Glimpses of the Past: History of the River St. John, A.D. 1604-1784Raymond, W. O. (William Odber)
History
Glimpses of the Past: History of the River St. John, A.D. 1604-1784
Raymond, W. O. (William Odber)
New Brunswick -- History; Saint John River Valley (Me. and N.B.)
[17] Jean Pierre Danielou died at Quebec, May 23, 1744. His
successor, Father Charles Germain, came to Canada in 1738 and
a few years later, probably in 1740, was sent to the St. John
River.
While the stirring events just mentioned were transpiring at
Louisbourg, Governor Mascarene was doing his best to place Annapolis
Royal in a proper state of defence and the chief engineer, John Henry
Bastide, was busily engaged in strengthening the fort. Early in the
summer of 1745 the Sieur Marin appeared before the town with a party
of six hundred French and Indians--the latter including many from the
River St. John and some of the Hurons from Canada. They captured two
Boston schooners, one of which was named the "Montague." Her captain,
William Pote, of Falmouth (now Portland) Maine, was taken to Quebec by
the Huron Indians, via the St. John river. He remained in captivity
three years. He contrived to keep a journal describing his capture and
subsequent adventures; this was concealed by one of the female
prisoners who restored it to Captain Pote after he was released. The
journal had a remarkable experience; it passed through many hands, was
discovered at Geneva in Switzerland about a dozen years ago by Bishop
John F. Hurst, and has since been printed in a sumptuous volume by
Dodd, Mead & Co., of New York. Thus after a century and a half of
obscurity this remarkable old document has at length seen the light.
We learn from its pages that Captain Pote was taken by land to
Chignecto at the head of the Bay of Fundy, where he found the captured
schooner "Montague" already arrived. The Indians called a council to
decide whether it was better to go to the River St. John in the
schooner or by land, but finally thought it better to go by land.
Accordingly on the 26th June, the "Montague" sailed with several
prisoners, including two of Pote's men and the master of the other
schooner taken at Annapolis and one of his men. Pote entreated the
Indians to be allowed to go in the schooner, but could not prevail. He
was taken by way of Shepody Bay up the River Petitcodiac in a small
schooner belonging to one of the "neutral French." The next day's
journey brought them to the carrying place between the Petitcodiac and
the Canaan river, which they crossed and encamped.
The events of the day following--Sunday, June 30--are thus recorded in
Pote's journal:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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