France and England in N America, Part V: Count Frontenac, New France, Louis XIV

191

Plan for the Termination of the Iroquois War, N. Y. Col. Docs., IX. 375.

192

Denonville, Mémoire du 8 Août, 1688.

193

Saint-Vallier, Mémoire sur les Affaires du Canada pour Monseigneur le Marquis de Seignelay.

194

Mémoire du Ministre adressé à Denonville, 1 Mai, 1689.

195

Relation des Évenements de la Guerre, 30 Oct., 1688.

196

Declaration of the Iroquois in presence of M. de Denonville, N. Y. Col. Docs., IX. 384; Relation des Événements de la Guerre, 30 Oct., 1688; Belmont, Histoire du Canada.

197

Callières à Seignelay, Jan., 1689.

198

See the signatures in N. Y. Col. Docs., IX. 385, 386.

199

Nicolas Perrot, 143.

200

Denonville à Seignelay, 9 Nov., 1688. La Hontan saw the party set out, and says that there were about a hundred of them.

201

"Il dit, J'ai tué la paix." Belmont, Histoire du Canada. "Le Rat passa ensuite seul à Catarakouy (Fort Frontenac) sans vouloir dire le tour qu'il avoit fait, dit seulement estant hors de la porte, en s'en allant, Nous verrons comme le gouverneur se tirera d'affaire." Denonville.

202

La Hontan, I. 189. (1709) Most of the details of the story are drawn from the writer, whose statement I have compared with that of Denonville, in his letter dated Nov. 9, 1688; of Callières, Jan., 1689; of the Abstract of Letters from Canada, in N. Y. Col. Docs., IX. 393; and of the writer of Relation des Événements de la Guerre, 30 Oct., 1688. Belmont notices the affair with his usual conciseness. La Hontan's account is sustained by the others in most, though not all of its essential points. He calls the Huron chief Adario, ou le Rat. He is elsewhere mentioned as Kondiaronk, Kondiaront, Soüoïas, and Soüaïti. La Hontan says that the scene of the treachery was one of the rapids of the St. Lawrence, but more authentic accounts place it at La Famine.

203

Denonville au Ministre, 9 Nov., 1688.

204

Recueil de ce qui s'est passé en Canada depuis l'année 1682; Observations on the State of Affairs in Canada, 1689, N. Y. Col. Docs., IX. 431; Belmont, Histoire du Canada; Frontenac au Ministre, 15 Nov., 1689. This detachment was commanded by Lieutenant de la Rabeyre, and consisted of fifty French and thirty Indian converts.

205

The best account of the descent of the Iroquois at La Chine is that of the Recueil de ce qui s'est passé en Canada, 1682-1712. The writer was an author under Subercase, and was on the spot. Belmont, superior of the mission at Montreal, also gives a trustworthy account in his Histoire du Canada. Compare La Honton, I. 193 (1709) and La Potherie, II. 229. Farther particulars are given in the letters of Callières, 8 Nov.; Champigny, 16 Nov.; and Frontenac, 15 Nov. Frontenac, after visiting the scene of the catastrophe a few weeks after it occurred, writes: "Ils (les Iroquois) avoient bruslé plus de trois lieues de pays, saccagé toutes les maisons jusqu'aux portes de la ville, enlevé plus de six vingt personnes, tant hommes, femmes, qu'enfants, après avoir massacré plus de deux cents dont ils avoient cassé la teste aux uns, bruslé, rosty, et mangé les autres, ouverte le ventre des femmes grosses pour en arracher les enfants, et fait des cruautez inouïes et sans exemple." The details are given by Belmont, and by the author of Histoire de l'Eau de Vie en Canada, are no less revolting. The last-mentioned writer thinks that the massacre was a judgment of God upon the sale of brandy at La Chine.

Some Canadian writers have charged the English with instigating the massacre. I find nothing in contemporary documents to support the accusation. Denonville wrote to the minister, after the Rat's treachery came to light, that Andros had forbidden the Iroquois to attack the colony. Immediately after the attack at La Chine, the Iroquois sachems, in a conference with the agents of New England, declared that "we did not make war on the French at the persuasion of our brethren at Albany; for we did not so much as acquaint them of our intention till fourteen days after our army had begun their march." Report of Conference in Colden, 103.

206

Le Roy à Denonville, 31 Mai, 1689.

207

"I shall only add one article, on which possibly you will find it strange that I have said nothing; namely, whether the governor carries on any trade. I shall answer, no; but my Lady the Governess (Madame la Gouvernante), who is disposed not to neglect any opportunity for making a profit, had a room, not to say a shop, full of goods, till the close of last winter, in the château of Quebec, and found means afterwards to make a lottery to get rid of the rubbish that remained, which produced her more than her good merchandise." Relation of the State of Affairs in Canada, 1688, in N. Y. Col. Docs., IX. 388. This paper was written at Quebec.

208

Saint-Vallier, État Présent, 91, 92 (Quebec, 1856).

209

Saint-Simon speaks of these assemblies. The halls in question were finished in 1682; and a minute account of them, and of the particular use to which each was destined, was printed in the Mercure Français of that year. See also Soulié, Notice du Musée impérial de Versailles, where copious extracts from the Mercure are given. The grands appartements are now entirely changed in appearance, and turned into an historic picture gallery.

210

Journal de Dangeau, II. 390. Frontenac, since his recall, had not been wholly without marks of royal favor. In 1685, the king gave him a "gratification" of 3,500 francs. Ibid., I. 205.

211

Goyer, Oraison Funèbre du Comte de Frontenac.

212

Projet du Chevalier de Callières de former une Expédition pour aller attaquer Orange, Manatte, etc.; Résumé du Ministre sur la Proposition de M. de Callières; Autre Mémoire de M. de Callières sur son Projet d'attaquer la Nouvelle York; Mémoire des Armes, Munitions, et Ustensiles nécessaires pour l'Entreprise proposée par M. de Callières; Observations du Ministre sur le Projet et le Mémoire ci-dessus; Observations du Ministre sur le Projet d'Attaque de la Nouvelle York; Autre Mémoire de M. de Callières au Sujet de l'Entreprise proposée; Autre Mémoire de M. de Callières sur le même Sujet.

213

Mémoire pour servir d'Instruction à Monsieur le Comte de Frontenac sur l'Entreprise de la Nouvelle York, 7 Juin, 1689. "Si parmy les habitans de la Nouvelle York il se trouve des Catholiques de la fidelité desquels il croye se pouvoir asseurer, il pourra les laisser dans leurs habitations après leur avoir fait prester serment de fidelité à sa Majesté…. Il pourra aussi garder, s'il le juge à propos, des artisans et autres gens de service nécessaires pour la culture des terres ou pour travailler aux fortifications en qualité de prisonniers…. II faut retenir en prison les officiers et les principaux habitans desquels on pourra retirer des rançons. A l'esgard de tous les autres estrangers (ceux qui ne sont pas Français) hommes, femmes, et enfans, sa Majesté trouve à propos qu'ils soient mis hors de la Colonie et envoyez à la Nouvelle Angleterre, à la Pennsylvanie, ou en d'autres endroits qu'il jugera à propos, par mer ou par terre, ensemble ou séparément, le tout suivant qu'il trouvera plus seur pour les dissiper et empescher qu'en se réunissant ils ne puissent donner occasion à des entreprises de la part des ennemis contre cette Colonie. Il envoyera en France les Français fugitifs qu'il y pourra trouver, et particulièrement ceux de la Religion Prétendue-Réformée (Huguenots)." A translation of the entire document will be found in N. Y. Col. Docs., IX. 422.

214

On the details of the projected attack of New York, Le Roy à Denonville, 7 Juin, 1689; Le Ministre à Denonville, même date; Le Ministre à Frontenac, même date; Ordre du Roy à Vaudreuil, même date; Le Roy au Sieur de la Caffinière, même date; Champigny au Ministre, 16 Nov., 1689.

215

La Hontan, I. 199.

216

Instruction pour le Sieur Comte de Frontenac, 7 Juin, 1689.

217

Frontenac au Ministre, 15 Nov., 1689.

218

Frontenac au Ministre, 15 Nov., 1689; Recueil de ce qui s'est passé en Canada depuis l'année 1682.

219

Frontenac au Ministre, 15 Nov., 1689; Champigny au Ministre, 16 Nov., 1689. Compare Belmont, whose account is a little different; also N. Y. Col. Docs., IX. 435.

220

Belmont, Histoire du Canada; Frontenac à–, 17 Nov., 1689; Champigny au Ministre, 16 Nov., 1689. This letter is not the one just cited. Champigny wrote twice on the same day.

221

N. Y. Col. Docs., IX. 435.

222

Ourehaoué was not one of the neutrals entrapped at Fort Frontenac, but was seized about the same time by the troops on their way up the St. Lawrence.

223

Frontenac au Ministre, 30 Avril, 1690.

224

Milet was taken in 1689, not, as has been supposed, in 1690. Lettre du Père Milet, 1691, printed by Shea.

225

Frontenac declares that he sent no such message, and intimates that Cut Nose had been tampered with by persons over-anxious to conciliate the Iroquois, and who had even gone so far as to send them messages on their own account. These persons were Lamberville, François Hertel, and one of the Le Moynes. Frontenac was very angry at this interference, to which he ascribes the most mischievous consequences. Cut Nose, or Nez Coupé, is called Adarahta by Colden, and Gagniegaton, or Red Bird, by some French writers.

226

The wooden image of a codfish still hangs in the State House at Boston, the emblem of a colony which lived chiefly by the fisheries.

227

The account of this council is given, with condensation and the omission of parts not essential, from Colden (105-112, ed. 1747). It will serve as an example of the Iroquois method of conducting political business, the habitual regularity and decorum of which has drawn from several contemporary French writers the remark that in such matters the five tribes were savages only in name. The reply to Frontenac is also given by Monseignat (N. Y. Col. Docs., IX. 465), and, after him, by La Potherie. Compare Le Clercq, Établissement de la Foy, II. 403. Ourehaoué is the Tawerahet of Colden.

228

Message of Ourehaoué, in N. Y. Col. Docs., III. 735; Instructions to Chevalier d'Eau, Ibid., 733; Chevalier d'Aux au Ministre, 15 Mai, 1693. The chevalier's name is also written d'O, He himself wrote it as in the text.

229

Carheil à Frontenac, 1690. Frontenac did not receive this letter till September, and acted on the information previously sent him. Charlevoix's version of the letter does not conform with the original.

230

Parole (de M. de Frontenac) qui doit être dite à l'Outaouais pour le dissuader de l'Alliance qu'il vent faire avec l'Iroquois et l'Anglois. The message is long. Only the principal points are given above.

231

"Le Père Missionnaire des Hurons, prévoyant que cette affaire auroit peut-être une suite qui pourrait être préjudiciable aux soins qu'il prenoit de leur instruction, demanda qu'il lui fut permis d'aller à leur village pour les obliger de trouver quelque moyen qui fut capable d'appaiser le ressentiment des François. Il leur dit que ceux-ci vouloient absolument que l'on mit l'Iroquois à la chaudière, et que si on ne le faisoit, on devoit venir le leur enlever." La Potherie, II. 237 (1722). By the "result prejudicial to his cares for their instruction" he seems to mean their possible transfer from French to English influences. The expression mettre à la chaudière, though derived from cannibal practices, is often used figuratively for torturing and killing. The missionary in question was either Carheil or another Jesuit, who must have acted with his sanction.

232

Relation de Monseignat, 1689-90. There is a translation of this valuable paper in N. Y. Col. Docs., IX. 462. The party, according to three of their number, consisted at first of 160 French and 140 Christian Indians, but was reduced by sickness and desertion to 250 in all. Examination of three French prisoners taken by ye. Maquas (Mohawks), and brought to Skinnectady, who were examined by Peter Schuyler, Mayor of Albany, Domine Godevridus Dellius, and some of ye. Gentlen. that went from Albany a purpose.

233

Colden, 114 (ed. 1747).

234

"The women bigg with Childe rip'd up, and the Children alive throwne into the flames, and their heads dashed to pieces against the Doors and windows." Schuyler to the Council of Connecticut, 15 Feb., 1690. Similar statements are made by Leisler. See Doc. Hist. N. Y., I. 307, 310.

235

List of ye. People kild and destroyed by ye. French of Canida and there Indians at Skinnechtady, in Doc. Hist. N. Y., I. 304.

236

Many of the authorities on the burning of Schenectady will be found in the Documentary History of New York, I. 297-312. One of the most important is a portion of the long letter of M. de Monseignat, comptroller-general of the marine in Canada, to a lady of rank, said to be Madame de Maintenon. Others are contemporary documents preserved at Albany, including, among others, the lists of killed and captured, letters of Leisler to the governor of Maryland, the governor of Massachusetts, the governor of Barbadoes, and the Bishop of Salisbury; of Robert Livingston to Sir Edmund Andros and to Captain Nicholson; and of Mr. Van Cortlandt to Sir Edmund Andros. One of the best contemporary authorities is a letter of Schuyler and his colleagues to the governor and council of Massachusetts, 15 February, 1690, preserved in the Massachusetts archives, and printed in the third volume of Mr. Whitmore's Andros Tracts. La Potherie, Charlevoix, Colden, Smith, and many others, give accounts at second-hand.

Johannes Sander, or Alexander, Glen, was the son of a Scotchman of good family. He was usually known as Captain Sander. The French wrote the name Cendre, which became transformed into Condre, and then into Coudre. In the old family Bible of the Glens, still preserved at the place named by them Scotia, near Schenectady, is an entry in Dutch recording the "murders" committed by the French, and the exemption accorded to Alexander Glen on account of services rendered by him and his family to French prisoners. See Proceedings of N. Y. Hist. Soc., 1846, 118.

The French called Schenectady Corlaer or Corlar, from Van Curler, its founder. Its treatment at their hands was ill deserved, as its inhabitants, and notably Van Curler himself, had from the earliest times been the protectors of French captives among the Mohawks. Leisler says that only one-sixth of the inhabitants escaped unhurt.

237

Schuyler, Wessell, and Van Rensselaer to the Governor and Council of Massachusetts, 15 Feb., 1690, in Andros Tracts, III. 114.

238

Propositions made by the Sachems of ye. Maquase (Mohawk) Castles to ye. Mayor, Aldermen, and Commonality of ye. Citty of Albany, ye. 25 day of february, 1690, in Doc. Hist. N. Y., II. 164-169.

239

The Abenaki migration to Canada began as early as the autumn of 1675 (Relation, 1676-77). On the mission of St. Francis on the Chaudière, see Bigot, Relation, 1684; Ibid., 1685. It was afterwards removed to the river St. Francis.

240

Hutchinson, Hist. Mass., I. 326. Compare N. Y. Col. Docs., IV. 282, 476.

241

"En partant de Canada, j'ay laissé une très grande disposition à attirer au Christianisme la plus grande partie des sauvages Abenakis qui abitent les bois du voisinage de Baston. Pour cela il faut les attirer à la mission nouvellement établie près Québec sous le nom de S. François de Sale. Je l'ai vue en peu de temps au nombre de six cents âmes venues du voisinage de Baston. Je l'ay laissée en estat d'augmenter beaucoup si elle est protegée; j'y ai fait quelque dépense qui n'est pas inutile. La bonne intelligence que j'ai eue avec ces sauvages par les soins des Jésuites, et surtout des deux pères Bigot frères a fait le succès de toutes les attaques qu'ils ont faites sur les Anglois cet esté, aux quels ils ont enlevé 16 forts, outre celuy de Pemcuit (Pemaquid) ou il y avoit 20 pièces de canon, et leur ont tué plus de 200 hommes." Denonville au Ministre, Jan., 1690.

It is to be observed that this Indian outbreak began in the summer of 1688, when there was peace between France and England. News of the declaration of war did not reach Canada till July, 1689. (Belmont.) Dover and other places were attacked in June of the same year.

The intendant Champigny says that most of the Indians who attacked the English were from the mission villages near Quebec. Champigny au Ministre, 16 Nov., 1689. He says also that he supplied them with gunpowder for the war.

The "forts" taken by the Indians on the Kennebec at this time were nothing but houses protected by palisades. They were taken by treachery and surprise. Lettre du Père Thury, 1689. Thury says that 142 men, women, and children were killed.

242

Andros, Account of Forces in Maine, in 3 Mass. Hist. Coll., I. 85. Compare Andros Tracts, I. 177; Ibid., II. 181, 193, 207, 213, 217; Ibid., III. 232; Report of Andros in N. Y. Col. Docs., III. 722. The order for the reduction of the garrisons and the return of the suspected officers was passed at the first session of the council of safety, 20 April. The agents of Massachusetts at London endeavored to justify it. See Andros Tracts, III. 34. The only regular troops in New England were two companies brought by Andros. Most of them were kept at Boston, though a few men and officers were sent to the eastern garrison. These regulars were regarded with great jealousy, and denounced as "a crew that began to teach New England to Drab, Drink, Blaspheme, Curse, and Damm." Ibid., II. 59.

In their hatred of Andros, many of the people of New England held the groundless and foolish belief that he was in secret collusion with the French and Indians. Their most dangerous domestic enemies were some of their own traders, who covertly sold arms and ammunition to the Indians.

243

Andros in 3 Mass. Hist. Coll., I. 85. The original commanding officer, Brockholes, was reputed a "papist." Hence his removal. Andros Tracts, III. 35. Andros says that but eighteen men were left in the fort. A list of them in the archives of Massachusetts, certified by Weems himself, shows that there were thirty. Doubt is thrown on this certificate by the fact that the object of it was to obtain a grant of money in return for advances of pay made by Weems to his soldiers. Weems was a regular officer. A number of letters from him, showing his condition before the attack, will be found in Johnston, History of Bristol, Bremen, and Pemaquid.

244

Captivity of John Gyles. Gyles was one of the inhabitants.

245

Thury, Relation du Combat des Canibas. Compare Hutchinson, Hist. Mass., I. 352, and Mather, Magnalia, II. 590 (ed. 1853). The murder of prisoners after the capitulation has been denied. Thury incidentally confirms the statement, when, after saying that he exhorted the Indians to refrain from drunkenness and cruelty, he adds that, in consequence, they did not take a single scalp, and "tuèrent sur le champ ceux qu'ils voulurent tuer."

English accounts place the number of Indians at from two to three hundred. Besides the persons taken in the fort, a considerable number were previously killed, or captured in the houses and fields. Those who were spared were carried to the Indian towns on the Penobscot, the seat of Thury's mission. La Motte-Cadillac, in his Mémoire sur l'Acadie, 1692, says that 80 persons in all were killed; an evident exaggeration. He adds that Weems and six men were spared at the request of the chief, Madockawando. The taking of Pemaquid is remarkable as one of the very rare instances in which Indians have captured a fortified place otherwise than by treachery or surprise. The exploit was undoubtedly due to French prompting. We shall see hereafter with what energy and success Thury incited his flock to war.

246

The archives of Massachusetts contain various papers on the disaster at Salmon Falls. Among them is the report of the authorities of Portsmouth to the governor and council at Boston, giving many particulars, and asking aid. They estimate the killed and captured at upwards of eighty, of whom about one fourth were men. They say that about twenty houses were burnt, and mention but one fort. The other, mentioned in the French accounts, was, probably a palisaded house. Speaking of the combat at the bridge, they say, "We fought as long as we could distinguish friend from foe. We lost two killed and six or seven wounded, one mortally." The French accounts say fourteen. This letter is accompanied by the examination of a French prisoner, taken the same day. Compare Mather, Magnalia, II. 595; Belknap, Hist. New Hampshire, I. 207; Journal of Rev. John Pike (Proceedings of Mass. Hist. Soc. 1875); and the French accounts of Monseignat and La Potherie. Charlevoix adds various embellishments, not to be found in the original sources. Later writers copy and improve upon him, until Hertel is pictured as charging the pursuers sword in hand, while the English fly in disorder before him.

247

Declaration of Sylvanus Davis; Mather, Magnalia, II. 603.

248

Relation de Monseignat; La Potherie, III. 79.

249

Their remains were buried by Captain Church, three years later.

On the capture of Fort Loyal, compare Monseignat and La Potherie with Mather, Magnalia, II. 603, and the Declaration of Sylvanus Davis, in 3 Mass. Hist. Coll., I. 101. Davis makes curious mistakes in regard to French names, his rustic ear not being accustomed to the accents of the Gallic tongue. He calls Courtemanche, Monsieur Corte de March, and Portneuf, Monsieur Burniffe or Burneffe. To these contemporary authorities may be added the account given by Le Clercq, Établissement de la Foy, II. 393, and a letter from Governor Bradstreet of Massachusetts to Jacob Leisler in Doc. Hist. N. Y., II. 259. The French writers of course say nothing of any violation of faith on the part of the victors, but they admit that the Indians kept most of the prisoners. Scarcely was the fort taken, when four English vessels appeared in the harbor, too late to save it. Willis, in his History of Portland (ed. 1865), gives a map of Fort Loyal and the neighboring country. In the Massachusetts archives is a letter from Davis, written a few days before the attack, complaining that his fort is in wretched condition.