1 68 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



success of his plans. After discussing the matter with many wander- 

 ing bands that traversed Canada from Quebec to Lake Simcoe, he 

 found his .opinion confirmed; the Iroquois were foes to be reckoned 

 with; Huron and Algonquin alike dreaded them and the power of 

 their arms. He therefore conceived the plan of uniting Canadian 

 tribes in a military alliance to be under the direction of the French, 

 with himself as the supreme dictator. Thus it was that, when in 

 1608 a young Ottawa chief implored Champlain to bring his men 

 together and lead the Ottawas and Huron s with their allies down 

 the south trail from Montreal and attack the Maquas in their 

 stronghold, he resolved to make the attempt. In the following 

 year after having waited for the Ottawas to appear, Champlain 

 mustered a chosen troop of musketeers and led a band of Montagnais 

 down the south trail and over the waters of Lac Saint Sacrament 

 which later became known as Lake George. There in the vicinity 

 of Ticonderoga he encountered a squadron of Iroquois canoes. 

 Champlain 's Indians raised the cry of battle, the Iroquois withdrew 

 to the land, and the battle famous in history took place. Iroquois 

 flesh for the first time had been torn by the leaden teeth of the French 

 " thunder poles." Champlain returned a hero in the eyes of his 

 savage horde. With his magic weapons he had forced the Iroquois 

 retreat. Algonquin scalping knives had lifted Iroquois scalps! The 

 fame of this adventure brought great credit to Champlain and the 

 fact that the Iroquois could be defeated when Champlain led the 

 host against them was heralded throughout lower Canada. The 

 Hurons and Algonquins hailed Champlain as a deliverer and both 

 French and Indians believed they saw the vanquishment of the 

 Iroquois in sight. The plan for uniting every enemy of the Five 

 Iroquois Nations was again discussed. 



A thousand warriors promised to follow Champlain in another 

 expedition. By 161 5 both French and Huron, goaded by the 

 revengeful attacks of Iroquois bands, resolved to strike the 

 crushing blow upon the Iroquois by swooping down upon their 

 capital city, killing its inhabitants and devastating its surround- 

 ing fields. By the first of September 161 5, five hundred eager 

 Hurons bedecked for the fray set out for Caihague, the capital 

 town of the Hurons, situated somewhere on Simcoe's shore. Cham- 

 plain had a selected company of arquebusers and every savage had 

 a full supply of clubs, spears and arrows. The great war party that 

 was to humble the Iroquois to the dust and by their deeds make 

 Champlain's name blaze with new magnitude was on its way. 



