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In the old French documents of the period it is usually called Fort Nachouac, with many varieties of spelling, such as Naxoat, Naxouac, Natchouak, etc. The older French maps place the fort on the south, or Fredericton side of the river, but there can be no doubt as to its proper location in the upper angle formed by the junction of the River Nashwaak with the St. John.
He describes the St. John as "a very pleasant river, adorned with fields that are very fertile in grain." He says that two gentlemen of the name of d'Amours have a settlement there for beaver hunting. The census made in 1695 by Simon, the French missionary, shows that there were then ten families, numbering forty-nine persons, on the St. John river, besides the garrison at Fort Nachouac.
Among them were the brothers Mathieu and Rene d'Amours and the privateersman Baptiste. Villebon assigned to Baptiste and Rene d'Amours the duty of heading the Indians and opposing the landing of the English. The sketch on the next page, based upon a plan in the archives de la Marine, Paris will serve to give an idea of the general character of Fort Nachouac.
John opposite the mouth of the Oromocto river. Mathieu d'Amours, as already stated, died in consequence of exposure at the siege of Fort Nachouac. Sixty years later the lands he had cleared and tilled and the site of his residence were transferred to the hands of the first English settlers on the river, the Maugerville colony of 1763.
After a week's negotiation, in which he was aided by the powerful influence of the missionaries Bigot and Thury, he returned to Fort Nachouac with a delegation of the Indians to receive the presents which the King of France had sent to them, and at the same time to secure the assistance of some of Governor Villebon's soldiers.
It is remarkable with what persistence the French clung to the locality of Aukpaque in spite of repeated attempts to dispossess them. The New Englanders under Hawthorn and Church tried to expel them as long ago as 1696, but Villebon repulsed the attack on Fort Nachouac and compelled them to retire. Monckton in 1759 drove the Acadians from the lower St.
That there was some ground for the charges preferred against Villebon seems likely from the fact that most of the missionaries censured him and confirmed the reports of the inhabitants concerning the misconduct of his brothers. The chaplain at Fort Nachouac, however, spoke favorably of Villebon, although he was silent with regard to Portneuf.
A few days afterwards he arrived safely in Boston and was welcomed by his relatives as one risen from the dead. After Villebon's death his successor, de Brouillan, dismantled Fort Nachouac and the fort at the mouth of the St. John river and transferred the garrisons to Port Royal.
After his arrival at the River St. John, Louis d'Amours fixed his abode on the banks of the Jemseg and became the proprietor of the seigniory formerly owned by the sieur de Soulanges. His brother, and nearest neighbor, Mathieu's seigniory included all the land "between Gemisik and Nachouac," two leagues in depth on each side of the river.
This compliment the Maliseets paid to the French Governor Villebon, when he commanded at Fort Nachouac, and a like compliment was paid some sixty-five years ago to the late Moses H. Perley. In early life Mr. Perley was very fond of the woods and frequently visited the Indian villages on the upper St. John to buy furs, which he paid for in silver dollars.
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