The Warpath is Decided Upon

(Source)

Ten Deer looked around at his fellow leaders, "Is it to be war again my friends? Do we help the English in their fight against the French and their Huron and Abenaki dogs? Why should we, the people of the flint¹ go to war? Are our crops not many, our hunting and fishing grounds rich? Why must we fight the white faces' war?"

Lone Elk lifted his hand, the others fell silent as the oldest warrior on the council indicated that he wished to speak. "My brothers, we have traditionally fought against the tribes from across the great Kaniatarakwà:ronte² and the French continue to encroach upon our lands from the north and from the west, with help from their Huron dogs. Of course, our traditional enemies would help the French. But are not the French and English also traditional enemies, much like the Huron and the Haudenosaunee?³ Their fight is now our fight."

A number of the men nodded and murmured their agreement with the old warrior. But one man, Long Canoe, was shaking his head in disagreement. The men ceased their murmuring and looked to him.

"We have spent many years fighting against the Abenaki and the Huron. We sought only to defend that which the Great Spirit gave to the people of the flint and their Haudenosaunee brothers and sisters. But now the white and red soldiers come and kill each other, they kill the peoples of this land, and for what? They mean to take it all, their numbers are as the stars in the sky. We kill many, many more come. I say we stay out of this war. If they come to our lands, then we fight, but we do not go to fight the red soldiers' wars. That is my opinion, but I will bend to the will of the council." Again the men talked quietly among themselves, Long Canoe had spoken the truth. But so had Lone Elk. Neither man was young enough to take to the warpath himself, but had tread that path many times in their youth. They only sought what was best for the people.

Finally Ten Deer, after having listened to the men, said, "I do not like the ways of the men from across the great waters, but the English have always kept their word with us, the men of the north, these French men, they lie to us and they arm our enemies the Huron and the Abenaki. We must follow the path to war with our English friends, for if we do not, war will come to these lands anyway."

Capitaine Jacques Marie Étienne Louis de Montparnasse had been sent by the great Marquis de Montcalm de Saint-Vera himself to seek out and hire such men of the coureurs de bois who would be willing to serve as scouts for the French army in New France and to bring as many of the natives with them to serve as auxiliaries.

The English were actively trading with the peoples of the Ohio country, an area claimed as part of New France. War was coming, blood had already been shed. A force was being gathered to completely eject the English and cow the tribes in the area from further trading with the English.

As the forces of King Louis XV were small in the New World, great reliance would be placed upon the colonial forces such as the Compagnies franches de la marine and other militia. Of the utmost importance was the support of the Iroquois and Abenaki Confederacies.

The Capitaine found himself sitting in an Abenaki longhouse with three of the Abenaki leaders and two of the local coureurs de bois, the Gaudry brothers. "You cannot begin to understand the importance the King places upon his Abenaki subjects in this war against les anglais. Surely you wish to see your Mohawk enemies crushed?"

Little Wolf turned to Alain and Jacques and said, in Abenaki, "Crushed? No. Humbled? Very much so. Do all of your countrymen think that killing is the only way to mend a problem? And since when did we start bowing to this Loo-ee?"

Alain answered, "No my brother, but it is the way of the kings and the nobles who sit in their fine houses. They send the little people to war, while they grow fat from the spoils. They are not like the wolf or the panther who hunts for his meals, no, they are like the carrion birds, feeding off that which someone else worked for."

"But do we help the king of les français, this Loo-ee?" Little Wolf wasn't convinced, he was content with his life here. His woman took good care of him, had given him a son and a daughter, he was loath to leave all that to go down the warpath once more.

Ugly Bear raised a hand, "The king of les français has been good to us. Les anglais keep coming and taking, they have pushed us further and further north. The Mohawk traverse our lands as if the Great Spirit had given them all the Earth. When do we stop running? When we are in the land of the snow people where the sun never shines? We must fight, we have no other choice if we are honest with each other."

Walks Slow nodded at the Frenchman, who was trying hard to contain his impatience, "Look at this man in his fine clothes and fancy hat, will he fight? Or will he stay in the cities and tell others to go fight?"

Alain nodded and addressed the Capitaine, "My sachem wonders if you will take the warpath with your Abenaki brothers, will this Montcalm do so as well? Or will you stay in Montréal and Québec and send others to die for the king in Paris?"

The Capitaine managed to contain his temper, how dare these rustics question his motives, nay, the motives and courage of the Marquis himself. He took a deep breath, then answered, "I will be marching with you. The Marquis will as well, we go into the wilderness to defeat les anglais and drive them from the Ohio forever. But first we must clear them from the area around the lake. For that I will dress as you do, I will eat as you do, I will fight as you do. In this, you have my word." The last came out almost as a snarl, a challenge.

Ugly Bear grinned and said, "I like this français, he snarls like a badger defending a kill. Tell him that we will go to war with him, this Badger With Feathers."

So it was done, so it would be, the brothers Alain, Jacques, and Little Wolf would go to war once more with les anglais, not in the uniforms of the Compagnies nor the uniform of King Louis XV, but as scouts and supports.

That night the Abenaki were pleasantly surprised when the Capitaine joined them in their war dance. It seems he liked his new name, the Badger With Feathers.



¹ The Kanienʼkehá꞉ka became wealthy traders as other nations in their confederacy needed their flint for tool making. Their Algonquian-speaking neighbors (and competitors), the people of Muh-heck Haeek Ing ("food area place"), the Mohicans, referred to the people of Ka-nee-en Ka as Maw Unk Lin, meaning “bear people”. The Dutch heard and wrote this term as Mohawk, and also referred to the Kanienʼkehá꞉ka as Egil or Maqua. (Source)

² The Mohawk name for Lake Champlain.

³ The People of the Longhouse, that is, the Iroquois Confederacy to which the Mohawk belonged.

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