Bronze edition: 20 | Height: 21″
Huron Chief
One of the Indian leaders and chief of the Hurons who accompanied the French commander Hertel on the February 29th raid on Deerfield in 1704. Along with the Caughnawago Mohawk and the Abenaki, the Hurons of Lorette were strong, dependable allies of the French.
When the Hurons were overwhelmed by waves of Iroquois in 1649, after a series of demoralizing epidemics, this powerful tribe ceased to exist. A remnant fled westward and eventually settled in the Ohio country, calling themselves the Wyandot. Though numerically never very numerous, they were held is such high esteem that they exercised disproportinate influence over many neighboring peoples well into the 18th century. Another remnant of the Hurons fled eastward with the surviving Jesuits to establish the village of Lorette outside Quebec city in the 1650’s. Lorette survives to this day.
“Advance by a rush, then halt; then rush on and halt again. The sound…will seem but the North wind blowing in gusts.”
Thaovenhosen, the tall, impressive chief of the Hurons of Lorette, was clearly an astute military strategist. It was he who devised the successful plan of attack on Deerfield. Just before first light, he advised them, “March not steadily on the English fort lest our footsteps crunching on the crust will awaken the sleeping foe and put him on his guard. Advance by a rush, then halt; then rush on and halt again. The sound in the sleeping Englishman’s ears will seem but the North wind blowing in gusts.”
