Young Lion of the Woods / Or, A Story of Early Colonial Days

by Thomas Barlow Smith

One night, in the month of March, 1775, Captain Godfrey and his wife were aroused from their slumbers by a loud and continued knocking at the house door. The night was very dark. The Captain got up, dressed himself, and called his eldest son, (Charlie) a lad of sixteen. They together went to the door, asked who was there, and what was wanted. The answer came ringing back, Paul Guidon. The Captain called his wife, as he did not recognize the voice as that of Paul. She came and said, "Is that you, Paul?" "Me, real Paul, and got Chief Mag with me," was the answer. Margaret could not recognize the voice as that of Paul. She said to her husband, "it sounds more like the voice of a British officer than that of an Indian." She lit a candle, and said, "Paul, do you know me?" "Yes, yes," he replied; "arrow mark on arm, and almost dead with you under windlass in sloop, great storm, lost canoe." She opened the door, and in stepped Paul Guidon, dressed in the military uniform presented to him at Halifax, or a similar one, and in his hand a musket. A fire was made, and Paul was so pleased to once again see his old friends that he could not sit quiet. He walked up and down the kitchen with a quick nervous tread, looking like a hero from some field of victory. Margaret burst out in exclamation, "So it is really you, Paul; you who accompanied us in our trials, and watched over us in our dangers, and who, side by side with me, lay on the verge of eternity, while the roaring of the ocean and the howling of the storm passed along unheeded by us both." There before them was the brave Chief, (the "Young Lion of the Woods,") who a few years before, at Fort Frederick, was subdued by the presence of Margaret Godfrey, where her exhibition of unexampled fortitude took a deep hold of the very being of the Iroquois and turned him from an enemy to a friend.

The Indian remained with the Godfreys for a few days, amusing himself with shooting and assisting in a general the premises. Trouble occurring among the tribe of which Paul was a sub-chief, he was sent for to return to the tribe, and at a great war council he was elected Chief in Thomas' place.

About this time the colonists in New England were beginning to show signs of dissatisfaction with the Mother land, and some Americans living along the St. John river were showing signs of discontent, and becoming agitated over matters in New England. The American sympathisers did all they could to stir the Indians along the river to revolt.

Paul Guidon did all in his power to soothe their savage breasts, and soon after returned to Grimross Neck. In a short time the rebellion broke out, and affairs in New England were fast assuming a most serious aspect. The rebels in the vicinity of Grimross were fully aware of Captain Godfrey's firm attachment to the cause of King George the Third. At length they approached him and tried hard to persuade him to enter the service of the dissatisfied colonists. The cross-eyed, monkey-faced character alluded to in a former chapter, was their chief spokesman on this occasion, and instead of stuttering, as on a former visit, his words flowed forth as freely and as fast as the waters of a mill-race. It may be that similar specimens of humanity exist in every age, whose folly and wickedness seem to be perpetual. Will such characters ever learn to live and be content under the old flag of their fathers, or will they be content to live on despised by their countrymen? Should such seditious spirits ever receive mention from the historian, it must be anything but a flattering one, and must cause the blush to mantle upon the cheek of any worthy descendant.

Captain Godfrey was offered by the rebels the command of a party of men to march forward and attack Fort Cumberland, besides which further inducements of preferment and advancement were held out to him. But nothing the rebels could offer was able to shake his allegiance to King George the Third. His former losses, his present situation, the safety of his wife and family, his treatment by the Board of Trade and Plantations, were all to him of less importance than his duty to his sovereign. Unshaken and unmoved he replied to the traitors, "I am as zealous as ever I was in my life for the cause of my King and my country."

The rebels finding the Captain firm in his determination not to forsake his King, approached Margaret Godfrey. She was protected not only by her good sense and thorough good judgment, her sterling honour and decided character, but also by the highest convictions of duty. In answer to them she replied, "My husband has given you his answer and in it he has also given you mine. You will oblige by at once leaving the premises." They made a hasty exit from her presence, and did not return for some weeks.

A day or two after the rebels had left Grimross, Paul Guidon related to Mrs. Godfrey his life and wanderings after his arrival at Passmaquaddy from Halifax in 1771. "He found his way from Passmaquaddy to Grimross Neck, carrying the two muskets with him, and also a knapsack filled with powder, shot and bullets, given to him by the Captain of the King's schooner."

"He then went to where the tribe was living and remained some weeks, being very tired and weary. Pére Thoma, taking a great fancy to his red jacket, offered to canoe him down the river to his old camping ground if he would give him the coveted garment on their return. Paul consented to do so. One fine morning they started from Grimross Neck and paddled all day down the river, occasionally resting on the banks of the stream. It came into his (Paul's) head, on the way down that Pére Thoma was the cause of the Godfreys' misfortunes, and he suddenly felt that the spirit of "Old Mag" (his mother) called upon him to kill Thoma. The burning of the house, the escape of his mother from the flames, the driving away of the English people, the great storm on the bay, his first sight of the pale-faced woman at Fort Frederick, the parting with her at Halifax, all these events recurred to his mind in an instant and went like a flash through his brain. His head seemed to dance like the canoe on the water, then the canoe appeared to whirl round and round. He got so dizzy he could scarcely see, and was afraid that he would fall overboard. He felt something touch him on the shoulder like a dip from the wing of a bird. He had his musket in the canoe, it was loaded. He suddenly pulled in the paddle and then grasped the musket. It was "Chief Mag," and he pointed it at Thoma who was sitting in the stern of the canoe. He fired and Thoma rolled overboard and sank. Paddling on he arrived at his old camping ground near the mouth of the river. The wigwam was still standing but very much out of order, he sat in it till daylight and then visited his mother's grave. After returning to the camp as he felt sad and faint, he took his musket and wandered off in search of game. He spent the remainder of the day near the resting place of "Old Mag," at night he went to the camp and there slept. In the morning he got into the canoe and paddled off up the river, arriving at Grimross he went on shore and started at once by trail for Quebec, where after two moons he arrived carrying Chief Mag with him. Here he was much in request by the military, who detained him for three winters accompanying them on their hunting excursions. During the latter part of the last winter, while shooting with some officers on the borders of Acadia and Quebec, he met an old Indian by the name of Joe Paul moving West with his family. From him he learned that the pale-faced people were again living and trading at Grimross. Paul told the officers that he must go back to the St. John. They were not inclined to release him, until he had accompanied them back to Quebec. Yielding to their entreaties he returned with them, remaining a few days. Just before he left Quebec, there was a great stir among the military. It was rumoured that war was impending, and the officers tried hard to persuade him to remain and share with them the fortunes of war, if they should be ordered to take part in the fighting. He said he could not stay, but promised the officers, as he put on a new red jacket they had given him, that he would never fight against the British soldiers. As Paul came to this part of his narration he looked straight at Margaret Godfrey and continued, (it is given in his own words) "all Paul want to make him British soldier be pale face and little hair."

In a few days the Iroquois went out again to visit his tribe. Desiring to revisit his mother's grave he required some one to assist him down the river. He selected as his companion Francis DeFalt who appeared willing to accompany him. On the way down he found out from DeFalt, that he was one of the Indians who by Thoma's commands set fire to the Englishman's house and store. DeFalt bragged about what he had done and said his only sorrow was, that all the white devils were not burned up with the house.

As DeFalt was speaking, the Iroquois blood began to stir quickly. As soon as darkness was closing down over the face of the river Paul meditated on revenge. He seized Chief Mag, which he always took with him, and fired it at DeFalt, who turning a complete somerset over the bow of the canoe into the river, was seen no more. Paul drifted down stream a few miles, paddled to the shore, hauled the canoe upon dry land, turned it over and slept under it during the night, feeling satisfied that he had avenged the insult to the pale-faces. Paul remained about the old camping ground for three weeks, when he again returned to Grimross. The Iroquois was never suspected as the cause of Thoma's disappearance, the canoe was afterwards found, bottom up, in the river, and he was supposed to have been drowned.