[1] An Iroquois war party encamped along the Ottawa River was preparing to attack Ville-Marie (modern day Montreal), Québec and Trois-Rivières.

Adam Dollard des Ormeaux, the 24-year-old commander of the Ville-Marie garrison, requested and received permission from Governor Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve to launch a preemptive surprise attack on the war party.

Dollard's expedition was sixteen volunteer riflemen and four Algonquin warriors, including Chief Mituvemeg; they left Ville-Marie in late-April with several canoes of supplies.

Dollard threw a keg of burning gunpowder from atop the wall; the bomb struck the palisade and caused many French casualties when it exploded within the fort.

For over a century, Dollard des Ormeaux became a heroic figure in New France, and then in Quebec, who exemplified selfless personal sacrifice, who had been martyrs for the church, and for the colony.

19th-century historians such as François-Xavier Garneau converted the battle into a religious and nationalistic epic in which zealous Roman Catholics deliberately sacrificed themselves to fend off an attack on New France.

have claimed that all Frenchmen including Dollard were killed in the last valiant explosion of the famous grenade that had not made it over the wall of the fort and landed in the midst of the remaining French.

have looked beyond the politically charged elements surrounding Dollard des Ormeaux and come up with theories that differ from the traditionally told stories of his life and demise.

Instead, it was well known at the time that the Iroquois finished their hunting expeditions for furs in the spring, and an enterprising Frenchman with military experience, such as Dollard, may have been tempted to test his mettle by risking the voyage up the Ottawa River.

If Dollard des Ormeaux and his party did indeed stave off the Iroquois attack for seven days, their defeat would have satisfied that goal and aspect of Iroquoian warfare.

[4] While skeptical of Dollard's "heroic martyrdom" narrative, historian Mark Bourrie accepts that "the big Iroquois army to the south of the Long Sault was close to Montreal and might have been heading for [it]," in which case the claims of 19th-century historians about the battle's military significance "may be true," and the battle may be thought of as "French Canada's Alamo.