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The Bonaventure Hatchet
45.5 cm long x 18 cm wide
Made in France in 1695, this
hatchet is one of only 250. Linguist Frank Siebert
inherited it in 1935 from Louis Lolar, a Penobscot
who was one of his Penobscot language consultants.
Of its importance, Siebert (1988:4) concluded, “The
hatchet is a genuine relic of seventeenth century
warfare in northeastern North America and perhaps
the only one for which a detailed history can be sketched.”
Louis Lolar was a direct
descendant of the famous Penobscot war-chief, Loron,
who lived during the era of intense French and English
warfare for control of territories in the new world.
French naval officer Simon-Pierre Denys de Bonaventure
designed the hatchet and had about 250 of them cast
in France in 1695. He brought them to New France and
gave 200 to Penobscot fighters before the assault
on Fort William Henry. This English stronghold was
located at present-day Pemaquid. The French, together
with their Wabanaki allies, sought to break the English
control of the lower Maine coast and stop raids on
Wabanaki villages and French trading posts. The fort
was attacked and destroyed in August 1696.
Along with the hatchets, the French offered gifts
as incentives to their Wabanaki allies. The Penobscots
received guns, gunpowder, bullets and shot, tobacco,
shirts, cloth and white feathers (the latter to identify
them as French allies during the assault on the fort).
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