A history of the French war

Front matter

C^FSRIGHT DEPOSm

MINOR WARS OF THE UNITED STATES.

A HISTORY

CHAPTER I. PAGB Early Voyages i

Claims of European Nations to American Territory, 2. — Contests of the English and French, 2. — The Indians in War, 3. — The Cabots, 5. — Cortereal, 6. — Spanish Explorers, 6. — Decree of Alexander VI., 6. — Verrazzane, 6. — Cartier, 8. — Stadacone, 12. — Hochelaga, 12. — Donnacona, 12.

CHAPTER II. Destruction of French Settlements 16

Roberval and Cartier, 16. — Civil Wars in France, 18. — De la Roche, 18. — Pontgrave and Champlain, 20. — Poutrincourt and Lescarbot, 23. — The Micmacs, 23. — The Jesuits, 24. — Madame de Guercheville, 25. — Colony of St. Saviour, 29. — Destruction of St. Saviour and Port Royal by Argall, 31.

CHAPTER III. Quebec Founded, and Taken by the English 35

Founding of Quebec, 36. — Friendship with the Algonquins, 36. — Expeditions against the Iroquois, 37. — Story of De Vignan, 41. — Introduction of Priests, 44. — Hostile Attempt of the Iroquois, 46. — Grant of Acadia to Sir William Alexander, 48. — Religious Troubles in France, 49. — Capture of Quebec by Kirk, 50. — The La Tours in Acadia, 51. — Treaty of Germain-en-Laye, 52. — Death of Champlain, 53.

CHAPTER IV. The French in the West 54

The Iroquois, 54. — Fate of the Hurons, 55. — Fight at the Long Sault, 56. — Forts on the Richelieu, 57. — Montreal, 58. — The Jesuits, 59. — Discoveries in the Mississippi Valley, 62. — La Salle, 63. — La Chine, 63. — Iberville on the Gulf of Mexico, 64.

CHAPTER V. Acadia 66

Destruction of English Trading-Stations, 66. — Feud between Charnisay and La Tour, 67. — Capture of Acadia by the English, 78. — Restoration to France by the Treaty of Breda, 79. — St. Casiine at Penobscot, 79. — Attack by Andros, 79. — Hostilities by Indians, 79. — War between England and France, 79.

CHAPTER VI. King William's War 80

Iroquois Attack on Montreal, 80. — Plan of the French, 81. — Capture of English Posts at Hudson Bay, 82. — Massacres at Dover, Saco, and Pemaquid, 82. — Three Expeditions Planned by Frontenac, 83. — The Schenectady Massacre, 84. — Salmon Falls Destroyed, 86. — Attack on Casco, 86. — Expedition Planned by the English, 87. — Sir William Phips, 87. — Capvi CONTENTS.

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ture of Port Royal, 91. — Schuyler at La Prairie, 95. — Phips at Quebec, 97.

Chapter VII

Attacks on Wells and York, 106. — Fort Built at Pemaquid, 107, — Attempt to take it, 109. — Plan to Attack Quebec, log. — Proposed Exchange of Prisoners, no. — Oyster River Assailed, III. — Schuyler at La Prairie, 113. — Invasion of the Mohawk Country, 114. — Treachery of Chubb at Pemaquid, 116. — Destruction of the Fort, iig. — Church and Hathorn on the St. John, 120. — Haverhill, 121. — French Plan for the Capture of Boston, 123. — Iberville in Newfoundland and at Hudson Bay, 124. — Frontenac among the Iroquois, 126. — The Peace of Ryswick, 128. — Deaths of Frontenac and Villebon, 129.

Chapter VIII

The Spanish Succession, 130. — The Pretender, 131. — Attacks on Wells, Saco, Casco, Deerfield, and Lancaster, 132, — Church in Acadia, 134. — Destruction of English Towns in Newfoundland, 135. — Sieges of Port Royal, 135. — Attack on Haverhill, 135. — Final Capture of Port Royal by the English, 136. — Insurrection of the Acadians, 137. — Attempted Conquest of Canada by Admiral Walker, 139. — Attack of the Foxes on Detroit, 142. — Treaty of Utrecht, 143. — Louisbourg, 144. — Father Rasles, 144. — Expeditions of Harmon, Westbrooke, Winslow, and Lovewell, 147. — Indian Treaty, 149. — Forts at Niagara, Oswego, and Crown Point, 149.

CHAPTER IX. King George's War 150

Sovereigns of England, 150. — The Austrian Succession, 150. — Maria Theresa, 151. — Frederick the Great, 151. — The War, 152. — Hostilities between France and England, 153. — Attacks on Canso and Annapolis, 153. — La Loutre, 154. — Proposed Expedition to Louisbourg, 156. — Shirley, Pepperell, and Vaughan, 156. — Commodore Warren, 157. — Whitefield, 157- — Siege and Fall of Louisbourg, 162. — Rejoicings in Boston, 163. — Project to Conquer Canada, 164. — Fighting in Acadia, 165. — Fate of the French Fleet, 166. — Success of Ramezay at Grand Pre, 168. — Capture of Jonquiere's Fleet, i6g. — The French and Indians on the Western Frontier, 169. — Inactivity of the English, 169. — Possible Reasons for it, 169. — The Treaty of Aix-Ia-Chapelle, 170.

CHAPTER X. Acadia after the War 171

Failure of Negotiations for the Adjustment of Boundaries, 171. — Encroachments of the French, 172. — Settlement of Halifax, 173. — Refusal of the Acadians to Take the Oath, 174. — Attacks by Indians, 175. — Burning of Beaubassin, 176. — Fort Lawrence, 177. — Fort Beau Sejour, 177.— Colonel How's Fate, 178. — Expedition to Acadia, 179. — Fall of the French Forts, 181. — Escape of La Loutre, 1S2. — Exile of the Acadians, 183.

CONTENTS. . vii

Chapter XI. Page

French Posts in the West, 189. — Ogdensburg, 190. — Sir William Johnson, 191. — Conference with the Iroquois, 193. — Expedition of Bienville, 194. — The Walking Purchase, 196. — The Ohio Company, 197, — Christopher Gist, 197. — Indian Conference at Logstown, 198. — French Attack on Picqua, 199. — Expedition from Canada, 200. — Mission of George Washington, 201. — Fort Du Quesne, 204. — Fight with Jumonville, 204. — Fort Necessity, 205. — Fight at Great Meadows, 205. — Fort Cumberland, 206. — Council at Albany, 206.

/ CHAPTER XII.

^ )R addock's Defeat 209

.'Ian of the English Ministry for Operations in America, 209. — Capture of Ships by Boscawen, 211. — Braddock's March, 214. — His Defeat, 219. — His Deatli, 220. — Effect of the Defeat, 221. — Washington, 221. — Alliances with the Indians, 222.

Chapter XIII

Expeditions under Shirley and Johnson, 224. — Shirley at Oswego, 226. — Movements of Dieskau, 226. — Building of Fort Edward, 227. — Advance of Dieskau, 228, — First Engagement, 230. — ^Fightat theCamp, 232. — Fight with Macginnis, 233. — Reward of Johnson, 234. — Erection of Fort William Henry, 234. — Fortification of Ticonderoga, 234. — Hostilities on the Ocean, 235. — Plans for the Ensuing Year, 236.

CHAPTER XIV. French Successes 237

Declaration of War, 237. — Lord Loudoun Commander-in-chief, 237. — Inaction of Abercrombie, 239. — Adventure of Bradstreet, 239. — Capture of Fort Bull, 240. — Montcalm, 241. — Capture of Oswego, 242. — Movements of Webb, 245. — Loudoun's Troops Quartered on the Cities, 245. — Devastation of the Shenandoah Valley, 246. — Dinwiddle's Plan of Defence, 248. — Washington's Suggestions, 249. — Destruction of Kittanning, 250. — The Iroquois, 251.

CHAPTER XV. LOUISBOURG AND FORT WILLLA.M HeNRY 252

An Indian Raid, 252. — Encounter between Stark's Men and the French, 253. — Vaudreuil's Attempt at Fort William Henry, 254. — Loudoun's Council, 254. — Affairs in the South, 255. — Plan to Take Louisbourg, 255. — Admiral Holbourne, 256. — Withdrawal from Louisbourg, 256. — Opinion in England, 257. — In America, 258. — Siege of Fort William Henry, 263. — Webb's Cowardice, 264. — Monroe's Surrender, 265. — Massacre by Montcalm's Indians, 266. — Descent on the German Flats, 268. — Situation at the Close of the Year, 270. — The Duke of Newcastle, 270. — William Pitt, 271.

Chapter XVI

Plan of the Campaign, 273.- — Siege of Louisbourg, 274. — viii CONTENTS.

PAGE

The Surrender, 277. — Effect of the Victory, 278. — Destruction of French Settlements, 278. — Expedition against Ticonderoga, 279. — Skirmish in the Woods, 281. — Death of Lord Howe, 281.— The Attack, 285.— The Flight, 287.— Terror of the General, 287. — Conduct of Bradstreet, 288.

CHAPTER XVII. Frontenac and Du Quesne 290

Skirmishes near Lake Champlain, 290. — Rogers and Putnam, 291. — Bradstreet's Expedition, 292. — Capture of Fort Frontenac, 293. — General Forbes in Pennsylvania, 295. — Grant's Defeat, 297. — Capture of Fort Du Quesne, 300.

Chapter XVIII

Plan of Operations for the Year, 302. — Weakness of the French, 303, — Siege and Capture of Fort Niagara, 304. — Death of Prideaux, 305. — Western Forts Occupied by the English, 308. — Attack at Oswego, 309. — Inaction of General Gage, 310. — Amherst at Ticonderoga and Crown Point, 310. — Operations on the Lake, 311. — Punishment of the St. Francis Indians, 315. — Adventures of Rogers, 316.

CHAPTER XIX. The Siege of Quebec 319

Situation of the City, 319. — Sailing of the English Fleet, 323. — Officers and Forces of the English, 323. — Advance of Durell, 324. — Mistake of the French, 324. — First Blow, 324. — Passage up the River, 325. — Skirmish with Peasants, 325. — Attempts to Fire the Fleet, 326. — Incidents of the Siege, 327. — Occupation of the East Bank of the Montmorenci by the English, 331. — The Scholars' Battle, 332. — Firing of the City, 332, — Passage of Ships by the Town, 333. — Battle of Montmorenci, 336.

CHAPTER XX. The Capture of Quebec 341

Attacks of the French on Scouting Parties, 341. — Reprisals by the English, 341. — Attempt by Murray, 343. — Illness of Wolfe, 343. — Townshend's Plan, 344. — Wolfe's Opinion of it, 345. — Montcalm's Prediction, 345. — Transfer of the Army, 346. — The Anse du Foulon, or Wolfe's Cove,. 348. — Landing and Ascent of the Troops, 349. — Diversion at Beauport, 350. — Position on the Plains of Abraham, 351. — Arrival of Montcalm, 352. — Arrangement and Numbers of the Troops, 352. — The Battle of the Plains of Abraham, 356. — Rout of the French, 357. — Death of Wolfe, 357. — Death of Montcalm, 359.

CHAPTER XXL

Siege of Quebec by De Levis, 363. — Battle at Sillery Wood, 365. — Amherst on the St. Lawrence, 368. — Surrender of Isle Royale, 369. — Surrender of Montreal and the Whole of Canada, 370. — The Treaty of Paris, 371. — Predictions of the Revolt of the Colonies, 372.

A HISTORY OF THE FRENCH WAR.

Chapter I. Early Voyages

Claims of European Nations to American Territory — Contests of the English and French — The Indians in War — The Cabots — Cortereal — Spanish Explorers — Decree of Alexander VI. — Verrazzano — Cartier — Stadacone — Ilochelaga — Donnacona.

For more than a hundred years after the discovery of the continent of America, at the close of the fifteenth century, no permanent settlement was made by Europeans in its northern portion. The New World was looked upon mainly as a land of adventure and discovery, a land holding the possibility of unimagined wonders and undreamed-of riches, waiting only for the hand brave enough and adventurous enough to seize them and carry them back in triumph to the Old World. The sailor and the merchant looked to it for the realization of their brightest visions, and crowned heads confidently expected its wealth to replenish their exhausted treasuries ; but not till the latter part of the sixteenth century was it sought as a refuge dnd a home by the persecuted adherents of the new religion, and as a missionary field by the reawakened zeal of the older Christian Church.

The claims of European nations to American territory were vast and vague. When an adventurer touched a strip of sandy shore, he at once planted upon it the flag of his nation, and took possession of the whole continent in the name of his sovereign. These indefinite claims — in some instances strengthened by colonization or confirmed by Indian grants — were afterward used as a pretext whenever individual interests or religious hatred or European wars excited any of the feeble American colonies to make themselves and their neighbors still feebler by intercolonial hostilities.

The most successful explorers were Italians ; but they were all in the service of countries other than their own — in that of Spain, England, or France. The Spaniards made no attempt to establish colonies, or seriously to assert their claims, north of Florida ; and there they came somewhat into collision with the English and French. To those two nations was left the great struggle for the possession of the northern coast and the interior.

The worst feature of their contests was the participation of the red men, with their savage and indiscriminate modes of warfare. That most of their

I500.] EARLY VOYAGES. 3

peculiar atrocities were committed in the interest of France was not wholly due to greater depravity on the part of the French ; for in later wars the English showed themselves quite willing to employ the same barbarous and irresponsible allies, knowing that their outrages would be perpetrated, not upon the hereditary foes of England, but upon Englishmen themselves. Many of the leaders on both sides would have been glad to have their savage friends conform to the usages of civilized warfare ; but when the Indian's zeal was once awakened and his thirst for blood aroused, it was impossible to hold him to a code which he did not recognize, and which to him seemed weak and cowardly. His own laws of war knew no mercy for the conquered. When he failed, he expected none ; and when he was victorious, he deemed himself defrauded if he were forced to let prisoners go untortured and unharmed. Hence the horrible massacres that followed some of the French victories.

That the Indians fought more frequently and zealously on the side of the French, was due to the superior tact and skill of the French in dealing with them, and to the fact that they earlier saw the advantage of gaining and holding the friendship of the natives. The British at first adopted the policy of avoiding them as much as possible, of driving them back into the interior ; they regarded them as incapable of civilization, and scarcely looked upon them as subjects for the influences of Christianity. The French, on the other hand, tried from the first to Christianize, if not to civilize them. They drew them when they could into missionary villages near their own settlements, and sought to bind them to themselves by the bonds of a common religion. The wild life of the savages attracted many adventurous spirits from the French colonies, who lived among them as coureurs de bois, or wood-rangers, adopting their mode of life and gaining an influence which told largely for France in times of war.

Almost the only Indians who stood by the English were the Iroquois, or Five Nations, whose home was in New York. Even their friendship often wavered ; and it might be said that their adhesion to the English was not because they loved them more, but because they loved the French less. Their enmity may have been caused by the fact that the French, in the early days of their settlement in the country, joined against the Iroquois with their enemies, the Algonquins of the St. Lawrence.

When the English woke to the importance of taking advantage of the distrust of the Iroquois toward the French, they were never successful in rousing them to the zeal in their cause which the

I500.] EARLY VOYAGES. 5

Indians of Maine and New Brunswick displayed in the cause of the French. Yet, though the English colonies availed themselves, as far as they could, of the help of the savages, it must be admitted that the record of the French in America is stained with many more atrocities not justifiable by any rules of civilized warfare — descents on unarmed laborers in the fields, and midnight attacks on peaceful settlements, with all the horrors of indiscriminate massacre, which were incited and often led by Frenchmen, and even in some cases by the ministers of religion, and in periods of nominal peace.

The contests between the English and the French for the possession of American territory were not ended until the close of the Seven Years' War in 1763. It is a curious fact that while the colonies which England had settled with her own sons, and which helped her to conquer New France, had revolted and become an independent nation in twenty years, those then wrested from France, French in their origin and devotedly loyal to the French Crown, have contentedly remained under British rule for more than a century.

The English claims were based on the discoveries of John and Sebastian Cabot, Venetians living in England, who, in i497-'8, examined the coast from Labrador to Virginia. The Portuguese, in 1500, sent out Caspar Cortereal, who explored the coast northward, and stole some of the natives, whom he took home for slaves. The Portuguese merchants therefore called the place Terra de Labrador, " land of laborers."

The best known explorers sent out by Spain, after Columbus, are Juan Ponce de Leon, who discovered and named Florida in 1512 ; Hernan Cortes, the conqueror of Mexico ; Pamphilo de Narvaez, who discovered the land of the Appalaches ; and Hernando De Soto, who found the Mississippi in 1 541, and was buried in its waters the following year. Under the name of Florida, Spain claimed a vast country extending from the Atlantic to the Rocky Mountains, and from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean. This claim, based on the right of discovery, was further confirmed to Spain by a bull of Pope Alexander VI., making the Spaniards exclusive masters of all America. The decree of the Pope, however, was not powerful enough to prevent Francis I. of France from attempting to gain some share in the glory and profits of discovery.

The first explorer sent out by the French Government was John Verrazzano, an Italian ; though French sailors, in common with those of other nations, had resorted to the coasts of Newfoundland for years to fish for cod, some as early, at least, as

1504. Newfoundland and Labrador, or parts of them, were indefinitely called Baccalaos, a word said to mean codfish in the dialect of the Basque provinces. The sailors had a tradition that two islands north of Newfoundland were haunted by demons, whose clamor filled the air with confused sounds which were heard by ships venturing near the unholy coast. They were called the Isles of Demons, and were represented on maps of the time with their infernal inhabitants dancing about in wings, horns, and tails.

Verrazzano set out in 1523 with four ships, but encountered a storm, and finally crossed the ocean with only one, the DaupJiine, carrying fifty men and provisions for eight months.* He first saw the continent near where Wilmington, North Carolina, now stands ; but, as the shores were thickly lined with savages, he did not dare to land. The Indians made signs urging the sailors to come on shore, and one, more daring than the rest, took some presents

* The authenticity of this story, which rests upon a letter attributed to Verrazzano and pubHshed by Ramusio in 1556, has recently been called in question and, if not disproved, at least shown to be doubtful. I have thought best, however, to let the reader see it, with this warning as to its character. It was first disputed by T. Buckingham Smith, in 1864. J. Carson Brevoort defends the story, in his "Verrazzano the Navigator" (New York, 1874), and Henry C. Murphy rejects it, in his "Voyage of Verrazzano" (New York, 1875).

and swam for the beach ; but, losing his courage when near the land, he threw all he had to them and started to return. A breaker, however, tossed him back upon the beach, and the Indians, running to his aid, took him ashore, and built a great fire. The terrified sailor, and his companions who were looking on from the boat, had no doubt that they were going to make a meal of him, or offer him in sacrifice to the sun. But he soon found that the fire was to warm him and dry his clothes. The Indians gathered about him, admired his white skin, caressed him, and took him down to the beach when he wanted to return to the boat, dismissing him with most affectionate embraces.

The Daiiphine proceeded northward along the coast, carrying away an Indian child stolen from its mother in Virginia, explored New York Bay and Long Island Sound, and stopped in the harbor of Newport, where the white men were most cordially treated by the Indians. Having gone as far north as Newfoundland, Verrazzano returned to France, and wrote for the King the first known description of the Atlantic coast of the United States.

The most illustrious navigator sent out by France in the sixteenth century was Jacques Cartier, of the seaport town of St, Malo, in the northwestern part of the kingdom. He was sent at the suggestion of

Philip Chabot, Seigneur de Brion, Admiral of France, a favorite of the King, who induced his master to make another attempt to gain a footing in the country which had given so much wealth to the Spaniards. Cartier sailed on the 20th of April, 1534, with two ships of sixty tons, and one hundred and twenty-two men.

The voyage was so prosperous that Cartier reached Cape Bonavista in Newfoundland on the loth of May. Finding the land still covered with snow and ice, he turned to the southeast, and landed at a port which he named St. Catharine. Then turning north again, he named some small islands Bird Islands. He was surprised, he says, to see a white bear as large as a cow on one of these islands, to which it had swum from the mainland, a distance of fourteen leagues. As soon as it saw the boats, it took to the water, and Cartier killed and took it the next day near Newfoundland. He sailed nearly around the island, which he described as the most wretched country to be found, with ** nothing but frightful rocks and barren lands covered with scanty moss — but inhabited, notwithstanding, by men well-made, who wore their hair tied on the top of the head, like a bundle of hay, with birds* feathers irregularly inserted, which had a most curious effect."

lO

Crossing to the mainland, he entered a deep bay, which he named the Bay of Chaleurs, on account of the heat. There is a tradition that it had before been entered by Spaniards, who, finding no signs, of mineral wealth there, exclaimed, Acd nada ! * ' Nothing there ! ' ' — an expression which the Indians caught up and repeated to the French, who supposed it to be the name of the country, whence the word Canada. It is more probable, however, that Canada is the Iroquois word Kannata, a village.

Having explored a large part of the bay, Cartier landed at Gaspe and took possession in the name of the King of France, raising a cross thirty feet high, on which was hung a shield with the arms of the country and the words, Vive le Roy ! " Long live the King!" After discovering Anticosti, he returned to France, taking with him two Indians, who picked up a little French and served as interpreters the following year.

The reports of Cartier's voyage convinced the court of Francis I. that it was desirable to found a colony, both for the purpose of establishing a profitable trade and for saving the heathen, not only from their heathenism, but from the heresies that might be imported among them by the Protestant peoples of Europe. The Vice-Admiral Charles de Mouy obtained a fuller commission for Cartier, with

1535.] EARLY VOYAGES. II

three well-equipped vessels ; and all the sailors assembled at the Cathedral on Whitsunday, by Cartier's directions, and received the bishop's benediction.

They embarked on the 19th of May, in fine weather, but a furious storm arose the next day, and the scattered ships were tossed about for more than a month, but at last met in the gulf or Great Bay on the 26th of July. On the loth of August, Cartier gave to a small bay in the mainland, north of Anticosti, the name of St. Lawrence, in honor of the saint whose day it was. This name was afterward extended to the whole gulf, and to the river also, which had before been known as the River of Canada, or River of the Great Bay, and by Cartier called the River of Hochelaga. Hochelaga was the chief Indian town on its banks, and stood on the site of Montreal.

They ascended the river, entered the Saguenay on September ist, examined the mouth of that river, and then pursued their voyage up the great stream. The large island just below Quebec, now known as the Isle of Orleans, was so covered with grape-vines that Cartier named it Bacchus Island. He stopped next in the St. Charles, just north of Quebec, near its mouth. On the site of the present city of Quebec — between Fabrique Street and the Coteau

EARLY VOYAGES. Ii535.

de Sainte Genevieve, it is thought — was an Indian town called Stadacone. Here he received a visit from a chief, named Donnacona, who talked with Cartier by the aid of the two Indians who had been to France.

Cartier had heard of the much larger town farther up the river, called Hochelaga, and resolved to push on to it. The Indians of Stadacone, who were of a different nation from those of Hochelaga, tried to dissuade him, representing that the way was long and beset with difficulties. When this failed to change his purpose, they pretended to have received a message from one of their gods threatening the French with storm and tempest, if they should ascend the river. Cartier sent back word to the god that he was a fool, and set out with one of the ships, the Great Hermine, and two long-boats. The anxiety of Donnacona and his people was probably caused by the fear that a rival nation might take from them the advantages of trade and alliance with this strange new people, from whose unknown abilities and resources they hoped not only gain, but an easy victory over their enemies.

The voyagers were obliged to leave their ships at Lake St. Peter, having missed the channel and run aground, and went on with only the two boats, reaching Hochelaga the 2d of October. The town was round, and enclosed by three rows of trees. The middle row stood upright, and the other two were inclined and crossed above it. Then the sides of the pyramidal wall were covered with logs well fastened together. There was but one gate ; and along the inside of the enclosing wall or palisade was a gallery reached by ladders, and stored with stones for the defence of the fortress. Inside of the town were fifty cabins, each over fifty paces l(5hg and fourteen or fifteen paces wide. These cabins were tunnel-shaped, made of saplings bent together, and covered with bark. Each was occupied by a large number of families.

The Hochelagans received the French with courtesy, feasted them, and gave them gifts. They looked with great admiration at the dress of the strangers, their armor and weapons, their trumpets, their fair skins and bearded faces. Cartier has left a description of a peculiar kind of service held among them. One day the warriors formed a circle, on the outside of which were the women and children, and in the centre the Frenchmen, all the savages gazing at them " as if they were going to play a mystery." Then the chief advanced, pointed at his decrepit limbs, and made signs that the French should heal him. His example was followed by all the sick, the halt, and the lame, who came them-

14 EAKLY VOYAGES. [1535.

selves, or were brought to the supposed healer. Cartier was perplexed, but seized the opportunity to make a religious impression on their minds. He recited the beginning of the Gospel of St. John, made the sign of the cross on the sick, and gave presents of knives to the men, beads to the women, and little tin lambs to the children. Then he prayed and recited aloud the passion of the Saviour, and the ceremony was concluded by a mighty blast from the trumpets, which set the savages nearly beside themselves with wonder and delight.

The same day Cartier climbed the mountain, and gave it the name which is now borne by the city and the island, Mount Royal — Montreal. Looking from its summit over the vast extent of wooded country, with the great river rolling by and the dark waters of the Ottawa descending to meet it from the unknown wilderness, he thought no better site for a city could be found, and hoped, no doubt, himself to lay there the foundations of a French empire in the West.

On taking leave of the friendly savages, the French returned to the St. Charles, called by them the St. Croix, where they had left the greater part of the men. They found that barracks had been built during their absence and surrounded by a kind of intrenchment, sufficient to protect them from a surprise. The Indians, however, continued friendly. But the sailors were attacked by scurvy, and twenty-five of them died. Cartier himself fell sick, and all of them might have perished, had they not learned by accident of the Indian remedy for the disease — a decoction made from the leaves and bark of a tree called by the Indians Anneda^ which is thought to have been the white pine. A week after they began using it, the sick were all restored.

In the spring Cartier set sail for France. Having got Donnacona and some of his principal men into his hands, he carried them with him ; a piece of treachery which he excused by saying that the savages were making hostile preparations and attempting to get hold of Cartier himself. The Indians he took away were all baptized in France, and died there. Donnacona lived four or five ye after his capture.

Chapter II. Destruction Of French Settlements

Roberval and Cartier — Civil Wars in France — De la Roche — Pontgrave and Champlain — De Monts — Poutrincourt and Lescarbot — The Micmacs — The Jesuits — Madame de Guercheville — Colony of St. Saviour — Destruction of St. Saviour and Port Royal.