History of Saratoga County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers., Part 6

Author: Sylvester, Nathaniel Bartlett, 1825-1894
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Ensign
Number of Pages: 780

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After the English conquest of the New Netherlands, in 1664, the jurisdiction of Schenectady was divided, and the part next the Hudson was changed to Albany. But Albany ran back from the Hudson only sixteen miles. Thus the old jurisdiction of Schenectady was left to that part lying on the Mohawk river only, and it has ever since retained the name first applied to the whole. The true Indian name for what is now Schenectady was O-no-a-la-go-na, " pained in the head."

III .- MONTREAL.

The story of the founding of the city of Montreal is more like a religious romance of the middle ages than verit- able history. The reader will not forget that the island of Montreal was the site of the ancient Iroquois village, Hoche- laga, the capital of the old Forest State of that name, dis- covered by Jacques Cartier in the year 1535, and that when Champlain first visited the island, in 1603, the old State and its capital had alike disappeared, and its site was occu- pied only by a few Algonquin fishing huts.

But a newer and more brilliant destiny awaited the site of the ancient Hochelaga, the then wild island of Montreal. About the year 1636, there dwelt at La Fleche, in Anjou, a religious enthusiast deeply imbued with the mysticism of the times, whose name was Jerome Le Royer de la Dau- versiere. It is related of Dauversiere by the pious histori- ans of the period that one day while at his devotions he heard an inward voice, which he deemed a voice from heaven, commanding him to become the founder of a new order of hospital nuns, and to establish for such nuns, to be conducted by them, a hospital, or hotel dieu, on the then wild island of Montreal. It is further related that while Dauversiere was beholding his ecstatic visions at La Fleche, a young priest of similar mystical tendencies, whose name was Jean Jacques Olier, while praying in the ancient church of St. Germain des Pres at Paris, also heard a voice from heaven, commanding him to form a society of priests, and establish them on an island called Montreal in Canada, for the propagation of the true faith. Full of his new idea, Dauversiere set out for Paris to find some means of accom- plishing his object. While at Paris he visited the chateau

of Meudon near by, and, on entering the gallery of the old castle, saw a young priest approaching him. It was Olier. " Neither of these two men," says an old chronicler, " had ever seen or heard of the other; yet, impelled by a kind of inspiration, they knew each other at once, even to the depths of their hearts; saluted each other by name as we read of St. Paul. the hermit, and St. Anthony, of St. Dominic, and St. Francis, and ran to embrace each other like two friends who had met after a long separation." After performing their devotions in the chapel, the two devotees walked for three hours in the park, discussing and forming their plans. Before they parted, they had resolved to found at Montreal three religious communities-one of secular priests, one of nuns to nurse the sick, and one of nuns to teach the white and red children.

By the united efforts of Olier and Dauversiere, an asso- ciation was formed, called the Society of Notre Dame de Montreal, and a colony projeeted. The island was purchased of its owners, the successors of the hundred associates of Quebec, and erected into a seigneurie by the king, henceforth to be called Villemarie de Montreal, and consecrated to the Holy Family. But it was necessary to have a soldier gov- ernor to place in charge of the colony, and for this purpose the associates of Montreal selected Paul de Chomeday, Sienr de Maisonneuve, a devout and valiant gentleman, who had already seen much military service. It was thought neces- sary that some discreet woman should embark with them as their nurse and housekeeper. For this purpose they selected Mademoiselle Jeanne Mance, a religious devotee, who was born of a noble family of Nogent-Le-Roi. She was filled with zeal for the new mission. In it she thought she had found her destiny. The ocean, the solitude, the wilderness, the Iroquois, did not deter her from her high purpose, and this delicate and refined woman at once, with enthusiastic devotion, cast her frail life upon the rock of desolation to christianize a strange land, and to soothe with her gentle influence the wildness of barbarous men.

At length in the summer of 1641 the ships set sail, with Maisonneuve and his forty men and Mademoiselle Mance and three other women on board. But they reached Que- bec too late in the autumn to think of ascending to Montreal that season. While passing the long tedious winter at Que- bec, the members of the new company were treated with much cokluess by Governor Montmagny, who saw a rival governor in Maisonneuve. Early in May, 1642, they em- barked for their new home, having gained an unexpected recruit in the person of Madame de Peltrie, another pious lady, who had also cast her fortunes in the wilderness, but it was not until 1653 that the gentle Marguerite of Bour- geoys came to bless the young colony with her presence. All was seeming peace as they paddled their canoes along near the banks of the stream, decked in the budding beauties of the opening springtide,-but behind every leal'y thicket and rocky island lurked a danger and a terror, the fierce Iroquois on the war-path.

On the 18th of May they arrived at the wild island of Montreal, and landed on the very site chosen for a city by Champlain thirty-one years before. Montmagny was with them to deliver the island in behalf of the company of the hundred associates to Maisonneuve, the agent of the asso-

IHISTORY OF SARATOGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

ciates of Montreal, and Father Vimont, the superior of the Jesuit missions in Canada, was there in spiritual charge of the young colony. Maisonneuve and his followers sprang ashore, and falling on their knees, all devoutly joined their voices in the songs of thanksgiving.

Near by where they landed was a rivulet bordered by a meadow, beyond which rose the ancient forest like a band of iron. The early flowers of spring were blooming in the young grass of the meadow, and the woods were filled with singing birds. A simple altar was raised on a pleasant spot not far from the shore. The ladies decorated it with flowers. Then the whole band gathered before the shrine. Father Vimont stood before the altar, clad in the rich vest- ments of his office. The Host was raised aloft, while they all kneeled in reverent silence. When the solemn rite was over, the priest turned to the little band and said, " You are a grain of mustard-seed that will rise and grow till its branches overshadow the earth. You are few, but your work is the work of God. His smile is on you, and your children shall fill the land."

As the day waned and the twilight came on, the darkened meadow, bereft of its flowers, became radiant with twink- ling fire-flies. Mademoiselle Mance, Madame de la Peltrie, aided by her servant, Charlotte Barre, caught the fire-flies, and, tying them with threads into shining festoons, hung them before the altar where the IFost remained exposed. Then the men lighted their camp-fires, posted their sentries, and pitched their tents, and all lay down to rest. " It was the birth-night of Montreal." *

Old Indian Ho-che-la-ga was no more. A new raee had come to people the wilderness, and unfurl the banner of the Cross on the great river of the Thousand Isles.

CHAPTER VIIL. INDIAN WARS-THE MISSION OF ISAAC JOGUES, 1642-46.

I .- LAKE GEORGE.

AMONG the earliest of the many French captives who were dragged by the cruel Iroquois from time to time along the old war-trails which crossed Saratoga, with maimed hands and bleeding feet, was the celebrated Jesuit father, Isaac Jogues, the discoverer of Lake George, and the founder of the Mission of the Martyrs, St. Mary of the Mohawks.

In the olden time, when the whole north continent was a vast howling wilderness from the frozen ocean to the flowery gulf land, many bright, fair lakes lay sleeping in its awful solitudes, their waters flashing in the sunshine like gleam- ing mirrors, and lighting up the sombre desolation like jewels in an iron crown ; but the fairest and the brightest of them all was Lake George. It was the gem of the old wilderness. Of the thousand lakes that adorn the surface of northern New York there is none among them all to-day so fair, none among them all so like " a diadem of beauty," as Lake George-its deepest water as bright and as pure as

the dewdrops on the lilies. Its authentic history runs back for two hundred and forty years. Its forest traditions ex- tend into the dim, mythical, mysterious, and unknown romance of the New World. But its waters have not always been so pure as they are to-day, and we shall all grow weary of its story, for it is a story of blood.

II .- ISAAC JOGUES.

The first white men who saw Lake George were the Jesuit father, Isaac Jognes, and his companions, Rene Goupil and Guillame Couture. They were taken over its waters as prisoners-tortured, maimed, and bleeding-by the Mohonieks, in the month of August, 1642.

Isaac Jogues, the discoverer of Lake George, was born at Orleans, in France, on the 10th of January, 1607, and received there the rudiments of his education. In October, 1624, he entered the Jesuit society at Rouen, and removed to the College of La Fleche in 1627. He completed his divinity at Clermont College, Paris, and was ordained priest in February, 1636. lu the spring of that year he em- barked as a missionary for Canada, arriving at Quebec early in July.

At the time of his first visit to Lake George, Jogues was but thirty-five years of age. " His oval face and the delicate mould of his features," says Parkman, " indicated a modest, thoughtful, and refined nature. He was eonsti- tutionally timid, with a sensitive conscience and great re- ligious susceptibilities. Ile was a finished scholar, and might have gained a literary reputation ; but he had chosen another career, and one for which he seemed but ill fitted." His companions were young laymen, who from religions motives had attached themselves without pay to the service of the Jesuit missions.

III .- WAR IN THE WILDERNESS.

Thirty-three years before, Samuel de Champlain on his voyage of discovery had first attacked the Iroquois on the shore of the lake that bears his name, and they had fled in terror from the murderous firearms of the first white men they had ever seen to their homes on the Mohawk. Since then they had ceased to make war upon their hereditary enemies, the Canadian Algonquins or the French colonists. But they had by no means forgotten their humiliating de- feat. In the mean time they had themselves been supplied with firearms by the Dutch traders at Fort Orange, on the Hudson, in exchange for beaver-skins and wampum, and now their hour of sweet revenge had come.

The war with the Eries, the Hurons, and the other western tribes had been undertaken by the Senecas, the Cayugas, and Onondagas. It was left to the Mohawks and the Oneidas to attempt the extermination of the Cana- dian Algonquins and their French allies. They came near accomplishing their bloody purpose. But for the timely arrival of a few troops from France, the banks of the St. Lawrence would soon have become as desolate as the conn- try of the lost Eries or that of the Hurons. The savages hung the war-kettle upon the fire in all the Mohawk castles and danced the war-dance. In bands of tens and hundreds they took the war-path, and passing through Lakes George and Champlain, and down the river Richelieu, went prowl-

# Parkman's Jesuits in North America, p. 209, and Charlevoix's Ilistory of New France, translated by Jobn G. Shea,

IHISTORY OF SARATOGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

ing about the French settlements at Montreal, Three Rivers, and Quebec, and the Indian villages on the Ottawa. The Iroquois were everywhere. From the Huron country to the Saguenay they infested the forests like so many raven- ous wolves. They hung about the French forts, killing stragglers and luring armed parties into fatal ambuscades. They followed like hounds upon the trail of travelers and hunters through the forests, and lay in wait along the banks of streams to attack the passing canoes. It was one of these prowling hostile bands of Mohawks that attacked and captured Isaac Jogues and his companions.

IV .- CAPTURE OF JOGUES.

Father Jogues had come down the savage Ottawa river a thousand miles in his bark canoes the spring before from his far-off Huron mission to Quebee for much-needed sup- plies. He was now on his return voyage to the Huron country. In the dewy freshness of the early morning of the 2d day of August, with his party of four Frenchmen and thirty-six Hurons, in twelve heavily-laden canoes, Jogues had reached the westerly end of the expansion called Lake St. Peters. It is there filled with islands that lie opposite the mouth of the river Richelieu. It was not long before they heard the terrible war-whoop upon the Canadian shore. In a moment more Jogues and his white companions and a part of his Hurons were captives in the hands of the yelling, exulting Mohawks, and the remainder of the Hurons killed or dispersed. Goupil was seized at once. Jogues might have escaped ; but seeing Goupil and his Huron neophytes in the hands of their savage captors, he had no heart to desert them, and so gave himself up. Couture at first eluded his pursuers, but, like Jogues, re- lented, and returned to his captured companions. Five Iroquois ran to meet Couture as he approached, one of whom snapped his gun at his breast. It missed fire, but Coutour iu turn fired his own gun at the savage, and laid him dead at his feet. The others sprang upon him like panthers, stripped him naked, tore out his finger-nails with their teeth, gnawed his fingers like hungry dogs, and thrust a sword through one of his hands. Jogues, touched by the sufferings of his friends, broke from his guards and threw his arms around Couture's neck. The savages dragged him away, and knocked him senseless. When he revived they gnawed his fingers with their teeth, and tore out his nails as they had done those of Couture. Turning fiercely upon Goupil, they treated him in the same way. With their captives they then crossed to the mouth of the Richelieu, and encamped where the town of Sorel now stands .*

The savages returned to the Mohawk with their suffering captives by the way which they came,-across the old hunt- ing-ground, Kay-ad-ros-se-ra, now Saratoga. On the eighth day, upon an island near the south end of Lake Champlain, they arrived at the camp of two hundred Iroquois, who were on their way to the St. Lawrence. At the sight of the captives these fierce warriors, armed with clubs and thorny sticks, quickly ranged themselves in two lines, be- tween which the captives were each in turn made to run

the gauntlet up a rocky hillside. On their way they were beaten with such fury that Jogues fell senseless, half dead, and covered with blood. After passing this ordeal again, the captives were mangled as before, and this time were tortured with fire. At night, when they tried to rest, the young warriors tore open their wounds, and pulled out their hair and beard.

V .- THE DISCOVERY OF LAKE GEORGE.

In the morning they resumed their journey, and soon reached a rocky promontory, near which ran a forest-covered mountain, beyond which the lake narrowed into a river. It was more than a hundred years before that promontory became the famous Ticonderoga of later times. Between the promontory and the mountain a stream issued from the woods and fell into the lake. They landed at the mouth of the stream, and, taking their canoes upon their shoulders, followed it up around the noisy waters of the falls. It. was the Indian Che-non-de-ro-ga, " the chiming waters." They soon reached the shores of a beautiful lake, that there lay sleeping in the depths of the limitless forest, all undis- covered and unseen by white men until then. It was the forest gem of the old wilderness, now called Lake George. But it then bore only its old Indian name, Caniad-eri-oit, " the tail of the lake."

Champlain, thirty-three years before, had come no far- ther than its outlet. He heard the "chiming waters" of the falls, and was told that a great lake lay beyond them. But he turned back without seeing it, and so our bruised and bleeding prisoners, Isaac Jogues and his companions, Goupil and Couture, were the first of white men to gaze upon its waters. " Like a fair Naiad of the wilderness," says Parkman, " it slumbered between the guardian moun- tains that breathe between crag and forest the stern poetry of war."t

Again they launched their frail canoes, and, amid the dreamy splendors of an August day, glided on their noise- less course over the charming waters. On they passed, under the dusky mountain shadows, now over some wide expanse, now through the narrow channels and among the woody islands, redolent with balsamy odors. At last they reached the landing-place at the head of the lake, afterward the site of Fort William Henry, now Caldwell, so famous as a summer resort. Here they left their boats and took the old Indian trail that led across old Indian Kay-ad-ros- se-ra from Lake George, a distance of forty miles, to the lower castles on the Mohawk. It was the same trail after- wards followed by the Marquis de Tracy, in October, 1666, on his way to the Mohawk castles with his army and train of French noblemen, to avenge the death of the youthful Chasy.

This old Indian trail, so often the war-path, led from the south end of Lake George, on a southerly course, to the great bend of the Hudson, about ten miles westerly of Glen's Falls. From the bend it led southerly, through the towns of Wilton and Greenfield, along in plain sight of and but four or five miles distant from Saratoga Springs, and through Galway to the lower castles on the Mohawk,

# Parkman's Jesuits in North America, p. 217.

+ Jesuis of North America, p. 219.

IIISTORY OF SARATOGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

four or five miles westerly from what is now Amsterdam, on the New York Central railroad.

VI .- THE CAPTIVITY OF JOGUES.

After their arrival at the Mohawk castles, Father Jogues and his companions were again subjected to the most inhu- man tortures, with the horrid details of which the reader need not be wearied. Among the Mohuicks Jogues re- mained for nearly a year, a captive slave, performing for his savage masters the most menial duties. Soon after his arrival more poor Hurons were brought in and put to death with cruel tortures. But, in the midst of his own sufferings, Jogues lost no opportunity to convert the In- dians to Christianity, sometimes even baptizing them with a few rain-drops which he found clinging to the husks of corn that were thrown him for food.

Couture had won their admiration by his bravery, and, after inflicting upon him the most savage torture, they adopted him into one of their families in the place of a dead relation. But in October they murdered poor Goupil, and after dragging his body through the village, threw it into a deep ravine. Jogues sought it and gave it partial burial. Ile sought it again and it was gone. ITad the torrent washed it away, or had it been taken off by the savages ? He searched the forest and the waters in vain. " Then, crouched by the pitiless stream, he mingled his tears with its waters, and, in a voice broken with groans, chanted the service for the dead."*

In the spring, while the snows were melting, some chil- dren told him where the body of poor Goupil was lying farther down the stream. The Indians and not the torrent had taken it away. Hle found the bones scattered around and stripped by the foxes and birds. He tenderly gathered them and hid them in a hollow tree, in the hope that he might some day be able to lay them in consecrated ground.

Late in the autumn after his arrival he was ordered to go with a party of braves on their annual deer-hunt. All the game they took they offered to their god Ar-esk-oui, and ate it in his honor. Jogues came near starving in the midst of plenty, for he would not taste the food offered to what he believed to be a demon. In a lonely spot in the forest he cut the bark, in the form of a cross, from the trunk of a large tree. There, half-elad in shaggy furs, in the chill wintry air he knelt upon the frozen ground in prayer. He was a living martyr to the faith before whose emblem he bowed in adoration-a faith in which was now his only hope and consolation.

VII .- THE ESCAPE.

At length, in the month of July, 1643, he went with a fishing-party to a place on the Hudson about twenty miles below Fort Orange. Some of the Iroquois soon returned, bringing Jogues with them. On their way they stopped at Fort Orange and he made his escape from the savages.

Jogues was secreted by the Dutch, and the savages made diligent search for him. Fearing his discovery and re- capture by the Indians, the kind-hearted Dutch paid a large ransom for the captive, and gave him a free passage

to his home in France. He arrived in Brittany on Christmas-day and was received by his friends, who had heard of his captivity, as one risen from the dead. Ite was treated everywhere with mingled curiosity and reverence, and was summoned to Paris. The ladies of the court thronged around to do him homage. When he was pre- sented to the queen, Anne of Anstria, she kissed his mutilated hands, the hands of the poor slave of the Mohawk squaws.

In the spring of 1644, Jogues returned to Canada, soon to become a martyr to his faith in the valley of the Mohawk.

VIII .- THE LAKE OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

For still another year the Iroquois war raged with unabated violence.

Early in the spring of 1645, a famous Algonquin chief named Piskaret, with a band of braves, went out upon the war-path toward the country of the Mohawks. Upon an island in Lake Champlain they met a war-party of thirteen Iroquois. They killed eleven of the number, made prisoners of the other two, and returned in triumph to the St. Law- rence.

At Sillery, a small settlement on the St. Lawrence, near Quebec, Piskaret, in a speech, delivered his captives to Montmagny, the governor-general, who replied with com- pliments and gifts. The wondering captives, when they fairly comprehended that they were saved from cruel torture and death, were surprised and delighted beyond measure. Then one of the captive Mohawks, of great size and of matchless symmetry of form, who was evidently a war-chief, arose and said to the governor, Montmagny,-

" Onnontio, I am saved from the fire. My body is de- livered from death.

"Ounontio, you have given me my life. I thank you for it. I will never forget it. All my country will be grateful to you. The earth will be bright, the river calm and smooth; there will be peace and friendship between us. The shadow is before my eyes no longer. The spirits of my ancestors slain by the Algonquins have disappeared.

" Onnontio, you are good ; we are bad. But our anger is gone. I have no heart but for peace and rejoicing."

As he said this he began to dance, holding his hands up- raised as if apostrophizing the sun. Suddenly he snatched a hatchet, brandished it for a moment like a madman, then flung it into the fire, saying as he did so, " Thus I throw down my anger ; thus I cast away the weapons of blood. Farewell war. Now, Onnontio, I am your friend forever."

Onnontio means in the Indian tongue " great mountain." It is a literal translation of Montmagny's name. It was forever after the Iroquois name for the governors of Canada, as Corlear was for the governors of New York, so called from Arent van Curler, first superintendent of the colonies of Rensselaerswick, who was a great favorite with the Indians.

The captive Iroquois were well treated by the French, and one of them sent home to their country on the Mohawk, under a promise of making negotiations for peace with his people, and the other kept as a hostage.

The efforts of the captive chief who returned to the Mo-

# Jesuits of North America, p. 225.

HISTORY OF SARATOGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

hawk were successful. In a short time he reappeared at Three Rivers, with ambassadors of peace from the Mohawk cantons. To the great joy of the French, he brought with him Couture, who had become a savage in dress and appear- ance.

After a great deal of feasting, speech-making, and belt- giving, peace was concluded, and order and quiet ouce more reigned for a brief period in the old wilderness.

But ambassadors from the French and Algonquins must be sent from Canada to the Mohawk towns, with gifts and presents to ratify the treaty. No one among the French was so well suited for this office as Isaac Jogues. His, too, was a double errand, for he had already been ordered by his superior to found a new missiou among the Mohawks. It was named, prophetically, in advance, " the mission of the martyrs."

At the first thought of returning to the Mohawks, Jogues recoiled with horror. But it was only a momentary pang. The path of duty seemed clear to him, and, thankful that he was found worthy to suffer for the saving of souls, he prepared to depart.

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History of Saratoga County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers., Part 6

Author: Sylvester, Nathaniel Bartlett, 1825-1894 Publication date: 1878 Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Ensign Number of Pages: 780

Author: Sylvester, Nathaniel Bartlett, 1825-1894
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Ensign
Number of Pages: 780