m whose clutches the
Canadians tried in vain to save them.[752]

[Footnote 752: _Evenements de la Guerre en Canada,_ 1759, 1760. Compare
_N.Y. Col. Docs.,_ X. 1042.]

NOTE: On the day after he reached "Number Four," Rogers wrote a report
of his expedition to Amherst. This letter is printed in his _Journals_,
in which he gives also a supplementary account, containing further
particulars. The _New Hampshire Gazette, Boston Evening Post,_ and other
newspapers of the time recount the story in detail. Hoyt (_Indian Wars,_
302) repeats it, with a few additions drawn from the recollections of
survivors, long after. There is another account, very short and
unsatisfactory, by Thompson Maxwell, who says that he was of the party,
which is doubtful. Mante (223) gives horrible details of the sufferings
of the rangers. An old chief of the St. Francis Indians, said to be one
of those who pursued Rogers after the town was burned, many years ago
told Mr. Jesse Pennoyer, a government land surveyor, that Rogers laid an
ambush for the pursuers, and defeated them with great loss. This, the
story says, took place near the present town of Sherbrooke; and minute
details are given, with high praise of the skill and conduct of the
famous partisan. If such an incident really took place, it is scarcely
possible that Rogers would not have made some mention of it. On the
other hand, it is equally incredible that the Indians would have
invented the tale of their own defeat. I am indebted for Pennoyer's
puzzling narrative to the kindness of R.A. Ramsay, Esq., of Montreal. It
was printed, in 1869, in the _History of the Eastern Townships,_ by
Mrs. C.M. Day. All things considered, it is probably groundless.

Vaudreuil describes the destruction of the village in a letter to the
Minister dated October 26, and says that Rogers had a hundred and fifty
men; that St. Francis was burned to ashes; that the head chief and
others were killed; that he (Vaudreuil), hearing of the march of the
rangers, sent the most active of the Canadians to oppose them, and that
Longueuil sent all the Canadians and Indians he could muster to pursue
them on their retreat; that forty-six rangers were killed, and ten
captured; that he thinks all the rest will starve to death; and,
finally, that the affair is very unfortunate.

I once, when a college student, followed on foot the route of Rogers
from Lake Memphremagog to the Connecticut.

Chapter 27

1759

The Heights o