Three Acadian Generations

PART II - The Years in New France (Quebec)

New France beckoned. The famous Carignan-Salières Regiment may have marched close to Amboise when it traveled across France from Lorraine to the Atlantic seaport from which it set sail. The soldiers of this regiment were to go down in history as some of the toughest fighters in the colonial wars against the English and the Iroquois. (By the way, some of us who come from Bergeron families of the Nicolet/Saint Grégoire/Saint Eulalie area have another ancestor, Charles Martel, who served in this regiment.)

But now, the soldiers of the Carignan-Salières were getting older, had married and were raising families. The king needed new soldiers in Canada.

Chapter 5: Barthélémy in the Troupes de la Marine

In 1622, while advisor to Marie de Medici, the queen mother, and before he ever became a cardinal or the famous advisor to Louis XIII,[1] Richelieu created the first of the Compagnies franches de la Marine to serve on board warships.[2] They were also used to guard French seaports. For this reason, they were later placed under the new “Navy department” of the day, the Département de la Marine, when it was created. The soldiers were known as “troupes de la Marine.” The same department was given responsibility for the French overseas territories, and in 1674 it started to create companies of troops for colonial service. These were also called Compagnies franches de la Marine[3] (Independent Companies of the Marine). Being under the Marine Department, they are not listed in the archives of the French Army. They were “free companies” in that they were not by battalions or regiments.[4] This permitted the ability for rapid movement of small military units and the assignment of such small units to duties not requiring large numbers of troops.

In the late 1600s and early 1700s, these soldiers were effectively the only permanent infantry troops in Canada. They were like the regular army of the colony, acting as garrisons for cities, forts and distant fur depots. They began arriving in New France in 1683. The Department of the Marine sent three Compagnies franches to protect the fur trade and the colonial inhabitants. The only other troops in the colony were colonial militia made up of men between the ages of 16 and 60. These two forces, the militia and the Compagnies franches, were practically the only military units in the colony until 1755,[5] when the regular army under Montcalm showed up.

We do not know at what age Barthelemy Bergeron d’Amboise joined the Compagnies franches de la Marine, but he arrived in New France with them when he was 21 years old. Recruits had to be 16 years or more of age and a minimum height of five feet, five inches. Most members of the Compagnies franches came from the northern and coastal areas of France,[6] though recruiters did get inland to places like Gascony and, obviously, Touraine.[7] Recruits signed on for a period of six years, after which they could return to France or settle down in New France.[8] They were guaranteed some amount of pay and daily rations (one and a half pounds of bread, a quarter pound of “lard” - salt pork - and dried peas). On religious days of abstinence, they got fish and vegetables instead of lard. The troops were provided a pound of tobacco per month.[9] Once in a while fresh beef was available, and at established forts the produce of vegetable gardens was also available. Wild game and fish were often the major items to relieve the monotony of standard rations.[10] If recruiters then were anything like today’s (could they be much different?) the youths were promised travel (which was otherwise difficult to afford), adventure, and the benefits of wearing the uniform (i.e., glory and the attention of young women). The problem in New France, however, was that there were so few young women that the king himself had to ship some females to the colony just to provide wives.

The pay of the common soldier was not much, but more than we might have guessed: a little under 10 livres per month - after taking out deductions for for various rations and (replacement?) clothing. Soldiers who were stationed at military posts and who performed extra work such as building fortifications or trenches, were paid extra for their labor.[11]

Each soldier received a new uniform every other year.[12] This uniform “consisted of a justaucorps of gray-white woolen cloth, lined with blue revesche (a type of wool?) and furnished with pewter buttons, blue trousers of serge of Aumale lined with linen, stockings of the same serge, white garters, buckled shoes, a jacket, a tie, a black hat bordered with a braid of silver, a belt for a sword...”.[13] The justeaucorps was a long skirted coat with large cuffs. The corners of its tails were folded back and buttoned together.[14] This undoubtedly kept the tails out of the way when trying to maneuver, but permitted more protection in cold weather when unbuttoned and allowed to wrap around the legs a bit more. To protect them from the cold winters, the soldiers wore a grey-white cloth coat, moccasins, and Amerindian clothing, which was better adapted to Canada's harsh winters.[15] Hamilton mentions that they were either issued watch coats or makeshift blanket-coats were accepted.[16]

Barthélémy Bergeron d’Amboise came to New France as a member of the Compagnies Franches de la Marine. In five companies of 60 men each, these soldiers embarked on the ship Emérillon on August 13, 1684,[17] departing from La Rochelle, France.[18] They arrived in Quebec City, at the end of September[19] or, according to another source, more specifically on November 12.[20] “The ‘Soldiers of the Marine’, were under the command of Montortier, Denos and du Rivau. These captains were of the ‘Regular Army’ and returned to France as soon as possible to fight the enemies of France in Europe.”[21] Father Bergeron also mentions the first two of these officers,[22] so it is certain that both sources were describing the same contingent of troops.

It had been a rough voyage. Dr. J. C. Poissant, in his book, The Genealogy of the Poissant Family, wrote: “It was a late date considering the season and the size of the ship, also the storms of the Equinox made for a dangerous trip for sailboats. These small boats, comparable to sea shells, were like toys for the wind and the ocean. Often it would take two or three months to make the trip, whereas, today you can cross the Atlantic in a matter of a few days.”[23]

Barthelemy and his comrades arrived too late in the year to do any fighting. Very few military maneuvers ever took place during the winter. Thus, from October until May, the troops were put up in the homes of local people (the “habitants”) and at seigneuries. There were a number of arrangements that could be made. Sometimes inhabitants provided the necessary tools and utensils to his soldier, and was permitted to have him cut wood, uproot stumps, clear land, or beat wheat in the barns. This was hard labor! In return, the soldier received ten sous per day, in addition to his food.”[24]

If a soldier already had a good trade, he was permitted to go out into the population and practice it. In this manner, the colony gained the benefit of his trade as well as his protection as a soldier. By providing the necessary furlough for the soldier to perform such work, his captain got to keep the income from that soldier’s pay as a tradesman.[25]

Some of troops were permitted to go out into the public to find a little better residence for himself, in which case “the Captain of the company (required) his soldiers to give up half of their pay....”[26]

Barthélémy was twenty-one years old when he arrived in New France. By title he was simply a volunteer-of-the-Marine,[27] a common soldier, but his social station or something else would provide a much better life for him than the vast majority of soldiers had at the time. He did not live with any of the habitant farmers nor did he lose any of his pay to the Captain.[28] He lodged at the home of Pierre Lezeau, who was to become a very good friend during this period of his life.

It seems that Pierre Lezeau was a “boat-master,” whose name has appeared in the records “in all imaginable variations from Layzeau to Loiseau” (and Father Bergeron himself used “Loyseau” in his “Barthélémy Bergeron: heros meconnu”), was Barthelemy’s best friend during his long winters in Quebec City.[29] We have no idea how they met.

Pierre Lezeau seems to have had a considerable maritime trade. This trade network was based out of his “family establishment” in the Lower-City of Quebec City. Father Bergeron also mentions that numerous censuses and documents of the Sovereign Council of New-France provide proofs of Lezeau’s business location.[30] We shall meet up with Pierre Lezeau again, in Barthelemy’s 1690 last will and testament.

So we know that Barthelemy lived in a private home of a friend in Quebec’s Lower-City shortly afer he arrived in New France. But he did not simply sit around enjoying himself that winter, though we will see later that he certainly had the means to do so. A document found in the Canadian archives, dated November 5, 1684, shows that he entered into a contract to be a baker! Barthelemy and another friend, Guillaume Dupont, both bearing the title of “bakers", became proprietor-associates, with a real master pastrycook by the name of Julien Boissy dit Lagrillade,[31] who had arrived in Canada some years earlier. It seems certain their pastry trade was situated on the ‘rue Lamontagne’, in the direction of the Lower-City.”[32] The deal was to last for only five months, until the beginning of the next soldiering season. Barthélémy entered into this contract, which all three men signed, with the proviso that if he was required to leave in order to serve the King or for any other such valid reason, he would still be considered as much a partner as if he had not left at all.[33]

What a shrewd businessman; he couldn’t lose!

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[1] De Castries, p.186.

[2] NavRes.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Hamilton, p.1.

[5] NavRes.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Lépine.

[9] NavRes.

[10] Hamilton, p.13.

[11] Ibid, p.14. Murdoch also mentions this in a number of places.

[12] NavRes.

[13] Canadian Historical Association, 1926: pp. 49 and 50, quoted in Bergeron, SGCF69d, p.205.

[14] Hamilton, p.5.

[15] NavRes.

[16] Hamilton, p.5.

[17] Bergeron, SGCF69d p. 205.

[18] Metevia. Poissant mentions that the Émerillon departed from La Rochelle “at the end of August”.

[19] Bergeron, SGCF69d p. 205.

[20] Metevia.

[21] Ibid.

[22] Bergeron, SGCF69d, p. 205.

[23] Poissant.

[24] Bergeron, SGCF69d, p. 207.

[25] Ibid.

[26] Ibid.

[27] Bergeron, SGCF01, p. 158.
[28] Bergeron, SGCF69d, p. 207.
[29] Bergeron, SGCF69d, p. 213. Lezeau (the son of Pierre and Jeanne Rivaland) was born in Grezac, Xaintes diocese, France. He married Geneviève Le Maître (daughter of Paschal and Louise Duval) in Quebec on 24 Oct. 1678.
[30] Ibid. pp. 213-214. Bergeron refers us to “numerous ‘notarial engagements’” as proof of the extent of Lezeau’s business.
[31] As the actual contract reads: “julien Boissy dit Lagrillade of this country And a pastrycook by trade, guillaume dupont a baker And Barthélémy bergeron also a baker.” Bergeron SGCF69d, p. 202.
[32] Bergeron, SGCF69d, p. 207.
[33] In translation: “if it happened (that he) was obliged to leave from this city for some time or occasion that this would be, either for the Service of the King or otherwise, He will be just as much of The said company as if he is not absent at all...”

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Chapter 6: The Hudson Bay Expedition

Governor de La Barre returned to Quebec in the autumn of 1684 after a disastrous campaign against the Iroquois. Reinforcements, the Troops of the Marine had arrived, but too late to participate in that year’s military action. Yet they must have had some effect: it was almost a full year before Canada heard anything of the Iroquois again.[1]

The commanding officers of these Troops of the Marine brought to Canada with them a letter from the king. According to this letter, these captains and their troops had been ordered to operate independently of De La Barre, and not be part of his forces.

The letter also shows that the King of France was much more anxious about his wars in Europe than the immediate needs of the colonies. In response to the entreaties of the Governor, the King replied: “I have seen what you wrote to me on the subject of the communication by ground between Canada and Acadia. Nothing would be better and more useful for the growth of the two colonies than to make the path from one to the other easy, so that the residents of Canada might help Acadia with their commodities and that those of Acadia carrying their fish to Canada, they could mutually help each other. But I can not consent to make this expense of 25 to 30.000 livres ... as you proposed. Therefore, it is necessary that you seek other expedients (think of that!) and it is to that you have to think...”[2]

This from the king who, at the same time, spent millions to wage war in Europe and elsewhere![3]

Almost in the same breath, the king added: “I recommend you prevent as much as it will be possible that the English are not established in the Hudson Bay which was taken possession in my name several years ago....”[4]

There was a French fur-trading company in Canada at that time called the Company of the North. Their profits pretty much depended on being the sole fur traders of the area, and an English organization (later called the Hudson Bay Company) was moving in. The men who ran the Company of the North now saw no chance to get either money or men from their king. They would have to do the best they could on their own. They asked Denonville, governor general of Canada, for some soldiers and an officer to command them. Denonville gave them 24 men, and assigned the chevalier de Troyes as commander. Furthermore, three sons of the Le Moynes (the greatest family in Canada) volunteered to go along: de Ste-Héléne, d’Iberville, and de Maricourt.[5] The fact that their father was a director of the Compagnie du Nord certainly helped them be accepted.[6] It is certain that John de Méra, Pierre Viaux and Barthélémy Bergeron also took part in this expedition; we have the documented proof in the court records of 1685 where these three were awarded money from “three notes signed by d’Hiberville.”[7]

Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur d’Iberville, is one of the most important figures of Canadian history, and certainly of French Canadian history. He was born near Montréal in 1661. He became the most famous of the fourteen children of Charles Le Moyne, baron of Longueuil and Châteauguay, and lieutenant-general of Canada (a very high position, second only to the commander of the national armed forces).

D’Iberville is of special interest to us. He started as the second lieutenant of the Hudson Bay expedition under the chevalier de Troyes, later became a frigate captain, a knight of Saint-Louis, the discoverer of the mouths of the Mississippi, the founder of Louisiana, and the commander of a naval squadron. He served in an incomparable and sustained manner through ten military campaigns and two voyages of discovery and foundation.[8] For at least ten years Barthélémy would be attached to D’Iberville as one of his special troops, and participate in the adventures of the most illustrious of Canada's leaders.[9] Throughout this period Barthélémy remained unmarried, and never settled down to establish a residence in Canada.

An important court judgment of the Sovereign Council of 1689, showed Barthélémy Bergeron connected very closely to Jean de Méra and especially to Pierre Viaux.[10] Viaux was a cousin of de Maricourt and D’Iberville,[11] so it only follows that he and his best friends would serve directly under one of them. Fr. Bergeron writes: “It is entirely plausible, not to say more, that it is through this Pierre Viaux that Bergeron and de Méra came to be put under the direct command of d’Iberville.”[12] D’Iberville chose his close associates, and kept 18 or 20 special soldiers and our ancestor was one of them. This connection between Barthélémy and D’Iberville not only took him into some major military actions, it was directly responsible for him eventually winding up in Acadia.

The chevalier de Troyes kept a journal of the Hudson Bay expedition of 1686.[13] From Montréal one could get to James Bay (on Hudson Bay) by canoe, by following the courses of lakes and rivers. It was a rough trip for individual men in good physical condition, let alone a troop of a hundred men. The expedition lasted four months, through the snow and the mud, through numerous Masses celebrated for them all by Father Sylvie.

On the “day of Easter, we made our devotions in a high mass that was chanted with all the solemnity that the times and place were able to permit,” wrote the Chevalier de Troyes. After vespers there was a “big north wind! I made a review of all my detachment, of which I made three brigades composed each of three squads... and left one third under the orders of the Sieur D’Iberville...”[14]

On the “day of Easter, we made our devotions in a high mass that was chanted with all the solemnity that the times and place were able to permit,” wrote the Chevalier de Troyes. After vespers there was a “big north wind! I made a review of all my detachment, of which I made three brigades composed each of three squads... and left one third under the orders of the Sieur D’Iberville...”[15]

The men were well equipped. After 85 days of exhaustion and extreme ardship, they arrived at Moose Fort (today Moose Factory)[16] and completely surprised the English. They took all three major trading posts and several small houses for the fur trade on James Bay. This left the English with only Fort Nelson, considerably farther north on Hudson Bay.[17]

The Deliberations of the Sovereign Council of New-France indicate that Barthélémy stayed in the North with d’Iberville from 1686 to 1689, part of the crew left behind to guard the posts when D’Iberville made some brief trips to Quebec or even to France.[18]

When de Troyes left the north in August of 1686, he left d’Iberville in charge of the captured posts. In September , 1688, a couple of English ships blockaded one of the posts and got frozen in the ice through the winter. Both sides were ruthless n their treatment of the other, but d’Iberville made a name for himself notorious by refusing to let the English go out hunting for food without harassment, evidently knowing that the resulting scurvy would decimate the English crews. Then, when the disease was epidemic, d’Iberville invited the English surgeon to go hunting; then when the man had left the protection of his ship, the French commander took him prisoner. The English lost 28 men over the winter, 25 of them to scurvy, and had to surrender. D’Iberville (and evidently his favorite companions) returned to Quebec on October 28, 1689, loaded down with English prisoners, booty and prize furs.[19] The Canadian leader got the credit for the great success of keeping the English out of James Bay. Furthermore, in less than three years, he provided all the evidences anyone would need afterwards of his of organizational and leadership abilities.[20]

Upon returning from the north, Barthélémy settled down to wait for the next assignment. He again lived with his friend, Pierre Lezeau.[21] Lezeau (Loyseau) was a “boat-master” and well- known merchant.[22] He seems to have had a considerable maritime trade and used his family establishment (located in the Low-City of the old capital) as a base of operations.[23] This may have been where Barthélémy got his first taste of being a sailor-merchant, a trade he would use for most of his life. The ruthlessness of the Hudson Bay campaign may have put the idea in his head to leave soldiering and go on to something else. We really do not know what was in his mind at this time. But the next campaign would be even more ruthless than Hudson Bay, and the opportunity to do something else still had to present itself.

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[1] Bergeron, SGCF69d, p. 205-206.

[2] Bergeron, SGCF69d, p. 206.

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Chapter 7: Horror at Schenectady

A new war had been declared, and the English colonies received the news before New France. At dawn of August 5, 1689, the Iroquois, sent by the British, fell upon the small settlement of Lachine, near Montréal. The settlers were awaken by war cries. Many were hacked down in their homes. Others were killed as they tried to escape. Others were captured. Of the 77 houses in the town, 56 were burned down. The Iroquois warriors departed early enough to get away, but late enough so their campfires that night could be seen across the lake. It seems that they slowly burned a few captives to death that night to celebrate their victory. Men, women, and children (including babies) had all been killed.

This was the beginning of an eleven-year-long war. The governor general quickly devised plans for revenge. There would be a three-pronged attack on the English colonies, two into Massachusetts and Maine, and a third into New York. They planned the attacks to show the English what the results of such Iroquois raids would be.

D’Iberville was doing nothing at the time, so he volunteered to go along on the New York expedition. There can be no doubt that his selected men accompanied him. We know that Barthélémy began to prepare for another military operation because we have the “last will and testament” that he registered before leaving for battle. It provides some great insight as to his social status. Fr. Bergeron provides two different documents sworn to at this time. In Le Grand Arrangement des Acadiens au Québec (1981) we find the following will:

"BEFORE GILLES RAGEOT “gardenottes” notary of the King... In the pre­vosté [a region under the notary’s jurisdiction] of quebecq In new France was present in person Barthélémy Bergeron VOLUNTEER residing in this city Being on his departure for the journey to the English, present in good health of body of the (flawless)? memory and understanding having good and firm inten­tion as (well) he appeared to the said notary for the inspection of his person words acts And bearing And other following outward actions accompanied by reason and good judgment which said that he being ready to make a very risky journey to go to the English and not being certain of being able to return con­sidering that nothing is more certain than death and nothing more uncertain than the hour of it not wanting that to be reached before having provided for the salvation of his soul and for his temporal affairs not wanting to live intestate but while his senses and reason are in him and he is in good health by the grace of god, his good pleasure and will has dictated and named to the said notary in the presence of the witnesses hereinafter named his testament and order of last will that follows at present as a good Christian and Catholic has to have regis­tered and recommended his soul to god the Creator father son and holy spirit, to the glorious virgin Mary to St. Michael angel and archangel to his good guard­ian angel to st Bartholemew his patron and to all the saints of paradise;

Item given to Pierre Lezeau boat-master living in the said city the sum of three hundred livres for the good friendship that he has for him —

Item given in alms to the poor of the general hospital of this city another sum of three hundred livres to accept and to receive from the said pierre Lezeau from the sum of eleven hundred fifty livres that he has in his hands belonging to the aforesaid testator following The will that he admitted this Day before the said notary, And The surplus up to the said sum of eleven hundred fifty livres which is five hundred fifty livres the said testator gives and leaves behind to pray to God for The Repose of his soul after his death.

And to execute and account for the present testament The said charges dona­tions And alms The said testator has Appointed And Chosen The said Pierre Lezeau whom He gives to be able to do this, The present testament to increase and not to reduce so much in Use of prayers that otherwise in this way that he will judge at the right time, of this he will enable to happen to the said testator of his said journey desiring that the present testament might be executed And it might have its full and entire effect in being his last will this was in this way dictated... to him read And re-read and that he has said to have Understood and Heard in the office of the said notary... ”[1]

According to Fr. Bergeron’s article in the Mémoires de la Société Généalogique Canadien- Française (Jul-Aug-Sept 1969) the following was also sworn to:

"BEFORE GILLES RAGEOT Royal Notary was present in person Pierre Lezeau boat-master residing in this city (of Quebec) Who voluntarily has acknowledged And confessed to have Had And received of Barthélémy Berg­eron volunteer residing in this said city the sum of eleven hundred fifty livres {“pounds,” French money} in silver Money that the aforementioned Loiseau has admitted to have In his hands And who to him has been [re?]leased by the aforesaid Bergeron before these Presents And Nine Hundred pounds for a note signed by Catignon on the date of 26th November last to receive of said Cati­gnon in all the month of April next to whom said Loyseau the said Bergeron grants to be able to receive It For him And in his absence and and to give com­plete receipts and in valid evidence And even (? in case of refusal?) to reject all procedings and diligently essentials which said note has been (competently?) put by the said Bergeron is hands of the said Lezeau[2] for the said Lezeau to render Account to the said Bergeron on his return, or at his order, And to return to him The whole Between The hands they pledge sc obliging sc Renouncing sc done And admitted to the said Quebec office of the said notary afternoon the seventh Day of January one thousand six hundred ninety... ”

1690: "BEFORE GILLES RAGEOT “gardenottes” notary of the King... In the prevosté [a region under the notary’s jurisdiction] of quebecq In new france was present in person Barthélémy Bergeron volunteer residing in this city Being on his departure for the journey to the English, present in good health of body sound of (flawless?) memory and understanding having good and firm intention as he appeared to the said notary for the inspection of his person words acts And bearing And following other external actions accompanied by reason and good judgment which said that he being ready to make a very risky journey to go to the English and not being certain of being able to return con­sidering that to him nothing is more certain than death and nothing more uncer­tain than the hour of it not wanting to be xxxxx (reached/sent? called?) before having provided for the salvation of his soul and disposed of his temporal affairs not wanting to live intestate but while senses and reason are in him and he is in good health by the grace of god, his good pleasure and will has dictated and named to the said notary in the presence of the witnesses hereinafter named his testament and order of last will that follows at present as a good Christian and Catholic must have registered and recommended his soul to god the Creator father son and holy spirit, to the glorious virgin Mary to St. Michael angel and archangel to his good guardian angel to st Bartholemew his patron and to all the saints of paradise;

Item given to Pierre Lezeau boat-master living in the said city the sum of three hundred livres for the good friendship that he has for him —

Item given in alms to the poor of the general hospital of this city another sum of three hundred livres to accept and to receive of the said pierre Lezeau on/over/ for/upon the sum of eleven hundred fifty livres that he has in his hands belong­ing to the aforesaid testator following The will that he entered into this Day before the said notary, And The surplus up to the said sum of eleven hundred fifty livres which is five hundred fifty livres the said testator gives and leaves behind to pray to God for The Repose of his soul after his death.

And to execute and account for the present testament The said charges dona­tions And alms The said testator has Named And Chosen The said Pierre Lezeau whom He gives to be able to do this, The present testament to increase and not to reduce so much in Use of prayers that otherwise in this way that he will judge at the right time, of this that it will be able to happen to the said tes­tator of his journey desiring that the present testament might be executed And that it might have its full and entire effect in being his last will this was in this way dictated... to him read And re-read and that he has said to have Understood and Heard in the office of the said notary... ”[3]

One thing we see here is that Barthélémy was by no means a pauper. The sum of 1150 livres is a huge amount of money to just have on hand.[4] Also, our ancestor is still single. Otherwise he would never have left so much of this money to Pierre Lezeau, boatmaster and well known merchant, simply “for the good friendship that he has for him”. He had been in Canada for five years and not gotten married even though the king had given specific orders that, as soon as the campaigns were done, the government and military leaders were to exert all their influence help the soldiers find a wife and start a farm at the earliest possible time.[5] Barthélémy remained, as Fr. Bergeron says, “‘in the service of the King’, but also by no means attached to the country, independent of fortune and, through successive winters, resident and businessman in Quebec, The Capital of New-France!”[6] Again that special status seems to be at work.

D’Iberville and Barthélémy became part of a party of 210 men (including 96 Christian Iroquois who had been persuaded to live in Canada) assigned to attack New York. They left Montréal in the middle of winter on snowshoes. Protected by theier blanket-coats and mittens, each armed with a musket, a knife, a hatchet and a pouch of bullets. Each had also been issued a pouch of tobacco for his pipe. Frontenac, the governor of Canada, had left the choice of target to the leaders of the expedition; on the way, they decided to take Albany or die trying.[7] Instead, they wound up on the path for Corlaer (Schenectady).

By this time the temperatures were warm enough that the men waded through knee-deep half- melted snow. Some areas were mud with embedded with chunks of ice. It was slow. It was absolutely painful. Then it turned cold again, the wind picked up and the snow returned. After a long and arduous journey, the French forces reached Corlaer at 4 p.m. on February 8, pelted by a cold, windy snowstorm. They began to move into place, resolved to attack as soon as they reached the town. The men were so cold and hungry that some of them later mentioned that if any of the English had appeared and asked them to do so, they would have surrendered immediately.[8] But nobody challenged them.

The town had two gates, one facing east, used to get to Orange (Albany) to the southeast. The other gate faced west toward Mohawk country. This is where the French and Indian force came upon the town. Everyone was asleep and the Mohawk gate stood wide open.

D’Iberville was to take a detachment (certainly Barthélémy would be with him), go around the town, and stop fugitives from escaping through the other gate. They missed that gate in the dark and hurried back to the main body of men. The attack began when they rejoined their countrymen.

The French and Indians split into two groups. They entered the town and made their way around the inside of the stockade wall. When the leaders met, they gave the signal and the attack began. They vented all their anger on the citizens of the town, and as the Iroquois had done at Lachine, they (especially, they say, the Indian allies) did not discriminate in who they killed. They killed sixty people: 38 men or boys, 10 women, and 12 children. They captured another 80 or 90 persons. The killing and pillage continued for two hours.[9] And then they had not gotten revenge on their enemy, for Corlaer was a Dutch town, not an English one. This is the way the colonial wars went in America. It would happen many times in reverse, later, in Acadia.

There was a man there, by the name of John Sander Glen, who lived just outside the town walls. He had always treated French captives with which he had come into contact compassionately. He had saved the lives of several Frenchmen who had been captured by the nearby Mohawks. D’Iberville had special orders concerning this man, and presented Glen with the news that he and all that was his were to be spared. Furthermore, Glen was permitted to go among the prisoners and name anyone who was a relative. He named so many people that the accompanying French Indians commented that he must have been related to everyone in town.[10]

The French burned down the town and departed. They took 27 men and boys with them, leaving behind 60 old men, women, and children. Only two in the French party had been lost,[11] but fifteen more were killed almost within sight of Montréal by a band of English Mohawks chasing after them.[12]

We have no way of knowing to what degree Barthélémy participated in this grisly business. I would like to think that our ancestor was sickened by the slaughter. It is very interesting to note that, so far as we know, he never fought on land again.

Even so, life went on. Stephen White reports that on February 15, 1691, Barthélémy was godfather for Anne, the daughter of François Garneau at her baptism at L’Ange Gardien church.[13] Garneau must have been an old friend. He was married at L’Ange Gardien church February 7, 1689 to Louise Carreau.[14]