Abbe Picquet 1708 -1781

Abbe Picquet 1708 -1781. "worth more than ten regiments". , Who ever could convince the Indians to be “on their side" would have an extreme advantage during the Seven Years War (French and Indian War), Abbe Francois Picquet, founded a French mission called La Presentation on June 1, 1749 present day Ogdensburg, NY., Born in Bourg-en-Bresse, France in 1708, he was ordained a priest in 1734. He arrived in Montreal that same year, serving as a parish priest until 1739. While there, Abbe Picquet mastered the Algonquin, Sioux, and Huron languages and learned native customs. For the next ten years he lived at Lac-des-Deux-Montagnes Mission (present day Oka, Quebec)., Picquet worked diligently to ensure that the fort had enough funds and was successful in keeping the loyalty of his Christian converts. By 1755 Picquet had earned a number of military honors for his role as a chaplain and advisor. He led Native American attacks at Fort Duquesne, Lake George, Fort Bull, and Oswego., As North America became colonized by Europeans, the French settled primarily in the area we now know as Canada. During the 1740's the French expanded their territories to the Ohio Valley., Native Americans, Indians, were crucial to the war effort for both the French and English. They could move through and survive in the wilderness with ease. Their scouting and war tactics made them extremely valuable as a fighting force., Picquet was also extremely influential with the Indians from the French perspective. The Governor of New France (Canada) Michel-Ange Du Quesne de Menneville, declared that Picquet was "worth more than ten regiments". Picquet arrived at Van Rensselaer Point in 1749 to provide a suitable place for a Native American village for Christian converts and to build a fort to spy on the English at Fort Oswego., Picquet is credited with brokering an alliance with the Oneidas. In 1758 he led native forces against the British at Carillon (Ticonderoga). Unfortunately, the French were losing the war. In 1760 Picquet moved to Ile Picquet, then Montreal. He fled Montreal, then went to New Orleans where he remained until 1763. Picquet eventually returned to Bourg-en-Bresse in 1772, dying in Verjon in 1781., On the British side, Sir William Johnson, (c.1715 -11 July 1774) 1st Baronet , Johnson held a very strong alliance with the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederation of Six Nations, which consisted of Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, Seneca and the Tuscarora tribes.