The Great Intendant : A chronicle of Jean Talon in Canada, 1665-1672 by Thomas Chapais
page 24 of 100 (24%)
page 24 of 100 (24%)
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were assembled at Fort Sainte-Anne. [Footnote: On isle
La Mothe at the northern end of Lake Champlain.] Charles Le Moyne commanded the Montreal contingent, one hundred and ten strong; the Quebec contingent marched under Le Gardeur de Repentigny. Father Albanel and Father Raffeix, Jesuit priests, the Abbe Dollier de Casson, a Sulpician, and the Abbe Dubois, chaplain of the Carignan regiment, accompanied the army. Three hundred light boats had been launched for the crossing of Lakes Champlain and Saint-Sacrement. Courcelle, always impetuous, was the first to leave the fort; he led a vanguard of four hundred men which included those from Montreal. The main body of the army under Tracy set out on October 3. Captains Chambly and Berthier were to follow four days later with the rear-guard. The journey by water was uneventful; but the portage between the two lakes was hard and trying. Yet it was nothing compared with the difficulties of the march beyond Lake Saint-Sacrement. One hundred miles of forest, mountains, rivers, and swamps lay between the troops and the Iroquois villages. No roads existed, only narrow footpaths interrupted by quagmires, bristling with stumps, obstructed by the entanglement of fallen trees, or abruptly cut by the foaming waters of swollen streams. Heavily laden, with arms, provisions, and ammunition strapped on their backs, French and Canadians slowly proceeded through the great woods, whose autumnal glories were vanishing fast under the influence of the chill winds of October. Slipping over moist logs, sinking into unsuspected swamps, |
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