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were obliged to do, whilst at the same time I would throw a considerable reinforcement of men into Fort Frontenac to secure it. Being arrived at Montreal the tenth of the said month, we sent for Mr. Dollier, Superior of the Seminary of said town and of the Mission to the Indians of the Mountain, and the Reverend Pere Briare, Superior of the Mission of the Sault Saint Louis, who having concurred with us, furnished seven Christian Iroquois, friendly to the French and pretty shrewd, two of whom we sent with some Belts of Wampum to the Mohawks, and two to the Oneidas, to say to them that we were resolved to observe the peace made with them—that we were very willing to live there as with friends, and that we requested them not to interfere in the war which we were about to wage against the Senecas, who had cruelty insulted us in the person of the frenchmen whom they had plundered and seized, and fort St. Louis which they had attacked, since, and in violation of the peace made last year at Montreal; we sent the three others to Onontagué to explain the same things, and finally I despatched Sieurs Guillet and Hebert to the Outaouacs to advise Sieurs Ladurantaye and Dulhut of my design and of the need I had of their assistance, and sent my orders to the Rev. Father Enjalran, Superior of said Missions, to operate there and send orders to different quarters according to his usual zeal and capacity, whilst I despatched Sieur Bourbon to Orange or Manatte to notify Colonel Dongan of the insult the French had received from the Senecas, which obliged me to march against them, of which I gave him notice, assuring him that if he wished to revenge the twenty-six Englishmen of Merilande, whom they had killed last winter, I would promise him that I would unite my forces to his, that he may obtain satisfac tion for it, or avenge them.

I next despatched Sieur Dutast, first captain of the King's troops, on the twentieth of the same month with five or six picked soldiers and six mechanics, carpenters and masons, with provisions and ammunition of war to throw themselves into Fort Frontenac and put it, in all haste, beyond insult; after which, having caused all to embark at la Chine, I proceeded from Montreal, on St. John's day, to return to Quebec where I had requested

the Intendant to make out the detachments of Militia which should follow me to the war, without inconvenience to the Country; I arrived there on the twenty-sixth, having used great diligence on the route, and found the people ordered and some canoes purchased; but as they were not sufficient for the embarcation of all, we caused fifteen flat (bottomed) pine batteaux, suitable for the conveyance, each, of fourteen or fifteen inen, to be constructed in a hurry.

I divided all my small force into three divisions, I placed myself at the head of the first which I commanded to lead the van. I left the management of the second to Mr. D'Orvilliers, antient Captain of Infantry; the third being composed of troops from the Island of Montreal and the environs, was commanded by Sieur Dugué, antient Captain of Carignan. Sieur D'Orvilliers had been, since the fore part of spring, reconnoitering Lake Ontario and the Seneca Country, to see where the descent should be made, and in what direction we should march to their two principal villages, of which he had made a faithful and exact plan. I selected, as Major of the Brigade which I commanded, Sieur de Villebon-Beccancour, formerly Captain of the King's Dragoons, so that acting in my place, as I was obliged to have an eye to all, I could confide in him; he succeeded with all possible diligence and experience.

I left Quebec the ninth of July, at the head of Three hundred militiamen, accompanied by the said Sieur de Villebon, and arrived at Montreal the sixteenth, where I was joined by Sieur D' Orvilliers on the twenty-first, who brought me, in addition to two hundred and fifty militia, batteaux to embark the King's troops. Thus after having issued every possible order for the conveyance of provisions, in which I had much difficulty in conséquence of the scarcity of canoes and of experienced persons to conduct them in the portages of the Rapids, I detached Sieur de Villebon to take the lead with my brigade, and the two companies of King's troops, and ordered them to pass the first and second portages, where I should join them, so that on the thirtieth I passed their encampment beyond the said second portage, and we marched next day, both brigades together, Sieur D'Orvilliers bringing up the

rear with the third one day behind us, so that being, on the 1st of August in Lake St. Francis with about two hundred canoes and our fifteen batteaux, I was joined there by the Rev. Father Lamberville, Junior, coming on behalf of his Brother from Onontagué, and by the Rev. Father Millet, from the Oneidas.

By the annexed letters from Onontagué, you will learn that these people having been joined by the Oneidas and Cayugas, had obliged the Senecas to make them Mediators as to the reparation suitable to be made to me for the insult which had unfortunately been committed against the French in the month of March; and prayed me to send Mr. le Moine to them, with whom they could terminate this affair. This obliged me immediately to despatch a canoe to Fort Frontenac in all haste, to send me from there the new bark which I had built in the winter, in order to freight her with the provisions I brought, and to send the canoes in which they were loaded to fetch others from la Chine.

We arrived, on the second, at the Portage of the Long Sault, which I found very difficult, notwithstanding the care I taken to send fifty men ahead thither, to cut the trees on the bank of the river and prevented those passing who were to drag the canoes and batteaux; because the stream being voluminous and the bank precipitous the people were in the water the moment they abandoned the shore, and were not strong enough to draw said batteaux; this necessitated my sojourn at that place, where having been joined by the Christian Iroquois of the Sault and of Montreal, they undertook, for a few presents of Brandy and Tobacco, to pass the said batteaux and the largest canoes, which they fortunately accomplished in two days without any accident. On the morning of the fifth I found the new bark arrived at La Galette where I had all the provisions discharged from the canoes before eight o'clock in the morning, and these despatched at the same time on their return to la Chine to reload there. The strong winds from the South West, which constantly prevailed all this time, and which obstinately continued during the remainder of the month, were the cause of the great diligence that the bark had made, and likewise delayed our march so much, that I could not arrive, at the fort, with my canoes alone, until the ninth. I was

joined there by Father de Lamberville whom I despatched next day to his brother at Onnontague whom I instructed to assure those of that Nation that I had so much respect for their request and for those of the other two, that I should prefer their mediation to war, provided they made me a reasonable satisfaction.

Three things obliged me to adopt this resolution: the first, because it appeared by letters I had received from Colonel Dongan, in answer to the message by the man named Bourbon, that he was very far from the good understanding of which His Majesty had assured me; but much disposed to interfere as our enemy in this matter. The second, because I had few provisions, and I did not see that any effort was made to forward flour to me, with any diligence, from Montreal; and the third, because the wind prevailed so strong from the South east, that my bark did not return from La Galette, and I could not despatch another to Lake Ontario, to notify the army of the South, which was to arrive forthwith at Niagara, of my arrival at Fort Frontenac with that of the North.

I afterwards reviewed all our troops, as annexed, and Sieur le Moine having overtaken me on the same day with the remainder of the Christian Iroquois who had not previously arrived, I despatched him on the sixteenth to Onnontague and placed in his hands, Tegancourt, the ambassador from the Senecas, whom I had arrested at Quebec. Seeing the wind always contrary I sent on the preceding day, eight of the largest canoes that I had to the bark at La Galette to bring me ten thousand weight of flour, bread beginning to fail which caused me a good deal of uneasiness and created considerable murmurs among the troops and the militia. Finally on the 21st my canoes arrived with what I sent them for. I set to work immediately with all possible diligence to have bread and biscuit baked, and sent off forthwith, the King's troops, D'Orvilliers' and Dugué's two brigades, and two hundred Christian savages to encamp at La Famine [Hungry bay], a post favorable for fishing and hunting and four leagues from Onontagué, so as to be nearer the enemy and to be able to refresh our troops by fishing and the chase, whilst we were short

of provisions, intending to join them, myself, with about three hundred Frenchmen whom I had remaining.

On the 25th the canoes which I had detached from La Galette to Montreal, arrived, but in far less number than I had looked for, and brought me but eight or nine thousand weight of flour, instead of twenty thousand which I expected, having left them ready for loading when I departed. I caused bread and biscuit to be immediately made of it for the support of our troops who were at the place called La Famine.

On the 27th at four o'clock in the afternoon, a canoe of M. Lemoine's men arrived from Onnontagué with Tegancourt who reported to me, that the Onnontagués had received orders from Col. Dongan which he sent by the person named Arnaud, forbidding them to enter into any treaty with me without his express permission, considering them the Duke of York's subjects, and that he had caused the Arms of the said Duke to be planted three days before, in their village; that the Council had been convened at the said place of Onontague and Sieur Lemoine invited to repair thither, in which the matter having been debated, these savages got into a furious rage, with some danger to the English delegate, saying they were free, and that God, who had created the Earth, had granted them theirs without subjecting them to any person, and they requested the elder Father Lamberville to write to Colonel Dongan the annexed letter, and the said Sieur Lemoine having well sustained the French interests, they unanimously resolved to start in two days, to conclude with me at La Famine. On the receipt of this news I immediately called out my canoes in order to depart and was accompanied by a dozen of others having caused six of the largest to be loaded with bread and biscuit for the army.

After having been beaten by bad weather and high wind, we arrived in two days at La Famine. I found there tertian and double tertian fever which broke out among our people so that more than one hundred and fifty men were attacked by it; I had also left some of them at the fort, which caused me to despatch, on arriving, a Christian savage to Onontague to M. Lemoine, to request him to cause the instant departure of those who were to

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