  once  to  purge 
France  and  people  Louisiana,  but  thinks  the  busi- 
ness 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  Cor- 
rection called  the  Salpetriere.  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 

1  Saint-Simon,  Me'moires  (ed.  Cheruel),  XVII.  461. 


1717-1722.]  BIENVILLE   REAPPOINTED.  307 

writer,  a  M.  de  Chassin,  takes  it  upon  him  to  ad- 
dress a  minister  of  state  in  a  court  where  punctilio 
reigned  supreme.  "  You  see,  Monseigneur,  that 
nothing  is  wanting  now  to  make  a  solid  settle- 
ment in  Louisiana  but  a  certain  piece  of  furni- 
ture 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."  1 

The  Company,  which  was  invested  with  sov- 
ereign powers,  began  its  work  by  sending  to 
Louisiana  three  companies  of  soldiers  and  sixty- 
nine  colonists.  Its  wisest  act  was  the  removal  of 
the  Governor,  L'Epinay,  who  had  supplanted  La 
Mothe-Cadillae,  and  the  reappointment  of  Bien- 
ville  in  his  place.  Bienville  immediately  sought 
out  a  spot  for  establishing  a  permanent  station  on 
the  Mississippi.  Fifty  men  were  sent  to  clear  the 
ground,  and  in  spite  of  an  inundation  which 
overflowed  it  for  a  time,  the  feeble  foundations 
of  New  Orleans  wrere  laid.  Louisiana,  hitherto  dif- 
fused through  various  petty  cantonments,  far  and 
'near,  had  at  last  a  capital,  or  the  germ  of  one. 

It  was  the  6th  of  September,  1717,  when  the 
charter  of  the  Mississippi  Company  was  entered 
in  the  registers  of  the  Parliament  of  Paris;  and 
from  that  time  forward,  before  the  offices  of  the 

1  De  Chassin  au  Ministre,  1  Juillet,  1722,  in  Gayarre,  I.  190. 


308  LOUISIANA.  [1722, 1723. 

Company  in  the  Hue  Quincampoix,  crowds  of 
crazed  speculators  jostled  and  fought  from  morning 
till  night  to  get  their  names  inscribed  among  the 
stockholders.  Within  five  years  after,  the  huge 
glittering  bubble  had  burst.  The  shares,  each  one 
of  which  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  morbid  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  Com- 
pany reported  that  they  had  shipped  7,020  per- 
sons to  the  colony,  besides  four  hundred  already 
there  when  they  took  possession,  and  that  5,420 
still  remained,  the  rest  having  died  or  escaped.1 
Besides  this  importation  of  whites,  they  had  also 
brought  six  hundred  slaves  from  Guinea.  It  is 

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. 


1724.]  ROYAL  EDICTS.  309 

reckoned  that  the  King,  Crozat,  and  the  Mis- 
sissippi Company  had  spent  among  them  about 
eight  million  livres  on  Louisiana,  without  any 
return.1 

The  bursting  of  the  Mississippi  bubble  did  not 
change  the  principles  of  administration  in  Loui- 
siana. 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  live-stock  sent  them  for  propaga- 
tion. The  remedy  came  in  the  shape  of  a  royal 
edict  forbidding  any  colonist  to  kill,  without  per- 
mission of  the  authorities,  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  settlement  and  built  a  fort  called  Fort 
Rosalie,  suddenly  rose  on  their  white  neighbors 

1  Be'nard  de  la  Harpe,  371  (ed.  1831). 


310  LOUISIANA.  [1729-1733. 

and  massacred  nearly  all  of  them.1  Then  followed 
a  long  course  of  Indian  wars.  The  French  believed 
that  there  was  a  general  conspiracy  among  the 
Southern  tribes  for  their  destruction,  —  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  pronounced  them 
"  so  bad  that  they  seem  to  have  been  made  on  pur- 
pose for  the  colony." 2  There  were  also  about  eight 
hundred  militia.  Perier  showed  little  vigor,  and 
had  little  success.  His  chief  resource  was  to  set 
the  tribes  against  each  other.  He  reports  that 
his  Indian  allies  had  brought  him  a  number  of 
Natchez  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  ad- 
versaries, 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. 

In  this  state  of  things  the  directors  of  the  Mis- 

1  Lettre  du  Pere  I e  Petit,  in  Lettres  Edifiantes ;  Dumont,  Memoires 
historiques,  chap,  xxvii. 

2  "  Nos  soldats,  qui  semblent  etre  faits  expres  pour  la  colonie,  tant  ils 
sont  mauvais."    Depeche  de  Perier,  18  Mars,  1730. 


1731-1733.]  A  CHANGE  OF  MASTERS.  3H 

sissippi  Company,  whose  affairs  had  gone  from  bad 
to  worse,  declared  that  they  could  no  longer  bear 
the  burden  of  Louisiana,  and  begged  the  King  to 
take  it  off  their  hands.  The  colony  was  there- 
fore 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  en- 
couraged by  bounties  and  exemption  from  duties ; 
and  instead  of  paying  to  the  Company  two  hundred 
per  cent  of  profit  on  indispensable  supplies,  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.1  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.2  A  French  writer 
says  :  "  There  must  have  been  a  worm  gnawing  the 
root  of  the  tree  that  had  been  transplanted  into  so 
rich  a  soil,  to  make  it  wither  instead  of  growing. 
What  it  needed  was  the  air  of  liberty."  But  the 
air  of  liberty  is  malaria  to  those  who  have  not 

1  Memoire  de  Bienville,  1730. 

2  For  a  curious  account  of  the  discovery  of  this  negro  plot,  see  Le  Page 
du  Pratz,  III.  304. 


312  LOUISIANA.  [1739,1740. 

learned  to  breathe  it.  The  English  colonists  throve 
in  it  because  they  and  their  forefathers  had  been 
trained  in  a  school  of  self-control  and  self-depen- 
dence ;  and  what  would  have  been  intoxication  for 
others,  was  vital  force  to  them. 

Bienville  found  the  colony  again  threatened  with 
a  general  rising,  or,  as  he  calls  it,  a  revolt,  of  the 
Indian  tribes.  The  Carolina  traders,  having  no 
advantage  of  water-ways,  had  journeyed  by  land 
with  pack-horses  through  a  thousand  miles  of  wil- 
derness, and  with  the  aid  of  gifts  had  instigated 
the  tribes  to  attack  the  French.  The  Chickasaws 
especially,  friends  of  the  English  and  arch-enemies 
of  Louisiana,  became  so  threatening  that  a  crush- 
ing blow  against  them  was  thought  indispensable. 
The  forces  of  the  colony  were  mustered  to  attempt 
it;  the  enterprise  was  mismanaged,  and  failed 
completely.1  Bienville  tried  to  explain  the  dis- 
aster ;  but  his  explanation  was  ill-received  at 
court,  he  was  severely  rebuked,  reproved  at  the 
same  time  for  permitting  two  families  to  emigrate 
to  St.  Domingo,  and  sharply  ordered  to  suffer 
nobody  to  leave  Louisiana  without  express  license 
from  Versailles.  Deeply  wounded,  he  offered  his 
resignation,  and  it  was  accepted.  Whatever  his 
failings,  he  had  faithfully  served  the  colony, 
and  gained  from  posterity  the  title  of  Father  of 
Louisiana. 

With  the  help  of  industrious  nursing,  —  or,  one 
might  almost  say,  in  spite  of  it,  —  Louisiana  began 

l  Depeche  de  Bienville,  6  Mai,  1740.  Compare  Le  Page  du  Pratz,  III., 
chap.  xxiv. 


1720-1740.]  THE  TWO  FRENCH  COLONIES.  313 

at  last  to  strike  roots  into  the  soil  and  show  signs 
of  growth,  though  feebly  as  compared  with  its 
sturdy  rivals  along  the  Atlantic  seaboard,  which 
had  cost  their  King  nothing,  and  had  been 
treated,  for  the  most  part,  with  the  coolest  neglect. 
Cavelier  de  la  Salle's  dream  of  planting  a  firm 
settlement  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  and 
utilizing,  by  means  of  it,  the  resources  of  the  vast 
interior,  was,  after  half  a  century,  in  some  meas- 
ure realized.  New  France  (using  that  name  in 
its  broadest  geographical  sense)  had  now  two 
heads,  —  Canada  and  Louisiana ;  one  looking  upon 
the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  and  the  other  upon  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico.  Canada  was  not  without  jealousy 
of  her  younger  and  weaker  sister,  lest  she  might 
draw  away,  as  she  had  begun  to  do  at  the  first, 
some  of  the  most  active  and  adventurous  elements 
of  the  Canadian  population  ;  lest  she  might  prove 
a  competitor  in  the  fur-trade ;  and  lest  she  should 
encroach  on  the  Illinois  and  other  western  do- 
mains, which  the  elder  and  stronger  sister  claimed 
as  her  own.  These  fears  were  not  unfounded  ;  yet 
the  vital  interests  of  the  two  French  colonies 
were  the  same,  and  each  needed  the  help  of  the 
other  in  the  prime  and  all-essential  task  of  keep- 
ing the  British  colonies  in  check.  The  chiefs  of 
Louisiana  looked  forward  to  a  time  when  the 
great  Southern  tribes,  Creeks,  Cherokees,  Choc- 
taws,  and  even  the  dreaded  Chickasaws,  won  over 
by  French  missionaries  to  the  Church,  and  there- 
fore to  France,  should  be  turned  against  the  en- 
croaching English  to  stop  their  westward  progress 


314  LOUISIANA.  [1730-1750. 

and  force  them  back  to  the  borders  of  the  Atlantic. 
Meanwhile  the  chiefs  of  Canada  were  maturing  the 
plan  —  pursued  with  varying  assiduity,  but  always 
kept  in  view  —  of  connecting  the  two  vital  extremi- 
ties of  New  France  by  a  chain  of  forts  to  control 
the  passes  of  the  West,  keep  communications  open, 
and  set  English  invasion  at  defiance. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 
1700-1732. 

THE  OUTAGAMIE  WAR. 

THE  WESTERN  POSTS. — DETROIT. — THE  ILLINOIS.  —  PERILS  OP  THE 
WEST.  —  THE  OUTAGAMIES.  —  THEIR  TURBULENCE.  —  ENGLISH 
INSTIGATION.  —  LOUVIGNY'S  EXPEDITION.  —  DEFEAT  OF  OUTAGA- 
MIES. —  HOSTILITIES  RENEWED.  —  LIGNERY'S  EXPEDITION.  —  OU- 
TAGAMIES ATTACKED  BY  VlLLIERS.  —  BY  HuRONS  AND  IROQUOIS. 
—  LA  BUTTE  DBS  MORTS.  —  THE  SACS  AND  FOXES. 

THE  rulers  of  Canada  labored  without  ceasing  in 
their  perplexing  task  of  engrossing  the  fur-trade 
of  the  West  and  controlling  the  Western  tribes  to 
the  exclusion  of  the  English.  Every  day  made 
it  clearer  that  to  these  ends  the  Western  wilder- 
ness must  be  held  by  forts  and  trading-posts ;  and 
this  policy  of  extension  prevailed  more  and  more, 
in  spite  of  the  league  of  merchants  who  wished  to 
draw  the  fur-trade  to  Montreal,  in  spite  of  the 
Jesuits,  who  felt  that  their  influence  over  the  re- 
moter tribes  would  be  compromised  by  the  presence 
among  them  of  officers,  soldiers,  and  traders,  and 
in  spite  of  the  King  himself,  who  feared  that  the 
diffusion  of  the  colony  would  breed  disorder  and 
insubordination. 

Detroit,    the    most    important   of  the  Western 
posts,  struggled  through  a  critical  infancy,  in  the 


316  THE   OUTAGAMIE  WAR.  [1700-1722. 

charge  of  its  founder,  La  Mothe-Cadillac,  till,  by  a 
choice  not  very  judicious,  he  was  made  governor 
of  Louisiana.  During  his  rule  the  population 
had  slowly  increased  to  about  two  hundred  souls ; 
but  after  he  left  the  place  it  diminished  to  a 
point  that  seemed  to  threaten  the  feeble  post 
with  extinction.  About  1722  it  revived  again  ; 
voyageurs  and  discharged  soldiers  settled  about 
the  fort,  and  the  parish  register  shows  six  or 
eight  births  in  the  course  of  the  year.1 

Meanwhile,  on  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi 
another  settlement  was  growing  up  which  did  not 
owe  its  birth  to  official  patronage,  and  yet  was 
destined  to  become  the  most  noteworthy  offspring 
of  Canada  in  the  West.  It  was  known  to  the 
French  as  "  the  Illinois,"  from  the  name  of  the 
group  of  tribes  belonging  to  that  region.  La 
Salle  had  occupied  the  banks  of  the  river  Illinois 
in  1682 ;  but  the  curious  Indian  colony  which  he 
gathered  about  his  fort  on  the  rock  of  St.  Louis 2 
dispersed  after  his  death,  till  few  or  none  were  left 
except  the  Kaskaskias,  a  sub-tribe  of  the  Illinois. 
These  still  lived  on  the  meadow  below  Fort  St. 
Louis,  where  the  Jesuits  Marquette,  Allouez,  Kale, 
Gravier,  and  Marest  labored  in  turn  for  their  con- 
version, till,  in  1700,  they  or  some  of  them  fol- 
lowed Marest  to  the  Mississippi  and  set  up  their 
wigwams  where  the  town  of  Kaskaskia  now  stands, 
near  the  mouth  of  the  little  river  which  bears  the 
same  name.  Charlevoix,  who  was  here  in  1721, 

1  Hameau,  Notes  historiques  sur  la  Colonie  Canadienne  du  Detroit. 

2  See  La  Salle  and  the  Discovery  of  the  Great  West,  295. 


1700-1718.]  THE  ILLINOIS.  317 

calls  this  the  oldest  settlement  of  the  Illinois,1 
though  there  is  some  reason  to  believe  that  the 
village  of  Cahokia,  established  as  a  mission  by  the 
Jesuit  Pinet,  sixty  miles  or  more  above  Kaskaskia, 
and  nearly  opposite  the  present  city  of  St.  Louis, 
is,  by  a  few  weeks,  the  elder  of  the  two.  The 
voyageurs,  coureurs  de  bois,  and  other  roving  Ca- 
nadians made  these  young  settlements  their  resort, 
took  to  wife  converted  squaws,2  and  ended  with 
making  the  Illinois  their  home.  The  missions 
turned  to  parishes,  the  missionaries  to  cures,  and 
the  wigwams  to  those  compact  little  Canadian 
houses  that  cause  one  to  marvel  at  the  ingenuity 
which  can  store  so  multitudinous  a  progeny  with- 
in such  narrow  limits. 

White  women  from  Canada  or  Louisiana  began 
to  find  their  way  to  these  wilderness  settlements, 
which  with  every  generation  grew  more  French 
and  less  Indian.  The  river  Mississippi  was  at 
once  their  friend  and  their  enemy.  It  carried 
their  produce  to  New  Prleans,  but  undermined 
their  rich  alluvial  shores,  cut  away  fields  and 
meadows,  and  swept  them  in  its  turbid  eddies 
thirteen  hundred  miles  southward,  as  a  contribu- 
tion to  the  mud-banks  of  the  delta. 

When  the  Mississippi  Company  came  into  power, 
the  Illinois,  hitherto  a  dependency  of  Canada,  was 
annexed  to  Louisiana.  Pierre  Dugue  de  Boisbriant 

1  "Ce  poste,  le  premier  de  tous  par  droit  d'antiquiteV'    Journal  his- 
torique,  403  (ed.  1744). 

2  The  old  parish  registers  of  Kaskaskia  are  full  of  records  of  these 
mixed  marriages.     See  Edward   G.   Mason,  Illinois  in   the  Eighteenth 
Century. 


318  THE   OUTAGAMIE   WAR.  [1718-1734. 

was  sent  to  take  command  of  it,  and  under  his 
direction  a  fort  was  built  on  the  bank  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi sixteen  miles  above  Kaskaskia.  It  was 
named  Fort  Chartres,  in  honor  of  the  Due  de  Char- 
tres, son  of  the  Kegent,  who  had  himself  once 
borne  the  same  title.  This  work,  built  at  first  of 
wood  and  earth,  was  afterwards  rebuilt  of  stone, 
and  became  one  of  the  chief  links  in  the  chain 
of  military  communication  between  Canada  and 
Louisiana. 

Here,  with  the  commandant  at  its  head,  sat  the 
council  of  three  which  ruled  over  the  little  settle- 
ment.1 Here  too  was  a  garrison  to  enforce  the  de- 
crees of  the  council,  keep  order  among  the  settlers, 
and  give  them  a  protection  which  they  greatly 
needed,  since  they  were  within  striking  distance 
of  the  formidable  Chickasaws,  the  effects  of  whose 
hostility  appear  year  after  year  on  the  parish 
register  of  deaths  at  Kaskaskia.  "Worse  things 
were  in  store,  for  the  gallant  young  Pierre  d'Arta- 
guette,  who  was  appointed  to  the  command  in 
1734,  and  who  marched  against  the  Chickasaws 
with  a  band  of  Frenchmen  and  Indians,  was  de- 
feated, captured,  and  burned  alive,  astonishing  his 
torturers  by  the  fortitude  with  which  he  met  his 
fate.  The  settlement  had  other  foes  not  less  dan- 
gerous. These  were  the  Outagamies,  or  Foxes,  be- 
tween whom  and  the  tribes  of  the  Illinois  there 
was  a  deadly  feud.  We  have  seen  how,  in  1712, 

1  The  two  other  members  were  La  Loire  des  Ursins,  director  of  the 
Mississippi  Company,  and  Michel  Chassiu,  its  commissary,  —  he  who 
wrote  the  curious  letter  to  Ponchartrain,  asking  for  a  wife,  quoted  in  the 
last  chapter,  p.  307. 


1708-1723.]  THE   SCOURGE  OF  THE  WEST.  319 

a  band  of  Outagamies,  with  their  allies,  the  Mas- 
coutins,  appeared  at  Detroit  and  excited  an  alarm, 
which,  after  a  savage  conflict,  was  ended  with 
their  ruin.  In  1714  the  Outagamies  made  a 
furious  attack  upon  the  Illinois,  and  killed  or 
carried  off  seventy-seven  of  them.1  A  few  years 
later  they  made  another  murderous  onslaught  in 
the  same  quarter.  They  were  the  scourge  of  the 
West,  and  no  white  man  could  travel  between 
Canada  and  Louisiana  except  at  the  risk  of  his  life. 

In  vain  the  French  parleyed  with  them ; 
threats  and  blandishments  were  useless  alike. 
Their  chiefs  would  promise,  sometimes  in  good 
faith,  to  keep  the  peace  and  no  more  offend  their 
Father  Onontio  ;  but  nearly  all  the  tribes  of  the 
Lake  country  were  their  hereditary  enemies,  and 
some  bloody  revenge  for  ancient  wrongs  would 
excite  their  young  warriors  to  a  fury  which  the 
elders  could  not  restrain.  Thus,  in  1722  the 
Saginaws,  a  fierce  Algonkin  band  on  the  eastern 
borders  of  Michigan,  killed  twenty-three  Outa- 
gamies ;  the  tribesmen  of  the  slain  returned  the 
blow,  other  tribes  joined  the  fray,  and  the  wilder- 
ness was  again  on  fire.2 

The  Canadian  authorities  were  sorely  perplexed, 
for  this  fierce  inter-tribal  war  threatened  their 
whole  system  of  Western  trade.  Meanwhile  the 
English  and  Dutch  of  New  York  were  sending 
wampum  belts  to  the  Indians  of  the  upper  Lakes, 
inviting  them  to  bring  their  furs  to  Albany ;  and 

1  Vaudreuil  CM  Ministre,  16  Sept.  1714. 

2  Idem,  2  Oct.  1723. 


320  THE  OUTAGAMIE  WAR.  [1708-1713. 

Ramesay,  governor  of  Montreal,  complains  that 
they  were  all  disposed  to  do  so.  "  Twelve  of  the 
upper  tribes,"  says  Lord  Cornbury,  "  have  come 
down  this  year  to  trade  at  Albany;"  but  he  adds 
that  as  the  Indians  have  had  no  presents  for  above 
six  years,  he  is  afraid  "  we  shall  lose  them  before 
next  summer."  l  The  Governor  of  Canada  him- 
self is  said  to  have  been  in  collusion  with  the 
English  traders  for  his  own  profit.2  The  Jesu- 
its denied  the  charge,  and  Father  Marest  wrote  to 
the  Governor,  after  the  disaster  to  Walker's  fleet 
on  its  way  to  attack  Quebec,  "  The  protection  you 
have  given  to  the  missions  has  drawn  on  you  and 
the  colony  the  miraculous  protection  of  God."  3 

Whether  his  accusers  did  him  wrong  or  not, 
Vaudreuil  felt  the  necessity  of  keeping  the  peace 
among  the  Western  Indians  and  suppressing  the 
Outagamie  incendiaries.  In  fact,  nothing  would 
satisfy  him  but  their  destruction.  "  They  are 
the  common  enemies  of  all  the  Western  tribes," 
he  writes.  "  They  have  lately  murdered  three 
Frenchmen  and  five  Hurons  at  Detroit.  The 
Hurons  ask  for  our  help  against  them,  and  we 
must  give  it,  or  all  the  tribes  will  despise  us." 

He  put  his  chief  trust  in  Louvigny,  formerly 
commandant  at  Michillimackinac.  That  officer 
proposed  to  muster  the  friendly  tribes  and  march 
on  the  Outagaraies  just  as  their  corn  was  ripening, 

1  N.  Y.  Col.  Docs.,  V.  65. 

2  Memoire  prtsente  au  Comte  de  Ponchartrain  par  M.  d'Auteuil,  pro- 
curer-general du  Roy,  1708. 

8  Marest  a  Vaudreuil,  21  Jan.  1712. 

*  Vaudreuil  et  Be'gon  au  Ministre,  15  Nov.  1713. 


1714-1716.]  LOUVIGNY'S  EXPEDITION.  321 

fight  them  if  they  stood  their  ground,  or  if  not, 
destroy  their  crops,  burn  their  wigwams,  and  en- 
camp on  the  spot  till  winter;  then  send  out 
parties  to  harass  them  as  they  roamed  the  woods 
seeking  a  meagre  subsistence  by  hunting.  In  this 
way  he  hoped  to  cripple,  if  not  destroy  them.1 

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  seems  to  have 
been  between  thirty  and  forty  miles  from  the  mouth 
of  the  river,  where  it  creeps  through  broad  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  1st  of  May,  1716,  he  left  Montreal  with 
two  hundred  and  twenty-five  Frenchmen,  while 
two  hundred  more  waited  to  join  him  at  Detroit 
and  Michillimackinac,  where  the  Indian  allies  were 
also  to  meet  him.  To  save  expense  in  pay  and 
outfit,  the  Canadians  recruited  for  the  war  were 
allowed  to  take  with  them  goods  for  trading  with 
the  Indians.  Hence  great  disorder  and  insub- 
ordination, especially  as  more  than  forty  barrels 
of  brandy  were  carried  in  the  canoes,  as  a  part 
of  these  commercial  ventures,  in  consequence  of 

1  Vaudreuil  au  Ministre,  16  Sept.  1714. 

2  "  Les  Renards  [Outagamies"|  sont  placez  sur  une  riviere  qui  tombe 
dans  la  Baye  des  Puants  [Green  Bay]."    Registre  du  Cornell  de  la  Marine, 
28  Mars,  1716. 

VOL.  i.  — 21 


322  THE  OUTAGAMIE  WAR.  [1716. 

which  we  hear  that  when  French  and  Indians  were 
encamped  together,  "hell  was  thrown  open."1 

The  Outagamies  stood  their  ground.  Louvigny 
says,  with  probable  exaggeration,  that  when  he 
made  his  attack  their  village  held  five  hundred 
warriors,  and  no  less  than  three  thousand  women, 
—  a  disparity  of  sexes  no  doubt  due  to  the  inveter- 
ate fighting  habits  of  the  tribe.  The  wigwams  were 
enclosed  by  a  strong  fence,  consisting  of  three  rows 
of  heavy  oaken  palisades.  This  method  of  fortifi- 
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.2 

The  fortified  village  of  the  Outagamies  was  of 
a  somewhat  different  construction.  The  defences 
consisted  of  three  rows  of  palisades,  those  of  the 
middle  row  being  probably  planted  upright,  and 
the  other  two  set  aslant  against  them.  Below, 
along  the  inside  of  the  triple  row,  ran  a  sort  of 
shallow  trench  or  rifle-pit,  where  the  defenders  lay 
ensconced,  firing  through  interstices  left  for  the 
purpose  between  the  palisades.3 

1  "Oil  il  y  a  des  Francois  et  des  sauvages,  c'est  un  enfer  ouvert." 
Reyistre  du  Conseil  de  Marine,  28  Mars,  1716. 

2  Le  Page  du  Pratz. 

8  Louvigny  au  Ministre,  14  Oct.  1716.  Louvigny's  account  of  the 
Outagamie  defences  is  short,  and  not  very  clear.  La  Mothe-Cadillac, 
describing  similar  works  at  Michillimackinac,  says  that  the  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 


1716.]  THE   SIEGE.  .  323 

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  Outa- 
gamie  stronghold  by  regular  approaches,  as  if  he 
were  besieging  a  fortress  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  be- 
fore 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  ene- 
my, 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  prisoners,  and  make  war  on  distant 
tribes,  such  as  the  Pawnees,  in  order  to  take  cap- 
tives who  should  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  fulfilment  of  these  conditions.1 

On    the    12th    of   October   Louvigny    reached 

defenders  fired  from  their  loopholes.    The  plan  seems  borrowed  from 
the  Iroquois. 

1  Depeche  de  Vaudreuil,  14  Oct.  1716. 


324  THE   OUTAGAMIE   WAR.  [1718-1726. 

Quebec  in  triumph,  bringing  with  him  the  six 
hostages. 

The  Outagamie  question  was  settled  for  a  time. 
The  tribe  remained  quiet  for  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  conditions  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  inconceivable  of  keeping  these 
Western  tribes  quiet,"  writes  the  Governor,  almost 
in  despair.1 

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,  dreading  the  anger  of  the  French, 
suffered  them  to  escape.2  For  this  they  took  to 
themselves  great  credit,  not  without  reason,  in 
view  of  the  provocation.  At  Versailles,  however, 
their  attack  on  the  Illinois  seemed  an  unpardon- 
able offence,  and  the  next  ship  from  France 
brought  a  letter  from  the  colonial  minister  de- 
claring that  the  Outagamies  must  be  effectually 

1  Vaudreuil  au  Conseil  de  Marine,  28  Oct.  1719. 

2  Paroles  des  Renards  [Outagamies]  dans  un  Conseil  tenu  le  6  Sept.  1722. 


1726,  1727.]  CONFLICTING  PLANS.  325 

put  down,  and  that  u  his  Majesty  will  reward  the 
officer  who  will  reduce,  or  rather  destroy,  them."  1 

The  authorities  of  Canada  were  less  truculent 
.than  their  masters  at  the  court,  or  were  better 
able  to  count  the  costs  of  another  war.  Lon- 
gueuil,  the  pro  visional,  governor,  persisted  in.  meas- 
ures of  peace,  and  the  Sieur  de  Lignery  called  a 
council  of  the  Outagamies  and  their  neighbors,  the 
Sacs  and  Winnebagoes,  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  dutifully  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.2 
The  pacific  policy  of  Longueuil  was  not  approved 
by  Desliettes,  then  commanding  in  the  Illinois 
country ;  and  he  proposed  to  settle  accounts  with 
the  Outagamies  by  exterminating  them.  "  This 
is  very  well,"  observes  a  writer  of  the  time ;  "  but 
to  try  to  exterminate  them  and  fail  would  be 
disastrous."  3 

The  Marquis  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.4  Lignery  thought  that  if  the  Outa- 

1  Reponse  du  Ministre  a  la  lettre  du  Marquis  de  Vaudreuil  dull  Oct.  1723. 

2  Memoire  sur  les  Renards,  27  Avril,  1727. 

3  Memoire  concernant  la  Paix  que  M.  de  Lignery  a  faite  avec  les  Chefs 
des  Renards,  Sakis  [Sacs]  et  Puants  [Winnebagoes],  7  Juin,  1726. 

*  Memoire  sur  les  Renards,  27  Avril,  1727. 


326  THE   OUTAGAMIE   WAR.  [1727,1728. 

gamies  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  merchan- 
dise 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.1 


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."  2  On  the  other  hand, 
Beauharnois  was  told  that  the  English  had  sent 
messages  to  the  Lake  tribes  urging  them  to  kill 
the  French  in  their  country,  and  that  the  Outa- 
gamies had  promised  to  do  so.  "  This/'  writes  the 
Governor,  "  compels  us  to  make  war  in  earnest. 
It  will  cost  sixty  thousand  livres."  3 

Dupuy,  the  intendant,  had  joined  with  Beauhar- 
nois 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  his  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.4 

1  Mtmoire  sur  les  Renards,  27  Avril,  1727. 

2  Memoire  du  Roy,  29  Avril,  1727. 

8  Beauharnois  et  Dupuy  au  Ministre,  25  Oct.  1727. 
4  Mtmoire  de  Dupuy,  1728. 


1728-1730.]  ADVANCE   OF  LIGNERY.  327 

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  Michillimackinac  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.1  Here  they  caught  one  Outagamie  warripr 
and  three  Winnebagoes,  whom  the  Indian  allies  tor- 
tured to  death.  Then  they  paddled  their  canoes 
up  Fox  River,  reached  a  Winnebago  village  on  the 
24th  of  August,  followed  the  channel  of  the  stream, 
a  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  Outa- 
gamies  on  a  tract  of  rising  ground  a  little  above 
the  level  of  the  bog.2  It  consisted  of  bark  wig- 
wams, 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  chaplain,  were  given  to  the 
Indian  allies,  who  kept  the  women  as  slaves,  and 
burned  the  old  man  at  a  slow  fire.3  Then,  after 
burning  the  village  and  destroying  the  crop  of 
maize,  peas,  beans,  and  squashes  that  surrounded 
it,  the  whole  party  returned  to  Michillimackinac.4 

1  Desliettes  came  to  meet  them,  by  way  of  Chicago,  with  five  hundred 
Illinois  warriors  and  twenty  Frenchmen.     La  Perriere  et  La  Fresmere  a 
Beauharnois,  10  Sept.  1728. 

2  Guignas  d  Beauharnois,  29  Mai,  1728. 

3  Depeche  de  Beauharnois,  1  Sept.  1728. 

4  The  best  account  of  this  expedition  is  that  of  Pere  Emanuel  CrespeL 
Lignery  made  a  report  which  seems  to  be  lost,  as  it  does  not  appear  in 
the  Archives. 


328  THE  OUTAGAMIE  WAR.  [1730. 

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  con- 
tempt which  the  Western  allies  of  the  French  have 
conceived  for  them  "  since  the  last  affair."  l 

Two  years  after  Lignery's  expedition,  there  was 
another  attempt  to  humble  the  Outagamies.  Late 
in  the  autumn  of  1730  young  Coulon  de  Villiers, 
who  twenty-four  years  later  defeated  Washington 
at  Fort  Necessity,  appeared  at  Quebec  with  news 
that  the  Sieur  de  Villiers,  his  father,  who  com- 
manded the  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  Western  posts,  another  body  from  the  Illi- 
nois, led  by  the  Sieurs  de  Saint-Ange,  father  and 
son,  and  twelve  or  thirteen  hundred  Indian  allies 
from  many  friendly  tribes.2 

The  accounts  of  this  affair  are  obscure  and  not 

1  Beauharnois  au  Ministre,  15  Mai,  1729;  Ibid.,  21  Juillet,  1729. 

2  Beauharnois  et  Hocquart  au  Ministre,  2  Nov.  1730.     An  Indian,  tra- 
dition says  that  about  this  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  Outagamies  were  nearly  destroyed.     Perhaps  this  is  a  perverted 
version  of  the  Villiers  affair.     See  Wisconsin  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,  Menomonies,  and  Winnebagoes,  who  killed 
eighty  warriors  and  three  hundred  women  and  children. 


1730,  1731.]  ANOTHER  BLOW.  329 

very  trustworthy.  It  seems  that  the  Outagamies 
began  the  fray  by  an  attack  on  the  Illinois  at  La 
Salle's  old  station  of  Le  Bocher,  on  the  river  Illi- 
nois. On  hearing  of  this,  the  French  commanders 
mustered  their  Indian  allies,  hastened  to  the  spot, 
and  found  the  Outagamies  intrenched  in  a  grove 
which  they  had  surrounded  with  a  stockade.  They 
defended  themselves  with  their  usual  courage,  but 
being  hard  pressed  by  hunger  and  thirst,  as  well 
as  by  the  greatly  superior  numbers  of  their  assail- 
ants, they  tried  to  escape  during  a  dark  night,  as 
their  tribesmen  had  done  at  Detroit  in  1712.  The 
French  and  their  allies  pursued,  and  there  was  a 
great  slaughter,  in  which  many  warriors  and  many 
more  women  and  children  were  the  victims.1 

The  offending  tribe  must  now,  one  would  think, 
have  ceased  to  be  dangerous ;  but  nothing  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  unfortunate  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  invi- 
tation was  accepted,  and  in  the  autumn  of  1731 
forty-seven  warriors  from  the  Two  Mountains 

1  Some  particulars  of  this  affair  are  given  by  Ferland,  Cours  d'Histoire 
du  Canada,  II.  437  ;  but  he  does  not  give  his  authority.  I  have  found  no 
report  of  it  by  those  engaged. 


330  THE   OUTAGAMIE   WAR.  [1731. 

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  tire  Chicago  portage, 
and  thence  westward  to  Kock  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  Wisconsin,  to  the  banks  of  which  stream  the 
Outagamies  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  juniors  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  n eared  the  Wisconsin,  they  saw 
on  an  open  prairie  three  Outagamies,  who  ran  for 
their  lives.  The  Hurons  and  Iroquois  gave  chase, 
till  from  the  ridge  of  a  hill  they  discovered  the 
principal  Outagamie  village,  consisting,  if  we  may 
believe  their  own  story,  of  forty-six  wigwams, 
near  the  bank  of  the  river.  The  Outagamie  war- 
riors came  out  to  meet  them,  in  number,  as  they 
pretended,  much  greater  than  theirs  ;  but  the  Hu- 


1731-1746.]  OUTAGAMIES  DEFEATED.  331 

ron  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  sev- 
enty warriors,  and  captured  fourteen  more,  with- 
out counting  eighty  women  and  children  killed, 
and  a  hundred  and  forty  taken  prisoners.  In 
short,  they  would  have  us  believe  that  they  de- 
stroyed 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,  or- 
dering 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.1 

Nothing  is  more  misleading  than  Indian  tradi- 
tion, which  is  of  the  least  possible  value  as  evi- 
dence. It  may  be  well,  however,  to  mention 
another  story,  often  repeated,  touching  these  dark 
days  of  the  Outagamies.  It  is  to  the  effect  that 

1  Relation  de  la  Dtfaite  des  Renards  par  ks  Sauvages  Hurons  et  Iroquois, 
le  28  Fto.  1732.  (Archives  de  la  Marine.) 


332  THE  OUTAGAMIE  WAR.  [1731-1746. 

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  Butte  des 
Morts,  higher  up  Fox  River,  and  that  Marin  here 
attacked  them  again,  killing  or  capturing  the 
whole.  Extravagant  as  the  story  seems,  it  may 
have  some  foundation,  though  various  dates,  from 
1725  to  1746,  are  assigned  to  the  alleged  exploit, 
and  contemporary  documents  are  silent  concerning 
it.  It  is  certain  that  the  Outagamies  were  not 
destroyed,  as  the  tribe  exists  to  this  day.1 

In  1736  it  was  reported  that  sixty  or  eighty 
Outagamie  warriors  were  still  alive.2  Their  women, 
who  when  hard  pushed  would  fight  like  furies, 
were  relatively  numerous  and  tolerably  prolific, 
and  their  villages  were  full  of  sturdy  boys,  likely 
to  be  dangerous  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. 

1  The  story  is  told  in  Snelling,  Tales  of  the  Northwest  (1830),  under  the 
title  of  La  Butte  des  Morts,  and  afterwards,  with  variations,  by  the  aged 
Augustus  Grignon,  in  his  Recollections,  printed  in  the  Collections  of  the 
Wisconsin   Historical   Society,   III. ;  also  by  Judge   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  Outagamies  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  Memoire  surle  Canada,  1736. 


1832-1837.]  SACS  AND  FOXES.  333 

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  heredi- 
tary 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,  Charles  Bodmer,  painted  a  group 
of  them  from  life,  —  grim-visaged  savages,  armed 
with  war-club,  spear,  or  rifle,  and  wrapped  in  red, 
green,  or  brown  blankets,  their  heads  close  shaven 
except  the  erect  and  bristling  scalplock,  adorned 
with  long  eagle-plumes,  while  both  heads  and 
faces  are  painted  with  fantastic  figures  in  blue, 
white,  yellow,  black,  and  vermilion.1 

Three  or  four  years  after,  a  party  of  their  chiefs 
and  warriors  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 
oh  the  Common  in  full  costume,  to  the  delight  of 
the  boy  spectators,  of  whom  I  was  one. 

1  Charles  Bodmer  was  the  artist  who  accompanied  Prince  Maximilian 
of  Wied  in  his  travels  in  the  interior  of  North  America. 

The  name  Outagamie  is  Algonkin  for  a  fox.  Hence  the  French  called 
the  tribe  Renards,  and  the  Americans,  Foxes.  They  called  themselves 
Musquawkies,  which  is  said  to  mean  "  red  earth,"  and  to  be  derived  from 
the  color  of  the  soil  near  one  of  their  villages. 


END   OF   VOL.   I. 


BINDING  CI_f.  JUL  181968 


"NG 


F         Parkman,  Francis 

5057        France  and  England  in 

P24.       North  America 

1869 

v.6 


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