OCTOBER 11, 1615

CHAMPLAIN & HURONS AMBUSHED BY IROQUOIS AT LAKE ONANDAGA

In early 1615, Samuel de Champlain agreed to assist the Wendat and Anishinaabe nations against the Onondaga and Oneida nations who threatened fur trade routes along the upper St. Lawrence and Ottawa rivers.  Champlain and his Wendat companions departed Cahiagué on September 1 and were joined by their Anishinaabe allies near present-day Orillia.  At the Oneida River, they encountered a fortified Onondaga town.  Champlain and allies built a wooden platform from which they fired into the fort.  They also attempted to set fire to its exterior walls.  Their efforts failed.  Ambushed by Onandagas, two key Wendat chiefs were wounded and Champlain suffered arrow wounds to his leg.  This also may have been the first time the French used firearms.  As their Susquehannocks allies arrived too late, Champlain and allies withdrew back to Huronia where he spent the winter of 1615-16.  Champlain departed Huronia in May and arrived back at Quebec in July 1616.  He never returned to Ontario.

Source: “Champlain and Huronia, 1615,” Ontario Heritage Trust. Retrieved 7/16/2019, https://www.heritagetrust.on.ca/en/pages/our-stories/exhibits/samuel-de-champlain/history/champlain-and-huronia-1615
Print:  Samuel de Champlain, 1/1/1613.  Public Domain in the US:  Pre-1/1/1925.  Public Domain elsewhere where copyright term is author’s life plus 100 years or less.