GLIMPSES OF THE PAST.

HISTORY
OF THE
RIVER ST. JOHN
A. D. 1604–1784.

BY
Rev. W. O. RAYMOND, LL.D.

ST. JOHN, N. B.
1905.

SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN.
Discoverer of the River St. John. The Father of New France. Born at Brouage in 1567. Died at Quebec, Dec. 25, 1635.

CONTENTS.

ILLUSTRATIONS.

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PREFACE.

Born and reared upon the banks of the River Saint John, I have always loved it, and have found a charm in the study of everything that pertains to the history of those who have dwelt beside its waters.

In connection with the ter-centenary of the discovery of the river by de Monts and Champlain, on the memorable 24th of June, 1604, the chapters which follow were contributed, from time to time, to the Saturday edition of the Saint John Daily Telegraph. With the exception of a few minor corrections and additions, these chapters are reprinted as they originally appeared. Some that were hurriedly written, under pressure of other and more important work, might be revised with advantage. Little attempt at literary excellence has been practicable. I have been guided by an honest desire to get at the facts of history, and in so doing have often quoted the exact language of the writers by whom the facts were first recorded. The result of patient investigation, extending over several years, in the course of which a multitude of documents had to be consulted, is a more elaborate and reliable history of the Saint John River region than has yet appeared in print. The period covered extends from the discovery of the river in 1604 to the coming of the Loyalists in 1784. It is possible that the story may one day be continued in a second volume.

At the conclusion of this self-appointed task, let me say to the reader, in the words of Montaigne, “I bring you a nosegay of culled flowers, and I have brought little of my own but the string that ties them.”

W. O. Raymond.

St John, N. B., December, 1905.

4

ERRATA.

Page [36], line 8. After word “and,” the rest of the line should read—“beautiful islands below the mouth of.”

Page [97], line 31. The last half of this line is inverted.

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GLIMPSES OF THE PAST.

INCIDENTS IN THE HISTORY OF THE ST. JOHN RIVER.

CHAPTER I.

The Maliseets.

The Indian period of our history possesses a charm peculiarly its own. When European explorers first visited our shores the Indian roamed at pleasure through his broad forest domain. Its wealth of attractions were as yet unknown to the hunter, the fisherman and the fur-trader. Rude as he was the red man could feel the charms of the wilderness in which he dwelt. The voice of nature was not meaningless to one who knew her haunts so well. The dark recesses of the forest, the sunny glades of the open woodland, the mossy dells, the sparkling streams and roaring mountain torrents, the quiet lakes, the noble river flowing onward to the sea with islands here and there embosomed by its tide—all were his. The smoke of his wigwam fire curled peacefully from Indian village and temporary encampment. He might wander where he pleased with none to say him nay.

But before the inflowing tide of the white-man’s civilization the Indian’s supremacy vanished as the morning mist before the rising sun. The old hunting grounds are his no longer. His descendants have long ago been forced to look for situations more remote. The sites of the ancient villages on interval and island have long since been tilled by the thrifty farmer’s hands.

But on the sites of the old camping grounds the plough share still turns up relics that carry us back to the “stone age.” A careful study of these relics will tell us something about the habits and customs of the aborigines before the coming of the whites. And we have another source of information in the quaint tales and legends that drift to us out of the dim shadows of the past, which will always have peculiar fascination for the student of Indian folk-lore.

With the coming of the whites the scene changes and the simplicity of savage life grows more complicated. The change is not entirely for the better; the hardships of savage life are ameliorated, it is true, but the Indian learns the vices of civilization.

The native races naturally play a leading part in early Acadian history, nor do they always appear in a very amiable light. The element of fierceness and barbarity, which seems inherent in all savage races, was not wanting in the Indians of the River St. John. They united with their neighbours in most of the wars waged with the whites and took their full share in those bloody forays which 6 nearly annihilated many of the infant settlements of Maine and New Hampshire. The early annals of Eastern New England tell many a sad story of the sacrifice of innocent lives, of women and children carried into captivity and homes made desolate by savage hands.

And yet, it may be that with all his faults the red man has been more sinned against than sinning.

Many years ago the provincial government sent commissioners to the Indian village of Medoctec on the St. John river, where the Indians from time immemorial had built their wigwams and tilled their cornfields and where their dead for many generations had been laid to rest in the little graveyard by the river side. The object of the commissioners was to arrange for the location of white settlers at Medoctec. The government claimed the right to dispossess the Indians on the ground that the lands surrounding their village were in the gift of the crown. The Indians, not unnaturally, were disinclined to part with the heritage of their forefathers.

On their arrival at the historic camping ground the commissioners made known the object of their visit. Presently several stalwart captains, attired in their war paint and feathers and headed by their chief, appeared on the scene. After mutual salutations the commissioners asked: “By what right or title do you hold these lands?”

The tall, powerful chief stood erect, and with the air of a plumed knight, pointing within the walk of the little enclosure beside the river, replied: “There are the graves of our grandfathers! There are graves of our fathers! There are the graves of our children!”

To this simple native eloquence the commissioners felt they had no fitting reply, and for the time being the Maliseets remained undisturbed.

It in not necessary to discuss at length the origin of the Indians who lived on the banks of the St. John at the time the country became known to Europeans. Whether or not the ancestors of our Indians were the first inhabitants of that region it is difficult to determine. The Indians now living on the St. John are Maliseets, but it is thought by many that the Micmacs at one time, possessed the valley of the river and gradually gave place to the Maliseets, as the latter advanced from the westward. There is a tradition among the St. John river Indians that the Micmacs and Maliseets were originally one people and that the Maliseets after a while “went off by themselves and picked up their own language.” This the Micmacs regarded as a mongrel dialect and gave to the new tribe the name Maliseet (or Milicete), a word derived from Mal-i-see-jik—“he speaks badly.” However, in such matters, tradition is not always a safe guide. It is more probable the two tribes had an independent origin, the Micmacs being the earlier inhabitants of Acadia, while the Maliseets, who are an offshoot of the Abenaki (or Wabenaki) nation, spread eastward from the Kennebec to the Penobscot and thence to the St. John. The Indians who are now scattered over this area very readily understand one another’s speech, but the language of the Micmacs is unintelligible to them.

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The Micmacs seem to have permitted their neighbors to occupy the St. John river without opposition, their own preference inclining them to live near the coast. The opinion long prevailed in Acadia that the Maliseets, were a more powerful and ferocious tribe than the Micmacs; nevertheless there is no record or tradition of any conflict between them.

That the Maliseets have for centuries inhabited the valley of the River St. John is indicated by the fact that the Indian names of rivers, lakes, islands and mountains, which have been retained by the whites, are nearly all of Maliseet origin. Nevertheless the Micmacs frequented the mouth of the St. John river after the arrival of Europeans, for we learn that the Jesuit missionary, Enemond Masse, passed the winter of 1611–2 at St. John in the family of Louis Membertou, a Micmac, in order to perfect himself in the Micmac language, which he had already studied to some extent at Port Royal. The elder Membertou, father of the Indian here named, was, perhaps, the most remarkable chieftain Acadia ever produced. His sway as grand sagamore of the Micmac nation extended from Gaspe to Cape Sable. In the year 1534 he had welcomed the great explorer Jacques Cartier to the shores of Eastern New Brunswick, as seventy years later he welcomed de Monts and Poutrincourt to Port Royal. The Jesuit missionary, Pierre Biard, describes Membertou as “the greatest, most renowned and most formidable savage within the memory of man; of splendid physique, taller and larger limbed than is usual among them; bearded like a Frenchmen, although scarcely any of the others have hair upon the chin; grave and reserved with a proper sense of the dignity of his position as commander.” “In strength of mind, in knowledge of war, in the number of his followers, in power and in the renown of a glorious name among his countrymen, and even his enemies, he easily surpassed the sagamores who had flourished during many preceding ages.”

In the year 1605 Pennoniac, one of the chiefs of Acadia, went with de Monts and Champlain as guide on the occasion of their voyage along the shores of New England and was killed by some of the savages near Saco. Bessabez, the sagamore of the Penobscot Indians, allowed the body of the dead chief to be taken home by his friends to Port Royal and its arrival was the signal of great lamentation. Membertou was at this time an old man, but although his hair was white with the frosts of a hundred winters, like Moses of old, his eye was not dim nor his natural force abated. He decided that the death of Pennoniac must be avenged. Messengers were sent to call the tribes of Acadia and in response to the summons 400 warriors assembled at Port Royal. The Maliseets joined in the expedition. The great flotilla of war canoes was arranged in divisions, each under its leader, the whole commanded by Membertou in person. As the morning sun reflected in the still waters of Port Royal the noiseless procession of canoes, crowned by the tawny faces and bodies of the savage warriors, smeared with pigments of various colors, the sight struck the French spectators with wonder and astonishment.

Uniting with their allies of the River St. John, the great war party sped 8 westward over the waters of the Bay of Fundy and along the coast till they reached the land of the Armouchiquois. Here they met and defeated their enemies after a hard-fought battle in which Bessabez and many of his captains were slain, and the allies returned in triumph to Acadia singing their songs of victory.

The situation of the Maliseets on the River St. John was not without its advantages, and they probably obtained as good a living as any tribe of savages in Canada. Remote from the war paths of the fiercer tribes they hunted in safety. Their forests were filled with game, the rivers teemed with fish and the lakes with water fowl; the sea shore was easy of access, the intervals and islands were naturally adapted to the cultivation of Indian corn, wild grapes grew luxuriantly along the river banks, there were berries in the woods and the sagaabum (or Indian potato) was abundant. Communication with all arts of the surrounding country was easily had by means of the short portages that separated the sources of interlacing rivers and with his light bark canoe the Indian could travel in any direction his necessity or his caprice might dictate.

The characteristics of the Indians of Acadia, whether Micmacs or Maliseets, were in the main identical; usually they were closely allied and not infrequently intermarried Their manners and habits have been described with much fidelity by Champlain, Lescarbot, Denys and other early explorers. Equally accurate and interesting is the graphic description of the savages contained in the narrative of the Jesuit missionary Pierre Biard, who came to America in 1611 and during his sojourn visited the St. John River and places adjacent making Port Royal his headquarters. His narrative, “A Relation of New France, of its Lands, Nature of the Country and of its Inhabitants,” was printed at Lyons in 1616. A few extracts, taken from the splendid edition of the Jesuit Relations recently published at Cleveland, will suffice to show that Pierre Biard was not only an intelligent observer but that he handled the pen of a ready writer. “I have said before,” he observes, “that the whole country is simply an interminable forest; for there are no open spaces except upon the margins of the sea, lakes and rivers. In several places we found the grapes and wild vines which ripened in their season. It was not always the best ground where found them, being full of sand and gravel like that of Bourdeaux. There are a great many of these grapes at St. John River in 46 degrees of latitude, where also are to be seen many walnut (or butternut), and hazel trees.”

This quotation will show how exact and conscientious the old French missionary was in his narration. Beamish Murdoch in Ibis History of Nova Scotia (Vol. 1, p. 21) ventures the observation, “It may perhaps be doubted if the French account about grapes is accurate, as they mention them to have been growing on the banks of the Saint John where, if wild grapes exist, they must be rare.” But Biard is right and Murdoch is wrong. Wild grapes naturally grow in great abundance on the islands and intervals of the River St. John and, in spite of the interference of the farmers, are still to be found as far north at least in Woodstock. Biard visited the St. John River in October, 1611, and stayed a day or two at a small trading post on an island near Oak Point. One of the islands in that vicinity the early English settlers afterwards called “Isle of Vines,” from the circumstance that wild grapes grew there in great profusion.

9

We quote next Father Biard’s description of the Indian method of encampment: “Arrived at a certain place, the first thing they do is to build a fire and arrange their camp, which they will have finished in an hour or two; often in half an hour. The women go into the woods and bring back some poles which are stuck into the ground in a circle around the fire and at the top are interlaced in the form of a pyramid, so that they come together directly over the fire, for there is the chimney. Upon the poles they throw some skins, matting or bark. At the foot of the poles under the skins they put their baggage. All the space around the fire is strewn with soft boughs of the fire tree, so they will not feel the dampness of the ground; over these boughs are thrown some mats or seal skins as soft as velvet; upon these they stretch themselves around the fire with their heads resting upon their baggage; and, what no one would believe, they are very warm in there around that little fire, even in the greatest rigors of the winter. They do not camp except near some good water, and in an attractive location.”

The aboriginies of Acadia when the country became known to Europeans, no doubt lived as their ancestors had lived from time immemorial. A glimpse of the life of the Indian in prehistoric times is afforded us in the archæological remains of the period. These are to be found at such places as Bocabec, in Charlotte county, at Grand Lake in Queens county, and at various points along the St. John river. Dr. L. W. Bailey, Dr. Geo. F. Matthew, Dr. W. F. Ganong, James Vroom, and others have given considerable attention to these relics and they were studied also to some extent by their predecessors in the field of science, Dr. Robb, Dr. Gesner and Moses H. Perley. The relics most commonly brought to light include stone implements, such as axes, hammers, arrow heads, lance and spear heads, gouges and chisels, celts or wedges, corn crushers, and pipes; also bone implements such as needles, fish hooks and harpoons, with specimens of rude pottery.

When Champlain first visited our shores the savages had nothing better than stone axes to use in clearing their lands. It is to their credit that with such rude implements they contrived to hack down the trees and, after burning the branches and trunk, planted their corn among the stumps and in the course of time took out the roots. In cultivating the soil they used an implement of very hard wood, shaped like a spade, and their method of raising corn, as described by Champlain, was exactly the same as that of our farmers today. The corn fields at the old Medoctic Fort were cultivated by the Indians many years before the coming of the whites. Cadillac, writing in 1693, says: “The Maliseets are well shaped and tolerably warlike; they attend to the cultivation of the soil and grow the most beautiful Indian corn; their fort is at Medocktek.” Many other choice spots along the St. John river were tilled in very early times, including, probably, the site of the old Government House at Fredericton, where there was an Indian encampment long before the place was dreamed of as the site of the seat of government of the province.

Lescarbot, the historian, who wrote In 1610, tells us that the Indians were accustomed to pound their corn in a mortar (probably of wood) in order to reduce it to meal. Of this they afterwards made a paste, which was baked between two stones heated at the fire. Frequently the corn was roasted on the 10 ear. Yet another method is thus described by the English captive, John Gyles, who lived as a captive with the St. John river Indians in 1689: “To dry the corn when in the milk, they gather it in large kettles and boil it on the ears till it is pretty hard, then shell it from the cob with clam shells and dry it on bark in the sun. When it is thoroughly dry a kernel is no bigger than a pea, and will keep years; and when it is boiled again it swells as large as when on the ear and tastes incomparably sweeter than other corn. When we had gathered our corn and dried it in the way described, we put some of it into Indian barns, that is into hole in the ground lined and covered with bark and then with earth. The rest we carried up the river upon our next winter’s hunting.”

The Indians were a very improvident race, and in this respect the Maliseets were little better than the Micmacs, of whom Pierre Biard writes: “They care little about the future and are not urged on to work except by present necessity. As long as they have anything they are always celebrating feasts and having songs dances and speeches. If there is a crowd of them you certainly need not expect anything else. Nevertheless if they are by themselves and where they may safely listen to their wives, for women are everywhere the best managers, they will sometimes make storehouses for the winter where they will keep smoked meat, roots, shelled acorns, peas, beans, etc.”

Although the Indians living on the St. John paid some attention to the cultivation of the soil there can be no doubt that hunting and fishing were always their chief means of support. In Champlain’s day the implements of the chase were very primitive. Yet they were able to hunt the largest game by taking advantage of the deep snow and making use of their snow-shoes. Champlain says. “They search for the track of animals, which, having found, they follow until they get sight of the creature, when they shoot at it with their bows or kill it by means of daggers attached to the end of a short pike. Then the women and children come up, erect a hut and they give themselves to feasting. Afterwards they proceed in search of other animals and thus they pass the winter. This is the mode of life of these people, which seems to me a very miserable one.”

There can be little doubt that wild game was vastly more abundant in this country, when it was discovered by Europeans, than it is today. In the days of La Tour and Charnisay as many as three thousand moose skins were collected on the St. John in a single year, and smaller game was even more abundant. Wild fowl ranged the coasts and marshes and frequented the rivers in incredible numbers. Biard says that at certain seasons they were so abundant on the islands that by the skilful use of a club right and left they could bring down birds as big as a duck with every blow. Denys speaks of immense flocks of wild pidgeons. But the Indian’s food supply was not limited to these; the rivers abounded with salmon and other fish, turtles were common along the banks of the river, and their eggs, which they lay in the sand, were esteemed a great delicacy, as for the musquash it is regarded as the “Indian’s turkey.”

A careful examination of the relics discovered at the sites of the old camping 11 grounds suffices to confirm the universal testimony of early writers regarding the nomadic habits of the Indians. They were a restless race of people, for ever wandering from place to place as necessity or caprice impelled them. At one time they were attracted to the sea side where clams, fish and sea fowl abounded; at another they preferred the charms of the inland waters. Sometimes the mere love of change led them to forsake one camping place and remove to some other favorite spot. When game was scarce they were compelled by sheer necessity to seek new hunting grounds. At the proper season they made temporary encampments for salmon fishing with torch and spear. Anon they tilled their cornfields on the intervals and islands. They had a saying: “When the maple leaf is as big as a squirrel’s foot it is time to plant corn.” Occasionally the outbreak of some pestilence broke up their encampments and scattered them in all directions. In time of peace they moved leisurely, but in time of war their action was much more vigorous and flotillas of their bark canoes skimmed swiftly over the lakes and rivers bearing the dusky warriors against the enemies of their race. Many a peaceful New England hamlet was startled by their midnight war-whoop when danger was little looked for.

It is a common belief in our day that the Indians were formerly more numerous than they now are. Exactly the same opinion seems to have prevailed when the country was first discovered, but it is really very doubtful whether there were ever many more Indians in the country than there are today. In the year 1611 Biard described them as so few in number that they might be said to roam over rather than to possess the country. He estimated the Maliseets, or Etchemins, as less than a thousand in number “scattered over wide spaces, as is natural for those who live by hunting and fishing.” Today the Indians of Maine and New Brunswick living within the same area as the Etchemins of 1611, number considerably more than a thousand souls. There are, perhaps, as many Indians in the maritime provinces now as in the days of Champlain. As Hannay observes, in his History of Acadia, excellent reasons existed to prevent the Indians from ever becoming very numerous. A wilderness country can only support a limited population. The hunter must draw his sustenance from a very wide range of territory, and the life of toil and privation to which the Indian was exposed was fatal to all but the strongest and most hardy.

One of the most striking Indian characteristics is the keenness of perception by which they are enabled to track their game or find their way through pathless forests without the aid of chart or compass. The Indian captive, Gyles, relates the following incident which may be mentioned in this connection:

“I was once travelling a little way behind several Indians and, hearing them laugh merrily, when I came up I asked them the cause of their laughter. They showed me the track of a moose, and how a wolverene had climbed a tree, and where he had jumped off upon the moose. It so happened that after the moose had taken several large leaps it came under the branch of a tree, which, striking the wolverene, broke his hold and tore him off; and by his tracks in the snow it appeared he went off another way with short steps, as if he had been stunned 12 by the blow that had broken his hold. The Indians were wonderfully pleased that the moose had thus outwitted the mischievous wolverene.”

The early French writers all notice the skill and ingenuity of the savages, in adapting their mode of life to their environment. Nicholas Denys, who came to Acadia in 1632, gives a very entertaining and detailed account of their ways of life and of their skillful handicraft. The snowshoe and the Indian bark canoe aroused his special admiration. He says they also made dishes of bark, both large and small, sewing them so nicely with slender rootlets of fir that they retained water. They used in their sewing a pointed bodkin of bone, and they sometimes adorned their handiwork with porcupine quills and pigments. Their kettles used to be of wood before the French supplied them with those of metal. In cooking, the water was readily heated to the boiling point by the use of red-hot stones which they put in and took out of their wooden kettle.

Until the arrival of Europeans the natives were obliged to clothe themselves with skins of the beaver and other animals. The women made all the garments, but Champlain did not consider them very good tailoresses.

Like most savage races the Indians were vain and consequential. Biard relates that a certain sagamore on hearing that the young King of France was unmarried, observed: “Perhaps I may let him marry my daughter, but the king must make me some handsome presents, namely, four or five barrels of bread, three of peas and beans, one of tobacco, four or five cloaks worth one hundred sous apiece, bows, arrows, harpoons, and such like articles.”

Courtship and marriage among the Maliseets is thus described by John Gyles: “If a young fellow determines to marry, his relations and the Jesuit advise him to a girl, he goes into the wigwam where she is and looks on her. If he likes her appearance, he tosses a stick or chip into her lap which she takes, and with a shy side-look views the person who sent it; yet handles the chip with admiration as though she wondered from whence it came. If she likes him she throws the chip to him with a smile, and then nothing is wanting but a ceremony with the Jesuit to consummate the marriage. But if she dislikes her suitor she with a surly countenance throws the chip aside and he comes no more there.”

An Indian maiden educated to make “monoodah,” or Indian bags, birch dishes and moccasins, to lace snowshoes, string wampum belts, sew birch canoes and boil the kettle, was esteemed a lady of fine accomplishments. The women, however, endured many hardships. They were called upon to prepare and erect the cabins, supply them with fire, wood and water, prepare the food, go to bring the game from the place where it had been killed, sew and repair the canoes, mend and stretch the skins, curry them and make clothes and moccasins for the whole family. Biard says: “They go fishing and do the paddling, in short they undertake all the work except that alone of the grand chase. Their husbands sometimes beat them unmercifully and often for a very slight cause.”

Since the coming of the whites the Maliseets have had few quarrels with the neighboring tribes of Indians. They entertained, however, a dread of the Mohawks, and there are many legends that have been handed down to us which tell of their 13 fights with these implacable foes. One of the most familiar—that of the destruction of the Mohawk war party at the Grand Falls—told by the Indians to the early settlers on the river soon after their arrival in the country and has since been rehearsed in verse by Roberts and Hannay and in prose by Lieut.-Governor Gordon in his “Wilderness Journeys,” by Dr. Rand in his Indian legends and by other writers.

John Gyles, the English captive at Medoctec village in 1689, relates the following ridiculous incident, which sufficiently shows the unreasonable terror inspired in the mind of the natives of the river in his day by the very name of Mohawk:

“One very hot season a great number of Indians gathered at the village, and being a very droughty people they kept James Alexander and myself night and day fetching water from a cold spring that ran out of a rocky hill about three-quarters of a mile from the fort.[1] In going thither we crossed a large interval corn field and then a descent to a lower interval before we ascended the hill to the spring. James being almost dead as well as I with this continual fatigue contrived (a plan) to fright the Indians. He told me of it, but conjured me to secrecy. The next dark night James going for water set his kettle on the descent to the lowest interval, and ran back to the fort puffing and blowing as in the utmost surprise, and told his master that he saw something near the spring which looked like Mohawks (which he said were only stumps—aside): his master being a most courageous warrior went with James to make discovery, and when they came to the brow of the hill, James pointed to the stumps, and withal touched his kettle with his toe, which gave it motion down hill, and at every turn of the kettle the bail clattered, upon which James and his master could see a Mohawk in every stump in motion, and turned tail to and he was the best man who could run the fastest. This alarmed all the Indians in the village; they, though about thirty or forty in number, packed off bag and baggage, some up the river and others down, and did not return under fifteen days, and the heat of the weather being finally over our hard service abated for this season. I never heard that the Indians understood the occasion of the fright, but James and I had many a private laugh about it.”

Until quite recently the word “Mohawk,” suddenly uttered, was sufficient to startle a New Brunswick Indian. The late Edward Jack upon asking an Indian child, “What is a Mohawk?” received this reply, “A Mohawk is a bad Indian who kills people and eats them.” Parkman describes the Mohawks as the fiercest, the boldest, yet most politic savages to whom the American forests ever gave birth and nurture. As soon as a canoe could float they were on the war path, and with the cry of the returning wild fowl mingled the yell of these human tigers. They burned, hacked and devoured, exterminating whole villages at once.

A Mohawk war party once captured an Algonquin hunting party in which were three squaws who had each a child of a few weeks or months old. At the first halt the captors took the infants, tied them to wooden spits, roasted them alive before 14 a fire and feasted on them before the eyes of the agonized mothers, whose shrieks, supplications and frantic efforts to break the cords that bound them, were met with mockery and laughter. “They are not men, they are wolves!” sobbed one of the wretched women, as she told what had befallen her to the Jesuit missionary.

Fearful as the Maliseets were of the Mohawks they were in turn exceedingly cruel to their own captives and, strange as it may appear, the women were even more cruel than the men. In the course of the border wars English captives were exposed to the most revolting and barbarous outrages, some were even burned alive by our St. John river Indians.

But while cruel to their enemies, and even at times cruel to their wives, the Indians were by no means without their redeeming features. They were a modest and virtuous race, and it is quite remarkable that with all their bloodthirstiness in the New England wars there is no instance on record of the slightest rudeness to the person of any female captive. This fact should be remembered to their credit by those who most abhor their bloodthirstiness and cruelty. Nor were the savages without a certain sense of justice. This we learn from the following incident in the experience of the English captive John Gyles.

“While at the Indian village (Medoctec) I had been cutting wood and was binding it up with an Indian rope in order to carry it to the wigwam when a stout ill-natured young fellow about 20 years of age threw me backward, sat on my breast and pulling out his knife said that he would kill me, for he had never yet killed an English person. I told him that he might go to war and that would be more manly than to kill a poor captive who was doing their drudgery for them. Notwithstanding all I could say he began to cut and stab me on my breast. I seized him by the hair and tumbled him from off me on his back and followed him with my fist and knee so that he presently said he had enough; but when I saw the blood run and felt the smart I at him again and bid him get up and not lie there like a dog—told him of his former abuses offered to me and other poor captives, and that if ever he offered the like to me again I would pay him double. I sent him before me, took up my burden of wood and came to the Indians and told them the whole truth and they commended me, and I don’t remember that ever he offered me the least abuse afterward, though he was big enough to have dispatched two of me.”

The unfortunate conduct of some of the New England governors together with other circumstances that need not here be mentioned, led the Maliseets to be hostile to the English. Toward the French, however, they were from the very first disposed to be friendly, and when de Monts, Champlain and Poutrincourt arrived at the mouth of our noble river on the memorable 24th day of June, 1604, they found awaiting them the representatives of an aboriginal race of unknown antiquity, and of interesting language, traditions and customs, who welcomed them with outward manifestations of delight, and formed with them an alliance that remained unbroken throughout the prolonged struggle between the rival powers for supremacy in Acadia.

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Indian Encampment and Chief

16

CHAPTER II.

The Coming of the White Man.

There are yet to be found in New Brunswick forest clad regions, remote from the haunts of men, that serve to illustrate the general features of the country when it was discovered by European adventurers 300 years ago. Who these first adventurers were we cannot with certainty tell. They were not ambitious of distinction, they were not even animated by religious zeal, for in Acadia, as elsewhere, the trader was the forerunner of the priest.

The Basque, Breton, and Norman, fishermen are believed to have made their voyages as early as the year 1504, just 100 years before Champlain entered the mouth of the St. John river. But these early navigators were too intent upon their own immediate gain to think of much beside; they gave to the world no intelligent account of the coasts they visited, they wave not accurate observers, and in their tales of adventure fact and fiction were blended in equal proportion. Nevertheless, by the enterprise and resolution of these hardy mariners the shores of north-eastern America were fairly well known long before Acadia contained a single white inhabitant.

Adventurers of Portugal, Spain and Italy vied with those of France and Britain in the quest of treasure beyond the sea. They scanned our shores with curious eyes and pushed their way into every bay and harbor. And thus, slowly but surely, the land that had lain hidden in the mists of antiquity began to disclose its outlines as the keen searchlight of discovery was turned upon it from a dozen different sources.

While the first recorded exploration of the southern shores of New Brunswick is that of de Monts and Champlain in 1604, there can be little doubt that European fishers and traders had entered the Bay of Fundy before the close of the 16th century and had made the acquaintance of the savages, possibly they had ventured up the St. John river. The Indians seem to have greeted the new-comers in a very friendly fashion and were eager to barter their furs for knives and trinkets. The “pale-faces” and their white winged barks were viewed at first with wonder not unmixed with awe, but the keen-eyed savages quickly learned the value of the white man’s wares; and readily exchanged the products of their own forests and streams for such articles as they needed. Trade with the savages had assumed considerable proportions even before the days of Champlain.

But while it is probable that the coasts of Acadia were visited by Europeans some years before Champlain entered the Bay of Fundy, it is certain that the history of events previous to the coming of that intrepid navigator is a blank. The Indians gradually become familiar with the vanguard of civilization as represented by the rude fishermen and traders, that is all we know.

The honor of the first attempt at colonization in Acadia belongs to the Sieur de Monts, a Huguenot noblemen who had rendered essential service to the French king. This nobleman, with the assistance of a company of merchants of Rouen and Rochelle, collected a band of 120 emigrants, including artisans of all trades, laborers and soldiers, and in the month of April, 1604, set sail for the new 17 world. Henry IV of France gave to the Sieur de Monts jurisdiction over Acadia, or New France, a region so vast that the sites of the modern cities of Montreal and Philadelphia lay within its borders. The Acadia of de Monts would today include the maritime provinces, the greater part of Quebec and half of New England.

The colonists embarked in two small vessels, the one of 120, the other of 150 tons burden; a month later they reached the southern coast of Nova Scotia. They proceeded to explore the coast and entered the Bay of Fundy, to which the Sieur de Monts gave the name of La Baye Francaise. Champlain has left us a graphic account of the voyage of exploration around the shores of the bay. In this, however, we need not follow him. Suffice it to say that on the 24th day of June there crept cautiously into the harbor of St. John a little French ship; she was a paltry craft, smaller than many of our coasting schooners, but she carried the germ of an empire for de Monts, Champlain and Poutrincourt, the founders of New France, were on her deck.

There is in Champlain’s published “voyages” an excellent plan of St. John harbor which, he says, lay “at the mouth of the largest and deepest river we had yet seen which we named the River Saint John, because it was on this saint’s day that we arrived there.”

Champlain did not ascend the river far but Ralleau, the secretary of the Sieur de Monts, went there sometime afterwards to see Secoudon (or Chkoudun), the chief of the river, who reported that it was beautiful, large and extensive with many meadows and fine trees such as oaks, beeches, walnut trees and also wild grape vines. In Champlain’s plan of St. John harbor a cabin is placed on Navy Island, which he describes as a “cabin where the savages fortify themselves.” This was no doubt the site of a very ancient encampment.

Lescarbot, the historian, who accompanied de Monts, says they visited the cabin of Chkoudun, with whom they bartered for furs. According to his description: “The town of Ouigoudy, the residence of the said Chkoudun, was a great enclosure upon a rising ground, enclosed with high and small tress, tied one against another; and within the enclosure were several cabins great and small, one of which was as large as a market hall, wherein many households resided.” In the large cabin which served as a council chamber, they saw some 80 or 100 savages all nearly naked. They were having a feast, which they called “Tabagie.” The chief Chkoudun made his warriors pass in review before his guests.

Lescarbot describes the Indian sagamore as a man of great influence who loved the French and admired their civilization. He even attended their religious services on Sundays and listened attentively to the admonitions of their spiritual guides, although he did not understand a word. “Moreover,” adds Lescarbot, “he wore the sign of the cross upon his bosom, which he also had his servants wear; and he had in imitation of us a great cross erected in the public place called Oigoudi at the port of the River Saint John.” This sagamore accompanied Poutrincourt on his tour of exploration to the westward and offered single handed to oppose a hostile band who attacked the French.

According to Champlain’s plan of St. John harbor, the channel on the west, or Carleton, side of Navy Island was much narrower in his day than it is now. 18 The name Ouygoudy (or Wigoudi), applied by the Indians to Chkoudun’s village on Navy Island, is nearly identical with the modern word “We-go-dic,” used by the Maliseets to designate any Indian village or encampment. They have always called the St. John river “Woolastook,” but their name for the place on which the city of St. John is built is “Men-ah-quesk,” which is readily identified with “Menagoueche,” the name generally applied to St. John harbor by Villebon and other French commanders in Acadia.

CHAMPLAIN’S PLAN OF ST. JOHN HARBOR.
The figures indicate fathoms of water. A. Islands above the falls. B. Mountains two leagues from the river. D. Shoals or flats. E. Cabin where the savages fortify themselves. F. A pebbly point where there is a cross (Sand Point). G. Partridge Island. H. A., small river coming from a little pond (mill pond and its outlet). I. Arm of the sea, dry at low tide (Courtenay Bay and the Marsh Creek). P. Way by which the savages carry their canoes in passing the falls.

Navy Island assumes a historic interest in our eyes as the first inhabited spot, so far as we know, within the confines of the city of St. John. In Champlain’s plans the principal channel is correctly given as on the east side of Partridge Island. Sand Point is shown, and the cross at its extremity was probably erected by the explorers in honor of their discovery. Groups of savages are seen on either side of the harbor, and a moose is feeding near the present Haymarket Square. A little ship rests on the flats, the site of the new dry dock.

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De Monts and Champlain passed their first winter in America on an island in the St. Croix river. Their experience was disastrous in the extreme. Nearly half of their party died of “mal de la terre,” or scurvy, and others were at the point of death. Pierre Biard, the Jesuit missionary, attributed the fatality of the disease to the mode of life of the people, of whom only eleven remained well. “These were a jolly company of hunters who preferred rabbit hunting to the air of the fireside, skating on the ponds to turning over lazily in bed, making snowballs to bring down the game to sitting around the fire talking about Paris and its good cooks.” In consequence of their unfortunate experience during the first winter the little colony removed to Port Royal.

The advent of European explorers and traders materially affected the manner of life of the Indians. Hitherto they had hunted the wild animals merely for subsistence, but now the demand of the traders for furs and peltry stimulated enormously the pursuit of game. The keen-eyed savages saw the advantages of the white man’s implements and utensils. Steel knives, axes, vessels of metal, guns, powder and shot, blankets, ornaments and trinkets excited his cupidity. Alas, too, love of the white man’s “fire water” soon became a ruling passion and the poor Indian too often received a very indifferent compensation for his toil and exposure.

In the summer time, when the annual ships arrived from France, the Indians gathered in large numbers at the various trading posts. They came from far and near, and for several weeks indulged in feasting and revelry. Pierre Biard comments severely on their folly. He says: “They never stop gorging themselves excessively during several weeks. They get drunk not only on wine, but on brandy, so that it is no wonder they are obliged to endure some gripes of the stomach during the following autumn.”

The Maliseets frequently came to the mouth of the St. John to trade with the French; sometimes they even resorted to Port Royal, for these daring savages did not fear to cross the Bay of Fundy in their frail barks.

The chief of the savages of the River St. John, Chkoudun, proved a valuable ally of the French owing to his extensive knowledge of the country and of the tribes that inhabited it. Champlain crossed over to St. John from Port Royal in the autumn of 1605 to get him to point out the location of a certain copper mine on the shores of the Bay of Fundy, supposed to be of fabulous richness. Chkoudun readily agreed to accompany his visitor and they proceeded to the mine, which was on the shores of the Basin of Minas. The master miner, a native of Sclavonia, whom de Monts had brought to Acadia to search for precious metals, deemed the outlook not unpromising, but Champlain was disappointed, and says: “The truth is that if the water did not cover the mines twice a day, and if they did not lie in such hard rocks, something might be expected from them.”

The commercial spirit that has ever predominated in our good city of St. John evidently goes back to the days of its discovery. Chkoudun lived at “Menagoueche” in his fortified village on Navy Island when Champlain invited him to go with the Sieur de Poutrincourt and himself as guide on a tour of exploration along the coast of New England. They set out in the month of September, 20 1606, and the chief took with him in a shallop certain goods he had obtained from the fur traders to sell to his neighbors the Armouchiquois, with whom he proposed to make an alliance. The savages of New England were beginning to covet the axes and other implements of civilization that their neighbors to the eastward had obtained from the fishermen and traders who visited their shores.

The Indians were now for a season to part with their friends and allies. In 1607 de Monts decided to abandon his attempt to establish a colony and Champlain and his associates were recalled to France. Acadia was once more without a single European inhabitant. Three years later Poutrincourt, to the great joy of the savages, returned to Port Royal, and most of the rights and privileges formerly held by de Monts were transferred to him.

The summer of 1611 was notable for the arrival of the Jesuit missionaries, Pierre Biard and Enemond Masse.

It seems that the French traders did not quietly acquiesce in Poutrincourt’s monopoly of trade, and the masters of certain ships of St. Malo and Rochelle boasted to the Indians that they would devour Poutrincourt as the fabled Gougou would a poor savage. This was an insult our nobleman was not disposed to endure, so accompanied by the missionary Biard he crossed over to St. John and proceeded along the coast as far as Passamaquoddy. The offenders were sternly admonished and compelled to acknowledge his authority. Later it was discovered that they had carried away nearly all that was valuable of the fur trade for that season.

Biard at this time succeeded in reconciling Poutrincourt and the younger Pontgrave who for some misdemeanor had been banished from Port Royal and had spent the previous winter among the Indians of the St. John river, living just as they did. Biard speaks of him as “a young man of great physical and mental strength, excelled by none of the savages in the chase, in alertness and endurance and in his ability to speak their language.”

Early in the month of October a little island in Long Reach called Emenenic—now known as Caton’s Island—was the scene of an exciting incident of which Biard has left us a picturesque description. It seems that Poutrincourt’s son, Biencourt, wished to exact submission on the part of a number of traders of St. Malo, who had established a trading post on the island. Accordingly accompanied by a party of soldiers and the Jesuit missionary he proceeded to the scene of operations. Father Biard did not admire, as do our modern travellers, the “reversing falls” at the mouth of our noble river. “The entrance to this river,” he says, “is very narrow and very dangerous * * and if you do not pass over it at the proper moment and when the water is smoothly heaped up, of a hundred thousand barques not an atom would escape, but men and goods would all perish.”

The party settled on the island of Emenenic included their captain, Merveille, and young Pontgrave. Biard in his narrative terms them “the Malouins”—or people of St. Malo. “We were still,” he says, “one league and a half from the island when the twilight ended and night came on. The stars had already begun to appear when suddenly towards the northward a part of the heavens became blood red; and this light spreading little by little in vivid streaks and flashes, moved directly 21 over the settlement of the Malouins and there stopped. The red glow was so brilliant that the whole river was tinged and made luminous by it. This apparition lasted about five minutes and as soon as it disappeared another came of the same form, direction and appearance.

“Our savages, when they saw this wonder, cried out in their language, ‘Gara, gara, maredo’—we shall have war, there will be blood.

“We arrived opposite the settlement when the night had already closed in, and there was nothing we could do except to fire a salute from the falconet, which they answered with one from the swivel gun.

“When morning came and the usual prayers ware said, two Malouins presented themselves upon the bank and signified to us that we could disembark without being molested, which we did. It was learned that their captains were not there but had gone away up the river three days before, and no one knew when they would return. Meanwhile Father Biard went away to prepare his altar and celebrate holy mass. After mass Sieur de Biencourt placed a guard at the door of the habitation and sentinels all around it. The Malouins were very much astonished at this way of doing things. The more timid considered themselves as lost; the more courageous stormed and fumed and defied them.

“When night came on Captain Merveille returned to his lodgings, knowing nothing of his guests. The sentinel hearing him approach uttered his “qui voila”—who goes there? The Malouin, thinking it was one of his own people, answered mockingly, ‘who goes there thyself?’ and continued upon his way. The sentinel fired his musket at him in earnest and it was a great wonder (merveille) that Merveille was not killed. But he was very much astonished and still more so when he saw some soldiers upon him with naked swords who seized him and took him into the house; you may imagine how soldiers and sailors act at such times, with their cries, their theats and their gesticulations.

“Merveille had his hands bound behind his back so tightly that he could not rest and he began to complain very pitifully. Father Biard begged Sieur de Biencourt to have the sufferer untied, alleging that if they had any fears about the said Merveille they might enclose him in one of the Carthusian beds, and that he would himself stay at the door to prevent his going out. Sieur de Biencourt granted this request.”

“Now I could not describe to you,” Biard goes on to say, “what a night this was; for it passed in continual alarms, gun shots and rash acts on the part of some of the men; so that it was feared with good reason that the prognostications seen in the heavens the night before would have their bloody fulfilment upon earth. I do not know that there was one who closed his eyes during the night. For me, I made many fine promises to our Lord never to forget His goodness if He were pleased to avert bloodshed. This He granted in His infinite mercy. * * Certainly Captain Merveille and his people showed unusual piety for notwithstanding this so annoying encounter, two days afterwards they confessed and took communion in a very exemplary manner, and at our departure they all begged me very earnestly, and particularly young du Pont, to come and stay with them as long as I liked. I promised to do so and am only waiting the opportunity, for in truth I love these honest people with all my heart.”

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The missionaries, Biard and Masse, were anxious to cultivate the friendship of young du Pont, knowing that he could greatly assist them in learning the Indian language, a knowledge of which was essential to the work they hoped to accomplish amidst the forests of Acadia. Inspired by their motto “ad majoram Dei gloriam,” they shrank from no toil or privation. Father Masse passed the winter of 1611–12 with Louis Membertou and his family at the River St. John with only a French boy as his companion, his object being to increase his knowledge of the Indian language. He suffered many hardships, was at one time seriously ill, but eventually returned in safety to Port Royal. He describes the winter’s experience with the savages as “a life without order and without daily fare, without bread, without salt, often without anything; always moving on and changing, * * for roof a wretched cabin, for couch the earth, for rest and quiet odious cries and songs, for medicine hunger and hard work.”

The missionaries found immense difficulty in acquiring the language of the natives. The task was not so difficult so long as they sought to learn the names of objects that might be touched or seen, but when it came to such abstract words as virtue, vice, reason, justice, or to such terms as to believe, to doubt or to hope, “for these,” said Biard, “we had to labor and sweat; in these were the pains of travail.” They were compelled to make a thousand gesticulations and signs that greatly amused their savage instructors who sometimes palmed off on them words that were ridiculous and even obscene, so that the Jesuits labored with indifferent success in the preparation of their catechism. Their work was still in the experimental stage when the destruction of Port Royal by Argal in 1613, and the capture and removal of the missionaries brought everything to a stand and put an end to all attempts at colonization in Acadia for some years.

The Indians, however, were not forgotten; the Jesuits had failed, but in 1619 a party of Recollet missionaries from Aquitaine began a mission on the St. John. These humble missionary laborers had no historian to record their toils and privations, and unlike the Jesuits they did not become their own annalists. We know, however, that one of their number, Father Barnardin, while returning from Miscou to the River St. John, in the year 1623, died of hunger and fatigue in the midst of the woods, a martyr to his charity and zeal. Five years afterwards, the Recollets were compelled to abandon their mission which, however, was reoccupied by them before many years had passed. Meanwhile the fur traders established a post on the River St. John as a convenient centre for trade with the Indians.

The French, with young Biencourt at their head, still kept a feeble hold on Acadia. Biencourt had as his lieutenant, Charles de la Tour, who had come to the country many years before when a mere boy of 14 years of age. Biencourt and la Tour—such was their poverty—were compelled to live after the Indian fashion, roaming through the woods from place to place. In this rude life la Tour acquired an extensive knowledge of the country and its resources, and in all probability became familiar with the St. John river region. Biencourt at his death left him all his property in Acadia.

The destruction of Port Royal by Argal was the first incident in the struggle between England and France for sovereignty in Acadia, a struggle that for a century and a half was to remain undecided.

23

The next attempt at colonization was made on the part of the British, but it proved as futile as that of de Monts. James I. of England, in the year 1621, gave to Sir William Alexander, under the name of Nova Scotia, the peninsula which is now so called, together with a vast adjacent wilderness as a fief of the Scottish crown. For several years this favored nobleman seems to have contented himself with sending annually a ship to explore the shores of his domain and to trade with the Indians. Later he devised a scheme to facilitate the settlement of a colony by the creation of an order of baronets of Nova Scotia, each of whom was to receive an estate six miles in length and three in breadth in consideration of his assistance in the colonization of the country. In the course of 10 years more than 100 baronets were created, of whom 34 had estates within the limits of our own province. To that part of Nova Scotia north of the Bay of Fundy, now called New Brunswick, Sir William gave the name of the Province of Alexandria. The St. John river he called the Clyde and the St. Croix, which divided New England and New Scotland, he not inaptly called the Tweed.

When war broke out between England and France in 1627, young Charles la Tour found his position in Acadia very insecure. However, he was naturally resourceful and by his diplomacy and courage continued for many years to play a prominent part in the history of affairs. He sought and obtained from Louis XIII. of France a commission as the King’s lieutenant-general and at the same time obtained from Sir William Alexander the title of a Baronet of Nova Scotia. He procured from his royal master a grant of land on the River St. John and obtained leave from Sir William Alexander to occupy it.

By the treaty of St. Germain, in 1632, Acadia was ceded to France. Immediately after the peace de Razilly came to the country at the head of a little colony of settlers, many of them farmers, whose descendants are to be found among the Acadians of today. With de Razilly came d’Aulnay Charnisay, who was destined to become la Tour’s worst enemy. De Razilly died in 1635, leaving his authority to Charnisay, his relative and second in command. Charnisay made his headquarters at Port Royal and nobody disputed his authority except la Tour, who claimed to be independent of him by virtue of his commission from the crown and his grant from the Company of New France. The dissensions between la Tour and Charnisay at length culminated in war and the strife was long and bitter.

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CHAPTER III.

The Rival Feudal Chiefs.

Charles de Menou, Seigneur d’Aulnay Charnisay, came of a distinguished family of Touraine. He married Jeanne Motin, a daughter of the Seigneur de Courcelles. She came to Acadia with him in 1638. They resided at Port Royal where Charnisay in his log mansion reigned like a feudal lord.

Charles St. Etienne de la Tour was probably of less conspicuous lineage than his rival, although in legal documents he is called “a gentleman of distinguished birth.” He married Frances Marie Jacquelins who, according to the questionable testimony of his enemies, was the daughter of a barber of Mans. She was a Huguenot and whatever may have been her origin her qualities of mind and heart have deservedly won for her the title of “the heroine of Acadia.” Never had man more faithful ally than Marie Jacquelins proved to Charles la Tour.

As early as the year 1630 la Tour had be concerned in a project to erect a strong fort at the mouth of the St. John river in order to ward off the incursions of hostile adventurers and secure control of the far trade of the vast wilderness region extending from the mouth of the river nearly to the St. Lawrence. It was not, however, until the 15th of January, 1635, that the Company of New France granted him his tract of land at St. John, extending five leagues up the river and including within its bounds “the fort and habitation of la Tour.”

The French government endeavored to establish a good understanding between la Tour and Charnisay. A royal letter was addressed to the latter in which he was cautioned against interference with la Tour’s settlement at the River St. John. La Tour received a like caution as regards Charnisay’s settlement at Port Royal. Charnisay was commissioned the king’s lieutenant-general from Chignecto to Penobscot and la Tour was given like jurisdiction over the Nova Scotian peninsula. Thus la Tour’s settlement and fort at St. John lay within the limits of Charnisay’s government and Charnisay’s settlements at La Have and Port Royal lay within the government of la Tour, an arrangement not calculated to promote harmony on the part of the rivals.

It is rather difficult to get at all the facts of the quarrel that now rapidly developed between la Tour and Charnisay. The statements of their respective friends are very diverse, sometimes contradictory, and even the official records of the court of France are conflicting. Nicolas Denys, the historian, had reason to dislike Charnisay, and perhaps some of his statements concerning Charnisay’s barbarity should be received with caution. On the other hand the friends of Charnisay have cast aspersions an the character of Lady la Tour that seem entirely unwarranted.[2] The fact remains that Acadia, large as it was, not large enough for two such ambitious men as Charles la Tour and d’Aulnay Charnisay.

The exact site of la Tour’s fort at the mouth of the River St. John has been the subject of controversy, Dr. W. F. Ganong, a most conscientious and painstaking 25 student of our early history, has argued strongly in favor of its location at Portland Point (the green mound near Rankine’s wharf at the foot of Portland street); the late Joseph W. Lawrence and Dr. W. P. Dole have advocated the claims of Fort Dufferin, but the site usually accepted is that known as “Old Fort,” on the west side of the harbor opposite Navy Island. It seems probable that la Tour resided at one time at “Old Fort,” in Carleton, and his son-in-law the Sieur de Martignon lived there afterwards, but whether this was the site of the first fort built by la Tour and so bravely defended by his wife is at least a debatable question.

In the absence of positive information as to the exact location of la Tour’s first fort, it is perhaps unadvisable to disturb popular opinion until a thorough search of the records in France shall have been made in order if possible to settle the question.

Upon his arrival at St. John, la Tour speedily surrounded himself with soldiers and retainers and established an extensive traffic with the Indians, who came from their hunting grounds when the ships arrived laden with goods for the Indian trade. Doctor Hannay gives a graphic picture of la Tour’s situation:—

“A rude abundance reigned at the board where gathered the defenders of Fort la Tour. The wilderness was then a rich preserve of game, where the moose, caribou and red deer roamed in savage freedom. Wild fowl of all kinds abounded along the marsh, and interval lands of the St. John, and the river itself—undisturbed by steamboats and unpolluted by saw mills—swarmed with fish. And so those soldier-traders lived on the spoils of forest, ocean and river, a life of careless freedom, undisturbed by the politics of the world and little crossed by its cares. Within the fort, Lady la Tour led a lonely life, with no companions but her domestics and her children, for her lord was often away ranging the woods, cruising on the coast, or perhaps on a voyage to France. She was a devout Huguenot, but the difference of religion between husband and wife seems never to have marred the harmony of their relations.”

In the struggle between the rival feudal chiefs, Charnisay had the advantage of having more powerful friends at court, chief among them the famous Cardinal Richelieu.

Representations made concerning the conduct of la Tour led the French monarch in 1641 to order him to return to France to answer the charges against him. In the event of his refusal, Charnisay was directed to seize his person and property. The commission of la Tour was also revoked.

The contest now entered upon an acute stage. La Tour claimed that the royal order had been obtained through misrepresentation, and absolutely refused to submit to Charnisay. The latter, not daring to attack la Tour in his stronghold, repaired to France where he succeeded in fitting out five vessels and in obtaining the services of 500 soldiers to compel his rival to submission. He also procured another and more definite order from the king, directing him to seize la Tour’s fort and person and to send him to France as a rebel and a traitor.

Meanwhile la Tour was not idle. His friends at Rochelle sent out to him a large armed vessel, the Clement, loaded with ammunition and supplies and having on board 26 150 armed men. When the vessel neared St. John, it was discovered that Charnisay had established a blockade at the mouth of the harbor and that entrance was impracticable. In this emergency la Tour resolved to seek aid from the people of New England, whose trade and friendship he had begun to cultivate. Boston was then but a straggling village, in its 13th year, with houses principally of boards or logs gathered around its plain little meeting house. Eluding the vigilance of the blockading squadron, la Tour and his wife succeeded in getting safely on board the Clement, and at once repaired to Boston, where their arrival created some consternation, for Boston happened to be at that time in a particularly defenceless position. Governor Winthrop remarked: “If la Tour had been ill-minded towards us, he had such an opportunity as we hope neither he nor any other shall ever have the like again.” However, la Tour had come with no ill intent, and after some negotiations, which he conducted with much skill and discretion, he was allowed to hire from Edward Gibbons and Thomas Hawkins, four vessels with 50 men and 38 guns. He also obtained the assistance of 92 soldiers. With these he hurried back to the relief of his fort. Charnisay was compelled to raise the blockade and retire to his defences at Port Royal, where he was defeated with loss by the united forces of la Tour and his allies.

While at St. John, the Bostonians captured a pinnace belonging to Charnisay, laden with 400 moose and 400 beaver skins; their own pinnace went up the river to Grand Lake and loaded with coal. This little incident shows that the coal mines of Queens county were known and worked more than 250 years ago.

As the struggle with la Tour proceeded Charnisay became more and more determined to effect the destruction of his rival. La Tour’s resources were nearly exhausted and his situation had became exceedingly critical. He dared not leave his fort and yet he could not hold out much longer unaided. His brave wife was equal to the emergency; she determined herself to go to France for assistance. This was indeed an arduous undertaking for a woman, but her spirit rose to the occasion, and neither the perils of the deep nor the difficulties that were to confront her at the court of France served to daunt her resolute soul. Fearlessly she set out upon the long and dangerous voyage and in the course of more than a year’s absence endured disappointments and trials that would have crushed one less resolute and stout hearted. Her efforts in her native country were foiled by her adversaries, she was even threatened with death if she should venture to leave France, but setting the royal command at defiance she went to England and there chartered a ship to carry stores and munitions of war to St. John. The master of the ship, instead of proceeding directly to his destination, went up the River St. Lawrence to trade with the Indians. When, after a six months’ voyage, they at length entered the Bay of Fundy some of Charnisay’s vessels were encountered, and the English captain to avoid the seizure and confiscation of his ship was obliged to conceal Madame la Tour and her people and proceed to Boston. Here his own tribulations began for Madame la Tour brought an action against him for violation of his contract and after a four days’ trial the jury awarded her two thousand pounds damages. With the proceeds of this suit she 27 chartered three English ships in Boston and proceeded to St. John with all the stores and munitions of war that she had collected. The garrison at Fort la Tour hailed her arrival with acclamations of delight for they had begun to despair of her return.

Charnisay’s attempt to reduce la Tour to subjection was foiled for the time being, but his opportunity came a little later. In February, 1645, he learned of la Tour’s absence and that his garrison numbered only fifty men. He determined at once to attack the fort. His first attempt was an abject failure. The Lady la Tour inspired her little garrison with her own dauntless spirit, and so resolute was the defence and so fierce the cannon fire from the bastions that Charnisay’s ship was shattered and disabled and he was obliged to warp her off under the shelter of a bluff to save her from sinking. In this attack twenty of his men were killed and thirteen wounded. Two months later he made another attempt with a stronger force and landed two cannon to batter the fort on the land side. On the 17th of April, having brought his largest ship to within pistol shot of the water rampart, he summoned the garrison to surrender. He was answered by a volley of cannon shot and shouts of defiance.

The story of the taking of Fort la Tour, as told by Nicholas Denys, is well known. For three days Madame la Tour bravely repelled the besiegers and obliged them to retire beyond the reach of her guns. On the fourth day whilst she, hoping for some respite, was making her soldiers rest a miserable Swiss sentinel betrayed the garrison, and when the alarm was given the enemy were already scaling the walls. Lady la Tour even in so desperate an emergency as this succeeded in rallying the defenders, who bravely resisted the attack, though greatly outnumbered by their assailants. She only surrendered at the last extremity and under condition that the lives of all should be spared. This condition Charnisay is said to have shamefully violated; all the garrison were hanged, with the exception of one who was spared on condition of acting the part of executioner, and the lady commander was compelled to stand at the scaffold with a rope around her neck as though she were the vilest criminal.

It is but fair to state that our knowledge of the gross indignity to which Lady la Tour was subjected is derived from Denys’ narrative, and its authenticity has been questioned by Parkman. Nevertheless accounts of the transaction that have come to us from sources friendly to Charnisay admit that he hanged the greater number of his prisoners, “to serve as an example to posterity,” and that Madame la Tour was put into confinement where, as Charnisay’s reporter somewhat brutally observes, “she fell ill with spite and rage.” The Lady la Tour did not long survive her misfortunes. Scarcely three weeks had elapsed after the capture of the fort she had so gallantly defended when she died and was laid to rest near the spot consecrated by her devotion, the scene of so many hopes and fears.

There will always be a peculiar charm for us in the story of our Acadian heroine. Fearless, energetic, resolute undoubtedly she was, yet who shall say that the motives that actuated her were other than pure and womanly? A heart more loyal and true never beat in a human breast. She gave her life to protect her husband, 28 her children and the humbler dependents that followed their fortunes from the hands of a bitter and unscrupulous enemy.

The capture of his stronghold and the death of his faithful wife involved la Tour in what appeared to be at the time irreparable ruin. He found himself once more, as in his younger days, an exile and a wanderer.

The booty taken by Charnisay was valued at £10,000 sterling and as it had been accumulated in traffic with the Indians we may form some idea of the value of the trade of the St. John river at this time.

When the capture of la Tour’s fort was known at the court of Versailles the young king was well pleased. He confirmed Charnisay’s authority in Acadia and even extended it—on paper—from the St. Lawrence to Virginia. He could build forts, command by land and sea, appoint officers of government and justice, keep such lands as he fancied and grant the remainder to his vassals. He had also a monopoly of the fur trade and with Fort la Tour, the best trading post in Acadia, in his possession, the prospect for the future was very bright. Charnisay possessed the instincts of a colonizer and had already brought a number of settlers to Acadia. Everything at this juncture seemed to point to a growing trade and a thriving colony; but once again the hand of destiny appears. In the very zenith of his fortune and in the prime of manhood Charnisay was drowned on the 24th day of May, 1650, in the Annapolis river near Port Royal.

With Charnisay’s disappearance la Tour reappears upon the scene. His former defiant attitude is forgotten, he is recognized as the most capable man of affairs in Acadia and in September, 1651, we find him again in possession of his old stronghold at St. John. The king now gave him a fresh commission as lieutenant-general in Acadia with ample territorial rights. Disputes soon afterwards arose concerning the claims of the widow of d’Aulnay Charnisay; these disputes were set at rest by the marriage of the parties interested. The marriage contract, a lengthy document, was signed at Port Royal the 24th day of February, 1653, and its closing paragraph shows that there was little sentiment involved: “The said seigneur de la Tour and the said dame d’Aulnay his future spouse, to attain the ends and principal design of their intended marriage, which is the peace and tranquillity of the country and concord and union between the two families, wish and desire as much as lies with them that in the future their children should contract a new alliance of marriage together.”

There is no evidence to show that la Tour’s second marriage proved unhappy, though it is a very unromantic ending to an otherwise very romantic story. His second wife had also been the second wife of Charnisay who was a widower when he married her; her maiden name was Jeanne Motin. Descendants of la Tour by his second marriage are to be found in the families of the d’Entremonts, Girouards, Porliers and Landrys of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

La Tour and his new wife were quietly living at St. John the year after their marriage when four English ships of war suddenly appeared before the fort and demanded its surrender. These ships had in the first instance been placed at the disposal of the people of Massachusetts by Oliver Cromwell for the purpose of an expedition against the Dutch colony of Manhattan (now New York); but on the eve 29 of their departure news arrived that peace had been made with Holland. It was then decided that the expedition should proceed under Major Robert Sedgewick’s command to capture the French strongholds in Acadia. This was a bold measure for England and France were then ostensibly at peace. La Tour at once saw that resistance was useless and surrendered his fort and the flag of Britain was hoisted over the ramparts. However, la Tour’s address did not desert him; he went to England and laid before Cromwell his claim as a grantee under the charter of Sir William Alexander. He proved as skilful a diplomatist as ever and obtained, cojointly with Thomas Temple and William Crowne, a grant which practically included the whole of Acadia.

La Tour, now more than 60 years of age, was sagacious enough to see that disputes were sure again to arise between England and France with regard to Acadia, and not wishing to be the football of fortune, sold his rights to Sir Thomas Temple his co-partner, and retired to private life. He died in 1666 at the age of 72 years and his ashes rest within the confines of his beloved Acadia.

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CHAPTER IV.

French Commanders of Acadia.

After the capture of Fort la Tour by Sedgewick’s Massachusetts invaders in 1654, Acadia remained nominally in possession of the English for twelve years. Half a century had elapsed since the attempt of de Monts to establish his colony, yet little progress had been made in the settlement of the country and the valley of the St. John remained an almost unbroken wilderness. The first English trading post on the river, of which we have any knowledge was that established in 1659 by Sir Thomas Temple at the mouth of the Jemseg.

As related in the last chapter, la Tour, Temple and Crowne received from Oliver Cromwell a grant that included nearly the whole of Acadia, and la Tour soon after sold his right to Temple, his co-partner. The latter decided to establish a fortified post at the Jemseg as more convenient for the Indian trade and less exposed to marauders than the fort at the mouth of the river. There can be little doubt that Temple would soon have enjoyed a flourishing trade, but unfortunately for his prospects, Acadia was restored to France by the treaty of Breda, in 1667. He attempted to hold possession of his lands, claiming that they did not fall within the boundaries of Acadia, but at the expiration of three years, during which there was considerable correspondence with the home authorities, he received the peremptory orders of Charles II. to surrender the fort to the Sieur de Soulanges. In the formal deed of surrender the fort is termed “Fort Gemisick, 25 leagues up the River St. John.” It was a palisaded enclosure, with stakes 18 feet high connected by cross pieces fastened with nails to the stakes and firmly braced on the inside with pickets nine feet high leaned against the stakes. The gate of the fort was of three thicknesses of new plank. It was evidently a frail defence, but sufficient for the Indian trade. The armament consisted of five iron guns, varying in weight from 300 pounds to 625 pounds, mounted on wooden platforms. Within the palisade was a house 20 paces by 10, two chimneys, a forge, two sheds and a store house. The fort stood on a small mound near the top of a hill, less than 100 yards from the bank of the Jemseg river. It commanded an extensive view both up and down the River St. John. A fragment of the rampart is still visible, and numerous relics have from time to time been dug up at the site or in the vicinity. The fort site is now owned by Mr. Geo. F. Nevars.

After the treaty of Breda the Chevalier Grand-fontaine was appointed to command in Acadia, with Pierre de Joibert, Seigneur de Soulanges et Marson, as his lieutenant. One of the first acts of Grand-fontaine was to have a census taken, from which we learn that there were then only a little more than 400 people in Acadia, very few of whom were to be found north of the Bay of Fundy. Grand-fontaine was recalled to France in 1673, and Chambly, who had been an officer in the famous Carignan Salieres regiment, succeeded him as commandant. The control of affairs in New France was now transferred to Quebec, where a governor-general and intendant, or lieutenant-governor, resided.

About this time large tracts of land were granted as “seigniories” by Count Frontenac and his successors. The seignior was usually a person of some consideration 31 by birth and education. He received a free grant of lands from the crown on certain conditions; one of these was that whenever the seigniory changed hands the act of “faith and homage” was to be tendered at the Castle of St. Louis in Quebec. The tendering of faith and homage was quite an elaborate ceremony, in which the owner of the land, divesting himself of arms and spurs, with bared head, on bended knee, repeated before the governor, as representative of the sovereign, his acknowledgement of faith and homage to the crown. Provision was made in all seignioral grants for the reservation of oaks for the royal navy, of lands required for fortifications or highways, and of all mines and minerals; the seignior was also required to reside on his land or to place a certain number of tenants thereon and to clear and improve a certain portion within a stated time. From the year 1672 to the close of the century as many as 16 seigniories were granted on the St. John river, besides others in various parts of New Brunswick. The first in order of time was that to Martin d’Arpentigny Sieur de Martignon. It included a large tract at the mouth of the River St. John, on the west side of the harbor, extending six leagues up the river from Partridge Island (Isle de la Perdrix) and six leagues in depth inland. This seigniory would now include Carleton and the parishes of Lancaster, Musquash and Westfield. The owner of this valuable property is described as “an old inhabitant of Acadia.” He married Jeanne de la Tour, only daughter of Charles la Tour by his first wife: she was born in Acadia in 1626. It is stated in his grant that he intended to bring over people from France to settle his seigniory, also that he was a proprietor of lands on the River St. John “from the River de Maquo to the mines of the said country of Acadia.”[3]

After la Tour’s death his son-in-law, the Sieur de Mantignon, seems to have taken up his abode at the old fort on the west side of the harbor, which in Franquet’s map of 1707 is called “Fort de Martinnon.”

In the little world of Acadia, Pierre de Joibert, sieur de Soulanges, played a leading part during his eight years residence. He was a native of the little town of Soulanges in the old French province of Champagne. He had served as lieutenant in Grand-fontaine’s company of infantry and came with that officer to Acadia. It is said that “he rendered good and praiseworthy service to the king both in Old and New France.” As a recognition of those services he was granted, October 20, 1672, a seigniory at the mouth of the St. John on the east side of the river a league in depth and extending four leagues up the river; this seigniory seems to have included the present city of St. John—Carleton excepted. The Sieur de Soulanges, however, did not reside there but at the Jemseg. This is evident from the fact that the document that conveyed to him his St. John seigniory gave him in addition “the house of fort Gemesik,” which the great states “he shall enjoy for such time only as he shall hold his commission of commander on the said river in order 32 to give him a place of residence that he may act with more liberty and convenience in everything relating to the king’s service.” The wife of Soulanges was Marie Francoise, daughter of Chartier de Lotbeniere, attorney-general of Quebec. Their daughter Louise Elizabeth was born at “Fort Gemesik” in 1673.

The sieur de Soulanges did not long enjoy peaceable possession of his place of residence; disturbance came from an entirely unexpected quarter. A band of Dutch marauders under their leader Arenson in the summer of 1674 pillaged and greatly damaged the fort and seized and carried off its commander, but soon after set him at liberty. As a recompense for this misfortune Soulanges received the grant of a large tract of land at the Jemseg, two leagues in depth and extending a league on each side of the fort. It is stated in the grant that “he had made various repairs and additions to the fort in order to make it habitable and capable of defence, there having been previously only a small wooden house in ruins surrounded by palisades half fallen to the ground, in fact it would have been better to have rebuilt the whole, for he would yet have to make a large outlay to put it in proper condition on account of the total ruin wrought by the Dutch (les Hollandois) when they made him their prisoner in the said fort two years ago.”

The little daughter of Soulanges, whose infant slumbers were disturbed by these rude Dutch boors, was afterwards the marchioness de Vaudreuil, the wife of one governor general of Canada and the mother of another.

It is evident the authorities at Quebec knew little of the value of the lands on the St. John river or they would hardly have granted them with such prodigality. The Sieur de Soulanges seems to have been highly favored by Frontenac for the three seigniories granted to him included an area of more than a hundred square miles. The one at the mouth of the river possessed all those natural advantages that have made St. John the leading commercial city of the maritime provinces. That at the Jemseg was for a short time the head quarters of French power in Acadia and in its modest way the political capital of the country. The third seigniory—at the very heart of which lay the site of Fredericton—remains to be described. In the grant to Soulanges it is termed, “the place called Nachouac (Nashwaak), to be called hereafter Soulanges, upon the River St. John 15 leagues from Gemesk, two leagues on each side of said river and two leagues deep inland.” The grant was made in consideration of the services rendered by Soulanges and to encourage him to continue those services; it was made so large because little of it was thought to be capable of cultivation. This seigniory would include at the present day the city of Fredericton and its suburbs, the town of Marysville, villages of Gibson and St. Mary’s and a large tract of the surrounding country; the owner of such a property today would be indeed a multi-millionaire.

Upon Chambly’s appointment as governor of Granada he was succeeded as governor of Acadia by the Sieur de Soulanges who did not, however, long enjoy the honors of his new position, for he died about the year 1678 and his widow and children soon afterwards removed to Quebec. Count Frontenac’s interest in the family continued, and on March 23, 1691, a grant of a large tract of land on the River St. John was made to Marie Francoise Chartier, widow of the Sieur de Soulanges. Her seigniory included the larger portion of 33 Gagetown parish in Queens county, the central point being opposite her old residence or, as the grant expresses it, “vis-a-vis la maison de Jemsec.”

The seigniories granted to Soulanges and his widow proved of no value to their descendants; either the titles lapsed on account of non-fulfilment of the required conditions, or the lands were forfeited when the country passed into the hands of the English.

Louise Elizabeth Joibert, the daughter of Soulanges, who was born on the River St. John, was educated at the convent of the Ursulines in Quebec. At the age of seventeen she married the Marquis Vaudreuil, a gentleman thirty years her senior. She is described as a very beautiful and clever woman possessed of all the graces which would charm the highest circles; of rare sagacity and exquisite modesty. She was the mother of twelve children. Her husband, the Marquis de Vaudreuil, was for twenty-two years governor general of Canada, and her son held the same position when the French possessions passed into the hands of the English; he was consequently the last governor general of New France.

La Valliere succeeded the Sieur de Soulanges and was for six years commander of Acadia. He cared little for the dignity or honor of his position provided he could use it for his own benefit. He established a small settlement at the River St. John and engaged in fishing and trading. Many complaints were preferred against him by rival traders. They alleged that he encouraged the English to fish on the coasts, granting them licenses for the purpose, that he traded with them in spite of the king’s prohibition; also that he robbed and defrauded the savages.

These charges seem to have been well founded. An Indian captain named Negascouet says that as he was coming from Neguedchecouniedoche, his usual residence, he was met by the Sieur de la Valliere, who took from him by violence seventy moose skins, sixty martins, four beaver and two otter, without giving him any payment, and this was not the first time la Valliere had so acted.

In 1685 la Valliere was replaced by Perrot whose conduct was, if possible, even more reprehensible than that of his predecessor. He was such a money making genius that he thought nothing of selling brandy to the Indians by the pint and half-pint before strangers and in his own house, a rather undignified occupation certainly for a royal governor of Acadia.

Examples such as these on the part of those in authority naturally found many imitators, indeed there was at this time a general disposition on the part of young men of the better families in New France to become “coureurs de bois,” or rangers of the woods, rather than cultivators of the soil. The life of a coureur de bois was wild and full of adventure, involving toil and exposure, but the possible profits were great and the element of danger appeared in the eyes of many an additional fascination. The rulers of New France from time to time enacted stringent laws against these “outlaws of the bush” but they were of little avail. The governor of Quebec felt compelled to represent the conduct of the Canadian noblesse in unfavorable terms to his royal master. “They do not,” he writes, “devote themselves to improving their land, they mix up in trade and send their children to trade for furs in the Indian villages and in the depths of the forest in spite of the prohibition of his majesty.”

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The rapid progress of New England caused Louis XIV to express dissatisfaction at the slow development of Acadia, and he desired a report of the condition of the colony to be transmitted to Versailles. Monsieur de Meulles, the intendant, accordingly visited Acadia in 1686 where he found the French settlements “in a neglected and desolate state.” He caused a census to be taken which showed the total population to be 915 souls, including the garrison at Port Royal. There were at that time only five or six families on the St. John river. Bishop St. Vallier made a tour of Acadia the same year, visiting all the Indians and French inhabitants he could find. The Marquis de Denonville in a letter to the French minister of November 10, 1686, announced the safe return of the bishop to Quebec after a most fatiguing journey and adds: “He will give you an account of the numerous disorders committed in the woods by the miserable outlaws who for a long while have lived like the savages without doing anything at all towards the tilling of the soil.”

ESTAT
PRESENT
DE L’EGLISE
ET DE LA
COLONIE FRANCOISE
DANS LA NOUVELLE
FRANCE

Par M. L’Evèque de Quebec

A PARIS,
Chez Robert Pepie, ruë S. Jacques,
à l’image S. Basile, au dessus de la
Fontaine S. Severin.

M. DC. LXXXVIII.

Many interesting incidents of the tour of Mgr. St. Vallier are related in a work entitled “The Present State of the Church and of the French Colony in New France,” printed in Paris in 1688. A fac-simile of the title page of the original edition appears opposite. As this rare little volume contains the first published references to the upper St. John region some extracts from its pages will be of interest. The bishop was accompanied by two priests and five canoe men. They left the St. Lawrence on the 7th of May and proceeded by way of the Rivers du Loup and St. Francis to the St. John.

“Our guides,” the bishop says, “in order to take the shortest road, conducted us by a route not usually traveled, in which it was necessary sometimes to proceed by canoe and sometimes on foot and this in a region where winter still reigned; we had sometimes to break the ice in the rivers to make a passage for the canoes and sometimes to leave the canoes and tramp amid snow and water over those places that are called portages (or carrying places) because it is necessary for the men to carry the canoes upon their shoulders. In order the better to mark our route we gave names to all these portages as well as to the lakes and rivers we had to traverse.

“The St. Francis is rather a torrent than a river; it is formed by several streams which descend from two ranges of mountains by which the river is bordered on the right and left; it is only navigable from the tenth or twelfth of May until about the end of June; it is then so rapid that one could make without difficulty twenty to twenty-five leagues in a day if it were not crossed in three or four places by fallen trees, which in each instance occupy about fifteen feet of space, and if they were cut out, as could be done with very little expense, the passage would be free; one would not suppose that it would cost 200 pistoles to clear the channel of these obstacles which much delay the traveler.

“The River St. John is of much greater extent and beauty than that just named, its course is everywhere smooth and the lands along its banks appear good; there are several very fine islands, and numerous tributary rivers abounding in fish enter its channel on both sides. It seemed to us that some fine settlements might be made between Medogtok and Gemesech, especially at a certain place 36 which we have named Sainte Marie, where the river enlarges and the waters are divided by a large number of islands that apparently would be very fertile if cultivated. A mission for the savages would be well placed there: the land has not as yet any owner in particular, neither the king nor the governor having made a grant to any person.”

The place here referred to by St. Vallier afterwards became the mission of Ekouipahag or Aukpaque. A mission for the Indians has been maintained in that vicinity, with some interruptions, to the present day. The islands which the bishop mentions are the well known and beautiful islands below the mouth of the Keswick stream. There is no mention by St. Vallier of the Indian village at Aukpaque, which was probably of rather later origin: there may have been a camping ground in that locality, however, for the Indians had many camping places on the islands and intervals, particularly at the mouths of rivers, to which they resorted at certain seasons. The name Ekouipahag or, as our modern Indians call it, Ek-pa-hawk, signifies “the head of the tide,” or beginning of the swift water. The charms of the place have excited the admiration of many a tourist since St. Vallier’s day. At the time of the Acadian expulsion a number of fugitives, who escaped their pursuers, fled for refuge to the St. John river, and took up their abode at this spot where they cultivated the intervals and islands until the arrival of the Loyalists in 1783, when they were again obliged to look for situations more remote.

The progress of Bishop St. Vallier coming down the St. John river was expeditious, the water being then at freshet height. At the mouth of the Madawaska, which he named St. Francois de Sales, he met a small band of savages, who pleaded for a missionary. The day following, May 17th, he came to the Grand Falls, or as he calls it “le grand Sault Saint Jean-Baptiste.” His book contains the first published description of this magnificent cataract[4]. The rapidity of the journey is seen in the fact that the bishop and his party slept the next night at the Indian village of Medoctec, “the first fort of Acadia,” eighty miles below the Grand Falls. Here they found a hundred savages, who were greatly pleased when informed that the bishop had come for the purpose of establishing a mission for their benefit. This promise was fulfilled soon after by the sending to them the Recollet missionary Simon, of whom we shall hear more ere long. It is evident that the French adventurers the bishop encountered in the course of this wilderness journey led a pretty lawless life, for he observed in his narrative: “It is to be wished that the French who have their habitations along this route, were so correct in their habits as to lead the poor savages by their example to embrace Christianity, but we must hope that in the course of time the reformation of the one may bring about the conversion of the other.”

Medoctec was undoubtedly the principal Indian village on the St. John at this time; it was situated on the right bank of the river, eight miles below the 37 Town of Woodstock. Here the Maliseets had a palisaded fort and large cabin, similar to that described by Lescarbot at the village Ouigoudy on Navy Island, where de Monts was welcomed by Chkoudun in 1604. The only other fortification constructed by the Indians on the St. John river, so far as known, was that at the mouth of the Nerepis, at Woodman’s Point, called by Villebon, in 1697, “Fort des Sauvages de Nerepisse.” It was evidently merely a palisaded enclosure, and on Southack’s map of that period is marked “Wooden Fort.”

Hitherto the Indians of Acadia had lived peaceably with the whites, but the closing years of the seventeenth century were destined to witness a sad transformation.

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CHAPTER V.

King William’s War.

There lived at Quebec in the latter part of the seventeenth century one Charles le Moyne, seigneur de Longueil, who is called by Charlevoix the Baron de Becancourt; he was of Norman extraction, but his sons were natives of New France. As was the custom with the French noblesse each son adopted a surname derived from some portion of the ancient family estate. At least five of Becancourt’s sons were prominent in the affairs of Acadia; they are known in history as Menneval, Portneuf, Villebon, d’Iberville and des Isles.

In 1687 Menneval replaced Perrot as governor of Acadia, and as the conduct of Perrot had given rise to grave dissatisfaction his successor received elaborate instructions concerning his duties. He was to rebuild the defences of Acadia, to resist the encroachments of the English, to suppress the lawless trade of the Coureurs de bois, to deal kindly and honestly with the savages, taking care to promote their conversion to the Christian faith, and to restore to the crown all seigniories and granted lands that had not been occupied or improved.

The year that followed Menneval’s appointment was notable for the outbreak of the most dreadful Indian war in the annals of Acadia. All the tribes east of the Merrimac took part in it, including the Maliseets and Micmacs. This war is known in history as King William’s war, from the name of the English monarch in whose reign it occurred. It lasted with little intermission for ten years, and during its progress the settlers of eastern New England suffered the most fearful outrages at the hands of the infuriated savages. Every settlement in Maine save Wells, York, Kittery and the Isle of Shoals was over run, and a thousand white people killed or taken prisoners.

As in the case of other wars which the Indians have waged with the whites, the latter were responsible for its origin. About twelve years before it broke out, Major Waldron treacherously seized a band of Indians at Dover in New Hampshire and sent them to Boston, where several of them were hanged for alleged complicity in Philip’s war[5] and others sold into slavery. This despicable act the Indians never forgot nor forgave.

The immediate cause of King William’s war, however, was the ill considered act of Governor Andros of pillaging the trading post of Baron de St. Castin, at Penobscot. St. Castin had formerly served in the Carignan Salieres regiment under Frontenac, but for twenty years had lived in this region, where he had married a daughter of the Maliseet chieftain Madockawando and was highly esteemed by the savages.

It was at the instigation of St. Castin and Madockawando that the Indians determined to take the war path. The first notable incident of the war was the destruction of Dover, where Major Waldron and twenty-two others were killed and twenty-nine taken prisoners. This occurred in June, 1689, and the story of the affair, as told by the St. John river Indians to their English captive, John Gyles, is in substance as follows:—

39

There was a truce with the Indians for some days, during which time two squaws came into the garrison. They told Major Waldron that a number of Indians were not far away with a considerable quantity of beaver and would be there to trade with him the next day. The weather was inclement and the women begged leave to lodge in the garrison. Some of the people were much opposed to this, but the major said: “Let the poor creatures lodge by the fire.” The defences of the place were of the weakest kind, the gates had no locks but were fastened with pins and the garrison kept no watch. The squaws had a favorable opportunity to prosecute their design. They went into every apartment observing the number in each, and when all the people were asleep arose and opened the gates, gave the signal agreed upon and the other Indians came to them and, having received an account of the state of the garrison, they divided their forces according to the number of the people in each apartment and soon took or killed them all. Major Waldron lodged within an inner room and when the Indians broke in upon him he cried out: “What now! What now!” and jumping out of his bed seized his sword and drove them before him through two or three doors, but upon his turning about towards the apartment he had just left, an Indian came up behind him and knocked him on the head with his hatchet, which stunned him and he fell. They then seized him, dragged him out, and setting him up on a long table in his hall, bade him “judge Indians again.” Then they cut and stabbed him and he cried out “O Lord! O Lord!” They called for his book of accounts and ordered him to cross out all the Indian debts, he having traded much with them. Then one and another gashed his naked breast, saying in derision: “I cross out my account.” Then cutting a joint from a finger, one would say: “Will your fist weigh a pound now?” This in allusion to his having sometimes used his fist as a pound weight in buying and selling. And so they proceeded to torture him to death with every refinement of savage cruelty, after which they burned the garrison post and drew off.

A few days after this tragic event a number of people were killed by the Indians at Saco, and in the month of August the important post at Pemaquid, midway between the Kennebec and Penobscot rivers, was taken and the adjoining settlement destroyed. According to Charlevoix a large number of St. John river Indians participated in this exploit. Among their prisoners was a lad named Gyles whose experience during the nine years he lived in captivity on the St. John river is told in his very interesting narrative published in Boston in 1736. We shall have more to say about Gyles and his narrative further on, but it may be observed in passing that we are greatly indebted to him for the knowledge we possess of the life of the Indians of the River St. John two centuries ago. As Doctor Hannay well observes: “By the light of such a narrative we are able to perceive how wretched was the lot of an Acadian Indian, even during the period when his very name carried terror to the hearts of the settlers of Maine and New Hampshire. Modern civilization may have degraded him in some respects but it has at least rescued him from the danger of starvation and also from the cruel necessity of abandoning his kindred to perish when unable longer to supply their own wants or endure the constant journeys necessitated by the nature of their nomad life.”

40

Early in 1690 Count Frontenac dispatched an expedition from Quebec to ravage the New England settlements; their leader was Portneuf, brother of Menneval and Villebon. There were fifty French and seventy Indians in the original party, which was afterwards joined by thirty-six French and a large band of Maliseets from the St. John, also by the Indians of Passamaquoddy and Penobscot, making a war party of five hundred men. On the 26th of May they attacked the town of Falmouth—now Portland. The inhabitants fled for protection within the ramparts of Fort Loyal. At the expiration of four or five days the garrison was obliged to surrender and Portneuf promised the vanquished quarter and a guard to the nearest English town. The terms of surrender were shamefully violated, Fort Loyal and Falmouth were reduced to ashes and over one hundred men, women and children murdered by the savages. From May to October their bodes lay exposed to the elements and wild beasts but were finally buried by Major Benjamin Church as he passed on an expedition to the eastward.

To revenge themselves on the French, whom they regarded as the instigators of this savage warfare, the New Englanders fitted out an expedition under Sir William Phips which captured Port Royal and carried Menneval, the governor, away a prisoner. His brother Villebon, who suceeded to the command, concluded to abandon Port Royal and to re-establish the post at the mouth of the Jemseg on the River St. John.

Villebon, with all his faults, is one of the most picturesque characters in the history of Acadia. He was greatly admired by the savages who deemed him to be every inch a chief. Diereville, the poet historian, saw him at St. John in 1700 and describes him as “a great man of fine appearance and full of energy.” Having served for several years in a subordinate capacity at Port Royal he was now called upon to fill a difficult position and it must be confessed he acted with zeal and ability. Adverse fortune embittered him at the outset. Two pirate vessels came to Port Royal while he was absent preparing for his removal to the St. John river. These marauders burned the houses and killed the cattle; they even hanged two of the inhabitants and burned a woman and her children in her own dwelling. What was still worse for Villebon they captured the ship Union, just arrived from France with merchandize, provisions, ammunition and presents for the savages.

Villebon was well fitted for such an emergency as this; he assembled his dusky allies, explained the loss of their presents and offered himself to go to their great father, the King of France, for more. The Indians pledged their fidelity and promised him one hundred and fifty warriors the next spring to aid him in his designs against the English.

At the court of France Villebon was favorably received and returned with a commission from the king to command in Acadia. Soon after he abandoned the Jemseg Fort and moved up the river to the mouth of the Nashwaak where in the upper angle formed by the junction of that river with the St. John he built in 1692 a new fort which he called Fort St. Joseph. It was an ordinary palisaded fort about 120 feet square, with four bastions, and had eight cannon mounted. In the old French documents of the period it is usually called Fort Nachouac, with many varieties of spelling, such as Naxoat, Naxouac, Natchouak, etc. The older French 41 maps place the fort on the south, or Fredericton side of the river, but there can be no doubt as to its proper location in the upper angle formed by the junction of the River Nashwaak with the St. John. The greater portion of the site has been washed away, but traces of the ramparts were visible within the memory of those yet living and many cannon balls and other relics have been found in the vicinity.

Villebon had now been some years in Acadia, for Bishop St. Vallier says that he was in command of the garrison at Port Royal at the time of his visit there in 1686. He had ample opportunity of becoming familiar with the country and its native inhabitants, and was in this way fitted to second the ambitious designs of the French, which embraced the destruction of New York and the conquest of New England.

When Count Frontenac came out to Quebec in 1689, to fill for the second time the position of Governor and Commander-in-Chief of New France, he was in his seventieth year, yet his old time vigor and determination were unabated. It was part of his plan to avail himself of the hostility of the savages to wear down and discourage the English settlers and so to pave the way for French supremacy. He had no abler lieutenants in the work he had undertaken than the sons of Charles le Moyne, of whom Villebon, Portneuf and d’Iberville were particularly conspicuous in the Indian wars. Immediately after his arrival, Frontenac encouraged the savages to begin those operations against the English settlements known in the history of New England as the “winter raids.” Montague Chamberlain tersely describes the situation thus: “Frontenac decided that he could only succeed in holding Canada for the French crown by enlisting the aid of the savages, and to secure that aid he must permit them to make war in their own savage way, and so from all the doomed hamlets came the same horrifying tale—houses burned, men, women and children slaughtered or carried into captivity.”

It is difficult at this distant day to conceive the horrors of the savage warfare that prevailed at this time on the New England frontiers. The Indians roamed over the country like wolves, and the white settlers never knew when their appalling war whoop would ring in their startled ears. It was an age of cruelty and the outrages perpetrated provoked reprisals on the part of the New Englanders. The close alliance between the Indians and the French, and the fact that in several of the raids the savages were led by French officers, led to a bitter race hatred and mutual distrust between the descendants of the Saxon and the Gaul, which lasted for generations.

In the course of the desultory warfare that followed the destruction of Falmouth, more than 200 houses were burned in various parts of the country, and Frontenac himself speaks of the ravages of the savages as “impossible to describe.” On the 5th February, 1692, they raided the frontier settlement of York, which they left in ashes after killing about seventy-five persons and taking 100 prisoners—among those killed was the venerable Mr. Dummer, the minister of the place.

With the opening of the spring time Villebon received a delegation of 100 warriors of the Kennebec and Penobscot tribes at his fort. The visitors were welcomed with imposing ceremonies; there was the usual interchange of compliments and 42 speeches by the chiefs and captains, presents from the king were distributed and the inevitable banquet followed with its mirth and revelry. It was agreed at this conference to organize a great war party. Couriers were dispatched to summon all the tribes of Acadia and the response was general. The site of what is now the village of Gibson, opposite Fredericton, was dotted with the encampments of the Indians, and as the warriors arrived and departed, arrayed in their war paint and feathers, the scene was animated and picturesque. The Maliseets of the St. John sent their delegation from Medoctec, the Micmacs of the Miramichi arrived a few days later, and then came another band of Micmacs from Beaubassin (or Chignecto), accompanied by Father Baudoin, their priest. Speeches of welcome, presents and feasts were made in turn to all, and each band proceeded by the old and well known route[6] to the rendezvous on the Penobscot, near Oldtown (Maine.) Here there gathered a war party of at least 400 men, including a score of Frenchmen. Their first attack was made on the little village of Wells, where there were only some thirty men to resist the attack, but they were led by Captain Converse, a very courageous and determined officer, who had already tried the mettle of the savages and who was not to be overawed even by overwhelming numbers. The attacking party advanced with hideous yells, firing and calling on the English to surrender, but the bullets of the defenders was the only answer they received. Even the women of the settlement took part in the fight, passing ammunition to the men, loading their guns, and sometimes themselves firing on the enemy.

The savages became discouraged and offered favorable terms to the garrison, Converse replied: “We want nothing but men to fight with.” An Indian, who could speak English, shouted, “Don’t stay in the house like a squaw, come out and fight like a man!” Converse replied: “Do you think I am fool enough to come out with thirty men to fight five hundred?” The Indians at length abandoned the attack and retired greatly crest fallen. Thus a few determined men foiled one of the most formidable bands that ever took the war path in Acadia.

Same of the horrors of Indian warfare almost pass description and if Villebon did not sanction he at least did little to hinder the atrocities of his savage allies. He writes in his journal, “An English savage was taken on the lower part of the St. John river; I gave him to our savages to be burned, which they did the next day; one could add nothing to the torments that they made him suffer.”

From time to time the Indians appear to have grown weary of fighting. Their failure at Wells, the rebuilding of Fort Pemaquid and the erection of other fortifications by the now thoroughly aroused New Englanders, the desire for the ransom of relatives held by the enemy as hostages, and a suspicion that the French were making use of them in their own interest inclined them to make peace with the English. Villebon was obliged to exert all his influence to keep them on the war path. He flattered and feasted the chiefs, made presents to the warriors, provided powder and shot for their hunting and finally adopted Taxous, one of their most famous chiefs, as his brother and to honor the occasion gave him his own best coat.

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The journals and correspondence of Villebon are full of interest to the student of affairs on the St. John. At this time there came annually to St. John harbor—then known by its Indian name, Menagoesche—a French man of war with supplies for Fort Nachouac and a variety of articles for the Indians. An inventory now in the Boston Public Library, dated 1693, shows that in that year the frigate “Suzanne” brought out for the “Malecites” a supply of powder, lead, guns, bayonets; also shirts, blankets, laced hats, etc. The arrival of the annual warships was eagerly looked for by the Indians and Villebon was able to make good use of the articles he received. The reference made by John Gyles in his narrative to the arrival of the ships from France is of interest. “There came annually,” he says, “one or two men of war to supply the fort which was on the river about 34 leagues from the sea. The Indians (of Medoctec) having advice of the arrival of a man of war at the mouth of the river, they about forty in number went on board, for the gentlemen from France made a present to them every year, and set forth the riches and victories of their monarch, etc. At this time they presented the Indians with a bag or two of flour with some prunes as ingredients for a feast.

“I, who was dressed up in an old greasy blanket without cap, hat or shirt, (for I had no shirt for six years, except the one I had on at the time I was made prisoner) was invited into the great cabin, where many well-rigged gentlemen were sitting, who would fain have had a full view of me. I endeavored to hide myself behind the hangings, for I was much ashamed, thinking how I had once worn clothes and of my living with people who could rig as well as the best of them.... This was the first time I had seen the sea during my captivity, and the first time I had tasted salt or bread. My master presently went on shore and a few days later all the Indians went up the river.”

In connection with Villebon’s endeavors to keep the savages loyal to the king of France there are items in the accounts transmitted by him to the French minister that are quite interesting and suggestive, as for example the following:

“To the wife of Nadanouil, a savage, for making two pairs of snowshoes for the King, tobacco 2 lbs.”

“Jan., 1696. To 2 savages come from the river of Medoctic to bring some letters of Father Simon to Mon. de Villebon, flour, 12 lbs.; tobacco, 8 oz.

“July 10, 1696. M. Thury, missionary, having arrived with Taxous, chief of the Canibas and other savages from Pentagouet; brandy, 1 gallon; tobacco, 2 lbs.”

The garrison at Fort Nashwaak was always small, comprising only about forty soldiers besides an armorer, gunner and surgeon. There was also a chaplain of the Recollet order, Father Elizee, who is described as a man so retiring by nature as to meddle with nothing outside his ministerial duty. This was not the case with the other missionary priests, however, who influenced by patriotic motives and encouraged by the French authorities took quite an energetic part in helping on the warfare against New England. The French owed much of the aid afforded their cause, including the co-operation of their Indian allies, to the zeal of the missionaries settled on the different rivers, Ralle on the Kennebec, Thury on the Penobscot and Simon on the St. John. The only woman who lived within the ramparts of Fort Nashwaak seems to have been the wife of the armorer. She was deemed one of the garrison and received her daily allowance with the rest.

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In spite of Villebon’s energy and ability and of his zeal in the service of his country very serious complaints were made against him by some of the French people living on the St. John river. They asserted that his threats and ill usage had caused several of the settlers to abandon their habitations and remove to Quebec with their families; that he tried to monopolize the fur trade, sending his brothers Portneuf and des Isles into the woods to engage in unlawful traffic with the Indians; that the former was guilty of gross immorality and the latter traded the peltry obtained from the savages with one John Alden, an Englishman, by whom it was carried to Boston. This John Alden was, by the way, the eldest son of the famous John Alden of the “Mayflower,” the Plymouth magistrate, by his wife Priscilla, the Puritan maiden immortalized by Longfellow. He made many trading voyages to the Bay of Fundy and on several occasions narrowly escaped capture by the French.

That there was some ground for the charges preferred against Villebon seems likely from the fact that most of the missionaries censured him and confirmed the reports of the inhabitants concerning the misconduct of his brothers. The chaplain at Fort Nachouac, however, spoke favorably of Villebon, although he was silent with regard to Portneuf. In his letters to the authorities in France, Villebon vigorously replies to his accusers and brings counter charges; he is seemingly very indignant with the d’Amour brothers of whom we shall hear more in another chapter.

In consequence of the charges preferred against him Portneuf was superseded by Villieu, an officer of reputation whom Count Frontenac sent to Acadia in October, 1693, to lead the savages against the English. This new lieutenant spent the winter at the Nashwaak fort and as soon as the ice was out of the river went in a canoe to Medoctec, where he assembled the chiefs who promised to assist him. He then proceeded to Penobscot resolved to put an end, if possible, to the parleys that the savages had been holding with the English and to incite them to renew the war. After a week’s negotiation, in which he was aided by the powerful influence of the missionaries Bigot and Thury, he returned to Fort Nachouac with a delegation of the Indians to receive the presents which the King of France had sent to them, and at the same time to secure the assistance of some of Governor Villebon’s soldiers. The governor, however, piqued by the dismissal of Portneuf, contented himself with entertaining the delegates. He declined to furnish provisions or supplies, and kept his soldiers from joining the expedition. Father Simon, the Recollet missionary on the St. John, also displayed little sympathy with Villieu and kept many of the Indians from joining him. However, with the help of the Penobscot and Kennebec tribes a band of 250 warriors was at last collected and Villieu placed himself at their head arrayed in the war paint and feathers of an Indian chief. It was decided to strike a blow at the settlement of Oyster River, twelve miles from Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The English settlers, having been informed that peace had been made with the Indians and that they could now work with safety on their farms, were totally unprepared for an attack. Among their unprotected houses the carnage was horrible. One hundred persons, chiefly women and children, half naked from their beds, were tomahawked, shot, or killed by slower and more cruel methods, twenty seven were kept as prisoners.

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After engaging in some minor depredations Villieu proceeded to Montreal accompanied by several of the chiefs where they presented a string of English scalps to Count Frontenac as a token of their success and received his hearty congratulations. Villieu thus summed up the results of the campaign: “Two small forts and fifty or sixty houses captured and burnt, and one hundred and thirty English killed or made prisoners.” He had done his work all too well and had sown such seeds of distrust between the English and the Indians as to render it almost impossible to re-establish peace between them. The enmity lasted for generations and almost every year witnessed some act of hostility even though the crowns of France and England were themselves at peace.

In the midst of their triumphs an appalling pestilence swept away great numbers of the Indians. On the River St. John more than one hundred and twenty persons died, including some of the most noted warriors and their chief. The pestilence scattered the savages in all directions and for a time their town of Medoctec was abandoned. A party of warriors who went with Montigny, an officer of Villebon’s garrison, to assist their brethren to the westward was sent back to Medoctec on account of the contagion that had broken out among them. The nature of the disease it is impossible at this distance of time to determine. It could scarcely have been smallpox, according to the description of John Gyles, who says: “A person seeming in perfect health would bleed at the mouth and nose, turn blue in spots and die in two or three hours.” The first outbreak of the pestilence was in the autumn of 1694. A year later Mon. Tibierge, agent of the company of Acadia, writes that “the plague (la maladie) had broken out afresh: there had died on the river more than 120 persons of every age and sex.”

The pestilence, however, did not put a stop to the Indian warfare. In June, 1695, Villebon assembled at his fort a general representation of the tribes of Acadia, including fourteen chiefs and their attendants; the conference lasted three days and the proceedings are reported at length in his journal. After the customary feasting and distribution of presents a standard of prices for the purchase and sale of goods was agreed upon more favorable to the natives than heretofore. The chiefs departed firmly resolved to continue the war against the English. Their opportunity did not come until the following summer when a combined effort on the part of the French and Indians resulted in the destruction of Fort William Henry at Pemaquid. This fortification had just been rebuilt by the colony of Massachusetts at a cost of £20,000 and was the strongest work the English colonists had up to that time erected in America. The walls had a compass in all of 747 feet and were of solid masonry, varying from 10 to 22 feet in height. Eight feet from the ground, where the walls had a thickness of six feet, there was a tier of 28 port holes. At one corner was a round tower 29 feet high. The fort was well manned and provisioned and was thought to be impregnable.

The leader of the enterprise, which resulted in the destruction of Fort William Henry, was Villebon’s brother d’Iberville, whose romantic career has earned for him the description of “the Cid of New France.” D’Iberville’s Indian auxiliaries included Micmacs from Cape Breton, a large band of Maliseets and many of their 46 kindred of Passamaquoddy, Penobscot and Kennebec. Two warships lately arrived from Quebec, accompanied the expedition.

Villebon left his fort on the 18th June to go to “Menagoesche” to await the coming of the French ships. On his arrival there he discovered the British ships Sorlings of 34 guns and Newport of 24 guns cruising near the harbor and sent information to d’Iberville in order that he might guard against surprise. Soon after entering the Bay of Fundy the French vessels sighted their antagonists and an engagement ensued in the course of which d’Iberville in the Envieux dismasted the smaller English vessel, the Newport, and obliged her to surrender. Favored by night and fog the Sorlings managed to escape after a combat with the Profond lasting three hours. The next day, July 15, 1696, the vessels put into St. John harbor, where they were welcomed by Villebon and Father Simon and a band of Indians. Before proceeding to the attack of Pemaquid an attempt was made to capture John Alden at Port Royal but with his usual good luck he sailed thence just before the arrival of the French. Villebon with Father Simon’s assistance contrived to collect 150 Indians—Maliseets and Micmacs—to join the expedition under his brother, which was further reinforced by a small vessel owned and commanded by the Sieur de Chauffours, an inhabitant of the St. John river.

The start of the expedition was not a very auspicious one, for on leaving the harbor of St. John (or “havre de Menuagoesche,” as Villebon calls it) at 2 o’clock on the afternoon of the 2nd of August, d’Iberville ran the Envieux upon a reef; however, the damage was not serious as the ship floated when the tide rose. At Penobscot Baron St. Castin joined the expedition with 130 Indians. The French priests Simon and Thury, as the event proved, were no mere figure heads; they actively assisted in the operations of the siege and at the same time restrained the passions of the savages. Batteries were erected within half cannon shot of the fort and it was summoned to surrender. Captain Chubb, the commander, proved to be a weak man for so responsible a position. He at first replied that though the sea were covered with French ships and the land with Indians he would not surrender unless compelled to do so, but the very next day ignominiously pulled down his flag. D’Iberville sent the garrison to Boston in the vessel belonging to the Sieur de Chauffours which he had brought from the St. John river. The people of New England were greatly vexed at the destruction of Pemaquid and enraged at the cowardly conduct of its commander. Father Simon got back to Fort Nachouac on the 29th August bringing the news of d’Iberville’s success.

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CHAPTER VI.

Nachouac and Menagoueche.

It was now proposed by the French authorities to re-establish the stronghold at the mouth of the St. John. The old fort of four bastions so far remained that it could readily be restored; the ditches needed to be deepened, the parapets to be raised and new palisades constructed. It was thought that 150 men would suffice to garrison the post as well as that at the Nashwaak. The fort was needed to protect French privateers and French commerce. Many English vessels were brought to Menagoueche at this time by the privateersmen Baptiste and Guyon. The company of Acadia, with Tibierge as their agent, continued to develop a thriving trade, and it seems, too, that the forest wealth of the country was beginning to attract attention for Villebon, a year or two later, sent home to France a mast, as a specimen, 82 feet long, 31 inches in diameter at one end and 21 at the other.

The French privateers were not allowed to ply their vocation with impunity, they often had spirited encounters with the British ships in which there were losses on both sides.

In 1694 one Robineau of Nantes, who had taken several English vessels, was forced to burn his ship in St. John harbor, in order to escape capture by an English ship, and to defend himself on shore. The vessels employed as privateers evidently were small, for they sometimes went up the river to Villebon’s fort. The prisoners taken were kept at the fort or put in charge of the French inhabitants living on the river, and from time to time ransomed by their friends or exchanged for French prisoners taken by the English. Villebon informs us that in June, 1695, an English frigate and a sloop arrived at Menagoueche (St. John) on business connected with the ransom of eight captives who were then in the hands of the French. Messages were exchanged with Nachouac and the captain of the English ship, a jovial old tar, expressed a wish to meet Governor Villebon and “drink with him” and to see Captain Baptiste, whom he called a brave man, but his overtures were declined.

The ships Envieux and Profond, before proceeding to the attack of Fort Pemaquid, had landed at St. John a number of cannon and materials of all sorts to be used in the construction of the new fort. This project was not viewed with complacency by the people of New England, and Lieut.-Governor William Stoughton, of Massachusetts, thus explains the line of action proposed against the French in a communication addressed to Major Benjamin Church, the old Indian fighter, who had been sent from Boston in August, 1696, on an expedition against the settlements of Acadia: “Sir, His Majesty’s ship Orford having lately surprised a French shallop with 23 of the soldiers belonging to the fort (at Nashwaak) upon St. John’s river in Nova Scotia, together with Villieu, their captain, providence seems to encourage the forming of an expedition to attack that fort, and to disrest and remove the enemy from that post, which is the chief source from whence the most of our disasters do issue, and also to favor with an opportunity for gaining 48 out of their hands the ordnance, artillery, and other warlike stores and provisions lately supplied to them from France for erecting a new fort near the river’s mouth, whereby they will be greatly strengthened and the reducing of them rendered more difficult.”

Before the order from which the above extract is quoted was placed in Major Church’s hands he had arrived at St. John, having previously devastated the French settlements at Chignecto. Being desirous, if possible, to surprise the men engaged upon the new fort Church landed at Manawagonish Cove, a little to the west of the harbor; what followed we shall let him tell in his own quaint fashion. “Next morning early the Major, with his forces, landed to see what discovery they could make, travelled across the woods to the old fort or falls at the mouth of St. John’s river, keeping themselves undiscovered from the enemy. Finding that there were several men at work, and having informed themselves as much as they could, returned back (the enemy being on the other side of the river could not come at them). But night coming on and dark wet weather with bad travelling, were obliged to stop in the woods till towards next day morning and then went on board. Soon after the Major ordered all the vessels to come to sail and go into the mouth of the river, the French firing briskly at them, but did them no harm, and running fiercely upon the enemy they soon fled to the woods. The Major ordered a brisk party to run across a neck to cut them off from their canoes[7] which the day before they had made a discovery of. So the commander, with the rest, ran directly towards the new fort they were building, not knowing but they had some ordnance mounted. The enemy running directly to their canoes were met by our forces who fired at them, and killed one and wounded Corporal Canton, who was taken. The rest threw down what they had and ran into the woods. The prisoner Canton being brought to the Major told him if he would let his surgeon dress his wound and cure him he would be serviceable to him as long as he lived. So being dressed he was examined and gave the Major an account of the twelve great guns which were hid in the beach, below high water mark—the carriages, shot, and wheelbarrows, some flour and pork all hid in the woods.

“The next morning the officers being all ordered to meet together to consult about going to Vilboon’s fort, and none amongst them being acquainted but the Aldens, who said the water in the river was very low so that they could not get up to the fort; and the prisoner Canton told the commander that what the Aldens said was true * * so concluded it was not practicable to proceed. Then ordered some of the forces to get the great guns on board the open sloops and the rest to range the woods for the enemy, who took one prisoner and brought him in. * * Now having with a great deal of pains and trouble got all the guns, shot, and other stores aboard intended on our design which we came out first for. But the wind not serving, the commander sent out his scouts into the woods to seek for the enemy. And four of our Indians coming upon three Frenchmen undiscovered concluded that if the French should discover them they would fire at them and might kill one or more of them, which to prevent fired at the French, killed one and 49 took the other two prisoners. And it happened that he who was killed was Shavelere (Chevalier), the chief man there.”

Major Church’s design was to make a raid on the settlement of Baron St. Castin and his Indians at Penobscot by way of retaliation for the destruction of Fort William Henry at Pemaquid, but as he was sailing down the bay he met a small squadron having on board a reinforcement of 100 men under Colonel Hawthorne. The command now passed to Hawthorne as the senior officer, and it was decided to attempt the capture of Fort Nachouac. This was against the advice of Major Church, but as the expedition now numbered about 500 men, Hawthorne was unwilling to return to Boston without striking a blow at the chief stronghold of the French in Acadia.

Villebon was on the alert: he had stationed his ensign, Chevalier, with five scouts at the mouth of the river and on the 4th of October he learned of the presence of the English at Menagoueche. Chevalier was at first alarmed by the appearance of Church’s ships off Partridge Island, and sent word directly to Fort Nachouac; a day or two later he was killed by some of Church’s Indians as already related. Villebon sent his brother Neuvillette down the river to continue the look out and in the meantime made every possible preparation for a siege. His garrison, numbering about 100 soldiers, was busily employed in throwing up new intrenchments and mounting additional guns, word was sent to the French inhabitants of the vicinity to repair to the fort and assist in its defence, and Villebon, on the 11th October, sent an urgent message to Father Simon, the missionary at Medoctec, to get the Indians to come down as soon as possible if they wished to fight the English. He lost not a moment and having sent out word on all sides (the Indians being then dispersed upon the river) he arrived the afternoon of the 14th, with thirty-six warriors and expressed his desire to remain at the fort as the chaplain was absent. Two days later Neuvillette returned to the fort and reported that he had seen the enemy in great force about a league and a half below the Jemseg. The last preparations were now hurriedly made and on the evening of the 17th, Villebon caused the “generale” (or assembly) to be beat and all the garrison being drawn up under arms he addressed them in stirring words, bidding them to maintain the honor of their country and the reputation of French soldiers, adding that if any should be maimed in the approaching combat the king would provide for him during the rest of his life. This speech created the greatest enthusiasm and the cry of “Vive le roy” awoke the forest echoes and was borne over the waters. The same evening a dozen Frenchmen who lived in the vicinity arrived at the fort. Among them were the brothers Mathieu and Rene d’Amours and the privateersman Baptiste. Villebon assigned to Baptiste and Rene d’Amours the duty of heading the Indians and opposing the landing of the English.

The sketch on the next page, based upon a plan in the archives de la Marine, Paris[8] will serve to give an idea of the general character of Fort Nachouac. The 50 51 space of ground enclosed by the palisade was about 125 feet square; the site, as already stated, lay in the upper angle formed by the junction of the Nashwaak with the river St. John, nearly opposite the Cathedral in Fredericton. The general arrangement of the buildings is shown in the plan. At the rear of the enclosure is the commandant’s lodging, on the right hand side the guard house and on the left the soldiers’ barracks; at the front is the gate and in the lower left hand corner the bake oven; cannons were placed at each corner. A small room in the left end of the commandant’s lodging was fitted up as a chapel. The ditches and ramparts that surrounded the enclosure added considerably to the strength of the position. The bastions were so arranged that the space outside the walls was entirely commanded by the musketry fire of the defenders. The loopholes at the corners from which the fire was delivered are shown in the sketch.

FORT NACHOUAC, A. D. 1696.

Everything being now in order for the defence of his fort Villebon ordered the garrison to pass the night under arms, as from the barking of the dogs it was believed the enemy was drawing near. The next morning between eight and nine o’clock, whilst Father Simon was celebrating mass in the chapel, a shallop filled with armed men rounded the point below, followed by two others. The alarm was at once given and every man repaired to his post. The sloops approached within the distance of half a cannon shot when the guns of the fort opened on them and they were forced to retire below the point where they effected a landing. Villebon did not deem it prudent to oppose the landing as his men would have had to cross the Nashwaak river to do so and this would have been very imprudent. The English took up a position on the south side of the Nashwaak stream and threw up an earthwork upon which they placed two field guns from which they opened fire on the fort; a third gun of larger size was mounted soon afterwards nearer the fort, but not being sheltered it was not much used. The beseigers hoisted the royal standard of England and there were cheers and counter-cheers on the part of the combatants. The cannon fire was heavy on both sides but the guns of the fort being better mounted and well served had rather the advantage. There was also a sharp exchange of musketry fire, the St. John river Indians, from the bushes along the shore, engaging in a vicious fight with Church’s Indians on the opposite side of the stream. When darkness ended the day’s struggle the English had made little or no progress. The following night being very cold they made fires to keep themselves from freezing, but this afforded a sure mark for the French cannon, which opened on them with grape shot, and they were obliged to put them out and suffer the inclemency of the weather. Major Church’s men being almost bare of clothing from their long service, suffered extremely and were ill disposed to continue the siege. At daybreak the musketry fire from the fort recommenced and about 8 o’clock the English again got their guns into operation, but la Cote, who had distinguished himself the evening before by firing rapidly and accurately, dismounted one of their field guns and silenced the other.

It was now apparent that the fort could not be taken without a regular investment and in view of the lateness of the season this was not deemed advisable. The Massachusetts historian Mather quaintly observes, “The difficulty of the cold season so discouraged our men that after some few shot the enterprize found itself under too much congelation to proceed any further.” And so the following night the 52 New England troops re-embarked after lighting fires over a considerable extent of ground in order to deceive the French. When the morning dawned their camp was deserted and soon after Neuvillette, who had been sent down the river to reconnoitre, reported that after he had gone three leagues he found them embarked in four vessels of about 60 tons and going down the river with a fair wind. On their return towards the mouth of the river the invaders burned the house and barns of Mathieu d’Amours at Freneuse, opposite the Oromocto, and laid waste his fields. The sieur de Freneuse was himself so much injured by exposure during the siege that he died shortly afterwards. Major Church took back with him to Boston a Negro man of Marblehead, who had been taken prisoner by the French and kept amongst them for some time. He was probably the first of his race to set foot within the borders of New Brunswick.

In the siege of his fort Villebon lost only one man killed and two wounded while the English loss is said to have been eight soldiers killed and five officers and twelve soldiers wounded.

The effect of the capture of Pemaquid by d’Iberville and the repulse of the English by Villebon greatly encouraged the savages of Acadia in their hostility and the following summer another raid on the English settlements was planned. A large number of Micmacs came from the eastward, some of them from the Basin of Minas, with St. Cosme, their priest, at their head. They were entertained by Villebon, furnished with ammunition and supplies and sent on to the rendezvous at Penobscot. Father Simon and 72 Maliseets were sent in the same direction soon afterwards with instructions to pick up the Passamaquoddies on their way; they departed in high spirits with the intention of giving no quarter to the enemy and Villebon encouraged their animosity, exhorting them “to burn and to destroy.” This advice they followed to the letter for the Governor wrote in his journal shortly afterwards, “the missionary, M. de Thury, confirms the report I already had received of four small parties of our Indians having killed fifteen or sixteen English and burnt one of them alive on account of one of their chiefs being slain.” The vindictiveness of the Indians is further illustrated by an incident that happened at the Medoctic village in the time of King William’s war, in which John Gyles and James Alexander, two English captives, were cruelly abused. A party of Indians from Cape Sable, having had some of their relatives killed by English fishermen, travelled all the way to Medoctec in order to wreak their vengeance upon any English captives they might find. They rushed upon their unfortunate victims like bears bereaved of their whelps, saying, “Shall we, who have lost our relations by the English, suffer an English voice to be heard among us?” The two captives were brutally beaten and ill used and made to go through a variety of performances for the amusement of their tormenters. Gyles says: “They put a tomahawk into my hands and ordered me to get up, sing and dance Indian, which I performed with the greatest reluctance and while in the act seemed determined to purchase my death by killing two or three of these monsters of cruelty, thinking it impossible to survive the bloody treatment.... Not one of them showed the least compassion, but I saw the tears run down plentifully on the cheeks of a Frenchman who sat behind.” The tortures were continued until the evening of what Gyles might well call “a very tedious day.” Finally a couple of Indians threw 53 the two wretched men out of the big wigwam, where they had been tormented; they crawled away on their hands and knees and were scarcely able to walk for several days.

The experience of Gyles was, however, nothing in comparison with that of his brother and another captive taken by the Indians at the same time as himself. This unfortunate pair attempted to desert, but failed and were subjected to the most horrible tortures and finally burned alive by the savages.

The people of the frontier settlements were now so on the alert that, although the Indians roamed over the country like wolves, they were usually prepared to meet them. Every little village had its block house and sentinels, and every farmer worked in his fields with his musket at his side. Nevertheless tragic events occasionally happened. In February, 1698, Captain Chubb, of Pemaquid notoriety, and six others were killed by the Indians at Andover, several of the inhabitants were captured and many houses burned; Major Frost was slain at Kittery and a number of people at Wells; Major Marsh had a sharp fight near Pemaquid, in which he lost twenty-five of his men, but succeeded in putting the savages to rout. This was the last blood shed during King William’s war. The Indians were becoming weary of fighting and the peace of Ryswick deprived them of the open assistance of their French allies. For a brief season peace reigned in Acadia.

The expedition under Church had interrupted the rebuilding of the fort at St. John and shown the correctness of Villebon’s prediction in a letter written to the French minister in 1696 that it was impossible with the few men at his disposal to attempt a work which, though easy to repair could not be completed as quickly as the enemy could get ready to destroy it. In the same letter he speaks of making plank near Fort Nachouac for the madriens, or gun platforms, of the fort at Menagoueche. As there were mills at this time at Port Royal, it would be possible from this incident to frame a theory that Villebon had a saw mill a short distance up the Nashwaak, say at Marysville, but it is more probable the planks were cut in saw pits by the soldiers of the garrison. The plan of the fort at St. John was agreed on in 1698, and 3,000 livres granted for its construction. Villebon paid his workmen 30 sous (about 30 cts.) a day, his laborers 20 sous, and the soldiers 4 sous a day over their pay and a weekly allowance of 1 qr. lb. tobacco. The walls of the fort were laid in clay and mortar, 24 pounders were placed on the bastions and 36-pounders could be placed there three on each bastion. By the end of the year Villebon was able to report the fort in a condition to do honor to whoever should defend it. He had left Nachouac just as it was, leaving only two men to see that nothing was spoiled by the savages.

A plan in the Marine Archives at Paris, made by Villieu in 1700, shows that “Fort de la Riviere de St. Jean,” or Fort Menagoueche, was built at “Old Fort Site,” behind Navy Island in Carleton. The general plan was the same as that of Fort Nachouac, but it was considerably larger, nearly 200 feet square. Within the enclosure were barracks for the soldiers, a residence for the governor with small chapel adjoining it, a house for the officers of the garrison, lodgings for the surgeon, gunner and armorer, a small prison and a well, and just outside the gate were two bake-houses. The water supply of the fort seems always to have 54 been inadequate. The sieur des Goutins, who disliked Villebon, complains in a letter of 23rd June, 1699, “the Governor keeps the water within the fort for the exclusive use of his kitchen and his mare, others being obliged to use snow-water, often very dirty.” Diereville, who visited St. John during his short stay in Acadia describes the fort as “built of earth, with four bastions fraised (or picketed) each having six large guns.” A new industry was now coming into existence, namely the shipping of masts to France for the King’s navy; Diereville sailed to France in the Avenant “a good King’s ship,” mounting 44 guns which had brought out the ammunition and provisions that Placentia and the Fort on the River St. John received annually. This ship took on board a number of fine masts that 14 carpenters and mast makers in his majesty’s service had manufactured at the River St. John. The vessel left Acadia on the 6th of October and reached France in 33 days.

The period of Governor Villebon’s residence at St. John was of about two years’ duration. He died on the 5th July, 1700, and was buried near the fort. The life of this devoted son of New France went out with the century and with his death the seat of government of Acadia was again transferred to Port Royal.

Brouillan now succeeded to the command. He found the fort at St. John in good order, as was to be expected, it having been just rebuilt, but in the opinion of the new governor it was of little use for the glory of the King or for the preservation of the country. He condemned the situation as being commanded on one side by an island at the distance of a pistol shot, and on the other by a height at the distance only of a hundred and odd fathoms (toises), and with a very insufficient water supply. He therefore caused the fortifications to be razed, demolished the houses, and carried away the guns and everything else of a portable character to Port Royal. The inhabitants living on the River St. John were left without protection and they seem almost without exception to have removed, some to Quebec and others to Port Royal. The valley of the St. John was thus left as deserted and desolate as it had been previous to the arrival of Champlain. The Indian might wander at will among the ruins of forts and dwellings abandoned to his care, or left to be converted into hiding places for the wild beasts and wonder at the folly of the white man who had forsaken the finest river in all Acadia with its wealth of forest and stream and its fertile lands awaiting the hands of industry and thrift.

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CHAPTER VII.

The Brothers D’Amours.

Among the young adventurers who came to Acadia towards the close of the seventeenth century were four brothers, sons of Mathieu d’Amours[9] of Quebec. The father’s political influence as a member of the Supreme Council enabled him to obtain for each of his sons an extensive seigniory. That of Louis d’Amours, the eldest, included a tract of land of generous proportions at the Richibucto river; the grant was issued September 20, 1684, but the seignior had already built there a fort and two small houses, and for two years had been cultivating a piece of land. His sojourn was brief, for in a year or two we find him living on the River St. John, where his brothers Mathieu and Rene were settled and where they were not long after joined by their brother Bernard.

As mentioned in a previous chapter, it was customary among the French noblesse for each son to take a surname derived from some portion of the family estate; accordingly the sons of Councillor d’Amours figure in history as Louis d’Amours, sieur de Chauffours; Mathieu d’Amours, sieur de Freneuse; Rene d’Amours, sieur de Clignancourt and Bernard d’Amours, sieur de Plenne.

After his arrival at the River St. John, Louis d’Amours fixed his abode on the banks of the Jemseg and became the proprietor of the seigniory formerly owned by the sieur de Soulanges. His brother, and nearest neighbor, Mathieu’s seigniory included all the land “between Gemisik and Nachouac,” two leagues in depth on each side of the river. The wives of Louis and Mathieu d’Amours were sisters, Marguerite and Louise Guyon of Quebec.

To Rene d’Amours, sieur de Clignancourt, was granted a seigniory extending from the Indian village of Medoctec to the “longue sault.” The longue sault was probably the Meductic rapids twelve miles below the village of Medoctec, although it may have been the Grand Falls eighty miles above. The sieur de Clignancourt fixed his headquarters a few miles above Fredericton at or near Eccles Island, which was formerly called “Cleoncore”—a corruption of Clignancourt. An old census shows he lived in that vicinity in 1696, and this is confirmed by a statement in an official report of the same year that he lived a league from Fort Nachouac. Rene d’Amours had an extensive trade with the Indians, he was unmarried and lived the life of a typical “coureur de bois.”

Bernard d’Amours, the youngest of the quartette, came to Acadia rather later than his brothers and was granted a seigniory at Canibecachice (Kennebecasis), a league and a half along each side of the river and two leagues in depth.[10] He married Jeanne le Borgne, and their son Alexander was baptized at Port Royal in 1702 by a Recollet missionary.

The brothers d’Amours were in the prime of life when they came to Acadia; the census of de Meulles taken in 1686 gives the age of Louis as 32 years and that of 56 Mathieu as 28. All the brothers engaged in hunting and trading with the Indians and were in consequence disliked by Governor Villebon, who viewed them with a jealous eye and mentions them in unfavorable terms in his official dispatches. Villebon’s hostility was no doubt intensified by a representation made to the French ministry in 1692 by Louis d’Amours that the Governor of Acadia, to advance his own private fortune, engaged in trade, absolutely prohibited by his majesty, both with the natives of the country and with the people of New England.

Frontenac and Champigny at this time filled the offices respectively of governor and intendant (or lieutenant governor) of New France, and the king in his message to them, dated at Versailles June 14, 1695, refers to matters on the River St. John in the following terms:

“His Majesty finds it necessary to speak on the subject of the grants obtained by the Sieurs d’Amours, which comprehend an immense tract of land along the River St. John. It is commonly reported that since they have lived there they have not engaged in clearing and cultivating their lands, that they have no cattle nor any other employment than that of a miserable traffic exclusively with the savages; and as his Majesty has been informed that the lands in those parts are the best in the world, watered by large rivers and in a situation more temperate and pleasant than other parts of Canada, the sieurs d’Amours must be compelled to establish themselves upon a better footing; and those people who are to have new grants of land are directed to this part of Acadia where, as his Majesty is informed, the sieurs d’Amours pretend to have exclusive possession of about thirty leagues of country.”

That the sentiments of this royal message were inspired by Villebon is evident from the tenor of the letters he addresses to the French ministry at this time. In one of these he says of the brothers d’Amours: “They are four in number living on the St. John river. They are given up to licentiousness and independence for the ten or twelve years they have been here. They are disobedient and seditious and require to be watched.” In another communication he scornfully terms them “the pretended gentry” (soi disant gentilhommes). Writing to the French minister the next year he observes: “I have no more reason, my lord, to be satisfied with the sieurs d’Amours than I previously had. The one who has come from France has not pleased me more than the other two. Their minds are wholly spoiled by long licentiousness and the manners they have acquired among the Indians, and they must be watched closely as I had the honor to state to you last year.”

Fortunately for the reputation of the brothers d’Amours we have evidence that places them in a more favorable light than does the testimony of Governor Villebon. M. de Champigny, the intendant at Quebec, wrote to the French minister. “The sons of the sieur d’Amours, member of the supreme council at Quebec, who are settled on the River St. John, apply themselves chiefly to cultivating their lands and raising cattle.

“I sent you, my Lord, the census of their domain, which has been made by Father Simon, the Recollet, who is missionary on the same river, in which you may have every confidence, he being a very honest man. It is very unfortunate, my lord, that any one should have informed you that they lead a licentious life with the savages for I have reliable testimony that their conduct is very good. It 57 seems as if all who live in that locality are in a state of discord; the inhabitants make great complaints against the Sieurs de Villebon and des Goutins. Some who have come to Quebec say they are constantly so harrassed and oppressed that if things are not put upon a better footing they will be compelled to abandon the country.”

That the inhabitants living on the river were turning their attention to agriculture is shown by a communication to Frontenac or Champigny in 1696, in which the writer, probably Villieu, says: “I informed you last year, Monsieur, by the memo that I did myself the honor to send you, that the inhabitants of this river begin to cultivate their lands. I have since learned that they have raised some grain. M. de Chouffours, who had sown so considerably last year, has not received anything in return, the worms having eaten the seed in the ground; M. de Freneuse, his brother, has harvested about 15 hogsheads of wheat and M. de Clignancourt very little; M. Bellefontaine, about 5 hogsheads; the Sieur Martel very little, as he has only begun to cultivate his land during the last two years; the other inhabitants nothing at all, unless it is a little Indian corn. The Sieurs d’Amours, except the Sieur Clignancourt, have sown this year pretty considerably of wheat and the Sieur Bellefontaine also, the Sieur Martel some rye and wheat and much peas. The other inhabitants have sown some Indian corn, which would have turned out well only they have sown too late on account of their land being inundated.”

Baron la Hontan visited Fort Nashouac about 1694. He describes the St. John as “a very pleasant river, adorned with fields that are very fertile in grain.” He says that two gentlemen of the name of d’Amours have a settlement there for beaver hunting.

The census made in 1695 by Simon, the French missionary, shows that there were then ten families, numbering forty-nine persons, on the St. John river, besides the garrison at Fort Nachouac. Their live stock included 38 cattle and 116 swine; there were 166 acres of land under cultivation and 73 in pasture; the crop of that year included 130 bushels of wheat, 370 of corn, 30 of oats, 170 of peas.

The testimony of John Gyles, who spent three years in the family of Louis d’Amours at the Jemseg, conclusively disproves Villebon’s assertion that the d’Amours tilled no land and kept no cattle. He speaks of a fine wheat field owned by his master, in which the blackbirds created great havoc and describes a curious attempt made by a friar to exorcise the birds. A procession was formed, headed by the friar, in his white robe with a young lad as his attendant and some thirty people following. Gyles asked some of the prisoners, who had lately been taken by privateers and brought to the Jemseg, whether they would go back with him to witness the ceremony, but they emphatically refused to witness it and when Gyles expressed his determination to go, one of them, named Woodbury, said he was “as bad as a papist and a d—d fool.” The procession passed and re-passed from end to end of the field with solemn words of exorcism accompanied by the tinkling of a little bell, the blackbirds constantly rising before them only to light behind them. “At their return,” says Gyles, “I told a French lad that the friar had done no service and recommended them to shoot the birds. 58 The lad left me, as I thought, to see what the friar would say to my observation, which turned out to be the case, for he told the lad that the sins of the people were so great that he could not prevail against those birds.”

A story analogous to this is related in Dr. Samuel Peters’ history of Connecticut, of the celebrated George Whitefield, the New England Independent minister and revivalist: “Time not having destroyed the wall of the fort at Saybrooke, Whitefield, in 1740, attempted to bring down the wall as Joshua did those of Jericho, hoping thereby to convince the multitude of his divine mission. He walked seven times around the fort with prayer and ram’s horn blowing, he called on the angel of Joshua to do as he had done at the walls of Jericho; but the angel was deaf to his call and the wall remained. Thereupon George cried aloud: ‘This town is accursed and the wall shall stand as a monument of a sinful people!’”

Mathieu d’Amours, Sieur de Freneuse, seems to have thought seriously of leaving the St. John river on account of the difficulties and discouragements of his situation, for on the 6th August, 1696, he made out to one Michel Chartier, of Schoodic, in Acadia, a lease of his seignioral manor of Freneuse, consisting of 30 arpents (acres) of arable land under the plough, meadow, forest and undergrowth, with houses, barns and stables thereon, a cart and plough rigged ready for work; also all the oxen, cows, bullocks, goats, pigs, poultry, furniture and household utensils that might remain from the sale which he proposed to make. Chartier was to enjoy the right of trade with the Indians through the whole extent of the manor except where lands had been granted by the Sieur de Freneuse to private individuals. The lease was to be for a term of five years beginning with the first day of May following, and the lessee was to pay the Sieur de Freneuse 600 livres annually, half in money and half in small furs, such as beaver, otter and martins.

It is not likely that this transaction was ever consummated, for less than three months after the lease was arranged and six months before Chartier was to take possession, all the buildings of the Sieur de Freneuse were burned, his cattle destroyed and his fields laid waste by Hawthorne’s expedition returning from their unsuccessful seige of Fort Nachouac. The original lease, a very interesting document, is now in possession of Dr. W. F. Ganong and a fac-simile of the signature of the Sieur de Freneuse is here given.[11]

Signature of Sieur de Freneuse

59

The seigniory included both sides of the St. John river in Sunbury county, and the most fertile portions of the parishes of Maugerville, Sheffield, Burton and Lincoln. The name Freneuse is found in most of the maps of that region down to the time of the American Revolution. The residence of the Sieur de Freneuse stood on the east bank of the St. John opposite the mouth of the Oromocto river.

Mathieu d’Amours, as already stated, died in consequence of exposure at the siege of Fort Nachouac. Sixty years later the lands he had cleared and tilled and the site of his residence were transferred to the hands of the first English settlers on the river, the Maugerville colony of 1763. His widow, Madame Louise Guyon, went to Port Royal, where her indiscretion created a sensation that resulted in voluminous correspondence on the part of the authorities and finally led to her removal to Quebec.

Rene d’Amours, during his sojourn on the River St. John, was much engrossed in trade with the natives. He made periodical visits to their villages and was well known at Medoctec, where Gyles lived as a captive, and it is not unlikely the Frenchmen living at that village were his retainers. He seems to have made little or no attempt to fulfil the conditions necessary to retain possession of his seignioral manor, for to his mind the charms of hunting and trading surpassed those of farming. His visits to Medoctec to purchase furs and skins when the Indians had returned from their winter hunts were of doubtful advantage to the poor savages, for Gyles tells us that “when they came in from hunting they would be drunk and fight for several days and nights together, till they had spent most of their skins in wine and brandy, which was brought to the village by a Frenchman called Monsieur Sigenioncor” (Clignancourt).

The latter portion of the narrative of John Gyles throws light on the course of events on the St. John during Villebon’s regime, and supplies us with a particularly interesting glimpse of domestic life in the home of Louis d’Amours on the banks of the Jemseg, where Gyles spent the happiest years of his captivity. The wife of the Sieur de Chauffours, Marguerite Guyon[12], appears in an especially amiable light. Her lonely situation and rude surroundings, the perils of the wilderness and of savage war, amidst which her little children were born, evoke our sympathy. Her goodness of heart is seen in her motherly kindness to Gyles, the young stranger of an alien race—the “little English,” as she calls him. But with all her amiability and gentleness she possessed other and stronger qualities, and it was her woman’s wit and readiness of resource that saved her husband’s fortunes in a grave emergency. The story shall be told in Gyles’ own words.

“When about six years of my doleful captivity had passed, my second Indian master died, whose squaw and my first Indian disputed whose slave I should be. Some malicious persons advised them to end the quarrel by putting a period to my life; but honest father Simon, the priest of the river, told them that it would be a heinous crime and advised them to sell me to the French.”

The suggestion of father Simon was adopted and Gyles, now in his sixteenth year, went with the missionary and the Indians to the mouth of the river, the occasion 60 of their journey being the arrival of a French man-of-war at Menagoueche with supplies for the garrison and presents for the Indians.

“My master asked me,” continues Gyles, “whether I chose to be sold aboard the man-of-war or to the inhabitants? I replied with tears, I should be glad if you would sell me to the English from whom you took me, but if I must be sold to the French, I chose to be sold to the lowest on the river, or nearest inhabitant to the sea, about 25 leagues from the mouth of the river; for I thought that if I were sold to the gentlemen aboard the man-of-war I should never return to the English. * * My master presently went on shore and a few days after all the Indians went up the river. When we came to a house which I had spoken to my master about, he went on shore with me and tarried all night. The master of the house (Louis d’Amours) spoke kindly to me in Indian, for I could not then speak one word of French. Madam also looked pleasant on me and gave me some bread. The next day I was sent six leagues further up the river to another French house. My master and the friar tarried with Monsieur De Chauffours, the gentleman who had entertained us the night before. Not long after father Simon came and said, ‘Now you are one of us, for you are sold to that gentleman by whom you were entertained the other night.’

“I replied, ‘Sold!—to a Frenchman!’ I could say no more, but went into the woods alone and wept till I could scarce see or stand. The word ‘sold,’ and that to a people of that persuasion which my dear mother so much detested and in her last words manifested so great fears of my falling into; the thought almost broke my heart.

“When I had thus given vent to my grief I wiped my eyes, endeavoring to conceal its effects, but father Simon perceiving my eyes swollen, rolled me aside bidding me not to grieve, for the gentleman he said to whom I was sold was of a good humor; that he had formerly bought two captives of the Indians who both went home to Boston. This in some measure revived me; but he added he did not suppose that I would ever incline to go to the English for the French way of worship was much to be preferred. He said also he would pass that way in about ten days, and if I did not like to live with the French better than the Indians he would buy me again.

“On the day following, father Simon and my Indian master went up the river six and thirty leagues to their chief village and I went down the river six leagues with two Frenchmen to my new master. He kindly received me, and in a few days Madam made me an osnaburg shirt and French cap and a coat out of one of my master’s old coats. Then I threw away my greasy blanket and Indian flap; and I never more saw the old friar, the Indian village or my Indian master till about fourteen years after when I saw my old Indian master at Port Royal, and again about twenty-four years since he came from St. John to Fort George to see me where I made him very welcome.

“My French master had a great trade with the Indians, which suited me very well, I being thorough in the language of the tribes at Cape Sable[13] and St. John. I had not lived long with this gentleman before he committed to me the keys of his store, etc., and my whole employment was trading and hunting, in which I acted 61 faithfully for my master and never knowingly wronged him to the value of one farthing. They spoke to me so much in Indian that it was some time before I was perfect in the French tongue.”

It was in the summer of the year 1695 that John Gyles was purchased of the Indians by Louis d’Amours, having been nearly six years in captivity at the Medoctec village. The strong prejudice against the French instilled into his mind by his mother, who was a devout puritan, was soon overcome by the kindness of Marguerite d’Amours.

The goods needed by the Sieur de Chauffours for his trade with the Indians were obtained from the man-of-war which came out annually from France, and Gyles was sometimes sent with the Frenchmen in his master’s employ to the mouth of the river for supplies. On one of these trips, in the early spring time, the party in their frail canoes were caught in a violent storm as they were coming down the Kennebeccasis—having crossed over thither from Long Reach by way of Kingston Creek, the usual route of travel. They were driven on Long Island opposite Rothesay and remained there seven days without food, unable to return by reason of the northeast gale and unable to advance on account of the ice. At the expiration of that time the ice broke up and they were able to proceed, but in so exhausted a state that they could “scarce hear each other speak.” After their arrival at St. John, two of the party very nearly died in consequence of eating too heartily, but Gyles had had such ample experience of fasting in his Indian life that he had learned wisdom, and by careful dieting suffered no evil consequences.

In the month of October, 1696, the quietude of the household at the Jemseg was disturbed by the appearance of the Massachusetts military expedition under Hawthorne and Church.

“We heard of them,” says Gyles, “some time before they came up the river by the guard that Governor Villebon had ordered at the river’s mouth. Monsieur the gentleman whom I lived with was gone to France, and Madam advised with me; she then desired me to nail a paper on the door of our house containing as follows:—

‘I intreat the General of the English not to burn my House or Barn, nor destroy my Cattle. I don’t suppose that such an army comes up this River to destroy a few Inhabitants but for the Fort above us. I have shewn kindness to the English captives as we were capacitated and have bought two Captives of the Indians and sent them to Boston, and have one now with us and he shall go also when a convenient opportunity presents and he desires it.’

“This done, Madam said to me, ‘Little English; we have shewn you kindness and now it lies in your power to serve or disserve us, as you know where our goods are hid in the woods and that Monsieur is not at home. I could have sent you to the Fort and put you under confinement, but my respect for you and assurance of your love to us have disposed me to confide in you, persuaded that you will not hurt us nor our affairs. And now if you will not run away to the English, 62 who are coming up the river, but serve our interest I will acquaint Monsieur of it at his return from France which will be very pleasing to him; and I now give my word that you shall have liberty to go to Boston on the first opportunity, if you desire it, or that any other favor in my power shall not be deny’d you.’

“I replied:—‘Madam, it is contrary to the nature of the English to requite evil for good. I shall endeavor to serve you and your interest. I shall not run to the English; but if I am taken by them shall willingly go with them and yet endeavor not to disserve you either in your persons or goods.’

“This said we embarked and went in a large boat and canoe two or three miles up an eastern branch of the river that comes from a large pond [Grand Lake] and in the evening sent down four hands to make discovery; and while they were sitting in the house the English surrounded it and took one of the four; the other three made their escape in the dark through the English soldiers and came to us and gave a surprising account of affairs.

“Again Madam said to me, ‘Little English, now you can go from us, but I hope you will remember your word!’ I said, ‘Madam, be not concerned, for I will not leave you in this strait.’ She said ‘I know not what to do with my two poor little Babes.’ I said ‘Madam, the sooner we embark and go over the great Pond the better.’ Accordingly we embarked and went over the Pond.

“The next day we spake with Indians, who were in a canoe and gave us an account that Chignecto-town was taken and burnt. Soon after we heard the great guns at Governor Villebon’s fort, which the English engaged several days, killed one man, and drew off and went down the river; for it was so late in the fall that had they tarried a few days longer in the river, they would have been frozen in for the winter.

“Hearing no report of the great guns for several days, I, with two others, went down to our house to make discovery, where we found our young lad who was taken by the English when they went up the river; for the general was so honorable that, on reading the note on our door, he ordered that the house and barn should not be burnt nor their cattle or other creatures killed, except one or two, and the poultry for their use, and at their return ordered the young lad to be put ashore.

“Finding things in this posture, we returned and gave Madam an account. She acknowledged the many favors which the English had shown, with gratitude, and treated me with great civility. The next spring Monsieur arrived from France in the man-of-war, who thanked me for my care of his affairs, and said that he would endeavor to fulfil what Madam had promised me.”

At the expiration of another year, peace having been proclaimed, a sloop came to Menagoueche with ransom for one Michael Coombs, and Gyles at once reminded the Sieur de Chauffours of his promise. That gentleman advised him to remain, offering to do for him as if he were his own child, but Gyles’ heart was set 63 upon going to Boston, hoping to find some of his relations yet alive. His master then advised him to go up to the fort and take leave of the Governor, which he did, and says the Sieur de Villebon spoke very kindly to him. Some days after he took an affecting leave of Madame d’Amours and his master went down to the mouth of the river with him to see him on board. A few days afterwards he arrived safely in Boston and was welcomed by his relatives as one risen from the dead.

Signature of John Gyles

After Villebon’s death his successor, de Brouillan, dismantled Fort Nachouac and the fort at the mouth of the St. John river and transferred the garrisons to Port Royal. The French families living on the river soon followed, as they found themselves without protection and did not care to remain in a situation so exposed. The houses abandoned by these settlers had been built upon the interval lands on the east side of the river between the Nashwaak and the Jemseg. The soil was very fertile, entirely free from rock or stone and little incumbered by forest. But the situation had its disadvantages—as it has still. In the spring of the year 1701 the settlers had a most unhappy experience in consequence of an extraordinarily high freshet. This event increased Brouillan’s aversion to the St. John, and he writes:

“The river is altogether impracticable for habitations, the little the people had there being destroyed this year by the freshets (inondations) which have carried off houses, cattle and grain. There is no probability that any families will desire to expose themselves hereafter to a thing so vexatious and so common on that river. Monsieur De Chauffours, who used to be the mainstay of the inhabitants and the savages, has been forced to abandon it and to withdraw to Port Royal, but he has no way to make a living there for his family, and he will unhappily be forced to seek some other retreat if the Court pays no consideration to the services which he represents in his petition, and does not grant him some position in order to retain him in this colony.”

The next year France and England were again at war and in the course of the conflict the fortunes of the d’Amours in Acadia were involved in utter ruin. The gentle spirit of Marguerite Guyon d’Amours did not survive the struggle, and with the close of the century she passed from the scene of her trials. Louis d’Amours, while serving his country in arms, was taken by the English, and for more than two years remained a prisoner in Boston. His brother, the Sieur de Clignancourt, served in various expeditions against the New Englanders and for several years is heard of in connection with military affairs. Eventually most of the surviving members of the d’Amours family removed from Acadia leaving behind them no abiding record of their sojourn on the St. John river.

Two of the daughters of Louis d’Amours were married at Port Royal while very young. Perhaps they possessed their mother’s winsome manners, perhaps, also the scarcity of marriageable girls in Acadia may have had something to do with 64 the matter; at any rate Charlotte d’Amours was but seventeen years of age when she married the young baron, Anselm de St. Castin. Their wedding took place at Port Royal in October, 1707, just two months after young St. Castin had greatly distinguished himself in the heroic and successful defense of Port Royal against an expedition from New England.[14] The event no doubt caused a flutter of excitement in the then limited society of Port Royal. The officiating priest was Father Antoine Gaulin, of the Seminary of Quebec, at which institution the young baron had finished his studies only three years before. Among the witnesses of the marriage were the Chevalier de Subercase, governor of Acadia; Bonaventure, who had for some years rendered signal service as commander of the “Envieux” and other warships; Mon. de la Boularderie, a French officer who had been wounded in the recent siege, and the bride’s farther, Louis d’Amours—who, signs his name D’Amour D’Echofour.

A few years later the Marquis de Vaudreuil entrusted to St. Castin the command of Acadia. After the treaty of Utrecht he retired to his ancestral residence on the banks of the Penobscot, where he lived on amicable terms with the English and kept the Penobscot Indians from making encroachments on their neighbors. His sister, Ursule de St. Castin, married his wife’s brother, a son of Louis d’Amours, a circumstance of interest not only as being a double marriage between the families of St. Castin and d’Amours, but also from the fact that the familiar titles of the d’Amours family seem to have been retained in this, the oldest branch of their family. In proof of this fact, the distinguished Acadian genealogist, Placid P. Gaudet, has shown that among the Acadians residing at the Islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon in 1767 (according to the census of that year), were Ursule de St. Castin, widow of the only son of Louis d’Amours, then 71 year of age, who resided with her son Joseph d’Amours, deChauffour, and his family. Joseph d’Amours was at that time 49 years of age, and his wife, Genevieve Roy, 44 years of age. They had seven children and the oldest sons were Joseph d’Amours, aged 19 years; Paul d’Amours de Freneuse, aged 16 years, and Louis d’Amours de Clignancourt, aged 13 years. As the father himself retained the title of de Chauffours it is evident that on his decease it would fall to his oldest son, Joseph.

Marie d’Amours, sister of the young Baroness de St. Castin, married Pierre de Morpain, the commander of a privateer of St. Domingo. It chanced that he had just brought a ship load of provisions to Port Royal when it was attacked in 1707, and he was able to render good service in its defence. Two years afterwards he was again at Port Royal and in the course of a ten days’ cruise took nine prizes and destroyed four more vessels. Being attacked by a coast-guard ship 65 of Boston a furious engagement ensued in which the English captain was killed with one hundred of his men and his vessel made a prize and taken to Port Royal. The commander, Subercase, highly commended Morpain’s bravery and persuaded him to remain at Port Royal where, on August 13, 1709, he married Marie d’Amours de Chauffours.

Louis d’Amours, Sieur de Chauffours, returned to Port Royal in 1706 after a two years captivity at Boston. On the 17th January, 1708, only a few weeks after the marriage of his daughter to St. Castin, he took to himself a wife in the person of Anne Comeau. The marriage was witnessed by Governor Subercase and other officials at Port Royal, also by his daughter Charlotte and her husband, the Baron de St. Castin, and by the widow of his brother the Sieur de Freneuse. It seems probable that his health had suffered through his long imprisonment, for very shortly after his second marriage he was stricken with an illness which proved fatal. The Recollet missionary, Justinien Durad, records in his parish register the burial in the cemetery of St. Jean Baptiste at Port Royal on May 19, 1708, of “Louis d’Amour d’Echauffour, aged not far from sixty years [should be 54 years], after an illness of three months, during which he received the sacraments with great edification.” And this brings us to the last incident in the romantic story of the brothers d’Amours.

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CHAPTER VIII.

The Old Medoctec Fort.

Twelve miles below the town of Woodstock there enters the River St. John, from the westward, a good sized tributary known as Eel River. It is a variable stream, flowing in the upper reaches with feeble current, over sandy shallows, with here and there deep pools, and at certain seasons almost lake-like expansions over adjoining swamps, but in the last twelve miles of its course it is transformed into a turbulent stream, broken by rapids and falls to such an extent that only at the freshet season is it possible to descend in canoes. The Indian name of Eel River is “Madawamkeetook,” signifying “rocky at its mouth.”

Plan of Old Medoctec Village

The Medoctec Fort stood on the west bank of the St. John four miles above the mouth of Eel River. It guarded the eastern extremity of the famous portage, five miles in length, by which canoes were carried in order to avoid the rapids that obstruct the lower part of Eel River. The rivers were nature’s highway for the aboriginal inhabitants and a glance at the map will show that Madawamkeetook, or Eel River, formed a very important link in the chain of communication with the western portion of ancient Acadie by means of the inland waters.

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In early days the three principal villages of the Maliseets were Medoctec on the St. John, Panagamsde on the Penobscot and Narantsouak on the Kennebec. In travelling from Medoctec to the westward the Indians passed from the lakes at the head of Eel River, by a short portage, to the chain of lakes at the head of the St. Croix from which there was communication by another short portage with the Mattawamkeag, an eastern branch of the Penobscot. In the course of the stirring events of the war-period in Acadia the Indian braves and their French allies made constant use of this route, and the Medoctec village became a natural rendezvous whenever anything of a warlike nature was afoot on the St. John. But Medoctec possessed many local advantages; the hunting in the vicinity was excellent, the rivers abounded in salmon, sturgeon, bass, trout and other fish, and the intervals were admirably adapted to the growth of Indian corn—which seems to have been raised there from time immemorial.

The reader by examining the accompanying plan will have a better idea of the situation of the old fort.

The site of this ancient Maliseet town is a fine plateau extending back from the river about fifty rods, then descending to a lower interval, twenty rods wide, and again rising quite abruptly sixty or seventy feet to the upland. The spring freshet usually covers the lower interval and the elevated plateau then becomes an island. The spot is an exceedingly interesting one, but, unfortunately for the investigator, the soil has been so well cultivated by the hands of thrifty farmers that little remains to indicate the outlines of the old fortifications. It is impossible to determine with absolute certainty the position of the stockade, or of the large wigwam, or council chamber, and other features commonly found in Indian towns of that period. The only place where the old breast-work is visible is along the south and east sides of the burial ground, where it is about two feet high. The burial ground has never been disturbed with the plough, the owners of the property having shown a proper regard for the spot as the resting place of the dead. It is, however, so thickly overgrown with hawthorn as to be a perfect jungle difficult to penetrate. Many holes have been dug there by relic hunters and seekers of buried treasure.

At the spot marked A* on the plan, between the grave-yard and the river, there is a mass of ashes and cinders with numberless bones scattered about. This is believed to be the site of the old council fire. Here the visitor will find himself in touch with the events of savage life of centuries ago. Here it was Governor Villebon harangued his dusky allies; here the horrible dog feast was held and the hatchet brandished by the warriors on the eve of their departure to deluge with blood the homes of New England; here at the stake the luckless captive yielded up his life and chanted his death-song; here the Sieur de Clignancourt bargained with the Indians, receiving their furs and peltry and giving in exchange French goods and trinkets, rum and brandy; here good Father Simon taught the savages the elements of the Christian faith and tamed as best he could the fierceness of their manners; here too when weary of fighting the hatchet was buried and the council fire glowed its brightest as the chiefs smoked their calumet of peace.

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Some have supposed the old Medoctec fort to have been quite an elaborate structure, with bastions, etc., but it was more probably only a rude Indian fortification with ditch and parapet surmounted by a stockade, within which was a strongly built cabin, in size about thirty by forty feet. Parkman in his “Jesuits in North America,” gives a good description of similar forts built by the Hurons and other tribes of Canada. The labor originally involved in the erection of the palisade must have been very great, and nothing but stern necessity is likely to have driven so naturally improvident a people to undertake it. The stout stakes were cut, pointed and firmly planted with no better implement than the stone axe of prehistoric times.

In the lower right hand corner of the plan will be found the spring referred to in the opening chapter[15] as the scene of the ludicrous Mohawk scare. Its distance from the old fort is about half a mile, and the situation and surroundings correspond so exactly with Gyles’ description that there is not the slightest doubt as to its identity. The water that flows from it never fails and is very clear and cool.

At the back of the lower interval is a curious gully, something like a broad natural roadway, which affords an easy ascent to the upland. This no doubt was the commencement of the famous portage by which bands of savages in ancient days took their way westward to devastate the settlements of eastern New England.

The small stream which enters the St. John a little above the old village site is known as Hay’s Creek, but in some of the early maps and land grants is called “Meductic river.” About a mile from its mouth there is a very beautiful cascade; the volume of water is not large but the height of the fall, 95 feet perpendicular, is remarkable, surpassing by at least ten feet the Grand Falls of the River St. John.

Our knowledge of the village Medoctec, and the ways of its people two centuries ago, is derived mainly from the narrative of John Gyles, the English lad who was captured at Pemaquid in 1689 and brought by his Indian master to the River St. John. At the time of his capture Gyles was a boy of about twelve years of age. He seems to have met with kindly treatment from his master though not from all the Indians. His first rude experience was at Penobscot fort where upon the arrival of the captives, some fifty in number, the squaws got together in a circle dancing and yelling, as was their custom on such occasions. Gyles says, “An old grimace squaw took me by the hand and leading me into the ring, some seized me by my hair and others by my feet, like so many furies; but, my master laying down a pledge, they released me. A captive among the Indians is exposed to all manner of abuses and to the extremest tortures, unless their master, or some of their master’s relatives lay down a ransom, such as a bag of corn, a blanket, or the like, which redeems them from their cruelty for that dance.”

After a long and wearisome journey the little captive at length neared his destination, the canoes were paddling down the Madawamkeetook (or Eel) river. When they reached the rapids they landed, and we shall let Gyles tell in his own words the story of the last stage of his journey and of his reception at Medoctec. He says: “We carried over a long carrying place to Medoctock Fort, which stands on a bank of St. John’s river. My Indian master went before and left me with an old Indian 69 and three squaws. The old man often said (which was all the English he could speak), ‘By and by come to a great Town and Fort.’ So I comforted myself in thinking how finely I should be refreshed when I came to this great town.

“After some miles travel we came in sight of a large Corn-field and soon after of the Fort, to my great surprise; for two or three squaws met us, took off my pack, and led me to a large hut or wigwam, where thirty or forty Indians were dancing and yelling round five or six poor captives. * * I was whirled in among them and we looked at each other with a sorrowful countenance; and presently one of them was seized by each hand and foot by four Indians, who swung him up and let his back with force fall on the hard ground, till they had danced (as they call it) round the whole wigwam, which was thirty or forty feet in length. * *

“The Indians looked on me with a fierce countenance, as much as to say it will be your turn next. They champed cornstalks, which they threw into my hat as I held it in my hand. I smiled on them though my heart ached. I looked on one and another, but could not perceive that any eye pitied me. Presently came a squaw and a little girl and laid down a bag of corn in the ring. The little girl took me by the hand, making signs for me to come out of the circle with them. Not knowing their custom, I supposed they designed to kill me and refused to go. Then a grave Indian came and gave me a pipe and said in English, ‘Smoke it,’ then he took me by the hand and led me out. My heart ached, thinking myself near my end. But he carried me to a French hut about a mile from the Indian Fort. The Frenchman was not at home, but his wife, who was a squaw, had some discourse with my Indian friend, which I did not understand. We tarried there about two hours, then returned to the Indian village, where they gave me some victuals. Not long after I saw one of my fellow-captives who gave me a melancholy account of their sufferings after I left them.

“After some weeks had passed,” Gyles continues, “we left this village and went up St. John’s river about ten miles to a branch called Medockscenecasis, where there was one wigwam. At our arrival an old squaw saluted me with a yell, taking me by the hair and one hand, but I was so rude as to break her hold and free myself. She gave me a filthy grin, and the Indians set up a laugh and so it passed over. Here we lived on fish, wild grapes, roots, etc., which was hard living for me.”

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.

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“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.

“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 71 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. 72 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 £40 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 73 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:

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SLATE-STONE TABLET.
A relic of the Indian Chapel of Saint Jean Baptiste. Found at Medoctec, June, 1890.

75

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 76 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.

BELL OF OLD INDIAN CHAPEL. (A. D. 1717.)

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 77 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 78 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.

Jean Loyard Fac-simile, A. D. 1708.

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.

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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 80 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, £100 currency for that of an adult male Indian, £50 for that of a woman or child, and for a captive £5 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.

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 81 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 82 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.”

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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 84 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.”

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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.

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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 87 mother of Anastasie St. Castin, “Mathilde Matacawando, princess indienne, fille de Matacawando, general-en-chef des indiens Abenakis.”[20]

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.”

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]

(From the Calnek-Savary History of Annapolis, by permission of the Hon. Judge Savary.)

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 88 89 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 90 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.”

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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.

Old Fort at Worden’s

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. 92 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.

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.

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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.

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.

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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.”

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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 96 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.” 97 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 98 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 99 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 100 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.

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 101 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.

Vergor was sent on shore and confined to a room in the house of Governor Cornwallis. The governor treated him courteously, heard his version of the affair and called a council meeting the next day to inquire into the circumstances of the case.

Vergor’s official report conveys the idea that Cornwallis was rather doubtful as to whether Rous had acted in a legitimate manner. The council held five or six meetings without coming to any decision. Meanwhile, with the governor’s approval, Vergor had a new main-mast cut and drawn from the woods by the crew of the St. Francis and arrangements were made to repair the damaged sails and shrouds. However the matter was soon afterwards taken out of Cornwallis’ hands by Captain Rous, who brought the case before the Admiralty Court, where the St. Francis was confiscated for engaging in illicit commerce in the province of his Britannic Majesty.

The French authorities took up the matter and sent a spirited remonstrance to the British ambassador, claiming that the transaction was opposed to every kind of law and demanding the restoration of the captured vessel with exemplary punishment of Captain Rous and the admiralty officers at Halifax, as well as orders on the part of his Britannic Majesty to all officers in his ships and colonies to observe the peace and to undertake nothing contrary thereto. A demand was also made that the English should in no way hinder the migration of the Acadians from the peninsula of Nova Scotia to the mainland or elsewhere. 102 It is needless to say that the British government did not comply with these demands and here was one of the many grievances that led to a renewal of the war a little later.

The Sieur de Vergor and the crew of the St. Francis were sent to Louisbourg, and the brigantine retained at Halifax as a prize on the ground that she was engaged in furnishing warlike munitions to the Indian enemy and interfering with British rights on the River St. John.

Cornwallis evidently felt the difficulties of his position very keenly. Halifax was yet in its infancy and in a comparatively defenceless state; Louisbourg and Quebec were supporting the French on the St. John and he had neither the men nor the money to oppose their proceedings. It seems, too, that he had been called to account for the large expenditure he had made in Nova Scotia. In his letters to the Lords of Trade he expresses himself as distracted between his desire to lessen expenses and his fears of losing the province. He was doubtful if, with the forces at his disposal, he could prevent the French from fortifying St. John and Beausejour, and he observes, with some irritation, that it has been said, “What has he to contend with? Three or four hundred Indians: it is a time of peace and no other enemy to fear.” So far from this being an adequate representation of the situation, he claimed the facts were that the French had taken possession of all Nova Scotia north of the Bay of Fundy, and had obliged many of the Acadians of the peninsula to remove thither and swear allegiance to the king of France; that the governor of Canada, through his emissary le Loutre, had offered a premium for every prisoner, head, or scalp of an Englishman; that the French had sent a ship of thirty-six guns and 300 men to the Bay of Fundy and had not only incited the Indians to hostilities but had behaved as if there were open war.

The French at Quebec, in view of the difficulty of keeping in touch with their posts on the north side of the Bay of Fundy, endeavored to improve the route of communication via the River St. John. During the previous war they had made a road from Riviere du Loup to Lake Temisquata, but the woods were growing up again and deep holes began to render it impracticable. Bigot, the intendant, therefore spent 600 or 700 livres in improving it, and in consequence couriers were able to come to Quebec in ten or twelve days from Shediac, and in eight from the River St. John. For the convenience of travelers three magazines of supplies were established, one at Riviere du Loup, one at Temisquata and one at the head of Madawaska river. The Marquis de la Jonquiere anticipated great advantages from the overland route of communication. He says in a letter to France, dated May 1, 1751: “We have made a road and are going to make some flat-bottomed conveyances so that in winter we will be able to transport by hauling over the snow the things most needed for the River St. John, and in summer we shall be able to make the transport by means of carts and flat-bottomed batteaux. These arrangements will be very useful supposing that the English continue to stop the vessels we send there.”

“As the English have boasted that they are going to establish themselves at the River St. John,” continues the Marquis, “I have given orders to the Sieur de Boishebert, who commands there, to repair the old fort named Menacoche 103 (Menagoueche) at the mouth of the river and to make there a barrack for the officers and 100 men in garrison with necessary magazines. The whole will be built of logs and I have very expressly recommended Boishebert, to have it done without expense to the King, or at least very little, and to that end he is to employ the soldiers and militia.”

This fort stood in Carleton opposite Navy Island on the point at the foot of King street, still called “Old Fort.” The Marquis la Jonquiere says the terraces of the fort were about twenty-five feet high outside and twelve inside and the defences were such as would enable the garrison to withstand a lively attack.

It was intended to place four cannons of 8 L. to cannonade any ships that might attack it. The chief difficulty of the situation was the scarcity of water. The fort was quite indispensable for if the French were to abandon the lower part of the St. John river the English would immediately take possession. The savages were instructed to annoy the English on all occasions and to plunder any of their ships that landed on their shores. The Marquis even went so far as to suggest that some of the Acadians, dressed and painted like the savages, should join in the attacks upon the English in order that the savages might act with greater courage. He says he cannot avoid consenting to what the savages do in keeping the English busy and frustrating their advance since the French were restrained from open hostilities by the peace. “I beg you to be assured, Monseigneur,” the Marquis continues, “that I will manage everything so as not to compromise myself and that I will not give up an inch of land that belongs to the king. It is time the limits should be settled and that we should know positively what we are to hold, so as to put an end to all hostilities and to avoid the immense expense that is occasioned.”

La Jonquiere, in the month of February, sent on the ice a detachment of fifty Canadians to strengthen the garrison at the mouth of the River St. John, and as the services of Boishebert were required elsewhere, the Sieur de Gaspe,[26] lieutenant of infantry, was sent to replace him and remained two years and a half in command.

The situation of the Acadians on the St. John at this time was a very unenviable one. Fort Boishebert, at the Nerepis, was a frail defence, and they were beginning to be straitened for supplies on account of the vigilance of the English cruisers. Father Germain wrote to the commandant at Annapolis Royal for leave to buy provisions there for the French living on the river, but the governor and council objected on the ground that French troops occupied the place and the Indians there were hostile. We gather some interesting information from a letter written at this time to the French minister by the Sieur de Gaspe, who was in command of the fort at the mouth of the Nerepis.[27]

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Fort de Nerepice, 16th June, 1751.

Monseigneur: On my arrival at this post on the River St. John, to which I am sent by my general, the Marquis de la Jonquiere, to relieve M. de Boishebert, the commandant of the place, I found at anchor the frigate “Fidele,” commanded by M. Maccarti, who was landing the provisions and other supplies sent for this post. The coming of this ship, Monseigneur, convinces me that you wish to hold possession of this post.

I have only just arrived here. I learn that the English threaten to come and build a fort at the mouth of the river near that which the Marquis de la Jonquiere has caused to be begun and has ordered me to continue. I will do my best to carry out his orders so far as circumstances permit, and the governor will furnish you with an account of his intentions.

In order to fix ourselves here we must keep up communication by way of La Baie Francaise [the Bay of Fundy] so as to furnish provisions; for the place cannot be supplied by land, especially if we must afford subsistence to those families of Acadians who are obliged to seek refuge on the river, as has been stated to me. I will receive them, Monseigneur, in order to settle the country, which at present has only twenty-eight French inhabitants,[28] who can give no assistance in 105 providing for the support of others, not having as yet enough cultivated land for themselves.

M. Maccarti, commander of the frigate, has taken note of the harbor [at St. John] on the other side of the fort, and of the other advantages, or disadvantages, we must encounter in this place, where I will endeavor to maintain the rights that we have and to oppose the Englishman if he attempts to build here.

I am with very profound respect, Monseigneur,

Your humble and very obedient servant,

GASPE.

WOODMAN’S POINT. (The Star shows the site of Fort Boishebert.)

Resolute attempts continued to be made to withdraw the Acadians from the peninsula of Nova Scotia, both by threats and persuasions, and the Marquis de la Jonquiere issued a proclamation to those living within the bounds of what is now New Brunswick, declaring that all who did not within eight days take the oath of allegiance in the militia companies would be considered as rebels and driven from their lands. The companies of militia were ordered to drill on Sundays and Feast days and to hold themselves in readiness to defend themselves at any moment. A few months later the governor of Canada was able to report that all the Acadian inhabitants who were upon the lands of the king had taken the oath of fidelity. Twelve blank commissions were sent from Quebec to be issued to those most capable of fulfilling the duties of officers in the militia.

At Fort Menagoueche the work did not progress as fast as anticipated. The workmen had no tools except axes, and the Sieur de Gaspe complained that he had not been able to make the soldiers of the garrison work. He says “they are very bad subjects” and he dared not compel them to work apprehending their desertion. The fort was surrounded by four bastions and, in addition to the barracks and magazines, it was proposed to construct a building of logs, squared with the axe, to accommodate the chaplain and surgeon and to serve as a guard house.

Fort Boishebert, at Woodman’s Point on the Nerepis, was a difficult post to maintain owing to the insufficiency of the troops at de Gaspe’s disposal. He complains that the savages had broken in the door of the cellar and he thought it advisable to abandon it altogether. The Marquis de la Jonquiere ordered him to consult with Father Germain on the subject and meanwhile to double the guard. The missionary wrote he was of the same opinion as the Sieur de Gaspe, and permission was accordingly given to abandon the fort and to transport the supplies wherever they might be needed.

The Jesuit missionary at Penobscot, Father Gounon, proposed to spend the winter at “Nerepisse” with his Indians, but the governor of Canada did not at all approve of it, fearing that if the savages were to abandon their village the English would advance from the westward towards the River St. John. He apprehended that if only a small number of Indians remained at Penobscot, and these without a missionary, the enemy would win them to their side and, as a direful result, the English would presently establish themselves at Matsipigouattons, advancing to Peskadamokkanti (or Passamaquoddy) and so by degrees to the River St. John.

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CHAPTER XI.

The French anxious to hold possession of the River St. John.

The situation on the St. John had now become a matter of international interest in view of the boundary dispute. The deliberations of the French and English commissioners began in 1750 and lasted four years. In preparing the French case the Marquis de la Galissonniere summoned to his aid the Abbes de L’Isle-Dieu and Le Loutre, who were both well informed as to the situation of Acadia and also filled with intense zeal for the national cause. We learn from letters of the Abbe de L’Isle-Dieu, written at Paris to the French minister early in the year 1753, that the two missionaries, in consultation with the Count de la Galissonniere, prepared several documents to elucidate the French case. Copies of these very interesting papers are now in the Canadian Archives at Ottawa, and have been published at Quebec in 1890 by the Abbe Casgrain in “Le Canada Francais.” The three most important of these documents are entitled:

1. Memorandum on the necessity of determining the limits of Acadia.

2. Plan for the settlement of the country in order to hasten the determining of the aforesaid limits.

3. Representation of the present state of the missions, French as well as Indians, in the southern part of New France in Canada.

In the first of these documents the following references are made to the River St. John:

“This post, so important to retain for France, has as commandant M. De Gaspe at Fort Menagoeck, built at the mouth of the river. The missionary on the river is Father Germain, Jesuit, who makes his residence at Ekauba (Aukpaque), distant about forty leagues from Fort Menagoeck.

“The savages of Father Germain’s mission are Marechites, and he has in addition the care of some French families settled on the river.

“Since the month of August last, Father Audren has been sent as assistant to Father Germain, but his assistance will be much more hurtful than beneficial to the mission if, in accordance with the plan of the Jesuit provincial, it is decided to recall Father Germain to Quebec to fill the office of superior general of the house of the Jesuits in Canada. This is not merely a groundless surmise, for the destination and nomination to office of Father Germain are already determined, at least Father Germain himself so states in his last letter to the Abbe l’Isle-Dieu, and he adds that he has made every possible representation to at least delay his recall. The Abbe l’Isle-Dieu, who perceives all the consequences of his removal, has already endeavored to prevent its being effected by the Provincial, and it is thought that, under the present circumstances, the court should as far as possible employ its authority to hinder the retirement of Father Germain from his mission, where the esteem and confidence, the respect and authority, that he has acquired over the savages and the few French who are found in his mission, give him a power that a young missionary could not have. Besides Father Germain joins to a disinterestedness without example, to piety the most sincere, and to a zeal indefatigable, consummate 107 experience. All this is necessary in connection with various operations that are now to be undertaken, in which a man of such qualifications can be of great assistance.

“At a distance of eighteen leagues from Father Germain’s post of duty is another called Medoctek, which is dependent on the same mission and served by the Jesuit father Loverga, who has been there nine months, and who has the care of a band of Marechites; but, in addition to the fact that Father Loverga is on the point of leaving, he would be useless there on account of his great age and it would be better to send there next spring Father Audren, since this mission is daily becoming more important, especially to the savages whose chief occupation is beaver hunting.

“The French inhabitants of the River St. John have suffered much by different detachments of Canadians and Indians, to the number of 250 or 300 men, commanded by M. de Montesson, a Canadian officer, whom they have been obliged to subsist, and for that purpose to sacrifice the grain and cattle needed for the seeding and tillage of their own fields. In the helpless position in which these inhabitants find themselves, it is thought that in order to afford them sufficient relief it would be advisable that the Court should send them immediately at least 1,000 barrels of flour, and the same quantity annually for some time, both for their own subsistence and for that of the garrison and the Indians. It would be well also to send them each year about 250 barrels of bacon; this last sort of provision being limited to this quantity because it is supposed, or at least hoped, there will be sent from Quebec some Indian corn and peas as well as oil and fat for the savages.”

The reference to the St. John river region in the document from which this extract is taken, concludes by strongly recommending that the supply of flour and bacon should be sent, not to the store houses at Quebec and Louisbourg, but directly to St. John, where it would arrive as safely as at any other port and with less expense to the king and much more expedition to the inhabitants.

It may be well now to pause in the narration of events to look a little more closely into the situation on the River St. John at the time of the negotiations between the rival powers with regard to the limits of Acadia.

The statement has been made in some of our school histories, “Acadia was ceded to the English by the treaty of Utrecht, in 1713, and has remained a British possession ever since.” The statement is, to say the least, very misleading, so far as the St. John river country is concerned, for the French clung tenaciously to this territory as a part of the dominions of their monarch until New France passed finally into the hands of their rivals by the treaty of Paris in 1763.

There was no part of Acadia that was more familiar to the French than the valley of the River St. John, and the importance attached to the retention of it by France is seen very clearly in a memorandum, prepared about this time for the use of the French commissioners on the limits of Acadia. There can be no doubt that the Abbes de L’Isle-Dieu and Le Loutre had a hand in the preparation of this document, which is an able statement of the case from the French point of view. They assert “that the British pretensions to ownership of the territory north of the Bay of Fundy have no foundation. That the French have made settlements at various places along the shores of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where they have always lived peaceably and quietly under the rule of the French king. This is also 108 the state there at present, and the English desire to change it, without having acquired any new right of possession since the treaty of Utrecht, and after forty years of quiet and peaceable possession on the part of the French. It is the same with regard to the River St. John and that part of Canada which adjoins the Bay of Fundy. The French, who were settled there before the treaty of Utrecht, have continued to this day to hold possession under the jurisdiction and sovereignty of the King of France, enjoying meanwhile the fruit of their labors. It is not until more than forty years after the treaty of Utrecht that the English commissioners have attempted, by virtue of a new and arbitrary interpretation of the treaty, to change and overturn all the European possessions of America; to expel the French, to deprive them of their property and their homes, to sell the lands they have cultivated and made valuable and to expose Europe by such transactions to the danger of seeing the fires of war rekindled. Whatever sacrifices France might be disposed to make, in order to maintain public tranquility, it would be difficult indeed for her to allow herself to be deprived of the navigation of the River St. John by ceding to England the coast of the continent along the Bay of Fundy.”

Continuing their argument, the writers of the document state: “That it is by the River St. John that Quebec maintains her communication with Isle Royal and Isle St. Jean, [Cape Breton and Prince Edward Island], and also with Old France, during the season that the navigation of the River St. Lawrence is impracticable; and as this is the only way of communication for a considerable part of the year, possession of the route is indispensably necessary to France. All who have any special knowledge of Canada agree on this head, and their testimony finds confirmation in an English publication that lately appeared in London, entitled ‘The Present State of North America,’ in which the writer sounds the tocsin of war against France and, although partiality, inspired by love of country, has led him into many errors, he does not seek to disguise how important it is to deprive France of the right of navigation of the River St. John, which affords the only means of communication with Quebec during the winter. ‘The French,’ says the English author, ‘have often sent supplies and merchandise from Old France to Quebec, both in time of peace and of war, by the River St. John, so as to avoid the difficulties and risks of navigation by the River St. Lawrence. * * If we suffer them to remain in possession of that river they will always have an open communication between France and Canada during the winter, which they could have only from May to October by the River St. Lawrence.’

“This testimony makes us feel more and more how essential it is for France to keep possession of the River St. John so as to have communication with Quebec and the rest of Canada during the seven months of the year that the St. Lawrence is not navigable. The communication which the English pretend they require by land between New England and Nova Scotia, along the coast of the Etchemins[29] and the Bay of Fundy, is only a vain pretext to mask their real motive, which is to deprive France of a necessary route of communication.

“Considering the length of the road by land from New England to Port Royal and Acadia, the obstacles to be encountered in the rivers that fall into the sea along 109 the coast, which will be more difficult to cross near the mouth; all these circumstances render the communication by land a veritable chimera; the more so that the way by sea from the remotest part of New England to Port Royal is so short and so easy, while that by land would be long, painful and difficult. We may be perfectly sure that if the English were masters of all the territory they claim they would never journey over it, and the only advantage they would find would be to deprive the French of a necessary route of communication. We do not fear to say that the object of the English is not confined to the country they claim under the name of Acadia. Their object is to make a general invasion of Canada and thus to pave the way to universal empire in America.”

It is little to be wondered at that the French nation should have been very reluctant to part with their control of the St. John river. From the days of its discovery by Champlain it had become of increasing importance to them as a means of communication between the widely separated portions of New France. But more than this the river was in many of its features unrivelled in their estimation. Its remarkable falls near the sea, its massive walls of limestone at “the narrows” just above—which the French called “cliffs of marble”—its broad lake-like expansions, its fertile intervals and islands, the fish that swarmed in its waters and the game that abounded in its forests, its towering pines and noble elms were all known to them and had been noted by their early explorers. Champlain, L’Escarbot, Denys, Biard, La Hontan, Cadillac and Charlevoix had described in glowing words the wealth of its attractions. It is worth while in this connection to quote the description which Lamothe Cadillac penned in 1693—just two hundred and ten years ago:

River St. John.—“The entrance of this river is very large. Two little islands are seen to the left hand, one called l’Ile Menagoniz (Mahogany Island) and the other l’Ile aux Perdrix (Partridge Island), and on the right hand there is a cape of which the earth is as red as a red Poppy. The harbor is good; there is no rock and it has five or six fathoms of water.

Fort.—There is a fort of four bastions here, which needs to be repaired. It is very well situated and could not be attacked by land for it is surrounded by water at half tide. Less than an eighth of a league above there are two large rocks, perpendicular, and so near that they leave only space sufficient for a ship cleverly to pass.

Gouffre. Just here there is a fall, or abyss (gouffre), which extends seven or eight hundred paces to the foot of two rocks. There is a depth of eighteen fathoms of water here. I think that I am the only one who has ever sounded at this place. The falls are no sooner passed than the river suddenly expands to nearly half a league. It is still very deep and a vessel of fifty or sixty tons could ascend thirty leagues, but it would be necessary to take care to pass the falls when the sea is level, or one would certainly be lost there. It must be conceded that this is the most beautiful, the most navigable and the most highly favored river of Acadia. The most beautiful, on account of the variety of trees to be found, such as butternut, cherry, hazel, elms, oaks, maples and vines.

Masts.—There is a grove of pine on the boarders of a lake near Gemseq (Jemseg), fifteen leagues from the sea, where there might be made the finest masts, and they could be conducted into the St. John by a little river which falls in there.

Pewter mine.—Near the same lake there in a mine of pewter. I have seen the Indians melt and manufacture from it balls for their hunting.

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It is most navigable, by reason of its size and depth and the number of lakes and rivers that empty themselves into it. The most highly favored, by reason of its greater depth of fertile soil, of its unrivalled salmon fishing, and of its reaching into the country to a depth of eighty leagues. The bass, the trout, the gaspereau, the eel, the sturgeon and a hundred other kinds of fishes are found in abundance. The most highly favored, also, because it furnishes in abundance beavers and other fur-bearing animals. I have ascended this river nearly one hundred and fifty leagues in a bark canoe. I pass in silence other attractions that it possesses for I must not be too long.

One single thing is to be regretted, which is that in the most beautiful places, where the land and meadows are low, they are inundated every spring time after the snow melts. The continuance of this inundation (or freshet) is because the waters cannot flow out sufficiently fast on account of those two rocks, of which I have spoken, which contract the outlet of the river. It would not be very difficult to facilitate the flow of the waters. It would only be necessary to mine the rock that is to the right hand on entering, and which seems to want to tumble of itself. It is undeniable that the waters would flow forth more freely, and the falls would be levelled, or at least diminished, and all this flat country protected from inundation.

Forts of the Micmacs and Maliseets.—Thirty leagues up the river there is a fort of the Micmacs,[30] at a place called Naxouak, and at thirty leagues further up there is one of the Maliseets. This latter nation is fairly warlike. They are well made and good hunters. They attend to the cultivation of the soil and have some fine fields of Indian corn and pumpkins. Their fort is at Medoctek.

At forty leagues still farther up there is another fort which is the common retreat of the Kanibas, or Abenakis, when they are afraid of something in their country. It is on the bank of a little river which flows into the St. John, and which comes from a lake called Madagouasca, twelve leagues long and one wide. It is a good country for moose hunting.”

In another edition of his narrative Cadillac says that Madawaska lake and river turn northward so those who journey from Acadia to Quebec go across the portage from the lake to the River St. Lawrence, opposite Tadoussac. This route was from very early times considered by the French as the easiest and best and was greatly valued by them as a means of communication both in time of war and in time of peace.

Cadillac’s idea of protecting the low lying lands of the St. John river from inundation during the spring freshet, by enlarging the outlet at the falls, has been revived on more than one occasion. For example, sixty years later we find the following note in the statement prepared by the missionaries Le Loutre and de L’Isle-Dieu for the use of the commissioners engaged in the attempt to settle the boundaries of Acadia—:

“The River St. John is very extensive and the soil is excellent, easily cultivated, capable of supporting at least 1,000 families, but there exists an inconvenience which up to the present prevents the place from being inhabited as it should be. This inconvenience is due to the frequency of the floods occasioned by a fall where the waters do not discharge themselves fast enough and in consequence flow back upon the lands above, which they inundate. But if the proposed colony be established 111 at this place it would be possible to give vent to the flood by removing a small obstruction [portage][31] less than an eighth of a league wide; this would certainly prevent the inundations, dry up the lands and render cultivation practicable.”

A bill was once introduced into the House of Assembly for the purpose of enabling the promoters to remove, by blasting, the rocks that obstruct the mouth of the river and thus allow the waters to flow more freely. It was claimed that many benefits would follow, chiefly that the lumbermen would be able to get their logs and deals to market more expeditiously and at less cost, and that the farmers, of Maugerville, Grand Falls and Sheffield would be saved the serious inconveniences occasioned by the annual freshet. However, popular sentiment was strongly opposed to the project. People speedily realized that not only would the beauty of the river be destroyed but that navigation would be rendered precarious and uncertain. The project, in fact, would have changed our noble St. John into a tidal river, unsightly mud flats alternating with rushing currents of turbid waters, while so far as protection of the low-lying lands goes the remedy would in all probability have proved worse than the disease, for instead of an annual inundation there would have been an inundation at every high tide. Moreover the harbor at St. John would have been ruined. There can be no secure harbor at the mouth of a great tidal river where swirling tides pour in and out twice in the course of every twenty-four hours.

Cadillac mentions the convenient route to Quebec via the River St. John. The Indians had used it from time immemorial and the French followed their example, as at a later period did the English. The missionaries Le Loutre and de L’Isle-Dieu in the statement prepared by them in 1753, already mentioned, say:—

“It is very easy to maintain communication with Quebec, winter and summer alike, by the River St. John, and the route is especially convenient for detachments of troops needed either for attack or defence. This is the route to be taken and followed:—

“From Quebec to the River du Loup.

From the River du Loup by a portage of 18 leagues to Lake Temiscouata.

From Lake Temiscouata to Madaoechka [Madawaska.]

From Madaoechka to Grand Falls.

From Grand Falls to Medoctek.

From Medoctek to Ecouba [Aukpaque], post of the Indians of the Jesuit missionary, Father Germain.

From Ecouba to Jemsec.

From Jemsec, leaving the River St. John and traversing Dagidemoech [Washa demoak] lake ascending by the river of the same name, thence by a portage of 6 leagues to the River Petkoudiak.

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From Petkoudiak to Memeramcouk descending the river which bears that name.

From Memeramcouk by a portage of three leagues to Nechkak [Westcock].

From Nechkak to Beausejour.”

By this route the troops commanded by the French officers Marin and Montesson arrived at Beausejour in less than a month from the time of their departure from Quebec, the distance being about 500 miles.

In the war of 1812 the 104th regiment, raised in this province, left St. John on the 11th day of February and on the 27th of the same month crossed the St. Lawrence on the ice and entered Quebec 1,000 strong, having accomplished a march of 435 miles in midwinter in sixteen days and, says Col. Playfair, without the loss of a man.

In the year 1837 the 43d Light Infantry marched from this province to Quebec in the month of December in almost precisely the same time, but the conditions were distinctly more favorable; the season was not nearly so rigorous, roads and bridges had been constructed over the greater portion of the route and supplies could be obtained to better advantage. Yet it is said the great Duke of Wellington observed of this march of the 43d Light Infantry, “It is the only achievement performed by a British officer that I really envy.” How much greater a feat was the march of the gallant hundred-and-fourth whose men, poorly fed and insufficiently clad, passed over the same route on snowshoes in the middle of a most inclement winter, a quarter of a century before, to defend Canadian homes from a foreign invader?

During the negotiations between the French and English commissioners on the boundaries of Acadia, the suggestion was made by the Abbes de L’Isle-Dieu and Le Loutre, that if it should be found impossible to hold all the lands north of the Bay of Fundy for France the St. John river region should be left undivided and in possession of its native inhabitants. As early as the year 1716 the Marquis de Vaudreuil had stated to the French government: “The English wish to seize upon the lands that the Abenakis and Indians of the River St. John occupy, under the pretext that this land forms part of Acadia ceded to them by the king. The Indians so far from withdrawing on this account have answered that this land has always belonged to them, and that they do not consider themselves subjects of the French, but only their allies.”

Vaudreuil admits that he encouraged this idea, and that his proposal to build a church for the Maliseets at Medoctec had as one of its principal objects the cementing of their alliance with the French and providing them with another inducement to cling to the locality where their church stood, and not by any means to abandon their old fort and village.

In 1749 Charlevoix, the well known Jesuit historian, writes the French minister at Versailles not to delay the settlement of the boundaries, for the English, who are colonizing and fortifying Acadia, will soon be in a position to oppress their Indian allies, the Abenakis (Maliseets), if steps are not taken in season to prevent them and to guarantee to the Indians peaceable possession of their country, where it is necessary they should remain in order to defend it against the English, otherwise there would be nothing to hinder the English from penetrating as far as the French settlements nearest Quebec; besides 113 where would the Abenakis go if they were obliged to abandon their country? “In short,” Charlevoix adds, “it seems to me certain that if time is given the English to people Acadia before the limits are agreed on, they will not fail to appropriate all the territory they wish, and to secure possession by strong forts which will render them masters of all that part of New France south of Quebec; and if this should be done it will certainly follow that the Abenakis will join them, will abandon their religion, and our most faithful allies will become our most dangerous enemies.”

Of all the leaders of the French in Acadia, none was more active and influential than the Abbe Le Loutre. But while his energy, ability and patriotism are undoubted, his conduct has been the subject of severe criticism not only on the part of his adversaries but of the French themselves. He did not escape the censure of the Bishop of Quebec for meddling to so great an extent in temporal affairs, but the Bishop’s censure is mild compared to that of an anonymous historian, who writes: “Abbe Loutre, missionary of the Indians in Acadia, soon put all in fire and flame, and may be justly deemed the scourge and curse of this country. This wicked monster, this cruel and blood thirsty Priest, more inhumane and savage than the natural savages, with a murdering and slaughtering mind, instead of an Evangelick spirit, excited continually his Indians against the English. * * * All the French had the greatest horror and indignation at Le Loutre’s barbarous actions; and I dare say if the Court of France had known them they would have been far from approving of them.”

It is only fair to the Abbe Le Loutre to mention that the officer who criticizes him in this rude fashion was the Chevalier Johnston, an Englishman by birth and a puritan by religion and as such prejudiced against the French missionary. Johnston, however, served at Louisbourg on the side of France with great fidelity in the capacity of lieutenant, interpreter and engineer.

Father Germain, the missionary to the Indians and French on the St. John, was a man of courage and of patriotic impulses. He deemed himself justified in making every possible effort to keep the English from gaining a foothold north of the Bay of Fundy, but it does not appear that he ever incited the Indians to indulge their savage instincts, or that he was guilty of the duplicity and barbarity that have been so freely laid to the charge of the Abbe Le Loutre. It is evident, moreover, that the Marquis de la Galissonniere and his aides were particularly anxious to retain the services of Germain. He had been twelve or fourteen years in charge of his mission on the St. John, and during most of that time had labored single handed. Recently Father Loverja had come to stay with the Maliseets of Medoctec in consequence of their urgent request for a missionary, their village being eighteen leagues from Aukpaque, where Father Germain was stationed. Another missionary named Audren (or Andrein) had just arrived to replace Germain, who had been nominated superior of the house of Jesuits at Quebec. The Abbes de L’Isle-Dieu and Le Loutre endeavored to convince the French minister that it was very undesirable, under existing circumstances, that Germain should be removed, as he was valued and beloved by his people—French and Indians alike—and his services 114 could not well be spared. There was no chaplain at the fort, lately re-established at the mouth of the river, and Loverja’s age and infirmities would oblige him shortly to remove to Quebec. The two missionaries would then have sufficient occupation, especially as they would have frequently to repair on the one hand to Medoctec, and on the other to the garrison of Fort Menagoueche. In consequence of these strong objections to his retirement it was decided by Father Germain’s superiors to allow him to remain at his mission.

The Abbe de L’Isle-Dieu wrote the French minister, early the next year, that there was neither priest nor chapel at Fort Menagoueche, and that a missionary was needed on the lower part of the river. Father Germain had now for a long time been missionary to the Maliseets at Aukpaque (l’isle d’Ecouba) and having more than eighty families under his care found the fort too far removed to give due attention to the wants of the garrison.

The situation on the St. John at this time was not viewed with complacency by the authorities of Nova Scotia and New England. On the 18th October, 1753, Governor Hopson, of Nova Scotia, wrote the Lords of Trade and Plantations that he had been informed by Governor Shirley, of Massachusetts, that since the arrival of a French missionary at the River St. John the conduct of the inhabitants had altered for the worse; the French had now 100 families settled on the river, had greatly strengthened the old fort at its mouth with guns and men, and had built a new one. Fort Boishebert, some miles up the river armed with twenty-four guns and garrisoned by 200 regulars. He also says a French frigate of thirty guns lay behind Partridge Island waiting for a cargo of furs, and that the French seemed to be entirely masters of the river.

It is not unlikely this statement is exaggerated, for the following summer Lieut.-Governor Lawrence says the French had at St. John only a small fort with three bad old guns, one officer and sixteen men; while of Indians there were 160 fighting men.

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CHAPTER XII.

The Acadians become the Football of Fortune.

As time went on the Acadians became impatient at the delay in settling the limits of Acadia. In vain they were annually told the boundaries would soon be determined, all negotiation proved fruitless. Those who had crossed the isthmus into what is now the County of Westmorland found themselves undecided as to their future course. Their inclination—a very natural one—seems to have been to return to the fields they had abandoned, but the Abbe Le Loutre urged them to remain under French rule as the only way of enjoying unmolested the privileges of their religion. For their encouragement and protection Fort Beausejour was erected.

In the month of January, 1754, Lieut.-Governor Lawrence informed the Lords of Trade that the French were hard at work making settlements on the St. John and were offering great inducements to the Acadians of the peninsula to join them. He could not prevent some families from going, but the greater part were too much attached to their lands to leave them. In the opinion of Lawrence it was absolutely necessary, for the development and control of Acadia as an English colony, that the forts of Beausejour and the mouth of the River St. John should be destroyed, and the French driven from the settlements they were establishing north of the Bay of Fundy. Although the Indians had committed no hostilities for two years, he believed no dependence could be placed on their quietude so long as the French were allowed to exercise their disturbing influence among them.

Lawrence now began to consult with the Governor of Massachusetts, Sir William Shirley, about the removal of the Acadians from Chignecto and the River St. John. He proposed that two thousand troops should be raised in New England, which with the regular troops already in Nova Scotia would be sufficient for the business, the command of the expedition to be given to Colonel Robert Monckton. It was intended the expedition should sail from Boston about the 20th of April, but it was delayed more than a month awaiting the arrival of arms from England, and it was not until early in June that it arrived at Chignecto. To aid the expedition Captain Rous[32] was sent with a small squadron to the Bay of Fundy. The details of the seige of Fort Beausejour need not here be given, suffice it to say that after four days’ bombardment the Sieur de Vergor was obliged, on the 16th June, to surrender to Colonel Monckton.

Captain Rous, with three twenty-gun ships and a sloop, immediately sailed for St. John, where it was reported the French had two ships of thirty-six guns each. He anchored outside the harbor and sent his boats to reconnoitre. They found no 116 French ships and on their appearance Boishebert, the officer in command of the fort, burst his cannon, blew up his magazine, burned everything he could and marched off. The next morning the Indians invited Captain Rous ashore and gave him the strongest assurances of their desire to make peace with the English, saying that they had refused to assist the French.

A few weeks after Boishebert had been thus obliged to abandon Fort Menagouche there occurred the tragic event known as the “Acadian Expulsion.” The active agents employed by Lawrence and Shirley in this transaction were Colonel Monckton and his subordinates, of whom Lieut.-Colonel John Winslow and Capt. Murray were the most actively engaged. These officers evidently had little relish for the task imposed on them. Winslow in his proclamation to the inhabitants of Grand Pre, Minas, etc., says: “The duty I am now upon, though necessary, is very disagreeable to my natural make and temper.” The hostility of the New England troops to the Acadians added to the difficulties of their officers. Murray wrote to Winslow: “You know our soldiers hate them, and if they can find a pretence to kill them they will.”

Of recent years there has been much controversy concerning the expulsion of the Acadians and widely differing opinions have been expressed on the one hand by Parkman, Murdoch, Hannay, Hind and Aikins and on the other by Casgrain, Richard, Porier, Gaudet and Savary. Upon the merits of this controversy it is not necessary to enter, and it will be more in keeping with our present subject to refer to the Acadian Expulsion only as it concerns the history of events on the River St. John.

The position of the Sieur de Boishebert after the capture of Beausejour and the fort at St. John was a very embarassing one. His letter to the Chevalier de Drucour, who commanded at Louisbourg, is of interest in this connection.

“At the River St. John, 10 October, 1755.

“Monsieur,—As the enemy has constantly occupied the route of communication since the fall of Beausejour, I have not had the honor of informing you of the state of affairs at this place.

“I was compelled to abandon the fort—or rather the buildings—that I occupied on the lower part of the river in accordance with orders that I had received in case of being attacked. I have beaten a retreat as far as the narrows (detroits) of the river, from which the enemy has retired, not seeing any advantage sufficient to warrant an attempt to drive me from thence.

“I have succeeded, sir, in preventing the inhabitants of this place from falling under the domination of the English.

“Monsieur de Vaudreuil, approving this manoeuvre, has directed me to establish a temporary camp (camp volant) sit such place as I may deem most suitable. Even were I now to go to Quebec he could not give me any assistance, all the troops and militia being in the field.

“I received on the 16th of August a letter from the principal inhabitants living in the vicinity of Beausejour beseeching me to come to their assistance. I set out the 20th with a detachment of 125 men, French and Indians.”

Shortly after his arrival at the French settlements on the Petitcodiac, Boishebert had a sharp engagement with a party of New England troops who had been sent there to burn the houses of the Acadians and who were about to set fire to their chapel. The conflict occurred near Hillsboro, the shiretown of Albert county, 117 and resulted in a loss to the English of one officer and five or six soldiers killed, and a lieutenant and ten soldiers wounded, while Boishebert’s loss was one Indian killed and three wounded. He returned shortly afterwards to the River St. John accompanied by thirty destitute families with whom he was obliged to share the provisions sent him from Quebec.

Evidently the Marquis de Vaudreuil relied much upon the sagacity and courage of his lieutenant on the St. John river in the crisis that had arisen in Acadia. In his letter to the French colonial minister, dated the 18th October, 1755, he writes that the English were now masters of Fort Beausejour and that Boishebert, the commander of the River St. John, had burnt his fort, not being able to oppose the descent of the enemy. He had given him orders to hold his position on the river and supplies had been sent him for the winter. He hoped that Father Germain, then at Quebec, would return without delay to his Indian mission and act in concert with Boishebert. The marquis summarises his reasons for wishing to maintain the post on the River St. John as follows:—

“1. As long as I hold this river and have a detachment of troops there I retain some hold upon Acadia for the King, and the English cannot say that they have forced the French to abandon it.

2. I am assured of the fidelity of the Acadians and the Indians, who otherwise might think themselves abandoned and might yield to the English.

3. Mon. de Boishebert will rally the Acadians from far and near and will try to unite them and their families in one body. These Acadians, so reunited, will be compelled for their own security actively to resist the enemy if he presents himself.

4. Mon. de Boishebert will in like manner be engaged rallying the savages and forming of them a body equally important, and by corresponding with M. Manach, the missionary at Miramichi, will be able, in case of necessity, to unite the savages of that mission to his own in opposing the advance of the enemy.

5. He will be able constantly to have spies at Beausejour and Halifax, and to take some prisoners who will inform him of the situation and strength of the English.

6. He will be able to organize parties of Acadians and savages to harras the enemy continually and hinder his obtaining firewood for the garrison at Beausejour (Fort Cumberland).

7. By holding the River St. John I can at all times have news from Louisbourg.”

The Marquis adds that even if France failed to establish her claim to the territory north of the Bay of Fundy and should be forced to abandon it he hoped, by the aid of Boishebert and the missionaries, to withdraw the Acadians and their Indian allies to Canada. The Acadians north of the isthmus he estimated were about two thousand (perhaps 3,000 would have been nearer the truth) of whom seven hundred were capable of bearing arms. “It would be vexatious,” adds the Marquis, “if they should pass to the English.”

After Boishebert was forced to retire from the mouth of the River St. John he established himself at a “detroit,” or “narrows,” up the river, where he constructed 118 a small battery, two guns of a calibre of 2L., and twelve swivel guns. The following summer he entertained no fears as to his security. He had made an intrenchment in a favorable situation and hoped if the English should venture an attack to have the best of it. “I have particularly recommended him,” writes the governor, “not to erect any fortifications which might in case of some unfortunate event be hurtful to us, to retain always a way of retreat and to use every effort to harass the enemy ceaselessly, day and night, until he shall have reduced him to the stern necessity of re-embarking.”

There are but two places on the lower St. John to which the word “detroit” could apply, namely the “Narrows” just above Indiantown, near the mouth of the river, and the narrows at “Evandale,” a little above the mouth of the Bellisle[33]; the latter is the more probable location. The situation as a point of observation and for defence of the settlements above could not be excelled, while at the same time it was not sufficiently near the sea to attract attention on the part of an English cruiser. It is therefore quite probable that the old fort at Worden’s, erected during the war of 1812, the remains of which are in a fair state of preservation and are often visited by tourists, was built on the site occupied by Boishebert’s “Camp Volant” of 1755, afterwards fortified by him and for some little time his headquarters.

From the month of October to the end of December, 1755, nearly seven thousand of the unfortunate Acadians were removed from their homes and dispersed amongst the American colonies along the Atlantic seaboard as far south as Georgia and the Carolinas. A fleet of two ships, three snows, and a brigantine, under convoy of the “Baltimore” sloop of war, sailed from Annapolis Royal on the morning of the 8th December. On board the fleet were 1,664 exiles of all ages whose destinations were Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York and South Carolina. One of the snows[34] had her mainmast broken in a heavy gale just before her arrival at Annapolis and Charles Belliveau, a ship-builder and navigator of experience, was employed to replace the broken mast, which he did in a workmanlike manner; but upon his claiming payment for the job the captain laughed in his face. Belliveau, indignant at such treatment, seized his axe to cut down the mast and this brought the captain to terms.

It chanced that shortly afterwards Belliveau and a number of his unfortunate compatriots (32 families, 225 persons in all) were placed on board this vessel to be transported to South Carolina. The “Baltimore” only went as far as New York and the snow, with Belliveau and his friends on board, was left to pursue the rest of her voyage unattended; not, however, without a parting caution on the part of the commander of the “Baltimore” to her captain to be careful, for amongst his 119 captives were same good seamen. This advice was not heeded as the sequel will show.

The voyage proved a tedious one and from time to time small parties of the Acadians were allowed on deck for air and exercise. A plot was laid to seize the ship. Accordingly six of the stoutest and boldest lay in readiness, and when those on deck were ordered below and the hatchway opened to allow them to descend, Belliveau and his friends sprang from the hold and in the twinkling of an eye were engaged in a desperate struggle with the crew. Reinforced by those who followed, the master of the vessel and his crew of eight men were soon overpowered and tied fast.

Belliveau, the leader of the spirited encounter, now took the helm and the course of the ship was reversed. Under full sail she careened to the wind until her former master cried to Belliveau that he would certainly break the main mast. He replied: “No fear of that; I made it and it is a good one.”

In due time the vessel reached the Bay of Fundy without other adventure than a trifling conflict with an English privateer, which was beaten off without loss. The French soon after released and put on shore the English captain and his crew, and on the 8th day of January anchored safely in the harbor of St John.[35]

The names of most of the families who arrived at St. John in this ship have been preserved, including those of Charles Belliveau, Charles Dugas, Denis St. Sceine, Joseph Guilbault, Pierre Gaudreau, Denis St. Sceine, jr., M. Boudrault and two families of Grangers.

Charles Belliveau, the hero of the adventure just related, was born at the Cape at Port Royal about 1696; he married in 1717 Marie Madeleine Granger and had eight children whose descendants today are numerous.

On the 8th of February, 1756, an English schooner entered the harbor of St. John, under French colors, having on board a party of Rangers disguised as French soldiers. Governor Lawrence writes to Shirley: “I had hopes by such a deceit, not only to discover what was doing there but to bring off some of the St. John’s Indians. The officer found there an English ship, one of our transports that sailed from Annapolis Royal with French Inhabitants aboard bound for the continent (America), but the inhabitants had risen upon the master and crew and carried the ship into that harbor; our people would have brought her off, but by an accident they discovered themselves too soon, upon which the French set fire to the ship.”

We learn from French sources that on this occasion the captain of the English vessel made some French signals and sent his shallop on shore with four French deserters, who announced that they had come from Louisbourg with supplies and that other ships were on their way with the design of re-establishing the fort at the mouth of the river and so frustrating a similar design on the part of the English. The story seemed so plausible that an unlucky Acadian went on board 120 the ship to pilot her to her anchorage, but no sooner was he on board than the captain hoisted his own proper flag and discharged his artillery upon the people collected on shore. Belliveau and the people who had lately escaped transportation to South Carolina were living in huts on shore and perceiving that the English were approaching with the design of carrying off the vessel in which they had escaped, they succeeded in landing some swivel guns and having placed them in a good position made so lively a fire upon the enemy that they soon abandoned the idea of a descent and returned to Annapolis Royal.

The sole result, of this bit of strategy seems to have been the capture of one poor Frenchman from whom the English learned that the Indians had gone, some to Passamaquoddy and others with Boishebert to Cocagne, also that there was “a French officer and about 20 men twenty-three miles up the River at a place called St. Anns.”

The Indians who had gone to Passamaquoddy managed to surprise at night a large schooner lying at anchor in Harbor L’Elang, bound from Boston to Annapolis Royal with provisions for the garrison. The schooner carried six guns and had on board a crew of ten men besides her captain and an artillery officer of the Annapolis garrison. The vessel was carried to St. John and hidden on the lower part of the river. The savages pillaged her so completely that on her arrival there remained only a small quantity of bacon and a little rum. The prisoners were sent by Boishebert to Canada along with others captured on various occasions.

The Acadian refugees continued to come to the River St. John in increasing numbers, and Boishebert and the missionaries soon found themselves reduced to sore straits in their endeavors to supply them with the necessaries of life. The Marquis de Vaudreuil was determined to hold the St. John river country as long as possible. He wrote the French minister, June 1, 1756: “I shall not recall M. de Boishebert nor the missionaries, nor withdraw the Acadians into the heart of the colony until the last extremity, and when it shall be morally impossible to do better.” It was his intention to send provisions and munitions of war to the Acadians and Indians.

Boishebert was endeavoring at this time, with the approval of the Marquis de Vaudreuil, to draw as many of the Acadians as possible to the River St. John and to induce them to oppose any advance on the part of the English. The French commander, however, soon found his position an exceedingly difficult one. After sending many families to Quebec and to the Island of St. John he had still six hundred people, besides the Indians, to provide for during the winter, and many refugees from Port Royal and elsewhere desired to come to the River St. John. The number of Acadians dependent on him received additions from time to time by the arrival of exiles returning from the south. In the month of June five families numbering fifty persons, arrived from Carolina and told Boishebert that eighty others were yet to arrive.

The difficulties surmounted by these poor people in the pathetic endeavor to return to their old firesides seem almost incredible. A small party of Acadians of the district of Beaubassin, at the head of the Bay of Fundy, were transported 121 to South Carolina. They traveled thence on foot to Fort Du Quesne (now Pittsburg) from which place they were transported to Quebec. One might have thought they would have been well satisfied to have remained there, but no, so great was their attachment to their beloved Acadia that they would not rest content until they had arrived at the River St. John.

The idea that dominated the Marquis de Vaudreuil in providing these unfortunates with the necessaries of life seems to have been to utilize their services for the defence of Canada. “It would not be proper,” he says, “that they should be at the charges of the King without giving tangible proof of their zeal for the service of his majesty.” The governor not being able to provide for all the refugees at the River St. John, on account of the difficulty of transporting supplies by way of Temiscouata, gave directions to the Sieur de Boishebert to send to Miramichi the families he could not subsist on the St. John. The number of Acadians at Miramichi soon amounted to 3,500 persons.

The ensuing winter proved most trying to the destitute Acadians. The harvest had been extremely poor. In some cases the old inhabitants had nothing to live upon but the grain needed for seeding in the spring time. The conditions at Miramichi were probably not more wretched than on the River St. John. Of the former the Marquis de Vaudreuil writes in the following plaintive terms:——

“This part of Acadia holds out for the King although reduced to the most wretched state. Although ourselves in want, M. Bigot has sent a vessel with provisions to Miramichi, but she has unfortunately been delayed on the way by head winds. The misery of the Acadians there is so great that Boishebert has been compelled to reduce their allowance to ten pounds of peas and twelve pounds of meat per month, and it would have been further reduced had not forty bullocks been brought from Petitcodiac. This was the allowance for the month of January and, the fishery being exhausted, he could not hope to have the same resource the months following. In a word the Acadian mothers see their babes die at the breast not having wherewith to nourish them. The majority of the people cannot appear abroad for want of clothes to cover their nakedness. Many have died. The number of the sick is considerable, and those convalescent cannot regain their strength on account of the wretched quality of their food, being often under the necessity of eating horse meat extremely lean, sea-cow, and skins of oxen. Such is the state of the Acadians.

“The intendant, M. Bigot, is going to send a ship, as soon as the ice breaks, to carry such supplies as we can furnish them. Unless some assistance is sent by sea, the lands, cattle, and effects hidden in the woods must all be sacrificed, and the Acadians obliged to go elsewhere.”

At the beginning of the year 1756, the governors of Massachusetts and Nova Scotia discussed the situation of affairs on the St. John river, and agreed that steps must be taken as soon as possible to dislodge the French.

In one of his letters to Governor Lawrence, Shirley observes, “I look upon dispossessing the French of the St. John River, and fortifying it, to be necessary for securing the Bay of Fundy and the Peninsula against attempts from Canada. * * * If I am rightly informed, nothing hath yet been done towards it, 122 except making a visit up the River as far as the lower Fort, near the mouth of it, upon which the French abandoned it, having first destroyed the stores and burst the cannon, and there still remain the settlements they have above that Fort, by means of which they keep the Indians inhabiting it in a dependence upon them, and have a passage across a carrying place into the River Patcotyeak (Petitcodiac) whereby a communication may be maintained between St. John’s River and Cape Breton across the Gulf of St. Lawrence.” In another letter Shirley wrote that it was essential the French should be dislodged from the St. John and their settlements broken up, since, if suffered to remain, they would soon be very strong and able to maintain communication by the river with Canada, depriving the English of the fur trade upon it and maintaining absolute control of the Indians.

The Indians were at this time decidedly hostile to the English and Lawrence determined to wage against them a merciless warfare. Accordingly, with the advice and approval of his council, he issued a proclamation offering a reward of £30 for every Indian warrior brought in alive, a reward of £25 for the scalp of every male Indian above the age of sixteen years, and for every woman or child brought in alive the sum of £25; these rewards to be paid by the commanding officer at any of His Majesty’s Forts in the Province on receiving the prisoners or scalps.

This cold-blooded and deliberately issued proclamation of the chief magistrate of Nova Scotia and his council can scarcely be excused on the plea that the Abbe Le Loutre and other French leaders had at various times rewarded their savage allies for bringing in the scalps of Englishmen. As for the savages, they had, at least, the apology that they made war in accordance with the manner of their race, whereas the proclamation of the Governor of Nova Scotia was unworthy of an enlightened people. Nothing could be better calculated to lower and brutalize the character of a soldier than the offer of £25 for a human scalp.

About this time, two of the New England regiments were disbanded and returned to their homes, their period of enlistment having expired, and the difficulty of obtaining other troops prevented anything being attempted on the St. John for a year or two. Lawrence and Shirley, however, continued to discuss the details of the proposed expedition. Both governors seem to have had rather vague ideas of the number of the Acadians on the river and the situation of their settlements. Shirley says he learned from the eastern Indians and New England traders that their principal settlement was about ninety miles up the river at a place called St. Annes, six miles below the old Indian town of Aukpaque. He thought that 800 or 1,000 men would be a force sufficient to clear the river of the enemy and that after they were driven from their haunts the English would do well to establish a garrison of 150 men at St. Annes, in order to prevent the return of the French and to overawe the Indians. He also recommended that the fort at the mouth of the river, lately abandoned by Boishebert, should be rebuilt and a garrison of 50 men placed there.

During the years that followed the expulsion of the Acadians occasional parties of the exiles, returning from the south, arrived at the River St. John, where they 123 waited to see what the course of events might be. Their condition was truly pitiable. Some had journeyed on foot or by canoe through an unexplored wilderness; others, from the far away Carolinas, having procured small vessels, succeeded in creeping furtively along the Atlantic coast from one colony to another until they reached the Bay of Fundy; and thus the number of the Acadians continued to increase until Boishebert had more than a thousand people under his care. Some of them he sent to Canada, for his forces were insufficient for their protection, and his supplies were scanty.

The locations of the French settlements on the river at this period are described in detail in Dr. Ganong’s “Historic Sites in New Brunswick.” The largest settlement, and that farthest up the St. John, was at St. Annes Point, where the City of Fredericton stands today. Here the Acadians had cleared 600 or 700 acres of land and built a thriving village with a little chapel (near the site of Government House) and probably there was a sprinkling of houses along the river as far up as the Indian village of Aukpaque, six miles above. Their next settlement was at the mouth of the Oromocto, where 300 acres of land had been cleared. A very old settlement existed near the abandoned fort at the mouth of the Jemseg, but its growth had been retarded by the annoyances of the spring freshets and many of the inhabitants had been obliged to remove. There was an important settlement on the site now occupied by the village of Gagetown and houses were scattered along the river for several miles below. Another small settlement existed above the mouth of the Bellisle, and there may have been a few inhabitants at the mouth of the Nerepis where stood Fort Boishebert. At St. John the French had cleared some land on the west side of the harbor, and in Bruce’s map of 1761 the places cleared are marked as “gardens,” but it is probable that the inhabitants abandoned them and fled up the river in 1755 when their fort, “Menagoueche,” was destroyed by Captain Rous.

In the year 1756 England declared war against France and the capture of Louisbourg was proposed. The governor of Canada ordered Boishebert to hold himself in readiness to aid in its defence, and he accordingly proceeded to Cape Breton with a force of 100 Acadians and Canadians and about 250 Indians, many of them Maliseets of the River St. John. The latter did not go very willingly, for they had been reduced to so great a state of misery in consequence of not receiving the supplies they had expected from the French that they had entered into peace negotiations with the English. However by means of harangues and promises Boishebert contrived to bring them with him.

The Chevalier de Drucour, the commander at Louisbourg, urged the French minister to send at once presents and supplies for the savages. “These people,” he observes, “are very useful in the kind of warfare we are making, but unless we act towards them as they have been led to expect I will not answer that we shall have them with us next year.” He urges the French minister to send him some medals for distribution. The distinction of possessing one was very highly prized and often retained the fidelity of a whole village of the savages.

The expected assault of Louisbourg did not take place until 1758 and Boishebert, 124 who had retired to Canada, was ordered to repair thither. The Marquis de Montcalm wrote from Montreal to the French minister, April 10th, “Monsieur Boishebert, captain of troops of the colony, leaves in the course of a few days, if the navigation of the St. Lawrence is open, to proceed to the River St. John and thence to Louisbourg with a party of 600 men, including Canadians, Acadians and savages of Acadia.”

The governor and other officials at Quebec seem to have placed every confidence in the courage and capacity of Boishebert, who, it may be here mentioned received this year the Cross of St. Louis in recognition of his services in Acadia. “It is certain,” writes the Marquis de Vaudreuil, “that if, when the former siege of Louisbourg took place, the governor there had agreed to the proposal to send Marin thither with a force of Canadians and Indians the place would not have fallen, and if Boishebert were now to collect 200 Acadians and 200 St. John river Indians and the Micmacs he would be able to form a camp of 600 or 700 men, and Drucour could frequently place the besiegers between two fires.”

The expectations of Montcalm and de Vaudreuil as to the usefulness of Boishebert’s detachment in the defence of Louisbourg were doomed to disappointment, for Boishebert did not arrive at Louisbourg until near the end of the siege and with forces not one-third of the number that Drucour had been led to expect. Two depots of provisions had been placed in the woods for the use of the detachment, but the fact that Boishebert had only about 120 Acadians and a few Indians in addition to a handful of regulars, entirely frustrated Drucour’s design of harrassing the attacking English by a strong demonstration in their rear. About twenty of Boishebert’s Indians were engaged in a skirmish with the English and two of their chiefs having fallen the rest were so discouraged that they returned to their villages. Boishebert himself had a few unimportant skirmishes with outlying parties of the English, and then came the news of the surrender of Louisbourg. He immediately sent away the sick of his detachment, set fire to a thousand cords of wood and a quantity of coal to prevent its falling into the hands of the enemy, and on the 29th July set out on his return to the St. John river. The English made a lively but fruitless pursuit.

Boishebert left his sick at Miramichi, and having sent sixty prisoners, whom he had taken on various occasions, to Quebec, he then took part in an expedition against Fort George, on the coast of Maine, where he gained more honor than at the seige of Louisbourg.[36] He returned to Quebec in November, and about the same time there was an exodus from the River St. John, both of Acadians and Indians, the reason for which the next chapter will explain. From this time the Sieur de Boishebert ceases to be an actor in the events on the St. John, and becomes merely an on-looker.

MAJOR GENERAL ROBERT MONCKTON.

125

CHAPTER XIII.

The English take possession of the River St. John.

The territory north of the Bay of Fundy, which now forms the Province of New Brunswick, was for nearly half a century a bone of contention between the French and their English rivals. It might indeed be said that from the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 to the Treaty of Paris in 1763 the controversy continued to disturb the peace of Europe. Sometimes the points at issue were warmly debated at the council board, where the representatives of either nation vainly tried to settle the limits of Acadia, and sometimes they were yet more fiercely disputed amidst the clash of arms and bloody scenes of the battle field.

But as years passed on, and the growing power of the English colonies began to overshadow that of “La Nouvelle France,” it seemed that the Anglo-Saxon race must in the end prevail. The policy of the governors of Nova Scotia and New England became more and more aggressive. In vain did the valiant Montcalm, as late as the year 1758, represent to his country that in fixing the limits of New France it was essential to retain possession of what the English claimed as Acadia as far as the Isthmus of Chignecto, and to retake Beausejour; also that France should keep possession of the River St. John or, at least, leave the territory there undivided and in the possession of its native inhabitants: no such compromise as this would now satisfy the English.

Louisbourg surrendered to General Amherst on the 26th July, 1758, and a few weeks later Colonel Monckton was sent with a body of troops, flushed with their success, to drive the hapless Acadians from their settlements on the River St. John. The particulars connected with this expedition are found in an unpublished document, of which the original is in the Public Record Office in London, entitled “Report of the Proceedings of the Troops on the Expedition up St. John’s River in the Bay of Fundy under the command of Colonel Monckton.”[37]

As Monckton was the principal agent in an event of such historic importance to us as the permanent occupation of the St. John river, a few words may very properly be devoted to him.

Robert Monckton was the second son of John, first Viscount Galway, by his wife Lady Elizabeth Manners, youngest daughter of the Duke of Rutland. He began his military career in Flanders in 1742, where he fought in several battles. Later he came out to America, and in 1752 we find him in charge of the garrison of Fort Lawrence, keeping watch over the French stronghold of Beausejour, across the Misseguash. A little later he was commandant of the garrison of Annapolis Royal. He commanded the English forces at the reduction of Beausejour, in June, 1755. The year following he was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia. He commanded the 4th battalion of the 60th regiment, or “Royal Americans,” at the siege of Louisbourg, and in 1759 served as second in command to Wolfe at the taking of Quebec, on which occasion he was conspicuous for his bravery and was 126 severely wounded. A year or two later he was Governor of New York. In the course of time he attained the rank of lieutenant-general in the army, and at his death, in 1782, was a member for Portsmouth in the British Parliament.

Among those who, in a subordinate capacity, rendered essential service in the expedition to the River St. John none was more conspicuous than our old friend, Captain Cobb, of the Province sloop “York;” a few words may fittingly be devoted to him.

Sylvanus Cobb was born in Plymouth, New England, in 1709. Shortly before the capture of Louisbourg by Sir Wm. Pepperrell, in 1745, he raised a company in his native town for Colonel Gorham’s regiment and served with credit during the operations of the seige. He was subsequently in command of a small armed vessel employed by Government to cruise in the Bay of Fundy. After Halifax was founded, in 1749, he was employed by Governor Cornwallis and his successors for nearly ten years as master of the Provincial armed sloop “York.” When at Louisbourg in 1758 he was selected by Monckton to conduct Wolfe to reconnoitre the fortress previous to an assault. As they sailed up the harbor no one was allowed to stand on deck but Wolfe at the fore-sheet and Cobb at the helm. The shot flew thickly around them, and Wolfe at length signified that they had approached as near to the fortifications as was necessary, but Cobb made yet another tack, eliciting Wolfe’s admiration and the remark, “Well, Cobb! I shall never again doubt but you will carry me near enough.” Capt. Cobb lived for some years at Liverpool, N. S. He died of fever in 1762 while serving in an expedition against Havana, and is said to have expressed his regret that he had not met a soldier’s death at the cannon’s mouth. His descendants in Queens county, N. S., are numerous.

The troops that accompanied Colonel Monckton to the River St. John included several New England companies of Rangers under captains McCurdy, Brewer, Goreham and Stark, a detachment of artillery, the 2nd battalion of the Royal American Regiment[38] and the 35th regiment of light infantry. The troops embarked on board the transport ships “Isabella,” “Wade,” “Alexander the Second,” “Viscount Falmouth,” “Lord Bleakeney,” the sloops “York” and “Ulysses” and other vessels, under convoy of the “Squirrel” man-of-war. Vessels and troops had lately returned from the siege of Louisbourg.

The fleet sailed from Halifax on Monday the 11th September and on the 18th anchored off Partridge Island sending in Cobb and Rogers[39] with their sloops to reconnoitre. They proceeded up the harbor and on their return reported that they had seen only two or three people. However, Monckton learned later that there were more than two hundred Indians in ambush at the mouth of the river 127 when the English landed, but their chief, overawed by the strength of the invaders, would not suffer them to fire and retired with them up the river, and “upon their return to Oauckpack (their settlement about two leagues above St. Anns) Pere Germain, their priest, expecting, as he termed it, ‘Quelque coup de Trahison’ from them, marched them off for Canada.”

The next day the fleet anchored in the harbor and Monckton sent Cobb with his sloop to Chignecto for some Acadian prisoners to serve as pilots up the river, also for some whale boats and Captain Benoni Danks company of Rangers.

We come now to a day worthy to be held in remembrance—the memorable 20th of September, 1759—when the control of the River St. John passed finally into the hands of Great Britain and a permanent English settlement was made upon the shores of our harbor, Monckton’s journal contains a brief record of the event:

“Sep’br. ye 20th.—Made the Signal for Landing about nine and soon after landed near the Old Fort, with as many Men as the Boats could take, being about 400. Met with no opposition. The 2d. Division being landed I sent off Maj’r Scott with about 300 Light Infantry and Rangers to make discovery and advanced the two companys of Grenadiers to support him in case of necessity. The Maj’r returned, having been above the Falls; he found some few Tracks but not the least signs of any Road or Path—the woods very thick and bad marching. The troops being all landed I ordered the Tents to be got on shore and encamped the two regiments just at the back of the Fort. The Light Infantry and Rangers under Maj’r Scott encamped on the Hill above.”

The next few days were spent in getting provisions and supplies on shore. The detachment of artillery and three field pieces were also landed. A number of exploring parties were sent out and all agreed that it was impracticable to proceed with the expedition by land. Monckton had already sent word by Capt. Rogers to Annapolis and by Capt. Cobb to Fort Cumberland to press into the King’s service any sloops or schooners available to transport provisions and stores up the river, as the majority of his vessels were too large to attempt the passage of the falls. Meanwhile he determined to repair the old fort and work was begun upon it on the 24th September. “My reasons,” writes Monckton, “for fixing on this spot, though somewhat commanded by the Hill on the back were, that it was so much work ready done to our hands, the command it would have of the Harbor, the conveniency of landing our stores, and the great difficultys that would have attended its being erected further from the shore having no conveniency of moving our stores but by men. Besides, as the season was so far advanced and we had still to go up the River, I thought it best to fix on what would be soonest done. And in regard to the Hill that has some command of it, it is only with cannon, which the enemy would find great difficulty in bringing, and this may hereafter be remedy’d by erecting some small Work on it.”

In the construction of the works at the fort 600 men were employed daily until the 24th October, when the number was reduced to 300 in consequence of the departure of the expedition up the river to destroy the Acadian settlements. Capt. Cobb returned from Fort Cumberland the last day of September with Danks’ company of Rangers, five whale boats and nine French prisoners. From the latter 128 Monckton learned that it would have been almost impossible to have gone up the river by land, and that it would have been dangerous to attempt to pass the falls with such vessels as they had with them. Their opinion, as to the difficulty of passing the falls, was confirmed by observations and soundings made by Capt. Willock and the masters of the transports.

While the fort was building, Monckton was engaged in collecting military stores, provisions and supplies of various kinds for which he sent vessels to Fort Cumberland, Annapolis, Halifax and Boston. The officers’ barracks at Fort Frederick were erected on the 2nd of October and the work of building the fort made rapid progress, but it was not until the 21st of October that the expedition was in a position to proceed up the river. Even then the start was not a very auspicious one as we learn from Monckton’s journal, in which he writes:—

“Having got together several sloops and schooners and victual’d them, I order Cobb & Rogers to pass the Falls to cover the other vessels as they might be able to get through. They accordingly get under way. Cobb being the headmost passes the Narrows, but is too late to get over the Falls and obliged to come too in a little cove below. The Ulysses, Capt. Rogers, in passing the Narrows strikes on a Rock, and is drove by the Tide into a creek above Cobb where the vessell sunk in a short time, and it was with great difficulty the Light Infantry who were in her and crew were saved. Upon hearing this and that Cobb did not lay very safe I ordered him down again and very luckily for at Low Water he would have struck on the Rocks.”

The captain of the man of war “Squirrel” endeavored to raise the “Ulysses” but was forced to abandon the attempt and she proved a total wreck.

Having at length got all the smaller vessels safely above the falls and the troops on board, with provisions for a fortnight, Monckton himself embarked in Capt. Cobb’s sloop “York,” leaving Captain Bellen of the 35th regiment in command of the troops left behind. The force that proceeded up the river numbered about 1,200 men.

To understand the subsequent proceedings of the expedition the reader will do well to refer occasionally to the accompanying plan[40] based on that transmitted by Monckton, along with his report, to Major General Amherst.

On the morning of the 30th October the little fleet got under sail but the wind being contrary little progress was made; indeed the ordnance sloop was very nearly sharing the fate of the “Ulysses,” and only escaped by casting anchor in a rather perilous position just above the falls. Next day the vessels succeeded in crossing Grand Bay and anchored off “Pointe aux Tourtres,”[41] about two leagues above the mouth of the Nerepis. On their way they observed the remains of the fort built by Boishebert at Woodman’s Point.

Sketch of St. John’s Harbour, and a Part of the River.

“ISLE AU GARCE,” OR “EMENENIC.” (Now Called Caton’s Island, in Long Reach.)

On November 1, the wind being contrary, little progress was made, and in the evening the “York” anchored off an island called “Isle aux Garces.” Monckton landed on the island, which he describes as “a verry fine one—the 129 130 wood Oak, Beech, Birch, and Walnut, and no underwood.” This island was none other than the famous Emenenic, where some traders and fishermen of St. Malo had a small settlement in the year 1611—probably the first European settlement within the confines of the province. It was here the Jesuit missionary, Father Biard, held the first religious service on the St. John river of which we have any record. As mentioned in a previous chapter, the Indians still call the island “Ah-men-hen-ik,” which is almost identical in sound with Biard’s “Emenenic,” thus proving that the old Indian name has persisted for well-nigh three hundred years. The name “Isle au garce,” found in the plan of the river, is not easy of explanation. “Garce” may possibly be a misprint for “grace,” and the name “Isle of grace” would harmonize very well with the French missionary’s visit and religious services in October, 1611, but Placide P. Gaudet—who, by the way, is no mean authority as regards the French regime on the River St. 131 John—is disposed to consider the word “garce” as signifying a “merry maiden.” If so, the name is suggestive of an untold story and there is material for a romance in connection with our historic “Isle au garce.” The island is now owned by County Secretary George R. Vincent. The soil is fertile, well wooded and excellent spring water is abundant; fine oaks grow there as in Monckton’s day. A little cove, which may be seen in the view of the island a little to the right of the wood-boat, affords an excellent landing place.

The plan of the river accompanying Colonel Monckton’s report is of special interest on account of the curious admixture of French and English names. This feature is quite in harmony with the epoch which was one of transition. Instances today are not infrequent where the existing name has been translated from the French, a familiar example being that of the island at the mouth of St. John harbor, called by the French “Isle au Perdrix” and translated into the English “Partridge Island.” Another familiar instance occurs in connection with Oak Point in Long Reach. Describing their progress up the river Monckton says, “We came too off Point aux Chaines to sound.” Point aux Chaines in English means Oak Point, and the identity of the situation of Oak Point and of Monckton’s Point aux Chaines is clearly shown in the plan of the river.

Monckton describes the country along the lower part of the River St. John as “verry Mountainous and Rocky,” but above the Bellisle comparatively flat and well timbered.

On the evening of the 2nd November the sloop “York” came to anchor “under an island called the Great Island,” or Long Island. Some of the party landed on the island where, Monckton tells us, they found walnuts (or butternuts) much like English walnuts.

The expedition was now approaching one of the principal Acadian settlements and Captain Benoni Danks was sent with a party and a guide to try to take a prisoner in order, if possible, to obtain further information, but the Acadians evidently received timely warning of their danger and had abandoned their village.

It may be mentioned, in passing, that there are some very uncomplimentary references to Captain Danks and his Rangers in Rev. Hugh Graham’s letter to Rev. Dr. Brown, written at Cornwallis, N. S., in 1791.[42] See for example the following: “A considerable large body of the French were at one time surprised by a party of the Rangers on Petitcodiac River; upon the first alarm most of them threw themselves into the river and swam across, and by this ways the greatest part of them made out to elude the clutches of these bloody hounds, tho’ some of them were shot by the merciless soldiery in the river. It was observed that these Rangers, almost without exception, closed their days in wretchedness, and particularly a Capt. Danks, who rode to the extreme of his commission in every barbarous proceeding. In the Cumberland insurrection (1776) he was suspected of being 132 ‘Jack on both sides of the bush,’ left that place in a small jigger bound for Windsor, was taken ill on the passage, thrown down into the hold among the ballast, was taken out at Windsor half dead, and had little better than the burial of a dog. He lived under a general dislike and died without any to regret his death.”

Saturday, the 4th of November, was an unhappy day for the poor Acadians living at the little village of Grimrose—the site of the modern village of Gagetown. The story shall be told in Monckton’s own words:—

“Nov’br ye 4th,—The party returns without any Prisoner, having been at the Village of Grimrose which they found had been but lately deserted by the inhabitants.

“Give orders for landing. Having got a body of about 700 Men on Shore, we march to the further end of the Village, being about a league. From whence, by the tracks we found, we judged that the Inhabitants had but lately retired and drove off their cattle. Here we found the Lime that had been taken in a schooner in the spring, which they had landed as our Pilots supposed to lighten the schooner, to get her higher up or to hide her in some Creeke—as they supposed that they would certainly have carry’d the Lime up to St. Anns would the depth of the River have admitted of it.

“It being late in the day I gave orders for Burning the Houses & Barns, being in all about 50, and for destroying all the Grain, of which there was a good deal, and everything else that could be of the least service to the Inhabitants hereafter. Having Burnt and destroyed everything we marched backe and reimbarked.

“As we were disembarking in the morning some canoes were seen crossing the head of Grimerose River [Gagetown Creek], and near where we landed there had lately been some Birch canoes made. Much cleared Land here—Fine Country. This Village was settled by the Inhabitants of Beausejour, when drove off from thence in 1755.”

The day following the expedition continued up the river to Isle Mettis, or Grimross Island. The pilots now refused to take charge of the vessels any higher, as they did not think there was sufficient water to pass. The accuracy of their judgment was soon evident. In attempting to proceed Capt. Cobb ran his sloop aground, and several of the transports had a like experience, but the bottom being sandy all soon got off again without damage. Monckton sent Capt. Rogers, late of the sloop “Ulysses,” and a mate of the man-of-war “Squirrel,” who had accompanied the expedition, to take soundings but they could find no practicable channel.

The commanding officer now reluctantly abandoned the idea of proceeding on to St. Annes. He might perhaps have attempted it by means of whale boats if the season had not been so far advanced and his provisions so nearly expended. After enumerating in his journal the difficulties that confronted him in the event of proceeding further he writes, “I therefore determined to return and destroy everything we could on our way down.” Meanwhile, by Monckton’s orders, Captain McCurdy had been scouring the country with his rangers and had succeeded in killing some cattle which were divided among the transports.

Captains Danks and Brewer were sent with their companies to burn some houses near what is now Upper Gagetown. After burning the houses they marched their troops down the “Neck” towards the village of Grimrose and on their way came across three or four Frenchmen who were driving off about forty head of 133 cattle. The New Englanders made a dash for this prize, the Acadians escaped, but most of the cattle were destroyed.

Captain McCurdy was sent by Monckton across the river to Jemseg to destroy all the houses and grain that he might find in that quarter and to kill the cattle, and these orders were duly obeyed. Monckton burnt the little settlement called Villeray’s (about three miles below Gagetown), and as he came down the river sent a small party on shore to burn the historic settlement of the Sieur de Belleisle and his sons-in-law, the brothers Robichaux, just above the mouth of Belleisle Bay. On the 8th day of November, after an absence of ten days, he arrived at the place above the falls where the troops had embarked.

Colonel Monckton evidently was not very much elated at the success of his expedition, for a few days after his return he wrote to Lieut. Governor De Lancey of New York: “I am sorry I can’t give you a better acct. of our Proceedings up this River. But it was attended with so many unavoidable delays and impediments that we were only able to go up about 23 Leagues, which is above 10 Leagues short of St. Annes—where, if we had been able to have reached, it is by very certain accounts of no consequence, being only a Village and not the least signs of a fort.

“We burnt one village and some straggling Houses and destroyed everything that could be the least serviceable to them, so that I should think that they will in the spring be obliged to retire to Canada. The River, after passing the Falls, is as fine a River as ever I saw, and when you get up about 10 Leagues the country is level, with fine woods of Oak, Beech, Birch and Walnut, and no underwood and the land able to produce anything. We have just finished a pretty good fort here, where the old French Fort stood, which will be a footing for anything that may be thought proper to be undertaken hereafter.”

The Marquis de Vaudreuil, governor general of Canada, was not ignorant of Monckton’s operations on the River St. John, but he was in no position to make any effectual resistance. In his letter to the French minister of November 5, 1758, he states that the English were engaged in rebuilding the old Fort at Menagoueche; the Indians of the River St. John had retired with the Rev. Father Germain, their missionary to Canada, where Bigot, the intendant, had provided for their wintering, and the greater part of the Acadians had also retired to Canada.

During Colonel Monckton’s absence up the river work was continued at the fort, so that it must have been nearly finished at the time of his return. It received the name of Fort Frederick, and the remains of its ramparts may still be seen at “Old Fort” in Carleton.

In the plan of St. John harbor made by Colonel Robert Morse of the Royal Engineers in 1784, there is an outline of Fort Frederick very nearly identical as regards situation and general form with the sketch of Fort Menagoueche (or “Fort de la Riviere de St. Jean”) made in October, 1700, by the Sieur de Villieu.[43] We have further proof of an interesting nature that the situation and general plan of the new fort was identical with the old French fort in one of the letters of the Marquis de Vaudreuil, in which he tells us that about the time Fort Frederick 134 was nearing completion a French Canadian, kept there as a prisoner, made his escape, and on his return to Canada described the new fort as exactly the same size as the old but much stronger, the terraces being at least ten feet in thickness, and upon the terraces were palisades ten feet high in the form of “chevaux de frise.” The Frenchman had counted 18 cannons mounted of a calibre of 18L., and the English had told him they expected to mount in all 30 cannons of 20L. and of 18L.

On the 11th November Colonel Monckton sent Major Scott to Petitcodiac with the Light Infantry and Rangers in quest of a French privateer that had been at the St. John river and which, with one of her prizes, was said to have taken shelter there. He was directed to seize the vessels and bring them off, together with any of the Acadian inhabitants he could find, and to burn and destroy all the houses, barns, cattle, grain, etc. On his return he was to send Captain Dank’s company to Fort Cumberland.

Major Scott certainly acted with promptitude, for barely a week had expired when he returned to St. John with the privateer schooner and prize sloop, which he had found in two different creeks up the Petitcodiac river. The parties sent out by the Major destroyed upwards of 150 houses and barns, much grain and a good many cattle. They captured 30 prisoners, including women and children. The Acadian seem to have made some resistance, however, and a Lieutenant McCormack and three men of Captain McCurdy’s Company and two men of the Light Infantry were captured by them.

The troops that had served in the St. John river expedition were now distributed among the garrisons at Fort Cumberland, Windsor, Annapolis and Halifax, with the exception of McCurdy’s, Stark’s and Brewer’s companies of Rangers and a small detachment of artillery, ordered to remain at Fort Frederick under command of Major Morris. This was a more considerable garrison than could well find accommodation there during the winter, but such was not Monckton’s intention, for he writes in his journal: “The Fuel of the Garrison not being as yet lay’d in, I leave the three companies of Rangers, viz., McCurdy’s, Stark’s, and Brewer’s, and have ordered that Captain McCurdy’s company should Hutt and remain the Winter, the other two after compleating the wood to come to Halifax in the vessels I had left them.”

Monckton sailed for Halifax in the man-of-war “Squirrel” on the 21st of November, and with him went the 2nd Battalion of the Royal American Regiment of which he was the commander.

In the month of January following, a tragic event took place at or near St. Anne’s, an account of which has been left us by our early historians, Peter Fisher and Moses H. Perley, in substance as follows:

After the winter season had fairly set in, a party of the rangers at Fort Frederick, under Captain McCurdy, set out on snow-shoes to reconnoitre the country and to ascertain the state of the French settlements up the river. The first night after their departure they encamped at Kingston Creek, not far from the Belleisle, on a very steep hillside. That night Captain McCurdy lost his life by the falling of a large birch tree, which one of the rangers cut down on the hillside—the tree came thundering down the mountain and killed the Captain 135 instantly, Lieutenant Moses Hazen[44] succeeded to the command, and the party continued up the river to St. Ann’s Point (now Fredericton), where they found quite a town. They set fire to the chapel and other buildings, but a number of the French settlers gathered together, whereupon the Rangers retreated, and, being hotly pursued committed several atrocious acts upon the people who fell in their way, to prevent their giving information. By reversing their snow-shoes and making forced marches they got back safely to St. John.

This story, considerably modified in some of its details, finds confirmation from a variety of sources. (1) Sir Jeffery Amherst, commander of the forces serving in America, writes in a letter to Governor Lawrence, “You will have heard of the accident poor Capt. McCurdy met with as likewise of the success of his Lieutenant in demolishing the settlements at St. Anne’s: on the recommendation of Major Scott I have preferred Lieut. Hazen to Capt. McCurdy’s Company.” In a subsequent letter Amherst says: “Major Morris sent me the particulars of the scouting party and I gave a commission to Lieut Hazen, as I thought he deserved it. I am sorry to say what I have since heard of that affair has sullied his merit with me as I shall always disapprove of killing women and helpless children. Poor McCurdy is a loss, he was a good man in his post.” In another letter Amherst describes this sad affair more fully. See Appendix.

(2) Further confirmation of the charge of barbarity is found in the journal of Rev. Jacob Bailey[45] of Pownalboro, Maine. This gentleman had occasion to lodge at Norwood’s Inn, in the town of Lynn, Massachusetts, on the night of Dec’r 13, 1759, and speaking of the company he found there says: “We had among us a soldier belonging to Capt. Hazen’s company of rangers, who declared that several Frenchmen were barbarously murdered by them, after quarters were given, and the villain added, I suppose to show his importance, that he ‘split the head of one asunder, after he fell on his knees to implore mercy.’ A specimen of New England clemency!”

(3). A statement is to be found in a dispatch of the Marquis de Vaudreuil, dated May 8, 1759, that a number of Acadians living at the River St. John were surprised on the night of the 27–28 January, 1759, by a detachment of New England troops who burned their houses, carried off twenty-three prisoners and killed two women and four children, whose scalps they bore away.

(4). Still further light is thrown upon this transaction by some notes appended to the names of certain Acadians, who had served as officers of militia in Acadia, and who were living in 1767 at Cherbourg. We learn that the Sieur Joseph Bellefontaine had once owned a large tract of land on the River St. John, near St. Anne’s, and that he was appointed Major of the militia on the river by order of the Marquis de la Galissonniere, April 10, 1749, and always performed his duties with fidelity until made a prisoner by the enemy. At the time of the mid-winter raid 136 on St. Anne’s he had the misery of seeing one of his daughters with three of her children massacred before his eyes by the English, who desired by this act of cruelty and the fear of similar treatment to compel him to take their side. On his refusal he barely escaped a like fate by his flight into the woods, carrying with him two other children of the same daughter. The young mother so ruthlessly slain was Nastasie Bellefontaine, wife of Eustache Pare. The other victims of this tragedy of the wilderness were the wife and child of Michel Bellefontaine—a son of Joseph Bellefontaine. This poor fellow had the anguish of beholding his wife and boy murdered before his eyes on his refusal to side with the English.

The village of St. Anne’s was left in a state of desolation. Moses Perley says that when the advance party of the Maugerville colony arrived at St. Anne’s Point in 1762, they found the whole of what is now the Town plat of Fredericton cleared for about ten rods back from the bank and they saw the ruins of a very considerable settlement. The houses had been burned and the cultivated land was fast relapsing into a wilderness state. Nevertheless the early English settlers reaped some advantage from the improvements made by the Acadians, for we learn from Charles Morris’ description of the river in 1768, that at the site of the old French settlement at St. Anne’s Point there was about five hundred acres of cleared upland in English grass from whence the inhabitants of Maugerville got the chief part of their Hay for their Stock. “They inform me,” says Mr. Morris, “that it produces about a load and a half to an acre.” He adds, “The French Houses are all burnt and destroyed.”

An interesting incident connected with the French occupation was related many years ago by the grandmother of the late Judge Fisher to one of her descendants. This good old lady came to St. Anne’s in the fall of 1783 with the Loyalists. Not very many months after their arrival, there was so great a scarcity of provisions that the unfortunate people in some cases were obliged to dig up the potatoes they had planted and eat them. As the season advanced their hearts were cheered by the discovery of some large patches of pure white beans, marked with a black cross. They had been planted by the French, but were now growing wild. In their joy at this fortunate discovery the settlers called them “the staff of life and hope of the starving.” Mrs. Fisher says she planted some of these beans with her own hands and that the seed was preserved in her family for many years.

The close of the year 1759 brought its anxieties to Colonel Mariot Arbuthnot, who had succeeded Major Morris as commandant at Fort Frederick. Quebec had fallen and the long and costly struggle between England and France for the possession of Canada and Acadia had terminated in favor of England.

The Massachusetts troops in garrison at Fort Frederick expected to be now relieved, as their period of enlistment had expired and the crisis of the war was over. But unfortunately for them, General Amherst at Crown Point found the force at his disposal insufficient, he could not spare a man, and Monckton, who commanded at Quebec, was in precisely the same predicament. Lawrence at Halifax had no troops at his disposal. Unless, therefore, the Massachusetts men remained Fort Frederick would be left without a garrison. In this emergency the Massachusetts legislature took the responsibility of extending the period of enlistment 137 of the troops of their colony, at the same time voting money necessary to provide them with beds and other comforts for the approaching winter. General Amherst strongly commended the patriotic action of the legislature, and wrote to Governor Lawrence, “They have judged very rightly that the abandoning any of the Garrisons may be attended with most fatal consequences to this country; and as they have made a necessary provision for the men to continue during the winter, if the men do not stay and serve voluntarily, they must be compelled to it by force.”

Evidently the men remained with great reluctance, for the following spring we find the Governor of Massachusetts writing to Governor Lawrence, “I find our people who are doing duty in your garrison—notwithstanding the favor and attention this Province has shown them for continuing their services through the winter, and notwithstanding the great encouragement given to those who would continue—have worked themselves up to such a temper of dissatisfaction that they have long ago threatened to come off, if not relieved.”

This threat was not meaningless for the governor goes on to say “already seventy men in one schooner and about eighty in another have openly come off from Fort Frederick at St. John’s.”

The conduct of these Massachusetts rangers was a source of mortification to Lieut. Governor Hutchinson, who speaks of “the unwarrantable behaviour of the garrison at St. John’s River, all of whom have deserted their post except 40 men and the continuation of those forty seems to be precarious.” Steps were at once taken to enlist a fresh detachment for service at Fort Frederick.

The conduct of the garrison was not unnatural, although from a military point of view it was inexcusable. The men had enlisted for a great and, as the event proved, a final struggle with France for supremacy in North America. With the downfall of Louisbourg and Quebec the crisis had passed. The period of their enlistment had expired, what right had the Assembly of Massachusetts to prolong it? Why should they remain? So they reasoned. Meanwhile garrison duty at Fort Frederick was found to be extremely monotonous. The country was deserted, for the few habitations that once existed in the vicinity of the fort had been abandoned and destroyed when the French fled up the river, and no English settlers had as yet appeared. Amidst their privations and the loneliness of their situation the charms of their own firesides seemed peculiarly inviting. Most probably, too, the fort and barracks were little more than habitable in consequence of the havoc wrought by a terrible storm on the night of the 3–4 November, 1759. This storm was the most violent that had till then been known, and from all accounts must at least have rivalled the famous “Saxby” gale of 1869. The tide attained a height of six feet above the ordinary, and huge waves, driven by the storm, broke through the dykes at the head of the Bay of Fundy, flooding the marsh lands reclaimed by the Acadians. Much damage was done along the coast, thousands of trees were blown down all over the country, while near the coastline the forest was levelled as with a scythe. A considerable part of Fort Frederick was washed away by the storm and Lieutenant Winckworth Tonge, of the Engineers, was sent with a party of men to repair it and put it in the most defensible 138 state the situation would allow, taking such tools and materials from Fort Cumberland as were needed. He found the condition of the fort even worse than he had anticipated. Governor Lawrence consulted General Amherst as to what should be done, and in answer the general wrote: “By Lt. Tonge’s report to you of the state of the works at Fort Frederick, it must doubtless undergo great alterations to put it in a proper state of defence, but as this will require many more hands than you can provide at present, we must for the time being rest satisfied with the work you have ordered, especially as the line of strong Pallisadoes you mention will secure it against any insult for the present.”

Colonel Arbuthnot’s anxieties were not confined to tidal waves and the discontents of his garrison. About the end of October a party of some two hundred Acadians came down the river to Fort Frederick and presented to him a certificate of their having taken the oath of allegiance to the English sovereign before Judge Cramahe, at Quebec; also an order signed by General Monckton giving them permission to return to their former habitations. Whether these Acadians were old inhabitants of the river, or fugitives who had taken refuge there at the time of the Expulsion is not very clear. Lawrence surmised that the certificates had been obtained from Judge Cramahe on the supposition that the people belonged to some river or place in Canada known as St. Johns, and not to the River St. John in Nova Scotia, and that they never could have had any sort of permission from Monckton to settle in Acadia.

The Abbe Casgrain comments severely on the course pursued by Governor Lawrence on this occasion: “Not being able,” he says, “to dispute the genuineness of the letters of Monckton and Cramahe, Lawrence claimed that the Acadians could only have obtained them by fraud, and he decided with his council, always ready to do his bidding, that they should be regarded as prisoners of war and transported as soon as possible to England. He took care not to disclose this resolution in order to keep them securely at the fort, and to have them ready to his hand when ships should arrive to transport them. This precaution was almost superfluous for the Acadians, having exhausted their last resources, were no longer in a state to return to the woods where they would have died of hunger.”

Evidently it was part of the settled policy of Lawrence and his advisers to keep the Acadians out of the province and to people it with English speaking inhabitants, and with this policy General Amherst seems to have been in accord, for he wrote the Governor of Nova Scotia, “The pass you mention the two hundred Inhabitants of St. John’s River to have from Mr. Monckton, was by no means meant or understood to give the French any right to those lands; and you have done perfectly right not to suffer them to continue there, and you will be equally right in sending them, when an opportunity offers, to Europe as Prisoners of War.”

And yet it was very natural that, after the surrender of Quebec, the Acadians should believe that upon accepting the new regime and taking the oath of allegiance to the king of Great Britain they would be treated in the same way as the French Canadians. The Abbe Casgrain says, not without reason, that the Acadians had an even greater right than the Canadians to clemency at the hands of their conquerors as their sufferings were greater: [“Ils y avaient d’autant plus de droit qu’ils avaient plus souffert.”]

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The expulsion at so late a period as this of two hundred Acadians from the Valley of the River St. John, where they had vainly hoped to remain in peace, is an incident of some importance. There is an unpublished letter of the Jesuit missionary Germain to the Marquis de Vaudreuil, written at Aukpaque on the River St. John, under date February 26, 1760, which is of some interest in this connection. “I arrived at the River St. John,” writes Father Germain, “on All Saints Day (Nov. 1, 1759), where I unfortunately found all the inhabitants had gone down to the English fort with their families, which made me resolve to go and join them, as I did eight days afterwards, with the intention of accompanying them wherever they might be sent in order to help them—some to die as Christians in the transport ships and others to be of good cheer in the calamity that has befallen them as it did their brethren who are exiles in New England. But by a stroke of Providence, Monsieur Coquart, missionary to the French, arrived, and I desired the commandant to give me leave to retire which he granted together with a passport permitting me to remain at the priests’ house in my mission where I am now.”[46]

Colonel Arbuthnot had reported to Governor Lawrence that the Acadians begged leave to remain upon their lands on their promise to be faithful and true to His Majesty’s Government. To this he made answer that they must come down to the Fort and remain there till he could apply to the Governor to know what should be done; they came down accordingly, and were to remain at the Fort until his excellency’s pleasure should be known. The poor Acadians were represented to be in a starving condition. Their case came before the Governor and Council for consideration on the 30th November, at a meeting held at the Governor’s house in Halifax, and the decision arrived at was this: “The Council are of opinion, and do advise that His Excellency do take the earliest opportunity of hiring vessels for having them immediately transported to Halifax, as Prisoners of War, until they can be sent to England; and that the two Priests be likewise removed out of the Province.” The resolve of the council seems to have been carried into effect. In the month of January, Lawrence sent to the River St. John for the French inhabitants who, to the number of 300, were brought to Halifax until he could send them to England. Colonel Arbuthnot was the agent employed in collecting these unfortunate people and sending them to Halifax, and being a gentleman of a humane disposition he doubtless found his task a most uncongenial one. Among his assistants was Joseph Winniett,[47] a member for Annapolis Royal in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly.

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CHAPTER XIV.

Aukpaque, the Village at the Head of the Tide.

On the west bank of the St. John, about six miles above the City of Fredericton, is the site of the old Indian village of Aukpaque. It looks out upon a charming panorama of interval and islands, amidst which the river creeps lazily with many windings. In the background across the river there rises the steep slope of Currie’s Mountain, volcanic in its origin. Weird legends connected with this mountain have been handed down from ancient days, which the Indian guides will sometimes rehearse when they find appreciative listeners.

The surroundings of Aukpaque are indeed very beautiful, and as long ago as 1686 they won the admiration of Monseigneur St. Vallier, who, after describing the extent and varied scenery of the river, its smoothly flowing waters and fertile islands embosomed by the tide, says: “Some fine settlements might be made between Medoctec and Jemseg, especially at a certain place which we have named Sainte Marie, where the river enlarges and the waters are divided by a large number of islands that apparently would be very fertile if cultivated. A mission for the savages would be well placed there; the land has not as yet any owner in particular, neither the King nor the governor having made a grant to any one.”

Evidently there was not at this time any Indian village at Aukpaque, but it is probable the place was occasionally used as a camping ground. In the course of the next half century, however, there grew into existence a village that rivalled and in time eclipsed the more ancient village of Medoctec. Doubtless the presence of the French on the lower St. John, and the establishment of Villebon’s fort, at the mouth of the Nashwaak, served to draw the savages in that direction.

At the time of Monseigneur St. Vallier’s visit they were beginning very generally to embrace Christianity. The Indians and the Acadians were visited occasionally by Claude Moireau, a Recollet missionary, who went up the river as far at least as Fort Jemseg where, in July, 1680, he baptized nine Indian children of ages varying from five months to nineteen years. Their names, with those of their parents and sponsors, are duly recorded in his register. One or two of the entries are here inserted as of historic interest:—

“The year of grace 1680, the 7 July: I have baptized at Jemseg, according to the forms of our Holy Church, Claude, son of Soksim, savage, and of Apolline Kedekouit, Christian, aged 18 years, and named at the font Claude by Claude Petipas, notary royal, and Isabella Petipas, his sponsors.

[Signed] Claude Moireau, Recol.

“The same day baptized Marie, sauvagesse, aged one year, daughter of Tobuk and of Marie Noktomkiache, Christian, and named at the font Marie by Rene Lambert and Catherine Bugaret, her sponsors.

[Signed] Cl. Moireau, Recol.”

Two baptisms in the following year, one at Jemseg and the other at St. John, are of equal interest:—

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“At Jemsek, the year of grace 1681, the 25 May, have baptized according to the forms of our Holy Church, Marie Anne Denis, aged 4 months, daughter of Sieur Richard Denis, Esquire, and of Anne Partarabego, sauvagesse, and has been held at the font by damoiselle Marie Chartier, dame de Marson, her godmother, who has named her Marie Anne.

[Signed] Claude Moireau, Recol.

“At Menagoueck, the year of grace 1681, the 2 June, have baptized according to the forms of the Church, Jeanne Guidry, child of Claude Guirdy dit la Verdure and of Keskoua, sauvagesse, who has been held at the font by Claude Petipas and Jeanne de la Tour, wife of Martignon, her sponsors, who have named her Jeanne.

[Signed] Claude Moireau, Recol.

A little later Father Simon of the Recollet order became the missionary of the Indians on the river with headquarters at Medoctec. Some account of his interesting personality and of his zealous labors will be found in a previous chapter. After his death the work among the Indians passed into the hands of the Jesuit missionary, Joseph Aubery, and his successors Jean Baptiste Loyard, Jean P. Danielou and Charles Germain. The whole river was included in the mission and the priest had many journeys to make, but Medoctec, as the principal village, was for years the headquarters of the mission. This was so down to the time of Loyard’s death. His successor, Danielou, ministered to the Indians of Medoctec, also, as is shown by the presence of his name on the slate-stone tablet of the Medoctec chapel. But it is probable that Danielou was frequently at Aukpaque, and he certainly had the spiritual oversight of the Acadians at St. Anne’s Point.

Inscription on Medoctec Stone

The Indians of the River St. John were regarded by the English as the most powerful and warlike tribe of Acadia and the Governor of Nova Scotia endeavored to gain their good-will, and to induce them to adhere to the treaty made with the eastern tribes by the authorities of New England and Nova Scotia in 1725. In the year 1732 Lieut. Governor Armstrong of Nova Scotia sent Paul Mascarene to Boston to treat with Governor Belcher about the erection of a “truck-house” for the Indian trade on the St. John river, and Mascarene was instructed to recommend the lands on the St. John to the people of Massachusetts as a very desirable place of settlement. Belcher expressed the opinion that unless the crown would build a fort at the mouth of the river, the “truck-house” project would fail, but in case of its erection Massachusetts would probably send a sloop with goods to the Indians Spring and Fall. However the idea of an English post at the mouth of the St. John remained in abeyance until the surrender of Beausejour.

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So far as known to the author, the first mention of the Indian village of Aukpaque occurs in connection with the census of 1733 which states that fifteen French families reside below the “Village d’Ecoupay.” From this time onward there are frequent references to Aukpaque, some of which are indicated in the foot-note below.[48]

The little colony of fifteen families mentioned in the census of 1733 seems to have settled in the vicinity of St. Anne’s Point a few years previously. It was a typical Acadian hamlet. Its people were of simple habits and wished to live in peace. Naturally they were loyal to their mother country and devout members of their mother church. But France—sunny France—with all her marvellous resources and splendid opportunities, proved an unworthy mother. And what has been the result? A colonial empire shrunken almost to insignificance. And even if her colonial empire were today what it was in the days of Louis XIV, the colonies would be as empty cradles for which there are no children. The progress and development of the Acadians of the maritime provinces and of the French Canadians of the Dominion tell what France might have been if her people had been true to high ideals.

The colony of New France was never supported as it should have been. While New England was making rapid progress and the tide of immigration set strongly in that direction, Canada was left to take care of itself. After the days of Frontenac the governors of Quebec were haunted by the fear of encroachments on their territory on the part of the people to the south. It became their policy to employ the Indians and Acadians as buttresses against the inflowing tide of the Anglo-Saxons. The Acadians would fain have lived in peace but, alas the trend of events left little room for neutrality.

The Maliseets of the St. John were naturally disposed to resent the intrusion of the whites on their hunting grounds, and the French encouraged this sentiment as regards any advance made by the English. In the year 1735, Francis Germaine, “chief of Ockpaque,” with one of his captains came to Annapolis Royal to complain of the conduct of some English surveyors, whom they seem to have regarded as trespassers on their lands. For some reason they missed seeing the governor, but he wrote them a very friendly letter, assuring them of his favor and protection. This, however, did not satisfy the Indians, for a few months afterwards they interfered with the loading of a vessel that had been sent to St. John for limestone by the ordnance 143 storekeeper at Annapolis and robbed the sailors of their clothes and provisions, claiming that the lands and quarries belonged to them. Not long afterwards the Governor of Nova Scotia addressed a letter to “The Reverend Father Danilou, priest of St. John’s River,” complaining that a party of Maliseets under Thoma, their chief, had surprised, Stephen Jones, an English trader, as he lay sleeping aboard his vessel at Piziquid [Windsor, N. S.] and robbed him of goods to the value of £900 and of his book of accounts valued at £700 more, and he hoped the missionary would use his influence to induce the Indians to keep the peace and, if possible, obtain redress for the unfortunate man they had robbed.

Two of the principal Acadians, living at or near St. Ann’s, Mich’l Bergeron and Joseph Bellefontaine, had an interview with Governor Armstrong in 1736, and by request gave him a list of the Acadians then living on the river, numbering in all 77 souls, besides the missionary Jean Pierre Danielou. The governor ordered the Acadians to make their submission to the British government and not to receive any missionary without his approbation. It does not appear, however, that he was on unfriendly terms with Danielou, who came to Annapolis the next year and exercised the functions of his ministry.

Under the care of Danielou’s successor Germain, the Acadians and their savage allies had a chequered experience indeed, but this has been already related in the previous chapters.

At the time of Monckton’s invasion of the river in 1758 most of the Indians abandoned the village of Aukpaque and retired with their missionary, Germain, to Canada, but they returned after the capture of Quebec and some of their chiefs went to Fort Frederick and took the oath of allegiance to the English monarch. Colonel Arbuthnot was directed to encourage them to come to Halifax and make a treaty of peace and such arrangements as were necessary for trade with the English.

During the session of the House of Assembly held at Halifax in the winter of 1759–60, Governor Lawrence urged the House to make provision for the establishment of “truck-houses” for the Indians; he also recommended legislation for the purpose of preventing private trade with them, and the Assembly soon afterwards passed an act for that purpose.

On the 11th of February, Colonel Arbuthnot came to Halifax from Fort Frederick, with two Indian chiefs of the Passamaquoddy tribe, to make peace on the basis of the old Indian Treaty of 1725. Representatives of the St. John river tribe arrived a few days later. The Indians appeared before the Governor and Council with an interpreter. They were received with every courtesy and presented with gold lace blankets, laced hats, etc. It was agreed that the treaty should be prepared in English and French, that the chiefs should be sent back in a vessel to St. John, and that Col. Arbuthnot should accompany them, taking the treaty with him to be ratified. After a fortnight’s deliberation the treaty was signed, on the 23rd February, by Ballomy Glode, chief of the St. John Indians, and Michel Neptune, chief of the Passamaquoddies. The treaty was based on those of 1725 and 1749, with an additional engagement on the part of the Indians not to aid the enemies of the English, to confine their traffic to the truck-house at Fort Frederick 144 and to leave three of each tribe there as hostages to ensure performance of the articles of the treaty.

In order the better to carry out the provisions of this treaty, and of similar treaties made at this time with the different tribes of Acadia, Benjamin Gerrish was appointed Indian commissary. Gerrish agreed to buy goods and sell them to the Indians for furs, he to receive 5 per cent on goods purchased and 2½ per cent on furs sold, and the prices to be so arranged that the Indians could obtain their goods at least 50 per cent cheaper than hitherto.

At their conference with the Governor and his council the Indians agreed upon a tariff of prices[49] for the Indian trade, the unit of value to be one pound of the fur of the spring beaver, commonly known as “one beaver,” equivalent in value to a dollar, or five shillings. Under the tariff the following articles were to be sold to the Indians at the following prices: Large blanket, 2 “beavers”; 2 yards stroud, 3 “beavers”; 14 pounds pork, 1 “beaver”; 30 pounds flour, 1 “beaver”; 2½ gallons molasses, 1 “beaver”; 2 gallons rum, 1 “beaver”; and other articles in proportion.

Furs and skins sold by the Indians at the “truck-house” were to be valued by the same standard: Moose skin, 1½ “beavers”; bear skin, 1⅓ “beavers”; 3 sable skins, 1 “beaver”; 6 mink skins, 1 “beaver”; 10 ermine skins, 1 “beaver”; silver fox skin, 2½ “beavers,” and so on for furs and skins of all descriptions. By substituting the cash value for the value in “beavers,” we shall obtain figures that would amaze the furrier of modern days and prove eminently satisfactory to the purchaser, for example: Bear skin (large and good), $1.35; moose skin (large), $1.50; luciffee (large), $2.00; silver fox, $2.50; black fox, $2.00; red fox, 50cts.; otter, $1.00; mink, 15 cts.; musquash, 10 cts. And yet these prices, ridiculously low as they appear, were considerably better than the Indians Had received from the French traders. It was no doubt on such terms as these that Messrs. Simonds, White and Hazen traded with the Indians after they came to St. John.

Benjamin Gerrish soon afterwards took steps to establish the “truck-house” promised the Indians, and by order in council of July 19, 1760, Captain Doggett was instructed to proceed directly to the River St. John and deliver the stores that Mr. Gerrish had shipped on board his vessel for the truck-master at Fort Frederick.

Colonel Arbuthnot reported that the Indians behaved well and came to the fort to trade. The delegates from the River St. John, who went to Halifax, seem to have acted in accordance with the advice of their missionary Germain, who accepted the logic of events after the fall of Quebec and advised the Indians to submit to their conquerors. The establishment of a “truck-house” at St. John was of advantage to them and the missionary determined to cultivate friendly relations with the English.

Governor Lawrence reported that he had induced the Assembly of Nova Scotia to pass a law, with severe penalties, against private trading with the Indians. The provisions of this act, however, found little favor with the Lords of Trade, by 145 whom it was considered “an improper and unreasonable restraint upon trade.” Their objection found expression in the proclamation of George III., at the Court of St. James, Oct. 7, 1763:—

“We do by the advice of our privy council declare and enjoin that the trade with the said Indians shall be free and open to all our subjects whatever, provided that every person who may incline to trade with the said Indians do take out a license for carrying on such trade from the governor or commander-in-chief of any of our colonies where such person shall reside, and also give security to observe such regulations as we shall at any time think fit to direct or appoint.”

The proclamation required the governor to issue such licenses without fee or reward, the license to be void and the security forfeited if the person to whom it was granted failed to observe the regulations prescribed.

We have now arrived at the period when the first permanent English settlement was to be made on the St. John river, but before proceeding to the consideration of that event a glance at the general situation on the river is necessary. The only foot-hold the English had as yet obtained was at Fort Frederick on the west side of St. John harbor. A considerable number of Acadians still lingered furtively in their hiding places up the river, the majority of them near the Indian village of Aukpaque. For their benefit, as well as that of the savages, the missionary Germain desired to remain at his post. He accordingly made overtures to the Nova Scotia authorities to be allowed to continue his ministrations, promising to use his influence in the interests of peace. To this proposition the Governor and Council cheerfully assented, promising the missionary a stipend of £50. A year or two afterwards he wrote acknowledging the receipt of his salary and stating it was his desire to inspire the Indians with the respect due to the government. He complained of their irregularities and says that in spite of his efforts to promote harmony he feared “they will shortly pay no regard to what he says.”

In Kidder’s “Military operations in Eastern Maine and Nova Scotia during the Revolution,” the statement is made that Aukpaque signifies a beautiful expanding of the river occasioned by numerous islands, but, while this is perfectly correct as descriptive of the locality, it is more probable that Aukpaque—or its Indian equivalent Ek-pa-hawk—means “the head of the tide,” or beginning of swift water. Kidder speaks of the site of Aukpaque as “almost unknown and difficult to locate.” Commenting on this statement, the late Sir John C. Allen (whose grandfather, Colonel Isaac Allen, purchased of the Indians the site of the village of Aukpaque), makes the following remark:—

“It is an error to suppose that there is any difficulty in locating Aukpaque. It is laid down, under the name Opack, on a plan in the Crown Lands office in Fredericton of a survey of land in the old Township of Sunbury while this province formed a part of Nova Scotia. In addition to this there are several persons living who can point out the place that was used as the Indian burial ground and who remember that a large piece of cleared land adjacent to it and separated from it by a deep ravine, being a part of the tract of land reserved for the Indians, was formerly known as the ‘Chapel Field’—no doubt from the fact that the chapel of the Indian settlement had stood upon it. There is also further evidence in the plan of the survey of the lands in the Parish of Kingsclear, the grant of which issued in 1799, upon which a cross is marked on this lot of land, which is 146 well known to indicate the site of a church or chapel. There is very little doubt that at the time of the survey the chapel, or the remains of it, were standing, as the Indians had been in occupation of the land till within a few years of that time.”

We may add that the claim of the Indians to the lands in the vicinity of their village was early recognized by the Government of Nova Scotia, and when the first grant of a large tract of the surrounding country was made in 1765 to Thomas Falconer and sixty-six other land speculators, there was expressly reserved for the Indians “500 acres, including a church and burying ground at Aughpack, and four acres for a burying ground at St. Ann’s point, and the island called Indian (or Savage) Island.” This island is probably that mentioned in 1753 by the Abbe de L’Isle Dieu as “l’isle d’Ecouba,” the residence of the missionary Charles Germain.

The situation of Aukpaque is shown in the accompanying sketch:—

PLAN OF AUKPAQUE AND ITS SURROUNDINGS.

Although the Indians were ostensibly at peace with the English they viewed them with suspicion, and were jealous of any infringement of their aboriginal rights. After the erection of Fort Frederick they seem, for the most part, to have abandoned the lower part of the river, and Charles Morris tells us that about the year 1760 they burned much of the timber along the Long Reach and on both sides of the Washademoak and probably at other places.

When the exploring party of the Maugerville colony arrived at St. Anne’s point in 1762 and were about to begin their survey, a large party of Indians came down from their priest’s residence, with his interpreter, their faces painted in divers colors and figures, and dressed in their war habits. The chiefs informed the adventurers that they were trespassers on their rights, that the country belonged to them, and unless they retired immediately they would compel them.

The chiefs claimed that they had some time before had a conference with Governor Lawrence and had consented that the English should settle the country up as far as Grimross. The surveyors promised to remove their camp towards Grimross. This answer did not appear to fully satisfy the Indians, but they made no reply. The settlement of the New England people, in consequence of the attitude of the Indians, did not embrace St. Anne’s Point as originally intended.

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Plans of the River St. John were made by the Hon. Charles Morris, surveyor general of Nova Scotia, as early as the year 1761. A little later he wrote an interesting description of the river. He describes “Aughpack” as about seven miles from St. Anne’s, and says the Acadians had settlements upon the uplands between the two places but drew their subsistence from the cultivation of the intervals and islands. At Aukpaque was the Indian church and the residence of the French missionary. Their church and buildings adjoining had been demolished by the Indians themselves. The island opposite Aukpaque, called Indian Island, was the place where the Indians of the river made their annual rendezvous.

“On this island,” adds Mr. Morris, “is their town, consisting of forty mean houses, or wigwams, built with slender poles and covered with bark. In the centre of the town is the grand council chamber constructed after the same manner as the other houses.”

The reason for the destruction by the Indians of their church we need not go far to seek. In the summer of the year 1763 three chiefs came to Halifax to inquire why Father Germain had been removed from his post. They were told that he had gone of his own accord to Quebec and had been detained there by General Murray, and that the government of Nova Scotia were not responsible for it. They then desired Lieutenant Governor Belcher to provide them with another priest, which he promised to do. The Indians were satisfied and departed with their usual presents. The intention of the lieutenant governor was frustrated by an order from the Lords of Trade forbidding the employment of a French missionary. Governor Wilmot regretted this action as likely to confirm the Indians in their notion of the English as “a people of dissimulation and artifice who will deceive and deprive them of their salvation.” He thought it better to use the Indians generously and mentions the fact of their having lately burned their church, by direction of the priest detained at Quebec, as a proof of their devotion to their religious guides.

The site of the old church at Aukpaque was in all probability the old “chapel field” mentioned by Sir John C. Allen. Hard by, on the other side of a little ravine, is the old burial ground of the Acadians and Indians. One of the descendants of the Acadians, who visited the spot a few years ago, writes mournfully of this little cemetery:

“Not a stone, not a cross, not even an enclosure to divide it from other fields; here in this corner of the world, remote and almost unknown, repose the ashes of some of our ancestors, the first cultivators of the soil of Madawaska. Freed from all the troubles and vicissitudes of the past they hear only the gentle, harmonious murmur of the waters of La Riviere St. Jean, the river they loved so well even in the days of their misfortune.”

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CHAPTER XV.

The First English Settlers.

The erection of Fort Frederick, in the autumn of 1758, gave the English a permanent foothold on the River St. John, which possibly was rendered a little more secure by the destruction of the Acadian settlements at Grimross and St. Annes, and the subsequent removal by Colonel Arbuthnot of a large number of the French inhabitants.

Shortly after the Acadian expulsion, the Lords of Trade and Plantations urged Governor Lawrence to re-people the lands vacated by the French with settlers from New England. The idea was quite in accord with the governor’s own mind, but he was obliged to defer it for a season. In the existing state of affairs he could not spare the troops necessary to defend new settlements, and nothing was practicable until the country should be possessed in peace. However, very shortly after Monckton’s occupation of the St. John River Lawrence issued the first of his celebrated proclamations, offering favorable terms to any industrious settlers from New England, who would remove to Nova Scotia and cultivate the lands vacated by the French, or other ungranted lands. The proclamation stated that proposals on behalf of intending settlers would be received by Thomas Hancock at Boston, and by Mesrs. De Lancey and Watts at New York, and by them transmitted to the Governor of Nova Scotia.

This proclamation had the effect of directing attention to the River St. John. Young and adventurous spirits soon came to the fore anxious to be the pioneers of civilization in the wilds of Nova Scotia. But first they wished to know: What terms of encouragement would be offered? How much land each person would get? What quit-rents and taxes would be required? What constitution of government prevailed, and what freedom in religion?

In answer to their inquiries a second proclamation was issued, in which it was declared that townships were to consist of 100,000 acres (about 12 miles square) and were to include the best lands, and rivers in their vicinity. The government was described as similar to that of the neighboring colonies, the legislature consisting of a governor, council and assembly and every township, so soon as it should consist of fifty families, would be entitled to send two representatives to the assembly. The courts of justice were similar to those of Massachusetts, Connecticut and the other northern colonies, and full liberty of conscience was secured to persons of all persuasions, “papists” excepted, by the royal instructions and a late act of the Assembly. As yet no taxes had been imposed or fees exacted on grants. Forts garrisoned with troops were established in the neighborhood of the lands it was proposed to settle.

The Lords of Trade approved of Governor Lawrence’s proceedings in settling the province, and at the same time desired that land should be reserved “as a reward and provision for such officers and soldiers as might be disbanded in America upon a peace.” This led the governor to desist from making further grants of the cleared lands to ordinary settlers. He did not, however, anticipate much benefit 149 to the province in consequence of the attempt to people it with disbanded British soldiers, and he wrote to the Lords of Trade:

“According to my ideas of the military, which I offer with all possible deference and submission, they are the least qualified, from their occupation as soldiers, of any men living to establish new countries, where they must encounter difficulties with which they are altogether unacquainted; and I am the rather convinced of it, as every soldier that has come into this province since the establishment of Halifax, has either quitted it or become a dramseller.”

Soon after the treaty of Paris, a proclamation of George III. (dated at the Court of St. James, Oct. 7, 1763) signified the royal sense and approbation of the conduct of the officers and soldiers of the army, and directed the governors of the several provinces to grant, without fee or reward, to disbanded officers and soldiers who had served in North America during the late war and were actually residing there, lands in the following proportions:—

To every field officer, 5,000 acres.

To every captain, 3,000 acres.

To every subaltern or staff officer, 2,000 acres.

To every non-commissioned officer, 200 acres.

To every private man, 50 acres.

Like grants of land were to be made to retired officers of the navy who had served on board a ship of war at the reduction of Louisbourg and Quebec.

Petitions and memorials of retired officers of the army and navy who were desirous of obtaining lands in Nova Scotia as a reward for their services, now flowed in upon the provincial and imperial authorities. The desire to obtain land on the River St. John became so general that government officials, merchants and professional men joined in the general scramble. The result was not only detrimental to the best interests of the country, but in many cases disastrous to the speculators themselves.

The ideas of some of the memorialists were by no means small. For example, in 1762, Sir Allan McLean applied for 200,000 acres on the River St. John to enable him to plant a colony; and in the same year Captains Alexander Hay,[50] John Sinclair, Hugh Debbeig,[51] Alex. Baillie, Robert G. Bruce and J. F. W. DesBarres applied for another immense tract on behalf of themselves and 54 other officers.

War with the French and Indians had been so constant previous to the peace of 1763, that a large proportion of the young men of New England had seen service in the “provincial regiments.” To those who had held commissions the inducements contained in Lawrence’s proclamations were especially attractive.

Among the retired officers of the Massachusetts regiments, who became interested in the River St. John at this time were Francis Peabody, William Hazen, James White, James Simonds, Nicholas West and Israel Perley. Captain Francis 150 Peabody was somewhat older than the others; he had served with distinction in the late war, and is mentioned in Parkman’s “Wolfe and Montcalm” [p. 428]. From the active part he took in settling the township of Maugerville, as well as from his age and character, he must be regarded as the most prominent and influential person on the St. John river while he lived. He died in the year 1773. Three of his daughters married respectively James Simonds, James White and Jonathan Leavitt.

A few years ago the writer of this history had the good fortune to find, in an old rubbish heap, a letter of James Simonds detailing the circumstances under which he came to take up his residence at St. John.

“In the years 1759 and 1760,” he says, “proclamations were published through the colonies which promised all the lands and possessions of the Acadians, who had been removed, or any other lands lying within the Province of Nova Scotia, to such as would become settlers there. In consequence of these proclamations I went through the greater part of Nova Scotia, in time of war, at great expense and at the risk of my life, in search of the best lands and situations, and having at length determined to settle at the River St. John, obtained a promise from Government of a large tract of land for myself and brother Richard, who was with me in several of my tours.”

The attention of Mr. Simonds may have been particularly called to St. John by the fact that his cousin, Captain Moses Hazen, commanded the garrison at Fort Frederick in 1759. It may be noted, in passing, that this post was occupied for the first two years after it was rebuilt by Monckton, by the Massachusetts troops. They were relieved by a company from one of the Highland regiments. In 1762 the post was garrisoned by a detachment of the 40th regiment of foot under Lieutenant Gilfred Studholme. The fort afterwards continued to be garrisoned by a company of British regulars under different commanders until 1768, when the troops were withdrawn and the fort remained for several years under the nominal care of Messrs. Simonds and White.

About the time James Simonds decided to settle at St. John, the harbor was carefully surveyed by Lieut. R. G. Bruce of the engineers, whose plan is reproduced in the accompanying illustration. A glance will suffice to show that the rocky peninsular on the eastern side of the harbor, where the business part of the city stands today, was at that time uninhabited. The military post at Fort Frederick imparted a little life to the immediate surroundings but on the other side of the harbor everything remained in its virgin state, except at Portland Point, where there was a small clearing and the ruins of a feeble old French Fort. The few Acadians who once lingered there had fled before the English invaders, and only when some wandering savage pitched his wigwam on the shores of “Men-ah-quesk,” as he called it, was there any tenant save the fox, the bear or other wild forest creature. The rocky peninsular of east St. John with its crags and swamps was considered of so little value that it remained ungranted up to the time of the landing of the Loyalists. In the words of James Simonds it was “the worst of lands, if bogs, morasses and rocks may be called lands.”

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PLAN OF THE HARBOUR OF ST. JOHN IN NOVA SCOTIA, Surveyed & Sounded in September 1761 BY R.G. BRUCE ENGR. Scale 300 yds to an inch

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The circumstances under which James Simonds made choice of the Harbor of St. John, as the most promising place for an extensive trade, are detailed at some length in his evidence in the famous chancery suit which arose about the year 1791 in connection with the division of the lands of Hazen, Simonds and White, and occupied the attention of the courts for more than twenty years. It is chiefly from this source we learn the particulars that follow.

James Simonds was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts, in the year 1735. After the death of his father, Nathan Simonds, and the settlement of his estate, finding the property falling to him to be inconsiderable, he set out in company with his younger brother Richard to seek his fortune. In the course of the years 1759 to 1762, different parts of the old province of Nova Scotia were visited, including the River St. John, with a view of ascertaining the most advantageous situation for the fur trade, fishery and other business. Finding that the mouth of the St. John river was an admirable situation for trade with the Indians, that the fishery in the vicinity was excellent, and that there was a large tract of marsh land, and lands that afforded great quantities of lime-stone adjacent to the Harbor of St. John, Mr. Simonds eventually gave the preference to those lands on account of their situation and the privileges attached to them, and having previously obtained a promise from Government of a grant of 5,000 acres in such part of the province as he might choose he with his brother Richard took possession. In the month of May, 1762, they burnt over the large marsh (east of the present city) and in the ensuing summer cut there a quantity of wild hay. It was their intention immediately to begin stock raising, but they were disappointed in obtaining a vessel to bring from Massachusetts the cattle they expected. They accordingly sold or made a present of the hay to Captain Francis Peabody, who had recently come to St. John and built himself a house at Portland Point. This house is said to have had an oak frame, which was brought from Newburyport. In 1765 it became the property of James Simonds (Captain Peabody having moved up the river to Maugerville) and later it was owned by James White. It was not an elaborate or expensive building[52] but it had the honor of being the first home of an English speaking family on the St. John river.

The situation of the new-comers at Portland Point would have been very insecure had it not been for the protection afforded by Fort Frederick across the harbor. The Indians had not yet become accustomed to the idea of British supremacy. Their natural allegiance—even after the downfall of Quebec—was to “their old father the King of France.” Their prejudice against the English had been nurtured for generations and embittered by ruthless warfare, and we need not wonder that the coming of the first English settlers was viewed with a jealous eye. Even the proximity of the garrison at Fort Frederick did not prevent the situation of James Simonds and his associates from being very precarious, when the attitude of the Indians was unfriendly. Richard Simonds, who died January 20, 1765, lost his life in the defence of the property of the trading company when the savages were about to carry it off.

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While the brothers Simonds were endeavoring to establish themselves at St. John, a settlement upon a more extensive scale was being projected by a number of people in the County of Essex in Massachusetts. An advertisement appeared in the “Boston Gazette and News-Letter” of September 20, 1762, notifying all of the signers under Captain Francis Peabody for a township at St. John’s River in Nova Scotia, to meet at the house of Daniel Ingalls, inn-holder in Andover, on Wednesday, the 6th day of October at 10 o’clock a. m., in order to draw their lots, which were already laid out, and to choose an agent to go to Halifax on their behalf and to attend to any matters that should be thought proper. The advertisement continues: “And whereas it was voted at the meeting on April 6th, 1762, that each signer should pay by April 20th, twelve shillings for laying out their land and six shillings for building a mill thereon, and some signers have neglected payment, they must pay the amount at the next meeting or be excluded and others admitted in their place.”

The agent chosen at this meeting was Captain Francis Peabody.[53]

According to the late Moses H. Perley, whose well known and popular lectures on New Brunswick history were delivered at the Mechanics Institute in 1841, the government of Massachusetts sent a small party to explore the country east of Machias in 1761. “The leader of that party,” says Mr. Perley, “was Israel Perley, my grandfather, who was accompanied by 12 men in the pay of Massachusetts. They proceeded to Machias by water, and there shouldering their knapsacks, they took a course through the woods, and succeeded in reaching the head waters of the River Oromocto, which they descended to the St. John. They found the country a wide waste, and no obstacles, save what might be afforded by the Indians, to its being at once occupied and settled, and with this report they returned to Boston.”

The result of this report is seen in the organization of a company of would be settlers shortly afterwards.

There is in the possession of the Perley family at Fredericton an old document that contains a brief account of the subsequent proceedings:—

“In the year 1761 a number of Provincial officers and soldiers in New England who had served in several campaigns during the then French war agreed to form a settlement on St. John’s River in Nova Scotia, for which purpose they sent one of their number to Halifax, who obtained an order of survey for laying out a Township in mile squares on any part of St. John’s River (the whole being then a desolate wilderness). This Township called Maugerville was laid out in the year 1762, and a number of settlers entered into it, encouraged by the King’s proclamation for settling the lands in Nova Scotia, in which, among other things, was this clause, that people emigrating from the New England Provinces to Nova Scotia should enjoy the same religious privileges as in New England. And in the above-mentioned order of survey was the following words—viz., ‘You shall reserve four Lots in the Township for Publick use, one as a Glebe for the Church of England, 154 one for the Dissenting Protestants, one for the maintenance of a School, and one for the first settled minister in the place.’

“These orders were strictly comply’d with, but finding difficulty in obtaining a Grant of this Township from the government of Nova Scotia on account of an order from England that those lands should be reserved for disbanded forces, the settlers did in the year 1763 draw up and forward a Petition or memorial to the Lords of Trade and Plantations.”...

In this memorial were set forth the services that Captain Peabody and his associates had rendered to their country in the late war, the expenses they had incurred and the inducements offered by the government of Nova Scotia to them to settle on the lands they had surveyed. The memorial was signed by Francis Peabody, John Carleton, Jacob Barker, Nicholas West and Israel Perley on behalf of themselves and other disbanded officers. This memorial was submitted by Mr. Peabody to the Governor and Council at Halifax, who cordially approved of the contents and forwarded it to Joshua Mauger,[54] the agent for the Province in London, expressing their opinion that the officers and disbanded soldiers from New England, settled on the reserved lands on the St. John River, ought not to be removed. They would be of great use and their removal would cause their total ruin. The settlers earnestly solicited the influence of the agent in England to obtain a speedy answer to their memorial. He took the liveliest interest in their cause and largely through his efforts the Lords of Trade on the 20th December, 1763, recommended that the memorial of the disbanded officers of the Provincial forces be granted, and that they be confirmed in possession of the lands on which they have settled on the St. John River. The matter was finally settled in the Court of St. James, the 10th day of February, 1764, by the adoption of the following resolve on the part of King George the III. and his Council:

“Whereas the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations have represented to His Majesty that a memorial has been presented to him on behalf of several disbanded officers of His Majesty’s provincial forces in North America, setting forth that induced by several encouragements they have sold their lands in New England and settled themselves and families upon the St. John River in His Majesty’s province of Nova Scotia at the distance of 200 miles from any other settlement and praying that the possession of the lands upon which they have settled themselves at a very great expense may be confirmed to them by His Majesty: The Governor of Nova Scotia is ordered to cause the land upon which they are settled to be laid out in a Township consisting of 100,000 acres, 12 miles square, one side to front on the river. Also to reserve a site for a town with a sufficient number of lots, with reservations for a church, town-house, public quays and wharves and other public uses; the grants to be made in proportion to their ability and the number of persons in their families, but not to exceed 1,000 acres to one person. That a competent quantity of land be allotted for the 155 maintenance of a minister and school-master and also one town lot to each of them in perpetuity.”

For months the settlers of Maugerville remained in a state of suspense and in much anxiety as to the fate of their memorial. They were naturally greatly relieved when the order of the King in Council arrived confirming them in possession of the lands they had settled. The kindness and generosity of Joshua Mauger, who bore the expense of their appeal and exerted himself in their behalf, were fully appreciated, and as a tribute of respect and gratitude to their patron the settlers gave to their township the name of “Maugerville.”

The Township of Maugerville was laid out early in the year 1762 by a party under Israel Perley their land surveyor. In the survey Richard Simonds acted as chain bearer and James Simonds, who was one of the patentees of the township, also assisted, receiving the sum of £40 for his services.

The first published account of the founding of the Maugerville settlement is that of Peter Fisher,[55] printed by Chubb & Sears at St. John in 1825, and a very readable account it is as the extracts that follow will show.

Signature Peter Fisher

Under the title “A narrative of the proceedings of the first settlers at the River St. John, under the authority of the Government of Nova Scotia,” Mr. Fisher tells us that “In the year 1761, a number of persons from the County of Essex, province of Massachusetts, presented a petition through their agent (Francis Peabody), to the Government of Nova Scotia, for the grant of a township twelve miles square at the River Saint John; they received a favorable answer and obtained full authority to survey a tract of that dimension, wherever it might be found fit for improvement. In consequence many of the applicants proceeded in the course of the winter and spring following to prepare for exploring the country and to survey their township; they provided a vessel for that purpose and on the 16th May, 1762, embarked at Newburyport and arrived in three days at the harbor of Saint John. * * * *

“The exploring and surveying party proceeded to view the lands, round the harbor and bay of Saint John in a whale boat they brought with them, for they could not travel on the land on account of the multitude of fallen trees that had been torn up by the roots in a violent gale of wind nearly four years previous.[56] The same gale extended as far up the river as the Oromocto, and most of the country below that place was equally incumbered with the fallen trees.

“After making all the discoveries that could be made near the harbor, it was the unanimous opinion that all the lands near that part of the country were unfit 156 for their purpose and in about ten days from their first arrival they set out to view the country as far as Saint Anne, ninety miles up the river, where they expected to find an extensive body of cleared land that had been formerly improved by the French inhabitants. On their way they landed wherever they saw any appearance of improvement. All such spots as far up as Mill Creek[57] were supposed not to exceed one hundred acres, most of which had been very roughly cleared.

“On the arrival of the exploring party at St. Anns, they lost no time in making a shelter for themselves nearly opposite the river Nashwaak ... and they commenced their survey at the small gravelly point near Government House, with the intention of surveying a township to terminate twelve miles below that place, but after surveying the courses of the river about four miles downward, a large company of Indians, came down about nine miles, from their Priest’s residence with his Interpreter, all having painted faces of divers colours and figures and dressed in their war habits. The chiefs, with grave countenances, informed the adventurers that they were trespassers on their rights; that the country belonged to them and unless they retired immediately they would compel them.”

“The reply made to the chiefs was to this effect: that the adventurers had received authority from the Governor of Halifax to survey and settle any land they should choose at the River Saint John; that they had never been informed of the Indians claiming the village of Saint Anne, but as they declared the land there to be their property (though it had been inhabited by the French, who were considered entitled to it, till its capture by the English) they would retire further down the river.

* * * The surveying party removed their camp, according to their promise, almost as far down as the lower end of Oromocto Island on the east side of the river, whence they finished their survey twelve miles below the first mentioned bounds and returned to Fort Frederick.”

The circumstances that led to delay in procuring the grant from government have already been mentioned in this chapter.

There can be no doubt that Mr. Fisher’s statement—corroborated by Moses H. Perley—that the township was laid out in lots in the earlier part of 1762 is correct, for on Sept. 2nd a meeting of the intending settlers was advertised to be held for the purpose of drawing the lots which were described as “already laid out.” But the statement of Mr. Fisher (in which he is again followed by Moses H. Perley) that one or two families from Newburyport accompanied the surveying party in the month of May, and brought with them the frame of a small dwelling house and boards to cover it, together with a small stock of cattle, and that on the third day after their arrival the house was finished and inhabited—is probably a misapprehension resulting from the confounding of incidents, which occurred in the course of the same year but were separated by an interval of several months. At any rate the late John Quinton, who was born in 1807, states most emphatically in a letter to Joseph W. Lawrence that it was not until the 28th day of August that his grand-parents, Hugh and Elizabeth Quinton, Capt. Francis Peabody and family, James Simonds and others came to reside at the River St. John. He says that accomodation 157 was provided for Quinton and his wife, Miss Hannah Peabody and others in the barracks at Fort Frederick, where on the very night of their arrival was born James Quinton, the first child of English speaking parents, whose birth is recorded at St. John.[58] The remainder of the party encamped on the east side of the harbor at the site of an old French Fort, the place since known as Portland Point, or Simonds’ Point, where they erected a dwelling into which the Quintons and others in Carleton soon afterwards removed. Hannah Peabody was at this time about twelve years old: she afterwards became the wife of James Simonds.

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CHAPTER XVI.

Progress of the Maugerville Settlement.

The township of Maugerville, as described in the grant of October 31, 1765, began “at a Pine Tree on a point of land a little below the Island called Mauger’s Island,” extending 12½ miles up the river with a depth of nearly 11 miles. It embraced the principal part of the parishes of Maugerville and Sheffield, including Oromocto Island and “the Island lying off Wind-mill Point called Middle Island.” In the grant the “Rights” or “Shares” were fixed at 500 acres but the surveyor-general of Nova Scotia, Charles Morris, had intended that the grantees should have 1,000 acres each on account of their being the first adventurers and also on account of the large proportion of sunken lands and lakes within the limits of the township.

At the time the Maugerville grant was made out the obnoxious Stamp Act was about coming into force in America and the Crown Land Office at Halifax was besieged with people pressing for their grants in order to save the stamp duties. In the hurry and confusion existing Mr. Morris says that the shares of the township were inadvertently fixed at 500 acres each, whereas it had been his intention to lay out one hundred farm lots, each forty rods wide and extending one mile deep into the country, and to give each grantee the balance of his 1,000 acres in the subsequent division of the rest of the township. It is quite likely the Maugerville settlers were glad to accept the smaller shares allotted them in view of the fact that they had been so near losing the whole by the decision of the British government to reserve the lands for the disbanded regulars of the army.

By the terms of the grant it was provided that all persons who failed to settle on their lots, with proper stock and materials for the improvement of their lands, before the last day of November, 1767, should forfeit all claim to the lands allotted them. The township was supposed to consist of 200 shares but only 61 shares were included in the grant of 1765. At least two other grants were passed prior to the coming of the Loyalists—one in 1770, the other early in 1783; but there were still some vacant lots which were gladly taken up by these unfortunate exiles. For their accomodation also a grant was made Dec. 22, 1786, of the rear of the township and such men as Samuel Ryerson, Justus Earle, Joseph Ryerson, Wm. Van Allen, Abraham Van Buskirk, Samuel Tilley and Lodewick Fisher[59] were among the grantees.

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Nearly all the original settlers in the township of Maugerville were from Massachusetts, the majority from the single county of Essex. Thus the Burpees were from Rowley, the Perleys from Boxford, the Esteys from Newburyport, while other families were from Haverhill, Ipswich, Gloucester, Salem and other towns of this ancient county which antedates all others in Massachusetts but Plymouth. These settlers were almost exclusively of Puritan stock and members of the Congregationalist churches of New England.

The list of the grantees of the Township of Maugerville, alphabetically arranged, includes the following names:—

• Benjamin Atherton,
• Jacob Barker,
• Jacob Barker, jr.,
• Thomas Barker,
• Richard Barlow,
• Benjamin Brawn,
• David Burbank,
• Joseph Buber,
• Jeremiah Burpee,
• Jonathan Burpee,
• James Chadwell,
• Thomas Christy,
• Joseph Clark,
• Widow Clark,
• Edward Coy,
• Moses Davis,
• Jos. F. W. Desbarres,
• Enoch Dow,
• Joseph Dunphy,
• John Estey,
• Richard Estey,
• Richard Estey, jr.,
• Zebulun Estey,
• Joseph Garrison,
• Beamsley P. Glazier,
• William Harris,
• Thomas Hart,
• Geo. Hayward,
• Nehemiah Hayward,
• Jeremiah Howland,
• Ammi Howlet,
• Samuel Hoyt,
• Daniel Jewett,
• Richard Kimball,
• John Larlee,
• Joshua Mauger,
• Peter Moores,
• William McKeen,
• Elisha Nevers,
• Jabez Nevers,
• Phinehas Nevers,
• Samuel Nevers,
• Nathaniel Newman,
• Daniel Palmer,
• Moses Palmer,
• Jonathan Parker,
• Francis Peabody,
• Oliver Peabody,
• Richard Peabody,
• Samuel Peabody,
• Stephen Peabody,
• Asa Perley,
• Israel Perley,
• Oliver Perley,
• Humphrey Pickard,
• Moses Pickard,
• Hugh Quinton,
• Nicholas Rideout,
• Thomas Rous,
• John Russell,
• Ezekiel Saunders,
• William Saunders,
• Gervas Say,
• John Shaw,
• Hugh Shirley,
• James Simonds,
• Samuel Tapley,
• Giles Tidmarsh, jr.,
• Samuel Upton,
• James Vibart,
• John Wasson,
• Matthew Wasson,
• John Whipple,
• Jonathan Whipple,
• Samuel Whitney,
• Jediah Stickney,
• John Smith,
• Johnathan Smith,
• Charles Stephens,
• Isaac Stickney.

The majority of the surnames in the above list will seem wonderfully familiar to the residents of the St. John river counties where their descendants today form a large and influential element in the community.

In his lecture on New Brunswick history delivered in 1840, Moses H. Perley says that in the year 1763 the Maugerville township was settled by 200 families, comprising about 800 persons, who came from Massachusetts in four vessels. There cannot be the slightest doubt that Mr. Perley has greatly over-estimated the number of the original settlers. We have every reason to believe that the population of the township continued steadily to increase and about two years later (Dec. 16, 1766), a census was submitted to the government of Nova Scotia by Lieut. Governor Francklin showing that there were then living at Maugerville 77 men, 46 women, 72 boys and 66 girls, a total of 261 souls; and it may be added that during the year 17 new settlers had arrived and 14 children were born, while the number of deaths was but 3. That the new settlers were anxious to fulfil the conditions of their grants is shown by the fact that they already possessed 10 horses, 78 oxen and bulls, 145 sows, 156 young cattle, 376 sheep and 181 swine. Their crop for the year included: Wheat 599 bushels, Rye 1,866 do., Beans 145 do., Oats 57 do., Pease 91 do., Flaxseed 7 do. A grist and saw-mill had been built and two sloops were 160 owned by the settlers. Some attempt had also been made at raising flax and hemp.

The settlement at Maugerville was visited by Hon. Charles Morris, the surveyor general of Nova Scotia, in 1767, and it is not improbable the census taken by order of Lieut. Governor Franklin was made under his supervision. Mr. Morris was evidently much surprised at the progress the settlers had made, for in a letter of the 25th January, 1768, he says:—

“Opposite to Oromocto River, upon the northerly side of the River St. John’s, is the English settlement of disbanded soldiers from New England, consisting of about eighty families, who have made great Improvements, and are like to make an established Settlement there. And by some tryals they have made of hemp upon the intervale it succeeded beyond their expectation. I measured myself Hemp that was nine feet high, that had not come to its full growth in the latter end of July. They generally have about twenty bushels of Maze and about twenty bushels of Wheat from an acre of land, that was only cleared of its woods and harrowed without ever having a Plow in it. When I was on the River last year, I saw myself eighty bushes of Indian Corn raised from one acre of land that had been ploughed and properly managed. I would observe that the Corn raised on this River is not the same kind as the Corn in New England; neither the climate or soil would be suitable to it; they get their seed from Canada and they sow it in rows about three feet distant as we do Pease in our gardens; it takes about a bushel to sow an acre; the ears grow close to the ground as thick as they can stick one by another, pointing outwards like a Cheveaux de Frise upon each side of the rows; the richness of the soil, the manner of sowing it and of its growing, may account very easily for its producing so much to the acre. Some of the old French Inhabitants of the River have informed me that they have raised, in a seasonable year, near one hundred bushels of Indian Corn per acre.”

The alluvial character of the soil of Maugerville, its freedom from stone and from dense forest growth, no doubt attracted the first English settlers and decided the choice of their location, just as the same features attracted the brothers d’Amours and others of the French nearly a century before. The French, too, recorded as the principal drawback of the location, the losses and annoyances consequent upon the inundation of their fields and premises by the spring freshets.[60] A short experience convinced the English settlers that the complaints of their predecessors were well founded.

As Maugerville divides with Portland Point the honor of being the first permanent English settlement at the River St. John, it is proper to describe in some fulness of detail the movements of its founders. They were a sturdy and adventurous race. The great majority had seen active service in the “old French war”—some of them had fought under Wolfe at the taking of Quebec. The Indian war-cry was a sound not unfamiliar to their ears, and so their interview with the savages of Aukpaque, upon their arrival, taught them the dangers of their situation. 161 It really required more hardihood to plunge into the wilderness than to settle under the protection of Fort Frederick at the river’s mouth.

The proximity of the Indian town of Aukpaque; a few miles above, probably induced the majority of the Maugerville people to settle in the lower part of the township. At any rate for some years no one resided farther up the river than lot No. 57, about five miles below the Nashwaak, where lived the Widow Clark, a resolute old dame whom nothing could dismay.

It is interesting to note that Simonds and White contemplated at one time the erection of a Truck-house at Maugerville for their Indian trade, and a frame was prepared for the building, but before it was raised some difficulties arose between the Indians and the Whites and the matter was deferred for a year or two. The frame was then sent up the river in the sloop “Bachelor” and landed on lot No. 66, belonging to Mr. Simonds, “near the then upper settlement of Maugerville.” This was the only place available as none of the settlers desired to have the Truck-house near them. However the carpenters found the frame so warped as not to be worth setting up and the project was abandoned.

The first band of settlers came to Maugerville in 1763, probably in small vessels hired for the occasion. From time to time the colony received additions from New England. The later comers usually took their passage in some of the vessels owned by Messrs. Hazen, Simonds and White, which furnished the readiest means of communication. There are many interesting items in the account books[61] kept by Simonds and White at their store at Portland Point in connection with the Maugerville settlers. For example Captain Francis Peabody is charged with the following items, under date January 15, 1765:—

“To passage in schooner of 4 Passengers from New England at 12s.	£ 2	8	0
Freight of 9 Heiffers at 12s.	5	8	0
Club of Cyder for 5 men at 13s. 6d. each	3	7	6
5 Tons of Hay for cattle on passage	10	0	0
Freight of sheep	3	6	0

In the same schooner there came Jacob Barker, jun., Oliver Perley, Zebulon Estey, Humphrey Pickard and David Burbank, each of whom paid twelve shillings passage money from Newburyport to St. John and 13s. 6d. for “his club of Cyder” on the voyage. David Burbank brought with him a set of Mill irons, which is suggestive of enterprise, but his stay appears to have been but brief, for on the 20th April, 1767, he sold his land (about five miles below the Nashwaak) to William Brawn, the son of an original grantee of the township, and the deed was acknowledged before John Anderson, Justice of the Peace at Moncton[62] the 29th of April.

162

The upper boundary of the Township of Maugerville now forms a part of the dividing line between the Counties of York and Sunbury. The lower boundary of the township began near the foot of Maugers’ Island, about two miles above the Queens-Sunbury county line. Middle Island, which occupies a middle position between Oromocto Island above and Mauger’s (or Gilbert’s) Island below, was in a sense the centre of the township, and it must not be forgotten by the reader that what was in early days the principal section of the Township of Maugerville is now the Parish of Sheffield. The lots are numbered beginning at Middle Island and running down the river to No. 39, then starting again at the upper end of the grant, at the York county line, and running down the river to Middle Island, so that the last lot, No. 100, adjoins the first lot. The oldest plan of the township in the Crown Land office shows the state of settlement at a date subsequent to that of the original grant, and during the interval a good many changes had occurred. The early grantees were about eighty in number.

Reference to the accompanying plan of the river will show the locations of the early settlers of Maugerville; they will be mentioned in order ascending the river.

The lower ten lots of the township and Mauger’s Island were granted to Joshua Mauger. Just above were the lots of Gervas Say, Nehemiah Hayward, John Russell, Samuel Upton, Zebulon Estey, John Estey, Richard Estey and Edward Coy.

At the head of Mauger’s Island were the lots of Matthew Wason, Samuel Whitney and Samuel Tapley.

Between Mauger’s Island and Middle Island the lots were those of Jeremiah Burpee, Jonathan Burpee, Jacob Barker, Daniel Jewett, Ezekiel Saunders, Humphrey Pickard, Moses Pickard, Jacob Barker, jr., Isaac Stickney and Jonathan Smith.

Opposite Middle Island, in order ascending, were Thomas Barker, John Wason, Daniel Palmer, Richard Kimball, Joseph Garrison, Samuel Nevers, Peter Mooers, Richard Estey, jr., Jabez Nevers, Enoch Dow and Hugh Quinton.

Between Middle and Oromocto islands were Thomas Christie, Elisha Nevers, Jedediah Stickney, Stephen Peabody, Capt. Francis Peabody and William McKeen.

Opposite Oromocto Island were Israel Perley (at the foot of the island), Lt.-Col. Beamsley P. Glasier, John Whipple, Nathaniel Rideout, Capt. Francis Peabody, Alexander Tapley, Phineas Nevers, Joseph Dunphy, William Harris, Ammi Howlet, Samuel Peabody and Oliver Peabody.

Above Oromocto Island we find the lots of Asa Perley, Oliver Perley, George Munro, James Simonds, Joseph Buber, Joseph Shaw, Benjamin Brawn, Daniel Burbank, Thomas Hartt and the Widow Clark. Thence to the upper boundary of the township, a distance of two miles, there were at first no settlers, but in the course of time Richard Barlow, Nehemiah Beckwith, Benjamin Atherton, Jeremiah Howland and others took up lots.

PLAN OF MAUGERVILLE, INCLUDING SHEFFIELD.

The names of the majority of the Maugerville grantees appear in the account books kept by Simonds and White at their store at Portland Point and a lot 163 164 of interesting family history might be gleaned from the old faded pages. There are other items of interest in the records of the old County of Sunbury.

In nearly all the early settlements made on the River St. John some encouragement was offered for the erection of a mill, and when the signers under Captain Francis Peabody met at Andover in April, 1762, previous to their leaving Massachusetts, it was agreed that each signer should pay six shillings towards erecting a mill in their township. The streams in Maugerville are so inconsiderable that it may be presumed some difficulty would arise on this head. This is confirmed by the fact that in the grant of 1763 the point of land opposite Middle Island is called “Wind-mill Point.” However an old deed shows that Richard Estey, jr., had on his lot No. 100 (opposite Middle Island) a mill built on what is called Numeheal creek, of which the first owners were Mr. Estey and his neighbor, Thomas Barker. This mill was sold in 1779 to James Woodman and was employed in sawing boards and other lumber for the Loyalists at St. John during the summer of 1783.

Not all of the grantees of the Township of Maugerville were actual settlers. Of several we know little more than the names. This is the case with James Chadwell, whose name appears first in the grant, and with Moses Davis, Thomas Rous, Jonathan Parker, Hugh Shirley, Nathaniel Newman and James Vibart.

Two other non-resident grantees were men of influence and in their day made sufficient stir in the world to claim further notice. The first bore the imposing name of Joseph Frederick Wallet DesBarres. This gentleman is believed to have been a native of Switzerland. He obtained a commission in the English army and served with distinction under Wolfe at the siege of Quebec. At the time the Maugerville settlement was founded he was a lieutenant in the 60th Regiment, but being an excellent engineer, had lately been engaged by the Board of Admiralty to make exact surveys and charts of the coasts and harbors of Nova Scotia. In this work DesBarres was employed a good many years. Nearly two seasons were spent in making a careful survey of Sable Island—the grave-yard of the Atlantic—where DesBarres tells us the sands were strewn with wreckage and thousands had already perished for want of known soundings. Some of the results of his prolonged labors may be seen in the three huge volumes of the Atlantic Neptune (each as large as a fair sized table) in the Crown Land office at Fredericton. Commenting on the length of time spent in his surveys DesBarres remarks:

“Interruptions from fogs and precarious weather, unavoidably made tedious a performance in which accuracy is the chief thing desired, and rendered many years necessary to complete it for publication; but when the author reflects that the accuracy and truth of his work will stand the test of ages, and preserve future navigators from the horrors of shipwreck and destruction, he does not repine at its having employed so large a portion of his life.”

The engrossing nature of his occupation as engineer did not hinder DesBarres from being an ambitious land speculator. In 1765 he obtained, in conjunction with General Haldimand and one or two others, a grant of the Township of Hopewell, comprising 100,000 acres on the Petitcodiac river. But he derived little benefit 165 from his lands, as he was unable to fulfill the conditions of settlement, and eventually they reverted to the crown.

In 1784, Des Barres was appointed Lieut. Governor of Cape Breton, and afterwards Lieut. Governor of Prince Edward Island. He died at Halifax on the 27th October, 1824, and was honored with a state funeral at which the attendance was great and the interest felt very remarkable. This was due, in some measure, to the fact that had he lived another month he would have attained the extraordinary age of 103 years. Beamish Murdoch observes:

“Colonel DesBarres’ scientific labors on our coasts, and his repute as one of the heroes of 1759 under Wolfe at Quebec, gave him a claim on the gratitude and reverence of all Nova Scotians.”

This sentiment was not shared by the Acadians of Memramcook, who found difficulty in resisting the claims of the heirs of DesBarres to the lands they had settled. Two Lots in the upper part of the Township of Maugerville were granted to Governor DesBarres and had he settled there he would have been the next-door neighbor of the Widow Clark, but there is nothing to show that he made any attempt to improve his lands in that quarter and so his connection with the settlement is nothing but a name.

Joshua Mauger, the other non-resident grantee to whom reference has been made, was an English merchant who came to America as a contractor under government for furnishing supplies to the army at Louisbourg. When Cape Breton was restored to France, in 1749, Louisbourg was evacuated and Mauger came with the troops to Halifax. Shortly after his arrival he and other merchants asked permission to build wharves on the beach for the accommodation of their business. In 1751 he was appointed agent for victualling the Navy. Grog was at that time freely dispensed in the army and navy, and Mauger erected a distillery where he manufactured the rum required for the troops and seamen. As the business was lucrative he soon accumulated much property in and around Halifax, including the well known Mauger’s Beach at the entrance of Halifax harbor. He had also shops at Pisiquid and Minas—or, as they are now called, Windsor and Horton—where he sold goods and spirits to the French and Indians. He returned to England in 1761 and was appointed agent for the Province of Nova Scotia in London. The year following he was elected a member of Parliament.

Joshua Mauger in his position as Agent for the province was able to render it essential service, and in the year 1766 the legislature of Nova Scotia voted the sum of £50 for a piece of plate as a testimonial of their appreciation of his “zeal and unwearied application” in their behalf. As already mentioned, it was chiefly due to his energy that the Massachusetts settlers on the River St. John were confirmed in possession of their township. For his services in this connection, however, he was not unrewarded; not only was the township named in his honor, but the large island, since known as Mauger’s or Gilbert’s Island, was granted to him, together with ten lots, at the lower end of the township. When the Loyalists arrived they looked with somewhat covetous eyes on these interval lands which were settled by tenants at a yearly rental of £3 for each lot. Mauger’s Island was purchased by 166 Colonel Thomas Gilbert, the well known Loyalist of Taunton, Massachusetts, and by him bequeathed to his eldest son, Thomas Gilbert, jr. The latter writes so entertainingly and so enthusiastically of his situation, in a letter to his sister and her husband, that we venture to depart, for a moment, from the chronological order of events in order to give some extracts.

“On Board Major’s Island, Sept. 30, 1799.

Dear Brother and Sister,— * * * I have made great improvements on board this island. Three summers ago I built a large house, the Carpenter just as he had finished the work took a brand of fire by accident and burnt it all to ashes with three hundred pounds of property in it. It happened the 15th of November, winter set in next day. I fled to a small house I had on the island. Ice making in the River there was no passing, but my Neighbors knew my situation and assembled of their own good will[63]—in four weeks put me into a good framed house forty feet long twenty wide with a good chimney, where I lived the winter very comfortably. In the spring I went to work and built a House 38 by 36 and set it on to the other, which occupies the same ground that the other did, and I finished it to a latch from top to bottom. * * * * The summer past I have built me a barn 80 feet by 34 completely finished and said to be the best in the Province.

‘I wonder you don’t come yourself or send some of your family to help us enjoy this fine country. We feel no war nor pay any tax. Our land brings forth abundantly; it is almost incredible to see the Produce; it makes but little odds when you plant or sow, at harvest time you will have plenty. This last spring was late, the water was not off so that I could plant till the 21st of June, and so till the 26th we planted, and you never saw so much corn in any part of the States to the acre as I have got, and wheat and everything to the greatest perfection. I wonder how you and my Friends can prefer digging among the Stones and paying Rates to an easy life in this country. Last year I sold beef, pork and mutton more than I wanted for my family for three hundred Pounds, besides two colts for forty pounds apiece. A few days ago I sold four colts before they were broke for one hundred and ten pounds and I have sixteen left. I have a fine stock of cattle and sheep—butter and cheese is as plenty here as herrings are at Taunton—a tenant lives better here than a Landlord at Berkley. I am blesst with the best Neighbors that ever drew breath—they are made of the same stuff that our forefathers were that first settled New England. * * * * I live under the protection of the King, and I am stationed by his Laws on this Island, the finest farm in the Province. I don’t intend to weigh my anchor nor start from this till I have orders from the Governor of all things—then I hope to obey the summons with joy and gladness—with Great Expectation, to meet you in Heaven where I hope to rest.”

Benjamin Atherton removed to St. Anns about 1769 where at the time the Loyalists arrived he is reported to have had a good framed house and log barn and about 30 acres of land, cleared in part by the French. This land was near the Government House, and here in early days, Messrs. Simonds & White established a trading post to which the Indians and Acadians and some of the English settlers resorted. The store was managed by Benjamin Atherton who had an interest in the business. Mr. Atherton was a man of ability and good education and filled the office of clerk of the peace of the county of Sunbury—at that time including nearly all New Brunswick.

167

Hugh Quinton, Samuel Peabody, Gerves Say and William McKeen removed at an early date to the mouth of the river and we shall hear more of them in connection with that locality.

Edward Coy, Thomas Hart and Zebulun Estey removed to Gagetown. Some facts concerning Edward Coy are related in a curious old book published at Boston in 1849 entitled “A Narrative of the Life and Christian Experience of Mrs. Mary Bradley of Saint John, New Brunswick, written by Herself.” From this source we learn that the Coys were originally McCoys but that the “Mac” was dropped by Edward Coy’s grandfather and never resumed by the family. The Coys came from Pomfret in Connecticut to the River St. John in 1763 and the family removed from Gagetown to Sheffield in 1776. One of Edward Coy’s daughters is said to have been the first female child of English speaking parents born on the St. John river. The curious “cul de sac” in the river opposite the mouth of the Belleisle known as “The Mistake” was formerly called “Coy’s Mistake”—the name doubtless suggests the incident in which it had its origin. Many a traveller since the time of Edward Coy has incautiously entered the same cul-de-sac, thinking it the channel of the river, and, after proceeding two or three miles, found he too had made a “mistake” and retraced his way a sadder and a wiser man.

Zebulun Estey and Thomas Hart went to Gagetown while the war of the Revolution was in progress. The sentiments of the two were diverse during the war. Mr. Hart was one of the committee who helped to organize the party that went with the Americans, under Colonel Jonathan Eddy, against Fort Cumberland, in 1775. He is described in Major Studholme’s report as “a rebel.” Zebulun Estey on the other hand is described as “a good man and his character very loyal.”

Naturally the large number of those who removed from Maugerville on account of the inconveniences of the spring freshets went across the river to the Township of Burton, in some cases still retaining their property in Maugerville. Among those who so removed were Isaac Stickney, Israel Estey, Moses Estey, John Larlee, Amos Estey, John Pickard, Benjamin Brawn, Edward Barker, Israel Kinney, John Shaw and Thomas Barker. These were chiefly original grantees or their sons, who all removed to Burton during the progress of the Revolution, excepting John Larlee and Israel Kinney who went there in 1767. John Larlee was one of the old time doctors, a man highly respected whose descendants now are chiefly residents of Carleton county. Israel Kinney was probably the first blacksmith in the community.

Among those not included in the original band of settlers at Maugerville, but who arrived there shortly afterwards, was Moses Coburn, who came from Newburyport to St. John in the schooner Eunice early in 1767. This little vessel had quite a number of passengers for the River St. John, including James Simonds, Oliver Perley, Alexander Tapley and Stephen Hovey, but the voyage is of special interest from the fact that there was a bride on board, the young wife of James Simonds, formerly Hannah Peabody—a bride of sixteen. The Eunice had a fine passage and arrived at St. John on the 26th April, 1767.

Moses Coburn settled on lot No. 23, not far below the present Sheffield Academy. 168 The lot had been drawn by Edward Coy, one of the original grantees of the township, who took up his residence in Gagetown, but afterwards removed to Maugerville.

Alexander Tapley was one of the passengers in the Eunice. He lived at Maugerville prior to April 22, 1765, for on that date he sold 8½ lbs. of Beaver to Simonds & White for the sum of £2 2s. 6d., and purchased in return a number of articles including a pair of women’s shoes at 5 shillings, and a pair of “men’s pomps” at 7 shillings. A curious incident in connection with Alexander Tapley is to be found in the old court records of the County of Sunbury. It seems that having been appointed constable he declined to qualify and take the oath of office. In consequence he was summoned on the 20th May, 1774, to appear before Israel Perley and Jacob Baker, two of the magistrates, “to give a reason (if any he hath) for the refusing to serve as a constable for said town of Maugerville.” To this citation Tapley paid no regard, whereupon the magistrates, in high dudgeon, fined him forty shillings and issued a warrant to Samuel Upton, constable, who “took a cow of the said Tapley to satisfy the fine and costs, which sum was ordered to remain in the said constable’s hand till called for.”

Giles Tidmarsh was one of the transient settlers of Maugerville. The account books of Simonds and White show that he lived on the river at least as early as October, 1765—the first item charged in his acount is: “Oct. 23d, To 1 Fusee, £2.” On July 23, 1767, Tidmarsh was granted 1,000 acres in the township of Maugerville. Some years later his name appears as a Halifax magistrate, and in the year 1775 he was a Planter in the Island of Grenada. On Nov. 30th of that year he sold to Jacob Barker, jr., the half of lot No. 11, in Upper Sheffield, about 250 acres, for £32.

The descendants of the early settlers on the River St. John will find some very interesting information in the old accounts of Simonds & White as to the date and manner of the arrival of their forefathers in this country, and something too as regards their way of living.

In the early days of Maugerville it was quite a common occurrence for an intending settler to leave his family in New England till he had succeeded in making a small clearing and had built a log house for their accommodation, and a hovel for such domestic animals as he chose to bring with him. This in some measure explains the fact that while according to the census of Michael Francklin there were 77 men in Maugerville at the close of the year 1766 there were only 46 women. Here is an example from the account books of Simonds & White which will serve for illustration in this connection; it appears under date August 18, 1769:—

Nehemiah Hayward to Simonds & White, Dr.

To his passage to Newbury in the Polly last March.	20s.
His and wife’s passage to this place	20s.
1 Cow, 10s.; 1 Child, 5s.	15s.

Evidently Mr. Hayward had made a home for his wife and child on the banks of the St. John and had now gone to bring them on from Newburyport. His farm was in the lower part of Sheffield.

Most of the live stock for the Maugerville people was shipped from Newburyport 169 to St. John in the vessels of Hazen, Simonds and White. One of the first horses in the settlement was owned by Ammi Howlet, who paid £2 as freight for the animal in a sloop that arrived in May, 1765.

It is manifestly impossible to follow the history of every family represented in the grantees of Maugerville. Of the 261 souls that comprised the population of the township in 1767, all were natives of America with the exception of six English, ten Irish, four Scotch and six Germans. The majority were of Puritan stock and members of the congregationalist churches of Massachusetts. Scarcely had they settled themselves in their new possessions when they began the organization of a church. Dr. James Hannay in his very interesting paper on the Maugerville Settlement, published in the collections of the New Brunswick Historical Society, gives a copy of the original church covenant certified as correct by Humphrey Pickard, the church clerk. The covenant is signed by Jonathan Burpee, Elisha Nevers, Richard Estey, Daniel Palmer, Gervas Say, Edward Coy and Jonathan Smith. The opening paragraph reads:

“We whose names are hereto subscribed, apprehending ourselves called of God (for advancing of His Kingdom and edifying ourselves and posterity) to combine and embody ourselves into a distinct Church Society, and being for that end orderly dismissed from the Churches to which we heretofore belonged; do (as we hope) with some measure of seriousness and sincerity, take upon us the following covenant, viz.:—

“As to matters of faith we cordially adhere to the principles of religion (at least the substance of them) contained in the Shorter Catechism of the Westminister Assembly of Divines wherewith also the New England Confession of Faith harmonizeth, not as supposing that there is any authority, much less infalibility, in these human creeds or forms; but verily believing that these principles are drawn from and agreeable to the Holy Scripture, which is the foundation and standard of truth; hereby declaring our utter dislike of the Pelagian Arminian principles, vulgarly so called.

“In a firm belief of the aforesaid doctrines from an earnest desire that we and ours may receive the love of them and be saved with hopes that what we are now doing may be a means of so great an happiness; we do now (under a sense of our utter unworthiness of the honour and privileges of God’s Covenant people) in solemn and yet free and cheerful manner give up ourselves and offspring to God the Father, to the Son the Mediator, and the Holy Ghost the instructor, sanctifier and comforter, to be henceforth the people and servants of this God, to believe in all His revalations, to accept of His method of reconciliation, to obey His commands, and to keep all His ordinances, to look to and depend upon Him to do all for us, and work all in us, especially relating to our eternal salvation, being sensible that of ourselves we can do nothing.

“And it is also our purpose and resolution (by Divine assistance) to discharge the duties of Christian love and Brotherly watchfulness towards each other, to train up our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord: to join together in setting up and maintaining the Publick worship of God among us, carefully and joyfully to attend upon Christ’s Sacrament and institutions; to yield all obedience and submission to Him or them that shall from time to time in an orderly manner be made overseers of the flock, to submit to all the regular administrations and censures of the Church and to contribute all in our power unto the regularity and peaceableness of those administrations.

“And respecting Church discipline it is our purpose to adhere to the method contained in the platform or the substance of it agreed upon by the synod at Cambridge 170 in New England Ano. Dom. 1648 as thinking these methods of Church Discipline the nearest the Scripture and most likely to maintain and promote Purity, order and peace of any.

“And we earnestly pray that God would be pleased to smile upon this our undertaking for His Glory, that whilst we thus subscribe with our hands, to the Lord and sirname ourselves by the Name of Israel; we may through grace given us become Israelites indeed in whom there is no Guile, that our hearts may be right with God and we be steadfast in His Covenant, that we who are now combining together in a new church of Jesus Christ, may by the purity of our faith and morals become one of those Golden Candlesticks among which the Son of God in way of favor and protection will condescend to walk. And that every member of it thro’ imputed righteousness and inherent grace may hereafter be found among that happy Multitude whom the glorious head of the Church, the Heavenly Bridegroome shall present to Himself a glorious church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing.”

No date is attached to this church covenant, but it was in all probability drawn up within a year or two of the date of arrival of the first settlers. Jonathan Burpee, whose name comes first in the order of signers, was a deacon in the church, and for some years the leader in all church movements. He lived in that part of Sheffield just above the Academy and was the ancestor of the Hon. Isaac Burpee, who was minister of customs in the Mackenzie government, and of many others of the name. His son, Jeremiah Burpee, lived beside him and a grandson, David Burpee, was another neighbor.

It was not until some years after the organization of the church that there was any settled minister on the St. John river and those desirous of entering the holy estate of matrimony were obliged like James Simonds to proceed to Massachusetts or to follow the example off Gervas Say and Anna Russell, whose marriage is described in the following unique document:—

“Maugerville, February 23, 1766.

“In the presence of Almighty God and this Congregation, Gervas Bay and Anna Russell, inhabitants of the above said township enter into marriage Covenant lawfully to dwell together in the fear of God the remaining part of our lives, in order to perform all ye duties necessary betwixt husband and wife as witness our hands.

Daniel Palmer, Fras. Peabody, Saml. Whitney, Richard Estey, George Hayward, David Palmer, Edwd. Coye.

Gervas Say, Anna Say.

• Daniel Palmer,
• Fras. Peabody,
• Saml. Whitney,
• Richard Estey,
• George Hayward,
• David Palmer,
• Edwd. Coye.

• Gervas Say,
• Anna Say.

Gervas Say was one of the signers of the church covenant as also were three of the witnesses, Richard Estey, Daniel Palmer, and Edward Coye, and it may be assumed that the marriage was regarded as perfectly proper under the circumstances and it is not improbable that, in the absence of a minister, this was the ordinary mode of marriage. Gervas Say was afterwards a magistrate of the county and a man of integrity, ability and influence.

During the earlier years of the settlement at Maugerville there was no resident minister, but the place was occasionally visited by a clergyman. It is said that the first religious teacher there was a Mr. Wellman who came to Maugerville with 171 some of the first settlers but did not remain. There is nothing to show that when the church covenant was signed, in the year 1765, there was any resident minister. The Reverend Thomas Wood of Annapolis, a Church of England clergyman, visited the River St. John in the Summer of 1769, and on Sunday, July 9th, landed at Maugerville, where he held service and had a congregation of more than two hundred persons. He stated in his report to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, that owing to the fact that the congregation was composed chiefly of Dissenters from New England, and that they had a Dissenting minister among them, only two persons were baptised by him, but, he added, “if a prudent missionary could be settled among them I believe all their prejudices would vanish.”

The next year the little settlement had a minister, Zephaniah Briggs, who remained from May to August, preaching on Sundays at the houses of Daniel Palmer, Jacob Barker, Hugh Quinton, Jonathan Smith and Elisha Nevers. After a while came a Mr. Webster who, like his predecessor, seems to have been an itinerant preacher and did not tarry long.

It was not until the arrival of the Rev. Seth Noble[64], in 1774, that the church had a resident pastor, but in the intervals religious services were held on the Lord’s Day at private houses, conducted by the deacons and elders of the church, consisting of prayer and exhortation, reading of a sermon and singing. Among the early deacons were Jonathan Burpee, Samuel Whitney, John Shaw, and Humphrey Pickard. The elders were chosen annually.

The records of the church, which are yet in existence, show that the promise, made by the signers of the original covenant, to maintain “Brotherly watchfulness toward each other,” was by no means lost sight of for many of the entries in the church records are devoted to matters of discipline. In September, 1773, for example, two rather prominent members of the church, Israel Kenny and Benjamin Brawn, were called to account, and after due acknowledgment of their faults before the congregation were “restored to their charity again.” One of the two offending brethren, who had been charged with “scandalous sins,” was elected a ruling elder of the church less than two years afterwards.

The year 1774, gave to Maugerville its first settled minister, the Rev. Seth Noble, and the circumstances connected with his appointment are thus stated in the minutes of the clerk of the church, Daniel Palmer:

“At a meeting held by the subscribers to a bond for the support of the Preached gospel among us at the House of Mr. Hugh Quinton inholder on Wednesday ye 15 of June 1774.

1ly Chose Jacob Barker Esqr. Moderator in Sd. meeting.

2ly Gave Mr. Seth Noble a call to settle in the work of the ministry among us.

3ly to give Mr. Seth Noble as a settlement providing he accept of the call, one hundred and twenty Pounds currency.

4ly Voted to give Mr. Seth Noble yearly salary of sixty five pounds currency so long as he shall continue our Minister to be in Cash or furs or grain at cash price.

5ly. Chose Esqrs., Jacob Barker, Phinehas Nevers, Israel Pearly, Deacon 172 Jonathan Burpee and Messrs. Hugh Quinton, Daniel Palmer, Moses Coburn, Moses Pickard a Committee to treat with Seth Noble.

6ly Adjourned the meeting to be held at the House of Mr. Hugh Quinton on Wednesday ye 29 Instat, at four of the clock in the afternoon to hear the report of the committee.

Met on the adjournment on Wednesday ye 29 of June 1774 and voted as an addition to the salary of Mr. Seth Noble if he should except of our Call, to cut and haul twenty five cords of wood to his house yearly so long as he shall continue to be our Minister. The meeting dissolved.”

THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH AT SHEFFIELD.

The call having been accepted by Mr. Noble, the people the following year set about the erection of a meeting house, which was to serve also as a residence for their pastor. In January, 1776, it was so far advanced that the exterior was nearly completed, for in David Burpee’s book of accounts, under that date, there is a charge for work done by Messrs. Plummer and Bridges in “clapboarding one third of the east end of the meeting house.” When finished the building was doubtless a very unpretentious little structure not at all like a modern church edifice and very unlike its successor, the Congregational church in Sheffield, but it was the first Protestant place of worship erected on the River St. John.

In the order of survey of the Township of Maugerville, made by the Government of Nova Scotia in 1761, were the words “You shall Reserve four Lots in the Township, 173 for Publick use, one as a Glebe for the Church of England, one of the Dissenting Protestants, one for the maintenance of a School, and one for the first settled minister in the Place.”

In accordance with this arrangement Lot No. 15, where the Sheffield Congregational church now stands, was fixed on in the year 1764 as a glebe for the “Dissenting Protestants.” Improvements were made upon the lot and a part of it used as a burial ground. The first meeting house, however, was not built there. It probably stood on lot 13, the property of Jeremiah Burpee and later of his son, David Burpee. In the church records we have the following minute bearing upon the subject, the meaning of which, however, does not seem perfectly clear:—

“At a meeting of the Subscribers for the support of the Preached Gospel held at the meeting house in Sheffield on the 15th day of December, 1788—

Chose Mr. Daniel Jewett Chairman.

“2ndly. Voted that the meeting house be set on the public lot in Sheffield.

“3rdly. Voted to remove the meeting house in Maugerville to the public lot in Sheffield if the proprietor thereof consents thereto.

“4thly. Chose Messers. Nathan Smith, Silvanus Plumer, Eben Briggs, Elijah Dingee and Jacob Barker, Esq., managers to remove the same.”

The meeting house was removed early in the spring, placed upon a stone foundation, a steeple erected, and many improvements made.

If the Rev. Seth Noble had remained he would doubtless have had a grant of the lot reserved for the first settled minister in the township, but his removal in the year 1777 not only lost him the lot but caused it to pass eventually to the Rev. John Beardsley, rector of the church of England congregation.

Some years after he left Maugerville Mr. Noble wrote to his former congregation respecting this lot but they gave him rather a tart reply: “You was indeed told,” said they, “that there was a lot of land in Maugerville reserved by Government to be given to the first settled minister in fee simple, and had you continued as such undoubtedly you would have obtained a grant of it. But when you left this country you then (in the eyes of the government) forfeited all pretentions to that privilege and the man that would ask for it in your behalf would only get abuse. By your leaving us the dissenters have lost that privilege and the Church of England minister gets the lot. Though we must observe that during Mrs. Noble’s residence here she had the improvement of it which was worth about five pounds per annum.”[65]

Lot No. 90, reserved as a glebe for the Church of England, is that on which Christ Church in the Parish of Maugerville stands today. The Congregational and Episcopal churches, at the time New Brunswick was separated from Nova Scotia, represented respectively the Puritan and Loyalist elements of the community, and their relations were by no means cordial. Mutual antipathy existed for at least a couple of generations, but the old wounds are now fairly well healed and the causes of discord well nigh forgotten.

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The intercourse between the Maugerville people and the smaller colony at the mouth of river was so constant that it is difficult to speak of the one without the other. For a few years the people living on the river were in a large measure dependent for supplies upon the store kept by Simonds and White at Portland Point, and the names of the following Maugerville settlers are found in the ledger of Simonds and White in the year 1765 and shortly after, viz.: Jacob Barker, Jacob Barker jr., Thomas Barker, Jeremiah Burpee, David Burbank, Moses Coburn, Thomas Christie, Zebulun Estey, Richard Estey, jr., John Estey, Col. Beamsley Glacier, Joseph Garrison, Jonathan Hart, William Harris, Nehemiah Hayward, Samuel Hoyt, Ammi Howlet, Daniel Jewett, Richard Kimball, John Larlee, Peter Moores, Phinehas Nevers, Elisha Nevers, Samuel Nevers, Capt. Francis Peabody, Samuel Peabody, Israel Perley, Oliver Perley, Daniel Palmer, Humphrey Pickard, Hugh Quinton, Nicholas Rideout, Jonathan Smith, John Shaw, Gervis Say, Isaac Stickney, Samuel Tapley, Alexander Tapley, Giles Tidmarsh, John Wasson, Jonathan Whipple and Samuel Whitney.

In return for goods purchased the settlers tendered furs, lumber, occasionally an old piece of silver, sometimes their own labor and later they were able to supply produce from their farms. Money they scarcely ever saw. Very often they gave notes of hand which they found it hard to pay. The furs they supplied were principally beaver skins at five shillings (or one dollar) per pound. They also supplied martin, otter and musquash skin, the latter at 4½ pence each. The lumber supplied included white oak barrel staves at 20 shillings per thousand, red oak hogshead starves at 20 shillings per thousand, “Oyl nut” (Butternut) staves at 16 shillings per thousand, clapboards at 25 shillings and oar rafters at £2 per thousand feet. Considering the labor involved—for the manufacture was entirely by hand—prices seem small; but it must be borne in mind that 2s. 6d. was a day’s pay for a man’s labor at this time.

The Indians had for so long a time enjoyed a monopoly of the fur trade that they regarded the white hunter with a jealous eye. Indeed in the year 1765 they assembled their warriors and threatened to begin a new war with the English. The settlers an the river were much alarmed and the commandant of Fort Frederick, Capt. Pierce Butler, of the 29th Regiment, doubled his sentries. Through the persuasion of the commandant, assisted by Messrs. Simonds and White and other leading inhabitants, the chiefs were induced to go to Halifax and lay their complaints before the Governor. One of the most influential inhabitants on the river accompanied them, whose name is not stated but it was very probably James Simonds, at least he writes to his partners at Newburyport in November of this year, “The dispute with the Indians is all settled to the satisfaction of the government as well as the Indians.”

At their first interview the chiefs insisted that the white settlers interfered with the rights of the Indians by encroaching on their hunting grounds, clamming that it was one of the conditions of a former treaty that the English settlers should not be allowed to kill any wild game beyond the limits of their farms and improvements. They demanded payment for the beavers, moose and other animals killed in the forest by the settlers. The inhabitants of Maugerville were able to prove that the charges brought against them were greatly exaggerated, most of the wild animals having 175 been killed not far from their doors, while the aggregate of all animals slain by them was much less than stated by the Indians. In the end the chiefs seemed to be satisfied that they were mistaken and appeared ashamed of their conduct in alarming the country without reason, but they still insisted that the young warriors of their tribe would not be satisfied without some compensation for the loss of their wild animals. The Governor gave his decision as follows: “That although the grievances the Indians had started were by no means sufficient to justify their hostile proceedings, yet to do them ample justice, he would order to be sent them a certain amount in clothing and provisions, provided they would consider it full satisfaction for any injuries done by the settlers; and that he would also send orders to restrain the settlers from hunting wild animals in the woods.” The chiefs accepted this offer and the Indians remained tranquil until the American Revolution some twelve years later.

One of the results of the conference seems to have been the reservation to the Indians in the grant of the Township of Sunbury of “500 acres, including a church and burying ground at Aughpack, and four acres for a burying ground at St. Ann’s Point, and the island called Indian Island.” The well known Maliseet chief, Ambroise St. Aubin, was one of the leading negotiators at Halifax as appears by the following pass furnished to him by Governor Wilmot:

“Permit the bearer, Ambroise St. Aubin, chief of the Indians of St. John’s river, to return there without any hindrance or molestation; and all persons are required to give him all necessary and proper aid and assistance on his journey.

Given under my hand and seal at Halifax this 7th day of September, 1765.

M. WILMOT.
RICH’D BULKELEY, Secretary.”

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CHAPTER XVII.

At Portland Point.

When the attention of James Simonds, was directed to the River St. John, by the proclamation oaf Governor Lawrence inviting the inhabitants of New England to settle on the vacant lands in Nova Scotia, he was a young man of twenty-four years of age. His father had died at Haverhill; August 15th, 1757. The next year he went with his uncle, Capt. Hazen, to the assault of Ticonderoga, in the capacity of a subaltern officer in the Provincial troops, and shortly after the close of the campaign proceeded to Nova Scotia in order to find a promising situation for engaging in trade. The fur trade was what he had chiefly in mind at this time, but the Indians were rather unfriendly, and he became interested along with Captain Peabody, Israel Perley and other officers of the disbanded Massachusetts troops in their proposed settlement on the River St John. His future partners of the trading company formed in 1764 were, with the exception of Mr. Blodget, even younger men than himself. William Hazen, of Newburyport, had just attained to manhood and belonged to a corps of Massachusetts Rangers, which served in Canada at the taking of Quebec. Samuel Blodget was a follower of the army on Lake Champlain as a sutler. James White was a young man of two-and-twenty years and had been for some time Mr. Blodget’s clerk or assistant. Leonard Jarvis—afterwards Wm. Hazen’s, business partner and so incidentally a member of the trading company at St. John—was not then eighteen years of age.

While engaged in his explorations, James Simonds obtained from the government of Nova Scotia the promise of a grant of 5,000 acres of unappropriated lands, in such part of the province as he should choose, and it was under this arrangement he entered upon the marsh east of the city of St. John (called by the Indians “Seebaskastagan”) in the year 1762 and cut there a quantity of salt marsh hay and began to made improvements.

Mr. Simonds says in one of his letters: “The accounts which I gave my friends in New England of the abundance of Fish in the River and the convenience of taking them, of the extensive Fur trade of the country, and the natural convenience of burning Lime, caused numbers of them to make proposals to be concerned with me in these branches of business, among whom Mr. Hazen was the first that joined me in a trial. Afterwards, in the year 1764, although I was unwilling that any should be sharers with me in the Fur trade, which I had acquired some knowledge of, yet by representations that superior advantage could be derived from a Cod-fishery on the Banks and other branches of commerce, which I was altogether unacquainted with, I joined in a contract for carrying it on for that year upon an extensive plan with Messrs. Blodget, Hazen, White, Peaslie and R. Simonds.”

Early in 1763, James Simonds and William Hazen engaged in a small venture in the way of trade and fishing at St. John and Passamaquoddy. They had several men in their employ, including Ebenezer Eaton, master of the sloop Bachelor, and Samuel Middleton, a cooper, who was employed in making barrels for shipping the fish. Among others in the employ of Simonds and his partners, several seem to have had a previous acquaintance with St. John harbor; Moses Greenough, for 177 example, was there in 1758, and Lemuel Cleveland in 1757, when he says “the French had a fort at Portland Point where Mr. Simonds’ house was afterwards built.”

The following is a copy of what is probably the first document extant in connection with the business of Hazen and Simonds:—

Passamaquada, 26th July, 1763.

Sir,—Please pay unto Mr. Ebenezer Eaton the sum of Five pounds one shilling & four pence Lawfull money, half cash & half Goods, and place the same to the acct. of,

Yr. Humble Servant,
Jas. Simonds.

To Mr. William Hazen,
Merchant in Newbury.

The success of their first modest little venture encouraged Hazen and Simonds to undertake a more ambitious project, namely the formation of a trading company to “enter upon and pursue with all speed and faithfulness the business of the cod fishery, seine fishery, fur trade, burning of lime and every other trading business that shall be thought advantageous to the company at Passamaquoddy, St. Johns, Canso and elsewhere in or near the province of Nova Scotia and parts adjacent.”

Evidently the project was regarded as in some measure an experiment, for the contract provided, “the partnership shall continue certain for the space of one year and for such longer time as all the partys shall hereafter agree.” Examination of the document shows that when first written the period the contract was to continue was left blank and the word “one” inserted before “year,” evidently after consultation on the part of those concerned.

Shortly before the formation of the trading company, James Simonds went to Halifax to procure a grant of land at St. John and a license to trade with the Indians, but did not at this time succeed in obtaining the grant. However the governor gave him the following license to occupy Portland Point:

“License is hereby granted to James Simonds to occupy a tract or point of land on the north side of St. John’s River, opposite Fort Frederick, for carrying on a fishery and for burning lime-stone, the said tract or point of land containing by estimation ten acres.

[Signed] “MONTAGU WILMOT.”

“Halifax, February 8, 1764.

Upon this land at Portland Point the buildings required for the business of the company were built. The partnership was in its way a “family compact.” Samuel Blodget, was distantly related to Wm. Hazen and the latter was a cousin of James and Richard Simonds; Robert Peaslie’s wife was Anna Hazen, sister of Wm. Hazen, and James White was a cousin of Wm. Hazen. It was agreed that Blodget, Hazen and James Simonds should each have one-fourth part in the business and profits, the remaining fourth part to be divided amongst the juniors, Messrs. White, Peaslie and Richard Simonds.

Blodget and Hazen were the principal financial backers of the undertaking and agreed to provide, “at the expense of the company,” the vessels, boats, tackling, and also all sorts of goods and stock needed to carry on the trade, also to receive and dispose of the fish, furs and other produce of trade sent to them from Nova Scotia. The fishery and all other business at St. John and elsewhere in Nova 178 Scotia was to be looked after by the others of the company, and the junior partners were to proceed with James Simonds to St. John and work under his direction, so far as to be ruled by him “at all times and in all things which shall relate to the good of the concerned wherein the said White, Peaslie and R. Simonds shall differ in judgment from the said James Simonds, tho’ all parties do hereby covenant in all things to consult and advise and act to the utmost of their power for the best good and advantage of the Company.”

It is evident that the plans of our first business concern at St. John were not drawn up without due consideration.

There is no evidence to show that any of the partners except the brothers Simonds had been at St. John previous to the year 1764. The statement has been frequently made that James White visited the harbor in 1762 in company with James Simonds and Capt. Francis Peabody, but his own papers which are still in existence clearly prove that he was almost constantly engaged in the employ of Samuel Blodget at Crown Point during that year.

William Hazen and James Simonds were undoubtedly the prime movers in the formation of the trading company that began its operations at St. John in 1764. By their joint efforts they were able to organize a firm seemingly happily constituted and likely to work together harmoniously and successfully. As a matter of fact, however, the company had a very chequered career and at length the war of the Revolution seemed likely to involve them in financial ruin. This seeming calamity in the end proved to be the making of their fortunes by sending the Loyalists in thousands to our shores. But of all this more anon.

The financial backers of the company at the first were Hazen and Blodget, who carried on business at Newburyport and Boston respectively. These towns were then rising into importance and were rivals in trade although it was not long until Boston forged ahead. The goods required for trade with the Indians and white inhabitants of the River St. John and the military garrison at Fort Frederick were conveniently supplied from Newburyport and Boston, and these places were good distributing centres for the fish, furs, lumber, lime and other products obtained at St. John. The furs were usually sold in London; the other articles were either sold in the local market or sent to the West Indies.

The Company having been formed and the contract signed on the 1st day of March, 1764, the Messrs. Simonds, James White, Jonathan Leavitt and a party of about thirty hands embarked on board a schooner belonging to the Company for the scene of operations. The men were fishermen, laborers, lime burners, with one or two coopers—a rough and ready lot, but with one or two of superior intelligence to act as foremen. Comparatively few of the men seem to have become permanent settlers, yet as members of the little colony at Portland Point and almost the first English-speaking residents of St. John, outside of the Fort Frederick garrison, their names are worthy to be recorded. The following may be regarded as a complete list: James Simonds, James White, Jonathan Leavitt, Jonathan Simonds, Samuel Middleton, Peter Middleton, Edmund Black, Moses True, Reuben Stevens, John Stevens, John Boyd, Moses Kimball, Benjamin Dow, Thomas Jenkins, Batcheldor Ring, Rowley Andros, Edmund Butler, John Nason, 179 Reuben Mace, Benjamin Wiggins, John Lovering, John Hookey, Rueben Sergeant, Benjamin Stanwood, Benjamin Winter, Anthony Dyer, Webster Emerson, George Carey, John Hunt, George Berry, Simeon Hillyard, Ebenezer Fowler, William Picket and Ezekiel Carr.

The Company’s schooner, with William Story as master, sailed from Newburyport about the 10th of April, arriving at Passamaquody on the 14th, and at St. John on the 18th. The men set to work immediately on their arrival, and the quietude that had reigned beneath the shadow of Fort Howe hill was broken by the sound of the woodsman’s axe and the carpenter’s saw and hammer. Among the first buildings erected were a log store 20 feet by 30 feet, a dwelling house 19 feet by 35 feet, and a building adjoining it 16 by 40, rough boarded and used as a cooper’s shop, kitchen and shelter for the workmen.

Portland Point lies at the foot of Portland street at the head of St. John harbor—the locality is better known today as “Rankin’s Wharf.” Before the wharves in the vicinity were built the Point was quite a conspicuous feature in the contour of the harbor. The site of the old French fort on which James Simonds’ house was built, with the company’s store hard by, is now a green mound unoccupied by any building. The place was at first commonly called “Simonds’ Point” but about the year 1776 the name of “Portland Point” seems to have come into use. Nevertheless, down to the time of the arrival of the Loyalists in 1783, the members of the company always applied the names of “St. Johns” or “St. John’s River” to the scene of their operations, and it may be said that in spite of the attempt of the French governor Villebon and his contemporaries to perpetuate the old Indian name of Menaquesk, or Menagoeche, and of Governor Parr in later years to affix the name of “Parr-town” to that part of our city to the east of the harbor, the name given by de Monts and Champlain on the memorable 24 June, 1604, has persisted to the present day. The city of ST. JOHN, therefore, has not only the honor of being the oldest incorporated city in the British colonies, but traces the origin of its name to a known and fixed date three hundred years ago. Indeed as regards its name St. John is older than Boston, New York, Philadelphia or any city of importance on the Atlantic coast as far south as Florida.

However the first English colonists who established themselves on a permanent footing at “St. John’s” thought little of this historic fact. It was not sentiment but commercial enterprise than guided them.

Among those who came to St. John with Simonds and White in April, 1764, none was destined to play a more active and useful part than young Jonathan Leavitt. He was a native of New Hampshire and at the time of his arrival was in his eighteenth year. Young as he was he had some experience as a mariner, and from 1764 to 1774 was employed as master of one or other of the Company’s vessels. He sailed chiefly between St. John and Newburyport, but occasionally made a voyage to the West Indies. He received the modest compensation of £4 per month for his services. In the course of time Mr. Leavitt came to be one of the most trusted navigators of the Bay of Fundy and probably none knew the harbor of St. John so well as he. In his testimony in a law suit, about the year 1792, he states that in early times the places of anchorage in the harbor were the 180 flats on the west side between Fort Frederick and Sand Point, which were generally used by strangers, and Portland Point where the vessels of the Company lay. It was not until, 1783 that vessels began to anchor at the Upper Cove (now the Market Slip), that place being until then deemed rather unsafe. Jonathan Leavitt and has brother Daniel piloted to their landing places the transport ships that carried some thousands of Loyalists to our shores during the year 1783.

Jonathan Leavitt gives an interesting synopsis of the business carried on at St. John under the direction of Simonds and White: “The Company’s business included Fishery, Fur trade, making Lime, building Vessels and sawing Lumber, and they employed a great number of laborers and workmen in cutting wood, burning lime, digging stone, cutting hoop-poles, clearing roads, clearing land, curing fish, cutting hay and attending stock. The workmen and laborers were supported and paid by the partnership and lived in the outhouse and kitchen of the house occupied by Simonds and White. There was a store of dry goods and provisions and articles for the Indian trade.”

When he was at St. John, Leavitt lived in the family of Simonds and White who lived together during the greater part of the ten years he was in the Company’s employ, and when they separated their families he staid sometimes with one and sometimes with the other. Simonds and White were supplied with bread, meat and liquors for themselves and families from the store, and no account was kept whilst they lived together, but after they separated they were charged against each family; the (workmen also were maintained, supported and fed from the joint stock of the store, as it was considered they were employed for the joint benefit of the company, but liquors and articles supplied on account of their wages were charged against the individual accounts of the men. Part of the workmen and laborers were hired by William Hazen and sent from Newburyport, others were engaged by Simonds and White at the River St. John.

About the year 1772 Jonathan Leavitt married Capt. Francis Peabody’s youngest daughter, Hephzibeth, then about sixteen years of age, and thus became more closely identified with James Simonds and James White, whose wives were also daughters of Capt. Peabody.[66]

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When Jonathan and Daniel Leavitt had for several years been engaged in sailing the company’s vessels, it is said that they became discouraged at the outlook and talked of settling themselves at some place where there was a larger population and more business. James White did his best to persuade them to remain, closing his argument with the exhortation, “Don’t be discouraged, boys! Keep up a good heart! Why ships will come here from England yet!” And they have come.

In addition to the Leavitts and the masters of some of the other vessels, who were intelligent men, nearly all at St. John were ordinary laborers: however, the company from time to time employed some capable young fellows to assist in the Store at the Point. One of these was Samuel Webster, whose mother was a half-sister of James Simonds. He remained nearly four years at St. John, during which time he lived in the family of Simonds and White. While he was at St. John goods were shipped to Newburyport and the West Indies by the Company in considerable quantities. There were he says at times a very considerable number of workmen and laborers employed, and at other times a smaller number, according to the time of year, and as the nature of the employment required. The laborers were fed, supported and paid out of the store, and lived in a house only a few rods from Mr. Simonds’ house. Emerson spent most of his time in the store, buying and selling and delivering small articles. He generally made the entries in the Day Book.

Another lad, Samuel Emerson, of Bakerstown, Massachusetts, came to St. John with James Simonds in April, 1767, as a clerk or assistant in the store, and remained nearly four years in the Company’s service.

At the expiration of the first year several changes occurred in the Company. Richard Simonds had died on the 20th January, 1765. Robert Peaslie seems not to have come to St. John, although it was stipulated in the contract that he should do so, and early in 1765 he withdrew from the Company. In the autumn of 1764, Leonard Jarvis, a young man of twenty-two years of age, became associated with William Hazen as co-partner in his business in Newburyport and became by common consent a sharer in the business at St. John. So far as we can judge from his letters, Mr. Jarvis was a man of excellent business ability. The accounts kept at Newburyport in connection with the Company’s business are in his handwriting and he attended to most of the correspondence with the St. John partners.

The writer of this history has among his historic documents and papers a number of account books in a very fair state of preservation, containing in part the transactions of the company during the years they were in business at St. John. One of these, a book of nearly 100 pages, ordinary foolscap size with stout paper cover, is of special interest for it contains the record of the initial transactions of the first business firm established at St. John a hundred and forty years ago. At the top of the first page are the words

Day Book No. 1.
1764. St. Johns River.

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The book is intact and very creditably kept. The entries are in the hand writing of James White. The accounts during the continuance of the partnership were kept in New England currency or “Lawful money of Massachusetts.” The letters L. M. were frequently employed to distinguish this currency from sterling money and Nova Scotia currency. The value of the Massachusetts currency was in the proportion of £1 sterling to £1. 6s. 8d. L. M.; the Nova Scotia dollar, or five shillings, was equivalent to six shillings L. M. It is a fact worth recording, that the Massachusetts currency was used in all ordinary business transactions on the River St. John down to the time of the arrival of the Loyalists in 1783. This fact suffices to show how close were the ties that bound the pre-loyalist settlers of the province to New England, and it is scarcely a matter of surprise that during the Revolution the Massachusetts congress found many sympathizers on the River St. John.

While accounts were kept according to the currency of New England, the amount of cash handled by Simonds and White was insignificant. For years they supplied the settlers on the river with such things as they required often receiving their payment in furs and skins. In securing these the white inhabitants became such expert hunters and trappers as to arouse the jealousy of the Indians and to give rise to the pseudo-nym “the bow and arrow breed,” applied to them by some of the half-pay officers who settled among them at the close of the American Revolution. With the Indians the trade was almost entirely one of barter, the staple article being the fur of the spring beaver.

The fur trade assumed large proportions at this period. The account books of Simonds and White that are now in existence do not contain a complete record of all the shipments made from St. John, but they show that during ten years of uninterrupted trade from the time of their settlement at Portland Point to the outbreak of the Revolution, they exported at least 40,000 beaver skins, 11,022 musquash, 6,050 Marten, 870 otter, 258 fisher, 522 Mink, 120 fox, 140 sable, 74 racoon, 67 loup-cervier, 8 wolverene, 5 bear, 2 Nova Scotia wolf, 50 carriboo, 85 deer, and 1,113 moose, besides 2,265 lbs. of castor and 3,000 lbs of feathers, the value of which according to invoice was £11,295 or about $40,000. The prices quoted are but a fraction of those of modern days and by comparison appear ridiculously small. Other traders were engaged in traffic with the Indians also, and if Messrs. Simonds and White sent on an average 4,000 beaver skins to New England every year, it is manifest that the fur trade of the river was a matter of some consequence.

James White was the principal agent in bartering with the Indians who had every confidence in his integrity. Three-fourths of their trade was in beaver skins and “a pound of spring beaver” (equivalent to 5 shillings in value) was the unit employed in trade. Mr. White was usually called by the Indians “K’wabeet” or “Beaver.” It is said that in business with the Indians the fist of Mr. White was considered to weigh a pound and his foot two pounds both in buying and selling. But the same story is told of other Indian traders. The Indians were fond of finery and ornaments. Among the articles sent by Samuel Blodget in 1764 were nine pairs of green, scarlet and blue plush breeches at a guinea each; one blue gold laced jacket and two scarlet gold laced jackets valued at £3 each; also spotted 183 ermine jackets, ruffled shirts and three gold laced beaver hats (value of the latter £8 6s. 4d.) These may seem extravagant articles for the Indians yet their chiefs and captains bought them and delighted to wear them on special occasions.[67] It was customary in trading with the savages to take pledges from them, for the payment of their debts, silver trinkets, armclasps, medals, fuzees, etc. In the autumn of 1777 a Yankee privateer from Machias, whose captain bore the singular name A. Greene Crabtree, plundered Simonds & White’s store at Portland Point and carried off a trunk full of Indian pledges. This excited the indignation of the Chiefs Pierre Thoma and Francis Xavier who sent the following communication to Machias: “We desire you will return into the hands of Mr. White at Menaguashe the pledges belonging to us which were plundered last fall out of Mr. Hazen’s store by A. Greene Crabtree, captain of one of your privateers; for if you don’t send them we will come for them in a manner you won’t like.”

The goods kept in the store at Portland Point for the Indian trade included powder and shot for hunting, provisions, blankets and other “necessaries” and such articles as Indian needles, colored thread, beads of various colors, a variety of buttons—brass buttons, silver plated buttons, double-gilt buttons, scarlet buttons and blue mohair buttons—scarlet blue and red cloth, crimson broadcloth, red and blue stroud, silver and gold laced hats, gilt trunks, Highland garters, silver crosses, round silver broaches, etc., etc.

The old account books bear evidence of being well thumbed, for Indian debts were not easy to collect, and white men’s debts were harder to collect in ancient than in modern days. In point of fact the red man and the white man of the River St. John ran a close race in their respective ledgers. For in a statement of accounts rendered after the operations of the company had lasted rather more than two years, the debts due were as follows: From the English £607 11s. 9d. and from the Indians £615 7s. 9d. Old and thumb-worn as the account books are, written with ink that had often been frozen and with quill pens that often needed mending, they are extremely interesting as relics of the past, and are deserving of a better fate than that which awaited them when by the merest accident they were rescued from a dismal heap of rubbish.

In their business at Portland Point, Simonds and White kept four sets of accounts: one for their Indian trade, a second for their business with the white inhabitants, a third for that with their own employees, and a fourth for that with the garrison at Fort Frederick.

In glancing over the leaves of the old account books the first thing likely to attract attention is the extraordinary consumption of West India spirits and New England rum. This was by no means confined to the Company’s laborers, for at that time the use of rum as a beverage was almost universal. It was dispensed as an ordinary act of hospitality and even the preacher cheerfully accepted the proffered cup. It was used in winter to keep out the cold and in summer 184 to keep out the heat. It was in evidence alike at a wedding or a funeral. No barn-raising or militia general muster was deemed to be complete without the jug, and in process of time the use of spirits was so habitual that Peter Fisher was able to quote statistics in 1824 to prove that the consumption of ardent liquors was nearly twenty gallons per annum for every male person above sixteen years of age. While the use of rum may be regarded as the universal custom of the day, at the same time tobacco was not in very general use. The use of snuff, however, was quite common.

In the course of a few years the variety of articles kept in stock at the company’s store increased surprisingly until it might be said they sold everything “from a needle to an anchor.” The paces at which some of the staple articles were quoted appear in the foot note.[68] Among other articles in demand were fishing tackle, blue rattan and fear-nothing jackets, milled caps, woollen and check shirts, horn and ivory combs, turkey garters, knee buckles, etc. Among articles that strike us as novel are to be found tin candlesticks, brass door knobs, wool cards, whip-saws, skates, razors and even mouse traps. Writing paper was sold at 1s. 3d. per quire. The only books kept in stock were almanacks, psalters, spelling books and primers.

Still though the variety at first glance seems greater than might have been expected, a little further inspection will satisfy us that the life of that day was one of extreme simplicity, of luxuries there were few, and even the necessaries of life were sometimes scanty enough.

One hundred and forty years have passed since James Simonds and James White set themselves down at the head of Saint John harbor as pioneers in trade to face with indomitable energy and perseverance the difficulties of their situation. These were neither few nor small, but they were Massachusetts men and in their veins there flowed the blood of the Puritans. The determination that enabled their progenitors to establish themselves around the shores of the old Bay States upheld them in the scarcely less difficult task of creating for themselves a home amidst the rocky hillsides that encircled the Harbor of St. John.

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Today the old pioneers of 1764 would hardly recognize their ancient landmarks. The ruggedness of old Men-ah-quesk has in a great measure disappeared; valleys have been filled and hills cut down. The mill-pond where stood the old tide mill is gone and the Union depot with its long freight sheds and maze of railway tracks occupies its place. “Mill” street and “Pond” street alone remain to tell of what has been. The old grist mill near Lily Lake and its successors have long since passed away. It certainly was with an eye to business and not to pleasure, that Hazen, Simonds and White built the first roadway to Rockwood Park. Could our pioneers in trade revisit the scene of their labors and note the changes time has wrought what would be their amazement? They would hardly recognize their surroundings. Instead of rocks and crags covered with spruce and cedar, with here and there an open glade, and the wide spreading mud flats at low tide they would behold the wharves that line our shores, the ocean steamships lying in the channel, grain elevators that receive the harvests of Canadian wheat-fields two thousand miles away, streets traversed by electric cars and pavements traversed by thousands of hurrying feet, bicyclists darting hither and thither, squares tastefully laid out and adorned with flowers, public buildings and residences of goodly proportions and by no means devoid of beauty, palatial hotels opening their doors to guests from every clime, institutions for the fatherless and the widow, the aged, the poor, the unfortunate, the sick the insane, churches with heaven directing spires, schools whose teachers are numbered by the hundred and pupils by the thousand, public libraries, courts of justice and public offices of nearly every description, business establishments whose agents find their way into every nook and corner of old-time Acadie, railways and steamboats that connect the city with all parts of the globe, splendid bridges that span the rocky gorge at the mouth of the St. John where twice in the course of every twenty-four hours the battle, old as the centuries, rages between the outpouring torrent of the mighty river and the inflowing tide of the bay.

A few years since the writer of this history in an article in the New Brunswick Magazine endeavored to contrast a Saturday night of the olden time with one of modern days.[69]

A COTTAGE OF TODAY.

“Saturday night in the year 1764—The summer sun sinks behind the hills and the glow of evening lights the harbor. At the landing place at Portland Point, one or two fishing boats are lying on the beach, and out a little from the shore a small square sterned schooner lies at her anchor. The natural lines of the harbor are clearly seen. In many places the forest has crept down nearly to the water’s edge. Wharves and shipping there are none. Ledges of rock, long since removed, crop up here and there along the harbor front. The silence falls as the day’s work is ended at the little settlement, and the sound of the waters rushing through the falls seems, in the absence of other sounds, unnaturally predominant. Eastward of Portland Pond we see the crags and rocks of the future city of the Loyalists, the natural ruggedness in some measure hidden by the growth of dark spruce and 186 graceful cedar, while in the foreground lies the graceful curve of the “Upper Cove” where the forest fringes the waters edge. We may easily cross in the canoe of some friendly Indian and land where, ten years later, the Loyalists landed, but we shall find none to welcome us. The spot is desolate, and the stillness only broken by the occasional cry of some wild animal, the song of the bird in the forest and the ripple of waves on the shore.

The shadows deepen as we return to the Point, and soon the little windows of the settlers’ houses begin to glow. There are no curtains to draw or blinds to pull down or shutters to close in these humble dwellings, but the light, though unobstructed shines but feebly, for ’tis only the glimmer of a tallow candle that we see or perhaps the flickering of the firelight from the open chimney that dances on the pane.

In the homes of the dwellers at St. John Saturday night differs little from any other night. The head of the house is not concerned about the marketing or telephoning to the grocer; the maid is not particularly anxious to go “down town;” the family bath tub may be produced (and on Monday morning it will be used for the family washing), but the hot water will not be drawn from the tap. The family retire at an early hour, nor are their slumbers likely to be disturbed by either fire alarm or midnight train. And yet in the olden times the men, we doubt not, were wont to meet on Saturday nights at the little store at the Point to compare notes 187 and to talk over the few topics of interest in their monotonous lives. We seem to see them even now—a little coterie—nearly all engaged in the company’s employ, mill hands, fishermen, lime-burners, laborers, while in a corner James White pores over his ledger posting his accounts by the light of his candle and now and again mending his goose-quill pen. But even at the store the cheerful company soon disperses; the early-closing system evidently prevails, the men seek their several abodes and one by one the lights in the little windows vanish. There is only one thing to prevent the entire population from being in good time for church on Sunday morning, and that is there is not any church for them to attend.

Then and now! We turn from our contemplation of Saturday night as we have imagined it in 1764 to look at a modern Saturday night in St. John. No greater contrast can well be imagined. Where once were dismal shades of woods and swamps, there is a moving gaily-chattering crowd that throngs the walks of Union, King and Charlotte streets. The feeble glimmer of the tallow candle in the windows of the few houses at Portland Point has given place to the blaze of hundreds of electric lights that shine far out to sea, twinkling like bright stars in the distance, and reflected from the heavens, serving to illuminate the country for miles around. Our little knot of villagers in the olden days used to gather in their one little store to discuss the day’s doing; small was the company, and narrow their field of observation; and their feeble gossip is today replaced by the rapid click of the telegraph instruments, the rolling of the steam-driven printing press and the cry of the newsboy at every corner; the events of all the continents are proclaimed in our streets almost as soon as they occur.

And yet from all the luxury and ease, as well as from the anxiety and cares of busy modern days, we like sometimes to escape and get a little nearer to the heart of nature and to adopt a life of rural simplicity not far removed from that which once prevailed at Portland Point, content with some little cottage, remote from the hurry and din of city life in which to spend the good old summer time.”

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CHAPTER XVIII.

St. John and its Business One Hundred and Forty Years Ago.

The circumstances under which the trading company of Blodget, Simonds, Hazen, Peaslie, White and Richard Simonds was organized in 1764 have been already described. The original contract is yet in existence and in a very excellent state of preservation. It is endorsed “Contract for St. Johns & Passamaquodi.”[70] A fac-simile of the signatures appended to it is here given.

Signatures

A short account may be given of each member of the partnership.

Samuel Blodget was a Boston man, somewhat older than the other members of the company, careful and shrewd, possessed of some money and little learning. He had been associated with William Hazen in contracts for supplying the troops on Lake Champlain in the recent French war; there seems to have been also a remote family connection between Samuel Blodget and James Simonds. Mr. Blodget’s connection with the company lasted a little more than two years. During this time a considerable part of the furs, fish, lime and lumber obtained by Simonds and 189 White at the River St. John were consigned to him at Boston. In return Blodget supplied goods for the Indian trade and other articles needed, but his caution proved a source of dissatisfaction to the other partners and Hazen & Jarvis at the end of the first year’s business wrote to Simonds & White, “Mr. Blodget tells us that he never expected to advance more than a quarter of the outsets. We think in this he does not serve us very well, as we can’t see into the reason of our advancing near three-quarters and doing more than ten times the business and his having an equal share of the profits. Pray give us your opinion on that head. You may rest assured that we will not leave one stone unturned to keep you constantly supply’d and believe, even if we should not have the requisite assistance from Mr. Blodget, we shall be able to effect it.” To this James Simonds replies, “With respect to Mr. Blodget’s not advancing more than precisely ¼ part of the outsets is what I never before understood; I am sure by his situation that he can do but a little part of the Business and therefore think he ought to excell in his proportion of Supplys rather than to fall short.”

A second year of the partnership passed and Samuel Blodget became exceedingly serious about the ultimate outcome of the venture. He wrote a letter on the 18th March, 1766, to Simonds & White of which the extract that follows is a part:

“I have been Largely concerned in partnerships before Now but Never so Ignorant of any as of the present, which I am willing to Impute it to your hurry of Business, But Let me Tell you that partners are in a high degree guilty of Imprudence to Continue a Large Trade for Two years without Settling or knowing whether they have Lost a hundred pounds or not—although they may be ever so Imersed in Business, for the Sooner they Stop the better, provided they are Losing money—as it seames in Mr. Hazen’s oppinion we have Lost money—perhaps you may Know to the Contrary. But then how agreable would it be to me (who have a Large Sum in your hands) to know as much as you do. Pray Suffer me to ask you, can you wonder to find me anxious about my Interest when I am so Ignorant what it is in? I am sure you don’t Gent’n. I am not in doubt of your Integrity. I think I know you Both Two well. But common prudence calls Loudly upon us all to adjust our accounts as soon as may be. I have not the Least Line under yours and Mr. White’s hands that the Articles which we signed the first years, which was dated the First of March, 1764,—which was but for one yeare—should Continue to the present Time, nor do I doubt your onour, but Still mortallety Requiyers it to be done and I should take it Coind to Receive Such a Righting sent by both of you.”

Mr. Blodget’s uneasiness as to the outcome of the business was set at rest very shortly after he wrote the above, for on April 5th Hazen and Jarvis tell their partners at St. John:—

“We have purchased Mr. Blodget’s Interest, for which we are to pay him his outsetts. We are in hopes that we shall be able to carry on the Business better without than with him. * * We must beg you would be as frugal as possible in the laying out of any money that benefits will not be immediately reaped from, and that you will make as large remittances as you possibly can to enable us to discharge the Company’s debt to Blodget, for we shall endeavor all in our power to discharge our obligations to him as we do not chuse to lay at his Mercy.”

Thus it appears that if Samuel Blodget’s two years connection with the company was not greatly to his advantage, it did him no material injury. From this time he ceases to have any interest for us in the affairs at Portland Point.

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James Simonds, whose name is second among the signers of the business contract of 1764, may be regarded as the founder of the first permanent settlement at the mouth of the River St. John. His most remote ancestor in America was William Simonds of Woburn, Massachusetts. This William Simonds married Judith Phippen, who came to America in the ship “Planter” in 1635. Tradition says that as the vessel drew near her destination land was first described by Judith Phippen, which proved to be the headland now called “Point Judith.” Among the passengers of the “Planter” were the ancestors of many well known families in America, bearing the familiar names of Peabody, Perley, Beardsley, Carter, Hayward, Reed, Lawrence, Cleveland, Davis and Peters. In 1643 Judith Phippen became the wife of William Simonds. The house in which they lived at Woburn, Mass., and where their twelve children were born, is probably yet standing—at least it was when visited a few years since by one of their descendants living in this province. William Simonds’ tenth child, James, was the grandfather of our old Portland Point pioneer. He married Susanna Blodget and their sixth child, Nathan, was the father of James Simonds, who came to St. John. Nathan Simonds married Sarah Hazen of Haverhill, an aunt of William Hazen, and their oldest child James (the subject of this sketch) was born at Haverhill, December 10, 1735.

James Simonds, as mentioned in a former chapter, served in “the old French war” and was with his cousin Captain John Hazen in the campaign against Fort Ticonderoga. His subsequent career we have already touched upon and he will naturally continue to be a leading character in the story of the early history of St. John. He was evidently a man of stout constitution and vigor of body, for he not only survived all his contemporaries who came to St. John, but he outlived every member of the first New Brunswick legislature and every official appointed by the crown at the organization of the province. He passed to his rest in the house he had built at Portland Point at the patriarchal age of 95 years. His widow Hannah (Peabody) Simonds died in 1840 at the age of 90 years.

Of James Simonds’ large family of fourteen children several were prominent in the community. Hon. Charles Simonds was for years the leading citizen of Portland. He was born the same year the Loyalists landed in St. John, and was a member for St. John county in the House of Assembly from 1821 until his death in 1859, filling during that time the positions of speaker and leader of the government. Hon. Richard Simonds, born in 1789, represented the county of Northumberland in the House of Assembly when but twenty-one years of age and sat from 1810 to 1828, when he was appointed treasurer of the province. He filled for a short time the position of speaker of the assembly, and from 1829 until his death in 1836 was a member of the Legislative Council. Sarah, one of the daughters of James Simonds, married (Sept. 10, 1801) Thomas Millidge, the ancestor of the Millidges of St. John; her youngest sister Eliza married (Aug. 9, 1801) Henry Gilbert, merchant of St. John, from whom the members of this well known family are descended.

William Hazen, the third of the signers of the partnership contract, was born in Haverhill July 17, 1738. His great-grandfather, Edward Hazen, the first of the name in America, was a resident of Rowley, Massachusetts, as early as the year 191 1649. By his wife Hannah Grant he had four sons and seven daughters. The youngest son Richard, born August 6, 1669, inherited the large estate of his stepfather, George Browne, of Haverhill. This Richard Hazen was grandfather of James Simonds as well as of William Hazen; he married Mary Peabody and had a family of five sons and six daughters (one of the latter was the mother of James Simonds.) The third son, Moses Hazen was the ancestor of the Hazens of New Brunswick.

The wife of Moses Hazen was Abigail White, aunt of James White who came to St. John. Their sons John, Moses and William have a special interest for us. John, the oldest distinguished himself as a captain of the Massachusetts troops in the French war. He married Anne Swett of Haverhill, and had a son John, who came with his uncle William to St. John in 1775 and settled at Burton on the River St. John, where he married Dr. William McKinstry’s daughter, Priscilla, and had a family of twelve children. J. Douglas Hazen, of St. John, M. P. P., for Sunbury County, is one of his descendants.

Moses Hazen, the second son has been mentioned as commander of one of the companies of the Fort Frederick garrison in 1759; he became a Brigadier General in the American army in the Revolutionary war.

William Hazen, the third son and co-partner of Simonds and White, was born in Haverhill, July 17, 1738. He married, July 14, 1764, Sarah Le Baron of Plymouth.

Their family was even larger than that of James Simonds and included sixteen children. Of these Elizabeth married the elder Ward Chipman, Judge of the Supreme Court, and at the time of his death in 1824 administrator of government; Sarah Lowell married Thomas Murray (grandfather of the late Miss Frances Murray of St. John, one of the cleverest women the province has ever produced) and after his early decease became the wife of Judge William Botsford—their children were Senator Botsford, George Botsford and Dr. Le Baron Botsford; Charlotte married General Sir John Fitzgerald; Frances Amelia married Col. Charles Drury of the imperial army, father of the late Ward Chipman Drury.

Among the more distinguished descendants of William Hazen by the male line were Hon. Robert L. Hazen—popularly known as “Curly Bob”—recorder of the city of St. John, a very eminent leader in our provincial politics and at the time of his death a Canadian senator; also Robert F. Hazen who was mayor of St. John and one of its most influential citizens.

The elder William Hazen died in 1814 at the age of 75 years. His eldest daughter, Mrs. Chipman, died at the Chipman House May 18, 1852, the sixty-ninth anniversary of the landing of the Loyalists and her son, Chief Justice Chipman, died November 26, 1851, the sixty seventh anniversary of the organisation of the first supreme court of the province. The widow of Chief Justice Chipman died the 4th of July, 1876, the centennial of the Declaration of Independence. And finally a William Hazen, of the fourth generation, died June 17, 1885, the same day on which his ancestor left Newburyport for St. John one hundred and ten years before.

The first three signers of the articles of partnership under which business was undertaken at St. John in 1764, viz. Samuel Blodget, James Simonds and William Hazen, had each one-quarter interest in the business, the junior partners, Robert 192 Peaslie, James White and Richard Simonds had only one-twelfth part each. The articles of partnership provided that James Simonds and the three junior partners should proceed to St. John as soon as possible, and there do what business was necessary to be done during the co-partnership, and that Samuel Blodget and William Hazen should remain at Boston an Newburyport to forward supplies and receive what might be sent from St. John or elsewhere by the company. For some reason Robert Peaslie did not go to St. John. He married Anna Hazen, a sister of William Hazen, and settled in Haverhill, retiring not long afterwards from the company. Another of the junior partners, Richard Simonds, lost his life, as already stated, on the 20th January, 1765, in the defence of the property of the company when the Indians were about to carry it off.