During the summer of 1609, Samuel de Champlain attempted to form better relations with the local native tribes. He made alliances with the Wendat (called Huron by the French) and with the Algonquin, the Innu people (Montagnais), and the Etchemin, who lived in the area of the St. Lawrence River. These tribes demanded that Champlain help them in their war against the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois), who lived further south. Champlain set off with 9 French soldiers and 300 natives to explore the Rivière des Iroquois (now known as the Richelieu River), and became the first European to map Lake Champlain. Having had no encounters with the Haudenosaunee at this point many of the men headed back because of the danger of traveling in the country of their enemies, leaving Champlain with only 2 Frenchmen and 60 natives.
On July 29, somewhere on the western shore of what is now Lake Champlain and most likely near the site that would become Fort Ticonderoga, Champlain and his party encountered a group of Haudenosaunee. A battle began the next day. Two hundred Haudenosaunee advanced on Champlain's position, and one of his guides pointed out the three Haudenosaunee war chiefs. Champlain fired his arquebus, killing two of the men with a single shot, and one of his men killed the third man. The Haudenosaunee turned and fled after both sides fired arrows, as the Wendat and Algonquins routed the enemy, killing fifty and taking twelve prisoners.
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