30th. The portage of all the batteaux, canoes and baggage commenced, it being impossible to pass the Falls otherwise. M. le Comte de Frontenac, who expected to pass on foot like the others, was borne in his canoe by fifty savages singing and uttering yells of joy. The battalions who could not make this Carrying place passed it the day following. Four leagues were travelled, the road being better.

On the first of August, half the army was detached beyond the river which goes to Oneida (Onnejoust), and made more than five leagues in roads up to the knee. M. de Vaudreuil and the majority of the officers were at their head. This precaution was the more necessary as at a place called Le Rigolds, the river is not more than half a pistol shot wide, to the mouth of Lake Genenta. 1 Nothing was met during this day's march except the description of our army drawn on bark, after the manner of the Savages, and two bundles of cut rushes which signified that 1434 men accompanied us. We passed the Lake in the order of battle. Monsier de Callières who commanded that day on the left, that being the side of the enemy, made a large circuit under pretence of debarking on that side, whilst M. de Vaudreuil with the right wing hugged the shore to clear what he could encounter all around of the enemy. The vigorous manner this landing was made, sword in hand, convinced us that had the enemy been met they would not have long stood their ground. M. de Vaudreuil's detachment made a circuit of half a league and anchored at the place where M. de Callières waited. The entire body landed.

The scouts did not cease marching; they reported having seen trails proceeding from the village of the Onnontagués to Cayuga (Oyogouis) and Oneida (Onejoust), which induced them to believe that the women and children withdrew thither, and that the Warriors of these two villages came to aid their brethren.

A strong light was seen the same night in the direction of the village, which caused the supposition that they had burned it; it was even supposed that they fired cannon.

The Fort was completed next morning, the 34. An Ottawa Savage, named the Cat, returned from scouting. He had gone some days previously with a Seneca taken last winter, whose life had been spared. They at first discovered two women whom they had neglected to capture, and they subsequently seized a man who was bathing with his wife. The Ottawa wished to bind him, but the Seneca opposed it, and released him under the pretext that he would bring in others, which began to make the Outaouac distrust him, but he had still more reason to do so when the Seneca quit him, saying that he wished to eat some new corn, and having wandered aside for that purpose, he uttered the ordinary warning cry to direct some young Onnontagués who pursued the Outaouacs, the swiftness of whose legs saved him. Half a league was made that day.

Sieur Marquis de Crissaffy, captain, was left in the fort with Sieur Desbergères, also captain, and some other officers and 140 militia men and soldiers to guard the batteaux, canoes, provisions and other heavy baggage, which could not be transported; their loss would have absolutely caused that of the whole army, and though every one wished to share the glory which M. le Compte was expected to reap, he thought he could not leave too good officers at this post. The other Seneca, the comrade of him to whom we have just alluded, deserted the night of the same day to advise his nation of the danger which menaced the Iroquois. Inconceivable difficulty was experienced in moving the cannon and the remainder of the artillery equipments over marshes and two pretty considerable rivers which it was necessary to traverse, being obliged to carry them on their carriages and parapets, which occupied a very great number of the militia.

We camped at the place called The Salt Springs, which in truth they are. They produce enough of salt to make us wish that they were near Quebec; the cod fishery would be very easy then in Canada.

1 La Rigolle is that part of the Oswego River between Lake Onondaga and the Mouth of the Seneca River.

The 4th. The order of battle was formed at sunrise; the army being divided into two lines. The first was commanded by M. de Callières who kept on the enemy's left; his centre consisted of two battalions of militia and the two battalions of troops composed the wings, the artillery being in the middle preceded by the two centre battalions. The greater portion of the Indians of the first line had been thrown on the right wing, as they desired. From time to time forlorn hopes of the most active savages and Frenchmen were deployed to discover and receive the first fire.

The second line was commanded by M. de Vaudreuil who placed himself on the right wing. It was composed of an equal number of battalions of militia and soldiers.

M. le Compte preceded by the cannon was borne, on a chair, (fauteuil,) between the two lines, in a position to place himself when he thought proper at the head, through the interval of the two battalions of militia of the first line.

Each battalion was only two deep, and showed a very great front. M. le Compte had around him his guard, his staff, and the canoe and batteaux men.

They united during the march at some places at which it was very difficult to pass the cannon hrough defiles, and over streams of some magnitude where the order of battle was broken, so that we were from sunrise till night in getting to the location of the village after a number of wheelings (quarts de conversion) and other evolutions sufficiently difficult to execute in the woods. But the activity of Sieur Subercaze, major, supplied every requisite. Ten other men would not have accomplished all that he performed alone, and though he was assisted by good adjutants (aides major) he considered it nevertheless his duty to be everywhere. This campaign furnished him with an opportunity to signalize his activity and his zeal on several occasions, but as this is the principal, mention of it cannot be avoided. Never did a man execute with more promptitude the prudent orders he received from his general.

If we did not fear being considered rather a panegyrist than a historian, we should speak as we ought of the conduct of Messrs de Callières, de Vaudreuil, Ramezay and other principal officers ; but the confidence which the king reposes in them is a sufficient guarantee that he deems them worthy the posts they fill in this country, and it is unnecessary to enlarge in their praise to demonstrate that they are truly so. His choice alone justifies it.

The cabins of the Indians and the triple palisade which encircled their fort were found entirely burnt. It has since been learned that it was in a sufficiently strong state of defence. It was an oblong flanked by four regular bastions. The two rows of pickets which touched each other, were of the thickness of an ordinary mast; and at six feet distance outside stood another palisade of much smaller dimensions, but from 40 to 50 feet high.

If the flight of the savages saved the army the trouble of forcing their fortifications by trenches, as was resolved upon having all the necessary tools, it robbed them of the glory of utterly destroying them; but it must not be expected that the Indians will ever stand against a considerable opposing force. The expense which this expedition entailed ought not however to be regretted. There were some alarms the night after arriving, and a soldier on duty at an outpost was wounded by our people.

On the 5th arrived two squaws and a child of the Mountain near Montreal, who had been a long time prisoners. They told us that they had escaped five days ago with the other women and children who were removed on the rumor of our approach. Another old woman was captured in the woods, and being unable to follow our soldiers broke her skull. In the afternoon a Frenchman, a prisoner among the Oneidas, arrived with a savage. They brought a belt from that Nation whereby they solicited peace from M. Le Comte de Frontenac. He immediately sent them back, and promised peace on condition that they should establish themselves with their families among us, assuring them that they should receive land and wherewithal to sow it. He added if their wives and children were

not ready, they should bring five of their most influential Chiefs as hostages, and that they should be soon followed by the army to oblige them by force to execute the conditions imposed on them. On the next day, the 7th, a young Frenchman, seven years a prisoner among the Onnontagués arrived in the camp. He had escaped with those who had come into the outposts the night preceding. He reported that they had retired with their families twenty leagues from their fort, having scouts always around them in order to fly farther off if pursued. He added that it is probable a great number would perish having been in such a hurry to fly that they took away scarcely any corn, caches of which they hastily made, and that they began to fall short. Almost all these caches were discovered. The grain and the rest of the booty consisting of pots, guns, axes, stuffs, wampum belts, and some peltries were plundered by our Frenchmen and Savages. The destruction of the Indian corn was commenced the same day, and was continued the two following days. The grain was so forward that the stalks were very easily cut by the sword and sabre without the least fear that any could sprout again. Not a single head remained. The fields stretched from a league and a half to two leagues from the fort: The destruction was complete. A lame girl was found concealed under a tree, and her life was spared.

An old man, also captured, did not experience the same fate. M. le Comte's intention, after he had interrogated him, was to spare his life on account of his great age, but the savages who had taken him and to whom he was given were so excited that it was not deemed prudent to dissuade them from the desire they felt to burn him. He had, no doubt, prepared himself during his long life to die with firmness, however cruel the tortures he should have to endure. Not the slightest complaint escaped his lips. On the contrary he exhorted those who tormented him to remember his death, so as to display the same courage when those of his nation would take vengeance on them; and when a savage, weary of his harangues, gave him some cuts of a knife, "I thank thee," he cried, "but thou oughtst to complete my death by fire. Learn, French dogs! and ye, savages! their allies that ye are the dogs of dogs. Remember what ye ought to do, when you will be in the same position that I am." Similar sentiments will be found perhaps to flow rather from ferociousness, than true valour; but there are heroes among barbarians as well as among the most polished nations, and what would be brutality in us may pass for valour with an Iroquois.

The 9th M. de Vaudreuil returned from Oneida at eight o'clock in the morning. He departed on the morning of the 6th, with a detachment of six to seven hundred of the most active men of the whole army, soldiers, militia and Indians. He had, under him, Sieurs de Louvigny and de Linvillieres, Captain; Desjordis and Dauberville, Calvinist Captains; Soulange and de Sabrevois, lieutenants of foot, and several other subaltern officers. Sieur de Villedenay, also lieutenant, acted as his Aid de Camp.

As it was necessary to use great expedition, they did not march in as exact order as the army had done; M. de Vaudreuil contented himself throwing the scouts some quarter of a league in advance; and on the wings, between the scouts and the main body he placed a detached corps of 50, a forlorn hope commanded in turn by a lieutenant. They arrived on the same day before sundown within a league of the village; they would have pushed even farther if the convenience of encamping on the bank of a beautiful river had not invited them to halt. They were at the first dawn in sight of the village and as they were about to enter the fields of Indian corn, they met the Deputies of all that Nation.

i

They requested M. de Vaudreuil to halt, fearing that our savages would spoil their crops, assuring him that they would execute in good faith the orders which M. le Comte had given to their first delegate.

M. de Vaudreuil determined also on his side to obey punctually those which he had received, told them it was useless for them to think of preserving their grain, as, according to the word of their Father they should not want for any when retired among us; that, therefore, he should cut all down;

that their fort and cabins would not, either, be spared, having every thing ready for their reception. He found in the village but 25 @ 40 persons, almost all having fled at the sight of the detachment, but the most influential chiefs had remained. M. de Vaudreuil consented that two or three men should follow these fugitives to try to bring them back.

On entering this village a young French woman was found a prisoner, just arrived from the Mohawk. She reported that that Nation and the English to the number of 300, were preparing to attack us. A Mohawk who had deserted from the Sault last year, the same who had given information of the proposed attack against his Nation; was captured roving around the village. He said he came there intending to surrender himself to us, which it was pretended to believe. An eye was kept on him, notwithstanding. He confirmed the report of the young French woman.

Another savage, also of the same Nation, but who had been captured with a party of our people of the Sault, where he resided, assured M. de Vaudreuil that the English and Mohawks had indeed set out to come; that many of the former had moved out from Orange, but that they had contented themselves with remaining outside some hours in line, and had returned; that the consternation was pretty general among the one and the other.

This last intelligence caused M. de Vaudreuil's detachment as much regret as the first had given them joy. It was received with a thousand yells of satisfaction, particularly by the Abenakis who said they had need neither of knives nor hatchets to beat the English; that it was idle to waste powder on such a set.

M. de Vaudreuil resolved to await them in the wood without shutting himself up in the fort. He left on the 9th between nine and ten o'clock in the morning after having seen it burned and the corn entirely cut. He camped the same night about two leagues from Onnontague. The celerity of his movements cannot be too much praised, since he occupied only three days in going, coming and executing all he had to do, although from one village to the other was fourteen good leagues in the woods with continual mountains and a multitude of rivers and large streams to be crossed. He was therefore not expected so soon, and M. le Comte was agreeably surprized to see him return in so short a time with 35 Oneidas, among whom were as we have said, the principal Chiefs of the nation, and four of our French, prisoners.

But we are accustomed in Canada to see him perform so many gallant actions, and he has the King's service so much at heart that those acquainted with him will not be surprized at this, however extraordinary it be.

The Mohawk deserter was burnt before the departure of the army who camped that same day midway from the fort where the batteaux were left; some savages having remained behind in the hope of finding more plunder received the fire of a small party; three of them were killed without the enemy daring to advance near enough to take their scalps.

The fort was reached on the 10th and destroyed. The army encamped on the 11th below the Portage, and on the 12th at 10 o'clock in the morning at the mouth of the river, on Lake Frontenac. It was time to quit that river, and if the waters had been as low as they ordinarily are in the month of August a portion of the batteaux should have been, of necessity, abandoned. A very violent gale from the West retained the army until the 14th and though it was not altogether calm, ten leagues were made that day under sail, though we did not leave until noon.

The navigation is pretty dangerous for canoes and batteaux; the waves extraordinarily high, and the landing very difficult, there being numerous shoals in some places and in others headlands against which the sea breaks at a stupendous height. We camped in a river where the wind was less violent, and arrived next day, the 15th, at Fort Frontenac.

On the 16th, the militia and soldiers were occupied in conveying fire-wood to the fort and in cutting and transporting what was necessary for the requisite planks and boards. The masons who had been

left there had erected during the Count's absence a building of 120 feet, along one of the curtains, not so high on that side as the parapet. The wood work is attached, and there is a range of loop holes along the upper loft as in the remainder of the fort. This long building contains a chapel, the officers' quarters, a bakery and the stores which are at present filled with provisions for the subsistence of the troops for more than eight months, exclusive of refreshments and what will be required for the Indians who may pass there. The two pieces of cannon, one of which was employed in the campaign and a quantity of grenades were left there. The army sojourned there the 17h; encamped on the 18th at La Galette and on the 19th on Lake St. Francis.

On the same day, the enemy attacked some canoes of our people, who had found means to precede us. One of our party was drowned, one wounded; the enemy lost three men and could not be captured by a detachment which was sent in pursuit.

On the 20th we arrived at Montreal. Some batteaux upset in the rapids and three militiamen were drowned. We were obliged to make good to the others the arms and baggage that the boat lost by upsetting.

We might extend the narrative of this campaign to a greater length, but as we should be obliged to use terms little known to those unacquainted with Canada, we considered this slight sketch would suffice.

It might have been more advantageous to His Majesty's arms, and more glorious to Count de Frontenac, had the Onnontagués followed their first plan; it would have, no doubt, cost the lives of some brave men, as the Iroquois do not fight with impunity. There might have been, perhaps, six to seven hundred men in their fort including those who had come to their aid, and scarcely any would have escaped; but their loss cannot fail to be considerable. After M. Denonville's [departure from] the Seneca country, we know the difficulty that nation had to subsist for several years. The Iroquois were powerful, and are diminished since; assistance from the English, especially provisions, comes in less abundantly; wheat is worth twenty francs the minot [ three bushels] at Orange; the pound of powder, a pistole; lead and other merchandise are, in truth, cheaper than with us.

The Mohawks have very little Indian corn; the Oneidas are ruined, and it is not known whether the Senecas will not remember the high price the Onnontagués set on provisions at the time of their discomfiture, when they were obliged to give most valuable belts for supplies. There remain then only the Cayugas who can succor their neighbors, and we cannot say if they alone are sufficient for that purpose. Their hunting and fishing will, without doubt be interrupted by the different small parties now in the field. In fine, it is certain, by continuing the war as at its commencement, and as Count de Frontenac determined, the Iroquois will be reduced to the necessity of dying of hunger, or accepting peace on the conditions we may think proper to impose on them; and if the almost invincible obstinacy they seem to have to wage it with us continue, we will not despair to bring them to it, if this blow, struck without the participation of our allies from above, and which they did not believe could be undertaken without them, could force them to make as great efforts on their side as we have made on ours; it will be easy to urge them to it as long as the French remain at Missilimakinac and at other posts, but when the fatal moment of their return arrives, their absence will put an absolute termination to the little good will the former may feel towards us, when they shall see themselves abandoned. Possibly they will be greatly cooled down this autumn, seeing neither powder nor balls, nor goods coming to them. How can they be persuaded to wage war without furnishing them with the means; how can the destruction of the Iroquois be completed without their aid, if they withdraw from us and retire into the woods?

Count de Frontenac learned on his arrival, that an Onnontagué who had been captured at the fort above the island of Montreal [killed] himself in prison.