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• CA PT 1 VES 1 N CANADA, 1744-1763 A thesis submitted to the Pacul ty of Craduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the regulations for the degree of Masters of the Arts COLLEEN GRAY DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY MCGI LL UNIVERS ITV, MONTREAL JUNE, 1993 o Colleen Gray, 1993 • • Captives in Canada, 1744-1763 • 7 • Abstract The captivity narratives have long been recognized as an important literary source. Most recently, scholars have viewed them in terms of their ~thnographic value. Few, however, have considered them vithin the context of the history of New France. This study attampts to drav atten~ion to the richness and diversity of these documents. The chapters, bullt upon the basis of similarities among the narratives, explore different facets of the French colony during the year~ 1744- 1763. Specifically, they discuss techniques of military interrogation, the Québec prison for captives (1745-1747), French-Indian relations and how the vriters of these tales viewed both the var and their enemies. Résumé L'importance des récits de captivité comme genre littéraire est. depuis longtemps reconnue. Plus récemment, les chercheur~ ont exploité ces documents pour leur valeur ethnographique mais, plus rarement, pour leur contribution à l'histoire de la Nouvelle-France. La thèse a pour but d'attirer l'attention sur la richesse et la diversité des informations contenues dans ces récits. En s'appuyant sur la convergence des observations d'un texte à l'autre, elle explore différentes facettes de la colonie française entre 1744 et 1763: les techniques des interrogatoires militaires, la vie dans la prison de Québec (174'-1747) et les relations entre Français et Amérindiens. Le dernier chapitre examine la perception de la guerre et de l'ennemi qui sous-tend les récits . • i i • TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract/Résumé i List of Figures iii Introduction 1 Chapter One - Captive or Friend? , The "Kindness" of the French, 6 Military Interrogation, 12 Captive or Friend?, 16 Chapter Two - The Ouébec Prison, 17~'-1747 18 Chapter Three - The French and the Indian 44 William Pote's Journal, ~7 French-Huron Relations, ~9 Acadian-Huron Relations, '5 The Meaning of the Pote Journal, '9 The Faithful Narrative of Robert Eastburn, 61 French-Iroquois Relations, 62 The Meaning of the Faithful Narrative, 66 Pote and Eastburn, 68 Chapter Four - The Many Faces of 71 Providence Total Providentialism, 7~ Nehemiah Ho., 78 The Reverend Mr. John Norton, 83 The Many Faces of Providence, 86 Conclusion 89 Notes 93 Bibliography 122 • i i i • LIST OF F ICURES 1.1 The Journey of the Reverend Mr. John 8 Norton 2. 1 The Ouébec Pr i son 20 2.2 Profile and Elevation of the Royal 21 Redoubt, by Boisberthelot de Beaucours 2.3 Location of the Royal Redoubt 22 2 • I~ The Stove at the Prison in Ouébec 28 3. 1 The Journey of Captai n li 1 1 iam Pote 48 3.2 The Journey of Robert Eastburn 63 4. 1 Title Page from The Narrative of 75 Nehemiah How 4..2 Title Page from The Redeemed Captive 76 4.3 The Journey of Nehemiah How 79 • • Introduct ion J was initially drawn into an examination of the New England captivity narratives by James Axtell's fine book, The Invasion "ithin. 1 ln particular, his depiction of the many New Eng 1and capt i ve S who, th roughou t the seventeen th and eighteenth centuries, renounced religion, language and culture and settled into the society of New France, seemed to offer a fascinating prospect and inspired me to examine the original narratives. As 1 began to read these documents, however, 1 was struck, as a student of New France, by how many of the narratives, particularly those covering the period 17",4-1763, during the "ar of the Austrian Succession and the Seven Years' \far, focused upon the French colonies in North America. Gradually, the intriguing question of why these New Eng 1an de r s remai ned in New France receded in to the background and the central concern of my pro;ect became: what do the captivity narratives of the period 17",4-1763 reveal to the hi storian about New France? 3. M. Bumstead's article, "'Carried to Canada': Perceptions of the French in British Colonial Captivity Na rra t ive s, 16 90- 1 760" , a ais 0 as k e d t h i s que s t ion. Us i n g these documents, he examined the evolution of the French treatment of their captives from the earliest narratives in the seventeenth century to the Bri t i sh Conquest of Canada. Although Bumstead' s str ict focus upon the New France dimension of the captivity narratives was unique, his use of the documents as primary historlcal sources was part of a larger trend, throughout the 1980s, among many historians. Most worthy of mention in thi s regard are James Axtell 's innovative ethnohistorical studies, The European and the lodian, in particular, his chapter "The 'hite Indians of North America,1I as weil as The Invasion lithin. Both works made liberal use of the narratives, as weil as other • sources, to examine the development of New Bngland and -----------------------------~~ ---- native relations throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth • centuries. 3 Encou raged by such we Il-es tab 1 i shed precedent s, my ta sk appeared initially qui te simple. However, as 1 examined the narratives more closely, 1 began to real Ize that the documents 1 had chosen to utilize appeared in a variety of perplexing and diverse forms which could cali into qu~stion their use as reliable and authentlc primary sources. For example, rnany of the narratives were wrltten in the first person and publ ished immediately after the individuals' particular captivity (category A), often during or after either the lar of the Austrian Succession or the Seven Years' Vlar." Sorne historians have suggested that these particular narratives were published for purposes of war propaganda. 5 Other accounts, diaries written during the period 1744-1763 (category B), discovered and published ln the tate nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, are 50 few that, at first sight, appear to offer a scanty indication of an unedited captivity experience. 6 Many other first person accounts, which were written or dictated by former captives and published long after their captivity experience (category Cl, could have been sub;ect not only to editorial Interference, but also to the vagaries of the former captives' memory.7 And, the fourth category (D), third person accounts of captivities, which were collected and published after 1763 from oral or written sources, posed the possibility that not only could the editor of these collections have imposed his\her bias of a different historical time on the captives' story, but also many of these tales could have, over time, changed in passing from one generation to the next.& Faced with these initial complexities, it appeared that this thesis would, indeed, merely become a justification of the use of these documents as primary historical sources • • However, passing over these narratives, reading and 3 rereadlng them, 1 began to dlscover simllar elements, not • only among the narratives 1 had placed in the same category, but a1so among many of the other narratives regardless of time of publication or the person who .rote, dictated or collected them. A common plcture slo.ly began to emerge - a consistent Impression of certain aspects of the captivity experienee in New France throughout the period 1744-1763. These striking similarities led me to believe that no matter how much the narratives May have been tampered with, were subJect to the vagaries of human memory or oral transmission, one could extract from many of these documents a consistent view of certain aspects of New France. It was on the basis of similarities within the narratives that the chapters of th!s thesis were built. Chapter one approaehes the problem of the kind treatment the Prench appeared to bestow upon many of their captives and, with specifie refer~nee to the narrative of the Reverend Mr. John Norton, places it within the wider context of French military interrogation tactics in colonial North America. Chapter t_o takes advantage of the unique existence of four simultaneous aecounts of the Québec prison for captives (1744-1747) - William Pote, the Reverend Mr. John Norton, Nehemiah How and the Unknown Captive. On the basis of these documents, the chapter attempts to reconstruct varlous tacets of the social history of this little-known prison during the War of the Austrian Succession. Chapter three moves on to address the captives' perceptions of the Freneh-Indian relationship. With a specifie focus on William Pote's Journal and Robert Eastburn's tale, It examines these perceptions not only in the light of contemporary historieal knowledge, but also within the context of the stereotypieal caricature of the French-Indian relationship predominant in eighteenth-century colonial Ameriean publications. And, finally, chapter four discusses the religious quality of • these narratives and explores the rel iglous mentality of 4 Nehemiah How and the Reverend Mr. John Norton, how it shaped • their views, not only of the War of the Austrlan Succession, but also their perception of the French as enemies and captors.~ 1 would like to thank a few indivlduals who gUlded and helped me vith this thesis. Primarily, 1 would like to express mi gratitude ta Prof. Louise Dechêne for offerlng so generously of her rare gift of encouraging creatlvlty, combined with her subtle abillty to lead the wayward traveller of the imaglnation back onto the approprlate academic track. Her advice in cautionlng me, as a flrst-tlme student of primary sources, in the use of these documents vas invaluable, as was her example of high standards and a rigourous approach to history.
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