l66 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



O'Callaghan places the scene of Champlain's defeat somewhere 

 along the shores of Canandaigua lake and several historians have 

 taken his opinion as fact, for even Parkman leads us to believe, at 

 least in his earlier editions, that the onslaught was made upon a 

 town of the Senecas. It remained for Gen. John S. Clark of Auburn 

 to identify definitely the Nichols pond as the site of Champlain's 

 battle. His reason seemed so sound to the historian with archeologi- 

 cal experience, that in recent years no one has arisen to controvert 

 it. Earlier, however, General Clark's conclusion was disputed in 

 lengthy articles by O. H. Marshall; but in the end Clark's opinion 

 was sustained. 



The greatest interest in determining the scene of the conflict whose 

 three hundredth anniversary has been celebrated was awakened 

 during the centennial year of 1876. At that time both Marshall 

 and Clark were eagerly scanning French accounts of the journey 

 of Champlain and the military maps preserved in Paris. Hearing 

 of Clark's conclusion, Marshall wrote a masterly article in the 

 virile, fascinating style which so characterized his productions. 

 This article appeared in volume 1, no. 1 of the " Magazine of Ameri- 

 can History " and as its initial article. Throughout the first volume 

 there are replies and counter-replies and even a careful translation 

 of Champlain's journal. 



The years have passed by and these painstaking students of half- 

 obscured pages printed in the quaint type and phraseology of the 

 seventeenth century French, have passed into the great beyond 

 and we today pause to consider the subject that so engrossed their 

 attention. 



The cautious business man as well as the analytic student of 

 human events has a right to inquire as to the justice of devoting any 

 special attention to the story of Champlain's march in the wilderness 

 at the head of the half thousand revengeful, disorderly savages and 

 their defeat in this sequestered hilltop region of the present Madison 

 county. What are the facts of the case and of what special signifi- 

 cance it is, are natural inquiries. 



Our subject leads us back to the time in the history of our continent 

 when the French were the dominant European power. For, long 

 before the days of Jamestown or Plymouth, Jacques Cartier had 

 penetrated the St Lawrence and found the Huron village of Hochelaga. 

 And from that time onward the hardy Briton and Norman fishermen 

 had brought back tales of mystery and adventure from the fishing 

 banks and coasts of the new world. These stories without doubt 



