Adam Dollard des Ormeaux, New France garrison commander (d. 1660)
Adam Dollard des Ormeaux (July 23, 1635 – May 21, 1660) is an iconic figure in the history of New France. Arriving in the colony in 1658, Dollard was appointed the position of garrison commander of the fort of Ville-Marie (now Montreal). In the spring of 1660, Dollard led an expedition up the Ottawa River to wage war on the Iroquois. Accompanied by seventeen Frenchmen, Dollard arrived at the foot of Long Sault (near present-day Carillon, Quebec) on May 1 and settled his troops at an abandoned Algonquin fort. He was then joined by forty Huron and four Algonquin allies. Vastly outnumbered by the Iroquois, Dollard and his companions died at the Battle of Long Sault somewhere between May 9 and May 12, 1660. The exact nature or purpose of Dollard's 1660 expedition is uncertain; however, most historians agree that Dollard set out to conduct a "petite guerre" (ambush) against the Iroquois, in order to delay (or prevent altogether) their imminent attack on Ville-Marie. For these reasons, Dollard is regarded as one of the saviors of New France.