Meanwhile, a treaty of neutrality had been signed at Whitehall, and there was peace between England and France for a time. The document bears date Nov. 16, 1686. On Jan. 22, 1687, instructions were sent to Governor Dongan to maintain friendly relations with Denonville, and to give him no cause for complaint. The King of France delayed despatching his orders to Canada until four months had elapsed.
Denonville was ordered to punish the Iroquois. He had eight hundred regulars, and a further contingent of eight hundred men were promised in the spring. Abundant means, too, had been provided; namely, 168,000 livres in money and supplies. Denonville was in high feather, and everything turned in his favor for a time. He had got rid of his meddling Intendant, Meules, and a pious man like himself had been sent in his place. This was Champigny. The Bishop, St. Vallier, had only words of praise for the administration as it then stood: Church and State were in perfect harmony at last. The attack on the Iroquois towns was well planned, and every precaution was observed to keep the matter secret until the time for action had arrived. Dongan, however, learned the truth from straggling deserters, and he was not slow in informing the Iroquois of the warlike designs of the French.
Denonville’s plan was to proceed to the Senecas, the strongest castle and the nearest to Niagara, his course taking him along the southern shore, which he elected on account of certain advantages which it possessed over the northern side. The little army moved out from Montreal on its career of conquest June 13, 1687. After some difficulty, Fort Frontenac was reached. Champigny and his men had arrived a few days in advance of the main army; and through his exertions thirty men and ninety women and children of a peaceable tribe belonging to the Iroquois and living in the neighborhood, were decoyed into the fort under the pretence of being feasted, and treacherously captured. Other Indians were taken in the same way, many of whom were afterward consigned to the French galleys. The Iroquois were more chivalrous. They had Lamberville, the Jesuit missionary whom Denonville had basely left to his fate, in their power, and could easily have destroyed him, but they allowed him to go free and join his friends. At the fort there were assembled, according to Denonville, about two thousand men, regulars, militia, and Indians. Eight hundred troops, newly arrived from France, had been left at Montreal to protect the settlers and property there. More allies were awaiting his commands at Niagara; they consisted of one hundred and eighty Frenchmen, and four hundred Indians, under Tonty, La Durantaye, and Du Lhut. The journey to Niagara had not been made without hardship and adventure. The Indians of the party had been difficult to manage, and for a while Durantaye was not sure that they would remain with him. Some of the English traders, commanded by Johannes Rooseboom, a Dutchman, on the way to Michillimackinac with goods, were encountered, and Durantaye hastened with one hundred and twenty coureurs de bois to meet them. The party, consisting of twenty-nine whites and five Mohawks and Mohicans, were threatened with death if they resisted. They immediately surrendered, and were despatched to Michillimackinac as prisoners. The merchandise they brought was parcelled out among the Indians. This stroke was the means of saving Durantaye’s life, and the Indians with him became in consequence his sure allies. While making for Niagara, McGregory’s canoes were met, and the same fate overtook them. This capture proved important, for McGregory had with him a number of Ottawa and Huron prisoners whom the Iroquois had taken. It was the Englishman’s intention to restore these captives to their countrymen, to make good the terms of the triple alliance which had been entered into by the English, the Iroquois, and the lake tribes. McGregory’s capture destroyed the whole arrangement, and he and his companions, with those of Rooseboom, were ultimately sent as prisoners to Quebec.
The war-party at Niagara were ordered to repair to the rendezvous at Irondequoit Bay, on the border of the Seneca country, and Denonville went to meet them. His command numbered three thousand men, for a reinforcement of Ottawas of Michillimackinac who had refused to follow Durantaye, having altered their minds, now joined the party. The host was well officered. The leaders were Denonville, the Chevalier de Vaudreuil,—an excellent soldier, fresh from France,—La Durantaye, Callières, Du Lhut, Tonty, Berthier, La Valterie, Granville, Longueil, La Hontan, De Troyes, and others. On the afternoon of the 12th of July, at three o’clock, having already despatched four hundred men to garrison the redoubt, which had been put in a condition of defence for the protection of the provisions and canoes, Denonville began his march across the woods to Gannagaro,—twenty-two miles distant. Each man carried with him food for thirteen days. Three leagues were made the first day, and the party camped for the night. Two defiles were passed the next morning. The heat was intense, and the mosquitoes were very troublesome, but the men moved on in pretty fair order. So far, only a few scouts of the enemy had been encountered. At two o’clock the third defile was entered. It had been the Governor’s intention to rest here, but having been notified by scouts that a considerable party of the Senecas was in the neighborhood, an advance was made by Callières, who was at the head of the three companies commanded by Tonty, Durantaye, and Du Lhut, besides the detachment of Indians. This body, which formed the vanguard of the army, pushed rapidly through the defile, unconscious of the fact that an ambuscade of Senecas, three hundred strong, was posted in the vicinity. When they reached the end they came upon a thicket of alders and rank grass. At a given signal, the air was rent with defiant shouts, and a host of savages leaped from their places of concealment, and sent a volley of lead into the bewildered French, while the three hundred Senecas who lined the sides of the defile sprang upon the van. They had thought to crush their enemy at a blow, but Denonville, hurrying up with his sixteen hundred men, soon spread consternation into their ranks. The firing was heavy on both sides; but the Senecas were defeated with considerable slaughter, and finally fled from the scene in dismay. Denonville wrote that “all our Christian Indians from below performed their duty admirably, and firmly maintained the position assigned to them on the left.” The French did not follow the flying savages, being too much fatigued by their long march. Their loss was five or six men killed and twenty wounded. Among the latter was Father Engelran, who was seriously injured by a bullet.
The next morning the army pressed forward again, but no Seneca warriors were to be seen. The villages were deserted, and ten days were occupied by the soldiers and their allies in reducing the Indian villages and destroying the provisions and stores which the Senecas had left behind them. Denonville withdrew on the 24th with his army, and set out for Montreal. On the way back he ordered a stockade to be built at Niagara, on the site of La Salle’s old fort, between the River Niagara and Lake Ontario. Montreal was reached on the 13th of August.[702]
Denonville thought that he had made a successful stroke; but he was over sanguine. After this his power seemed to wane, and his prestige went down. Dongan was savage when he heard of the imprisonment of McGregory and Rooseboom, and wrote a sharp letter demanding their return. Denonville refused, and upbraided him for having assisted the savages. He thought better of his resolution as his anger cooled, however, and in a few weeks released his prisoners.
Dongan called a conference of the Iroquois, and told them to receive no more Jesuit missionaries into their towns. He called them British subjects, and said that they should make no treaties with the French without asking leave of King James. The humbled Indians promised obedience.
Hitherto, Dongan had not succeeded in getting his king to recognize the Iroquois as his subjects. On the 10th of November, 1687, however, a warrant arrived from England authorizing the Governor to protect the Five Nations, and to repel the French from their territory by force of arms, should they attack the villages again. The commissioners appointed, in accordance with the terms of the neutrality treaty signed at Whitehall, had the boundary question before them. Both French and English claimed the Iroquois, and the matter was assuming a serious aspect. News came in August, 1688, to Denonville, that the subject of dispute would receive prompt and satisfactory settlement.[703]