I'm always a big fan of historical events that make for great stories. Our history as a single narrative is pretty amazing, yet certain aspects can be much more interesting than others. Among two that stand out from recent reading:
1. While serving in the US army during the Mexican-American war, Robert E. Lee, while scouting enemy troop positions, stumbled upon the entire Mexican army marching his way. Too late to make an escape, Lee hid behind a log at a watering hole, while literally feet away, the entire Mexican army - thousands of men marched by. That not one of them saw Lee is amazing. It always seems like great leaders cheat death frequently. George Washington once had scores of horses shot out from under him during during the Revolutionary War.
2. The story of the Polish submarine, Orzel would make for an incredible movie (unfortunately it would probably star Matthew McConaughey or Nicholas Cage). While on patrol in the Baltic sea, the Orzel learned of Germany's invasion of Poland in 1939, which started WWII. Unable to put into a Polish port (because they were all in German hands), the sub put into an Estonian port, which was also quickly captured by the Germans, who arrested the crew, and carried off the submarine's radio and navigational charts. Aware of what their fate would most likely entail (most were Jewish), the crew was able to escape the compound they were held in, overpowered the guards holding the sub, and put out to sea. While escaping the harbor, what radio equipment still on the boat was damaged in a running gun battle with the Germans. Hundreds of miles away from a friendly port, without working radios or navigational aids, and with dozens of German warships actively hunting them, the submarine was somehow able to evade capture. The crew relied on the stars for navigation, and managed to navigate the sub to London. It later returned to service in the Allied fleet.
Anyway, reading "The Battle for North America" has just given me a new amazing story to share - the incredible story of Isaac Jogues, a Jesuit monk who came to New France in 1642 to convert the Huron population. His assignment, which he devoted himself to completely, was essentially to go to the farthest (and most dangerous) known Huron settlements, and baptize as many as he could. During his trip to reach these remove Huron settlements, his traveling group was attacked by a band of Iroquois (very bad dudes), who captured Jogues' fellow Jesuit traveler, Rene Goupil. Rather than save himself and retreat into the woods with the rest of the Huron travelers, Jogues turned himself into the Iroquois captors (much to their surprise), because he couldn't bear the thought of Goupil enduring his fate alone.
I'll save you the details of the torture that was inflicted upon Jogues and Goupil, only to say that much of it was beyond the limits of human endurance (think of clam shells to lacerate and cut, as well as embers dropped on a bound body, and you'll only begin to somewhat crack the surface of what he had to go through). Yet Jogues endured his daily beatings and torture sessions (often inflicted at Iroquois villages by women and children), mosquito infestations, and the physical rigors of traveling the rugged countryside after being continually beaten and tortured. At every village Jogues was bound and placed in a ceremonial fire-pit, presumably prepared for him to be burned alive (a common fate that met many captured by the Iroquois), yet was allowed to live in each instance - sometimes with his captors holding fire torches inches from setting the funeral pyre ablaze.
While bound on one of these fire-pits with four other Huron captives, Jogues, who had been thrown an ear of green corn, managed to find a few raindrops in the husk, and baptized two of the prisoners. Scenes like this were frequently repeated - despite the unbelievable physical pain, Jogues somehow remained focused on converting the native population, even after his companion Goupil had been killed (tomahawk + head = dead Goupil). After months of torture, Jogues managed to escape, hiding out with traders from Holland for five weeks before boarding a ship for France.
Yet his ship never made it to France - directly anyhow (I'm sure you're shocked). Pirates shipjacked (yes, it's possible that I just made up a new word), the vessel Jogues was sailing on. The pirates threatened him with death, but in the end, stole his shoes and coat (good thing he wasn't sailing in the middle of the winter...oh wait! He was!!!), before depositing him on a remote section of the coast of France. Jogues, whose capture had made him a well-known in France, managed to make his way cross country in winter, without shoes and coat, to a small Jesuit church, where the parishioners nursed him back to health. Jogues continued on to Paris, where he was treated as a national hero.
After a few months in Paris, Jogues, still with a heart for converting the native Huron population, sailed back to New France (crazy enough...no shipwrecks, shark attacks, or UFO invasions on the trip across the Atlantic). Jogues remained in Montreal for the next two years, preparing other missionaries for trips out into the wilderness. Yet Jogues was unable to truly enjoy the safe confines of Montreal, and made plans to head back to the Huron people. As Jogues made his way back to the most remote Huron settlement, he was captured, this time by the Mohawks - again though with the beatings and torture, and threat of being burned alive at each new town. Yet Jogues continued to search for converts, and managed to baptize many during his capture.
During one brutal torture session, where parts of Jogues were literally being peeled off, he pleaded with his captors, "I am a man like yourselves, but I do not fear death or torture. I do not know why you would kill me. I come here to confirm the peace and show you the way to heaven, and you treat me like a dog."
His Mohawk captor replied, "You shall die tomorrow, but take courage, we shall not burn you. We shall strike you with a hatchet and place your head on a palisade, that your brothers may see you when we capture them."
Unfortunately for Jogues, the threat of death this time proved true, and this time he was killed by his Mohawk captors. As Parkman writes, "Thus died Isaac Jogues, one of the purest examples of Roman Catholic virtue which this Western continent has seen."
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