The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1877-09-20
A Canadian Heroine.

Francis Parkman, in his new book O
Frontenac in the French and India
war, gives the following account of
young heroine's exploits as a militar
commander in the defense of the fort Q
Vercheres, near Quebec:
Son the morning of the 22d of Octc
Der the inhabitants were at work in tn
fields, and nobody was left in the plac
but two soldiers, two boys, an old MAJ
of eighty, and number of women an,
children. The seignior wa
on duty at Quebec; his wife was a
Montreal and their daughter Madeleine
fourteen years of age, was at the landing
place not far from the gate of the fort
Suddenly she heard firini
from the direction where the settler
were at work, and an instant afte
Laviolette criedout, Run, mademoiselle
run! here come the Iroquoisp Sh
turned and saw forty or fifty of them a
the distance of a pistol shot. i ran t,
the fort (she says in her own account o
the affair.", commencing myself to tn
Holy Virgin. The two sol
diers in the fort were so scared that the,
had hidden in the block-house. AT tn,
gate found two women crying for thei
husbands, who had just been killed.
made them go in, and then shut the gate
l next thought what could do to say,
myself and the few people with me.
went to inspect the fort, and found tina
several palisades had fallen down anc
left openings by which the enemy coulc
easily get in ordered them to be set VI
again, and l helped to carry them my
self. When the breaches were stopped
| went 10 the block-house where the am
munition is kept, and here found the
two soldiers, one hiding in corner and
the other with a lighted match in his
hand. What are you going to do with
that matchT l asked. He answered
Light the powder and blow us all up.
You are miserable coward, said /
'go out of this place spoke so reso
lutely that he 0beyed. l then threw of
my bonnet, and, after putting on a hat
and taking gun, i said to my two
brothers: Let us fight to the death.
We are fighting for our country and our
religion. Remember that our father has
taught you that gentlemen are born to
shed their blood for the service of God
and the king
"The boys, who were twelve and ten
years old, aided by the soldiers, whom
her words had inspired with some little
courage, began to fire from the loopholes
upon the Iroquois, who, ignorant of the
weakness of the garrison, showed their
usual reluctance to attack fortified
place, and occupied themselves with
chasing and butchering the people in the
neighboring fields. Madeleine ordered
a cannon to be fired, partly to warn some
of the soldiers, who were hunting at a
distance. The women and children in
the fort cried and screamed without
ceasing. She ordered them to stop, lest
their terror should encourage the In
dians. A canoe was presently seen ap-
preaching the landing-place. 1t was a
settler named Fontaine, trying to reach
the fort with his family. The Iroquois
were still near; and Madeleine feared
that the new comers would be killed if
something were not done to aid them.
She appealed to the soldiers, but their
courage was not equal to the attempt;
ON which. as she declares, after leaving
Laviolette to keep watch at the gate, she
herself went alone to the landing-place.
Il thought that the savages would sup
pose it to be ruse to draw them toward
the fort, in order to make sortie upon
them. They did suppose so, and thus |
was able to save the Fontaine family.
When they were all landed made them
march before me in full sight of the
enemy. We put so bold face on it that
they thought they had more to fear than
we. Strengthened by this reinforce
ment, | ordered that the enemy should
be fired on whenever they showed them
selves. After sunset violent northeast
wind began to blow, accompanied with
snow and hail, which told us that we
should have a terrible night. The Iro-
quois were all this time lurking about
us; and judged by their movements
that, instead of being deferred by the
storm, they would climb into the fort
under cover of the darkness. assembled
all my troops-that is to say, six per-
sons, and spoke to them this: God has
saved us to-day from the hands Of our
enemies, but we must take care not to
fall into their snares tonight. As for
me, l want you to see that am not
afraid. l will take charge of the fort
with an old man of eighty and another
who never fired gun; and you, Pierre
Fontaine, with La Bonte and Gachet
(our two soldiers), will 60 to the block
house with the women and children, and
if 1 am taken, don't surrender, even if
l am cut to pieces and burned before
your eyes. The enemy cannot hurt you
in the block-house if you make the least
show of fight l placed my young
brothers on two of the bastions, the old
man on the third, and | took the fourth;
and all night, in spite of wind, snow, and
hail, the cries of ALPS well were kept up
from the block-house to the fort, and
from the fort to the block-house. One
would have thought that the place was
full of soldiers. The Iroquois thought so
and were completely deceived, as they
confessed afterward to NJ. de Callieres.
Il l may say with truth that l
did not eat or sleep for twice twenty
four hours. / did not once go into my
fathers house, but kept always on the
bastion, or went to the blOck-house to
see how the people there were behaving.
l always kept a cheerful, smiling face,
and encouraged my little company with
the hope of speedy succor.
"We were a week in constant alarm,
with the enemy always about us. At
last Monsieur de la Monnerie, lieuten-
ant sent by Monsieur de Callieres, ar
rived in the night with forty men. As
he did not know whether the fort was
taken or not, he approached as silently
as possible. One of our sentinels, hear
ing slight sound, cried, 'Qui vivep l
was at the time doing, with my head on
a table and my gun lying across my
arms. The sentinel told me that he
heard voice from the river. went up
at once to the bastion to see whether it
was Indians or Frenchmen. l asked,
Who are your One of them answered,
We are Frenchmen; it is La Monnerie,
who comes to bring you help 1 caused
the gate to he opened. placed a sentinel