Adam Dollard des Ormeaux
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Adam Dollard des Ormeaux, (b. 1635, France – d. May, 1660, Carillon, New France), usually known simply as Dollard des Ormeaux, was a colonist and soldier of New France. As garrison commander, he led his companions and Native (mostly Huron) allies from the fort of the newly founded town of Ville-Marie (also known as Montreal), with its population of 600 colonists, in 1660 to an area up the Ottawa river known as Long Sault, there is another Long Sault of the St Lawrence River. Long Sault in French means fast water rapids which had to be jumped over on shore; portage is the word for this operation. The exact nature or purpose of Dollard's 1660 expedition is unsure, but it is believed that they were to ambush a larger force of Iroquois that were rumored to be approaching from the west to attack the French colonists.

Dollard in New France

Nothing is known of Dollard’s activities prior to his arrival in Canada. Having come to Montreal as a volunteer in 1658,^{verification needed} he continued his military career there. In 1659 and 1660, he was described as an officer or garrison commander of the fort of Ville-Marie, a title that he shared with Pierre Picoté de Belestre (also known as Beletre or Bélètre according to archives, Pierre was related to Francois Picoté de Belestre - see Fort Ouiatenon).

There is little verifiable evidence regarding des Ormeaux's reason for being in Canada, but it is possible he was contemplating life as a settler in the new lands. At the end of 1659, Chomedey de Maisonneuve gave him a piece of land comprising 30 arpents (10 hectares). In 1661, the sum that Dollard had devoted "to having work done on the aforementioned grant" was calculated at 79 livres, 10 sols, "for 53 days’ labour." Although first-hand evidence is rare, Dollard had an excellent reputation in Montreal.

Expedition west and the Battle of Long Sault

Main article: Battle of Long Sault

Against the advice of seasoned Indian fighters, Dollard got the support of the governor of Montreal, Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve, to organize an expedition west. The group comprised about 16 volunteers who had little or no experience of Indian warfare. After a 10-day canoe trip up the Saint Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers, they set up camp not far from Long Sault, in a former stockade.

They were soon surrounded by about 700 Iroquois and after a siege lasting several days, were all killed or captured and massacred in what became known as the Battle of Long Sault. For reasons unknown, the Iroquois did not continue east to capture Montreal. The events were witnessed by about 40 Huron allies who at times had joined the colonists in the stockade and at other times had harried the Iroquois from outside.

The deaths of Dollard des Ormeaux and his men were recounted by Catholic nuns and entered into official Church history. For over a century Dollard des Ormeaux became a heroic figure in New France, and then in Quebec, who exemplified selfless personal sacrifice, who had been martyrs for the church, and for the colony.

However, there were other versions of the story, even then, that raised questions about his intentions and actions. For one, many historians now believe that Dollard and his men went down the Ottawa River for other reasons and did not even know of the approaching Iroquois. Nevertheless, Dollard did indeed divert the Iroquois army temporarily from its objective in 1660, thereby allowing the settlers to harvest their crop and escape famine.

Political Persona

During the First World War, the government of Canada tried to use the myth of Dollard to entice French Canada into joining up to fight overseas against Germany, (just as Dollard and his companions had gone away to confront the enemy instead of waiting for them to arrive). Eventually mandatory conscription was imposed in the Commonwealth, which outraged the French-speaking population of Canada. The misunderstandings around this and other elements led to the Conscription Crisis of 1917 which set some French Canadians to start thinking of themselves as Quebecers, and not Canadians and contributed to the mutual isolation between Québécois and Canadian national identities.^{citation needed}

During World War II, Canada used Dollard des Ormeaux as a poster boy for conscription. It was during this time that his French Canadian constituents abandoned him. Whatever remained of the myth of Dollard faded away in the 1960s as church attendance and religiosity declined in Quebec, and as a new generation of Quebec historians worked at separating fact from myth, as part of the spirit of total change that came with the Quiet Revolution.^{citation needed}

Cultural legacy

There is a suburb of Montreal, Dollard-des-Ormeaux, named after the man. Likewise, Avenue Dollard, in Shawinigan, Quebec and rue Dollard, in Saint-Boniface, Manitoba are also named in his honor.

References

• Francis, R. Douglas; Richard Jones and Donald B, Smith (2004). Origins: Canadian History to Confederation (5th edition ed.), Nelson Education Ltd.. ISBN 0-17-622434-3. 
• André Vachon. "Dollard des Ormeaux, Adam", in Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online, University of Toronto and Université Laval, 2000