Officer Cadet

Library Scavenger Hunt

Maj. Stouffer, PhD

OCdt Ullah

24210

7 Oct. 05

The Ursuline nuns were invited to New France by the Jesuits in 1639 in order to “civilize” young Native girls. The author of this primary document reveals evidence, on several occasions, her association with this missionary group and conveys the attitudes of the ill-fated Acadians after the destructive Iroquois attacks in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The letter is written to her son who is back home in Europe explaining her reasons for remaining in the new country.

According to the document, the French residing in Canada have just recently suffered a sort of tribulation brought down upon them by the Iroquois natives. The Iroquois killed the governor of the area, along with twenty-two other Frenchmen . Before this occurred, the Iroquois offered the French native allies, the Hurons, an opportunity to join a confederacy that they refused. This, coupled with depleted resources in the Iroquois’ territory, gave them reason to launch attacks on the fur-rich Huron country. Armed with superior firearms given to them by English traders, they easily ran through Huron and attacked the French colonies that were unable to defend against the expert ambush tactics of the Iroquois. In addition to this attack, there are numerous references in the letter to a brutal fire that burned down many buildings in the French village during 1652. Unfortunately, there was no information related to this fire in the textbook.

In regards to the author, several statements in the document point towards the author being a member of the Ursuline Nuns. The author says, “Moreover, the French girls would be real brutes without the education they receive from us and need even more than the Savages” . She is a nun who was sent to Canada to convert and Christianize young native girls. Of course, this failed due to various reasons, such as the mistrust associated with the missionaries. The author