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The men in the blockhouses withdrew under cover of night to Fort
Loyal, where the whole force of the English was now gathered along
with their frightened families. Portneuf determined to besiege the
place in form; and, after burning the village, and collecting tools
from the abandoned blockhouses, he opened his trenches in a deep gully
within fifty yards of the fort, where his men were completely
protected. They worked so well that in three days they had wormed
their way close to the palisade; and, covered as they were in their
burrows, they lost scarcely a man, while their enemies suffered
severely. They now summoned the fort to surrender. Davis asked for a
delay of six days, which was refused; and in the morning the fight
began again. For a time the fire was sharp and heavy. The English
wasted much powder in vain efforts to dislodge the besiegers from
their trenches; till at length, seeing a machine loaded with a
tar-barrel and other combustibles shoved against their palisades, they
asked for a parley. Up to this time, Davis had supposed that his
assailants were all Indians, the French being probably dressed and
painted like their red allies. "We demanded," he says, "if there were
any French among them, and if they would give us quarter. They
answered that they were Frenchmen, and that they would give us good
quarter. Upon this, we sent out to them again to know from whence they
came, and if they would give us good quarter for our men, women, and
children, both wounded and sound, and (to demand) that we should have
liberty to march to the next English town, and have a guard for our
defence and safety; then we would surrender; and also that the
governour of the French should hold up his hand and swear by the great
and ever living God that the several articles should be performed: all
which he did solemnly swear."

The survivors of the garrison now filed through the gate, and laid
down their arms. They with their women and children were thereupon
abandoned to the Indians, who murdered many of them, and carried off
the rest. When Davis protested against this breach of faith, he was
told that he and his countrymen were rebels against their lawful king,
James II. After spiking the cannon, burning the fort, and destroying
all the neighboring settlements, the triumphant allies departed for
their respective homes, leaving the slain unburied where they had
fallen. [7]

Davis with three or four others, more fortunate than their companions,
was kept by the French, and carried to Canada. "They were kind to me,"
he says, "on my travels through the country. I arrived at Quebeck the
14th of June, where I was civilly treated by the gentry, and soon
carried to the fort before the governour, the Earl of Frontenack."
Frontenac told him that the governor and people of New York were the
cause of the war, since they had stirred up the Iroquois against
Canada, and prompted them to torture French prisoners. [Footnote: I am
unable to discover the foundation of this last charge.] Davis replied
that New York and New England were distinct and separate governments,
each of which must answer for its own deeds; and that New England
would gladly have remained at peace with the French, if they had not
set on the Indians to attack her peaceful settlers. Frontenac admitted
that the people of New England were not to be regarded in the same
light with those who had stirred up the Indians against Canada; but he
added that they were all rebels to their king, and that if they had
been good subjects there would have been no war. "I do believe,"
observes the captive Puritan, "that there was a popish design against
the Protestant interest in New England as in other parts of the
world." He told Frontenac of the pledge given by his conqueror, and
the violation of it. "We were promised good quarter," he reports
himself to have said, "and a guard to conduct us to our English; but
now we are made captives and slaves in the hands of the heathen. I
thought I had to do with Christians that would have been careful of
their engagements, and not to violate and break their oaths. Whereupon
the governour shaked his head, and, as I was told, was very angry with
Burniffe (_Portneuf_)."

Frontenac was pleased with his prisoner, whom he calls a _bonhomme_.
He told him in broken English to take courage, and promised him good
treatment; to which Davis replied that his chief concern was not for
himself, but for the captives in the hands of the Indians. Some of
these were afterwards ransomed by the French, and treated with much
kindness, as was also Davis himself, to whom the count gave lodging in
the château.

The triumphant success of his three war-parties produced on the
Canadian people all the effect that Frontenac had expected. This
effect was very apparent, even before the last two victories had
become known. "You cannot believe, Monseigneur," wrote the governor,
speaking of the capture of Schenectady, "the joy that this slight
success has caused, and how much it contributes to raise the people
from their dejection and terror."

One untoward accident damped the general joy for a moment. A party of
Iroquois Christians from the Saut St. Louis had made a raid against
the English borders, and were returning with prisoners. One evening,
as they were praying at their camp near Lake Champlain, they were
discovered by a band of Algonquins and Abenakis who were out on a
similar errand, and who, mistaking them for enemies, set upon them and
killed several of their number, among whom was Kryn, the great Mohawk,
chief of the mission of the Saut. This mishap was near causing a
rupture between the best Indian allies of the colony; but the
difference was at length happily adjusted, and the relatives of the
slain propitiated by gifts. [Footnote: The attacking party consisted
of some of the Abenakis and Algonquins who had been with Hertel, and
who had left the main body after the destruction of Salmon Falls.
Several of them were killed in the skirmish, and among the rest their
chief, Hopehood, or Wohawa, "that memorable tygre," as Cotton Mather
calls him.]


[1] Many of the authorities on the burning of Schenectady will be
found in the _Documentary History of New York_, I. 297-312. One
of the most important is a portion of the long letter of M. de
Monseignat, comptroller-general of the marine in Canada, to a lady of
rank, said to be Madame de Maintenon. Others are contemporary
documents preserved at Albany, including, among others, the lists of
killed and captured, letters of Leisler to the governor of Maryland,
the governor of Massachusetts, the governor of Barbadoes, and the
Bishop of Salisbury; of Robert Livingston to Sir Edmund Andros and to
Captain Nicholson; and of Mr. Van Cortlandt to Sir Edmund Andros. One
of the best contemporary authorities is a letter of Schuyler and his
colleagues to the governor and council of Massachusetts, 15 February,
1690, preserved in the Massachusetts archives, and printed in the
third volume of Mr. Whitmore's _Andros Tracts_. La Potherie,
Charlevoix, Colden, Smith, and many others, give accounts at
second-hand.

Johannes Sander, or Alexander, Glen, was the son of a Scotchman of
good family. He was usually known as Captain Sander. The French wrote
the name _Cendre_, which became transformed into _Condre_, and then
into _Coudre_. In the old family Bible of the Glens, still preserved
at the place named by them Scotia, near Schenectady, is an entry in
Dutch recording the "murders" committed by the French, and the
exemption accorded to Alexander Glen on account of services rendered
by him and his family to French prisoners. See _Proceedings of N. Y.
Hist. Soc._, 1846, 118.

The French called Schenectady Corlaer or Corlar, from Van Curler, its
founder. Its treatment at their hands was ill deserved, as its
inhabitants, and notably Van Curler himself, had from the earliest
times been the protectors of French captives among the Mohawks.
Leisler says that only one-sixth of the inhabitants escaped unhurt.

[2] "En partant de Canada, j'ay laissé une très grande disposition à
attirer au Christianisme la plus grande partie des sauvages Abenakis
qui abitent les bois du voisinage de Baston. Pour cela il faut les
attirer à la mission nouvellement établie près Québec sous le nom de
S. François de Sale. Je l'ai vue en peu de temps au nombre de six
cents âmes venues du voisinage de Baston. Je l'ay laissée en estat
d'augmenter beaucoup si elle est protegée; j'y ai fait quelque dépense
qui n'est pas inutile. _La bonne intelligence que j'ai eue avec ces
sauvages par les soins des Jésuites, et surtout des deux pères Bigot
frères a fait le succès de toutes les attaques qu'ils ont faites sur
les Anglois cet esté_, aux quels ils ont enlevé 16 forts, outre celuy
de Pemcuit (_Pemaquid_) ou il y avoit 20 pièces de canon, et leur ont
tué plus de 200 hommes." _Denonville au Ministre, Jan._, 1690.

It is to be observed that this Indian outbreak began in the summer of
1688, when there was peace between France and England. News of the
declaration of war did not reach Canada till July, 1689. (Belmont.)
Dover and other places were attacked in June of the same year.

The intendant Champigny says that most of the Indians who attacked the
English were from the mission villages near Quebec. _Champigny au
Ministre_, 16 _Nov._, 1689. He says also that he supplied them with
gunpowder for the war.

The "forts" taken by the Indians on the Kennebec at this time were
nothing but houses protected by palisades. They were taken by
treachery and surprise. _Lettre du Père Thury_, 1689. Thury says that
142 men, women, and children were killed.

[3] _Andros, Account of Forces in Maine,_ in 3 _Mass. Hist. Coll.,_ I.
85. Compare _Andros Tracts,_ I. 177; _Ibid.,_ II. 181, 193, 207, 213,
217; _Ibid.,_ III. 232; _Report of Andros_ in _N. Y. Col. Docs.,_ III.
722. The order for the reduction of the garrisons and the return of
the suspected officers was passed at the first session of the council
of safety, 20 April. The agents of Massachusetts at London endeavored
to justify it. See _Andros Tracts,_ III. 34. The only regular troops
in New England were two companies brought by Andros. Most of them were
kept at Boston, though a few men and officers were sent to the eastern
garrison. These regulars were regarded with great jealousy, and
denounced as "a crew that began to teach New England to Drab, Drink,
Blaspheme, Curse, and Damm." _Ibid.,_ II. 50.

In their hatred of Andros, many of the people of New England held the
groundless and foolish belief that he was in secret collusion with the
French and Indians. Their most dangerous domestic enemies were some of
their own traders, who covertly sold arms and ammunition to the
Indians.

[4] Andros in 3 _Mass. Hist. Coll.,_ I. 85. The original commanding
officer, Brockholes, was reputed a "papist." Hence his removal.
_Andros Tracts,_ III. 35. Andros says that but eighteen men were left
in the fort. A list of them in the archives of Massachusetts,
certified by Weems himself, shows that there were thirty. Doubt is
thrown on this certificate by the fact that the object of it was to
obtain a grant of money in return for advances of pay made by Weems to
his soldiers. Weems was a regular officer. A number of letters from
him, showing his condition before the attack, will be found in
Johnston, _History of Bristol, Bremen, and Pemaquid_.

[5] Thury, _Relation du Combat des Canibas_. Compare Hutchinson,
_Hist. Mass_., I. 352, and Mather, _Magnalia_, II. 590 (ed. 1853). The
murder of prisoners after the capitulation has been denied. Thury
incidentally confirms the statement, when, after saying that he
exhorted the Indians to refrain from drunkenness and cruelty, he adds
that, in consequence, they did not take a single scalp, and "_tuèrent
sur le champ ceux qu'ils voulurent tuer_."

English accounts place the number of Indians at from two to three
hundred. Besides the persons taken in the fort, a considerable number
were previously killed, or captured in the houses and fields. Those
who were spared were carried to the Indian towns on the Penobscot, the
seat of Thury's mission. La Motte-Cadillac, in his _Mémoire sur
l'Acadie_, 1692, says that 80 persons in all were killed; an evident
exaggeration. He adds that Weems and six men were spared at the
request of the chief, Madockawando. The taking of Pemaquid is
remarkable as one of the very rare instances in which Indians have
captured a fortified place otherwise than by treachery or surprise.
The exploit was undoubtedly due to French prompting. We shall see
hereafter with what energy and success Thury incited his flock to
war.

[6] The archives of Massachusetts contain various papers on the
disaster at Salmon Falls. Among them is the report of the authorities
of Portsmouth to the governor and council at Boston, giving many
particulars, and asking aid. They estimate the killed and captured at
upwards of eighty, of whom about one fourth were men. They say that
about twenty houses were burnt, and mention but one fort. The other,
mentioned in the French accounts, was, probably a palisaded house.
Speaking of the combat at the bridge, they say, "We fought as long as
we could distinguish friend from foe. We lost two killed and six or
seven wounded, one mortally." The French accounts say fourteen. This
letter is accompanied by the examination of a French prisoner, taken
the same day. Compare Mather, _Magnalia_, II. 595; Belknap, _Hist. New
Hampshire_, I. 207; _Journal of Rev. John Pike (Proceedings of Mass.
Hist. Soc_. 1875); and the French accounts of Monseignat and La
Potherie. Charlevoix adds various embellishments, not to be found in
the original sources. Later writers copy and improve upon him, until
Hertel is pictured as charging the pursuers sword in hand, while the
English fly in disorder before him.

[7] Their remains were buried by Captain Church, three years later. On
the capture of Fort Loyal, compare Monseignat and La Potherie with
Mather, _Magnalia_, II. 603, and the _Declaration of Sylvanus Davis_,
in 3 _Mass. Hist. Coll_., I. 101. Davis makes curious mistakes in
regard to French names, his rustic ear not being accustomed to the
accents of the Gallic tongue. He calls Courtemanche, Monsieur Corte de
March, and Portneuf, Monsieur Burniffe or Burneffe. To these
contemporary authorities may be added the account given by Le Clercq,
_Établissement de la Foy_, II. 393, and a letter from Governor
Bradstreet of Massachusetts to Jacob Leisler in _Doc. Hist. N. Y_.,
II. 259. The French writers of course say nothing of any violation of
faith on the part of the victors, but they admit that the Indians kept
most of the prisoners. Scarcely was the fort taken, when four English
vessels appeared in the harbor, too late to save it. Willis, in his
_History of Portland_ (ed. 1865), gives a map of Fort Loyal and the
neighboring country. In the Massachusetts archives is a letter from
Davis, written a few days before the attack, complaining that his fort
is in wretched condition.




CHAPTER XII.

1690.

MASSACHUSETTS ATTACKS QUEBEC.

ENGLISH SCHEMES.--CAPTURE OF PORT ROYAL.--ACADIA REDUCED.--CONDUCT OF
PHIPS.--HIS HISTORY AND CHARACTER.--BOSTON IN ARMS.--A PURITAN
CRUSADE.--THE MARCH FROM ALBANY.--FRONTENAC AND THE COUNCIL.--FRONTENAC
AT MONTREAL.--HIS WAR DANCE.--AN ABORTIVE EXPEDITION.--AN ENGLISH
RAID.--FRONTENAC AT QUEBEC.--DEFENCES OF THE TOWN.--THE ENEMY ARRIVES.


When Frontenac sent his war-parties against New York and New England,
it was in the hope not only of reanimating the Canadians, but also of
teaching the Iroquois that they could not safely rely on English aid,
and of inciting the Abenakis to renew their attacks on the border
settlements. He imagined, too, that the British colonies could be
chastised into prudence and taught a policy of conciliation towards
their Canadian neighbors; but he mistook the character of these bold
and vigorous though not martial communities. The plan of a combined
attack on Canada seems to have been first proposed by the Iroquois;
and New York and the several governments of New England, smarting
under French and Indian attacks, hastened to embrace it. Early in May,
a congress of their delegates was held in the city of New York. It was
agreed that the colony of that name should furnish four hundred men,
and Massachusetts, Plymouth, and Connecticut three hundred and
fifty-five jointly; while the Iroquois afterwards added their
worthless pledge to join the expedition with nearly all their
warriors. The colonial militia were to rendezvous at Albany, and
thence advance upon Montreal by way of Lake Champlain. Mutual
jealousies made it difficult to agree upon a commander; but Winthrop
of Connecticut was at length placed at the head of the feeble and
discordant band.

While Montreal was thus assailed by land, Massachusetts and the other
New England colonies were invited to attack Quebec by sea; a task
formidable in difficulty and in cost, and one that imposed on them an
inordinate share in the burden of the war. Massachusetts hesitated.
She had no money, and she was already engaged in a less remote and
less critical enterprise. During the winter, her commerce had suffered
from French cruisers, which found convenient harborage at Port Royal,
whence also the hostile Indians were believed to draw supplies Seven
vessels, with two hundred and eighty-eight sailors, were impressed,
and from four to five hundred militia-men were drafted for the
service. [Footnote: _Summary of Muster Roll, appended to A Journal of
the Expedition from Boston against Port Royal_, among the papers of
George Chalmers in the Library of Harvard College.] That rugged son of
New England, Sir William Phips, was appointed to the command. He
sailed from Nantasket at the end of April, reached Port Royal on the
eleventh of May, landed his militia, and summoned Meneval, the
governor, to surrender. The fort, though garrisoned by about seventy
soldiers, was scarcely in condition to repel an assault; and Meneval
yielded without resistance, first stipulating, according to French
accounts, that private property should be respected, the church left
untouched, and the troops sent to Quebec or to France. [Footnote:
_Relation de la Prise du Port Royal, par les Anglois de Baston_, piece
anonyme, 27 _Mai_, 1690.] It was found, however, that during the
parley a quantity of goods, belonging partly to the king and partly to
merchants of the place, had been carried off and hidden in the woods.
[Footnote: _Journal of the Expedition from Boston against Port
Royal_]. Phips thought this a sufficient pretext for plundering the
merchants, imprisoning the troops, and desecrating the church. "We cut
down the cross," writes one of his followers, "rifled their church,
pulled down their high altar, and broke their images." [Footnote:
_Ibid_.] The houses of the two priests were also pillaged. The people
were promised security to life, liberty, and property, on condition of
swearing allegiance to King William and Queen Mary; "which," says the
journalist, "they did with great acclamation," and thereupon they were
left unmolested. [1] The lawful portion of the booty included twenty-one
pieces of cannon, with a considerable sum of money belonging to the
king. The smaller articles, many of which were taken from the
merchants and from such of the settlers as refused the oath, were
packed in hogsheads and sent on board the ships. Phips took no
measures to secure his conquest, though he commissioned a president
and six councillors, chosen from the inhabitants, to govern the
settlement till farther orders from the crown or from the authorities
of Massachusetts. The president was directed to constrain nobody in
the matter of religion; and he was assured of protection and support
so long as he remained "faithful to our government," that is, the
government of Massachusetts. [Footnote: _Journal of the Expedition,
etc._] The little Puritan commonwealth already gave itself airs of
sovereignty.

Phips now sent Captain Alden, who had already taken possession of
Saint-Castin's post at Penobscot, to seize upon La Hêve, Chedabucto,
and other stations on the southern coast. Then, after providing for
the reduction of the settlements at the head of the Bay of Fundy, he
sailed, with the rest of the fleet, for Boston, where he arrived
triumphant on the thirtieth of May, bringing with him, as prisoners,
the French governor, fifty-nine soldiers, and the two priests, Petit
and Trouvé. Massachusetts had made an easy conquest of all Acadia; a
conquest, however, which she had neither the men nor the money to
secure by sufficient garrisons.

The conduct of the New England commander in this affair does him no
credit. It is true that no blood was spilt, and no revenge taken for
the repeated butcheries of unoffending and defenceless settlers. It is
true, also, that the French appear to have acted in bad faith. But
Phips, on the other hand, displayed a scandalous rapacity. Charlevoix
says that he robbed Meneval of all his money; but Meneval himself
affirms that he gave it to the English commander for safe keeping, and
that Phips and his wife would return neither the money nor various
other articles belonging to the captive governor, whereof the
following are specified: "Six silver spoons, six silver forks, one
silver cup in the shape of a gondola, a pair of pistols, three new
wigs, a gray vest, four pair of silk garters, two dozen of shirts, six
vests of dimity, four nightcaps with lace edgings, all my table
service of fine tin, all my kitchen linen," and many other items which
give an amusing insight into Meneval's housekeeping. [2]

Meneval, with the two priests, was confined in a house at Boston,
under guard. He says that he petitioned the governor and council for
redress; "but, as they have little authority and stand in fear of
Phips, who is supported by the rabble, to which he himself once
belonged, and of which he is now the chief, they would do nothing for
me." [Footnote: _Mémoire présenté à M. de Ponchartrain par M. de
Meneval, 6 Avril_, 1691.] This statement of Meneval is not quite
correct: for an order of the council is on record, requiring Phips to
restore his chest and clothes; and, as the order received no
attention, Governor Bradstreet wrote to the refractory commander a
note, enjoining him to obey it at once. [Footnote: This note, dated 7
Jan., 1691, is cited by Bowen in his _Life of Phips_, Sparks's
_American Biography_, VII.] Phips thereupon gave up some of the money
and the worst part of the clothing, still keeping the rest. [Footnote:
_Mémoire de Meneval_.] After long delay, the council released Meneval:
upon which, Phips and the populace whom he controlled demanded that he
should be again imprisoned; but the "honest people" of the town took
his part, his persecutor was forced to desist, and he set sail
covertly for France. [Footnote: _Ibid_.] This, at least, is his own
account of the affair.

As Phips was to play a conspicuous part in the events that immediately
followed, some notice of him will not be amiss. He is said to have
been one of twenty-six children, all of the same mother, and was born
in 1650 at a rude border settlement, since called Woolwich, on the
Kennebec. His parents were ignorant and poor; and till eighteen years
of age he was employed in keeping sheep. Such a life ill suited his
active and ambitious nature. To better his condition, he learned the
trade of ship-carpenter, and, in the exercise of it, came to Boston,
where he married a widow with some property, beyond him in years, and
much above him in station. About this time, he learned to read and
write, though not too well, for his signature is like that of a
peasant. Still aspiring to greater things, he promised his wife that
he would one day command a king's ship and own a "fair brick house in
the Green Lane of North Boston," a quarter then occupied by citizens
of the better class. He kept his word at both points. Fortune was
inauspicious to him for several years; till at length, under the
pressure of reverses, he conceived the idea of conquering fame and
wealth at one stroke, by fishing up the treasure said to be stored in
a Spanish galleon wrecked fifty years before somewhere in the West
Indian seas. Full of this project, he went to England, where, through
influences which do not plainly appear, he gained a hearing from
persons in high places, and induced the admiralty to adopt his scheme.
A frigate was given him, and he sailed for the West Indies; whence,
after a long search, he returned unsuccessful, though not without
adventures which proved his mettle. It was the epoch of the
buccaneers; and his crew, tired of a vain and toilsome search, came to
the quarterdeck, armed with cutlasses, and demanded of their captain
that he should turn pirate with them. Phips, a tall and powerful man,
instantly fell upon them with his fists, knocked down the ringleaders,
and awed them all into submission. Not long after, there was a more
formidable mutiny; but, with great courage and address, he quelled it
for a time, and held his crew to their duty till he had brought the
ship into Jamaica, and exchanged them for better men.

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