THE NEW COLONY OF CHRISTIAN INDIANS ON THE ST. LAWRENCE.--THE
"GREAT MOHAWK" GOES TO CANADA.
Tekakwitha was quite old enough to have decided opinions of her own on
whatever concerned her individual life. She had also proved in her
recent struggle that she possessed sufficient strength of will to act
upon her convictions. Some of these convictions she had never yet
mentioned to any one, but she had for some time fully made up her mind
to take a decided step. She was only waiting a favorable opportunity to
declare her determination to become a Christian. She felt that this
would not be an easy thing to do; for besides her strong propensity to
shrink as much as possible from all observation, she saw that her uncle
was becoming every day more bitter in his opposition to the teachings of
the blackgowns.
The Feast of the Dead in 1669 was closely followed by a public
renunciation, in the Mohawk country, of Aireskoi, or demon-worship. This
was accompanied by the burning of charms, turtle-shell rattles, and
other badges used by the medicine-men. Similar ceremonies took place
about the same time, among the Onondagas and in other parts of the Long
House of the Five Nations. "Paganism had fallen. Aireskoi was disowned,
and his name is not even known in our days among the Iroquois. The next
step of the missionaries was to implant Christian truth and Christian
feeling in their hearts."[49] This was another and more difficult task.
Though the Iroquois Indians of the Five Nations have not since
worshipped any other than the Great Spirit or true God, known in the
Mohawk language as Rawenniio; and though the sacrifices to Aireskoi
ceased in the Mohawk Valley after the great Feast of the Dead, in
1669,--practically the life of the Mohawks was still pagan in almost
every other respect. Father Pierron, at Tionnontogen, or Saint Mary's,
and his assistant Father Boniface, who took charge of a small bark
chapel called St. Peter's, which the Indians themselves built at
Caughnawaga Castle, both continued their missionary labors with unabated
zeal, but for some time they had only partial success. In 1670
eighty-four baptisms were recorded. That same year, in June, the great
Onondaga chief, Garacontie, was solemnly baptized at Quebec. It was
hoped that other chiefs of the Iroquois would soon follow his example.
Father Bruyas, who on first coming among the People of the Long House
had been lodged three days in the cabin of Tekakwitha's uncle, came back
from the Oneida country in 1671. He was made superior of the Mohawk
mission in place of Pierron. This missionary, the painter of pictures
and the inventor of games, received orders to return to Canada to take
charge of a new village of Christian Indians which was then being formed
on the south bank of the St. Lawrence. As the latter part of
Tekakwitha's life was closely connected with the growth and development
of this new Christian colony of Indians in Canada, and as we shall have
occasion frequently to allude to it, some further account of it will not
be out of place here. The site first chosen was at La Prairie de la
Madeleine just across a broad swell of the river from Montreal on a
tract of land belonging to the Jesuits and hitherto untenanted. The
Canadians called this Indian settlement St. Francois Xavier _des Pres_;
and a little later, when that same mission was moved up close to the
great Lachine Rapids in the St. Lawrence River, it was known as St.
Francois Xavier _du Sault_, which last is in reality nothing more than
the Indian name of Caughnawaga put into French and still meaning "At the
Rapids." This Christian settlement was started by the temporary sojourn
at La Prairie of several Oneidas and Mohawks, who had been on a visit to
Quebec and Montreal. They were attracted to the spot by Father Raffeix,
who built a little chapel there. It grew by accessions from among the
Five Nations, and was encouraged by the French government, in the hope
of thus gaining useful allies. Indians who came first from curiosity or
for temporary shelter and hospitality afterwards settled there, with
their families and friends. The Jesuit Fathers on their part were much
pleased with the growth of this village, and took occasion to make of it
a distinct settlement of Christian Indians. It soon became a general
rendezvous for their converts from among the different nations and
tribes of Indians, many of whom by residing there were quite withdrawn
from the contagious pagan influences which surrounded them in their own
country. All who went to live at St. Francois Xavier _du Sault_ were
obliged to renounce, with solemn promises, these three things,--first,
the idolatry of dreams; second, the changing of wives, a practice in
vogue at Iroquois feasts; and third, drunkenness. Any one among them
known to have relapsed into any of these practices was expelled at once
from the settlement by the ruling chiefs. These were chosen by the
Indians themselves from among the more fervent Christians. They were
generally men who had ranked high in their own country, and who were
attracted to the Praying Castle, as it was called, either from motives
purely religious or on account of some bereavement or disappointment
experienced in their old homes. Several of these Christian chiefs were
famous characters in the history of the time. Two of them, Kryn and Hot
Ashes, are closely connected with the life of Tekakwitha.
Kryn, the "great Mohawk," has already been mentioned in connection with
the battle of Kinaquariones. His Christian name was Joseph, and his
Indian name Togouiroui. He was also called the conqueror of the
Mohegans. He dwelt with his wife at Caughnawaga on the Mohawk, and they
had "an only daughter whose bright disposition made all in the town love
her." After some difficulty with his wife on account of this child, he
deserted her and went off for a long journey. The mother, it seems, had
been converted by Father Boniface, and had declared herself a Christian
just six months before she was thus deserted. Soon after the departure
of her husband she was severely tried by the death of her daughter. This
little girl had been her only consolation and hope after she was
forsaken by Kryn. Her friends now blamed her for adopting strange
customs, saying it was that which had made her husband leave her and
which had caused the death of her child. In spite of all this, Kryn's
wife became more devoted than ever to her new faith. She was seen going
to the little bark chapel of St. Peter's every night and morning, and
often received the sacraments from the hands of Father Boniface. First
as assistant to Pierron, and now under Bruyas, he still carried on the
mission at Caughnawaga. In course of time he became very successful in
winning the Mohawks of that place to Christianity. Thirty adults were
baptized within a short time. After the morning and evening prayers at
the chapel, a choir of children sang hymns in the Iroquois language; and
every Sunday the primitive Christian love-feast, or ceremony of blessed
bread, took place in the cabin of a pious Mohawk woman.
At Christmas time the little bark chapel at Caughnawaga was aglow with
lights and bedecked with evergreens. All day long the people of the
Turtle village, much changed in mind since the torture and murder of
Isaac Jogues, stole silently in and out of St. Peter's rustic shrine.
The cross, considered uncanny and strange in the days of Goupil, had at
last become a familiar sign among the Turtles in the Mohawk Valley. The
crowd that gathered at the chapel door on Christmas day looked up at it
again and again as they stood out in the snow and the cold December
blast, waiting patiently for an opportunity to enter. There in the
chapel Father Boniface had placed a fair little statue of the infant
Jesus lying in his wretched manger on the straw. This Christmas crib was
a strange and wonderful sight to the simple Indians. Those who had
become Christians told and retold the Bethlehem story in all its details
to the curious people who gathered about the image of the little Christ
child to gaze and wonder. Tekakwitha saw and heard all that was going on
at the chapel, but said nothing; her aunts were there also, and her
adopted sister. Tegonhatsihongo, whose Christian name was Anastasia,
would of course be present on such an occasion, and also the family of
Kryn. The wife of the "great Mohawk," having chosen her part and
received baptism, now maintained her ground with courage. Deserted and
childless, she held firmly to her new-found faith, notwithstanding the
abuse she received from friends and neighbors. "Soon after this storm,"
says good Father Boniface, "God rewarded her fidelity; for in place of
the little girl whom he had taken from her, He gave her back her husband
a Christian."
Kryn, in his wanderings, had by chance strayed into the new village at
La Prairie; there he met Father Fremin, who with Pierron and Bruyas had
formerly been Tekakwitha's guests. Kryn listened to all that Fremin had
to say to him, having known and respected him during his brief stay in
the Mohawk country, when the mission was first begun after De Tracy's
expedition. The "great Mohawk" resolved to become a Christian;
furthermore, he decided that the best way for him to remain a Christian,
and to become a good one, would be to join the new Indian settlement in
the land of the French.[50] He was a natural leader of men, bold and
uncompromising; he had a large following among his own people on the
Mohawk. His next move, therefore, after becoming a Christian, was to
return to his old home to find his forsaken wife, and to announce
publicly the views he had embraced during his absence. The people
gathered with interest and amazement to hear what their old leader had
to say. None dared oppose him when he proclaimed his determination to
leave everything that could draw him back to his old manner of life, and
offered to lead all who would follow him to La Prairie, on the bank of
the St. Lawrence. He gave his friends but brief time to consider his
words and to make hurried preparations for a journey; then, at break of
day, the wild gathering-cry of the "great Mohawk" resounded once more,
as of old, through the streets of Caughnawaga Castle. All knew it well,
for time and time again it had called them out to battle. With a strange
thrill and start of alarm they heard it once more; but only those in the
village who were baptized, both men and women, or who meant soon to
become Christians, rallied about him now; nor even all of these, for in
that case Tekakwitha would have been of the number. A band of thirty or
forty gathered at his call, and with a sad, hurried farewell to their
friends, their homes, and the valley, they turned and followed in the
footsteps of Kryn, who thus led them away into exile. Shea well calls
these Indians "a noble band of pilgrims for religion's sake."
Tekakwitha's adopted sister probably went either with this band or with
those who accompanied Father Boniface to Canada a little later; for soon
after this event we learn that she was living at St. Francois Xavier du
Sault with her husband; that they were both Christians, and that
Anastasia Tegonhatsihongo also dwelt there and in the same cabin with
them. The health of Father Boniface was completely broken down by the
hardships he had undergone among the Mohawks; so he too left
Caughnawaga. He went to Canada in June, 1673, taking many of his
neophytes with him as far as the Sault; he died at Quebec the next year,
surrounded by his old comrades and friends.
The people of Albany and Schenectady, at the time of these migrations,
had too much to do at home to give more than a sidelong glance at what
was occurring at the neighboring Indian castle; otherwise the Dutch and
English settlers of the province would probably have shown some
inclination to resent on the part of the French their efforts to attract
the Mohawks to the vicinity of Montreal, as it was likely to interfere
with their influence among the redmen, and above all with their highly
prized rights in the fur-trade. Some time before this, the Albanians had
succeeded in bringing about a treaty of peace between the Mohegans and
the Mohawks. Thereupon these last had begun to indulge very freely in
the purchase of liquor at Fort Orange; they even carried kegs of it with
them to their fishing-villages. This filled the pockets of the Dutch
settlers, but it also brought on a severe form of illness among the
Mohawks,--a quick and fatal fever,--which gave much occupation to the
blackgowns, especially as the services of the medicine men were at this
time often rejected; thus the influence of the missionaries was still
further increased. Next, there was a disturbance in the government. The
Dutch, taking the English by surprise, in 1673, regained possession of
the province; that very year a large band of the Mohawks left for
Canada. To make matters worse for the interests of the Albanians, a
vessel with supplies for the Indian trade, which they were for a long
while expecting from Holland, did not arrive; this caused them to put a
higher price on the goods they were accustomed to sell to the Mohawks,
many of whom on that account turned to Canada for their purchases.
In 1674, when Tekakwitha was in her eighteenth year, and when Boniface,
after having resigned his charge at Caughnawaga, was slowly dying at
Quebec, the English came once more into power at Albany, and governed
the city thenceforth. During these various changes Tekakwitha's uncle
kept up his connection with his Dutch neighbors, invariably trading at
Albany. He was angered almost beyond endurance at the departure of Kryn
and of Boniface with so many of his townspeople. He joined with those
who bitterly accused Bruyas, their only remaining blackgown, of a plan
to break up the nation. Bruyas protested that he had had nothing at all
to do with the affair, and threw the responsibility of the migration
mainly upon their own chief the "great Mohawk," whose example so many
had followed. He took occasion at the same time to remind those who
remained of their vices, which he said were driving away the noblest of
their tribesmen. He succeeded in pacifying them for a time; but soon
Assendase, an aged and important chief at the capital of the Mohawk
country, delighted the heart of the missionary, and at the same time
rearoused the hostility of the unbelieving Indians, by becoming a
Christian. In 1675 Assendase died at Tionnontogen, to the great grief
of Father Bruyas. About the same time Father James de Lamberville
arrived to take charge of St. Peter's chapel and the mission of
Boniface; it included both the Turtle Castle of Caughnawaga on the
Cayudutta and the adjacent Castle of the Bears called Andagoron. This
castle was no longer on the south side of the river, but since De
Tracy's expedition had been rebuilt on the north bank opposite to its
old site. It was to Father de Lamberville that the niece of the Mohawk
chief spoke out the words that had long lain nearest to her heart.
FOOTNOTES:
[49] Shea's History of the Catholic Missions, chap. xiv. p. 267.
[50] Kryn became strongly attached to his Canadian friends. He sided
with them in the war which broke out some years later between the French
and the English colonies. The massacre at Lachine in 1689 roused the old
warrior who had conquered the Mohegans (in 1669) to aid in avenging his
white allies. On Schenectady, in 1690, fell the bloody act of
retribution. Kryn was there. Later that same year, on a war-party near
Salmon River, he was killed.