III.

NARRATIVE

OF THE EXPEDITION OF

THE MARQUIS DE NONVILLE,

AGAINST

THE SENECAS,

IN

1687,

TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH, WITH AN INTRODUCTORY NOTICE AND NOTES.

BY

ORSAMUS II. MARSHALL.

INTRODUCTION

THE following Journal of the Expedition of the Marquis De Nonville against the Senecas, was communicated by him to the French Government, in the month of October, 1687. It was copied from the original in the archives of the Marine Department in France, under the supervision of J. ROMEYN BRODHEAD, Esq., the agent sent to Europe by the state of New York, to procure documents relating to its early history.

The copy, of which the following is a translation, may be found among the "Paris Documents," deposited in the State Department at Albany. It has never been published before, either in the original French or in English.

The Baron La Hontan, who travelled extensively along the Northern Lakes, near the close of the 17th century, was in the expedition, and has given a brief account of it in his "Travels," a translation of which will be found in the appendix.

Colden, in his History of the Five Nations, and Smith, in his History of New York, each give an account of the incursion, in which they follow La Hontan almost verbatim.

The Journal of De Nonville will be found to be a minute diary of what transpired from the commencement to the close of the expedition, and corrects many of the errors into which the above named historians have fallen.

The Marquis was a colonel in the French dragoons, and succeeded M. De La Barre, in the year 1685, as Governor General of Canada, or New France, as it was then called. The age and infirmities of M. De La Barre, and the unfortunate result of the expedition he undertook against the Iroquois, in which he was so signally overmatched by the shrewdness and eloquence of the famous

Gazangula* at La Famine, or Hungry Bay, induced the French Government to recall him, and to send in his place a man, who, according to the testimony of Charlevoix, was equally esteemed for his valor, his wisdom and his piety.

When the new Governor assumed the direction of affairs in the Province, he found it necessary to restrain the ferocity, and curb the pride of the Iroquois, who maintained a tone of insolent defiance towards the colony. To accomplish this purpose, he resolved upon an expedition to lay waste the fields and destroy the villages of the Senecas, then located near the Genesee river, and to construct a fort at the mouth of the Niagara, which in connection with Fort Catarocouy,† would not only hold that warlike tribe in check, but give the French complete command of the Lakes, and of the valuable fur trade which was then an object of contention between them and the English.

At this period, the northern, middle and western parts of the state of New York were a howling wilderness, and the Five Nations ranged their hunting grounds in unmolested freedom.

The English claimed jurisdiction over them as subjects of the crown, and information in regard to the hostile preparations of the French, was soon carried by the watchful Iroquois to the ears of Colonel Dongan, Governor of New York. The latter immediately wrote to the Marquis De Nonville, that from the great collection of provisions at Catarocouy, the Iroquois were persuaded an attack was meditated against them—that they were subjects of the crown of England, and any injury to them would be an open infraction of the peace which existed between their two Kings. He also stated that he understood the French intended to construct a fort at Niagara, which astonished him exceedingly, as no one could be ignorant, that it lay within the jurisdiction of New-York.

M. De Nonville replied to this letter, that the Iroquois feared chastisement, because they knew they deserved it; that the provisions collected at Catarocouy were required for the large garri. son necessarily kept at that point-that the pretensions of England to the lands of the Iroquois were unfounded, as the French had taken

His name is thus written by La Hontan. It appears to be a corruption of the French words La Grande Gueule, or " the big mouth," by which he was known to the French. This noted chief was a Seneca, and was called by his people Haaskouan.

+ Now Kingston.

possession of them long before there was an Englishman in New York. He further stated, that while their Kings and masters were living in perfect amity, it would be unwise for their Lieutenant Generals to embroil themselves in war.

It does not appear that Colonel Dongan took any measures to counteract the designs of De Nonville, except by giving warning to the Iroquois of their impending danger, and by supplying them with arms and ammunition.

It not being known upon which of the tribes the blow would fall, no effectual measures could be taken to avert it. As the sequel proved, the French kept their own counsel, and made their attack at a point which had hitherto escaped invasion.

It will appear from the Journal, that the first open act of hostility committed by the French, was the seizure of a number of the Iroquois, including some chiefs, at Catarocouy, and in their villages in its vicinity.

To lure them within his power, De Nonville made use of the influence of the Jesuit Father Lamberville, who acted in ignorance of his design. They were seized for the alleged purpose of preventing them from communicating intelligence to their tribes of the movements of the French.

News of the seizure soon reached the Onondagas, among whom Father Lamberville was then residing as a missionary, and for whose safety much solicitude was entertained.

The chiefs immediately assembled in council, and sending for the Father, related the above transaction with all the energy which a just indignation could arouse, and while he expected to feel the full effects of the rage which he saw depicted in every countenance, one of the old men unexpectedly addressed to him the following remarkable language, as related by Lamberville himself:

"It cannot be denied," says he, "that many reasons authorise us to treat you as an enemy, but we have no inclination to do so. We know you too well not to be persuaded that your heart has taken no part in the treachery of which you have been the instrument, and we are not so unjust as to punish you for a crime of which we believe you innocent, which you undoubtedly detest as much as we do, and for having been the instrument of which we are satisfied you are now deeply grieved. It is not proper, however, that you should remain here. All will not, perhaps, render you the justice which we accord, and when once our young men shall have sung SECOND SERIES, VOL. II. 11