nal blow. Thus one year after another saw a war of
skirmishes and minor raids, sufficiently harassing and weakening to
both sides, but with results which were disappointing because
inconclusive. The hero of this border warfare is the Canadian
habitant, whose farm becomes a fort and whose gun is never out of
reach. Nor did the men of the colony display more courage than their
wives and daughters. The heroine of New France is the woman who rears
from twelve to twenty children, works in the fields and cooks by day,
and makes garments and teaches the catechism in the evening. It was a
community which approved of early marriage--a community where boys and
girls assumed their responsibilities very young. Youths of sixteen
shouldered the musket. Madeleine de Vercheres was only fourteen when
she defended her father's fort against the Iroquois with a garrison of
five, which included two boys and a man of eighty (October 1692).

{145}

A detailed chronicle of these raids and counter-raids would be both
long and complicated, but in addition to the incidents which have been
mentioned there remain three which deserve separate comment--Peter
Schuyler's invasion of Canada in 1691, the activities of the Abnakis
against New England, and Frontenac's invasion of the Onondaga country
in 1696.

We have already seen that in 1690 an attempt was made by John Schuyler
to avenge the massacre at Schenectady. The results of this effort were
insignificant, but its purpose was not forgotten; and in 1691 the
Anglo-Dutch of the Hudson attempted once more to make their strength
felt on the banks of the St Lawrence. This time the leader was Peter
Schuyler, whose force included a hundred and twenty English and Dutch,
as against the forty who had attacked Canada in the previous summer.
The number of Indian allies was also larger than on the former
occasion, including both Mohawks and Mohegans. Apart from its superior
numbers and much harder fighting, the second expedition of the English
was similar to the first. Both followed Lake Champlain and the
Richelieu; both reached Laprairie, opposite Montreal; both were {146}
forced to retreat without doing any great damage to their enemies.
There is this notable difference, however, that the French were in a
much better state of preparation than they had been during the previous
summer. The garrison at Laprairie now numbered above seven hundred,
while a flying squadron of more than three hundred st