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Marie-Madeleine Jarret De Verchères was the daughter of a François Jarret, a seigneur in New France and Marie Perrot. Her ingenuity is credited with thwarting a raid on Fort Verchères when she was 14 years old.

Hostilities broke out between the French and the Iroquois in the late 1680s. The French had built strong trading alliances with the Algonquian and the Iroquois found themselves losing out on the fur trade. 

When Madeleine was twelve-years-old, the Iroquois attacked Fort Vercheres and Madeleine’s mother was alone with only four men to help her defend the fort and her family. Though help did not arrive until the second day, the fort was saved because of Madeleine’s mother’s bravery. Madeleine learned a lot about defending a fort from her mother’s courageous stand.

In October 1691, Madeleine’s parents left the fort on business. Now fourteen, Madeleine was in charge of the fort.

Madeleine was in the cabbage garden, quite close to the fort. Suddenly, the Iroquois descended on the settlers. Madeleine ran into the fort shouting, “Aux armes! Aux armes!” (To arms) Madeleine fired a musket and encouraged the people to make as much noise as possible so that the Iroquois would think there were many soldiers defending the fort. Then, Madeleine fired the cannon to warn other forts of an attack and to call for reinforcements. The Iroquois had hoped a surprise attack would easily take the fort so for the moment, they retreated into the bushes with their prisoners.

Reinforcements from Montreal arrived just after the Iroquois left.  The reinforcements caught the Iroquois and returned the kidnapped settlers. By this time, Madeleine’s parents had returned and news of Madeleine’s heroic deed had spread through the colony.

Her story was forgotten for over a century after her death. In the 1860’s when her manuscript letters were found, she reappeared in history as  a heroic symbol of the golden age of French Canada.

After Madeleine’s father, died on 26 February 1700,  Madeleine managed Verchères until her marriage in 1706, at age 28, to Pierre Thomas le Tarieu. They moved to Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade, Quebec.
Marie-Madeleine de La Pérade died in 1747 at age 69.

en.wikipedia.org