USA > New York > Warren County > History of Warren County [N.Y.] with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 5
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Tiasaronda .- The meeting of the waters. The confluence of the Sacan- daga with the Hudson .- The Vigil of Faith by C. F. Hoffman.
Wawkwaonk .- The head of Lake George, Caldwell .- SABELE.
Whiteface Mountain .- " Thei-a-no-gu-en," white head, from the naked rocky peak.
CHAPTER IV.
EUROPEAN DISCOVERY AND OCCUPATION.
First European Colonists - Discoveries hy Columbus and His Successors - Competitors for the New World -Colonization of New France - Difficulties of the Scheme - Final Success - Champlain's Advent - His Enterprising Explorations - His Colony of 1608- Expedition against the Iroquois - The First Battle - Henry Hudson and Dutch Colonization - English Colonies at Plymouth Rock and Jamestown - Claims of Three European Powers - Subsequent Career of Champlain.
BEFORE entering upon the work of detailing the events more directly con- nected with the early settlement of the valley of Lakes Champlain and George, it may not be out of place to glance hastily over some of the more not- able acts and movements of governments and men that had much to do in opening the way and leading up to the final occupation and settlement of the territory under consideration.
It is not yet four hundred years since the day on which occurred the event that proved to be the first ray of light from the rising sun of civilization, whose beams were destined to penetrate and dissipate the clouds of barbarism that hovered over the untamed wilderness of the American continent; and during the ages that preceded that event, no grander country in all respects ever awaited the advance of civilization and enlightenment. With climate and soil diversified between almost the widest extremes; with thousands of miles of ocean shores indented by magnificent harbors to welcome the world's com-
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
merce; with many of the largest rivers of the globe intersecting and draining its territory and forming natural commercial highways ; with a system of lakes. so grand in proportions as to entitle them to the name of inland seas; with mountains, hills and valleys laden with the richest minerals and almost exhaust- less fuel ; and with scenery unsurpassed for grandeur, it needed only the com- ing of the Caucasian to transform a continent of wilderness, inhabited by sav- ages, into the free, enlightened republic which is to-day the wonder and the- admiration of the civilized world.
The first Europeans to visit America were Scandinavians, who colonized Iceland in 875, Greenland in 983, and about the year 1000 had pushed their discoveries as far southward as the State of Massachusetts. But it was towards. the close of the fifteenth century before the country became known to South- ern Europe, a discovery accidentally made in a quest of a westerly route to- India and China. In 1492 the Genoese, Christopher Columbus, set out on a voy- age of discovery under the patronage of the Spanish power, and in that and the- two succeeding years made his tropical discoveries. The Venetian sailor, John Cabot, was commissioned by Henry VII, of England, in 1497, to voyage to. the new territory and take possession of it in the name of England. He dis- covered New Foundland and portions adjacent. In 1500 the coast of Labra- dor and the entrance to the Gulf of St. Lawrence were explored by two broth- ers from Portugal, named Cortereal. In 1508 Aubert discovered the St. Lawrence, and four years later, in 1512, Ponce de Leon discovered Florida. Magellan, the Portuguese navigator, passed through the straits which now bear his name in 1519, and was the first to circumnavigate the globe. In 1534 Jacques Cartier explored the St. Lawrence as far as Montreal, and five years later Fernando de Soto explored Florida. In 1578 an English navigator named Drake discovered Upper California. These brief data indicate that not a century had passed after the discovery of Columbus, before the different mari- time powers of Europe were in active competition for the rich prizes supposed to exist in the New World.
While the Spaniards were pushing their acquisitions in the South, the French had gained a foothold in the northern part of the continent. Here the- cod fisheries of New Foundland and the prospects of a more valuable trade in furs, opened as early as the beginning of the sixteenth century by Frenchmen,. Basques, Bretons and Normans, held out the most glowing inducements. In. 1518 Baron Livy settled there (New Foundland) and in 1524 Francis I, of France, sent thither Jean Verrazzani, a noted Florentine mariner, on a voyage. of exploration. He sailed along the coast 2,100 miles in the frail vessels of the period and returned safely to his country. On his coast voyage he entered. a large harbor which is supposed to have been that of New York, where he re- mained fifteen days; it is believed that his crew were the first Europeans to. land on the soil of the State of New York. He proceeded north as far as Lab-
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EUROPEAN DISCOVERY AND OCCUPATION.
rador and gave to the whole region the name of New France, thus opening the way for the future contest between France and England.
In 1534 a French navigator named Jacques Cartier, born in St. Malo in 1494, was commissioned by the same French king, Francis I, and put in com- mand of an expedition to explore the New World. After celebrating impress- ive religious ceremonies, as was the custom at that period before beginning any important undertaking, on the 20th of April, 1534, Cartier sailed from St. Malo with two vessels and with upwards of two hundred men. He touched first the coast of New Foundland, and then, sailing northward, passed through the Strait of Belle Isle, landing on the coast of Labrador, where he took formal possession of the country in the name of his sovereign. Continuing his voy- age, he followed the coast of New Foundland, making landings at various points and holding friendly intercourse with the natives ; at Gaspé Bay he per- suaded a chief to permit his two sons to accompany him on his return to France ; here also he planted a cross with the French arms upon it, and thence sailed northeast through the Gulf of St. Lawrence and entered the river of that name north of what is now called Anticosti Island. As he sailed up the broad stream on St. Lawrence day (August 10th), he applied to the river the name of the illustrious saint whose memory is perpetuated by that day. Here, un- aware that he had discovered the mouth of a noble river, and anxious to avoid the autumnal storms, he turned his prow towards France, and on September 5th, 1534, entered the harbor of St. Malo.
The succeeding year, 1535, having under the command of the king, fitted up a fleet of three vessels and organized a colony, to a large extent composed of the younger members of the French nobility, Cartier again sailed from France, empowered by the authority of the king to occupy and colonize the country he had discovered, and to which he gave the name of New France.
Arriving at the mouth of the St. Lawrence in July, he sailed up its majes ic course to where the St. Charles (to which he gave the name of St Croix) enters it, near the present site of Quebec, and cast anchor on the 14th of September.
Here he was entertained by Donnaconna, a prominent chieftain, with the utmost hospitality, and through the aid of the two young Indians who had re- turned with Cartier, was enabled to indulge in considerable conversation with the royal savage. From this point he made several expeditions, the most impor- tant one being up the river to a large Huron Indian town bearing the name of Hochelaga, on the site of the present city of Montreal. To a prominent emi- nence back of the town Cartier gave the name Mount Real (Royal Mountain), hence the name of the modern city. This was the most important town of a large Indian population ; they possessed the country for a long distance up and down the river from that point, and appeared to be a thrifty, industrious people, liv- ing at peace among themselves and with adjoining tribes. Cartier found them kindly disposed towards him, and received numerous substantial evidences of
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
their hospitality and confidence, to the extent of being permitted to take away with him a little Huron girl, a daughter of one of the chiefs, who " lent her to him to take to France." 1
Though their town was palisaded plainly for the purpose of protection against enemies, he saw before him the open fields covered with ripening corn, attesting alike the industry of the people and the fertility of the soil. His im- agination reveled in dreams of conquest and power, as, standing on the lofty hill at the rear of the town, his gaze wandered along the majestic river, embo- soming fruitful islands, and beyond over miles of forests, streams, and lakes to where the dim outlines of mountain tops were shadowed upon the southern horizon. This was during the delightful Indian summer time; the coming winter, with its storms and snows, was an unknown experience to the advent- urers.
Returning in October to the point where his vessels were moored, called by the natives Stadacona (now the site of Quebec), Cartier made preparations to spend the winter. The result of this decision brought with it extreme suffering from the rigors of a climate to which the new-comers were wholly unaccus- tomed, augmented by the affliction of the scurvy, from which disease twenty- five of his men died. The bitter experiences of this winter of 1535-36 on the Isle of Orleans (where they had constructed rude barracks) dimmed the bright hopes of the colonists, and in the spring Cartier, finding one of his vessels unfit for sea, placed his men upon the other two, and prepared to return to France. Taking possession of the country with all the formal "pomp and circumstance " of the age, he and his discouraged companions abandoned the idea of coloni- zation and on the 9th of May, 1536, sailed for France.
The day before his departure Cartier invited Donnaconna and eight of his chiefs to partake of a feast on board his ship. The invitation was accepted, and Cartier, imitating the infamy of the Spanish conquerors of the southern part of the continent, treacherously sailed away with them to France as cap- tives, where they all soon died with grief.
No further efforts at colonization were undertaken until about 1540, when Francis de la Roque, Lord of Roberval, was commissioned by the king of France with vice-royal powers to establish a colony in New France. The king's author- ization of power conferred upon De la Roque the governorship of an immense extent of teritory, shadowy if not illimitable in boundary, but extending in all di- rections from the St. Lawrence and including in its compass all of what is now New England and much of New York. In 1541 he caused to be fitted out a fleet of vessels, which sailed from St. Malo, with Cartier as captain-general and pilot. When, late in August, they arrived at Stadacona the Indians were overjoyed at their arrival, and poured on board the ships to welcome their chief whose return they expected, relying upon Cartier's promise to bring him back. They
1 LOSSING.
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EUROPEAN DISCOVERY AND OCCUPATION.
put no faith in the tale told them that he and his companions were dead; and even when shown the Huron maiden, who was to be returned to her friends, they incredulously shook their heads, and their peaceful attitude and hospi- tality hour by hour changed to moroseness and gradually to hostility. The first breach of faith had occurred, never to be entirely healed.
Cartier made a visit to Hochelaga, and returned thence to Stadacona. On the Isle of Orleans he erected a fort for protection during the approaching winter. Patiently waiting and watching for De la Roque, who had promised to follow him early in the season, they saw the arrival of winter and the closing of the river by ice without the vision of the hoped-for vessels.
In the spring following (1542) Cartier departed for France. He ran into the harbor of St. Johns, and there met De la Roque, who was on his way to the St. Lawrence. From Cartier the viceroy heard the most discouraging ac- counts of the country, with details of the suffering he and his men had endured during the preceding winter, both from the climate and from the hostility of the Indians; followed by the navigator's advice that the whole expedition re- turn to France, or sail to some other portion of the continent. This De la Roque declined to do, and ordered Cartier to return to the St. Lawrence. Car- tier disobeyed this order, and sailed for France. This was his last voyage; he died in 1555.
De la Roque, after his separation from Cartier, pushed on and ascended the river to above the site of Quebec, where he constructed a fort in which he spent the succeeding winter, undergoing extreme suffering from the climate. In the autumn of 1543 De la Roque returned to France, having accomplished nothing towards colonization, and learning but little of the country not already known.
This was the final breaking up of French attempts at colonization at that time, and nothing more was done by that nation towards settling in the new country for nearly fifty years. De la Roque, however, in 1549, with his brothers and a number of adventurers, again sailed for the St. Lawrence, but as they were never heard of afterwards it was supposed they were lost at sea.
History has demonstrated that the most successful attempts at colonization and settlement in new sections have been achieved by private enterprise, in many cases started and fostered by commercial undertakings. The interest and spirit of individual energy has more often than otherwise accomplished greater results in subduing the wilds of nature and in planting and extending the benefits of civilization, than the most powerful and thoroughly organized expeditions sent out under governmental authority. Too often in the latter case the personal aggrandizement of the leaders has overthrown the better motives and works of the masses composing the organizations.
The efforts of the royal government of France in endeavoring to establish a foothold in the New World were no exception to this view, and it was not till the enterprise was undertaken by private individuals that anything like success followed. 4
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
From 1600, and on for a few years, one M. Chauvin, having obtained a broad patent which formed the basis of a trade monopoly, carried on an extensive fur trade with the natives, resulting in establishing numerous small but thrifty settlements; but the death of the organizer caused their abandonment.
The year 1603 was signalized by the initiatory steps that resulted in the final settlement of the French in the region of the St. Lawrence. M. Aylmer de Chastes, governor of Dieppe, stimulated by the commercial success that had followed the efforts of Chauvin and others, obtained a charter to establish set- tlements in New France and organized a company of Rouen merchants, the existence of which becomes of paramount historic importance as having intro- duced to the field of his later great work, Samuel de Champlain, discoverer of the lakes and the territory of which this history treats, and the real founder of New France, as well as the most illustrious of those who guided its destinies.
" Champlain was born at Brouage, in 1567, a seaport situated on the Bay of Biscay. Addicted to an intercourse with the sea by the associations of his boyhood, near the most tempestuous waters of Western Europe, he gratified his instincts by a connection at an early age with the royal marine of his native country. Although a Catholic by birth and sentiment, he followed in the civil wars of France the ' Banner of Navarre.' When that cause had triumphed he received a pension from the gratitude of his liberal but impoverished leader. Too active and ardent to indulge in the relaxations of peace, he conceived the design of a personal exploration of the colonial possessions of Spain, and to thus obtain a knowledge of their condition and resources, which was studiously vailed from the world by the jealous policy of that government. His scheme was sanctioned by the wise and sagacious head of the French administration. Through the influence of a relative in that service Champlain secured the com- mand of a ship in the Spanish West India fleet. This singular position, not, perhaps, in perfect accordance with modern conceptions of professional honor, was occupied two years, and when he returned to France his mind was stored with the most valuable information and his journal, laded with the results of keen observation of the regions he had visited, was quaintly illustrated by his uncultivated pencil."1
Champlain must have been born with the uncontrollable instinct of investi- gation and desire for knowledge of the material world that has always strongly marked the great explorers. He made a voyage (1599), landed at Vera Cruz, penetrated to the city of Mexico and visited Panama. More, his journal shows that he conceived the idea of a ship canal across the isthmus by which "the voyage to the South Sea might be shortened by more than fifteen hundred leagues."
At the request of De Chastes, Champlain was commissioned by the king lieutenant-general of Canada (a name derived, it is supposed, " from the Huron
1 WATSON'S Essex County.
5I
EUROPEAN DISCOVERY AND OCCUPATION.
word Kan-na-ta, signifying a collection of cabins, such as Hochelaga " I). He sailed from the fort of Honfleur in March, 1603, in a single vessel, commanded by a skilled navigator named Pont-Greve.
They arrived at the mouth of the St. Lawrence some time in May, and ascended the river as far as Stadacona, where they anchored. From this point Champlain sent Pont-Greve upon an expedition up the river to above the La Chine Rapids. At Hochelaga he found, instead of the palisaded city de- scribed by Cartier, nothing indicating that the locality had ever been thickly populated. A few scattered bodies of Indians, of a different nation from those met by Cartier, who evinced the greatest wonder and interest in the new- comers, were all that he saw. These natives gave Pont-Greve much informa- tion relative to the regions on the south and west, and other intelligence of a nature to fill the mind of the explorer with the wildest dreams of conquest and empire.
Without enacting more extended measures towards colonization and settle- ment than making a few brief expeditions of exploration, Champlain, in the autumn, returned to France; he found that in his absence his patron, De Chastes, had died, and that the concessions and privileges of the latter had been transferred to M. Pierre de Gast, the Sieur de Monts. Though a Protestant, the latter had secured additional favors from the royal hand, covering broad commercial rights, with vice-regal authority over a section of the new country extending from Philadelphia, or its site, on the south, to the forty-sixth paral- lel on the north, and from the sea-shore on the east to an indefinite limit on the west.
Again, in the spring of 1604, Champlain sailed with De Monts with four ves- sels, bringing with them a number of people intended to colonize the grants. They landed first at Nova Scotia, and remained there long enough to establish the beginning of a settlement, and, towards autumn, De Monts returned to France and left Champlain to explore the coast to the south as far his grant extended. Champlain remained for some time at this point, pushing forward his settlement, and exploring the surrounding country, carrying out his em- ployer's instructions to the extent of sailing along the coast as far south as Cape Cod. In 1607 he returned to France.
Expressing to De Monts his belief that the better site for establishing the seat of the proposed new empire would be a point on the St. Lawrence River, some distance from the sea coast, he was sent with Pont-Greve and a number of colonists, in 1608, to Stadacona, and there founded Quebec (a name of In- dian derivation). There houses were built, and agricultural operations begun.
In 1609 Champlain, who had secured the friendship of the Montagnais Indians, or Montagners, engaged to assist them in an expedition against their enemies, the Iroquois.2 It is probable that he was partly incited to his action
1 LOSSING.
2 See note page 17.
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
by desire to extend his knowledge of the country and to widen his sphere of influence. They were joined by a number of Hurons and Algonquins, and in May proceeded in canoes up the Sorel to the Chambly Rapids.
The Indians had told Champlain that the country they wished to conquer was thickly settled; that to reach it they must pass by a waterfall, thence into another lake, from the head of which there was a carrying-place to a river, which flowed towards the sea coast. This course of their intended march is clearly understood to-day as leading up Lake Champlain to Ticonderoga, thence up the outlet of Lake George past the falls, thence through Lake George to the Hudson River.
Pursuing their course up the Sorel, Champlain says in his journal, they reached "a great lake and gave it his own name." Passing along the west side of the lake, he says of the country: "These parts, though agreeable, are not inhabited by the Indians, in consequence of their wars."
In proceeding up the lake it was the practice of the Indians to send three of their canoes in advance, as night approached, and if no enemy was discov- ered, to retire in peace. Against "this bad habit of theirs " Champlain expos- tulated, but to little purpose. In this manner " they proceed until they ap- proach an enemy's country," when they advance " stealthily by night, all in a body except the scouts, and retire by day into picket forts where they repose." Thus the party proceeded up the lake to their landing-place, a full and graphic account of which journey is contained in Champlain's journal. Following is his vivid description of his meeting and battle with the Iroquois : -
"Now on coming within about two or three days' journey of the enemy's quarters, we traveled only by night and rested by day Nevertheless, they never omitted their usual superstition to ascertain whether their enterprise would be successful, and often asked me whether I had dreamed and seen their enemies.
" At nightfall we embarked in our canoes to continue our journey, and as we advanced very softly and noiselessly, we encountered a party of Iroquois, on the 29th day of the month, about 10 o'clock at night, at a point of a cape which juts into the lake on the west side. They and we began to shout, each seizing his arms. We withdrew toward the water and the Iroquois repaired on shore, and arranged all their canoes, the one beside the other, and began to hew down trees with villainous axes, which they sometimes get in war, and oth- ers of stone, and fortified themselves very securely. Our party, likewise, kept their canoes arranged the one along side of the other, tied to poles so as not to run adrift, in order to fight all together should need be. We were on the water about an arrow shot from their barricade.
" When they were armed and in order, they sent two canoes from the fleet to know if their enemies wished to fight, who answered they desired noth- ing else ; but that just then there was not much light, and that we must wait
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EUROPEAN DISCOVERY AND OCCUPATION.
for day to distinguish each other, and that they would give us battle at sunrise. This was agreed to by our party. Meanwhile the whole night was spent in dancing and singing, as well on one side as on the other, mingled with an infin- itude of insults and other taunts, such as the little courage they had ; how pow- erless their resistance against their arms, and that when day would break they should experience this to their ruin. Ours likewise did not fail in repartee; telling them they should witness the effects of arms they had never seen before; and a multitude of other speeches such as is usual at the siege of a town.
" After the one and the other had sung, danced and parliamented enough, day broke. My companions and I were always concealed, for fear the enemy should see us in preparing our arms the best we could, being, however, sepa- rated, each in one of the canoes of the savage Montaquars. After being equipped with light armor we took each an arquebus and went ashore. I saw the enemy leave their barricade ; they were about 200 men, of strong and ro- bust appearance, who were coming slowly towards us, with a gravity and assur- ance which greatly pleased me, led on by their chiefs. Ours were marching in similar order, and told me that those who bore three lofty plumes were the chiefs, and that there were but these three and they were to be recognized by those plumes which were considerably larger than those of their companions, and that I must do all I could to kill them. I promised to do what I could, and I told them that I was very sorry that they could not clearly understand me, so as to give them the order and plan of attacking their ene- mies, as we should undoubtedly defeat them all, but there was no help for that ; that I was very glad to encourage them and to manifest to them my good will when we should be engaged.
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