long siege, Madame La Tour was sailâing home from France aboard a chartered ship commanded by one Captain Bayley, whom she had commissioned to see her safely back to Fort La Tour. However, when DâAulnayâs blockade ships headed Bayley off, he locked Madame La Tour in the hold of his ship and swore that it was nothing more than a law-abiding trading ship bound for Boston Harbor. To prove this, he turned his vessel around and headed straight for Boston, where Madame La Tour disembarked and promptly sued the captain for violating his charter. She was awarded two thousand pounds in compensation and used the money to charter three sturdily built New England vessels to brave DâAulnayâs blockade, while carrying supplies and arms to the besieged Fort La Tour.
Once there, Madame La Tour advised her husband to sail to Boston and declare himself to be a good upstanding protestant.
âAsk for a minister to preach the word of God to the men at Fort La Tour,â Madame La Tour told him. âAnd promise that if the Bostonians will help us conquer DâAulnay and rule Acadia then we will share our conquests with them.â
Charles La Tour eagerly took his wifeâs advice and sailed out of Saint John Harbour in April 1645. No sooner had he gone than Madame La Tour started an argument with the friars of the fort, no doubt hoping to clear the way for the expected protestant minister and his accompanying reinforcements. The friars were indignant with her show of anger and set out for Port Royal, taking eight sturdy soldiers with them. The soldiers in question were far too Catholic to remain long in a fort where friars were unwanted.
The friars and troops were made welcome at Port Royal and DâAulnay plied them with smooth talk, good wine and food, before asking many probing questions that finally brought to light the important fact that Charles La Tour had left the fort under the protection of his wife and forty-five troops. Not much of a number to withstand a concentrated siege.
DâAulnay rallied every man he could in Port Royal, sailing them across the Bay of Fundy and erecting a hasty fortification on the west side of Saint John Harbour. He set up his cannons and in the process captured a small vessel bearing an important message for Madame La Tour. It read that her husband Charles had been delayed and was not returning to the fort for another month.
This was all the news that DâAulnay needed to hear. The fort was his, as far as he could see. He ordered Madame La Tour to surrender the fort, but she ran up a red flag of defiance that some say was sewn out of a worn red petticoat. Whether commanding a troupe of actors or a troop of soldiers, Madame La Tour was more than ready for the task. Her troops hurled insults and cannonâades from behind the walls of Fort La Tour, defying DâAulnayâs attempts to overrun the fort. For three days, they maintained their resistance in spite of DâAulnayâs superior numbers.
But on the fourth day, a guard turned traitor and allowed DâAulnayâs forces access to the fort. DâAulnay took the fort in a day, promising that the forty-five defenders would be spared if they laid down their arms. Yet DâAulnay proved to be treacherous with his word.
He made Madame La Tour watch as the turncoat guard was forced to hoist and hang each of his fellow defenders at the end of a rope. One by one, her brave soldiers swung and dangled under the New Brunswick sun. DâAulnay decorated the walls of the fort with corpses of hanged men as Madame La Tour stood by helpâlessly, her hands tied and a noose draped about her own neck. The crows gathered for a feast and a feed âsome say that the crows that live in Saint John today still wait hopefully for a similar mass hanging.
Madame La Tour was allowed to walk freely in the captured fort; however, when DâAulnay caught her in an attempt to send a message through friendly
Once there, Madame La Tour advised her husband to sail to Boston and declare himself to be a good upstanding protestant.
âAsk for a minister to preach the word of God to the men at Fort La Tour,â Madame La Tour told him. âAnd promise that if the Bostonians will help us conquer DâAulnay and rule Acadia then we will share our conquests with them.â
Charles La Tour eagerly took his wifeâs advice and sailed out of Saint John Harbour in April 1645. No sooner had he gone than Madame La Tour started an argument with the friars of the fort, no doubt hoping to clear the way for the expected protestant minister and his accompanying reinforcements. The friars were indignant with her show of anger and set out for Port Royal, taking eight sturdy soldiers with them. The soldiers in question were far too Catholic to remain long in a fort where friars were unwanted.
The friars and troops were made welcome at Port Royal and DâAulnay plied them with smooth talk, good wine and food, before asking many probing questions that finally brought to light the important fact that Charles La Tour had left the fort under the protection of his wife and forty-five troops. Not much of a number to withstand a concentrated siege.
DâAulnay rallied every man he could in Port Royal, sailing them across the Bay of Fundy and erecting a hasty fortification on the west side of Saint John Harbour. He set up his cannons and in the process captured a small vessel bearing an important message for Madame La Tour. It read that her husband Charles had been delayed and was not returning to the fort for another month.
This was all the news that DâAulnay needed to hear. The fort was his, as far as he could see. He ordered Madame La Tour to surrender the fort, but she ran up a red flag of defiance that some say was sewn out of a worn red petticoat. Whether commanding a troupe of actors or a troop of soldiers, Madame La Tour was more than ready for the task. Her troops hurled insults and cannonâades from behind the walls of Fort La Tour, defying DâAulnayâs attempts to overrun the fort. For three days, they maintained their resistance in spite of DâAulnayâs superior numbers.
But on the fourth day, a guard turned traitor and allowed DâAulnayâs forces access to the fort. DâAulnay took the fort in a day, promising that the forty-five defenders would be spared if they laid down their arms. Yet DâAulnay proved to be treacherous with his word.
He made Madame La Tour watch as the turncoat guard was forced to hoist and hang each of his fellow defenders at the end of a rope. One by one, her brave soldiers swung and dangled under the New Brunswick sun. DâAulnay decorated the walls of the fort with corpses of hanged men as Madame La Tour stood by helpâlessly, her hands tied and a noose draped about her own neck. The crows gathered for a feast and a feed âsome say that the crows that live in Saint John today still wait hopefully for a similar mass hanging.
Madame La Tour was allowed to walk freely in the captured fort; however, when DâAulnay caught her in an attempt to send a message through friendly
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