Where the one wigwam stood in 1689, there stands today a town of 4,000 people. The stream which Gyles calls Medockscenecasis is the Meduxnakik and the town is Woodstock. On the islands and intervals there, wild grapes and lily roots, butter-nuts and cherries are still to be found, and many generations of boys have wandered with light hearts in quest of them without a thought of the first of white boys, who in loneliness and friendlessness trod those intervals more than two hundred years ago.

It seems to have been the custom of the Indians at the beginning of the winter to break up into small parties for the purpose of hunting, and Gyles' description of his first winter's experience will serve to illustrate the hardships commonly endured by the savages.

"When the winter came on," he says, "we went up the river, till the ice came down running thick in the river, when, according to the Indian custom, we laid up our canoes till spring. Then we traveled, sometimes on the ice and sometimes on land, till we came to a river that was open but not fordable, where we made a raft and passed over, bag and baggage. I met with no abuse from them in this winter's hunting, though I was put to great hardships in carrying burdens and for want of food. But they underwent the same difficulty, and would often encourage me by saying in broken English, 'By and by great deal moose!' Yet they could not answer any question I asked them; and knowing very little of their customs and ways of life, I thought it tedious to be constantly moving from place to place, yet it might be in some respects an advantage, for it ran still in my mind that we were traveling to some settlement; and when my burden was over heavy, and the Indians left me behind, and the still evening came on, I fancied I could see thro' the bushes and hear the people of some great town; which hope might be some support to me in the day, though I found not the town at night.

"Thus we were hunting three hundred miles from the sea and knew no man within fifty or sixty miles of us. We were eight or ten in number, and had but two guns on which we wholly depended for food. If any disaster had happened we must all have perished. Sometimes we had no manner of sustenance for three or four days; but God wonderfully provides for all creatures. * * *

"We moved still farther up the country after the moose when our store gave out; so that by the spring we had got to the northward of the Lady Mountains [near the St. Lawrence]. When the spring came and the rivers broke up we moved back to the head of St. John's river and there made canoes of moose hides, sewing three or four together and pitching the seams with balsam mixed with charcoal. Then we went down the river to a place called Madawescok. There an old man lived and kept a sort of a trading house, where we tarried several days; then we went further down the river till we came to the greatest falls in these parts, called Checanekepeag[16], where we carried a little way over land, and putting off our canoes we went down stream still, and as we passed the mouths of any large branches we saw Indians, but when any dance was proposed I was bought off.

[16] The Grand Falls of the St. John river, which the Indians still call Chik-seen-eag-i-beg, meaning "a destroying giant."

"At length we arrived at the place where we left our canoes in the fall and, putting our baggage into them, went down to the fort. There we planted corn, and after planting went a fishing and to look for and dig roots till the corn was fit to weed. After weeding we took a second tour on foot on the same errand, then returned to hill up our corn. After hilling we went some distance from the fort and field up the river to take salmon and other fish, which we dried for food, where we continued till the corn was filled with milk; some of it we dried then, the other as it ripened."

The statement has been made by the author in the opening chapter that exaggerated ideas have prevailed concerning the number of Indians who formerly inhabited this country. The natives of Acadia were not a prolific race and the life they led was so full of danger and exposure, particularly in the winter season, as not to be conducive to longevity. An instance of the dangers to which the Indians were exposed in their winter hunting is related by Gyles which very nearly proved fatal to him.

"One winter," he says, "as we were moving from place to place our hunters killed some moose. One lying some miles from our wigwams, a young Indian and myself were ordered to fetch part of it. We set out in the morning when the weather was promising, but it proved a very cold cloudy day.

"It was late in the evening before we arrived at the place where the moose lay, so that we had no time to provide materials for a fire or shelter. At the same time came on a storm of snow very thick which continued until the next morning. We made a small fire with what little rubbish we could find around us. The fire with the warmth of our bodies melted the snow upon us as fast as it fell and so our clothes were filled with water. However, early in the morning we took our loads of moose flesh, and set out to return to our wigwams. We had not travelled far before my moose-skin coat (which was the only garment I had on my back, and the hair chiefly worn off) was frozen stiff round my knees, like a hoop, as were my snow-shoes and shoe clouts to my feet. Thus I marched the whole day without fire or food. At first I was in great pain, then my flesh became numb, and at times I felt extremely sick and thought I could not travel one foot farther; but I wonderfully revived again. After long travelling I felt very drowsy, and had thoughts of sitting down, which had I done, without doubt I had fallen on my final sleep. My Indian companion, being better clothed, had left me long before. Again my spirits revived as much as if I had received the richest cordial.

"Some hours after sunset I reached the wigwam, and crawling in with my snow-shoes on, the Indians cried out, 'The captive is frozen to death!' They took off my pack and the place where that lay against my back was the only one that was not frozen. They cut off my snow-shoes and stripped off the clouts from my feet, which were as void of feeling as any frozen flesh could be.

"I had not sat long by the fire before the blood began to circulate and my feet to my ankles turned black and swelled with bloody blisters and were inexpressibly painful. The Indians said one to another: 'His feet will rot, and he will die;' yet I slept well at night. Soon after the skin came off my feet from my ankles whole, like a shoe, leaving my toes without a nail and the ends of my great toe bones bare.... The Indians gave me rags to bind up my feet and advised me to apply fir balsam, but withal added that they believed it was not worth while to use means for I should certainly die. But by the use of my elbows and a stick in each hand I shoved myself along as I sat upon the ground over the snow from one tree to another till I got some balsam. This I burned in a clam shell till it was of a consistence like salve, which I applied to my feet and ankles and, by the divine blessing, within a week I could go about upon my heels with my staff; and through God's goodness we had provisions enough, so that we did not remove under ten or fifteen days. Then the Indians made two little hoops, something in the form of a snow-shoe, and sewing them to my feet I was able to follow them in their tracks on my heels from place to place, though sometimes half leg deep in snow and water, which gave me the most acute pain imaginable; but I must walk or die. Yet within a year my feet were entirely well, and the nails came on my great toes so that a very critical eye could scarcely perceive any part missing, or that they had been frozen at all."

We turn now to the consideration of the state of affairs on the St. John after the removal of the seat of government from Fort Nachouac to Menagoueche and subsequently to Port Royal.

After the retirement of the French from the river, at the close of the seventeenth century, our knowledge of that region for the next thirty years is small. We know, however, that the Maliseets continued hostile to the English. War parties from the St. John united with the neighboring tribes, roaming over the country like hungry wolves, prowling around the towns and settlements of New England, carrying terror and destruction wherever they went. The resentment inspired by their deeds was such that the legislatures of Massachusetts and New Hampshire offered a bounty of L40 for the scalp of every adult male Indian.

For sixty years Indian wars followed in rapid succession. They are known in history as King William's war, Queen Anne's war, Lovewell's or Dummer's war and King George's war. In nearly every instance the Indian raids were instigated or encouraged by their French allies, who feared that otherwise the English would win them and thereby gain the country.

Civil and ecclesiastical authority in France were at this time very closely united. The missionaries of New France were appointed and removed by the authorities at Quebec and received an annual stipend from the crown, and however diligent the missionary might be in his calling, or however pure his life, he was liable to be removed unless he used his influence to keep the savages in a state of hostility to the English. The Maliseet villages on the St. John, the Penobscot and the Kennebec rivers were regarded as buttresses against English encroachments in the direction of Canada, and the authorities at Quebec relied much upon the influence of the missionaries to keep the savages loyal to France.

The first missionary at the Medoctec village, of whom we have any accurate information, was Father Simon, who has already been frequently mentioned in the extracts from John Gyles' narrative. He belonged to the order of the Recollets, founded early in the 13th century by St. Francis of Assissi. The missionaries of that order began their labors on the St. John as early as 1620; they came to Acadia from Aquitane. Father Simon was a man of activity and enterprise as well as of religious zeal. He did all that lay in his power to promote the ascendency of his country-men in the land they loved to call "New France," but his influence with the Indians was always exercised on the side of humanity. On this point Gyles' testimony is conclusive. He says: "The priest of this river was of the order of St. Francis, a gentleman of a humane generous disposition. In his sermons he most severely reprehended the Indians for their barbarities to captives. He would often tell them that excepting their errors in religion the English were a better people than themselves."

We have no exact information as to the number of years Father Simon labored at Medoctec, but he died near the close of the century. Governor Villebon in December, 1698, wrote, "Father Simon is sick at Jemseg," and as his name does not again appear in the annals of that time it is probable that his sickness proved mortal. He was succeeded in his mission by one of the Jesuit fathers, Joseph Aubery, who came to Medoctec about 1701, remaining there seven years. He then took charge of the Abenaki mission of St. Francis, where he continued for 46 years and died at the age of 82. Chateaubriand drew from his character and career materials for one of the characters in his well known romance "Atala."

The next missionary on the River St. John was Jean Baptiste Loyard, who was born at Pau in France in 1678, and came out to Canada in 1706. He remained almost constantly at his post, except that in the year 1722 he went to France to obtain aid for his mission. His position was a difficult one, for the letters of the Marquis de Vaudreuil show that in addition to his spiritual functions he was regarded as the political agent of the French on the St. John.

By the treaty of Utrecht, in the days of Queen Anne (A. D. 1713), "all Nova Scotia, or Acadia, comprehended within its ancient boundaries," was ceded to the Queen of Great Britain. But the question immediately arose, what were the ancient boundaries? The British were disposed to claim, as indeed the French had formerly done, that Acadia included the territory north of the Bay of Fundy as far west as the Kennebec river; but the French would not now admit that it included anything more than the peninsula of Nova Scotia.

In 1715, Governor Caulfield endeavored to have a good understanding with Loyard, assuring him that he would not be molested, and begging him to say to the Indians of his mission that they would receive good treatment at the hands of the English and that a vessel full of everything they needed would be sent up the river to them.

But other and more potent influences were at work. On June 15, 1716, the French minister wrote the Marquis de Vaudreuil that the King, in order to cement more firmly the alliance with the savages of Acadia, had granted the sum of 1,200 livres, agreeably to the proposal of the intendant Begon, to be expended in building a church for the Indians on the River St. John, and another for those on the Kennebec. The Indians were wonderfully pleased and offered to furnish a quantity of beaver as their contribution towards the erection of the churches. In the years that followed the king made two additional grants of 1,200 livres each, and in 1720 the Marquis de Vaudreuil had the satisfaction of reporting that the churches were finished; that they were well built and would prove a great inducement to the savages to be loyal to France.

The probable site of the Indian chapel on the banks of the St. John is shown in the plan of the Medoctec Fort and village near the north west corner of the burial ground. A small stone tablet was discovered here by Mr. A. R. Hay, of Lower Woodstock, in June, 1890. The tablet is of black slate, similar to that found in the vicinity, and is in length fourteen inches by seven in width and about an inch in thickness.

It was found quite near the surface, just as it might naturally have fallen amid the ruins of an old building, covered merely by the fallen leaves; the inscription is in an excellent state of preservation and, without abbreviation, reads as follows:



DEO Optimo Maximo In honorem Divi Ioannis Baptistae Hoc Templum posuerunt Anno Domin (MDCCXVII). Malecitae

Missionis Procurator Ioanne Loyard Societatis Iesu Sacerdote.

The translation reads:—"To God, most excellent, most high, in honor of Saint John Baptist, the Maliseets erected this church A. D. 1717, while Jean Loyard, a priest of the Society of Jesus, was superintendent of the mission."

The inscription is clearly cut, but not with sufficient skill to suggest the hand of a practised stone engraver. It was in all probability the hand of Loyard himself that executed it. The name of Danielou, his successor, faintly scratched in the lower left-hand corner, is evidently of later date; but its presence there is of historic interest.

The Indian church of St. John Baptist at Medoctec, erected in 1717, was the first on the River St. John—probably the first in New Brunswick. It received among other royal gifts a small bell which now hangs in the belfry of the Indian chapel at Central Kingsclear, a few miles above Fredericton. The church seems to have been such as would impress by its beauty and adornments the little flock over which Loyard exercised his kindly ministry. It is mentioned by one of the Jesuit fathers as a beautiful church (belle eglise), suitably adorned and furnished abundantly with holy vessels and ornaments of sufficient richness.

The chapel stood for fifty years and its clear toned bell rang out the call to prayer in the depths of the forest; but by and by priest and people passed away till, in 1767, the missionary Bailly records in his register that the Indians having abandoned the Medoctec village he had caused the ornaments and furnishings of the chapel, together with the bell, to be transported to Aukpaque, and had caused the chapel itself to be demolished since it served merely as a refuge for travellers and was put to the most profane uses.

The Marquis de Vaudreuil in 1718 wrote to the English authorities at Port Royal protesting against English vessels entering the River St. John, which he claimed to be entirely within the French dominion. He encouraged the French to withdraw from the peninsula of Nova Scotia, promising them lands on the St. John river on application to the missionary Loyard, who was empowered to grant them and in the course of time a number of families resorted thither.

When Loyard went to France in 1722 he represented to the home government that the English were making encroachments on the "rivers of the savages"—meaning the St. John, Penobscot and Kennebec. "Why is this?" he asks, "if not for the purpose of continually advancing on Canada?" He points out that France has not cared for the savages except when she has had need of them. The English will not fail to remind them of this fact, and will perhaps by presents more valuable than the missionaries can offer soon succeed in winning them. Loyard recommends the court to increase the annual gratuity and to provide for each village a royal medal to serve as a reminder of the king's favor and protection. His advice seems to have been followed, and for some years an annual appropriation of 4,000 livres was made to provide presents for the savages, the distribution being left to the missionaries.



Port Royal, under its new name of Annapolis, was now become the headquarters of British authority and efforts were made to establish friendly relations with the Indians of the St. John river. In July, 1720, nine chiefs were brought over to Annapolis in a vessel sent by Governor Philipps for the purpose; they were entertained and addressed and presents were made to them and they went home apparently well pleased. However the English governor did not count much upon their fidelity. He states that he was beset with Indian delegations from various quarters; that he received them all and never dismissed them without presents, which they always looked for and for which he was out of pocket about a hundred and fifty pounds; he adds, "but I am convinced that a hundred thousand will not buy them from the French interest while the priests are among them."

Governor Philipps' lack of confidence in Indian promises of friendship and alliance was soon justified, for in Lovewell's war, which broke out in 1722 and lasted three years, the Indians surprized and captured a large number of trading vessels in the Bay of Fundy and along the coast, and a party of 30 Maliseets and 26 Micmacs attacked the Fort at Annapolis, killing two of the garrison and dangerously wounding an officer and three men. In retaliation for the loss of Sergt McNeal, who was shot and scalped, the English shot and scalped an Indian prisoner on the spot where McNeal had fallen, an action which, however great the provocation, is to be lamented as unworthy of a Christian people.

Lovewell's war was terminated by a notable treaty made at Boston in 1725 with four eminent sagamores representing the tribes of Kennebec, Penobscot, St. John and Cape Sable; Francois Xavier appearing on behalf of the Maliseets of the St. John. The conference lasted over a month, for the Indians were very deliberate in their negotiations and too well satisfied with their entertainment to be in a hurry. The treaty was solemnly ratified at Falmouth in the presence of the Lieutenant-Governors of Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Nova Scotia, and about forty chiefs. The formal assent of the St. John Indians does not appear to have been given until May, 1728, when three or four sachems, accompanied by twenty-six warriors, came from Medoctec to Annapolis Royal to ratify the peace and make submission to the British government. Governor Armstrong with the advice of his officers made them presents, entertained them several days and sent them away well satisfied.

The ministry of Loyard was now drawing to a close. He seems to have been a man of talents and rare virtues, esteemed and beloved by both French and Indians, and in his death universally lamented. He devoted nearly twenty-four of the best years of his life to the conversion of the Indians, and when summoned to Quebec for the benefit of his health, which had become impared by toil and exposure, he had hardly recovered from the fatigue of the journey when he requested to be allowed to return to his mission, where his presence was needed. It was while in the active discharge of his duty among the sick that he contracted the disease of which he died in the midst of his people, who were well nigh inconsolable for their loss. The obituary letter announcing his death to the other Jesuit missionaries contains a glowing eulogy of the man and his work. His disposition had nothing of sternness, yet he was equally beloved and revered by his flock; to untiring zeal he joined exemplary modesty, sweetness of disposition, never failing charity and an evenness of temper which made him superior to all annoyances; busy as he was he had the art of economising the moments, and he gave all the prescribed time to his own spiritual exercises; over his flock he watched incessantly as a good shepherd with the happy consolation of gathering abundant fruit of his care and toil; he was fitted for everything and ready for everything, and his superiors could dispose of him as they would. The date of his death, June 24, 1731, suggests some remarkable coincidences. The 24th of June is St. John Baptist's day; Loyard's name was Jean Baptiste; the church he built was called St. Jean Baptiste; it was the first church on the banks of a river named in honor of St. Jean Baptiste (because discovered on 24th June, 1604, by Champlain); and it was fitting that the missionary who designed it, who watched over its construction and who probably was laid to rest beneath its shade, should pass from the scene of his labors on the day that honors the memory of St. Jean Baptiste. By a pure coincidence the author finds himself penning these words on St. John Baptist's day, 1903.



Loyard's successor was Jean Pierre Danielou, whose presence at Medoctec is indicated by the occurrence of his name on the memorial tablet. After his arrival at Quebec in 1715 he was employed for some years as a teacher, but took holy orders about 1725. Danielou had been but a short time in charge of his mission when he received a sharply worded letter from the governor of Nova Scotia, ordering the Acadians settled on the River St. John to repair to the port of Annapolis Royal and take the oath of allegiance. The governor says that their settling on the river without leave was an act of great presumption. A number of the settlers accordingly presented themselves at Annapolis, where they took the required oaths and agreed to take out grants.

The little French colony were settled at or near St. Anns (now Fredericton) for a census made in 1733, for the government of France, gives the number of Acadians on the river as 111, divided into twenty families, and fifteen of these families, numbering eighty-two persons, were living below the village of Ecoupay (or Aukpaque). Two families lived at Freneuse and three at the mouth of the river.

The story of the old Medoctec village in later times will be told incidentally in the chapters that are to follow.



CHAPTER IX.

INCIDENTS IN KING GEORGES WAR.

After a long interval of peace from the time of the treaty of Utrecht in 1713, war was declared between France and England in 1744. The Indians of the St. John river, who had been fairly quiet for some years, took the warpath with great alacrity. The war that ensued is known as "King George's," or the "Five Years" war. At its commencement the Maliseets played rather a sharp trick upon the English which Paul Mascarene and Shirley, the governor of Massachusetts, remembered against them when peace was proclaimed five years later. On that occasion Count de la Galissonniere wrote to Mascarene to inquire if the Maliseets were included in the peace, "in which case," he says, "I entreat you to have the goodness to induce Mr. Shirley to allow them to settle again in their villages, and to leave their missionaries undisturbed as they were before the war." The French governor suggested that a reply might be sent through the missionary by whom he had sent his own letter. Both Mascarene and Shirley replied at some length to the letter of de la Galissonniere. They stated that when a renewal of the war with France was daily expected, a deputation of the St. John river Indians came to Annapolis professedly to make an agreement to remain on friendly terms with the English in the event of war with France. They were well received in consequence. But they had come in reality as spies, and three weeks afterwards returned with others of their tribe, the missionary le Loutre at their head, surprised and killed as many of the English as they caught outside the fort, destroyed their cattle, burnt their houses and continued their acts of hostility against the garrison till the arrival of troops from New England to check them. "For this perfidious behaviour," Shirley says, "I caused war to be declared in his majesty's name against these Indians in November, 1744, and so far as it depends upon me, they shall not be admitted to terms of peace till they have made a proper submission for their treachery."

During King George's war the Maliseet warriors did not, as in former Indian wars, assemble at Medoctec and turn their faces westward to devastate the settlements of New England, the scene of hostilities was now transferred to the eastward, Annapolis Royal, Beausejour and Louisbourg became the scene of hostilities and Aukpaque, not Medoctec, the place of rendezvous.

Immediately after the declaration of war Paul Mascarene set to work to repair the defences of Annapolis Royal. The French inhabitants at first showed every readiness to assist him, but they retired to their habitations when the Indians, to the number of about three hundred fighting men, appeared before the fort. Among the leaders of the savages was young Alexander le Borgne de Bellisle, who himself had Indian blood in his veins, being the son of Anastasie de St. Castin. The Indians failed in their attack and retired to await the arrival of troops from Louisbourg under Du Vivier.

Some weeks later the united forces again advanced on Annapolis but, after a siege lasting from the end of August to about the 25th of September, they were obliged to retire without accomplishing anything. Mascarene conducted the defence with prudence and energy but honestly admits, in his letter to Governor Shirley, that it was largely "to the timely succours sent from the Governor of Massachusetts and to our French inhabitants refusing to take up arms against us, we owe our preservation."

The people of New England cherished no good will toward the savages of Acadia. The horrors of Indian warfare in the past were yet fresh in their memories, and stern measures were resolved upon. Governor Shirley, with the advice of his council, offered premiums for their scalps, L100 currency for that of an adult male Indian, L50 for that of a woman or child, and for a captive L5 higher than for a scalp.

After the failure of the French attack on Annapolis Royal, Shirley planned an expedition against Louisbourg, "the Dunkirk of America." This was indeed a formidable undertaking, for the French had spent twenty-five years of time and about six millions and a half of dollars in building, arming and adorning that city. The walls of its defences were formed of bricks brought from France and they mounted two hundred and six pieces of cannon. The leader of the expedition was William Pepperell, a native of Kittery, Maine, a colonel of militia and a merchant who employed hundreds of men in lumbering and fishing. His troops comprised a motley collection of New Englanders—fishermen and farmers, sawyers and loggers, many of them taken from his own vessels, mills and forests. Before such men, aided by the English navy under Commodore Warren, to the world's amazement, Louisbourg fell. The achievement is, perhaps, the most memorable in our colonial annals, but a description of the siege cannot be here attempted. After the surrender of Louisbourg a banquet was prepared by Pepperell for his officers, and Mr. Moody of New York, Mrs. Pepperell's uncle, was called upon to ask a blessing at the feast. The old parson was apt to be prolix on public occasions, and his temper being rather irritable, none dared to suggest that brevity would be acceptable. The company were therefore highly gratified by his saying grace as follows: "Good Lord, we have so many things to thank Thee for that time will be infinitely too short to do it. We must therefore leave it for the work of eternity. Bless our food and fellowship upon this joyful occasion, for the sake of Christ our Lord. Amen."

The capture of Louisbourg greatly relieved the situation at Annapolis, and probably saved Acadia to the English. It acted as a damper on the ardor of the Indians of the St. John river, who, under Marin, a French officer from Quebec, had taken the warpath. They were encouraged in their hostile attitude by their missionary Germain, lately come to Aukpaque as Danielou's[17] successor.

[17] Jean Pierre Danielou died at Quebec, May 23, 1744. His successor, Father Charles Germain, came to Canada in 1738 and a few years later, probably in 1740, was sent to the St. John River.

While the stirring events just mentioned were transpiring at Louisbourg, Governor Mascarene was doing his best to place Annapolis Royal in a proper state of defence and the chief engineer, John Henry Bastide, was busily engaged in strengthening the fort. Early in the summer of 1745 the Sieur Marin appeared before the town with a party of six hundred French and Indians—the latter including many from the River St. John and some of the Hurons from Canada. They captured two Boston schooners, one of which was named the "Montague." Her captain, William Pote, of Falmouth (now Portland) Maine, was taken to Quebec by the Huron Indians, via the St. John river. He remained in captivity three years. He contrived to keep a journal describing his capture and subsequent adventures; this was concealed by one of the female prisoners who restored it to Captain Pote after he was released. The journal had a remarkable experience; it passed through many hands, was discovered at Geneva in Switzerland about a dozen years ago by Bishop John F. Hurst, and has since been printed in a sumptuous volume by Dodd, Mead & Co., of New York. Thus after a century and a half of obscurity this remarkable old document has at length seen the light.

We learn from its pages that Captain Pote was taken by land to Chignecto at the head of the Bay of Fundy, where he found the captured schooner "Montague" already arrived. The Indians called a council to decide whether it was better to go to the River St. John in the schooner or by land, but finally thought it better to go by land. Accordingly on the 26th June, the "Montague" sailed with several prisoners, including two of Pote's men and the master of the other schooner taken at Annapolis and one of his men. Pote entreated the Indians to be allowed to go in the schooner, but could not prevail. He was taken by way of Shepody Bay up the River Petitcodiac in a small schooner belonging to one of the "neutral French." The next day's journey brought them to the carrying place between the Petitcodiac and the Canaan river, which they crossed and encamped.

The events of the day following—Sunday, June 30—are thus recorded in Pote's journal:

"This day in ye morning we had Intelligence that there was a priest from ye River of Saint Johns expected to arrive at this place in a few minutes, ye Indians made Great preparation for his Reception and at his arrival shewed many symptoms of their Great Respect. Ye Priest was conducted to ye Captain's camp, where after having passed many compliments, the Priest asked ye Capt. of ye Indians who I was, and when he Understood I was a prisoner, he asked me if I could speak French. I told him a Little, and asked him concerning one Jonathan a soldier that was a passenger on board of our Schooner when we was taken, and was then at ye River of Saint Johns. Ye Priest gave me an account of him, and told me to content myself in ye Condition that I was then in, for I was in ye hands of a Christian nation and it might prove very Beneficial both to my Body and Soul. I was obliged to concur with his sentiments for fear of displeasing my masters. Ye Indians built him a Table against a Large Tree, where he said mass, and sung (louange au bon Dieu pour leur conservation jusqu'au present) after they had concluded their mass, &c., the priest gave them Permission to commence their making Connews and Took his leave of us. This Day we was Imployed in making Connews of Elm and ash Bark."

The priest here mentioned was no doubt the Jesuit missionary, Charles Germain, for the Governor General of Canada, the Marquis Beauharnois, in his letter to the French minister, dated at Quebec 27 September of this year, writes: "M. Germain, missionary on the lower part of the River St. John, arrived here yesterday with the chief and 24 Indians of his mission, the most of whom served in Mr. Marin's party."

The Indians with Capt. Pote made seven canoes, and in these they proceeded down the Canaan river to Washademoak lake, thence up the St. John river to Aukpaque. On the way several rather curious incidents occurred. For example, on one occasion they caught some small fish, which Pote attempted to clean, but the Indians snatched them from him and boiled them "slime and blood and all together." "This," said Pote, "put me in mind of ye old Proverb, God sent meat and ye D——l cooks." On another occasion, he says, "we Incamped by ye side of ye River and we had much difficulty to kindle a fire by Reason it Rained exceeding fast, and wet our fire works; we was obliged to turn our connews bottom up and Lay under them; at this time it thundered exceedingly, and ye Indians asked me if there was not people in my Country sometimes distroyed by ye Thunder and Lightning, yet I told them I had known several Instances of that nature, they told me yt never any thing hapned to ye Indians of harm neither by thunder nor Lightning, and they said it was a Judgment on ye English and French, for Incroaching on their Libertys in America."

On their way up the River St. John Mr. Pote and his companions passed several French houses, and at some of these they stopped for provisions, but found the people so "exceeding poor" they could not supply any. When they arrived at Aukpaque, on the evening of the 6th July, they found the schooner Montague had arrived some days before with the other prisoners.

Pote and his friends met with an unexpectedly warm reception at the Indian village, which we shall allow him to relate in his own quaint fashion:

"At this place ye Squaws came down to ye Edge of ye River, Dancing and Behaving themselves, in ye most Brutish and Indecent manner and taking us prisoners by ye arms, one Squaw on each Side of a prisoner, they led us up to their Village and placed themselves In a Large Circle Round us, after they had Gat all prepared for their Dance, they made us sit down In a Small Circle, about 18 Inches assunder and began their frolick, Dancing Round us and Striking of us in ye face with English Scalps, yt caused ye Blood to Issue from our mouths and Noses, In a Very Great and plentiful manner, and Tangled their hands in our hair, and knocked our heads Togather with all their Strength and Vehemence, and when they was tired of this Exercise, they would take us by the hair and some by ye Ears, and standing behind us, oblige us to keep our Necks Strong so as to bear their weight hanging by our hair and Ears.

"In this manner, they thumped us In ye Back and Sides, with their knees and feet, and Twitched our hair and Ears to such a Degree, that I am Incapable to express it, and ye others that was Dancing Round if they saw any man falter, and did not hold up his Neck, they Dached ye Scalps In our faces with such Violence, yt every man endeavored to bear them hanging by their hair in this manner, Rather then to have a Double Punishment; after they had finished their frolick, that lasted about two hours and a half, we was carried to one of their Camps, where we Saw Some of ye Prisoners that Came in ye montague; at this place we Incamped yt Night with hungrey Belleys."

Unpleasant as was the reception of Pote and his fellow prisoners at Aukpaque they were fortunate in being allowed to escape with their lives. It chanced that the previous year Capt. John Gorham had brought to Annapolis a company of Indian rangers—probably Mohawks—as allies of the English. Paul Mascarene justified this proceeding on the ground that it was necessary to set Indians against Indians, "for tho' our men outdo them in bravery," he says, "yet, being unacquainted with their sculking way of fighting and scorning to fight under cover they expose themselves too much to the enemy's shot." Gorham's Indian rangers, it appears, had killed several of the Maliseets, and Pote learned the day after his arrival at Aukpaque "That the Indians held a counsell amongst ym weather they should put us to Death, and ye Saint Johns Indians almost Gained ye point for they Insisted it was but Justice, as they Sd there had been Several of their Tribe, murdered by Capt. John Gorham at anapolis. Our masters being Verey Desirous to Save us alive, Used all ye arguments In their power for that purpose but could not prevail, for they Insisted on Satisfaction; howsoever our masters prevailed so far with ym, as to take Some Considerable quantity of their most Valuable Goods, and Spare our Lives; this Day they Gave us Some Boill'd Salmon which we Eat with a Verey Good Appetite, without Either Salt or Bread, we Incamped this Night at this afforsaid Indian Village Apog. (Aukpaque.)"

Evidently the Indians had retained the practices of their forefathers as regards their treatment of captives, for Pote's experience at Aukpaque was just about on a par with that of Gyles at Medoctec rather more than half a century before. But it is only just to remember that this was a time of war and (as Murdoch well points out) Indian laws of war permitted not only surprises, stratagems and duplicity, but the destruction and torture of their captives. These practices being in harmony with the ideas and customs inherited from their ancestors did not readily disappear even under the influence of Christianity. And yet it is well to remember that the Indians often spared the lives of their captives and even used them kindly and however much we may condemn them for their cruelty on many occasions we must not forget that there were other occasions where men of our own race forget for a season the rules of their religion and the laws of humanity.

Captain Pote's unhappy experience at Aukpaque caused him to feel no regret when the Huron Indians took their departure with their captives the next day. They had now come to the "beginning of the swift water" and their progress became more laborious. The party included twenty-three persons. One of the prisoners, an Indian of Gorham's Rangers, taken on Goat Island at Annapolis, Pote says

"Was exceedingly out of order and could not assist ye Indians to paddle against ye Strong Current that Ran against us ye Greater part of ye Day, his head was So Exceedingly Swelled, with ye Squaws beating of him, yt he Could Scearsley See out of his Eyes. I had ye Good fortune to be almost well in Comparison to what he was, although it was he and I was Companions, and Sat Next to Each other, In ye Time of their Dance, and him they alwas took for my partner to knock our heads Together. Ye Indians asked me In what Manner ye Squaws treated us, that his head was So Exceedingly Swelld, I Gave them an account, at which they feigned themselves much Disgusted, and protested they was Intierly Ignorant of ye affair, and Said they thought ye Squaws Designed Nothing Else, but only to Dance round us for a Little Diversion, without mollisting or hurting of us In any manner."

As they ascended the river the party encountered occasional rapids which caused some delay, particularly the Meductic rapids below the mouth of the Pokiok, where they were obliged to land and carry their baggage over clefts of rocks, fallen trees and other obstacles. The Indians told Pote they would shortly arrive at another Indian village and he asked, with some anxiety, if the Indians there would use them in the same manner as those at Aukpaque. This question led to an immediate consultation among the Hurons, and, Pote says,

"I observed they Looked with a Verey Serious Countenance on me; when I Saw a Convenient oppertunity I spoke to this affect, Gentlemen You are all Verey Sensible, of ye Ill Usage we met with at ye other Village, which I have Reason to believe, was Intierly Contrary to any of Your Inclinations or permission, and as you Call your Selves Christians, and men of honor, I hope you'l Use your prisoners accordingly, But I think it is Verey Contrary to ye Nature of a Christian, to abuse men In ye manner we was at ye other Village, and I am Verey Sensible there is no Christian Nation yt Suffers their prisoners to be abused after they have Given them quarters, In ye manner we have been; the Indians Looked verey Serious, and approved of what I said, and Talked amongst themselves in Indian, and my master told me when we arrived to ye Indian Village I must mind to keep Clost by him."

On the second morning after they left Aukpaque, the party drew nigh Medoctec, passing as they proceeded, several small spots where the Indians had made improvements and planted corn, beans, etc. Pote says:—

"We arrived to ye Indian village about Noon, as soon as Squaws, saw us coming In Sight of their Village, and heard ye Cohoops, which Signified ye Number of Prisoners, all ye Squaws In their Village, prepared themselves with Large Rods of Briars, and Nettles &c., and met us at their Landing, Singing and Dancing and Yelling, and making such a hellish Noise, yt I Expected we Should meet with a worse Reception at this place that we had at ye other. I was Verey Carefull to observe my masters Instructions, yt he had Given me ye Day before, and warned ye Rest to do Likewise."

The first canoe that landed was that of the captain of the Hurons who had in his canoe but one prisoner, an Indian of Capt. Gorham's Company. This unfortunate fellow was not careful to keep by his master, and in consequence

"Ye Squaws Gathered themselves Round him, and Caught him by ye hair, as many as could get hold of him, and halled him down to ye Ground, and pound his head against ye Ground, ye Rest with Rods dancing Round him, and wipted him over ye head and Legs, to Such a degree, that I thought they would have killed him In ye Spot, or halled him in ye watter and Drounded him, they was So Eager to have a Stroak at him Each of them, that they halled him Some one way and Some another, Some times Down towards ye water by ye hair of ye head, as fast as they could Run, then ye other party would have ye Better and Run with him another way, my master spoke to ye other Indians, and told ym to take ye fellow out of their hands, for he believed they would Certainly murther him, In a Verey Short time."

The squaws advanced towards Pote, but his master spoke something in Indian in a very harsh manner that caused them to relinquish their purpose. The prisoners and their Indian masters were conducted to the camp of the captain of the village who, at their request, sent to relieve the poor Mohawk from the abuse of the squaws, and he was brought to them more dead than alive. At this place Pote met a soldier that had been with him on the schooner "Montague" when she was captured who told him how the Indians had abused him at his arrival. Captain Pote did not entirely escape the attentions of the "sauvagesses," witness the following entry in his journal:—

"Thursday ye 11th. This Day we Remained In ye Indian Village called Medocatike, I observed ye Squaws could not by any means Content themselves without having their Dance. they Continued Teasing my master to Such a Degree, to have ye Liberty to Dance Round me, that he Consented they might if they would Promis to not abuse me, they Desired none of ye Rest, but me was all they aimed at for what Reason I cannot Tell. When my masters had Given ym Liberty, which was Done in my absence, there Came Into ye Camp, two Large Strong Squaws, and as I was Setting by one of my masters, they Caught hold of my armes with all their Strength, and Said Something in Indian, yt I Supposed was to tell me to Come out of ye Camp, and halld me of my Seat. I Strugled with ym and cleard my Self of their hold, and Set down by my master; they Came upon me again Verey Vigorously, and as I was Striving with them, my master ordered me to Go, and told me they would not hurt me. At this I was obliged to Surrender and whent with ym, they Led me out of ye Camp, Dancing and Singing after their manner, and Carried me to one of their Camps where there was a Company of them Gathered for their frolick, they made me Set down on a Bears Skin in ye Middle of one of their Camps, and Gave me a pipe and Tobacoe, and Danced Round me till the Sweat Trickled Down their faces, Verey plentyfully, I Seeing one Squaw that was Verey Big with Child, Dancing and foaming at ye mouth and Sweating, to Such a degree yt I Could not forbear Smilling, which one of ye old Squaws Saw, and Gave me two or three twitches by ye hair, otherwise I Escaped without any Punishment from them at the time."

While he was at Medoctec one of the chiefs desired Pote to read a contract or treaty made about fourteen years before by his tribe with the Governor of Nova Scotia. He also had an interview with one Bonus Castine,[18] who had just arrived at Medoctec, and who examined him very strictly as to the cargo of the Montague and took down in writing what he said. Castine told Pote that the Penobscot Indians were still at peace with the English and he believed would so continue for come time. Pote thought it not prudent to contradict him, though he was confident there were several Penobscot Indians in the party that had captured the Boston schooners. At his master's suggestion he remained close in camp, as the Indians were dancing and singing the greater part of the night, and Castine had made use of expressions that showed his life was in great danger.

[18] In his journal Pote terms him "Bonus Castine from Pernobsquett;" there can be little doubt that he was a descendant of Baron de St. Castin, already mentioned in these pages.

The following day the Hurons resumed their journey and in due time arrived at Quebec. At times the party suffered from lack of food, though fish were usually abundant, and on one occasion they caught in a small cove, a few miles below the mouth of the Tobique, as many as fifty-four salmon in the course of a few hours.

Having considered, at greater length than was originally intended, the adventures of Captain Pote, we may speak of other individuals and incidents which figure in King George's War.

Paul Mascarene, who so gallantly and successfully defended Annapolis Royal against the French and Indians, was born in the south of France in 1684. His father was a Huguenot, and at the revocation of the edict of Nantes was obliged to abandon his native country. Young Mascarene was early thrown upon his own resources. At the age of 12 he made his way to Geneva, where he was educated. Afterwards he went to England, became a British subject and entered the army. He was present at the taking of Port Royal by General Nicholson and, after serving with credit in various capacities, was appointed Lieut.-Governor of Nova Scotia in 1740. He eventually rose to the rank of a major general in the English army.

Mascarene preserved his love for his native tongue and was always disposed to deal kindly with the Acadians. Two very interesting letters written by him in French to Madame Francoise Bellisle Robichaux have been preserved. This lady came of rather remarkable ancestry. She was the granddaughter of the Baron de St. Cactin, and had as her great-grandsires on the one hand the celebrated Charles la Tour, and on the other the famous Penobscot chieftain Madockawando.

In view of the fact that the Belleisle family lived for a considerable time on the St. John river, where their name is preserved in that of Belleisle Bay, it may be well to trace the lineage in fuller detail.

The eldest daughter of Charles la Tour by his second wife, the widow of d'Aulnay Charnisay, was Marie la Tour, who was born in St. John in 1654.[19] She married when about twenty years of age Alexander le Borgne de Belleisle, who was eleven years her senior. Their son Alexander, born in 1679, married December 4, 1707, Anastasia St. Castin, a daughter of the Baron, de St. Castin by his Indian wife Melctilde, daughter of Madockawando, and as a consequence of this alliance the younger le Borgne obtained great influence over the Maliseets. Lieut.-Gov. Armstrong alludes to this circumstance in a letter to the Lords of Trade, written in 1732, in which he observes, "Madame Bellisle's son Alexander married an Indian and lived among the tribe, being hostile to the British government." This statement is hardly fair to Anastasie St. Castin, for, while her mother certainly was the daughter of an Indian chief, her father was the Baron de St. Castin and she herself a well educated woman. The genealogist of the d'Abbadie St. Castin family, however, uses rather grandiloquent language when he styles the mother of Anastasie St. Castin, "Mathilde Matacawando, princess indienne, fille de Matacawando, general-en-chef des indiens Abenakis."[20]

[19] Marie la Tour, widow of Alexander le Borgne was living at Annapolis Royal in 1733 at the age of 79 years.

[20] See Transactions Royal Society of Canada 1895, p. 87.

In spite of the supposed hostility of Alexander le Borgne de Belleisle to British rule in Acadia, he came before the governor and council at Annapolis and took the oath of allegiance. He also presented a petition requesting the restoration of the seignioral rights of his father as one of the la Tour heirs; this was ordered to be transmitted to the home authorities. For several years the sieur de Belleisle lived with his family at Annapolis and the governor and council regarded him with favor, but failed to obtain the recognition of his seignioral rights. After a time the la Tour heirs got into litigation among themselves, and one of their number, Agatha la Tour, who had married an officer of the garrison, Ensign Campbell, seems to have outwitted the other heirs and to have succeeded in selling the rights of the la Tour family to the English crown for three thousand guineas. This naturally was displeasing to Alexander le Borgne de Belleisle. He retired to the St. John river about the year 1736 and settled near the mouth of Belleisle Bay. He had a son Alexander (the third of the name[21]), who married Marie Le Blanc and settled at Grand Pre, where he died in 1744. Francoise Belleisle, who had the honor of being a correspondent of Lieut.-Governor Mascarene, married Pierre Robichaux. The wedding took place at Annapolis Royal, January 16, 1737, the officiating priest being St. Poncy de Lavennede. The contracting parties are described in the old church register as "Pierre Robichaux, aged about 24 years, son of Francois Robichaux and Madeleine Terriot, and Mademoiselle Francoise de Belle Isle, aged about 22 years, daughter of Sieur Alexandre Le Borgne de Belle Isle and Anastasie de St Castin of the Parish of Ste Anne." The bride signs her name Francoise le Borgnes. It is evident that the "Parish of Ste. Anne" was the parish or mission of that name on the St. John river from the fact that two years later a second daughter of the Sieur de Bellisle married a Robichaux and in her marriage certificate she figures as "Marie Le Borgne de Belle Isle, daughter of Alexandre Le Borgne de Belle Isle and of Anastasie St. Castin of the River St. John."

[21] The name "Alexander" descended through at least two more generations, as I am informed by Placide P. Gaudet, who is by all odds the best living authority in such matters. Alexander le Borgne de Belleisle, mentioned above, left at his death a widow and seven children, of whom six were transported with their mother to Maryland at the time of the Acadian expulsion. The remaining child Alexander Belleisle (the fourth) went to L'Islet in Quebec, where he married Genevieve Cloutier in 1773 and their first son, Anthony Alexander, was baptized the year following.—W. O. R.

The brothers Robichaux settled after their marriage near their father-in-law on the St. John river and it was from them that the little settlement of Robicheau, above the mouth of Belleisle Bay, derived its name.[22]

[22] See Ganong's Historic Sites in New Brunswick: Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada for 1899, p. 271.



Francoise Belleisle Robichaux wrote to Paul Mascarene early in 1741 respecting her claim to some property in dispute with her relatives at Annapolis. The governor in his reply gives her some information and advice, adding, "I think you too reasonable to expect any favor of me in what concerns my conduct as a judge; but in every other thing that is not contrary to my duty I shall have real pleasure in testifying to you the esteem I have for you. Let me have your news when there is an opportunity, freely and without fear."

When the war with France began, three years later, the sieur de Belleisle and his son Alexander took sides with their countrymen. The father evidently cherished a hope that in the course of events Acadia might revert to France, in which case he expected to obtain the recognition of his seignioral rights. Young Alexander le Borgne was, as already stated, a leader of the Indians in the attack on Annapolis early in 1744, which attack failed on account of the energy and bravery of Mascarene. The following letter of the Lieut.-Governor to Frances Belleisle Robichaux is of interest in thin connection.

Annapolis Royal, Oct. 13, 1744.

Madame,—When I learned that your father, in the hope of recovering his seigneurial rights, had sided with those who came to attack this fort, I confess I was of opinion that the whole family participated in his feelings; and the more so, as your brother was with the first party of savages who came here last summer. I am agreeably surprised, however, and very glad to see by your letter that you did not share in those sentiments, and that you have remained true to the obligations which bind you to the government of the King of Great Britain, I am unwilling that the esteem which I have entertained for you should be in any manner lessened.

With respect to the protection which you ask for your establishment on the river St. John, it is out of my power to grant it. We cannot protect those who trade with our declared enemies. Therefore you must resolve to remain on this [the English] side during the continuance of the present troubles, and to have no intercourse with the other. Should you come and see us here, you will find me disposed to give you all the assistance that you can reasonably expect.

Be assured that I am, Madam,

Your friend and servant,

P. MASCARENE.

The next glimpse we get of the name of Belleisle on the River St. John is in connection with a notable treaty made with the Indians in 1749. In the summer of that year, peace having been proclaimed with France, Capt. Edward How went to the St. John river in the warship "Albany," and had several interviews with the Indian chiefs, who agreed to send deputies to Halifax to wait upon Governor Cornwallis and renew their submission to the King of England. Accordingly on the 12th of August, Francois Arodowish, Simon Sactawino, and Jean Baptiste Madounhook, deputies from the chiefs of the St. John river, and Joannes Pedousaghtigh, chief of Chignecto, with their attendants, arrived at Halifax to pay their respects to the new governor, and to agree upon "articles of a lasting peace."

Great must have been the wonder of these children of the forest at the busy scene that met their eyes on landing at old Chebucto. A colony of two thousand five hundred persons had settled on a spot hitherto almost without inhabitant, and the Town of Halifax was rising, as if by magic, from the soil which less than eight weeks before had been covered by a dense forest. The sound of axes, hammers and saws was heard on every hand.

Two days after their arrival the Indians were received on board the man-of-war "Beaufort" by Cornwallis and his entire council. The delegates announced that they were from Aukpaque, Medoctec, Passamaquoddy and Chignecto, and that their respective chiefs were Francois de Salle of Octpagh, Noellobig of Medoctec, Neptune Abbadouallete of Passamaquoddy and Joannes Pedousaghtigh of Chignecto. They brought with them a copy of the treaty made with their tribes in 1728 and expressed a desire to renew it. After the usual negotiations the treaty was engrossed on parchment and signed by the Indians, each man appending to his signature his private mark or "totem." Eleven members of the council also signed the treaty as witnesses.

A few days later the Indians returned with Capt. How to the St. John river, where the treaty was duly ratified, and thirteen chiefs signed the following declaration:—

"The Articles of Peace concluded at Chebuckto the Fifteenth of August, 1749, with His Excellency Edward Cornwallis Esq'r, Capt. General Governor and Commander-in-Chief of His Majesty's Province of Nova Scotia or Acadie, and signed by our Deputies, having been communicated to us by Edward How Esq'r, one of His Majesty's Council for said Province, and faithfully interpreted to us by Madame De Bellisle Inhabitant of this River nominated by us for that purpose. We the Chiefs and Captains of the River St. Johns and places adjacent do for ourselves and our different Tribes confirm and ratify the same to all intents and purposes.

"Given under our hands at the River St. Johns this fourth day of September, 1749."

At first glance it would seem that the interpreter, Madame Belleisle, must have been Anastasie St. Castin, wife of Alexander le Borgne de Belleisle, but as she was then more than sixty years of age it is possible the interpreter may have been her daughter, Francoise Belleisle Robichaux. That the latter had a position of some influence with the Indians is shown by the fact that when the chiefs of the River St. John went to Halifax in 1768 (nearly twenty years later) they complained that the ornaments of their church "were taken by Francoise Belleisle Robicheau and carried to Canada by her, and that she refused to give them up." The natural presumption is that the ornaments were intrusted to her care by the missionary, Germain, when he left the mission of Ste. Anne, and that she took them with her for safe keeping.

The English colonial authorities congratulated Cornwallis on the treaty made with the Indians. "We are glad to find," say they, "that the Indians of the St. John river have so willingly submitted to His Majesty's government and renewed their treaty, and as they are the most powerful tribe in those parts, we hope their example may either awe or influence other inferior tribes to the like compliance."

Cornwallis in reply said, "I intend if possible to keep up a good understanding with the St. John Indians, a warlike people, tho' treaties with Indians are nothing, nothing but force will prevail."

Alexandre le Borgne de Belleisle was living on the River St. John as late at least as 1754 and was regarded by the Nova Scotia authorities as "a very good man." The site of his residence is indicated on Charles Morris' map of 1765 and there can be little doubt that a settlement of four houses in the same vicinity, marked "Robicheau" in the Morris map of 1758, was the place of residence of Frances Belleisle Robichaux.

The name Nid d'Aigle, or "The Eagle's Nest," is applied to this locality in Bellin's map of 1744, D'Anville's map of 1755 marks at the same place "Etabliss't Francois," or French Settlement. The place is nearly opposite Evandale, the site of the well known summer hotel of John O. Vanwart. Here the St. John river is quite narrow, only about a five minutes paddle across. The British government during the war of 1812 built at Nid d'Aigle, or "Worden's," a fortification consisting of an earthwork, or "half-moon battery," with magazine in rear and a block-house at the crest of the hill still farther to the rear, the ruins of which are frequently visited by tourists. The situation commands an extensive and beautiful view of the river, both up and down, and no better post of defence could be chosen, since the narrowness of the channel would render it well nigh impossible for an enemy to creep past either by day or night without detection. There is some reason to believe that the French commander, Boishebert, established a fortified post of observation here in 1756.



It is altogether probable that the name "Nid d'Aigle" was given to the place by the sieur de Belleisle or some member of his family, and one could wish that it might be restored either in its original form, or in its Saxon equivalent, "The Eagle's Nest."

Colonel Monckton, by direction of Governor Lawrence, ravaged the French Settlements on the lower St. John in 1758, and in the report of his operations mentions "a few Houses that were some time past inhabited by the Robicheaus," which he burnt. It is possible that Francoise Belleisle Robichaux went with her family to l'Islet in Quebec to escape the threatened invasion of which they may have had timely notice, but it is more probable the removal occurred a little earlier. The situation of the Acadians on the River St. John in 1757 was pitiable in the extreme. They were cut off from every source of supply and lived in fear of their lives. The Marquis de Vaudreuil says that in consequence of the famine prevailing on the river, many Acadian families were forced to fly to Quebec and so destitute were the wretched ones in some instances that children died at their mother's breast. The parish records of l'Islet[23] show that Pierre Robichaux and his wife lived there in 1759.

[23] A child of Pierre Robichaud and Francoise Belleisle his wife was interred at l'Islet, December 10, 1759.

Francoise Belleisle Robichaux died at l'Islet January 28, 1791, at the age of 79 years, having outlived her husband six years. They had a number of children, one of whom, Marie Angelique, married Jean Baptiste d'Amour, de Chaufour, and had a daughter, Marguerite d'Amour, whose name seems very familiar to us.

The parish records at l'Islet give considerable information concerning the descendants of the families d'Amours, Robichaux and Belleisle, but the space at our disposal will allow us to follow them no further.



CHAPTER X.

RIVAL CLAIMS TO THE ST. JOHN RIVER.

The St. John river region may be said to have been in dispute from the moment the treaty of Utrecht was signed in 1713 until the taking of Quebec in 1759. By the treaty of Utrecht all Nova Scotia, or Acadia, comprehended within its ancient boundaries, was ceded to Great Britain, and the English at once claimed possession of the territory bordering on the St. John. To this the French offered strong objection, claiming that Nova Scotia, or Acadia, comprised merely the peninsula south of the Bay of Fundy—a claim which, as already stated in these pages, was strangely at variance with their former contention that the western boundary of Acadia was the River Kennebec.[24] For many years the dispute was confined to remonstrances on the side of either party, the French meanwhile using their savage allies to repel the advance of any English adventurers who might feel disposed to make settlements on the St. John, and encouraging the Acadians to settle there, while the English authorities endeavored, with but indifferent success, to gain the friendship of the Indians and compel the Acadians to take the oath of allegiance to the British crown. The dispute over the limits of Acadia at times waxed warm. There were protests and counter-protests. Letters frequently passed between the English government at Annapolis and the missionaries on the St. John—Loyard, Danielou, and Germain, who were in close touch with the civil authorities of their nation, and were in some measure the political agents of the Marquise de Vaudreuil and other French governors of Canada.

[24] In a letter to the French minister, written in 1698, Villebon observes "J'ai recu par mons'r de Bonaventure qui est arrive ici le 20 Juillet la lettre de votre Grandeur et le traite de Paix fait avec l'Angleterre [the treaty of Ryswick]. * * Comme vous me marquez, Monseigneur, que les bornes de l'Acadie sont a la Riviere de Quenebequi." [Kennebec]. etc.

It is possible that the Marquis de Vaudreuil felt special interest in the St. John river country, owing to the fact that his wife Louise Elizabeth Joibert, was born at Fort Jemseg while her father, the Sieur de Soulanges, was governor of Acadia. At any rate the marquis stoutly asserted the right of the French to the sovereignty of that region and he wrote to the Lieut. Governor of Nova Scotia in 1718, "I pray you not to permit your English vessels to go into the river St. John, which is always of the French dominion." He also encouraged the Acadians of the peninsula to withdraw to the river St. John so as not to be under British domination, pledging them his support and stating that Father Loyard, the Jesuit missionary, should have authority to grant them lands agreeably to their wishes.

Lieut. Governor Doucett, of Nova Scotia, complained of the aggressive policy of the Marquis de Vaudreuil, asserting that he was entirely mistaken as to the ownership of the St. John river, for it was "about the centre of Nova Scotia;" he was satisfied, nevertheless, that the Acadians believed it would never be taken possession of by the British, and if the proceedings of the French were not stopped they would presently claim everything within cannon short of his fort at Annapolis.

The policy of the French in employing their Indian allies to deter the English from any advance towards the St. John region was attended with such success that the infant colony of Nova Scotia was kept in a constant state of alarm by the threats and unfriendly attitude of the Micmacs and Maliseets. There were, however, occasional periods in which there were no actual hostilities, and it may be said that the peace made at Boston in 1725, and ratified by the St. John river tribe in May, 1728, was fairly observed by the Indians until war was declared between England and France in 1744.

During this war the St. John river was much used as a means of communication between Quebec and the French settlements of Acadia, smart young Indians with light birch canoes being employed to carry express messages, and on various occasions large parties of French and Indians travelled by this route from the St. Lawrence to the Bay of Fundy. The Indian villages of Medoctec and Aukpaque afforded convenient stopping places.

In the year 1746 a great war party, including the Abenakis of Quebec as well as their kinsmen of the upper St. John, arrived at Aukpaque. Thence they took their way in company with the missionary Germain to Chignecto. They had choice of two routes of travel, one by way of the Kennebecasis and Anagance to the Petitcodiac, the other by way of the Washademoak lake and the Canaan to the same river. As the war proceeded the Maliseets actively supported their old allies the French. Some of them took part in the midwinter night attack, under Coulon de Villiers, on Colonel Noble's post at Grand Pre. The English on this occasion were taken utterly by surprise; Noble himself fell fighting in his shirt, and his entire party were killed, wounded or made prisoners. From the military point of view this was one of the most brilliant exploits in the annals of Acadia, and, what is better, the victors behaved with great humanity to the vanquished.

The missionaries le Loutre and Germain were naturally very desirous of seeing French supremacy restored in Acadia and the latter proposed an expedition against Annapolis. With that end in view he proceeded to Quebec and returned with a supply of powder, lead and ball for his Maliseet warriors. However, in October, 1748, the peace of Aix la Chapelle put a stop to open hostilities.

Immediately after the declaration of peace, Captain Gorham, with his rangers and a detachment of auxiliaries, proceeded in two ships to the River St. John and ordered the French inhabitants to send deputies to Annapolis to give an account of their conduct during the war.

Count de la Galissonniere strongly protested against Gorham's interference with the Acadians on the St. John, which he described as "a river situated on the Continent of Canada, and much on this side of the Kennebec, where by common consent the bounds of New England have been placed." This utterance of the French governor marks another stage in the controversy concerning the limits of Acadia. He stoutly contended that Gorham and all other British officers must be forbidden to interfere with the French on the St. John river, or to engage them to make submissions contrary to the allegiance due to the King of France "who," he says, "is their master as well as mine, and has not ceded this territory by any treaty."

The governors of Massachusetts and of Nova Scotia replied at some length to the communication of Count de la Galissonniere, claiming the territory in dispute for the king of Great Britain, and showing that the French living on the St. John had some years before taken the oath of allegiance to the English monarch.

The Acadians on the St. John, whose allegiance was in dispute, were a mere handful of settlers. The Abbe le Loutre wrote in 1748: "There are fifteen or twenty French families on this river, the rest of the inhabitants are savages called Marichites (Maliseets) who have for their missionary the Jesuit father Germain." His statement as to the number of Acadian settlers is corroborated by Mascarene, who notified the British authorities that thirty leagues up the river were seated twenty families of French inhabitants, sprung originally from the Nova Scotia side of the bay, most of them since his memory, who, many years ago, came to Annapolis and took the oath of fidelity. He adds, "the whole river up to its head, with all the northern coast of the Bay of Fundy, was always reckoned dependent on this government."

Both Mascarene and Shirley strongly urged upon the British ministry the necessity of settling the limits of Acadia, and a little later commissioners were appointed, two on each side, to determine the matter. They spent four fruitless years over the question, and it remained undecided until settled by the arbitrament of the sword. Shirley was one of the commissioners, as was also the Marquis de la Galissonniere, and it is not to be wondered at that with two such determined men on opposite sides and differing so widely in their views, there should have been no solution of the difficulty.

The period now under consideration is really a very extraordinary one. Ostensibly it was a time of peace. By the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748 England gave back Cape Breton (or Isle Royale) to France and France restored Madras to England, but there remained no clear understanding as to the boundaries between the possessions of the rival powers in America.

So far as the French and English colonies were concerned the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle scarcely deserved the name of a truce. It was merely a breathing time in which preparations were being made for the final struggle. The treaty was so indefinite that a vast amount of territory was claimed by both parties. The English were naturally the most aggressive for the population of the English colonies was 1,200,000 while Canada had but 60,000 people.

Count de la Galissonniere, the governor-general of Canada, though diminutive in stature and slightly deformed, was resolute and energetic; moreover he was a statesman, and had his policy been followed it might have been better for France. He advised the government to send out ten thousand peasants from the rural districts and settle them along the frontiers of the disputed territory, but the French court thought it unadvisable to depopulate France in order to people the wilds of Canada. Failing in this design, the Count determined vigorously to assert the sovereignty of France over the immense territory in dispute. Accordingly he claimed for his royal master the country north of the Bay of Fundy and west to the Kennebec, and his officers established fortified posts on the River St. John and at the Isthmus of Chignecto. He at the same time stirred up the Indians to hostilities in order to render the position of the English in Nova Scotia and New England as uncomfortable as possible, and further to strengthen his hands he endeavored to get the Acadians in the peninsula of Nova Scotia to remove to the St. John river and other parts of "the debatable territory." His policy led to a counter policy on the part of Shirley and Lawrence (governors respectively of Massachusetts and Nova Scotia) namely, that the Acadians should not be allowed to go where they liked and to do as they pleased but must remain on their lands and take the oath of allegiance to the English sovereign or be removed to situations where they could do no harm to the interests of the British colonies in the then critical condition of affairs.

Ostensibly there was peace from the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle until war was declared between the rival powers in 1756. But in the meantime there was a collision between them on the Ohio river, where the French built Fort Duquesne on the site now occupied by Pittsburg. The governors of the English colonies held a conference and decided on rather a startling programme for a time of peace. Gen. Braddock was to march on Fort Duquesne and drive the French from the Ohio valley; Shirley, of Massachusetts, was to lead an expedition against Niagara; William Johnson, was to take Crown Point and secure control of Lake Champlain; while, in Acadia, Colonel Monckton was to attack the French position at Fort Beausejour. In every instance the English were the aggressors but they justified their action on the ground that the places to be attacked were on British territory. This the French as emphatically denied. Braddock's attempt resulted in a most disastrous failure, Shirley's expedition was abandoned, William Johnson won a brilliant victory at Lake George and Colonel Monckton captured Beausejour.

The course of events on the River St. John and in other parts of Acadia harmonizes with the general situation of affairs in America at this time.

As the period under consideration is one of which comparatively little has been written, it may be well to make use of the information contained in the voluminous correspondence of the French ministers and their subordinates in America.

Early in the summer of 1749 the Count de la Galissonniere sent the Sieur de Boishebert to the lower part of the River St. John with a small detachment to secure the French inhabitants against the threats of Capt. Gorham, who had been sent by the Governor of Nova Scotia to make the inhabitants renew the oath of allegiance to the English sovereign, which de la Galissonniere says "they ought never to have taken." The Count expresses his views on the situation with terseness and vigor: "The River St. John is not the only place the English wish to invade. They claim the entire coast, from that river to Beaubassin, and from Canso to Gaspe, in order to render themselves sovereigns of all the territory of the Abenakis, Catholics and subjects of the king, a nation that has never acknowledged nor wishes to acknowledge their domination and which is the most faithful to us in Canada. If we abandon to England this land, which comprises more than 180 leagues of seacoast, that is to say almost as much as from Bayonne to Dunkirk, we must renounce all communication by land from Canada with Acadia and Isle Royal, together with the means of succoring the one and retaking the other." The Count further argues that to renounce the territory in dispute will deprive the Acadians of all hope of a place of refuge on French soil and reduce them to despair, and he apprehends that the English, having no reason to care for them, will suffer them to have no missionaries and will destroy at their leisure their religion. "It is very easy," he adds, "to hinder the English establishing themselves on these lands. They will have to proceed through the woods and along narrow rivers, and as long as the French are masters of the Abenakis and the Acadians are provided with arms and supplies from France the English will not expose themselves to their attacks."

Both sides began to consider the advisability of taking forcible possession of the disputed territory, but the French were the first to take action. In June, 1749, Mascarene reported two French officers with twenty or thirty men from Canada and a number of Indians had come to erect a fort and make a settlement at the mouth of the river, and that two vessels with stores and materials were coming to them from Quebec. On receipt of this information, Cornwallis, who had just arrived at Halifax, sent Captain Rous in the sloop "Albany" to St. John to ascertain what works were in course of erection by the French, and to demand the authority for their action. He also issued a proclamation in French prohibiting the Acadians from making a settlement on the St. John.

When the "Albany" arrived no one was found at the old fort and for some time no inhabitants, either French or Indian, were seen. At last a French schooner entered the harbor, laden with provisions. Captain Rous took her, but offered to release her provided the master would go up the river and bring down the French officers. The master accordingly went up the river in a canoe, and the next day a French officer with thirty men and 150 Indians came down and took position, with their colors flying, at a point on the shore within musket shot of the "Albany." The commander of the French was Pierre Boishebert. He had fixed his headquarters ten miles up the river at the place now known as Woodman's Point, just above the mouth of the Nerepis, where in Governor Villebon's time there had been an Indian fortress.

Captain Rous ordered the French to strike their colors; their commander demurred, and asked to be allowed to march back with his colors flying, promising to return the next day without them. Rous ordered the colors to be struck immediately, which being done, the officers were invited on board the "Albany." They showed their instructions from the governor of Canada, Count de la Galissonniere, by which it appeared they had at first been ordered to establish a fortified post, but afterwards the order had been countermanded and they were required merely to prevent the English from establishing themselves till the right of possession should be settled between the two crowns.

The letter of Captain Rous to Boishebert, upon the arrival of the former at St. John harbor, is rather quaint reading. The original is in French.

From the River St. John, 3 July, 1749.

Sir,—I am directed by the King, my master, to look into and examine the various ports, harbors and rivers of His Majesty's province of Nova Scotia, and am now here for that intent. Being informed that you are upon this river with a detachment of soldiers of the King of France. I should be pleased to know by what authority and with what intention your are engaged in a similar procedure. It would afford me much pleasure if I could have the honor of a personal interview in order to convince you of the rights of the King, my master.

I shall be delighted to see some of the Indian chiefs in order to inform them of the peace and of the harmony that prevails between the two crowns, also to confer with them.

Until I shall have the honor, as I hope, of seeing you,

I am very truly, etc.

In the subsequent interview with the savages, Father Germain and Captain Edward How acted as interpreters, and the missionary wrote an account of the interview to the governor of Quebec, in which he mentions the fact that Cornwallis, the governor of Nova Scotia, claimed jurisdiction over the St. John river region and beyond it to Passamaquoddy, deeming it a part of Acadia according to its ancient limits. Boishebert, in his letter to the Count de la Galissonniere, says that one of the best reasons the English had for laying claim to the territory north of the Bay of Fundy was that the commission of Subercase, the last French governor who resided at Annapolis Royal, fixed his jurisdiction as far west as the River Kennebec. In the spirit of a true soldier, Boishebert wishes that war might speedily recommence, and that France might be more fortunate as to the conquest of Acadia than in the last war. Meanwhile he had arranged with Capt. Rous to remain undisturbed on the River St. John until the next spring, on the understanding that he was to erect no fortification.

The St. John Indians having made peace with the governor of Nova Scotia at Halifax, it was decided that a present of 1,000 bushels of corn should be sent "to confirm their allegiance"; and it seems their allegiance needed confirmation, for a little later Father Germain warned Captain How that an Indian attack was impending. Nor was it by any means a false alarm, for on the 8th of December about 300 Micmacs and Maliseets surprised and captured an English officer and eighteen men and attacked the fort at Minas.

Father Germain evidently was a warrior priest and had used his powers of observation to some purpose; he strongly recommended the erection of a fort for the defence of the river at the narrows ("detroit") about a league and a half above where the river enters the sea. The English, he says, could not pass it with 600 men if there were but 60 or 80 men to oppose them.

The Marquis de la Jonquiere, who succeeded as governor general this year, at once displayed anxiety in regard to the St. John river region—"Being the key of this country," he says, "it is essential to retain it." He confides his policy to the minister at Versailles, in his letter of October 9, 1749. "It is desirable," he writes, "that the savages should unite in opposing the English even at Chibuctou (Halifax).... The savages must act alone without co-operation of soldier or inhabitant and without it appearing that I have knowledge of it. It is very necessary also, as I wrote the Sieur de Boishebert, to observe much caution in his proceedings and to act very secretly in order that the English may not be able to perceive we are supplying the needs of the said savages. It will be the missionaries who will attend to all the negotiations and who will direct the proceedings of the said savages. They are in very good hands, the Rev. Father Germain and the Abbe Le Loutre being well aware how to act to the best advantage and to draw out all the assistance they can give on our side. They will manage the intrigue in such a way that it will not be known. They will concert in every instance with the Sieurs de la Corne and de Boishebert. If all turns out as I hope it will follow,—first that we will hold our lands and the English will not be able to establish any settlements before the boundaries have been determined by the two crowns, and second that we shall be able to assist and gradually to withdraw from the hands of the English the French of Acadia."

It is not necessary for us to criticize too harshly the policy of the French governor and his subordinates, but we need not be surprised that in the end it provoked resentment on the part of the governors of Nova Scotia and Massachusetts and was one of the causes of the Acadian expulsion. That it was in a measure successful is proved by the reply of Lawrence a few years later to the suggestion of the Lords of Trade, who had been urging upon him the importance of making settlements: "What can I do to encourage people to settle on frontier lands, where they run the risk of having their throats cut by inveterate enemies, who easily effect their escape from their knowledge of every creek and corner?"

Boishebert, prevented from immediately establishing a fortified post, seems to have moved freely up and down the river. At one time he writes from "Menacouche" at the mouth of the river, at another from "Ecoubac"—the Indian village of Aukpaque—at another he is at "Medoctec," the upper Indian village. He organized the few Acadians on the river into a militia corps, the officers of which were commissioned by Count de la Galissonniere.

Meanwhile the Abbe Le Loutre was employing his energies to get the Acadians to leave their lands in the Nova Scotian peninsula and repair to the St. John river and other places north of the isthmus. To such a proceeding Cornwallis objected and Le Loutre then wrote to the French authorities an earnest letter in behalf of the Acadians, in which he says, "Justice pleads for them and as France is the resource of the unfortunate, I hope, Monseigneur, that you will try to take under your protection this forsaken people and obtain for them through his majesty liberty to depart from Acadia and the means to settle upon French soil and to transport their effects to the River St. John or some other territory that the authorities of Canada may take possession of."

The French still cherished the project of establishing a fortified post at the mouth of the St. John and, as they had opportunity, sent thither munitions of war and garrison supplies. In the summer of the year 1750, the British warship "Hound," Capt. Dove, was ordered to proceed to St. John in quest of a brigantine laden with provisions and stores from Quebec, and said to have on board 100 French soldiers. Before the arrival of the "Hound," however, Capt. Cobb in the provincial sloop "York" got to St. John, where he found the brigantine anchored near the shore at the head of the harbor. She fired an alarm gun on sight of the "York." The English captain brought his vessel to anchor under the lee of Partridge Island and sent a detachment of men in a whale boat to reconnoitre. They were fired upon by the French and Indians, and the French commander, Boishebert, insisted that Cobb should quit the harbor, as it belonged to the French king, and threatened to send his Indians to destroy him and his crew. Nothing daunted, Cobb proceeded up the harbor in his sloop until he discovered "a small fortification by a little hill," where the French were assembled and had their colors hoisted. Boishebert's forces included fifty-six soldiers and 200 Indians. He summoned to his aid the inhabitants living on the river and they responded to the number of fifty or sixty. The governor of Canada had lately commissioned Joseph Bellefontaine, an old resident, to be "major of all the militia of the River St. John,"[25] and it is to the presumed he was active on this occasion. Cobb allowed himself to be enticed on shore under a flag of truce, and was made a prisoner and compelled to send an order to his vessel not to molest the French brigantine. His mate, however, pluckily declined to receive the order, and announced his determination to hold the French officers who had come with the message until Cobb should be released. This Boishebert was obliged to do and the commander of the "York," by way of retaliation, took six prisoners from the French brigantine and brought them to Halifax.

[25] The date of Joseph Bellefontaine's commission was April 10, 1749.

Capt. Dove did not reach St. John with the "Hound" until after the "York" had left. He did not enter the harbor but sent his lieutenant in a whale boat to investigate the state of affairs. The lieutenant's experience was similar to that of Cobb. He was induced by Boishebert to come on shore, was made a prisoner and only released on promising that the six prisoners carried off by Cobb should be set at liberty.

In the autumn of the year 1750 Captain Rous, while cruising in the "Albany," fell in with a French man-of-war and a schooner off Cape Sable. The schooner had been sent from Quebec with provisions and warlike stores for the Indians on the River St. John. Rous fired several guns to bring the enemy to, but in response the ship cleared for action and when the "Albany" ran up alongside of her, poured in a broadside. A spirited engagement ensued, which resulted in the capture of the French ship, but the schooner got safely into St. John. One midshipman and two sailors were killed on board the "Albany," and five men on board the Frenchman.

Governor Cornwallis reported this as the second instance in which the governor of Canada had sent a vessel into a British port with arms, etc., for the Indian enemy. The governor of Canada, the Marquis de la Jonquiere, however, viewed the matter from a different standpoint and demanded of Cornwallis an explanation in regard to the vessel captured. He again asserted the right of the French king to the lands occupied by his troops, and by his orders four Boston schooners were seized at Louisbourg as a reprisal for the brigantine taken by the "Albany."

The correspondence between the Governor of Quebec and the French colonial minister supplies some interesting details of the sea-fight in the Bay of Fundy in the autumn of 1750. It seems that Boishebert and the missionary Germain had sent an urgent request to the Quebec authorities for provisions for the women and children of the Indian families, during the absence of the men in their winter hunting, and for supplies needed by the French garrison on the St. John. Accordingly Bigot, the intendant, fitted out the St. Francis, a brigantine of 130 to 140 tons, to escort a schooner laden with the required articles to the mouth of the St. John river. The St. Francis carried 10 guns and had a crew or 70 men, including 32 soldiers, under command of the sieur de Vergor.

On the 16th of October, as the brigantine and schooner were entering the Bay of Fundy, Captain Vergor noticed, at 11 in the morning, an English frigate, which put on all sail and came after him. A quarter of an hour afterwards the frigate fired a cannon shot and displayed her flag. Vergor immediately hoisted his own flag and responded with a cannon shot, continuing on his way. The English frigate continued the chase and a half hour later fired a second shot followed by a third, which went through the little top-mast of the St. Francis. Vergor then made preparations for the combat, the frigate continuing to approach and firing four cannon shots at his sails. When within speaking distance Vergor called through his trumpet that he was in command of a ship of the King of France carrying provisions and munitions to the troops of his majesty. The English captain in reply ordered him to lay to or he would sink him. Vergor repeated his announcement in English, but, for answer the frigate discharged a volley of all her guns damaging the ship and killing two of his men. He in turn now fell upon the frigate, discharging all his guns and musketry. The fight lasted nearly five hours, at the expiration of which the St. Francis was so crippled by the loss of her mainmast and injuries to her sails and rigging that Vergor was obliged to surrender. His long boat having been rendered unserviceable, the English captain sent his own to convey him on board. Vergor found the frigate to be the Albany, of 14 guns and 28 swivel guns and a crew of 120 men, commanded by Captain Rous. The Albany did not pursue the schooner, which proceeded to St. John, but sailed for Halifax with her prize, where she arrived three days later.