Vercheres, Madeleine de (1678–1747)
Vercheres, Madeleine de (1678–1747)
Canadian national hero. Name variations: Madeleine Jarrett Tarieu. Born Madeleine Jarrett Tarieu in 1678 in Canada; died in 1747.
Sometimes referred to as the Canadian Joan of Arc , Madeleine de Vercheres, whose real name was Madeleine Jarrett Tarieu, grew up on family lands in Vercheres, not far from present-day Montreal. She often went hunting with her family and became an accomplished markswoman. Madeleine was just 14 years old when Iroquois braves attacked the French-held fort of Vercheres in the early 1690s, during the long conflict that raged between native peoples and the French in what is now Quebec. She had been left alone while the soldiers of the fort were away on a mission, but instead of submitting to what seemed the inevitable she rose to the occasion, loading guns that were scattered around the fortification and firing them in random patterns so that the attackers could not tell from where the next shot might come. In the end, she repulsed the entire Iroquois force in this way. She is also said to have helped to beat back another attack, this time by changing her clothes repeatedly so that the Iroquois believed that a large number of defenders were present. She died in 1747.
James M. Manheim , freelance writer, Ann Arbor, Michigan