Some aspects of the downfall of Huronia 1646-1650

Date

1974

Authors

Windsor, John

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Abstract

This work is an attempt toe lain the military collapse of the Huron people between 1646 and 1650. It commences with the description of a border skirmish between Algonquins and Mohawks which had some significance in leading to the peace of 1645. Following this and in the preliminary chapters, there is a brief survey of French, Huron, Iroquois relations and the economic factors that led to this long and savage war. The conflict actually began in 1642 and in the following three years the Iroquois had, in large measure, succeeded in blockading the rivers, thus preventing the Huron fur flotil­las from reaching the warehouses of New France. In 1645, the French governor, Montmagny, managed to arrange a peace that held until September of the following year, when the war flared up anew. The strategy of the French and the Hurons, which was to encircle the Iroquois by alliances with the New Englanders to the east and with the Andastis to the south is discussed, as is the Huron attempt to divide the Five Nations of the Iroquois by a treaty with the Onondagas. Unfortunately for the Hurons these endeavours, though bold and imaginative, failed and in its final years Huronia had to depend largely upon its own resources. The country of the Hurons is described, as is their way of life and the type of villages in which they dwelt. Particular attention is paid to the fortifications of the larger of these villages, as well as to those of the Jesuit stronghold of Ste. Marie. There is evidence of French influ­ence in the defence layout of the palisades and bastions in some, though not in all, of these fortified communities. The influence of the French priests is-also discussed and note is made of the fact that in its later years, Huronia was a country divided against itself, with the Christian and non­-Christian elements of the population viewing each other with suspicion and hostility. In July of 1648, the Hurons suffered a grievous blow when the populous frontier village of St. Joseph was sur­prised and captured. This capture is examined in detail, as is also the capture of the defended villages of St. Ignace II and St. Louis in the following March. These blows spread panic and despair throughout Huronia and by the spring of 1649 the great dispersion of the Hurons had begun. There was to be one more military disaster inflicted by the Iro­quois in December of the same year when St. Jean, a village of the Tobacco people, who were neighbours and close allies of the Hurons, was surprised and destroyed. The terrible winter spent by many of the panic-stricken refugees on Christian Island is described, as is the final flight of the few hundred survivors down the Ottawa and St. Lawrence Rivers .to the comparative safety of Quebec. Throughout this work the reports of the Jesuits from the fortress of Ste. Marie among the Hurons has been the prin­cipal source of information. In conclusion, the writer attributes the military down­fall of the Hurons to a number of factors, the principal among these being a lack of discipline and leadership among the people, a sense of defeatism that seemed to permeate the whole nation and, finally, the deep divisions brought about by the introduction of the Christian faith into Huronia.

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