He Left
Quebec July 2, 1654, And Returned September 11.
In 1655 Fathers Chaumont
and Dablon were sent to Onondaga, and arrived there November 5, and began
at once to build a chapel.
[Footnote: Charlevoix's Hist. of New France,
Shea's ed., Vol. II. p. 263.]
"Father Dablon, having spent some months in the service of the mission at
Onondaga, was sent back to Montreal, 30 March, 1656, for reinforcements. 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: Charlevoix, Shea's ed., Vol. III. p. 13.] Some Frenchmen and
two Jesuits were to accompany them. One of the former was Radisson, who had
volunteered; and the two Jesuits were Fathers Paul Ragueneau and Joseph
Inbert Duperon. The party started on their journey in July, 1657.
The relation of this, the writer's second voyage, is taken up entirely with
the narrative of their journey to Onondaga, his residence at the mission,
and its abandonment on the night of the 20th of March, 1658. On his way
thither he was present at the massacre of the Hurons by the Iroquois, in
August, 1657. His account of the events of 1657 and 1658, concerning the
mission, will be found to give fuller details than those of Charlevoix,
[Footnote: Ibid., Vol. III. p. 13.] and the Jesuit relations written for
those years by Father Ragueneau. Radisson, in concluding his second
narrative, says: "About the last of March we ended our great and incredible
dangers. About fourteen nights after we went downe to the Three Rivers,
where most of us stayed.
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