Winnebago County, Wisconsin - Chapter 9, 1880

Chapter 9

Iroquois War - They Boast that They will Exterminate all the Other Indian Nations and the French - The Capture and Sufferings uf Isaac Jouges - Building of Fort Richelieu - Defeat of the Iroquois by a Small French Force.

% E have seen that when the whites first came to the country, they found the Iroquois waging a relentless war JSS'J^^^ against the Algonquins and Hurons. For over thirty years the French had been endeavoring to suppress these hostilities, but in vain. The Iroquois had obtained fire-arms from the Dutch traders on the Hudson, and the compact organization of this confederacy, and their long success on the war-path made them defiant. The only obstacle to their domination was, the handful of French, whose whole force at this period did not amount to three hundred able-bodied men; and this so scattered through the broad region they attempted to defend from the ravages of the marauders, that they were exposed at all points to their attacks. The heroic courage of s small band rises to the point of the highest sublimity, when they are seen boldly facing the formidable enemy, so familiar with forest arfare, and before whom all the other Indian nations cowered, as from an irresistless scourge. The Iroquois, with their formidable weapons and war-like skill, were now so confident of their strength that they boasted that the whole country should yield to their domination; that 'they would exterminate the French and all the other Indian nations; and for a time it seemed as if they would make good their threats. They would concentrate their whole force in a sudden attack on the villages of the Indian allies of the French, coming like a whirlwind and disappearing as suddenly, leaving their track a blackened desolation. The Algonquins now leaned on the French as their only hope for protection. But the defenseless posts of the French were equally exposed.

The St. Lawrence and the Ottawa rivers were so infested with war parties, that communication between the posts and missions was suspended; and it seemed as if nothing could save the colony from impending ruin. But the Governor Montmagny began a vigorous defense, and the arrival of forty soldiers, sent out by Cardinal Richelieu, was a reinforcement much valued, but totally inadequate.

The Huron Missions, distant nine-hundred miles from Quebec, and approachable only through a wilderness beset with blood-thirsty foes, was in a most precarious situation, and in the greatest destitution. In this emergency a brave young Jesuit, Isaac Jouges, volunteered to go to their assistance with a small body of men and much needed supplies. He had formerly pushed his way to the Sault St. Marie, the outlet of Lake Superior, and he now undertook the perilous task of relieving the destitution of his comrades in the Huron country.

In the spring of 1642, he started with three Frenchmen and a number of Hurons, in twelve canoes, with munitions, provisions and other needful supplies. While on the passage, they were suddenly attacked by a large body of Iroquois. The war-whoop rung out on the stillness of the forest, and a shower of bullets rattled among the canoes. The Hurons, in the rear, pushed rapidly to the shore, jumped from the canoes, and, abandoning everything, fled in terror through the woods. A number of converted Hurons, with the four whites, made a valiant resistance, but were over-powered by vastly superior numbers. - Jouges and his conpanions were now subjected to the crudest torture that the most devilish ingenuity could invent. They were taken to a large camp of the enemy and made to run the gauntlet, where he was so beaten and bruised in the passage, that he fell drenched in blood, which fell from his face and naked body like drops of rain. Fire was then applied to his mutilated body, and his hands were lacerated, the brutes biting them with their teeth. During the night, while the sufferers tried to rest, the young warriors came and pulled out their hair by hands-full and lacerated their wounds. They were taken to a village and again compelled to pass between two rows of savages, and beaten with rods. They were next placed on a scaffold, and the crowd of fiends, with knives in their hands, mounted and hacked them, taking care to avoid giving them a fatal blow. At night they were bound to stakes in a prostrate position, and then given up to the children as subjects for torture.

Early History Of Thk Nortmwkst

;in exhibition. While crossing a brook, Jougcs, iinniincifiil of his sutifering, found consohition in the opportunity to bai)tize two of the Huron prisoners. Three of the Hurons were now burned to death, and Jouges and Goupel, one of liis companions, expected to share tiieir fate. Goupel was killed by a blow of a hatchet, and Jougcs was astonished, day after day, to find himself alive. His life was spared, but he found it almost unendurable. At last they allowed him to go from town to town, to see the Indian captives, that they were continually bringing in. His time was, therefore, occupied in converting and baptizinj,' them, and he began to congratulate* himself that his capture was a providential means for saving souls. A greater heroism and more sublime devotion has seldom been recorded. At last he was rescued by some Dutch traders, went to their seaport, and taking passage in a vessel, reached 1'" ranee. Here his mutilated appearance excited the greatest commiseration. The following spring, he returned to Canada, voluntary exposing himself to the same Hazards. Two j'cars afterwards the Iroquois were at peace with the I*"rcnch, having been taught a salutary lesson, and notwithstanding the terrible sufferings he endured at their hands, he accepted a mission among them, feeling a presentiment of his death when he started; for he wrnte: "1 shall go, but I shall not return. " When he arrived among the Mohawks, crowils assembled to gaze at the man they had once so abused, but who now represented a power they were taught to respect. The old grudge breaking out again, a hostile party of Iroquois seized him and led him and a companion to their town, where he was again subjected to their atrocious cruelties. Tiiey cut strips of flesh from his back and arms, and at last a blow from a hatchet killed him.

The Governor of New France, Montmagny, began a vigorous defense. His allies, the Algonquins, were sadly decimated by the ravages of the enemy, and those of pestilence and famine, and were now tractable subjects under his management. The mortality among them was so great that Fatiicr Vimont records: "Where eight years ago, one would sec a hundred wigwams, one now sees only five or six. A chief, who once had eight hundred warriors has now but thirty or forty; and in place of fleets of three or four hundred canoes, we see less than a tenth of that number."

The eastern Algonquins were being rapidly exterminated. Nothing but the French could save them. The Iroquois, well provided with fire-arms, were sweeping everything before them, and the whole country was one vast battle-ground. Montmagny now determined to establish a fort at the mouth of the Richelieu, the present site of the town of Sorel. He, therefore, dispatched the soldiers sent by Richelieu, and a number of laborers and mechanics,' about a hundred in all, to that point, where they arrived in August, 1642. It was a few days after the cajjture of Jouges, and here they found ghastly evidences of the blnod)- work - the heads of the slain stuck on poles, and Indian picture-writing on the peeled trunks of trees, detailing the exploit.

While they were engaged in erecting their defenses, they were suddenly surprised by two or three hundred Iroquois; but the French, quickly forming in line of battle, repulsed the enemy with great loss to the latter, who, abandoning even their guns, fled in terror.

Finding that they were no match for even the small numbers of the French, they hunted out the encampments of Algonquins, like bloodhounds. One instance, among the many, will suffice to show the ferocity of these attacks. A part)' of Algonquins on a winter hunt in the depths of the northern forests, and, as they thought, far removed from danger, were suddenly surprised by the enemy, who, hunting them out in this remote place, fell upon them at midnight. The prisoners taken were bound, and some of them were cut into pieces, put into kettles, boiled and eaten. " They ate men," says Yimont in the Relations, "with as much appetite, and with more pleasure, than hunters eat a bear or stag." They delighted in bantering their prisoners. Said one of them to an old Algoncpiin: "L'ncle, )-ou arc a dead man. You are going to the land of souls; tell them to take heart; they will have good cornpan)' soon, for we are going to send all the rest of yoi.'r nation to join them. "

In the spring of this year. Father Hressani started for the Huron country. /\t the mouth of the St. Lawrence, he and his small party were capturetl by the enemj- and taken to Lake Champlain, where there was a fishing camp of four hundred Iroquois. Here, he and the other prisoners were subjected to the most cruel tor^ tures. They split his hand \\ ith a knife, stripped him and placed him on a scaffold, burnt him w ith hot irons, antl forced him to walk onj hot coals to make him dance. For eight nights] they enjoyed this entertainment, and then took] him to one of their villages, where his torture was rencwetl. He was finally ransomed h\ some Dutch traders. Some time after this, peace was patched up with the Iroquois, whicl' only lasted a short time, when hostilities were again renewetl.