Lachine massacre

Part of King William's War, Iroquois Wars

Map of Montreal, 1687 to 1723. The Lachine settlement was located southwest of Montreal proper.

Date	August 5, 1689
Location	Lachine, New France; present-day Montreal, Quebec
Result	Mohawk victory

Belligerents

English-allied Mohawk Nation

New France

Strength

1,500 warriors

375, mostly civilians

Casualties and losses

3 Mohawk killed

72 French settlers killed

The Lachine massacre, part of the Beaver Wars, occurred when 1,500 Mohawk warriors attacked by surprise the small, 375-inhabitant, settlement of Lachine, New France, at the lower end of Montreal Island on the morning of August 5, 1689. The attack was precipitated by growing Iroquois dissatisfaction with the increased French incursions into their territory, and was encouraged by the settlers of New England as a way to leverage power against New France during King William's War.

In their attack, the Mohawk destroyed a substantial portion of the Lachine settlement by fire and killed or captured numerous inhabitants, although historic sources have varied widely in estimates of the number killed, from 24 to 250.

The Mohawk and other Iroquois attacked the French and their native allies for a variety of reasons, related to both economic and cultural circumstances.

The Europeans (French, Dutch and English) in the Northeast developed a fur trade with natives, including the Five Nations of the Iroquois; beaver furs were most desired. However, in the 17th century, the dominance of what historian Daniel Richter refers to as “Francophiles” or French takeover, contributed to an erosion of French-native relations. The French mission to assimilate natives required the abandonment of native tradition, which was met with resistance. By 1667, large numbers of Huron and Iroquois, especially Mohawk, started arriving at the St Lawrence Valley and its mission villages, to escape the effects of warfare. Many traditionalists, including some Mohawk, resented the Jesuits for destroying traditional native society but were unable to do anything to stop them. However, traditionalists reluctantly accepted the establishment of a mission in order to have good relations with the French, whom they needed for trade. This cultural invasion increased tensions between the two factions. The relationship between the French and the Iroquois was strained long before the Lachine Massacre, as the French maintained relations with other tribes as well, for both trade and war alliances, such as the Abenaki. In 1679, following the end of the Iroquois war with the Susquehannock and the Mahican, the Iroquois raided native villages in the West. Pushing out Siouan tribes to the west, they claimed hunting grounds in the Ohio Valley by right of conquest. These were kept empty of inhabitants in order to encourage hunting. As a result, the Iroquois regularly raided trading parties in the western frontier which was under French protection, and took loot from them. Following military confrontation in 1684, though the Iroquois negotiated a peace treaty with New France governor Le Febvre de la Barre, the treaty stated the Iroquois were free to attack the western Indians. The French Crown objected to the treaty, and replaced LaBarre with the Marquis de Denonville. He was less sympathetic to native relations, and did not pay attention to the Iroquois-Algonquian tensions. In part, the Iroquois attacked the French because they were not willing to accept constraints against their warfare related to traditional Iroquois enemies.

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Wikipedia