THE BATTLE OF THE LONG SAULT

Description

                        THE BATTLE OF THE LONG SAULT                               

                                                                             

Note:  The title of the book has been changed  to 

BARRICADE- Dollard des Ormeaux and the Battle of the Long Sault

Historical fiction: 65,000 words.   August  4, 2015.

          This factually-based story takes place during the French-Indian Wars in 1660 around Montreal.

            In 1660, the Iroquois incessantly threaten New France by ambushing Huron and Algonquin hunting parties on the Ottawa River, killing the defenseless hunters as they negotiate the rapids, and stealing furs destined for Montreal. In three years, only nine canoes of furs have reached the fort. The town, almost abandoned by France, is in danger of destruction.

        In Barricade: Dollard des Ormeaux and the Battle of the long Sault, a young, ambitious Montreal garrison commander, Adam Dollard des Ormeaux, deplores the French strategy of never combating the Iroquois in the forest because of earlier disastrous encounters.

        He wants to ambush the Iroquois, simultaneously ensuring safe conduct on the river, gaining Montreal income, and announcing a new war policy to the enemy. A beleaguered Governor Maisonneuve, fearful, but anxious to preserve his imperiled mission, reluctantly agrees.

        Dollard and sixty French, Huron and Algonquin allies go up the Ottawa River, station themselves at the Long Sault rapids, and prepare to lie in wait. However, before they can do so, two Iroquois war canoes come cresting over the rapids.

         Their initial ambush of the war canoes is crushingly successful but one Iroquois brave escapes and minutes later 200 Iroquois charge over the rapids in large war canoes.

        The opponents reinforce meager forts on the riverbank. A stand-off has the Iroquois taking the brunt of the losses but they send for help. Five hundred tribesmen have been mustering on the Richelieu River to join this group for a massive attack designed to wipe out Montreal and Quebec.

       The French know nothing of it. Two days later, the reinforcements arrive. The French and their allies are now in a maelstrom.

        Hunger, thirst and fatigue take their toll; desperate Hurons defect. The Iroquois odds increase to 20-1. Dollard is out of food, nearly out of ammunition, and can't reach the river water. The Huron chief, Annahotaha, advises Dollard to negotiate a settlement, but some Frenchmen, fearful and suspicious, shoot Iroquois emissaries during peace talks. The battle gets worse.

      Barricade: Dollard des Ormeaux and there Battle of the long Sault is a frontier adventure story, an "Eastern"  Western, if you like. It is a picture of the clash of economies, cultures, and peoples in the New World. The French want to extend their territory and grow economically; the Iroquois fight desperately to regain a life that it being stripped from them; the Huron, remembering the disaster of Huronia, where most of their people were killed, fight for their very existence.

      As in Rashomon, all points of view---those of the Iroquois, the French, and the Huron and Algonquin -- are presented.

     Think of the film, 300, the battle of Thermopylae, orThe Alamo as a descriptor of the basic storyline: a small band of men engaged in battle with an overwhelmingly powerful opponent.