UNIVERSAL FEAR OF IROQUOIS IN THE COLONY--THE GARRISON OFFICERS AT MONTREAL--ADAM DOLLARD, SIEUR DES ORMEAUX--THE PERMISSION FROM THE GOVERNOR TO LEAD AN ATTACK UP COUNTRY--HIS COMPANIONS--PREPARATIONS--WILLS AND THE SACRAMENTS--THE FLOTILLA OF CANOES--THE LONG SAULT REACHED--THE DILAPIDATED IROQUOIS WAR CAMP--ANONTAHA AND MITIWEMEG--THE AMBUSH AND ATTACK--THE RETREAT TO THE STOCKADE--THE SIEGE--THIRST--THE ALGONQUINS DESERT--FIVE HUNDRED IROQUOIS ALLIES ARRIVE--THE TERRIBLE ATTACK AND RESISTANCE--A GLORIOUS DEFEAT--RADISSON'S ACCOUNT--THE INVENTORY OF DOLLARD--UNPAID BILLS--THE NAMES OF THE "COMPANIONS"--NEW FRANCE SAVED--A CONVOY OF BEAVER SKINS REACHES MONTREAL--A REINFORCEMENT OF TROOPS FROM FRANCE ASKED FOR TO WIPE OUT THE IROQUOIS.
Ever since the flight to Montreal of the French from Onondaga under Dupuis on April 3, 1658, there had been constant fear of a concerted attempt by the Five Nations to exterminate, by fire and slaughter, the whole French population. In 1659 a Huron refugee to Quebec brought the news of the preparation of a great allied army for this fell purpose. This was confirmed at Quebec in the spring of 1660 by an Iroquois captive ally; that 800 Iroquois had assembled at Roche Fondue, near Montreal, to be joined by 400 more who were even then pouring down upon Quebec by way of Montreal and Three Rivers. Believing that Montreal and Three Rivers were besieged, Quebec was in the throes of alarm. The outlying houses were abandoned. Most of the settlers were either concentrated in the fort or in the Jesuit house, while the Ursulines and Hospitalières and others were in Upper Town; the rest barricaded themselves with many guards in the Lower Town. The monasteries, denuded of their occupants, were also guarded, and the cries of "qui vive?" of the patrol, each night warned the Iroquois lurking around that all were on the alert, and restrained any attempt to set fire to the houses.
That the enemy never came, is due to the heroic venturesomeness of a band of young Montrealers who had meanwhile bearded the lion in his den, and diverted the attack from the French, thus saving New France.
The garrison of Montreal had thought long of how to meet the threatened invasion, till at last the daring plan of a young officer of twenty-five years of age, Adam Dollard, was accepted. In the spring of 1660 the officers were now, besides the governor, Major Raphael Lambert Closse, M. Zacharie Dupuis, Pierre Picoté de Bélestre and the young Adam Dollard, Sieur des Ormeaux. Major Lambert Closse had been married on July 24, 1657, and he was now no longer living in the fort, for he had been given by the Associates, in recognition of his bravery and his merits, his own lands, the first fief granted in Montreal, a hundred arpents, "à simple hommage et sans justice." He had now received letters of nobility, for whereas before he has simply been styled sergeant major of the garrison, in his marriage contract he is named "écuyer" (esquire), on December 9th after the arrival of Maisonneuve and that of the Sulpicians, he is called "noble homme, écuyer." We have already mentioned that he was the commandant of the Island of Montreal. On leaving the fort Lambert Closse still retained his office of major, but he was replaced at the fort by M. Zacharie du Puis, the same who had been received coldly at Quebec after the retreat under him from Onondaga, but whose services were welcomed and esteemed at Montreal by the governor, de Maisonneuve, who named him assistant major; and he is also spoken of as "commandant of the Island of Montreal," a title found ascribed also to Lambert Closse. Then we may class Charles Le Moyne, the official interpreter and storekeeper, as in some way an officer. Among the late arrivals two others had been at least adjoined to the military staff. One of these was Picoté de Bélestre, a doctor as well as a fighting man, and he proved of valuable assistance to the settlement. Dollier de Casson says of him that "he adorned this place, as well in war as in peace, on account of the advantageous qualities he possessed for one and the other." He is spoken of sometimes as a "commandant," sometimes as an officer of the garrison.