David Donahew

David Donahew (? - 29 June 1745) was a British officer who fought in the Raid on Canso and Naval battle off Tatamagouche during King George's War.[1][2][3][4][5]

In this same month as the Raid on Canso, Captain David Donahue of the Resolution (Resolute) took prisoner the chief of the Mi'kmaq people of Ile Royale Jacques Pandanuques with his family to Boston and killed him.[6][7][8] Donahue also took 8 Mi'kmaw prisoners from Canso on 14 April.[9][10]

Weeks after the Siege of Louisbourg (1745), Donahew and Fones again engaged Marin, who was now nearing the Strait of Canso. Donahew and 11 of his men put ashore and were immediately surrounded by 300 Indians. The captain and five of his men were slain and the remaining six were taken prisoner. The Indians were said to have cut open Donahew's chest, sucked his blood, then eaten parts of him and his five companions.[11] This tale significantly heightened the sense of gloom and frustration settling over the fortress. On 19 July the 12-gun provincial cruiser of Donavan's the Resolution sailed slowly into the harbour with her colours flying at half-mast. The horrifying tale of the fate of her captain, David Donahew, and five crew members spread rapidly through the fortress.[12]

  1. ^ Pote, William (1896). The Journal of Captain William Pote, Jr., during his Captivity in the French and Indian War from May, 1745, to August, 1747. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company. p. 174.
  2. ^ History of Newburyport
  3. ^ Historical Collections of the Essex Institute. Vol. III. Salem, Massachusetts: G.M. Whipple & A.A. Smith. 1861. p. 186.
  4. ^ Chapin, Howard M. (1928). Privateering in King Georges̕ War, 1739-1748. E.A. Johnson Company. p. 46.
  5. ^ Thomas Pichon's account
  6. ^ Johnson, Micheline D. (1974). "Padanuques, Jacques". In Halpenny, Francess G (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. III (1741–1770) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press. Donahue used the same strategy of posing as a French ship to entrap Chief Pandanuques as he does in the Naval battle off Tatamagouche, after which Donahue was tortured and killed by the Mi'kmaq.
  7. ^ Pierre Malliard.MEMORIAL OF THE Motives of the Savages, called Mickmakis and Maricheets, for continuing the War with England since the last Peace.
  8. ^ Drake, Samuel G. (1870). A Particular History of the Five Years French and Indian War in New England and Parts Adjacent, ... Sometime Called Governor Shirley's War. Boston: Samuel G. Drake. p. 77.
  9. ^ Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Vol. I. Boston. 1792. p. 22.
  10. ^ New England vessels in the expedition against Louisbourg, 1745 by Chapin, Howard M., 1887-1940
  11. ^ Ammi R. Cutter to Pepperrell, July 7. News brought by Captain Danile Fones who was with Donahew at time of engagement. 6 Mass Historical Society Collection. X. 324.
  12. ^ Louisbourg: A Focus of Conflict H E 13 By Peter Bower March 1970 Fortress of Louisbourg Louisbourg Journals, 1745 By Louis Effingham De Forest, Louis Effingham DeForest http://fortress.cbu.ca/search/HE13-8.html Archived 2012-03-13 at the Wayback Machine