Coulée Grou
Coulée Grou is the name of an area in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, that was the location of a battle of the Beaver Wars, also known as the Iroquois Wars, given in honor of Jean Grou, a Canadian pioneer. Grou had sailed as a young boy from Rouen in France to New France circa 1650–1665 and established a land-holding at Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles, east of the modern city of Montreal. At a battle here on 2 July 1690, Jean Grou and three farm workers were captured and burned alive.
The site was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1924. The Historic Sites and Monuments Board placed a monument near the Coulée Grou commemorating that battle between French soldiers and native Iroquois. The site is designated by two names: Battle of Rivière des Prairies / Battle of Coulée Grou National Historic Site. The monument is situated on or near the original Coulée Grou and is inscribed in both French and English. The plaque itself has been missing in recent years, but the following is its English inscription:
The register of Point-aux-Trembles of Montreal, dated 2 November 1694, completed the history of that battle. An English translation of that text follows,
According to Jean Martin, Ph.D., director of history and heritage at Canadian National Defence, the Canadian attack frigate HMCS Grou was named in honor of Jean Grou.
Many North American derivations of the Grou surname have been traced to Jean Grou and his lineage, including Lionel Groulx, noted Québécois historian and nationalist. Claude Ryan called Lionel Groulx the "spiritual father of modern Quebec."
