France and England in North America, Part V: Count Frontenac, New France, Louis XIVParkman, Francis
History
France and England in North America, Part V: Count Frontenac, New France, Louis XIV
Parkman, Francis
Canada -- History -- To 1763 (New France); Frontenac, Louis de Buade, comte de, 1620-1698
[11] The above is drawn from papers in N. Y. Col. Docs., III. 436, IX.
324, 336, 346, 405; Saint-Vallier, État Présent, 92; Denonville,
Journal; Belmont, Histoire du Canada; La Potherie, II. chap. xvi; La
Hontan. I. 96. Colden's account is confused and incorrect.
Denonville was already on his way thither. On the fourth of July, he had
embarked at Fort Frontenac with four hundred bateaux and canoes, crossed
the foot of Lake Ontario, and moved westward along the southern shore.
The weather was rough, and six days passed before he descried the low
headlands of Irondequoit Bay. Far off on the glimmering water, he saw a
multitude of canoes advancing to meet him. It was the flotilla of La
Durantaye. Good management and good luck had so disposed it that the
allied bands, concentring from points more than a thousand miles
distant, reached the rendezvous on the same day. This was not all. The
Ottawas of Michillimackinac, who refused to follow La Durantaye, had
changed their minds the next morning, embarked in a body, paddled up the
Georgian Bay of Lake Huron, crossed to Toronto, and joined the allies at
Niagara. White and red, Denonville now had nearly three thousand men
under his command. [12]
[12] Recueil de ce qui s'est passé en Canada depuis 1682; Captain
Duplessis's Plan for the Defence of Canada, in N. Y. Col. Docs., IX.
447.
All were gathered on the low point of land that separates Irondequoit
Bay from Lake Ontario. "Never," says an eye-witness, "had Canada seen
such a sight; and never, perhaps, will she see such a sight again. Here
was the camp of the regulars from France, with the general's
head-quarters; the camp of the four battalions of Canadian militia,
commanded by the noblesse of the country; the camp of the Christian
Indians; and, farther on, a swarm of savages of every nation. Their
features were different, and so were their manners, their weapons, their
decorations, and their dances. They sang and whooped and harangued in
every accent and tongue. Most of them wore nothing but horns on their
heads, and the tails of beasts behind their backs. Their faces were
painted red or green, with black or white spots; their ears and noses
were hung with ornaments of iron; and their naked bodies were daubed
with figures of various sorts of animals." [13]
[13] The first part of the extract is from Belmont; the second, from
Saint-Vallier.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account