Le Petite
Commuter Lit, Canada:, 1755 - Fort DuQuesne, French Colony of Quebec
A note to our readers:
Recently a close friend contacted me about a small valise he had purchased last month at a Native American flea market in Brantsville, Ontario. It contained an interior false panel concealing an aged, wax-sealed envelope. Upon closer inspection, he was able to make out the faded script of a sender and addressee. It was directed from Private Le Petite to Monsignor Etienne de Reluquer.
Aware of my ongoing analysis of correspondence from Canada’s French colonial period, my friend immediately brought the artifact to me for examination. It was with great care that I conserved the letter and translated its message from the original French to English. Following comparison of this example with surviving letters produced by these remarkable characters, I believe the letter to be authentic. Sentence structure matches dialects from the provinces providing the bulk of recruits to New France, e.g. Normandy/Perche, Poitou, Aunis and Saintonge. In addition, this writing provides reinforcement to my theory that Le Petit had considerable academic training before joining the marines and shipping to Canada. He was quite unusual for the times.
The original document has been donated by my friend to the Queen's Archives, L'Batt's Institute of Historical Research, Mont Tone, Quebec. There it can be perused by those interested in furthering the research of our fascinating Canadian pioneers.
The Letter
3 août 1755
depuis Fort du Quesne
My Dearest Etienne,
It is with a mixture of melancholia, revulsion and exhilaration that I write to you of the past month's events. It is by the grace of God that I possess the good health and quickness of body to form the characters for this correspondence. Such good fortune can be no accident and I feel that you, too, share my providence, as we have shared in so many, many other occasions.
I trust notice of our great victory over the quarrelsome English at the Monongahela River has preceded this letter. Be secure that I survived the affair with no serious injury, particularly in the areas that we so much like to share. Details of the affair are provided in another dispatch, which, by the grace of God, will arrive to be caressed by your hands in the near future. But for now, my sharp quill must describe a singularly amusing and yet somewhat appropriate incident that was concurrent to the battle.