Battle of Long Sault

Battle of Long Sault
Part of the Beaver Wars
Engraving depicting Adam Dollard des Ormeaux with a keg of gunpowder above his head.
Date Five days in early May 1660 Location Long Sault, Ottawa River, New France
Belligerents
France Huron Algonquin	Iroquois
Commanders and leaders
Adam Dollard des Ormeaux † Etienne Annahotaha (fr)  † Mituvemeg  †	unknown
Strength
17 French militia 44 Huron warriors 1 fort	~700 warriors 1 fort
Casualties and losses
54 killed 1 captured (killed later) 1 fort captured	Very Heavy
Both the Iroquois and the French used war-canoes during the engagement. Two of the Iroquois canoes were damaged and all of the French canoes were destroyed. The one French prisoner was later killed after the battle.

The Battle of Long Sault occurred over a five-day period in early May 1660 during the Beaver Wars. It was fought between French colonial militia, with their Huron and Algonquin allies, against the Iroquois Confederacy.

Some historians theorize that the Iroquois called off an intended attack on French settlements because one of their chiefs was killed in this battle, while others claim that the battle provided enough trophies to temper Iroquois aims.

Background

An Iroquois war party encamped along the Ottawa River was preparing to attack Ville-Marie (modern day Montreal), Québec and Trois-Rivières. Adam Dollard des Ormeaux, the 24-year-old commander of the Ville-Marie garrison, requested and received permission from Governor Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve to launch a preemptive surprise attack on the war party. Dollard's expedition was sixteen volunteer riflemen and four Algonquin warriors, including Chief Mituvemeg; they left Ville-Marie in late-April with several canoes of supplies.

The expedition's journey to the Long Sault rapids on the Ottawa was slow, and they arrived on or around May 1. It reportedly took a week to get past the strong current just off of Montreal island, before entering the Ottawa through the Lake of Two Mountains. The expedition occupied an old Algonquin fort to ambush the Iroquois; they were soon reinforced by 40 Hurons, under chief Etienne Annahotaha (fr.) The fort was made from trees planted in a circle and cut down to the trunks. The expedition added an exterior palisade but preparations were not complete when the Iroquois arrived.

Battle

The Iroquois war party had 200 warriors, including several enslaved Huron fighting for the Iroquois, and advanced down the Ottawa in canoes. Five warriors in two canoes landed and were ambushed by the French; the French had predicted the Iroquois' likely landing place and set the ambush after spotting the canoes. The Iroquois were driven off with four casualties by French musket fire. Next, the main Iroquois force landed and made an immediate and unsuccessful assault on the fort. The Iroquois invested the fort, which included building their own fort. Dollard refused an Iroquois parley, fearing a ruse; in response, the Iroquois captured the undefended French canoes. The second Iroquois attack used the scrapped French canoes as fuel to burn the French fort's walls; the second assault was repulsed, and among the Iroquois casualties was the Seneca chief.

A monument in Montreal featuring an engraving of the battle.

Some of the defenders sortied, cut off the head from the Seneca chief's body, and returned to mount the head on the palisade. A third Iroquois assault also failed. The Iroquois sent a canoe upstream for reinforcements; a second war party with 500 men, originally moving on Ville-Marie, responded. The Huron slaves shouted promises of fair treatment for any Huron who abandoned the French; all of the Huron, except Chief Annahotaha, deserted. The Iroquois killed all but five of the deserters; the survivors later returned to Ville-Marie with news of the French defeat. The second war party arrived on the fifth day of the battle before the fourth assault.

The fourth assault advanced using mantlets, made from three logs attached together, which were effective shields against French musketry. The French food supplies were nearly exhausted. The Iroquois entered the fort through a breach created with knives and axes and by climbing the walls. Dollard threw a keg of burning gunpowder from atop the wall; the bomb struck the palisade and caused many French casualties when it exploded within the fort. Dollard was killed as the Iroquois stormed the fort. There were four French survivors; three were seriously wounded and burned alive in the fort, and the Iroquois later tortured and killed the fourth.

Archibald Lampman's epic poem "At the Long Sault" calls Dollard "Daulac".

Historiography

The deaths of Dollard des Ormeaux and his men were recounted by Catholic nuns and entered into official church history. For over a century, Dollard des Ormeaux became a heroic figure in New France, and then in Quebec, who exemplified selfless personal sacrifice, who had been martyrs for the church, and for the colony. 19th-century historians such as François-Xavier Garneau converted the battle into a religious and nationalistic epic in which zealous Roman Catholics deliberately sacrificed themselves to fend off an attack on New France.

However, there were other versions of the story, even then, that raised questions about Dollard's intentions and actions. For one, many historians now believe that Dollard and his men went up the Ottawa River for other reasons and did not even know of the approaching Iroquois. Nevertheless, Dollard did indeed divert the Iroquois army temporarily from its objective in 1660, thereby allowing the settlers to harvest their crop and escape famine.

Some historians have claimed that all Frenchmen including Dollard were killed in the last valiant explosion of the famous grenade that had not made it over the wall of the fort and landed in the midst of the remaining French. Others claim that some were captured and tortured to death, and in some extreme cases even cannibalized by the Iroquois. Also there are variations as to who relayed the fate of Dollard des Ormeaux, some versions claim it was Huron survivors who delivered the grim news to the French at Ville-Marie, others claim that Catholic nuns recounted the story.

Modern historians have looked beyond the politically charged elements surrounding Dollard des Ormeaux and come up with theories that differ from the traditionally told stories of his life and demise. For instance, some have hypothesized that Dollard's motivation for heading west from Ville Marie may not have been to head off the Iroquois war party. Instead, it was well known at the time that the Iroquois finished their hunting expeditions for furs in the spring, and an enterprising Frenchman with military experience, such as Dollard, may have been tempted to test his mettle by risking the voyage up the Ottawa River.

Some historians have also posited that the Iroquois did not continue to Montreal because it was not representative of Iroquois warfare tactics. Iroquois war parties sought the trophies of battle and taking prisoners. If Dollard des Ormeaux and his party did indeed stave off the Iroquois attack for seven days, their defeat would have satisfied that goal and aspect of Iroquoian warfare.

While skeptical of Dollard's "heroic martyrdom" narrative, historian Mark Bourrie accepts that "the big Iroquois army to the south of the Long Sault was close to Montreal and might have been heading for [it]," in which case the claims of 19th-century historians about the battle's military significance "may be true," and the battle may be thought of as "French Canada's Alamo."

See also

• French and Indian Wars

References

• Francis, R. Douglas; Jones, Richard; Smith, Donald B. (2004). Origins: Canadian History to Confederation (5th ed.). Nelson Education. ISBN 0-17-622434-3.
• Jones, Arthur Edward (1910). "Huron Indians" . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
• Karr, J. William (1970). Explorers, soldiers and statesmen: a history of Canada through biography. Ayer. ISBN 0-8369-1577-1.