Each Square Inch Of Land, In Fact, Was Measured By The
Footsteps Of Some Of The Most Remarkable Men In The History Of America:
Jacques Cartier, Champlain, Frontenac, Laval, Phipps, D'Iberville, Wolfe,
Montcalm, Arnold, Montgomery, Have Each Of Them, At Some Time Or Other,
Trod Over This Expanse.
"Close by, in St. Michael's Cove, M. de Maisonneuve and Mademoiselle Mance
passed their first Canadian winter, with the colonists intended to found
Montreal.
Turn your eyes towards the west, and although the panorama is
less extensive, still it awakens some glorious memories. At Cap Rouge,
Jacques Cartier established his quarters, close to the river's edge, the
second winter he spent in Canada, and was succeeded in that spot by
Roberval, at the head of his ephemeral colony. Near the entrance of the
Chaudiere river stood the tents of the Abnoquiois, the Etchemins and the
Souriquois Indians, when they came from the shores of New England to smoke
the calumet of peace with their brethren the French; the river Chaudiere
in those days was the highway which connected their country with Canada.
Closer to Pointe a Puiseaux is Sillery Cove where the Jesuit Fathers were
wont to assemble and instruct the Algonquin and Montagnais Indians, who
were desirous of becoming Christians. It was from that spot that the
neophytes used to carry the faith to the depths of the forest; it was here
that those early apostles of Christianity congregated before starting with
the joyous message for the country of the Hurons, for the shores of the
Mississippi, or for the frozen regions of Hudson's Bay. From thence went
Father P. Druilletes, the bearer of words of peace on behalf of the
Christians of Sillery, to the Abnoquiois of Kennebeki, and to the puritans
of Boston. Near this same mission of Sillery, Friar Liegeois was massacred
by the Iroquois, whilst Father Poncet was carried away a captive by these
barbarous tribes.
"Monsieur de Sillery devoted large sums to erect the necessary edifices
for the mission, such as a chapel, a missionary residence, an hospital, a
fort, houses for the new converts, together with the habitations for the
French. The D'Auteuil family had their country seat on the hill back of
Pointe a Puiseaux; and the venerable Madame de Monceau, the mother-in-law
of the Attorney-General Ruette D'Auteuil, was in the habit of residing
there from time to time, in a house she had constructed near the chapel."
In 1643, Father Bressani having been taken prisoner by the Iroquois, and
having heard them discuss a plan to seize on the white maidens of Sillery
(such were the names the Nuns went by); wrote it on some bark, which a
Huron Indian having found, took it to Governor Montmagny. The Governor
then organized a guard of six soldiers, who each day relieved one another
at Sillery, to watch over the village - the incursions of the savages
increasing, the soldiers refused to remain any longer, and Governor
Montmagny gave the Hospitalieres the use of a small house on the beach of
the river in the lower town.
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