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CANADA - POTIER DE POMMEROY (René-Gédéon).
See original version (French)
CANADA - POTIER DE POMMEROY (René-Gédéon).
See original version (French)
Lot no. 28
CANADA - POTIER DE POMMEROY (René-Gédéon).
Memoirs of the services of René Gédéon Potier de Pommeroy.
Autograph manuscript signed, circa 1814-1815, 3 pp. in-folio, in sheets.
This precious manuscript is a rare record of French military history in New France and New England (1742-1760).
René-Gédéon Potier de Pommeroy (1730-1822), an Acadian officer and colonist from a line of French soldiers who had served in New France, was one of the key figures in the Franco-English colonial wars in North America. Born at Fort Frontenac, he distinguished himself from the 1740s onwards in the conflicts of the War of the Austrian Succession, notably during the attacks on Forts Saratoga and Lydius (New York) and the expeditions against the Mohawks allied with the English near Montreal.
During the Seven Years' War, he continued his involvement in Acadia, where he served on Île Royale and Île Saint-Jean (now Cape Breton Island and Prince Edward Island). Wounded in 1755 during the French attempt to break the siege of Fort Beauséjour, he took part two years later in the assault on Fort George (Lac Saint-Sacrement), carrying out a dangerous mission by crossing enemy lines alone to transport dispatches.
Taken prisoner in England after the fall of Île Saint-Jean in 1758, he was repatriated to Canada in 1760 with reinforcements from Captain d'Angeac. Although the squadron won a few victories near Gaspé, it was finally defeated on the Restigouche River. Refusing to swear an oath to the English, Pommeroy lost his property and had to leave New France. He ended his military career in French Guiana, where he commanded a fort before retiring in 1768 with the rank of captain, decorated with the Cross of Saint-Louis in 1771.
In this manuscript, he recounts the main events of his military life in Canada and New England from 1742 to 1760, sometimes mentioning the Iroquois auxiliaries, Mohawks on the English side or 'domiciled' Iroquois on the French side. He had drawn up a first memoir of the same content, with variations in detail, around 1768 to request a retirement pension from the Minister of War. Here he provides a draft of a new version to request the Ministry's assistance once again.
Here are a few extracts:
- 1747 June 2. Served in Canada in a detachment of 1,500 troops and Canadians commanded by Monsieur Rigaud de Vaudreuil (François-Pierre de Rigaud de Vaudreuil, grandson of a Governor General of New France and son of a future Governor General of New France), Governor of Trois-Rivières, as aide-de-camp, by order of M. the marquis de La Galissonnière, governor general of Canadas; I am in a detachment commanded by Mr de St-Luc de La Corne, lieutenant, and we defeated an English troop of 300 men within cannon range of Sarastot fort in New England (one of the Indian forms of Saratoga, north of Albany, in what is now the State of New York in the United States), taking 45 prisoners. The savages made several hairs, & c.
- 1748 April 16. Served by order of the Marquis de La Galissonnière under the orders of M. de Fontenelle de Langie, also a cadet at the eguillet[te], with a party of 90 savages, whom we raised singing war -to the village[s] of the Hiroquoi[s] at Saux-St-Louis (On the right bank of the St. Lawrence, at the level of the rapids along the island of Montreal), we reached a village of Quindrouk in New England (Kinderhook, south of Albany, in the present state of New York), after 45 days of marching; We took only one prisoner.
- 1748] July 17th. Served under the orders of Mr de Baubassin, lieutenant, by order of M de La Galissonnière; we went with the savages to Casquecouk in New England (Fort Massachussets, held by the English on the Hoosac river, called Kaskekouke river by the French, near Bennington in the present State of Massachussets), after a month of marches in the mountains, we struck without being able to take a prisoner in spite of the savages' relentlessness. Being under the cannon of the fort, we had 5 savages wounded, one killed, we put 15 men [h]or[s] of combat who returned to the fort with wounded".
He also mentions his father, who was killed and scalped by the Indians: "Guilaume Potier de Pommeroy, sub-lieutenant of the troops in Canadas, garrisoned at... Fort Front[e]nac [on Lake Ontario]..., in 1731, in the month of May, [received] orders... with a sergeant and two riflemen to embark in a birchbark canoe to prevent fraudulent trade with the savages, he was encountered by a canoe of savages, enemies, who mas[s]acrère[nt] him and the detachment...".
Margins a little dusty.
See original version (French)
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