186
AN ACCOUNT
OF THE MOST ng.M AmrAM.r OCCURRENCES IN CANADA FROM THE DEPARTURE OF THE VESSELS, FROM THE
MONTH OF NOVEMBER 1689 TO THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER 1690 . BY MONS. DE MONSEIGNAT, COMP-TROLLER GENERAL OF THE MARINE IN CANADA .
[ Paris Doc. IV. ]
[Extract.] The orders received by M. le Comte (de Frontenac) to commence hostilities againstNew England and New York , which had declared for the Prince of Orange, afforded him consider-able pleasure, and were very necessary for the country. He allowed no more time to elapse beforecarrying them into execution than was required to send off some despatches to France —immedi-ately after which he determined to organize three different detachments, to attack those rebels atall points at the same moment, and to punish them at various places for having afforded protectionto our enemies, the Mohawks. The first party was to rendezvous at Montreal , and proceed towardsOrange; the second at Three Rivers, and to make a descent on New York , at some place betweenBoston and Orange ; 1 and the third was to depart from Quebec , and gain the seaboard betweenBoston and Pentagouet, verging towards Acadia. They all succeeded perfectly well, and I shallcommunicate to you the details. * * * # * ' * * *
The detachment which formed at Montreal , may have been composed of about two hundred andten men, namely : eighty savages from the Sault and from La Montague ; sixteen Algonquins ; andthe remainder Frenchmen —all under the command of the Sieur Le Moyne de Sainte Helene, andLieutenant Daillebout de Mantet, both of whom are Canadians . The Sieurs le Moyne d’Ibervilleand Repentigny de Montesson commanded under these. The best qualified Frenchmen were, theSieurs de Bonrepos and de La Brosse, Calvinist officers, the Sieur la Moyne de Blainville, Le Bert duChSne, and la Marque de Montigny, who all served as volunteers. They took their departure fromMontreal at the commencement of February.
After having marched for the course of five or six days, they called a council to determine theroute they should follow, and the point they should attack.
The Indians demanded of the French what was their intention. Messieurs de Sainte Helene and
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Mantet replied that they had left in the hope of attacking Orange, if possible, as it is the Capital ofNew York and a place of considerable importance, though they had no orders to that effect, butgenerally to act according as they should judge on the spot of their chances of success, withoutrunning too much risk. This appeared to the savages somewhat rash. They represented the diffi-culties and the weakness of the party for so bold an undertaking. There was even one among themwho, his mind filled with the recollections of the disasters which he had witnessed last year, enquiredof our Frenchmen , “since when had they become so desperate?” In reply to their raillery, ’twasanswered that it was our intention, now, to regain the honor of which our misfortunes had deprivedus, and the sole means to accomplish that was to carry Orange, or to perish in so glorious an enter-prise.
As the Indians, who had an intimate acquaintance with the localities, and more experience thanthe French , could not be brought to agree with the latter, it was determined to postpone coming toa conclusion until the party should arrive at the spot where the two routes separate—the one leadingto Orange, and the other to Corlear (Schenectady ). In the course of the journey, which occupiedeight days, the Frenchmen judged proper to diverge towards Corlear, according to the advice of the