Glimpses of the Past Part 8

In 1715, Governor Caulfield endeavored to have a good understanding with Loyard, a.s.suring him that he would not be molested, and begging him to say to the Indians of his mission that they would receive good treatment at the hands of the English and that a vessel full of everything they needed would be sent up the river to them.

But other and more potent influences were at work. On June 15, 1716, the French minister wrote the Marquis de Vaudreuil that the King, in order to cement more firmly the alliance with the savages of Acadia, had granted the sum of 1,200 livres, agreeably to the proposal of the intendant Begon, to be expended in building a church for the Indians on the River St. John, and another for those on the Kennebec. The Indians were wonderfully pleased and offered to furnish a quant.i.ty of beaver as their contribution towards the erection of the churches. In the years that followed the king made two additional grants of 1,200 livres each, and in 1720 the Marquis de Vaudreuil had the satisfaction of reporting that the churches were finished; that they were well built and would prove a great inducement to the savages to be loyal to France.

The probable site of the Indian chapel on the banks of the St. John is shown in the plan of the Medoctec Fort and village near the north west corner of the burial ground. A small stone tablet was discovered here by Mr. A. R. Hay, of Lower Woodstock, in June, 1890. The tablet is of black slate, similar to that found in the vicinity, and is in length fourteen inches by seven in width and about an inch in thickness.

It was found quite near the surface, just as it might naturally have fallen amid the ruins of an old building, covered merely by the fallen leaves; the inscription is in an excellent state of preservation and, without abbreviation, reads as follows:

[Ill.u.s.tration: SLATE-STONE TABLET.

A relic of the Indian Chapel of Saint Jean Baptiste. Found at Medoctec, June, 1890.]

DEO Optimo Maximo In honorem Divi Ioannis Baptistae Hoc Templum posuerunt Anno Domin (MDCCXVII).

Malecitae

Missionis Procurator Ioanne Loyard Societatis Iesu Sacerdote.

The translation reads:--"To G.o.d, most excellent, most high, in honor of Saint John Baptist, the Maliseets erected this church A. D.

1717, while Jean Loyard, a priest of the Society of Jesus, was superintendent of the mission."

The inscription is clearly cut, but not with sufficient skill to suggest the hand of a practised stone engraver. It was in all probability the hand of Loyard himself that executed it. The name of Danielou, his successor, faintly scratched in the lower left-hand corner, is evidently of later date; but its presence there is of historic interest.

The Indian church of St. John Baptist at Medoctec, erected in 1717, was the first on the River St. John--probably the first in New Brunswick. It received among other royal gifts a small bell which now hangs in the belfry of the Indian chapel at Central Kingsclear, a few miles above Fredericton. The church seems to have been such as would impress by its beauty and adornments the little flock over which Loyard exercised his kindly ministry. It is mentioned by one of the Jesuit fathers as a beautiful church (belle eglise), suitably adorned and furnished abundantly with holy vessels and ornaments of sufficient richness.

The chapel stood for fifty years and its clear toned bell rang out the call to prayer in the depths of the forest; but by and by priest and people pa.s.sed away till, in 1767, the missionary Bailly records in his register that the Indians having abandoned the Medoctec village he had caused the ornaments and furnis.h.i.+ngs of the chapel, together with the bell, to be transported to Aukpaque, and had caused the chapel itself to be demolished since it served merely as a refuge for travellers and was put to the most profane uses.

The Marquis de Vaudreuil in 1718 wrote to the English authorities at Port Royal protesting against English vessels entering the River St.

John, which he claimed to be entirely within the French dominion. He encouraged the French to withdraw from the peninsula of Nova Scotia, promising them lands on the St. John river on application to the missionary Loyard, who was empowered to grant them and in the course of time a number of families resorted thither.

When Loyard went to France in 1722 he represented to the home government that the English were making encroachments on the "rivers of the savages"--meaning the St. John, Pen.o.bscot and Kennebec. "Why is this?" he asks, "if not for the purpose of continually advancing on Canada?" He points out that France has not cared for the savages except when she has had need of them. The English will not fail to remind them of this fact, and will perhaps by presents more valuable than the missionaries can offer soon succeed in winning them. Loyard recommends the court to increase the annual gratuity and to provide for each village a royal medal to serve as a reminder of the king's favor and protection. His advice seems to have been followed, and for some years an annual appropriation of 4,000 livres was made to provide presents for the savages, the distribution being left to the missionaries.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BELL OF OLD INDIAN CHAPEL. (A. D. 1717.)]

Port Royal, under its new name of Annapolis, was now become the headquarters of British authority and efforts were made to establish friendly relations with the Indians of the St. John river. In July, 1720, nine chiefs were brought over to Annapolis in a vessel sent by Governor Philipps for the purpose; they were entertained and addressed and presents were made to them and they went home apparently well pleased. However the English governor did not count much upon their fidelity. He states that he was beset with Indian delegations from various quarters; that he received them all and never dismissed them without presents, which they always looked for and for which he was out of pocket about a hundred and fifty pounds; he adds, "but I am convinced that a hundred thousand will not buy them from the French interest while the priests are among them."

Governor Philipps' lack of confidence in Indian promises of friends.h.i.+p and alliance was soon justified, for in Lovewell's war, which broke out in 1722 and lasted three years, the Indians surprized and captured a large number of trading vessels in the Bay of Fundy and along the coast, and a party of 30 Maliseets and 26 Micmacs attacked the Fort at Annapolis, killing two of the garrison and dangerously wounding an officer and three men. In retaliation for the loss of Sergt McNeal, who was shot and scalped, the English shot and scalped an Indian prisoner on the spot where McNeal had fallen, an action which, however great the provocation, is to be lamented as unworthy of a Christian people.

Lovewell's war was terminated by a notable treaty made at Boston in 1725 with four eminent sagamores representing the tribes of Kennebec, Pen.o.bscot, St. John and Cape Sable; Francois Xavier appearing on behalf of the Maliseets of the St. John. The conference lasted over a month, for the Indians were very deliberate in their negotiations and too well satisfied with their entertainment to be in a hurry. The treaty was solemnly ratified at Falmouth in the presence of the Lieutenant-Governors of Ma.s.sachusetts, New Hamps.h.i.+re and Nova Scotia, and about forty chiefs. The formal a.s.sent of the St. John Indians does not appear to have been given until May, 1728, when three or four sachems, accompanied by twenty-six warriors, came from Medoctec to Annapolis Royal to ratify the peace and make submission to the British government. Governor Armstrong with the advice of his officers made them presents, entertained them several days and sent them away well satisfied.

The ministry of Loyard was now drawing to a close. He seems to have been a man of talents and rare virtues, esteemed and beloved by both French and Indians, and in his death universally lamented. He devoted nearly twenty-four of the best years of his life to the conversion of the Indians, and when summoned to Quebec for the benefit of his health, which had become impared by toil and exposure, he had hardly recovered from the fatigue of the journey when he requested to be allowed to return to his mission, where his presence was needed. It was while in the active discharge of his duty among the sick that he contracted the disease of which he died in the midst of his people, who were well nigh inconsolable for their loss. The obituary letter announcing his death to the other Jesuit missionaries contains a glowing eulogy of the man and his work.

His disposition had nothing of sternness, yet he was equally beloved and revered by his flock; to untiring zeal he joined exemplary modesty, sweetness of disposition, never failing charity and an evenness of temper which made him superior to all annoyances; busy as he was he had the art of economising the moments, and he gave all the prescribed time to his own spiritual exercises; over his flock he watched incessantly as a good shepherd with the happy consolation of gathering abundant fruit of his care and toil; he was fitted for everything and ready for everything, and his superiors could dispose of him as they would. The date of his death, June 24, 1731, suggests some remarkable coincidences. The 24th of June is St. John Baptist's day; Loyard's name was Jean Baptiste; the church he built was called St. Jean Baptiste; it was the first church on the banks of a river named in honor of St. Jean Baptiste (because discovered on 24th June, 1604, by Champlain); and it was fitting that the missionary who designed it, who watched over its construction and who probably was laid to rest beneath its shade, should pa.s.s from the scene of his labors on the day that honors the memory of St. Jean Baptiste. By a pure coincidence the author finds himself penning these words on St. John Baptist's day, 1903.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Jean Loyard Fac-simile, A. D. 1708.]

Loyard's successor was Jean Pierre Danielou, whose presence at Medoctec is indicated by the occurrence of his name on the memorial tablet. After his arrival at Quebec in 1715 he was employed for some years as a teacher, but took holy orders about 1725. Danielou had been but a short time in charge of his mission when he received a sharply worded letter from the governor of Nova Scotia, ordering the Acadians settled on the River St. John to repair to the port of Annapolis Royal and take the oath of allegiance. The governor says that their settling on the river without leave was an act of great presumption. A number of the settlers accordingly presented themselves at Annapolis, where they took the required oaths and agreed to take out grants.

The little French colony were settled at or near St. Anns (now Fredericton) for a census made in 1733, for the government of France, gives the number of Acadians on the river as 111, divided into twenty families, and fifteen of these families, numbering eighty-two persons, were living below the village of Ecoupay (or Aukpaque). Two families lived at Freneuse and three at the mouth of the river.

The story of the old Medoctec village in later times will be told incidentally in the chapters that are to follow.

CHAPTER IX.

INCIDENTS IN KING GEORGES WAR.

After a long interval of peace from the time of the treaty of Utrecht in 1713, war was declared between France and England in 1744. The Indians of the St. John river, who had been fairly quiet for some years, took the warpath with great alacrity. The war that ensued is known as "King George's," or the "Five Years" war. At its commencement the Maliseets played rather a sharp trick upon the English which Paul Mascarene and s.h.i.+rley, the governor of Ma.s.sachusetts, remembered against them when peace was proclaimed five years later. On that occasion Count de la Galissonniere wrote to Mascarene to inquire if the Maliseets were included in the peace, "in which case," he says, "I entreat you to have the goodness to induce Mr. s.h.i.+rley to allow them to settle again in their villages, and to leave their missionaries undisturbed as they were before the war." The French governor suggested that a reply might be sent through the missionary by whom he had sent his own letter. Both Mascarene and s.h.i.+rley replied at some length to the letter of de la Galissonniere. They stated that when a renewal of the war with France was daily expected, a deputation of the St. John river Indians came to Annapolis professedly to make an agreement to remain on friendly terms with the English in the event of war with France. They were well received in consequence. But they had come in reality as spies, and three weeks afterwards returned with others of their tribe, the missionary le Loutre at their head, surprised and killed as many of the English as they caught outside the fort, destroyed their cattle, burnt their houses and continued their acts of hostility against the garrison till the arrival of troops from New England to check them. "For this perfidious behaviour," s.h.i.+rley says, "I caused war to be declared in his majesty's name against these Indians in November, 1744, and so far as it depends upon me, they shall not be admitted to terms of peace till they have made a proper submission for their treachery."

During King George's war the Maliseet warriors did not, as in former Indian wars, a.s.semble at Medoctec and turn their faces westward to devastate the settlements of New England, the scene of hostilities was now transferred to the eastward, Annapolis Royal, Beausejour and Louisbourg became the scene of hostilities and Aukpaque, not Medoctec, the place of rendezvous.

Immediately after the declaration of war Paul Mascarene set to work to repair the defences of Annapolis Royal. The French inhabitants at first showed every readiness to a.s.sist him, but they retired to their habitations when the Indians, to the number of about three hundred fighting men, appeared before the fort. Among the leaders of the savages was young Alexander le Borgne de Bellisle, who himself had Indian blood in his veins, being the son of Anastasie de St. Castin.

The Indians failed in their attack and retired to await the arrival of troops from Louisbourg under Du Vivier.

Some weeks later the united forces again advanced on Annapolis but, after a siege lasting from the end of August to about the 25th of September, they were obliged to retire without accomplis.h.i.+ng anything. Mascarene conducted the defence with prudence and energy but honestly admits, in his letter to Governor s.h.i.+rley, that it was largely "to the timely succours sent from the Governor of Ma.s.sachusetts and to our French inhabitants refusing to take up arms against us, we owe our preservation."

The people of New England cherished no good will toward the savages of Acadia. The horrors of Indian warfare in the past were yet fresh in their memories, and stern measures were resolved upon. Governor s.h.i.+rley, with the advice of his council, offered premiums for their scalps, 100 currency for that of an adult male Indian, 50 for that of a woman or child, and for a captive 5 higher than for a scalp.

After the failure of the French attack on Annapolis Royal, s.h.i.+rley planned an expedition against Louisbourg, "the Dunkirk of America."

This was indeed a formidable undertaking, for the French had spent twenty-five years of time and about six millions and a half of dollars in building, arming and adorning that city. The walls of its defences were formed of bricks brought from France and they mounted two hundred and six pieces of cannon. The leader of the expedition was William Pepperell, a native of Kittery, Maine, a colonel of militia and a merchant who employed hundreds of men in lumbering and fis.h.i.+ng. His troops comprised a motley collection of New Englanders--fishermen and farmers, sawyers and loggers, many of them taken from his own vessels, mills and forests. Before such men, aided by the English navy under Commodore Warren, to the world's amazement, Louisbourg fell. The achievement is, perhaps, the most memorable in our colonial annals, but a description of the siege cannot be here attempted. After the surrender of Louisbourg a banquet was prepared by Pepperell for his officers, and Mr. Moody of New York, Mrs. Pepperell's uncle, was called upon to ask a blessing at the feast. The old parson was apt to be prolix on public occasions, and his temper being rather irritable, none dared to suggest that brevity would be acceptable. The company were therefore highly gratified by his saying grace as follows: "Good Lord, we have so many things to thank Thee for that time will be infinitely too short to do it. We must therefore leave it for the work of eternity. Bless our food and fellows.h.i.+p upon this joyful occasion, for the sake of Christ our Lord. Amen."

The capture of Louisbourg greatly relieved the situation at Annapolis, and probably saved Acadia to the English. It acted as a damper on the ardor of the Indians of the St. John river, who, under Marin, a French officer from Quebec, had taken the warpath. They were encouraged in their hostile att.i.tude by their missionary Germain, lately come to Aukpaque as Danielou's[17] successor.

[17] Jean Pierre Danielou died at Quebec, May 23, 1744. His successor, Father Charles Germain, came to Canada in 1738 and a few years later, probably in 1740, was sent to the St. John River.

While the stirring events just mentioned were transpiring at Louisbourg, Governor Mascarene was doing his best to place Annapolis Royal in a proper state of defence and the chief engineer, John Henry Bastide, was busily engaged in strengthening the fort. Early in the summer of 1745 the Sieur Marin appeared before the town with a party of six hundred French and Indians--the latter including many from the River St. John and some of the Hurons from Canada. They captured two Boston schooners, one of which was named the "Montague." Her captain, William Pote, of Falmouth (now Portland) Maine, was taken to Quebec by the Huron Indians, via the St. John river. He remained in captivity three years. He contrived to keep a journal describing his capture and subsequent adventures; this was concealed by one of the female prisoners who restored it to Captain Pote after he was released. The journal had a remarkable experience; it pa.s.sed through many hands, was discovered at Geneva in Switzerland about a dozen years ago by Bishop John F. Hurst, and has since been printed in a sumptuous volume by Dodd, Mead & Co., of New York. Thus after a century and a half of obscurity this remarkable old doc.u.ment has at length seen the light.

We learn from its pages that Captain Pote was taken by land to Chignecto at the head of the Bay of Fundy, where he found the captured schooner "Montague" already arrived. The Indians called a council to decide whether it was better to go to the River St. John in the schooner or by land, but finally thought it better to go by land.

Accordingly on the 26th June, the "Montague" sailed with several prisoners, including two of Pote's men and the master of the other schooner taken at Annapolis and one of his men. Pote entreated the Indians to be allowed to go in the schooner, but could not prevail. He was taken by way of Shepody Bay up the River Pet.i.tcodiac in a small schooner belonging to one of the "neutral French." The next day's journey brought them to the carrying place between the Pet.i.tcodiac and the Canaan river, which they crossed and encamped.

The events of the day following--Sunday, June 30--are thus recorded in Pote's journal:

"This day in ye morning we had Intelligence that there was a priest from ye River of Saint Johns expected to arrive at this place in a few minutes, ye Indians made Great preparation for his Reception and at his arrival shewed many symptoms of their Great Respect. Ye Priest was conducted to ye Captain's camp, where after having pa.s.sed many compliments, the Priest asked ye Capt. of ye Indians who I was, and when he Understood I was a prisoner, he asked me if I could speak French. I told him a Little, and asked him concerning one Jonathan a soldier that was a pa.s.senger on board of our Schooner when we was taken, and was then at ye River of Saint Johns. Ye Priest gave me an account of him, and told me to content myself in ye Condition that I was then in, for I was in ye hands of a Christian nation and it might prove very Beneficial both to my Body and Soul. I was obliged to concur with his sentiments for fear of displeasing my masters. Ye Indians built him a Table against a Large Tree, where he said ma.s.s, and sung (louange au bon Dieu pour leur conservation jusqu'au present) after they had concluded their ma.s.s, &c., the priest gave them Permission to commence their making Connews and Took his leave of us.

This Day we was Imployed in making Connews of Elm and ash Bark."

The priest here mentioned was no doubt the Jesuit missionary, Charles Germain, for the Governor General of Canada, the Marquis Beauharnois, in his letter to the French minister, dated at Quebec 27 September of this year, writes: "M. Germain, missionary on the lower part of the River St. John, arrived here yesterday with the chief and 24 Indians of his mission, the most of whom served in Mr. Marin's party."

The Indians with Capt. Pote made seven canoes, and in these they proceeded down the Canaan river to Washademoak lake, thence up the St.

John river to Aukpaque. On the way several rather curious incidents occurred. For example, on one occasion they caught some small fish, which Pote attempted to clean, but the Indians s.n.a.t.c.hed them from him and boiled them "slime and blood and all together." "This," said Pote, "put me in mind of ye old Proverb, G.o.d sent meat and ye D----l cooks."

On another occasion, he says, "we Incamped by ye side of ye River and we had much difficulty to kindle a fire by Reason it Rained exceeding fast, and wet our fire works; we was obliged to turn our connews bottom up and Lay under them; at this time it thundered exceedingly, and ye Indians asked me if there was not people in my Country sometimes distroyed by ye Thunder and Lightning, yet I told them I had known several Instances of that nature, they told me yt never any thing hapned to ye Indians of harm neither by thunder nor Lightning, and they said it was a Judgment on ye English and French, for Incroaching on their Libertys in America."

On their way up the River St. John Mr. Pote and his companions pa.s.sed several French houses, and at some of these they stopped for provisions, but found the people so "exceeding poor" they could not supply any. When they arrived at Aukpaque, on the evening of the 6th July, they found the schooner Montague had arrived some days before with the other prisoners.

Pote and his friends met with an unexpectedly warm reception at the Indian village, which we shall allow him to relate in his own quaint fas.h.i.+on:

"At this place ye Squaws came down to ye Edge of ye River, Dancing and Behaving themselves, in ye most Brutish and Indecent manner and taking us prisoners by ye arms, one Squaw on each Side of a prisoner, they led us up to their Village and placed themselves In a Large Circle Round us, after they had Gat all prepared for their Dance, they made us sit down In a Small Circle, about 18 Inches a.s.sunder and began their frolick, Dancing Round us and Striking of us in ye face with English Scalps, yt caused ye Blood to Issue from our mouths and Noses, In a Very Great and plentiful manner, and Tangled their hands in our hair, and knocked our heads Togather with all their Strength and Vehemence, and when they was tired of this Exercise, they would take us by the hair and some by ye Ears, and standing behind us, oblige us to keep our Necks Strong so as to bear their weight hanging by our hair and Ears.

"In this manner, they thumped us In ye Back and Sides, with their knees and feet, and Twitched our hair and Ears to such a Degree, that I am Incapable to express it, and ye others that was Dancing Round if they saw any man falter, and did not hold up his Neck, they Dached ye Scalps In our faces with such Violence, yt every man endeavored to bear them hanging by their hair in this manner, Rather then to have a Double Punishment; after they had finished their frolick, that lasted about two hours and a half, we was carried to one of their Camps, where we Saw Some of ye Prisoners that Came in ye montague; at this place we Incamped yt Night with hungrey Belleys."