He
Returned With Father Francis Le Mercier And Other Help.
They set out from
Quebec 7 May, 1656, with a force composed of four nations:
French,
Onondagas, Senecas, and a few Hurons. About fifty men composed the party.
Sieur Dupuys, an officer of the garrison, was appointed commandant of the
proposed settlement at Onondaga. On their arrival they at once proceeded to
erect a fort, or block-house, for their defence.
"While these things were passing at Onondaga, the Hurons on the Isle
Orleans, where they had taken refuge from the Iroquois, no longer deeming
themselves secure, sought an asylum in Quebec, and in a moment of
resentment at having been abandoned by the French, they sent secretly to
propose to the Mohawks to receive them into their canton so as to form only
one people with them. They had no sooner taken this step than they
repented; but the Mohawks took them at their word, and seeing that they
endeavored to withdraw their proposition, resorted to secret measures to
compel them to adhere to it." [Footnote: Ibid., Vol. II. p.278.] The
different families of the Hurons held a council, and "the Attignenonhac or
Cord family resolved to stay with the French; the Arendarrhonon, or Rock,
to go to Onondaga; and the Attignaonanton, or Bear, to join the Mohawks."
[Footnote: Relation Nouvelle France, 1657 and Charlevoix, Shea's ed.,
Vol. II. p 280.] "In 1657 Onondagas had arrived at Montreal to receive the
Hurons and take them to their canton, as agreed upon the year previous."
[Footnote:
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