Le Mohican

 “LE MOHICAN”


Overview A prequel by Gary LeDrew

The Mohican Begins 15 years before Last of the Mohicans. it is
King George’s War. England and France are busy fighting each
other in Europe but it is still uneasy time in North America.

The Mohicans are one of the first tribes to be displaced by the
British settlers they are uprooted and they move to New York
State only to be assailed by the (Mingo’s) Iroquois mostly
Mohawks. They driven back are much decimated and so must return to new
England and are allowed a small territory.
In one of the battles CHINGACHGOOK frees a Mingo prisoner a 7 year old French boy
Robert Chevalier. He is adopted by Chingachgook and lives with
the Mohicans in New England for 3 or 4 years. He is noticed by
an local minister who insists on sending him back to his parents
in Montreal. He stays a couple of years but cant stand the
religious school and runs away to a nearby tribe of Algonquins.
He is a natural woodsman and is soon highly respected. The
Algonquin’s jokingly call him “Le Mohican”.

By the time our
story starts Chevalier has made 2 voyages one with a French
explorer and one with a Scottish Fur Trader. Now he is making
his first trip as a smuggler for his white father smuggling
barrels of cognac to New England. He is looking for his foster
father Chingachgook and the Mohicans to help him.

When the Mohicans are attacked by the Mohawks and WILLIAM
VAUGHN who wants the Mohicans Land, Chevalier and his crew help
fight them off in the process they make mortal enemies of Vaughn
and the Mohawks. With Chingachgook's help they find a New England merchant
BERTRAM BUTLER who is happy to buy the cognac.
 Chevalier has a real fancy for his daughter LOUISE.

Chevalier’s success leads to trouble as he has money to play in
Montreal society and his dalliances lead to a duel with the
Notorious Captain Surcouf. The duel is a draw, they decide they
have more in common and the woman is probably not worth dying
for and they part as friends.
The next smuggling trip is disastrous. Vaughn has rallied the
Mohawks and his company of colonial volunteers to massacre the
Mohicans. Chingachgook and Uncas and a new white son Hawkeye
escape but Chevalier and his Algonquians are captured. Vaughn
plans to sell them as slaves and to trade them in the West
Indies for molasses’s Chevalier and crew are chained up in one
of Vaughn's schooners and set sail for the Indies. The schooner
is captured by none other than the notorious Captain Surcouf and
Chevalier and company are quick to join the pirate crew.

Chevalier takes to the sea quickly and Surcouf is happy to have
him and his Algonquin crew. Chevalier and Surcouf are soon the
toast of Louisbourg. They bring in English and Colonial prizes
and raid Vaughn’s Fishing camp at Canso. The daring Chevalier
even lands in New England to visit Louise and tries in vain to
find Chingachgook and Uncas. The Mohican Village is gone and
Vaughn’s men are preparing the land. He tries to kill Vaughn
only now Vaughn is conducting Military exercises with a Colonial
regiment can’t get close to him. Louise tells him that they are
gathering the troops for a war on Louisbourg. Chevalier runs to
join Surcouf and the ship. He wants to sail to Louisbourg and
warn them but the sea is crowded with troop ships and the Royal
Navy is now blockading Louisbourg. By fog and night they evade
the Navy and the invading forces. They hide their ship in a
nearby cove and take small boats to the fortress as the invading
forces are landing in Kennington cove.

The siege is a comedy of errors to begin with the French have just suffered a
mutiny and are short of supplies. For the most part the
Americans are drunken yahoos. For weeks the Americans mill about
with no real plan. Chevalier and Surcouf make raids for
supplies.

 In the midst of the siege somehow unknowing a French ship sails through
the British blockade and anchors outside the Fortress with long
awaited Payroll for all of French America. Somehow they have
sailed unscathed right through the British Navy.
Chevalier send some Algonquins to enlist some nearby micmacs to come and help.

The turning point comes when the Royal battery runs out of supplies and the French desert it, clumsily
they try to spike the guns but the Americans repair them and
that is the end. The Americans turn the guns on the Fortress
and they soon forced to surrender.
 The Governor sends the
payroll in a small boat hidden by the fog to Landing Cove near
the lighthouse to be buried and hidden from the British. This is
not unnoticed by Surcouf and Chevalier and they follow in a
fishing smack. Vaughn sees them and directs fire at them until
they are lost in the fog. He rows to one of his ships and takes
chase. Chevalier and his friend Askook shadow the French
soldiers and see where the treasure is buried. As they follow
the soldiers back to their boat Vaughn appears and he and his
men get into a fire fight with the soldiers and kill them all.

Vaughn then follows Chevalier and Askook into Big Lorraine harbour.
They chase them into the forest where they meet the gathering Micmacs
and Algonquins and are massacered.

They sail the fishing smack to join Surcouf's ship as they sail out of the harbour they
look to Louisbourg and see the British flag flying over the Fortress. It is all over the
Algonquins leave the ship for the long journey home. Chevalier and Surcouf head for the Spanish Main.