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Palisade and Muskets

In 1704, the Governor of New France, Louis-Hector de Callière, had a fort built next to the Saint-François River, according to plans drawn up by the engineer Levasseur de Néré. The fort had a 4.5 m high wooden palisade with a bastion in each of its four corners. It protected the mission and its inhabitants from attacks by the Iroquois and the British.

The settlement also served as a supply point, providing weapons, gunpowder and provisions to the allies of the French. Abenaki warriors came here to get supplies between raids. To protect the fort, a few dozen warriors and French soldiers acted as lookouts.

Concerned by the armed threat posed to New France by the British, Louis Franquet, Engineer to the King of France, did a tour of inspection of the colony’s fortifications in the summer of 1752. He visited the fort at the Saint-François mission, but the Abenaki chiefs, Jesuit Father Aubery and the warriors were not there. They had left to take part in territorial negotiations between the Abenakis and the British.

  • Colour photograph of five glass bottle shards. The Borden code written in black ink on all of them.
  • Colour photograph of ten glass pieces. They all have different sizes and shapes. The Borden Code is visible on one piece.
  • Colour photograph of several orange terracotta shards. They all have different shapes and sizes.
  • Colour photograph of a ground layer showing carbonised wood, ashes and various residuals.
  • Colour photograph of a lead bullet and of a gunflint made of black flint.
  • Colour photograph of a black and white horn. A rope is attached to it.
  • Colour photograph of a lead bullet and its Borden Code.
  • Colour photograph of a lead bullet and its Borden Code.
  • Colour photograph of a wooden rifle with iron pieces.
  • Colour photograph of a silex gunflint on which a Borden Code can be read.
  • Illustration showing Abenaki warriors monitoring a fortress.
  • Color plan of the Fort d'Odanak. There are 19 longhouses, a church with its outbuildings and a path leading to a redoubt.
  • Colour photograph of a faceted glass blue bead on a thread.