Nine Years a Captive/Chapter 4

CHAPTER IV.

Of remarkable events of Providence in the Deaths of Several Barbarous Indians.

The priest of this river was of the order of St. Francis, a gentleman of a humane, generous disposition.^[1] In his sermons he most severely reprehended the Indians for their barbarities to captives. He would often tell them that, excepting their errors in religion, the English were a better people than themselves, and that God would remarkably punish such cruel wretches. and had begun to execute his vengeance upon such already. He gave an account of the retaliations of Providence upon those Cape Sable Indians above mentioned; one of whom got a splinter into his foot, which festered and rotted his flesh till it killed him. Another run a fish-bone into her hand or arm, and she rotted to death, notwithstanding all means that were used to prevent it. In some such manner they all died, so that not one of those two families lived to return home.^[2] Were it not for these remarks of the priest, I had not, perhaps, have noticed these providences.

There was an old Squaw who ever endeavored to outdo all others in cruelty to captives. Wherever she came into a wigwam, where any poor, naked, starved captives were sitting near the fire, if they were grown persons, she would stealthily take up a shovel of hot coals, and throw them into their bosoms.^[3] If they were young persons, she would seize them by the hand or leg, drag them through the fires, &c. The Indians with whom she lived, according to their custom, left their village in the fall of the year, and dispersed themselves for hunting. After the first or second removal, they all strangely forgot that old squaw and her grandson, about twelve years of age. They were found dead in the place where they were left some months afterwards, and no farther notice was taken of them by their friends. Of this the priest made special remark, forasmuch as it is a thing very uncommon for them to neglect either their old or young people.

In the latter part of summer, or beginning of autumn, the Indians were frequently frightened by the appearance of strange Indians, passing up and down this river in canoes, and about that time the next year died more than one hundred persons, old and young; all, or most of those who saw those strange Indians. The priest said it was a sort of plague. A person seeming in perfect health would bleed at the mouth and nose, turn blue in spots, and die in two or three hours.^[4] It was very tedious to me to remove from place to place this cold season. The Indians applied red ochre to my sores, [which had been occasioned by the affray before mentioned,] which by God's blessing cured me. This sickness being at the worst as winter came on, the Indians all scattered; and the blow was so great to them, that they did not settle or plant at their village while I was on the river, [St. John,] and I know not whether they have to this day. Before they thus deserted the village, when they came in from hunting, they would be drunk and fight for several days and nights together, till they had spent most of their skins in wine and brandy, which was brought to the village by a Frenchman called Monsieur Sigenioncour.^[5]

↑ Father Simon appears to have been a man of much activity and enterprise as well as religious zeal. His principal mission station was at Augpaque (Au-pa-ha, head of the tide) on the west bank of the St. John River opposite Savage Island; six miles above Fredericton. Father Simon took part in most of the expeditions against the English Settlements in King William's War. He brought 36 warriors from his mission to aid in the defence of Fort Nashwaak in 1696 and he appears to have died two or three years later, as in Dec. 1698 Governor Villebon writes that "Father Simon is sick at Jemseg" and his name does not occur again in the annals of the time. Father-Thury, who had been priest of Penobscot, the Jesuit who wished to ransom Gyles from his Indian Captors died in 1699. In 1859 a heavy gold ring was found among the ruins of Fort Nashwank, which from the character of its design, seems to have been the property of an ecclesiastic. As Fort Nashwaak was only occupied for about seven years, and as Father Simon was almost the only priest who visited it, it is not unreasonable to conjecture that this ring belonged to him. The annexed facsimile of its design will give the reader an accurate idea of its appearance. It was originally cut for Stewart's Quarterly to illustrate a paper by the writer on Fort Nashwaak.
↑ The belief in Special Providences was one of the features of the Puritan Creed, and, as it was a belief extremely flattering to human vanity, it survived in Massachussets long after much of the real Puritanism of the descendants of the Pilgrim Fathers had disappeared. In Govenor Winthrop's history and other Puritan writers of his age innumerable instances are quoted of God's regard to them, his chosen people. But nowhere is this feature of their creed more happily expressed than in a noble passage in Macaulay's Essay on Milton, a portion of which we quote:—"On the rich and the eloquent, on nobles and priests, they looked down with contempt: for they esteemed themselves rich in a more precious treasure, and eloquent in a more sublime language, nobles by the right of an earlier creation, and priests by the imposition of a mightier hand. The very meanest of them was a being to whose fate a mysterious and terrible importance belonged—on whose slightest actions the spirits of light and darkness looked with anxious interest—who had been destined, before heaven and earth were created, to enjoy a felicity which should continue when heaven and earth should have passed away. Events which short-sighted politicians ascribed to earthly causes had been ordained on his account. For his sake empires had risen, and flourished, and decayed. For his sake the Almighty had proclaimed his will by the pen of the evangelist and the harp of the prophet. He had been rescued by no common deliverer from the grasp of no common foe. He had been ransomed by the sweat of no vulgar agony, by the blood of no earthly sacrifice. It was for him that the sun had been darkened, that the rocks had been rent, that the dead had arisen, that all nature had shuddered at the sufferings of her expiring God!
↑ All writers on Indian manners and customs admit that the women exceeded the men in cruelty to captives. It is perhaps owing to this fact that the women were not always spared in Indian warfare.
↑ There have been several similar visitations of pestilence among the Indians during the historic period. For three or four years previous to the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers in 1620 a deadly malady raged along the seaboard from Penobscot to Narraganset Bay. Some tribes were nearly destroyed. The Massachusetts were reduced from three thousand to three hundred fighting men, and miles of coast which had been populous were left without a single inhabitant. The pestilence mentioned mentioned by Gyles is mentioned in Governor Villebon's Journal and it appears to have swept over both Maine and New Brunswick in 1693 and 1694. The Chief of the St. John River died of it. It is impossible of course, at this distance of time, to tell the exact nature of this malady, but the symptoms recorded by Gyles are somewhat similar to those of the plague which prevails in Egypt. In Baker's Albert N'Yanza p. 333, it is stated that the most fatal symptom is violent bleeding at the nose, and that those thus taken are never known to recover.
↑ 'The proper name of this person was René d'Amours, Sieur de Clignacourt, one of four brothers who came from Quebec to settle on the river St. John, about the year 1684. The d'Amours were originally from Bretagne. Mathieu the father was appointed one of the Councillors of the Province of Quebec in 1663. The sons René, Louis, Mathieu, and Bernard as soon as they grew up took to the woods and became Coureurs de bois or outlaws in the bush, a sort of cross between a trader and a bandit peculiar to Canada, the result of the poverty of the nobles and gentry, and the meddling character of the government and of the priests. To quote the language of Parkman "The Old Regime in Canada" p. 309. "All that was most active and vigorous in the Colony took to the woods and escaped from the control of Intendants, councils and priests, to the savage freedom of the wilderness. Not only were the possible profits great, but in the pursuit of them, there was a fascinating element of adventure and danger." The d'Amours were at one time arrested for their illegal trading but seem to have regained the favor of the government for in 1684 they received large grants of land. René had a grant of the territory on the River St. John from Mecioctec to the Longue Sault, two leagues in depth on each side of the river. Louis had a grant of the River Richibucto, one League of land on the South West side and as far as three leagues beyond the river Chibuctouche, on the other side, with the isles adjacent. Mathieu had a grant of the land along the River St. John between Gemesick and Nachouac, two leagues deep on each side of the river. In 1695, Bernard received a grant of the river Kanibecache. In reciting these grants I have followed the ancient mode of spelling but the reader will easily recognize the places named. For some reason the d'Amours fell under the displeasure of Governor Villebon, for writing of them in 1695, he says, "They are four in number, living on the St. John river. They are given up to licentiousness and independence, for ten or twelve years they have been here. They are disobedient and seditious and require to be watched." In another memoir it is stated of the d'Amours that though they have the best grants of land in the finest parts of the country they have hardly a place to lodge in. They carry on no tillage, keep no cattle but live in trading with the Indians and debauch among them making large profits thereby but injuring the public good. In 1696 Villebon again writes "I have no more reason my lord to be satisfied with the Sieurs d'Amour than I previously had. The one that has come from France has not pleased me more than the other two. Their minds are wholly spoiled by long licentiousness and the manners they have acquired among the Indians; and they must be watched closely, as I had the honor to state to you last year." Acadie was so full of cabals that even these positive statements of Villebon must be taken with allowance. Two of the brothers certainly had permanent residences, and not only goods and cattle but wives also. Mathieu, whose title was Freneuse, resided on the eastern bank of the St. John opposite the mouth of the Oromocto. Louis, whose title was Chauffours, lived at the junction of the Jemseg with the St. John. Mathieu d'Amours died of the fatigue and exposure he had to undergo at the siege of fort Nashwaak in 1696. Of Louis d'Amours more will be related further on. Nothing recorded of him by Gyles bears out any of the imputations cast upon him, in common with his brothers, by Villebon.

[1] Father Simon appears to have been a man of much activity and enterprise as well as religious zeal. His principal mission station was at Augpaque (Au-pa-ha, head of the tide) on the west bank of the St. John River opposite Savage Island; six miles above Fredericton. Father Simon took part in most of the expeditions against the English Settlements in King William's War. He brought 36 warriors from his mission to aid in the defence of Fort Nashwaak in 1696 and he appears to have died two or three years later, as in Dec. 1698 Governor Villebon writes that "Father Simon is sick at Jemseg" and his name does not occur again in the annals of the time. Father-Thury, who had been priest of Penobscot, the Jesuit who wished to ransom Gyles from his Indian Captors died in 1699. In 1859 a heavy gold ring was found among the ruins of Fort Nashwank, which from the character of its design, seems to have been the property of an ecclesiastic. As Fort Nashwaak was only occupied for about seven years, and as Father Simon was almost the only priest who visited it, it is not unreasonable to conjecture that this ring belonged to him. The annexed facsimile of its design will give the reader an accurate idea of its appearance. It was originally cut for Stewart's Quarterly to illustrate a paper by the writer on Fort Nashwaak.

[2] The belief in Special Providences was one of the features of the Puritan Creed, and, as it was a belief extremely flattering to human vanity, it survived in Massachussets long after much of the real Puritanism of the descendants of the Pilgrim Fathers had disappeared. In Govenor Winthrop's history and other Puritan writers of his age innumerable instances are quoted of God's regard to them, his chosen people. But nowhere is this feature of their creed more happily expressed than in a noble passage in Macaulay's Essay on Milton, a portion of which we quote:—"On the rich and the eloquent, on nobles and priests, they looked down with contempt: for they esteemed themselves rich in a more precious treasure, and eloquent in a more sublime language, nobles by the right of an earlier creation, and priests by the imposition of a mightier hand. The very meanest of them was a being to whose fate a mysterious and terrible importance belonged—on whose slightest actions the spirits of light and darkness looked with anxious interest—who had been destined, before heaven and earth were created, to enjoy a felicity which should continue when heaven and earth should have passed away. Events which short-sighted politicians ascribed to earthly causes had been ordained on his account. For his sake empires had risen, and flourished, and decayed. For his sake the Almighty had proclaimed his will by the pen of the evangelist and the harp of the prophet. He had been rescued by no common deliverer from the grasp of no common foe. He had been ransomed by the sweat of no vulgar agony, by the blood of no earthly sacrifice. It was for him that the sun had been darkened, that the rocks had been rent, that the dead had arisen, that all nature had shuddered at the sufferings of her expiring God!

[3] All writers on Indian manners and customs admit that the women exceeded the men in cruelty to captives. It is perhaps owing to this fact that the women were not always spared in Indian warfare.

[4] There have been several similar visitations of pestilence among the Indians during the historic period. For three or four years previous to the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers in 1620 a deadly malady raged along the seaboard from Penobscot to Narraganset Bay. Some tribes were nearly destroyed. The Massachusetts were reduced from three thousand to three hundred fighting men, and miles of coast which had been populous were left without a single inhabitant. The pestilence mentioned mentioned by Gyles is mentioned in Governor Villebon's Journal and it appears to have swept over both Maine and New Brunswick in 1693 and 1694. The Chief of the St. John River died of it. It is impossible of course, at this distance of time, to tell the exact nature of this malady, but the symptoms recorded by Gyles are somewhat similar to those of the plague which prevails in Egypt. In Baker's Albert N'Yanza p. 333, it is stated that the most fatal symptom is violent bleeding at the nose, and that those thus taken are never known to recover.

[5] 'The proper name of this person was René d'Amours, Sieur de Clignacourt, one of four brothers who came from Quebec to settle on the river St. John, about the year 1684. The d'Amours were originally from Bretagne. Mathieu the father was appointed one of the Councillors of the Province of Quebec in 1663. The sons René, Louis, Mathieu, and Bernard as soon as they grew up took to the woods and became Coureurs de bois or outlaws in the bush, a sort of cross between a trader and a bandit peculiar to Canada, the result of the poverty of the nobles and gentry, and the meddling character of the government and of the priests. To quote the language of Parkman "The Old Regime in Canada" p. 309. "All that was most active and vigorous in the Colony took to the woods and escaped from the control of Intendants, councils and priests, to the savage freedom of the wilderness. Not only were the possible profits great, but in the pursuit of them, there was a fascinating element of adventure and danger." The d'Amours were at one time arrested for their illegal trading but seem to have regained the favor of the government for in 1684 they received large grants of land. René had a grant of the territory on the River St. John from Mecioctec to the Longue Sault, two leagues in depth on each side of the river. Louis had a grant of the River Richibucto, one League of land on the South West side and as far as three leagues beyond the river Chibuctouche, on the other side, with the isles adjacent. Mathieu had a grant of the land along the River St. John between Gemesick and Nachouac, two leagues deep on each side of the river. In 1695, Bernard received a grant of the river Kanibecache. In reciting these grants I have followed the ancient mode of spelling but the reader will easily recognize the places named. For some reason the d'Amours fell under the displeasure of Governor Villebon, for writing of them in 1695, he says, "They are four in number, living on the St. John river. They are given up to licentiousness and independence, for ten or twelve years they have been here. They are disobedient and seditious and require to be watched." In another memoir it is stated of the d'Amours that though they have the best grants of land in the finest parts of the country they have hardly a place to lodge in. They carry on no tillage, keep no cattle but live in trading with the Indians and debauch among them making large profits thereby but injuring the public good. In 1696 Villebon again writes "I have no more reason my lord to be satisfied with the Sieurs d'Amour than I previously had. The one that has come from France has not pleased me more than the other two. Their minds are wholly spoiled by long licentiousness and the manners they have acquired among the Indians; and they must be watched closely, as I had the honor to state to you last year." Acadie was so full of cabals that even these positive statements of Villebon must be taken with allowance. Two of the brothers certainly had permanent residences, and not only goods and cattle but wives also. Mathieu, whose title was Freneuse, resided on the eastern bank of the St. John opposite the mouth of the Oromocto. Louis, whose title was Chauffours, lived at the junction of the Jemseg with the St. John. Mathieu d'Amours died of the fatigue and exposure he had to undergo at the siege of fort Nashwaak in 1696. Of Louis d'Amours more will be related further on. Nothing recorded of him by Gyles bears out any of the imputations cast upon him, in common with his brothers, by Villebon.

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