Original - North Central Michigan College Library

SUejeanfcerslaughter which was raging I observed manyof the Canadian inhabitants of the fort calmlylooking on, neither opposing the Indians, norsuffering injury; and from this circumstance Iconceived a hope of finding security in theirhouses.Between the yard door of my own house andthat of M. Langlade, my next neighbor, 5151This was Charles Langlade, one of the most remarkablemen in the history of the Northwest. Bornat Mackinac in 1729 of a French father and a nativemother, he was bred to war from childhood, and is saidto have participated in ninety-nine battles and skirmishes.In 1752 Langlade led a band of northwesternIndians in the descent upon the English at Pickawillanyand there struck what was virtually the first blow inthe Seven Years' War. Three years later he led hisnorthern tribesmen to the overthrow of General Braddock'sarmy, and there is strong reason for thinkingthat it was Langlade who planned this affair. At thesiege of Quebec in 1759, his quick eye caught the Englisharmy in a position where an attack would haveproved fatal to it, and he begged his French superiorsfor the men necessary to make it. But Langlade was amilitiaman and a halfbreed, and the regular officersgave no heed to his appeal; the opportunity passedunutilized; Wolfe took the city, and New France becamea memory. When Montreal surrendered to GeneralAmherst in September; 1760, Beaujeau, at Mackinac,departed for the Illinois in advance of the comingof the English troops, leaving Langlade in charge, withsuch authority as he might be able to wield, and he itwas who turned the place over to Captain Balfour ayear later. He seems loyally to have accepted the consequencesof French defeat, and for the remainder ofhis active career was a partisan of Great Britain. Afterthe massacre of 1763, Captain Etherington authorized80