Massacre Island,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

is a small island in Lake of the Woods, a large lake between the United States and Canada. It is believed that this island was the site where, on June 6, 1736, a mixed group of Teton-Lakota,

Dakota Dakota may refer to: * Dakota people, a sub-tribe of the Sioux ** Dakota language, their language Dakota may also refer to: Places United States * Dakota, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Dakota, Illinois, a town * Dakota, Minnesota, ...

, and Ojibwa killed 21 Frenchmen from

New France New France (french: Nouvelle-France) was the area colonized by France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Great Britain and Spa ...

including Jesuit missionary Jean-Pierre Aulneau as well as Jean Baptiste de La Vérendrye. Aulneau's intention was to pass the summer and fall of 1736 with the

Assiniboine The Assiniboine or Assiniboin people ( when singular, Assiniboines / Assiniboins when plural; Ojibwe: ''Asiniibwaan'', "stone Sioux"; also in plural Assiniboine or Assiniboin), also known as the Hohe and known by the endonym Nakota (or Nakod ...

as a prelude to his

mission Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion *Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...

to the Mandan. According to

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sources, La Vérendrye had decided at the beginning of June to send a brigade east to Michilimackinac for supplies and Aulneau chose to accompany the party for unknown reasons. When the group failed to return several search parties were dispatched. On June 22, 1736 word was received that the bodies of most of the party had been found decapitated with various other injuries including arrow wounds and knife cuts. Today the site is marked by a large wooden cross in the middle of the island. There is some dispute whether this island was the actual site of the massacre.

References

{{Coord, 49.2760, N, 94.7704, W, type:isle_region:CA-ON, display=title Lake islands of Ontario Lake of the Woods