ST. HELEN'S ISLAND A MILITARY STATION—FORT FRONTENAC—DENONVILLE'S TREACHERY—THE FEAST—INDIANS FOR THE GALLEYS OF FRANCE—THE WAR MARCH AGAINST THE SENECAS—THE RETURN—MONTREAL AN INCLOSED FORTRESS—DE CALLIERES' PLAN FOR THE INVASION OF NEW YORK—THE STRUGGLE FOR TRADE SUPREMACY—MONTREAL BESIEGED—KONDIARONK, THE RAT, KILLS THE PEACE—DENONVILLE RECALLED—CALLIERES' PLAN FAILS—THE MASSACRE AT LACHINE—DENONVILLE'S TREACHERY REVENGED. NOTE: THE EXPLOIT AT THE RIVIERE DES PRAIRIES.
VIEW OF ISLAND OF STE. HELEN
In the commencement of the summer of 1687, Denonville, who had made his preparations secretly and had received reinforcements of 800 men with 168,000 livres in money or supplies from France, determined to carry to a finish his long projected war policy against the Iroquois supported by the English under Dongan, by stealing upon them unawares. St. Helen's Island opposite Montreal was the scene of a great military camp. Thither the new intendant, de Champigny-Noroy—the successor of de Meulles, who had been recalled upon the complaints of the governor—had gone on June 7th with the Chevalier de Vaudreuil, lately arrived in the colony with the title of commander of the forces. The army of four battalions, commanded by the Governor de Denonville in person, was composed, says Bibaud, of 800 regular soldiers, about a thousand Canadians and 300 Indians, mostly from the missions of Sault St. Louis and the Mountain. M. de Callières, the governor of Montreal, also was there. It started on June 11th on 200 flatboats and as many birch bark canoes, and struggling against the rapids made its way for Fort Frontenac. Just after the departure the 800 regulars arrived from France and were left at Montreal to protect the settler. We have not usually related the details of these expeditions from Montreal and its vicinity, but the opening incident on this occasion, known as Denonville's treachery, resulting in the massacre of Lachine on August 25, 1689, was so fateful in its dire results for Montreal that it must be told.
PLAN OF MONTREAL, 1687-1723
Arriving at Fort Frontenac, it was found that there were in the neighbourhood a number of Iroquois of the two neutral villages of Kenté (Quinté) and Ganneious or Ganeyout, on the north shore of Lake Ontario, forming a sort of colony, where the Sulpicians of Montreal had established their mission. They were on excellent terms with the garrison of Fort Frontenac and hunted and fished for them. These Denonville determined to seize, partially because of the fear that they might communicate with their relatives, the hostile Seneca Iroquois, but principally because he wished to satisfy the desire of Louis XIV that the Iroquois prisoners of war should be sent to France to be put in the galleys, "because," said the royal letters, "the savages being strong and robust, they will serve usefully on our convict gangs."
Accordingly by various artifices, such as by the invitation to a feast, the unsuspecting and friendly Indians were enticed to the fort by the advances of the new intendant, Champigny, and then seized, the men being sent to Quebec and then deported to the galleys in France. [138] This was a breach of faith, unjustifiable according to the natural law of nations; these men could in no way have been called prisoners of war. The other Indians were deeply incensed at this treason and they brooded over it long and deeply. A sad incident in the story is that the Jesuit missionary Lamberville was unwittingly the instrument used to induce the Onondaga chief to accept the invitation to a parley at Fort Frontenac. When the news of the capture was made known, he was summoned before a council of the angry Iroquois. The magnanimity of the Iroquois saved his life. One of them addressed him thus: "You cannot but agree that all sorts of reasons, authorize us to treat you as an enemy, but we cannot agree to that; we know you too well not to be persuaded that your heart has had no part in the treason against us in which you have shared, and we are not unjust enough to punish you for a crime of which we believe you are innocent, and for which without doubt you are in despair for having been the instrument. But it is not fitting that you should remain here, for when once our young men have sung the war cry, they will see in you for the future nothing but a traitor, who has delivered our chiefs to the most disgraceful slavery. Then fury will fall on you and we shall not be able any longer to save you." [139] They gave him guides and sent him back to Denonville. [140]