Coulée Grou 1.51

Coulée Grou is the name of an area in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, that was the location of a battle of the Beaver Wars, also known as the Iroquois Wars, given in honor of Jean Grou, a Canadian pioneer. Grou had sailed as a young boy from Rouen in France (Normandy) to New France (Nouvelle-France) circa 1650-1665 and established a land-holding at Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles, east of the modern city of Montreal. At a battle here on 2 July 1690, Jean Grou and three farm workers were captured and burned alive.The site was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1924. The Historic Sites and Monuments Board placed a monument (GPS Coordinates 45.698874,-73.503897) near the Coulée Grou commemorating that battle between French soldiers and native Iroquois. The site is designated by two names: Battle of Rivière des Prairies / Battle of Coulée Grou National Historic Site. The monument is situated on or near the original Coulée Grou and is inscribed in both French and English. The plaque itself has been missing in recent years (through 2009), but the following is its English inscription:"On 2 July 1690, Lieutenant de Colombet leading twenty-five men, attacked a party of about one hundred Iroquois near this place. He and nine others were killed including the Sieur Montenon de Larue and the surgeon Jalot. The owner of this land, Jean Grou, ancestor of the Canadian family of that name, and three of his companions were captured and burned alive by the Iroquois. Joseph Lajeunesse, descendant of Grou, donated the land & stone for this monument." The register of Point-aux-Trembles of Montreal, dated 2 November 1694, completed the history of that battle. An English translation of that text follows,