By 1642 the French had begun to halt these raids by building a
chain of fortified settlements as far upriver as Montréal. The
French tried to counter the Mohawk acquisition of muskets by
giving muskets to their HURON and Algonquian allies, but the
Jesuits persuaded officials to restrict their sale to reliable
Christian converts. As a result, the Iroquois had a numerical
and psychological advantage. One of the profound effects of the
Iroquois Wars was the dispersal of numerous native groups. The
policy of the Seneca was to disperse the Huron, which left them
free to raid the hunting peoples to the north. Their raids,
beginning in 1642 with the more isolated Huron villages,
culminated in 1649 with over 1000 Seneca and Mohawk attacking 2
main villages. Some Huron tried to hold out on a nearby island
but were forced to disband; some fled to Québec and others
joined the NEUTRAL. In the winter of 1649-50 the Iroquois
attacked the Nipissing and the PETUN. The Neutral were
decisively defeated in 1651. With the Huron