MESSAMOUET, a Souriquois (Micmac) sagamo of the La Hève River; fl. 1604–7.

Messamouet was chosen, in 1604, to guide Samuel de Champlain in quest of the copper mine that Sarcel de Prévert’s men claimed to have discovered, with the guidance of Indians. Champlain and Messamouet set sail in a pinnace of five or six tons, manned by nine sailors. Between Île Sainte-Croix and the Saint John they located two mines, neither of pure copper.

In 1606 Jean de Biencourt de Poutrincourt and Champlain left Port-Royal (now Annapolis Royal, N.S.), for the Sainte-Croix River, where they met Messamouet and Secoudon. The two Indians joined the Frenchmen, for they wanted to go to Chouacouët (Saco) to meet chiefs Onemechin and Marchin and form an alliance. Onemechin and Marchin gave Poutrincourt a Souriquois they were holding prisoner; Messamouet gave them presents of French articles and harangued them, saying that he knew what the friendship of the French could bring them, for he had stayed in France at the house of M. de Grandmont, the governor of Bayonne.

In return, Onemechin offered Messamouet Indian corn, squashes, and so on. But these gifts, or the lack of a similar harangue, displeased Messamouet, who immediately began to think of making war.

Eileen C. Cushing