St. Luc de la Corne, Pierre (or Louis)

ST. LUC DE LA CORNE, PIERRE (OR LOUIS). French Canadian soldier. Known by many variations of this name, St. Luc was a Quebecois who played a key role in French and Indian military operations during the Seven Years' War. Present for the siege and slaughter at Fort William Henry in 1757, he was wounded at the Rapids, Lake Ontario, in 1759 while serving as a commander of French colonial troops. He was again wounded when General James Wolfe took Quebec that same year.

When Canada passed into British hands, St. Luc started a long and effective career in organizing and leading Indian auxiliaries, though it is unclear if he was always loyal to the British. There is some evidence that during Pontiac's War (1763–1766) St. Luc attempted to persuade the Indians along the St. Lawrence to join in the uprising against the British. At the start of the Revolution St. Luc worked to unite the Iroquois Confederation with Abenakis and Caughnawagas against the colonists, with mixed success. During the siege of Saint Johns by General Robert Montgomery from September through November 1775, St. Luc sent over some Caughnawagas to propose an "accommodation." Montgomery distrusted St. Luc, whom he called "cunning as the devil," but he sent "a New Englander (John Brown) to negotiate with him," Montgomery finding New Englanders to be equally cunning. The conference between the "devil" and the "New Englander" came to nothing, however.

St. Luc and General Sir Guy Carleton were repulsed at Longueuil on 30 Oct. 1775 when they attempted to relieve the installation at Saint Johns. Charles Michel de Langlade and St. Luc led the Indians during General John Burgoyne's offensive. St. Luc is said to have advised the British commander not to punish the Native American charged with killing and scalping a young woman named Jane McCrea, an event that galvanized support for the American cause against the British. In the raid on Bennington, Vermont, the Indians were led by St. Luc and the Canadians by his son-in-law, Charles de Lanaudière.

SEE ALSO Abenaki; Bennington Raid; Brown, John; Caughnawaga; McCrea Atrocity.

                       revised by Michael Bellesiles