Onondagas, and the Oneidas.] had heard with some disquietude
of the body of trained soldiers sent by the French king
to check their incursions and crush their confederacy.
At the beginning of December 1665, the Marquis de Tracy
received an embassy from the Onondagas. They desired to
enter into a peace negotiation, and one of the most noted
chiefs, Garakonthie, delivered on that occasion a long
and eloquent address to the viceroy. A treaty was signed
by them on behalf of their own and two of the other
tribes, the Senecas and the Oneidas. But meanwhile the
Oneidas did not cease from hostilities, and the Mohawks
also continued their bloody raids against the French
settlements. Courcelle therefore decided to march at once
against their villages beyond Lake Champlain, in what is
now New York state and to teach them a lesson. But he
did not know the nature of a winter expedition in this
northern climate. Leaving Quebec on January 9, he reached
Three Rivers on the 16th, and proceeded to Fort Saint-Louis
on the Richelieu, where he had fixed the rendezvous of
the troops. The cold was very severe, and many soldiers
were frozen at the outset. On January 29 the little band,
five or six hundred French and Canadians, left Fort
Saint-Louis, unfortunately without waiting for a party
of Algonquins who should have acted as scouts. It was a
distressing march. The soldiers had to walk through deep
snow, and the unfamiliar use of snowshoes was a great
trial to the Europeans. At night, no shelter! They had
to sleep in the open air, under the canopy of the sky
and the cold light of the glimmering stars. Having no
guides, Courcelle and his men lost their way in that