Place d’Armes

This guide to Place d'Armes in Montreal returns to a March morning in 1644, when governor Paul de Chomedey de Maisonneuve led about thirty colonists into the woods beyond this square chasing what looked like a handful of scouts. It follows what happened when roughly two hundred Iroquois warriors rose from the trees and the French ran low on powder retreating toward the fort, with Maisonneuve staying back alone to cover his men. You'll also hear how the city settled the lopsided arithmetic of that day in bronze, two hundred fifty years later, and who stands around Maisonneuve's feet in the monument facing you.