Count Frontenac: Makers of Canada, Volume 3LeSueur, William Dawson
History
Count Frontenac: Makers of Canada, Volume 3
LeSueur, William Dawson
Canada -- History -- To 1763 (New France); Frontenac, Louis de Buade, comte de, 1620-1698
Indians had inebriated themselves with brandy seized in the houses of
the inhabitants; and it is probable that, had they been promptly and
vigorously attacked, they might have been defeated with heavy loss.
Subercase was just on the point of leading his men against them, when M.
de Vaudreuil, acting-governor of Montreal in the absence of M. de
Callieres who had gone to France, appeared on the scene with formal and
positive orders from M. de Denonville, who, as ill-luck would have it,
was at Montreal, to remain strictly on the defensive. Subercase was
extremely indignant, and felt strongly tempted to disobey; but the
instinct of subordination prevailed, and he remained inactive. The
Indians meanwhile dispersed themselves over the Island of Montreal,
killing, capturing, burning, and meeting with little or no resistance.
A really circumstantial and consistent account of the whole occurrence
is lacking; and it is therefore uncertain how long the Iroquois remained
in the neighbourhood. The probability would seem to be that the main
body retreated with their prisoners and booty after a brief campaign,
but that some bands of warriors stayed behind for further pillage. On
the 13th of November a bloody raid was made on the settlement at La
Chesnaye, on the north shore of the St. Lawrence, some twenty miles
below Montreal; all the houses were burnt, and the majority of the
inhabitants either killed or captured. The total number of persons
killed elsewhere than at Lachine is estimated by Judge Girouard, who has
endeavoured to trace the names in the parish registers, at forty-two,
making, with the twenty-four killed at Lachine, a total of sixty-six. As
regards the number of captives, the same authority, whose careful
methods inspire much confidence, accepts the statement of Belmont, who
places it at ninety. We read that, when the savages left Lachine, which
they did without any attempt being made from the forts to harass their
retreat, they crossed Lake St. Louis, and, encamping on the opposite
shore, lit their fires and began to torture their prisoners. Torture,
there can be no doubt, was sufficiently congenial to the Iroquois
nature; and yet there is room for doubt whether there is sufficient
warrant for the highly coloured narrative which has become the popular
legend on this subject. It was usual with the Iroquois to carry their
captives with them into their villages; and it is known that they did
this with at least the great majority of those whom they secured on the
Island of Montreal, for many of them were alive years afterwards.
Moreover had there been many burnings on the south shore of Lake St.
Louis, the same pious care which caused the re-burial a few years later
(1694) of the remains of the victims of the Lachine massacre would have
been extended to any that might have been found on the site of the last
encampment. There is no record of the discovery of any such remains or
of their burial or re-burial. It is true that some burnings of captives
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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