At the beginning of February of the following year Mr. de Callieres accepted the direction of Mr. de Frontenac to raise a party of men and come with it to the peninsua formed at the junction of the St. Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers. The Iroquois frequented that area often in the winter, and the Governor General had been informed that they were there in great numbers. Mr. de Callieres had soon assembled three hundred men, mostly French, but with some Indians, and placed it under the the control of Mr. d'Orvilliers. After only a few days on the trail, Mr. d'Ovilliers leg was scalded in an accident and he returned to Montreal, leaving his party under the command of Mr. de Beaucourt, a "reformed" Captain.

This Officer upon arriving at the isle of Toniatha, which is just less than a day's journey this side of Catarocouy, met fifty Tsonnonthouans, who had advanced this far with the intention of preventing our settlers from carrying out their work. He attacked them in their cabins at a particularly bad time, killing twenty-four, capturing sixteen, and rescuing an officer by the name of la Plante, who had been captured three years before. He first feared that he would be killed as an Iroquois because he was clothed as one of them.

That was the end of this expedition. It was discovered from the prisoners that another band of one hundred of the same Iroquois Nation of Tsonnonthouan were hunting close to a place on the Ottawa River called Kettle Falls (le Sault de la Chaudiere); that their intention was to return there as soon as snows melted; that two-hundred Onnontagués, led by one of their bravest chiefs, by the name of Black Kettle (La Chaudiere Noire) would soon join them; and that they intended to spend a fine season there, stopping every Frenchman bound for Michillimakinac, or returning from it.

As they were expecting at any time to see a large convoy of furs from all the country to the North & West, it was considered absolutely necessary to send a goodly escort to the front. Mr. de Callieres could not afford to dismantle his Government, because he had need of all his troops to support those who were occupied with the farm work. It was the deliberate opinion of the Count de Frontenac that the defeat of the fifty Tsonnonthouans at Tonihata had sufficiently disconcerted the Iroquois. The Count had him send S. Michel with forty Canadian Voyageurs to carry his instructions to Michillimakinac, and to give him an escort of three well-armed canoes to the top of Kettle Falls.

Mr. de Callieres carried out the instructions, and the escort led the Canadians to the designated point, having met with only one Iroquois. A few days after S. Michel parted company with the escort, he met what appeared to him to be two Iroquois scouts. Having no doubt that Black Kettle was near, with all of his band, he returned to Montreal. He had barely unloaded there when Mr. de Frontenac arrived from Quebec, and made him take the field again with thirty French and thirty Indians. The General followed that up by sending Tilly de S. Pierre, a Lieutenant, on an alternate route by the River of Liévre, which discharges into the Ottawa River, five leagues below Kettle Falls, with a duplicate of the instructions that S. Michel was carrying for Mr. de Louvigny.

It was good that he took this precaution: S. Michel made it to the same point he had reached on the first trip, finding there two more scouts and at the same time a great number of canoes, with one in the water. Believing it imprudent to expose itself to a too unequal combat, the party returned a second time to Montreal. Three days after their return, sixty Indians bearing furs, and who had travelled by way of the River Liévre, arrived with the news that they had met Mr. de S. Pierre beyond all the dangers. They completed their trading and then demanded an escort to reach a place where they could again take the by-paths.

S. Michel offered to accompany them and they accepted. He was given an escort of thirty Men, under the command of Mr. de Gemeraye, Lieutenant, who had under him the elder Fresniere, son of Sieur Hertel, and another of his brothers, both ensigns. This force, having arrived at the Long Sault on the Great River, where it was necessary to portage (le Portage des Chats), part of the men were occupied raising the canoes, and the rest marched along the shore to cover them. They were fired upon, scattering all of the Indians of this second band, and killing or wounding serveral of the French.

The Iroquois emerged from their ambush, venting their fury on what remained of our people. In the confusion caused by the furious and unexpected attack, those who could gain their canoes tried to turn them about, so that the enemy had an easy time with our people, who had at the same time to defend themselves and fight the swift current. La Gemeraye, both Hertels and S. Michel defended themselves with great bravery, and they appeared to have saved themselves, since the Indians simply gave up on them. It seems that Black Kettle had with him only only a hundred and forty Men, and approximately sixty women and children.

These gentlemen, having lost the best of their soldiers, had no choice but to retreat with as much speed as possible. By misfortune, the canoe in which S. Michel and both Hertels were riding capsized, and all three were captured. La Gemeraye and some of the soldiers were lucky enough to escape and regain Montreal, where they learned that the Chevalier d'Eau had escaped from Manhatten and that the squabbles between the English and Dutch in New York were continuing.

Having failed in his intentions of speaking with the Iroquois, the Count de Frontenac, who had requested Troops from the Court, because his own had not been recruited for a few years, departed from Montreal, where all was quiet, intending to be in Quebec for the arrival of the Vessels from France. On the fifteenth of July, when no one was expecting it, Black Kettle descended on the Isle in the area known as la Chesnaye, capturing three young Indians who were fishing, and fourteen settlers who were drying hay.

As soon as the Chevalier de Callieres had been informed of it, he dispatched against him one hundred soldiers, under the command of Mr. de Plessys-Faber, Capitaine, and followed that with the Chevalier de Vaudreuil, at the head of two-hundred men. The enemy, facing such superior forces, and knowing at the same time that Sieur de Villedonné, a French Officer who had been captured at the same time as Sieur de la Plante, had escaped, vanished into the forest, abandoning his canoes and some baggage. They were not pursued farther, and had time to reach other canoes and so regain the Great River.

Villedonné, upon arriving at Montreal, informed the governor that the Iroquois had cached a large number of furs on the banks of the long Sault. With that information, he recalled all of the troops, forming them into one unit, to which were joined twenty-six Indians from Sault S. Louis and the Mountain. The Chevalier de Vaudreuil was commanded to pursue the Iroquois with this small Army. He did so with great diligence, catching up with the enemy two leagues from the head of the long Sault, killing ten men, capturing five of them and thirteen women. He rescued the three young Indians and six of the French. The rest escaped him.

A few days later, Sr. de Lusignan, Reformed Captain, fell into a ambush while passing along the Isles of Richelieu, and was killed with the first rounds. Monclerie, his Lieutenant, sustaining almost two hours of continual fire, made a rather distinguished retreat. This news obliged Mr. de Frontenac to return to Montreal at the beginning of August, bringing with him three hundred Militia, which he deployed in the most exposed dwellings, to facilitate the harvest there.

He found in the city two-hundred Ottawas, who had made it safely through all the passages. They had not dared to carry along their furs, because Mr. de S. Pierre had informed them that Black Kettle was on the Great River. This officer had even exhorted them, in accordance with the General's orders, not to leave. They did not have certain news of the Iroquois retreat and the lack of provisions and munitions would not allow them to prolong their voyage.

Mr. de Frontenac showed them much friendship, proposing to them an expedition against the common Enemy. It seemed for awhile that the Iroquois, the Hurons and Abénaquis were in favor of it; but the Ottawas refused to be part of it, whether for lack of goodwill, or, which is more probable, that they could not make such an agreement without the participation of their Elders. The General was consoled somewhat, when a few days later he received a letter, which informed him that the ships of France had arrived. They had not sent him any recruits, because all of them were needed to protect their own posts, the greater part of which were still in disrepair. Counting on help from France, he had sent part of his troops with the Indians, just as he had proposed. He went back to Quebec, as soon as Ottawas had left, and the Chevalier d'Eau arrived there almost at the same time as him.