Jean-Vincent d'Abbadie de Saint-Castin

Jean-Vincent d'Abbadie de Saint-Castin (* 1652 in Saint-Castin , Province of Béarn , † 1707 in Pau ) was a French officer and Sagamore of the Penobscot , a tribe of the Eastern Abenaki .

Early years

Jean-Vincent came from a French aristocratic family who were admitted to the nobility by marriage in 1581. His father was Jean-Jacques I, who received the title of Baron de Saint-Castin from Louis XIV in 1654 and married his mother, Isabeau de Béarn-Bonasse in 1649. The couple had three children, Jean-Jacques II, Marie and Jean-Vincent. The mother died of the plague in 1652 , so that the youngest son had to grow up without a mother. He received an education that was usual for boys from noble families at the time, and was prepared for a career as an officer. In 1665, at the age of only 13, his name appears in the model roll as an ensign of the Régiment de Carignan-Salières , which was set up for use in the North American Acadia .

In Acadia

In 1666 he probably took part with his regiment in the marquis de Tracy's campaign against the Iroquois . In July 1670, still as an ensign, he marched to Penobscot Bay with the new Governor of Acadia, Captain Hector d'Andigné de Grandfontaine. The French recaptured Fort Pentagouet there, which had been occupied by the British sixteen years earlier. With the Treaty of Breda (1667) Acadia reverted to France.

Governor Grandfontaine and Saint-Castin's regiment settled in Pentagouet on the Penobscot River , a place that was then roughly in the middle of France's young colony of Acadia. However, the borders were controversial, the French saw the southern border on the Kennebec River , while the British moved their northern border to the Penobscot River. The real owners of this controversial area were the Abenaki. The 18-year-old Saint-Castin was therefore given various missions to study the country and its people. He developed good relationships with the indigenous people and was believed to have been adopted by the Penobscot during this period , a common practice among the Indians of North America.

In 1673 Grandfontaine was replaced by Governor Jacques de Chambly. The following year, Chambly, Saint-Castin and 30 soldiers were ambushed and captured by Dutch pirates. Saint-Castin managed to escape to the Penobscot and then later to Québec . Governor General Frontenac recognized the young man's abilities and commissioned him to win the Abenaki as allies. In 1674, after the death of his older brother, Jean-Vincent became the third Baron de Saint-Castin.

With the Penobscot

From then on he lived either with the Penobscot or in his house in Pentagouet. He apparently gave up his career as an officer and began to be interested in the fur trade . Around 1678, Saint-Castin married the daughter of Penobscot-Sagamore Madockawando , named Pidiwamiska or Marie-Mathilde. First the marriage took place according to Indian custom, the Jesuit father Jacques Bigot married the couple in 1684 according to a Catholic rite. Now Saint-Castin belonged completely to the Penobscot tribe, was elected Sagamore and represented the interests of the tribe in the lucrative fur trade, contrary to French law, also with the British in New England . It became clear that he now felt more like Abenaki than French. Madockawando was the sole Upper Sagamore of the Penobscot until his death in 1698, but his son-in-law was involved in all important decisions. It was known that all Saint-Castin's wishes and suggestions were granted.

In 1675 the King Philip's War broke out. The Abenaki did not enter the war until 1676 when one of their chiefs was attacked by the British. Advised by Saint-Castin, the Abenaki developed remarkable martial skills and controlled the area from the Penobscot River south to Salmon Falls in New Hampshire . Opposite them were around 700 regular British soldiers, some of whom they inflicted humiliating defeats. After the war, on the orders of the governor of New York , Sir Edmund Andros , Fort Pemaquid was built between Penobscot and Kennebec Rivers. In 1686, Saint-Castin was recommended for governor of Acadia.

When the British in Boston and New York learned of the presence of an influential French nobleman with the Abenaki, they made him offers to work together, which Saint-Castin declined. In 1687, Saint-Castin and a group of Abenaki joined Governor Brisay de Denonville's campaign against the Iroquois. In 1689 the King William's War broke out and the Penobscot and other Abenaki tribes continued their raids on British settlements and even cities in New England with the greatest severity. In 1690 Madokawando and Saint-Castin personally led their Penobscot warriors, together with René Robinau de Portneuf's army, to attack the city of Casco on the Atlantic Ocean. French spies in New England reported to Saint-Castin that Governor William Phips was planning an attack on Québec and he was able to warn Frontenac accordingly. Phips then tried to have Saint-Castin murdered, but the plan failed.

Pierre Moyne d'Iberville was commissioned with his fleet to destroy Fort Pemaquid, which was considered a constant threat to Acadia. Saint-Castin's Abenaki warriors, reinforced by Passamaquoddy and Malecite , supported the French attack. Fort Pemaquid fell into French hands on August 15, 1696.

Last years

Madockawando died in 1698 and had presumably given his son-in-law the post of Upper Sagamore of the Penobscot. Saint-Castin, however, loved its independence and, after the end of the war in 1699, returned to trading with New England, ignoring the restrictions imposed by New France. Accusations against him were raised. Despite a positive assessment by Governor Brouillan, charges should be brought. Saint-Castin therefore decided to return to France, also to clarify family matters. He left Pentagouet in late 1701 and arrived in his native Béarn in 1702. His sister's husband, Judge Jean de Lebaig, was waiting for him and tried every trick to challenge Saint-Castin's paternal legacy in court. The royal court, wishing to send Saint-Castin back to Acadia as soon as possible, vigorously intervened with the Pau court to expedite the trial. Exhausted from harassment and humiliation, Jean-Vincent d'Abbadie, the third Baron de Saint-Castin, died in Pau in 1707 without seeing Acadia again.

He left behind several children, the eldest son Bernard-Anselme, then Joseph and three daughters, Thérese, Anastasie and Ursule. Another son, Jean-Pierre, died at the age of eight. However, there were other children who are not known by name.

The coastal town of Castine in Hancock County in Maine is named after him.

literature

• Marjolaine Saint-Pierre: Saint-Castin, baron français, chief of America. Publisher Septentrion, Sillery (Québec), 1999
• Robert Sauvageau: Acadie 1670–1769. Berger-Levrault Verlag, 1987, ISBN 2-7013-0720-1 .
• Robert Le Blant: Une figure légendaire de l'histoire acadienne, Le Baron de St-Castin. Publishing house P. Pradeu, Verdun.
• Marin Trenk: "The white Indians" of Canada. On the history of the "Francois Sauvages", in the Yearbook for European Overseas History, 1, 2001, pp. 61–86.

Web links

• Jean-Vincent d'Abbadie de Saint-Castin . In: Dictionary of Canadian Biography . 24 volumes, 1966–2018. University of Toronto Press, Toronto ( English , French ).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Canadian Biographies