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The Conquest of Canada, Vol. 2

by George Warburton · English · Gutenberg #34862 · 953,622 chars · public domain (US)

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Title: The Conquest of Canada, Vol. 2

Author: George Warburton


        
Release date: January 6, 2011 [eBook #34862]
                Most recently updated: January 7, 2021

Language: English

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CONQUEST OF CANADA, VOL. 2 ***




Produced by Dianna Adair, Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Graeme
Mackreth and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
generously made available by the Digital & Multimedia
Center, Michigan State University Libraries.)







THE

CONQUEST OF CANADA.


BY THE AUTHOR OF "HOCHELAGA."


IN TWO VOLUMES.

VOL. II.

 NEW YORK:
 HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,
 82 CLIFF STREET.
 1850.


 THE
 CONQUEST OF CANADA.




CHAPTER I


In the year 1750, commissioners met at Paris to adjust the various
boundaries of the North American territories, M. de Galissoniere and M.
de Silhouette on the part of France, and Messrs. Shirley and Mildmay on
the part of Great Britain. The English commissioners, however, soon
perceived that there was little chance of arriving at a friendly
arrangement. The more they advanced in their offers, the more the French
demanded; futile objections were started, and unnecessary delays
continued; at length Mr. Shirley[1] and his colleague broke up the
conference, and returned to England. [1752.] It now became evident that
a decisive struggle was at hand.

Under the rule of M. de la Jonquiere, a great and growing evil cankered
the spirit of Canada. The scanty salaries[2] allowed to the government
officers afforded a great inducement to peculation, especially as the
remoteness of the colony rendered retribution distant and uncertain. The
Indian trade opened a field for enormous dishonesty: M. Bigot, the
intendant, discontented with his inadequate stipend, ventured to farm
out trade licenses for his own profit and that of his creatures, and
speedily accumulated considerable wealth; he, the governor, and a few
others, formed themselves into a company, and monopolized nearly all the
commerce of the country, to the great indignation of the colonists. M.
de la Jonquiere and his secretary, St. Sauveur, also kept exclusively to
themselves the nefarious privilege of supplying brandy to the Indians:
by this they realized immense profits.

At length a storm of complaints arose against the unworthy governor, and
even reached the dull ears of his patrons at the court of France. Aware
that his case would not bear investigation, he demanded his recall; but,
before a successor could be appointed, he died at Quebec on the 17th of
May, 1752,[3] aged sixty-seven years. Though not possessed of brilliant
gifts, M. de la Jonquiere was a man of considerable ability, and had
displayed notable courage and conduct in many engagements; but a
miserable avarice stained his character, and he died enormously wealthy,
while denying himself the ordinary necessaries of his rank and
situation.[4] Charles Le Moine, Baron de Longueuil, then governor of
Montreal, being next in seniority, assumed the reins of power until the
arrival of a successor.

The Marquis du Quesne de Menneville was appointed governor of Canada,
Louisiana, Cape Breton, &c., on the recall of M. de la Jonquiere in
1752. He was reputed a man of ability, but was of haughty and austere
disposition. Galissoniere, who had recommended the appointment,
furnished him with every information respecting the colony and the
territorial claims of France: thus instructed, he landed at Quebec in
August, where he was received with the usual ceremonies.

The orders given to the new governor with regard to the disputed
boundaries were such as to leave little doubt on his mind that the sword
alone could enable him to secure their execution, and the character of
his stubborn though unwarlike rivals promised a determined resistance to
his views.[5] His first attention was therefore directed to the
military resources of his command. He forthwith organized the militia[6]
of Quebec and Montreal under efficient officers, and attached bodies of
artillery to the garrison of each city; the militia of the country
parishes next underwent a careful inspection, and nothing was neglected
to strengthen the efficiency of his army.

In 1753, several French detachments were sent to the banks of the
Ohio,[7] with orders to establish forts, and to secure the alliance of
the Indians by liberal presents and splendid promises. The wily savages,
however, quickly perceived that the rival efforts of the two great
European powers would soon lead to a war of which their country must be
the scene, and they endeavored, to the utmost of their ability, to rid
themselves of both their dangerous visitors. Disregarding these efforts
and entreaties, both the English and French advanced nearer to each
other, and the latter fortified several posts upon the Allegany and the
Ohio. When the hostile designs of France became thus apparent, Mr.
Dinwiddie, governor of Virginia,[8] which was the most exposed of the
British provinces, undertook to check these aggressions, upon his own
responsibility, and formed a regiment of militia for the purpose. A
small detachment, raised by the Ohio Company, was immediately sent to
protect the traders, and take possession of the Forks of the Ohio and
Monongahela, the precise spot where the first efforts of the French
would probably be made. They had scarcely begun the erection of a fort,
when M. de Contrecoeur, with 1200 men, arrived from Venango in 300
canoes, drove them from the ground,[9] and completed and occupied their
fortification: to this since well-known spot he gave the name of Fort du
Quesne.[10] In the mean time the Virginia militia marched to the aid of
the English, and met them on their retreat at Will's Creek; the colonel
of this body had died soon after it took the field, and the command
devolved upon the officer next in seniority--GEORGE WASHINGTON, the
father of the Great Republic.

To gain intelligence of the movements of the Virginians, frequent
expeditions were dispatched from Fort du Quesne. [1754.] One of these,
forty-five in number, commanded by M. Jumonville,[11] was surprised by
Colonel Washington, and destroyed or captured with the exception of one
man.[12] The victors immediately proceeded to intrench themselves on the
scene of action, a place called Little Meadows, with the view of holding
their ground till re-enforcements should arrive: they gave to their
little stronghold the name of Fort Necessity. They were soon after
joined by the remainder of the Virginia militia and a company from South
Carolina, which raised their strength to about 400 men. When M. de
Contrecoeur received intelligence of Jumonville's disaster, he sent M.
de Villiers, with 1000 regular troops and 100 Indians, to obtain
satisfaction. Colonel Washington resolved to await the attack in the
fort, and trust to the arrival of some troops promised by the state of
New York for his relief. He was, however, so warmly assailed by the
French on the 3d of July, that he found it necessary to surrender the
same evening, stipulating to march out with all the honors of war, and
every thing in his possession except the artillery. The capitulation[13]
was scarcely signed when it was most shamefully broken, the baggage was
plundered, the horses and cattle destroyed, and the officers detained
for some time as prisoners. At length Colonel Washington retired as he
best might, and met at Winchester the re-enforcements that but a day
before would have enabled him to stem the tide of French usurpation: he
was then, however, fain to content himself with erecting Fort
Cumberland[14] at Will's Creek, where he held his ground.

Meanwhile the governor of the British colonies transmitted reports of
these events to London, and the embassador[15] at Paris was instructed
to remonstrate firmly against the French aggressions in America; but
that court disregarded these communications, and took no further pains
to conceal their hostile intentions. They publicly gave orders for the
speedy re-enforcement of their colonies, especially Quebec, with men and
military stores, and prepared to follow up with vigor the success at
Fort Necessity.

The English government only noticed these formidable preparations by
letters of instruction to their colonial authorities, ordering them to
unite for their common defense, and encouraging them to resist every
aggression, without, however, furnishing any assistance. Commissioners
were also appointed to meet the Indian chiefs in congress at Albany, and
to endeavor to secure those important allies to the British power. The
red warriors did not display much enthusiasm in the cause, but finally
they accepted the presents offered them, and expressed a desire to
receive vigorous assistance from the English to drive the French from
their invaded hunting grounds. At this congress a general union of the
funds and forces of the colonies was proposed, but clashing interests in
comparatively unimportant matters defeated these salutary designs.

While this congress continued its almost useless deliberations, Governor
Shirley, of Massachusetts, marched upon the Kennebec River with about
1000 men, and erected forts at the most exposed points to secure the
northeastern frontier; he also accomplished the important object of
gaining the confidence of the Indians, and their consent to his military
occupation of the country. During the remainder of the year he
repeatedly represented to the English ministry[16] the dangerous
condition of the colonies, and the urgent need of powerful assistance to
defeat the hostility of France. Shirley's appeal was successful; two
regiments--Halket's, the 44th, and Dunbar's, the 48th, were ordered from
Ireland to America,[17] and Major-general Braddock was appointed to the
command of all the British forces on the Western continent; the governor
of Massachusetts was at the same time thanked by the king, and empowered
to concert measures for attacking the French settlements in the Bay of
Fundy. The disbanded colonial regiments, Shirley's and Pepperel's, were
also re-established, and recruits were rapidly raised through the
several provinces to form an army for the approaching war.

General Braddock arrived by the end of February, 1755, and immediately
convened the governors of the different British colonies to meet him in
council at Alexandria, in Virginia, on the 14th of April. It appeared
his orders from home[18] were positive that he should at once move upon
Fort du Quesne, notwithstanding the danger, difficulty, and expense of
carrying the war across the rugged barrier of the Allegany Mountains,
instead of assailing the Canadian settlements, where the facility of
transport by water, and their proximity to his resources, offered him
every advantage. However, no alternative remained, and he obeyed. At the
same time, Shirley's and Pepperel's newly-raised regiments[19] were
directed upon Niagara, and a strong body of provincial troops,
commanded by General Johnson, was commissioned to attack the French
position of Fort Frederic, called by the English Crown Point.

While these plans were being carried out, Colonel Monckton,[20] with
Colonel Winslow, marched against the French settlements in the Bay of
Fundy; their force of nearly 3000 men was aided by the presence on the
coast of Captain Rous, with three frigates and a sloop. The Acadian
peasants,[21] and some regular troops with a few cannon, endeavored to
oppose his passage at the River Massaquash, but were speedily
overpowered. Thence he moved upon Fort Beau-sejour, and forced the
garrison to capitulate after a bombardment[22] of four days. He left
some troops to defend this position, which he now called Fort
Cumberland, and proceeded the next day to a small intrenchment on the
River Gaspereau, where the French had established their principal depot
for the Indian trade, and the stores of arms, ammunition, and
provisions; he then disarmed the peasantry to the number of 15,000 men.
At the same time Captain Rous destroyed all the works erected by the
French on the River St. John. By this expedition the possession of the
extensive province of Nova Scotia was secured to the British crown
almost without the loss of a man.

The court of France in the mean time hastened the equipment of a
considerable fleet at Brest, under the orders of Admiral Bois de la
Mothe. On board were several veteran regiments, commanded by the Baron
Dieskau, who had distinguished himself under the celebrated Marshal
Saxe.

The Marquis du Quesne had demanded his recall from the government of
Canada, with the view of re-entering the naval service of France. His
departure caused little regret, for though his management of public
affairs was skillful and judicious, a haughty and domineering temper had
made him generally unpopular in the colony. The Marquis de Vaudreuil de
Cavagnac was appointed his successor, at the request of the Canadian
people, who fondly hoped to enjoy, under the rule of the son of their
favorite, the same prosperity and peace which had characterized his
father's administration. The new governor, who arrived in M. de la
Mothe's fleet, was received with great demonstrations of joy by the
inhabitants of Quebec.

Hearing of these hostile preparations, the English ministry, in the
month of April, 1755, dispatched Admiral Boscawen, with eleven sail of
the line, to watch the French squadron, although at the time no formal
declaration of war had been made. The rival armaments reached the Banks
of Newfoundland almost at the same time: the friendly fogs of those
dreary latitudes saved De la Mothe's fleet; two of his vessels, indeed,
fell into the hands of his enemies,[23] but the remainder entered the
Canadian ports in safety. On the news of this attack reaching Paris, M.
de Mirepoix, the embassador, was recalled from London, and loud
complaints were made by the French against Boscawen's conduct. On the
part of Great Britain it was answered, that the aggressions of the
Canadians in Virginia justified the act of hostility.[24]

On the 8th of May General Braddock joined the head-quarters of the army
at a village on the Potomac; on the 10th he marched to Will's Creek, and
encamped on a hill near Fort Cumberland. Here he remained till the 28th,
passing the time in horse-races, reviews, and conferences with the
Indians. These red warriors were astonished at the number of the
British, their uniform dress, and their arms, the regularity of their
march, the tremendous effect of their artillery, and the strange noises
of their drums and fifes; but, unfortunately, the haughty general was
not wise enough to conciliate his important allies, or to avail himself
of their experience in forest warfare; he, however, with disdainful
generosity, gave them numerous presents, and provided the warriors with
arms and clothing.

The force now assembled in camp at Fort Cumberland consisted of the 44th
(Sir Peter Halket's) and the 48th (Colonel Dunbar's) regiments, each of
700 men, with three New York and Carolina companies of 100, and ten of
Virginia and Maryland (fifty strong), a troop of Provincial light horse,
thirty seamen, and twelve pieces of field artillery: in all, 2300
men.[25] The Delawares and other friendly Indians, whose services were
unfortunately so lightly valued, added considerably to the numbers of
this formidable body.

Braddock was aware that the French garrison of Fort du Quesne only
numbered 200 men, and earnestly desired to advance in early spring with
his overwhelming force, but by an unfortunate exercise of corrupt
influence at home his troops had been ordered to land in Virginia, where
the inhabitants, altogether engrossed with the culture of tobacco, were
unable to supply the necessary provisions and means of transport. Had
they been landed in the agricultural state of Pennsylvania, all demands
could have been readily supplied, their march shortened, and a large
outlay saved to the British government. When the general found that the
Virginians could not meet his views, he made a requisition on the
neighboring state for 150 wagons, 300 horses, and a large quantity of
forage and provisions: these were readily promised, but not a tenth part
arrived at the appointed time. His disappointment was, however, somewhat
mitigated by a small supply which Mr. Franklin sent shortly after from
Philadelphia. By the exertions of this energetic man, Braddock was at
length furnished with all his requisitions,[26] and then prepared to
advance.

The unfortunate selection of the chief of this expedition was, however,
more fatal than difficulty[27] or delay; his character was unsuited for
such a command in every point except that of personal courage: haughty,
self-sufficient, and overbearing, he estranged the good-will, and
rejected the counsel of his Indian and Provincial allies.[28] His troops
were harassed by the endeavor to enforce a formal and rigid discipline,
which the nature of the service rendered impracticable. Through the
tangled and trackless passes of the Alleganies, he adhered with stubborn
bigotry to a system of operations only suited to the open plains of
civilized Europe. But his greatest and worst error was to despise his
foe: in spite of the warnings of the Duke of Cumberland, his patron and
friend, he scorned to take precautions against the dangerous ambush of
the American savage.

On the 29th, Major Chapman, with 600 men and two guns, marched from the
camp: Sir John St. Clair, quarter-master general, some engineers, and
seamen, accompanied this detachment to clear the roads and reconnoiter
the country. From that time till the 10th of June an incredible amount
of useless and harassing toil was wasted in widening and leveling the
forest paths, and erecting unnecessarily elaborate bridges. At length,
on the 10th, Braddock followed with the rest of his army, and reached
the Little Meadows that night, a distance of twenty-two miles. In spite
of the facilities afforded by the labors of the pioneers, great
difficulty was experienced in the conveyance of the heavy stores. During
the route still to be pursued, where no preparations had been made,
greater delays were to be expected. At the same time the general was
stimulated to activity by information that the French soon expected a
re-enforcement at Fort du Quesne of 500 regular troops; with more of
energy than he had yet displayed,[29] he selected 1200 men, and taking
also ten guns, the seamen, and some indispensable supplies of provisions
and ammunition, he pushed boldly on into the pathless and almost unknown
solitudes of the Alleganies. Colonel Dunbar, with the rest of the army
and the heavy luggage, followed as they best might.

To trace the unfortunate Braddock through his tedious march of 130 miles
would be wearisome and unnecessary. His progress was retarded by useless
labors in making roads, or rather tracks, and yet no prudent caution was
observed; he persisted in refusing or neglecting the offers of the
Provincials and Indians to scour the woods and explore the passes in his
front.[30] Sir Peter Halket and other British officers ventured to
remonstrate in strong terms against the dangerous carelessness of the
march, but their instances seemed only to confirm the obstinate
determination of the general. Washington, who acted as his aid-de-camp,
also urged an alteration of arrangement, and with such vehement
pertinacity that the irritated chief ordered his Virginian companies to
undertake the inglorious duties of the rear-guard.

M. de Contrecoeur, commandant of Fort du Quesne, had received
information of all Braddock's movements from the Indians. With the view
of embarrassing the English advance rather than of offering any serious
resistance, he dispatched M. de Beaujeu, with 250 of the marine, or
colony troops, toward the line of march which Braddock was expected to
take; this detachment was afterward strengthened by about 600 Indians,
principally Outamacs, and the united force took up a favorable position,
where the underwood and long grass concealed them from the approaching
enemy.

Intelligence of a contradictory nature as to the strength and movements
of the French had been every day carried to the unfortunate Braddock by
Indians professing to be his friends, and by doubly traitorous
deserters. Still, under a fatal conviction of security, he had pursued
his march, meeting with no interruption, except in taking "eight or nine
scalps, a number much inferior to expectation." On the 8th of July,
following the winding course which the difficulty of the country
rendered necessary, he crossed the Monongahela River, encamped upon the
bank at the opposite side from Fort du Quesne, and sent Sir John St.
Clair forward to reconnoiter the enemy's fort. The quarter-master
general was successful in attaining the desired information: he reported
that the defenses were of timber, and that a small eminence lay close
by, from whence red-hot shot could easily be thrown upon the wooden
parapets.

At seven in the morning of the 9th of July, an advance guard of 400 men,
under Colonel Gage, pushed on and took possession of the fords of the
river, where it was necessary to recross, unopposed, but somewhat
alarmed by the ominous appearance of a few Indians among the neighboring
thickets. A little before mid-day the main body began to cross the broad
stream with "colors flying, drums beating, and fifes playing the
Grenadiers' March:" they formed rapidly on the opposite side, and, not
having been interrupted in the difficult passage, recommenced their
march in presumptuous security.

Three guides and six light horsemen led the way toward Fort du Quesne,
through an open space in the forest, followed by the grenadiers of the
44th and 48th: flanking parties skirted the edge of the woods on both
sides. The 44th regiment succeeded with two guns; behind them were the
48th, with the rest of the artillery and the general: the Virginian
companies, in unwilling obedience, sullenly brought up the rear. In this
order they advanced with as much regularity as the rough road permitted.
When within seven miles of the fort, they left a steep conical hill to
the right, and directed their march upon the extremity of the open
space, where the path disappeared between the thickly-wooded banks of a
small brook: so far all went well.

At length the guides and the light horse entered the "bush" in front and
descended the slope toward the stream, while a number of axmen set
vigorously to work felling the trees and clearing the underwood for the
advance of the army, the grenadiers acting as a covering party. Suddenly
from the dark ravine in front flashed out a deadly volley, and before
the rattle of the musketry had ceased to echo, three fourths of the
British advance lay dead and dying on the ground. The French had coolly
taken aim from their unseen position, and singled out the officers with
fatal effect, for every one was killed or wounded in that first
discharge; only two-and-twenty of the grenadiers remained untouched;
they hastily fired upon the copse containing their still invisible foes,
then turned and fled. One of these random shots struck down the French
chief, De Beaujeu, and for a short time checked the enemy's triumph. He
was dressed like an Indian, but wore a large gorgiton to denote his
rank. At the moment of his death he was waving his hat and cheering his
men on at a running pace.

Braddock instantly advanced the 44th regiment to succor the front, and
endeavored to deploy upon the open space, but simultaneously on all
sides from the thick covert burst the war-whoop of the Indians, and a
deadly fire swept away the head of every formation. The 44th staggered
and hesitated. Sir Peter Halket and his son,[31] a lieutenant in the
regiment, while cheering; them on, were shot dead side by side;
Braddock's horse was killed, and two of his aids-de-camp wounded; the
artillery, although without orders,[32] pressed to the front, and their
leading guns plied the thickets with grape and canister, but in a few
minutes all the officers and most of the gunners were stretched bleeding
on the field. The broken remnant of the grenadiers who had formed the
advance now fell back upon the disordered line, and threw it into utter
confusion.

With stubborn purpose and useless courage the general strove to re-form
his ruined ranks; most of the officers nobly stood by him, but the
soldiers were seized with uncontrollable terror. Assailed on every side
by foes, unseen save when a savage rushed out from his woody stronghold
to tear the scalp from some fallen Englishman, they lost all order, and
fell back upon the 48th, which was now rapidly advancing to their aid
under Colonel Burton. Braddock, with these fresh troops, made several
desperate efforts to gain possession of the conical hill, from whence a
strong body of the French galled him intolerably, but his well-drilled
ranks were broken by the close trees and rocks, and shattered by the
flanking fire of the Indians. Again and again he endeavored to rally the
now panic-stricken soldiers, without, however, any effectual movement of
advance or retreat. His ill-judged valor was vain; the carnage
increased, and with it his confusion. At length, after having had four
horses shot under him, while still encouraging his men, a bullet
shattered his arm and passed through his lungs. The luckless but gallant
chief was placed in a wagon by Colonel Gage and hurried to the rear,
although he was "very solicitous to be left on the field."[33]

The remains of the two British regiments now broke into utter disorder
and fled, leaving all the artillery and baggage[34] in the hands of the
enemy, and, worst of all, many of their wounded comrades, who were
scalped by the Indians without mercy. This horrible occupation, and the
plunder of the wagons, for a time interrupted the pursuers, and enabled
Colonel Washington, the only mounted officer still unwounded, to rally
the Virginian companies, who had as yet borne little share in the
action. He succeeded in holding the banks of the Monongahela River[35]
till the fugitives had passed, and then himself retired in tolerable
order. One of his captains was Horatio Gates, afterward Burgoyne's
conqueror in the Revolutionary war. This young officer distinguished
himself by courage and conduct in the retreat, and was carried from the
field severely wounded.

The routed army fled all through the night, and joined Colonel Dunbar
the following evening at a distance of nearly fifty miles from the scene
of their defeat.[36] Braddock ordered that the retreat should be
immediately continued, which his lieutenant readily obeyed, as his
troops were infected with the terror of the fugitives. A great quantity
of stores were hurriedly destroyed, that the wounded officers and
soldiers might have transport, and the remaining artillery was spiked
and abandoned. The unfortunate general's sufferings increased hourly,
aggravated by the most intense mental anguish. On the 12th of July,
conscious of the approach of death, he dictated a dispatch acquitting
his officers of all blame, and recommending them to the favor of his
country: that night his proud and gallant heart ceased to beat. His
dying words expressed that astonishment at his defeat which had
continued to the last: "Who would have thought it! we shall know better
how to deal with them another time."[37]

May he sleep in peace! With sorrow and censure, but not with shame, let
his name be registered in the crowded roll of those who have fought and
fallen for the rights and honor of England.

The number of killed, wounded, and missing, out of this small army,
amounted to 896 men, and sixty-four officers, as appeared by the returns
of the different companies after the battle. Some few, indeed, of these
ultimately reappeared, but most of the wounded and missing met with a
fate far more terrible from their savage enemies than a soldier's death
upon the field. Of fifty-four women who had accompanied the troops, only
four escaped alive from the dangers and hardships of the campaign. The
French, on the other hand, only report the loss of their commander, De
Beaujeu, and sixty men in this astonishing victory.

On Braddock's death, Colonel Dunbar fell back with disgraceful haste
upon Fort Cumberland; nor did he even there consider himself safe.
Despite the entreaties of the governors of Virginia, Maryland, and
Pennsylvania, that he would remain to protect the frontier, he continued
his march to Philadelphia, leaving only a small garrison of two
Provincial companies at the fort. From Philadelphia the remains of the
army, 1600 strong, was shipped for Albany by the order of General
Shirley, who had succeeded to the command of the British American
forces.

In consequence of this lamentable defeat and the injudicious withdrawal
of the remaining British troops, the western borders of Pennsylvania and
Virginia were exposed during the ensuing winter to the ruthless
cruelties of the victorious savages, and the scarcely less ferocious
hostilities of their European allies. The French not only incited the
Indians to these aggressions, but rewarded them by purchasing their
hapless captives at a high price, and in turn exacted large ransoms for
the prisoners' release. Their pretense was to rescue the English from
the torture, their real motive gain, and the rendering it more
profitable for the savages to hunt their enemies than the wild animals
of the forest.

From the presumptuous rashness of Braddock and the misconduct of the
44th and 48th regiments,[38] followed results of a far deeper importance
than the loss of a battle and the injury of a remote province. The
conviction formerly held by the colonists of the superior prowess of
English regulars was seriously shaken, if not destroyed, and the
licentious and violent conduct of Dunbar's army to the inhabitants
during the retreat excited a wide-spread feeling of hostility. "They are
more terrible, to us than to the enemy," said the discontented: "they
slighted our officers and scorned our counsel, and yet to our Virginians
they owe their escape from utter destruction." Some far-sighted and
ambitious men there were, who, through this cloud upon the British
arms, with hope espied the first faint rays of young America's ascending
star.

The second expedition, set on foot by the council at Alexandria, was
that under General Shirley: two Provincial regiments[39] and a
detachment of the royal artillery were assembled by his order at Albany,
to march against Niagara.[40] All the young men who had been, during
more peaceful times, occupied by the fur trade in the neighboring
country, were engaged to man the numerous bateaux for the transport of
the troops and stores to Oswego. Part of the force commenced their
westward journey in the beginning of July, and the remainder were
preparing to follow, when the disastrous news of Braddock's ruin reached
the camp. This struck a damp upon the undisciplined Provincial troops,
and numbers deserted their colors, while the indispensable
bateaux-men[41] nearly all fled to their homes, and resisted alike
threats and entreaties for their return. The general, however, still
vigorously pushed on, with all the force he could keep together. Great
hopes had been formed of the assistance likely to be rendered to the
expedition by the powerful confederacy of the Five Nations, but these
politic savages showed no inclination to trust to the then doubtful
fortunes of the British colonies, and even remonstrated against the
transit of their territories by the army, alleging that the Oswego fort
was established and tolerated by them as a trading-post,[42] but not as
a place of arms for hostile purposes. After having undergone
considerable hardships and overcome great difficulties, Shirley reached
Oswego by the 18th of August:[43] his whole force, however, had not
arrived till the end of the month. Want of supplies and the lateness of
the season defeated his intention of attacking Niagara that year. On the
24th of October he withdrew from the shores of Lake Ontario, without
having accomplished any thing of the slightest importance. Leaving 700
men under Colonel Mercer to complete and occupy the defenses of Oswego,
and those of a new fort to be called Fort Ontario, he retraced the
difficult route to his old quarters at Albany.[44]

The expedition against Crown Point was the last in commencement of those
planned by the council at Albany, but the first in success. By the
advice of Shirley, the command was intrusted to William Johnson,[45] an
Irishman by birth. This remarkable man had emigrated to New York at an
early age, and by uncommon gifts of mind and body, united to ardent
ambition, had risen from the condition of a private soldier, to wealth,
consideration, and a seat at the council-board of his adopted country.
For some years he had been settled on the fertile banks of the Mohawk
River, where he had built two handsome residences and acquired a large
estate. He associated himself intimately with the Indians of the Five
Nations, learned their language, habits, and feelings, and gained their
affection and respect. In war, he was their chief and leader; in peace,
the persevering advocate of their rights and interests. Accordingly,
when called to the command of the army, Hendrick, a Mohawk sachem, and
300 warriors of that tribe, followed him to the camp.

General Johnson had never seen a campaign, his troops had never seen an
enemy, with the exception of a few companies that had shared the glories
of Louisburg, but his ability and courage, and their zeal and spirit,
served instead of experience. To this force was intrusted the most
difficult undertaking in the checkered campaign, and it alone gained a
share of honor and success.

By the end of June, 6000 men, the hardy militia of the Northern
States,[46] had mustered at Albany under Johnson's command. He soon
after sent them forward, with Major-general Lyman, to the carrying-place
between Lake George and the Hudson River, sixty miles in advance. Here
they established a post called Fort Edward, in a strong position, while
the artillery, provisions, and boats for the campaign were being
prepared under the general's eye. Toward the end of August, Johnson
joined his army at the carrying-place, and proceeded to the southern
extremity of Lake George, leaving Colonel Blanchard with 300 men to
garrison the newly-erected fort.

Here all the Indian scouts brought the news that the French had
intrenched themselves at Ticonderoga, on the promontory between the
Lakes George and Champlain, but that the works were still incomplete.
Johnson promptly prepared for the offensive; soon, however, his plans
were changed by the news of Baron Dieskau's arrival on the lake with a
considerable force of regular troops from Old France. The well-known
ability and courage of the enemy, together with his formidable force,
alarmed Johnson for the safety of the British settlements; he therefore
immediately dispatched an earnest entreaty for re-enforcements to the
provincial governments, who loyally responded to the appeal, but the
danger had passed before their aid reached the scene of action.

Baron Dieskau had been ordered to reduce the Fort of Oswego, on Lake
Ontario, as the primary object of his campaign; but, on hearing that a
British force was in motion upon Lake George, he determined first to
check or destroy them, and pressed on rapidly against Johnson with 2000
men, chiefly Canadians and Indians. The English chief was apprized of
this movement, but could form no estimate of the enemy's strength, his
savage informants being altogether ignorant of the science of numbers:
he nevertheless made every possible preparation for defense, and warned
Colonel Blanchard to concentrate all his little force within the fort:
that officer was, however, slain in the mean time by an advance party of
the French.

Johnson now summoned a council of war, which recommended the rash step
of dispatching a force of 1000 men and the Mohawk Indians to check the
enemy: Colonel Ephraim Williams was placed in command of the detachment.
Hardly had they advanced three miles from the camp, when suddenly they
were almost surrounded by the French, and, after a gallant but hopeless
combat, utterly routed, with the loss of their leader, Hendrick, the
Indian chief, and many of the men. The victors, although they had also
suffered in the sharp encounter, pursued with spirit, till checked near
the camp by Colonel Cole and 300 men, sent by Johnson in the direction
of the firing. By this delay the British were enabled to strengthen
their defenses, and to recover, in some measure, from the confusion of
their disaster. The most vigorous efforts of the officers were needed to
overcome the panic caused by Williams's defeat and death, and by their
ignorance of the advancing enemy's force.

After a brief pause, Dieskau made a spirited attack upon the British
intrenchments, but his Canadians and Indians were suddenly checked by
Johnson's guns;[47] they at once gave way, and, inclining to the right
and left, contented themselves with keeping up a harmless fire on the
flanks of the works. The French regulars, however, bravely maintained
their ground, although surprised by the strength of Johnson's position,
and damped by finding it armed with artillery. But they could not long
bear the brunt alone; after several gallant attacks, the few remaining
still unhurt also dispersed in the forest, leaving their leader mortally
wounded on the field.[48] Early in the action General Johnson had
received a painful wound, and was obliged unwillingly to retire to his
tent; the command then devolved upon Lyman, who pursued the routed enemy
for a short distance with great slaughter. The French loss in this
disastrous action was little short of 800 men, and their regular troops
were nearly destroyed.

The Canadians and Indians, who had fled almost unharmed, halted that
evening at the scene of Williams's defeat to scalp the dead and dying.
Finding they were not molested, they prepared for rest and refreshment,
and even debated upon the renewal of the attack. The heavy loss already
sustained by the English (upward of 200 men), and the consequent
disorganization, prevented them from following up their victory: this
forced inaction had well-nigh proved the destruction of 120 men sent
from Fort Edward to their aid under Captain Macginnis. This gallant
officer, however, had secured his march by every proper precaution, and
was warned by his scouts that he was close upon the spot where the still
formidable enemy was bivouacked. He promptly formed his little band, and
sustained a sharp engagement for nearly two hours, extricating his
detachment at length with little loss, and much honor to himself. The
brave young man was, however, mortally wounded, and died three days
afterward in Johnson's camp. The remnant of the French army then
dispersed, and sought shelter at Ticonderoga.[49]

Though the brilliance of this success was obscured by the somewhat timid
inaction that followed,[50] the consequences were of great importance.
The English troops, it must be owned, were become so accustomed to
defeat and disaster, that they went into action spiritless and
distrustful. Now that a formidable force of the enemy had yielded to
their prowess, confidence began to revive, and gradually strengthened
into boldness. Had the French been successful in their attack, the
results would have been most disastrous for the British colonies:
nothing would have remained to arrest their progress into the heart of
the country, or stem the tide of ruin that had followed on their track.
The value of this unusual triumph on the Western continent was duly felt
in England: a baronetcy by royal favor, and a grant of L5000 by a
grateful Parliament, rewarded the successful general.

General Johnson turned his attention immediately after the battle to
strengthen the position he had successfully held, with the view of
securing the frontiers from hostile incursion when he should retire into
winter quarters. The fort called William Henry[51] was forthwith
constructed by his orders; guns were mounted, and a regiment of
Provincial troops, with a company of rangers, left to garrison it and
Fort Edward. On the 24th of December Johnson fell back to Albany, and
from thence dispersed the remainder of his army to their respective
provinces. In the mean time, Captain Rogers, a daring and active
officer, made repeated demonstrations against the French in the
neighborhood of Crown Point,[52] cut off many of their detached parties,
and obtained constant intelligence of their proceedings. By these means
it was known that the French had assembled a force of no less than 2000
men, with a proportion of artillery, and a considerable body of Indians,
at Ticonderoga; the British were therefore obliged to use every
vigilance to secure themselves against sudden attack from their
formidable enemies, and to hasten, by all means in their power, the
preparations for defense.

The fatal consequences of the unfortunate Braddock's defeat were rapidly
developed in the southwestern frontiers. The French were aroused by
success to an unusual spirit of enterprise, and, together with the
Indians, they carried destruction into the remote and scattered hamlets
of the British settlements. To put an end to these depredations, the
government of Virginia marched 500 men to garrison Fort Cumberland, and
160 more to the southern branch of the Potomac, lately the scene of a
cruel massacre. But these isolated efforts were of little more than
local and temporary advantage; as the marauders were checked or baffled
in one district, they poured with increased ferocity upon another. The
province of Pennsylvania now became their foray-ground; and the
inhabitants, the faithful but fanatic men of peace, actually denied all
assistance to their governor for defense, and zealously preached against
any warlike preparations, recommending patience and forbearance as the
best means of securing their properties and lives.

This fatal delusion was not even dispelled by the intelligence that 1400
Indians and 100 French were already mustered on the banks of the
Susquehanna, only eighty miles from Philadelphia, with the object of
again dividing and sweeping the whole country in separate parties. Soon
after, news arrived that the peaceful and prosperous settlement of Great
Cove was utterly destroyed, and all the inhabitants massacred or carried
into captivity. Still the men of peace refused to use the arm of flesh.
The spirited governor in vain urged the necessity of action upon his
unmanageable Assembly, till the sudden arrival of some hundreds of
ruined fugitives strengthened his argument. These unfortunates crowded
to the State House, dragging a wagon loaded with the dead and mutilated
bodies of their friends, who had been scalped by the Indians at a place
only sixty miles distant; they threw the bleeding corpses at the door,
and threatened violence if their demands for protection and revenge were
not instantly complied with. The Assembly, either moved by their
distress, or overawed by their menaces, at length gave up its scruples,
and passed a bill to call out the militia and appropriate L62,000 to the
expenses of the war.

It must be said, at the same time, that the other English colonies,
where no such scruples as those of the Quakers existed, were far from
being active or united in raising supplies of men and money for their
common safety. Those, however, where danger was most imminent,
addressed strong and spirited appeals to their rulers for protection and
support, and denounced in vigorous language the aggressions and
usurpations of the French. These remonstrances had at length the desired
effect of disposing the minds of the local authorities to second the
views of the court of London for curbing the advances of Canadian power.
On the 12th of December, 1755, a grand council of war was assembled at
New York, consisting of as many provincial governors and superior
officers as could be collected for the purpose. General Shirley
presided, and laid before them the instructions which had been given to
Braddock, his unfortunate predecessor. He exerted himself with energy
and success to create a good understanding among the several
governments, and was particularly happy in effecting a union for mutual
protection and support between the important states of New England and
New York. He also succeeded in regaining to his cause many of the
Indians, who had either already gone over to the French or withdrawn to
a cold neutrality.

The measures Shirley now proposed to the council were in accordance with
the tenor of General Braddock's instructions; they were cheerfully
assented to by that body, through his successful negotiations. It was
agreed to strengthen the naval force on Lake Ontario, and to form an
army of 6000 men upon its shores, while 10,000 more were to be directed
against the French intrenchments at Ticonderoga. Another attempt was
also proposed upon Fort du Quesne, and a movement against the Canadian
settlements on the Chaudiere, provided that these schemes should not
interfere with the main objects of the war. The council then unanimously
gave their opinion that a re-enforcement of regular soldiers was
indispensable for the assertion and security of the British sovereign's
rights on the American continent.

The English government,[53] though sensible of General Shirley's
abilities as a negotiator, had not sufficient confidence in his military
capacity to intrust him with the execution of extensive warlike
operations. The command in chief of all the forces in America was
therefore conferred upon the Earl of Loudon, a nobleman of amiable
character, who had already distinguished himself in the service of his
country.[54]

[Footnote 1: Mr. Shirley was born in England, and brought up to the law.
In that profession he afterward practiced for many years in the
Massachusetts Bay, and in 1741 was advanced to the supreme command of
that colony. Upon the conclusion of the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle he was
chosen as one of the British commissioners at Paris, and when the
conference there broke up, he resumed his government in New England (in
1753).]

[Footnote 2: "The salaries allotted to the officers of the civil
departments in the French colonial governments were extremely moderate,
and inadequate to support their respective situations. In 1758, that of
the Marquis de Vaudreuil, governor and lieutenant general of Canada,
amounted to no more than L272 1_s._ 8_d._ sterling, out of which he was
to clothe, maintain, and pay a guard for himself, consisting of two
sergeants and twenty-five soldiers, furnishing them with firing in
winter, and with other necessary articles. The pay of the whole officers
of justice and police was L514 11_s._ sterling, and the total sum
appropriated for the pay of the established officers, composing the
various branches of the civil power, did not exceed L3809 8_s._
sterling."--Heriot's _Travels in Canada_, p. 98.]

[Footnote 3: "On the 1st January of this year England adopted the New
Style, which had been long before in use among all civilized nations
except Russia and Sweden. They, with England, still clung to the
exploded system, for no better reason, apparently, than because it was a
Pope who established the new. 'It was not, in my opinion,' writes
Chesterfield, 'very honorable for England to remain in gross and avowed
error, especially in such company.' The bill for the reformation of the
calendar was moved by Lord Chesterfield in a very able, and seconded by
Lord Macclesfield in a very learned speech, and it was successfully
carried through both Houses. The bill had been framed by these two
noblemen in concert with Dr. Bradley and other eminent men of science.
To correct the old calendar, eleven nominal days were to be suppressed
in September, 1752, so that the day following the 2d of that month
should be styled the 14th. The difficulties that might result from the
change, as affecting rents, leases, and bills of exchange, were likewise
carefully considered and effectually prevented."--Lord Mahon's _History
of England_, vol. iv., p. 23.]

[Footnote 4: "He amassed, while governor of Canada, by commerce alone,
more than a million livres, besides which, he had for many years sixty
thousand livres from his appointments and pensions. Yet, notwithstanding
his riches, his avarice was in many instances so extreme, that he denied
himself the common necessaries of life. During his last illness, he
ordered the wax tapers that were burning in his room to be changed for
tallow candles, observing that 'the latter would answer every purpose,
and were less expensive.'"--Smith's _Hist. of Canada_, vol. i., p. 223.]

[Footnote 5: "While Britain claimed an indefinite extent to the west,
France insisted on confining her to the eastern side of the Allegany
Mountains, and claimed the whole country whose waters run into the
Mississippi, in virtue of her right as the first discoverer of that
river. The delightful region between the summit of those mountains and
the Mississippi was the object for which these two powerful nations
contended, and it soon became apparent that the sword alone could decide
the contest."--Marshall's _Life of Washington_, vol. i., p. 294;
Belsham, vol. ii., p. 363, 364.

"Thus France would have enjoyed, in time of peace, the whole Indian
trade, and the English colonies, in time of war, must have had a
frontier of 1200 miles to defend against blood-thirsty savages,
conducted by French officers, and supported by regular troops. It was,
in fact, to attempt the extinction of the British settlements, and yet,
without such interior communication as was projected between Canada and
Louisiana, the French settlements on the St. Lawrence and Mississippi
could never, it was said, attain any high degree of consequence or
security; the navigation of one of those rivers being at all seasons
difficult, and that of the other blocked up with ice during the winter
months, so as to preclude exterior support or relief. This scheme of
usurpation, which is supposed to have long occupied the deliberations of
the court of Versailles, was ardently embraced by M. de la Jonquiere,
now commander-in-chief of the French forces in North America, and by La
Galissoniere, a man of a bold and enterprising spirit, who had been
appointed governor of New France in 1747. By their joint efforts, in
addition to those of their predecessors, forts were erected along the
Great Lakes, which communicate with the River St. Lawrence, and also on
the Ohio and Mississippi. The vast chain was almost completed from
Quebec to New Orleans, when the court of England, roused by repeated
injuries, broke off the conferences relative to the limits of Nova
Scotia."--Russell's _Modern Europe_, vol. iii., p. 273.]

[Footnote 6: See Appendix, No. LXV.]

[Footnote 7: "The governors of Canada, who were generally military men,
had, for several preceding years, judiciously selected and fortified
such situations as would give their nation most influence with the
Indians, and most facilitate incursions into the northern English
provinces. The command of Lake Champlain had been acquired by erecting a
strong fort at Crown Point, and a connected chain of posts was
maintained from Quebec up the St. Lawrence and along the Great Lakes. It
was now intended to unite these posts with the Mississippi, by taking
positions which should enable them to circumscribe, and at the same time
annoy, the frontier settlements of the English. The execution of this
plan was probably in some degree accelerated by an act of the British
government. The year after the conclusion of the war with France,
several very influential persons, both in England and Virginia, who
associated under the name of the Ohio Company, obtained from the crown a
grant for 600,000 acres of land, lying in the country which was claimed
by both nations. Several opulent merchants, as well as noblemen and
gentlemen, being members of this company, its objects were commercial as
well as territorial; and measures were immediately taken to derive all
the advantages expected from their grants in both these respects, by
establishing houses for carrying on their trade with the Indians. The
governor of Canada, who obtained early intelligence of this intrusion,
as he deemed it, into the dominions of his Christian majesty, wrote
immediately to the governors of New York and Pennsylvania, informing
them that the English traders had encroached on the French territory by
trading with the Indians, and warning them that, if they did not desist,
he should be under the necessity of seizing them wherever they should be
found. This threat having been disregarded, it was put in execution by
seizing the British traders among the Twightwees,[55] and carrying them
as prisoners to a fort on Lake Erie."--Marshall's _Life of Washington_,
vol. i., p. 297.]

[Footnote 8: "The country taken possession of by the French troops had
actually been granted as a part of the territory of Virginia to the Ohio
Company, who were, in consequence, commencing its settlement."--Marshall's
_Life of Washington_, vol. i., p. 298.]

[Footnote 9: "Which was the less to be wondered at," remarks Major
Washington, in his journal, "as the garrison of the fort consisted but
of thirty-three effective men." They were commanded by Captain Trent.]

[Footnote 10: This name was given in honor of the then governor of
Canada, the Marquis du Quesne de Menneville. Fort Du Quesne is now
called Pittsburg.]

[Footnote 11: Smollett says that "Jumonville bore a summons to Colonel
Washington, requiring him to quit the fort, which he pretended was built
on ground belonging to the French or their allies. So little regard was
paid to this intimation, that the English fell upon this party, and, as
the French affirm, without the least provocation, either slew or took
the whole detachment. De Villiers, incensed at these unprovoked
hostilities...."--Smollett, vol. iii., p. 421.]

[Footnote 12: "This skirmish, of small importance, perhaps, in itself,
was yet among the principal causes of the war. It is no less memorable
as the first appearance in the pages of history of one of their
brightest ornaments--of that great and good man, GENERAL
WASHINGTON."--Lord Mahon's _History of England_, vol. iv., p. 65.

"This event was no sooner known in England than the British embassador
at Paris received directions to complain of it to the French ministry,
as an open violation of the peace."--Smollett, vol. iii., p. 421.]

[Footnote 13: "The capitulation was written in French, and as neither
Mr. Washington nor any of his party understood that language, a
foreigner was employed to read it to them in English. But, instead of
acting the part of a faithful interpreter, when he came to the word
'assassination,'[56] employed in the capitulation to designate M. de
Jumonville's defeat and death, he translated it 'the defeat of M. de
Jumonville.' This I have the best authority to assert; the authority of
the English officers who were present. Indeed, the thing speaks for
itself. It can not be supposed that these gentlemen should know so
little of what they owed to themselves, both as men and as soldiers, as
not to prefer any extremity rather than submit to the disgrace of being
branded with the imputation of so horrid a crime. After all, had they
been guilty of this charge, they could scarce have been worse used than
they were."--_History of the late War in America_ by Major Thomas Mante,
p. 14 (London, 1772).]

[Footnote 14: "The coal measures of this part of Maryland are usually
called the Cumberland coal-field, from Fort Cumberland, famous for the
wars of the English with the French and Indians, in which General
Washington took part before the American Revolution. The carboniferous
strata are arranged geologically in a trough about twenty-five miles
long from north to south, and from three to four miles broad. Professor
Silliman and his son, who surveyed them, have aptly compared the shape
of the successive beds to a great number of canoes placed one within
another."--Lyell's _Geology_, vol. ii., p. 17.]

[Footnote 15: "An able diplomacy in Europe exerted betimes would
probably have allayed the rancor of these feuds in America. But, for our
misfortune, we had then at Paris as embassador the Earl of Albemarle, an
indolent man of pleasure."--Lord Mahon's _History of England_, vol. iv.,
p. 66. London, 1844.

"Between you and me, for this must go no further, what do you think made
Lord Albemarle, colonel of a regiment of Guards, governor of Virginia,
groom of the stole, and embassador to Paris, amounting in all to L16,000
or L17,000 a year? Was it his birth? No; a Dutch gentleman only. Was it
his estate? No; he had none. Was it his learning, his parts, his
political abilities and application? You can answer these questions as
easily and as soon as I can ask them. What was it, then? Many people
wondered, but I do not, for I know, and will tell you: it was his air,
his address, his manners, and his graces."--_Lord Chesterfield to his
Son_, May 27, 1752.

Lord Albemarle died suddenly at his post in December, 1754. "You will
have heard, before you receive this, of Lord Albemarle's sudden death at
Paris. Every body is so sorry for him--without being so; yet as sorry as
he would have been for any body, or as he deserved. Can any one really
regret a man who, with the most meritorious wife and sons in the world,
and with near L15,000 a year from the government, leaves not a shilling
to his family, but dies immensely in debt, though when he married he had
near L90,000 in the funds, and my Lady Albemarle brought him L25,000
more."--Walpole's _Letters to Sir H. Mann_, Jan. 9, 1755.

Lord Hertford was named to succeed Lord Albemarle as embassador to
Paris, but war being soon declared between the two nations, he never
went there.]

[Footnote 16: "On the 6th of March, 1754, the calm and languid course of
public business had been suddenly broken through by the death of the
prime minister,[57] Mr. Pelham. 'Now I shall have no more peace!'
exclaimed the old king, when he heard the news; and the events of the
next few years fully confirmed his majesty's prediction. At the tidings
of his brother's death--a death so sudden and unlocked for--the the mind
of Newcastle was stirred with the contending emotions of grief, fear,
and ambition. The grief soon passed away, but the fear and the ambition
long struggled for the mastery. After a dishonest negotiation with Henry
Fox (younger son of Sir Stephen Fox, a brother of the first Earl of
Ilchester), the duke, finding him not sufficiently subservient, bestowed
the seals of secretary upon Sir Thomas Robinson. It was certainly no
light or easy task which Newcastle had thus accomplished: he had
succeeded in finding a secretary of state with abilities inferior to his
own.... The new Parliament met in November, 1754. Before that time a
common resentment had united the two statesmen whom rivalry had hitherto
kept asunder, Pitt and Fox. 'Sir Thomas Robinson lead us!' exclaimed
Pitt to Fox: 'The duke might as well send his jackboot to lead us!' ...
At length, in January, 1755, the Duke of Newcastle renewed his
negotiations with Fox. The terms he offered were far less than those Fox
had formerly refused, neither the head of the House of Commons nor the
office of Secretary of State, but admission to the cabinet, provided Fox
would actively support the king's measures in the House, and would in
some sort lead without being leader.... The conduct of Fox to Pitt (in
accepting these terms) seems not easy to reconcile with perfect good
faith, while the sudden lowering of his pretensions to Newcastle was,
beyond all doubt, an unworthy subservience. On one or both of these
grounds he fell in public esteem. By the aid of Fox and the silence of
Pitt the remainder of the session passed quietly. But great events were
now at hand. The horizon had long been dark with war, and this summer
burst the storm."--Lord Mahon's _History of England_, vol. iv., p. 65;
Belsham, vol. ii., p. 354, 355.]

[Footnote 17: "The French have taken such liberties with some of our
forts that are of great consequence to cover Virginia, Carolina, and
Georgia, that we are actually dispatching two regiments thither. As the
climate and other American circumstances are against these poor men, I
pity them, and think them too many if the French mean nothing farther,
too few if they do. Indeed, I am one of those that feel less resentment
when we are attacked so far off: I think it an obligation to be eaten
the last."--Walpole's _Letters to Sir H. Mann_, Oct. 6, 1754.

"A detachment of fifty men of the regiment of artillery embarked with
the 2d battalion, No. 44 and No. 48, under the command of Major-general
Braddock, for America.... This detachment was mostly cut to pieces near
Fort du Quesne, on the Monongahela, on the 9th of July, 1755."--_Memoirs
of the Royal Regt. of Artillery_, 1743. MSS., Col. Macbean, R.A.
Library, Woolwich.]

[Footnote 18: The Duke of Cumberland was then at the head of the
regency, during the absence of his father, George II., on the
continent.]

[Footnote 19: Officers were appointed for two regiments, consisting of
two battalions each, to be raised in America, and commanded by Sir
William Pepperel and Governor Shirley, who had enjoyed the same command
in the last war.[58]]

[Footnote 20: "Although the force to be employed was to be drawn almost
entirely from Massachusetts, the command of the expedition was conferred
on Lieutenant-colonel Monckton, a British officer, in whose military
talents more confidence was placed than in those of any provincial. The
troops of Massachusetts embarked at Boston on the 20th of May, 1755,
together with Shirley's and Pepperel's regiments, commanded by
Lieutenant-colonel Winslow, who was a major general of the militia, and
an officer of great influence in the province. About four miles from
Fort Lawrence they were joined by 300 British troops and a small train
of artillery."--Marshall's _Life of Washington_, vol. i., p. 310.]

[Footnote 21: "In the obstinate conflict which was commencing between
the French and English crowns, the continuance of the Acadians in Nova
Scotia was thought dangerous on account of their invincible attachment
to France; and to expel them from the country, leaving them at liberty
to choose their place of residence, would be to re-enforce the French in
Canada. A council was held, aided by the Admirals Boscawen and Morty,
for the purposes of deciding on the destinies of these unfortunate
people, and the severe policy was adopted of removing them from their
homes and dispersing them among the other British colonies. This harsh
measure was immediately put into execution, and the miserable
inhabitants of Nova Scotia, banished from their homes, were in one
instant reduced from ease and contentment to a state of beggary. Their
lands and movables, with the exception of their money and household
furniture, were declared to be forfeit to the crown; and to prevent
their being able to subsist themselves, should they escape, the country
was laid waste, and their habitations reduced to ashes."--Minot, quoted
by Marshall, vol. i., p. 312.]

[Footnote 22: "When the French were in possession of this garrison, they
had no artillery; however, they were not at a loss to deceive their
enemies at Fort Lawrence, for they provided a parcel of birch, and other
hard, well-grown trees, which they shaped and bored after the fashion of
cannon, securing them from end to end with cordage, and from one of
these they constantly fired a morning and evening gun, as is customary
in garrisons; but upon the reduction of the place, and a spirited
inquiry after the cannon, they found themselves obliged to discover this
ingenious device."--Knox's _Hist. Journal_, vol. i., p. 58.]

[Footnote 23: "Captain, afterward Lord Howe, after an engagement in
which he displayed equal skill and intrepidity, succeeded in taking the
two French ships, the _Alcide_ and the _Lys_."--Lord Mahon's _History of
England_, vol. iv., p. 68.]

[Footnote 24: "At home, in the king's absence, our councils were most
feeble and wavering.... A great difference appeared among the members of
the regency. The Duke of Cumberland, always inclined to vigorous
measures, wished to declare war at once, and to strike the first
blow.... The Duke of Newcastle, trimming and trembling as was ever his
wont, thought only of keeping off the storm as long as possible, and of
shifting its responsibility from himself.... At length, as a kind of
compromise, it was agreed that there should be no declaration of war;
that our fleet should attack the French ships of the line, if it fell in
with any, but by no means disturb any smaller men-of-war or any vessels
engaged in trade. When, at the Board of Regency, these instructions came
round to the bottom of the table to be signed by Fox, he turned to Lord
Anson, the First Lord of the Admiralty, and asked if there were no
objections to them. 'Yes,' answered Anson, 'a hundred; but it pleases
those at the upper end of the table, and will signify nothing, for the
French will declare war _next week, if they have not done it
already_.'[59] While the prospects of peace grew darker and darker,
there was also gathering a cloud of popular resentment and distrust
against the minister. It was often asked whether these were times when
all power could be safely monopolized by the Duke of Newcastle? Was
every thing to be risked--perhaps every thing lost--for the sake of one
hoary jobber at the Treasury?"--Lord Mahon's _History of England_, vol.
iv., p. 72.]

[Footnote 25: _MS. Journal of Major-general Braddock's Expedition
against Fort du Quesne_, 1755. Royal Artillery Library, Woolwich.]

[Footnote 26: "Mr. Franklin had observed that Sir John St. Clair's
uniform (the quarter-master general) was of the hussar kind, and this
gave him a hint which he immediately improved: he caused a report to be
propagated among the Germans that, except 150 wagons could be got ready
and sent to the general within a certain time, St. Clair, who was a
hussar, would come among them, and take away what he found by force. The
Germans, having formerly lived under despotic power, knew the hussars
too well to doubt their serving themselves, and believing that General
St. Clair was indeed a hussar, they provided, instead of 150, 200
wagons, and sent them within the time that Franklin had limited. The
Pennsylvanians also advanced a further sum above the king's bounty, and
sent him 190 wagons more, laden with a ton of corn and oats, four wagons
with provisions and wine for the officers, and 60 head of fine cattle
for the army."--_Gentleman's Magazine_, August, 1755.]

[Footnote 27: "Those who have experienced only the severities and
dangers of a campaign in Europe can scarcely form an idea of what is to
be done and endured in an American war. In an American campaign every
thing is terrible--the face of the country, the climate, the enemy.
There is no refreshment for the healthy nor relief for the sick. A vast
inhospitable desert surrounds the troops where victories are not
decisive, but defeats are ruinous, and simple death is the least
misfortune that can happen to a soldier. This forms a service truly
critical, in which all the firmness of the body and the mind is put to
the severest trial, and all the exertions of courage and address are
called out. If the actions of these rude campaigns are of less dignity,
the adventures in them are more interesting to the heart, and more
amusing to the imagination than the details of a regular war."--(Burke,
_Annual Register_, 1763.) "Yet Adam Smith ventures to assert, in the
plenitude of learned ignorance and ingenious error, that 'nothing can be
more contemptible than an Indian war in North America.' ... Colonel
Barre, who had served in America, declared, in his celebrated speech
upon American taxation, in 1765, that the Indians were as enemies 'the
most subtile and the most formidable of any people upon the face of
God's earth.'"--Graham's _History of the United States_, vol. iv., p.
448.]

[Footnote 28: "You will see ... the condition of the troops in this
country, particularly that of the infamous Free Companies of New
York."--_Letter from General Braddock to Colonel Napier, Adjutant
General._ Williamsburg, Feb. 24, 1754.]

[Footnote 29: "The (Duke of Cumberland), who is now the soul of the
regency, is much dissatisfied at the slowness of General Braddock, who
does not march as if he was at all impatient to be scalped. It is said
for him that he has had bad guides, that the roads are exceedingly
difficult, and that it was necessary to drag as much artillery as he
does. This is not the first time, as witness in Hawley, that the duke
has found that brutality did not necessarily constitute a general.
Braddock is a very Iroquois in disposition."--Walpole's _Letters to Sir
H. Mann_, Aug. 21, 1755.]

[Footnote 30: "Want of intelligence and reconnoitering parties was the
sole cause of defeat."--General Kane's _Mil. Hist. of Great Britain to
1757_.]

[Footnote 31: "After the successful expedition against Fort du Quesne in
1758, General Forbes resolved to search for the relics of Braddock's
army. As the European soldiers were not so well qualified to explore the
forests, Captain West, the elder brother of Benjamin West, the painter,
was appointed, with his company of American Sharp-shooters, to assist in
the execution of this duty; and a party of Indians were requested to
conduct him to the places where the bones of the slain were likely to be
found. In this solemn and affecting duty, several officers belonging to
the 42d regiment accompanied the detachment, and with them Major Sir
Peter Halket, who had lost his father and brother in the fatal
destruction of the army. It might have been thought a hopeless task that
he should be able to discriminate their remains from the common relics
of the other soldiers; but he was induced to think otherwise, as one of
the Indian warriors assured him that he had seen an officer fall near a
remarkable tree, which he thought he could still discover; informing
him, at the same time, that the incident was impressed on his memory by
observing a young subaltern, who, in running to the officer's
assistance, was also shot dead on his reaching the spot, and fell across
the other's body. The major had a mournful conviction in his own mind
that those two officers were his father and brother; and, indeed, it was
chiefly owing to his anxiety on the subject that this pious expedition,
the second of the kind that is on record, was undertaken. Captain West
and his companions proceeded through the woods and along the banks of
the river toward the scene of the battle. The Indians regarded the
expedition as a religious service, and guided the troops with awe and in
profound silence. The soldiers were affected with sentiments not less
serious; and as they explored the bewildering labyrinths of those vast
forests, their hearts were often melted with inexpressible sorrow, for
they frequently found skeletons lying across the trunks of fallen trees:
a mournful proof to their imaginations that the men who sat there had
perished of hunger in vainly attempting to find their way to the
plantations. Sometimes their feelings were raised to the utmost pitch of
horror by the sight of skulls and bones scattered on the ground, a
certain indication that the bodies had been devoured by wild beasts; and
in other places they saw the blackness of ashes amid the relics, the
tremendous evidence of atrocious rites. At length they reached a turn of
the river, not far from the principal scene of destruction, and the
Indian who remembered the death of the two officers stopped: the
detachment immediately halted. He then looked round in quest of some
object which might recall distinctly his recollection of the ground, and
suddenly darted into the wood. The soldiers rested their arms without
speaking; a shrill cry was soon after heard; and the other guides made
signs for the troops to follow them toward the spot from which it came.
In a short time they reached the Indian warrior, who, by his cry,
announced to his companions that he had found the place where he was
posted on the day of battle. As the troops approached, he pointed to the
tree under which the officers had fallen. Captain West halted his men
round the spot, and, with Sir Peter Halket and the other officers,
formed a circle, while the Indians removed the leaves which thickly
covered the ground (the leaves of three seasons). The skeletons were
found, as the Indian expected, lying across each other. The officers
having looked at them for some time, the major said that as his father
had an artificial tooth, he thought he might be able to ascertain if
they were indeed his bones and those of his brother. The Indians were
therefore ordered to remove the skeleton of the youth, and to bring to
view that of the old officer. This was done, and after a short
examination, Major Halket exclaimed, "It is my father!" and fell back
into the arms of his companions. The pioneers then dug a grave, and the
bones being laid in it together, a Highland plaid was spread over them,
and they were interred with the customary honors."--Galt's _Life of
West_.]

[Footnote 32: "The whole was in disorder, and, it is said, the general
himself, though exceedingly brave, did not retain all the _sang froid_
that was necessary."--Walpole's _Letters to Sir Horace Mann_, August 28,
1755.]

[Footnote 33: _MS. Journal of Major-general Braddock's Expedition
against Forte du Quesne_, 1755. Royal Artillery Library, Woolwich.

"He was borne off the field by some soldiers whom his aid-de-camp had
bribed to that service by a guinea and a bottle of rum to each."--Lord
Mahon's _Hist. of England_, vol. iv., p. 70.]

[Footnote 34: "Among the rest, the general's cabinet, with all his
letters and instructions, which the French court afterward made great
use of in their printed manifestoes."--Smollett's _Hist. of England_,
vol. iii., p. 448; Belsham, vol. ii., p. 369.]

[Footnote 35: "Major Washington acquired on this occasion, in the midst
of defeat, the honors and laurels of victory."--Belsham, vol. ii., p.
369.

"They had seen a chosen army from that country, which, reverencing as a
mother, they had fondly believed invincible; an army led by a chief who
had been selected from a crowd of trained warriors for his rare military
endowments, disgracefully routed by a handful of French and Indians, and
only saved from annihilation by the spirit and coolness of a Virginian
boy, whose riper fame has since diffused itself with the steady influence
of moral truth to the uttermost confines of Christendom."--_Last of the
Mohicans._]

[Footnote 36: "Though the enemy did not so much as attempt to pursue,
nor even appeared in sight, either in the battle or after defeat. On the
whole, this was, perhaps, the most extraordinary victory that ever was
obtained, and the farthest flight that ever was made."--Smollett's
_Hist. of England_, vol. iii., p. 440.]

[Footnote 37: "I have already given you some account of Braddock; I may
complete the poor man's history in a few more words. He once had a duel
with Colonel Gumly, Lady Bath's brother, who had been his great friend.
As they were going to engage, Gumly, who had good-humor and wit
(Braddock had the latter), said, 'Braddock, you are a poor dog! here,
take my purse; if you kill me, you will be forced to run away, and then
you will not have a shilling to support you.' Braddock refused the
purse, insisted on the duel, was disarmed, and would not even ask his
life. However, with all his brutality, he has lately been governor of
Gibraltar, where he made himself adored, and where never any governor
was endured before. Adieu! Pray don't let any detachment from
Pannoni's[60] be sent against us: we should run away."--Walpole's
_Letters to Sir H. Mann_, August 28, 1755.]

[Footnote 38: "The European troops, whose cowardice has thus injured
their country, are the same that ran away at Preston Pans. To prevent,
however, any unjust national reflections, it must be remarked, that,
though they are called Irish regiments, they are not regiments of
Irishmen, but regiments on the Irish establishment, consisting of
English, Irish, and Scotch, as other regiments do. It is, however, said,
that the slaughter among our officers was not made by the enemy; but as
they ran several fugitives through the body to intimidate the rest, when
they were attempting in vain to rally them, some others, who expected
the same fate, discharged their pistols at them, which, though loaded,
they could not be brought to level at the French. On the other hand, it
is alleged that the defeat is owing more to presumption and want of
conduct in the officers than to cowardice in the private men; that a
retreat ought to have been resolved upon the moment they found
themselves surprised by an ambuscade; and that they were told by the
men, when they refused to return to the charge, that if they could see
their enemy they would fight him, but that they would not waste their
ammunition against trees and bushes, nor stand exposed to invisible
assailants, the French and Indian rangers, who are excellent marksmen,
and in such a situation would inevitably destroy any number of the best
troops in the world."--_Gentleman's Magazine_, August, 1755.]

[Footnote 39: "The American regulars, consisting of Shirley's and
Pepperel's regiments, constituted the principal force relied on for the
reduction of Niagara."--Marshall's _Life of Washington_, vol. i., p.
308.]

[Footnote 40: "The fort of Niagara had been repaired by the French in
1741, in consequence of the apprehension they felt that the
trading-house at Oswego, just established by the English at the mouth of
the Onondaga River, would deprive them of a profitable trade, and of the
command of the Lake Ontario."--Marshall's _Life of Washington_, vol. i.,
p. 286.

"This fort was in other respects a very important post, for the lakes
are so disposed that, without a somewhat hazardous voyage, one can not,
any otherwise than by Niagara Fort, pass from the northeast to the
southwest of North America for many hundred miles."--_New Military
Dictionary_, London, 1760.]

[Footnote 41: "Bateaux are a kind of light, flat-bottomed boats, widest
in the middle and pointed at each end, of about fifteen hundred weight
burden, and managed by two men, called bateaux-men, with paddles and
setting poles, the rivers being in many places too narrow to admit of
oars."--Smollett's _Hist. of England_, vol. iii., p. 457.]

[Footnote 42: "Mr. Burnet,[61] governor of New York and New Jersey,
deemed it an object of great magnitude to obtain the command of Lake
Ontario, and, in pursuance of this plan, he had, in 1722, erected a
trading-house at Oswego, in the country of the Senecas, which soon
became of considerable importance. After ineffectual remonstrances, both
in America and in Europe, against the re-establishment of Niagara Fort,
Governor Burnet, to countervail as much as possible its effects, erected
at his own expense a fort at Oswego."--Marshall's _Life of Washington_,
vol. iv., p. 287.]

[Footnote 43: "The preparations for General Shirley's expedition against
Niagara were not only deficient, but shamefully slow, though it was well
known that even the possibility of his success must in a great measure
depend upon his setting out early in the year, as will appear to any
person who considers the situation of our fort at Oswego, this being the
only way by which he could proceed to Niagara. Oswego lies on the
southeast side of Lake Ontario, near 300 miles almost due west from
Albany, in New York. The way to it from thence, though long and tedious,
is the more convenient, as the far greater part of it admits of
water-carriage by the Mohawk River, Wood's Creek, Lake Oneida, and the
River Onondaga, which, after a course of twenty or thirty miles, unites
with the River Seneca, and their united streams run into the Lake
Ontario at the place where Oswego Fort is situated."--Smollett, vol.
iii., p. 458.]

[Footnote 44: "Though repeated advice had been received that the French
had there at least 1000 men at their Fort of Frontenac, on the same
lake; and, what was still worse, the new forts (that of Ontario, and a
new fort bearing the same name as the old, Oswego) were not yet
completed, but left to be finished by the hard labor of Colonel Mercer
and his little garrison, with the addition of this melancholy
circumstance, that if besieged during the winter, it would not be
possible for his friends to come to his assistance."--Smollett's
_England_, iii. p. 461.]

[Footnote 45: Russell's _Modern Europe_, vol. iii., p. 279.

"The justly celebrated Sir William Johnson held an office difficult both
to define and execute. He might, indeed, be called the Tribune of the
Five Nations; their claims he asserted, their rights he protected, and
over their minds he possessed a greater sway than any individual had
ever attained. He was an uncommonly tall, well-made man, with a fine
countenance, which, moreover, had rather an expression of dignified
sedateness, approaching to melancholy. He appeared to be taciturn, never
wasting words on matters of no importance, but highly eloquent where the
occasion called forth his powers. He possessed intuitive sagacity, and
the most entire command of temper and of countenance. He did by no means
lose sight of his own interest, but, on the contrary, raised himself to
power and wealth in an open and active manner, not disdaining any
honorable means of benefiting himself. He built two spacious and
convenient places of residence on the Mohawk River, known afterward by
the name of Johnson Castle and Johnson Hall. The Hall was his summer
residence. Here this singular man lived like a little sovereign; kept an
excellent table for strangers and officers, whom the course of their
duty now frequently led into these wilds; and by confiding entirely in
the Indians, and treating them with unwearied truth and justice, without
ever yielding to solicitation that he had once refused, he taught them
to repose entire confidence in him. So perfect was his dependence on
those people, whom his fortitude and other manly virtues had attached to
him, that when they returned from their summer excursions, and exchanged
the last years furs for fire-arms, &c., they used to pass a few days at
the Castle, when his family and most of his domestics were down at the
Hall. There they were all liberally entertained by Sir William; and 500
of them have been known for nights together, after drinking pretty
freely, to lie around him on the ground, while he was the only white
person in a house containing great quantities of every thing that was to
them valuable or desirable. Sir William thus united in his mode of life
the calm urbanity of a liberal and extensive trader, with the splendid
hospitality, the numerous attendance, and the plain though dignified
manners of an ancient baron."--_Memoirs of an American Lady_, vol. ii.,
p. 61.

Sir William Johnson was regularly appointed and paid by government as
Superintendent of Indian Affairs.]

[Footnote 46: "Few countries could produce such dexterous marksmen, or
persons so well qualified for conquering those natural obstacles of
thick woods and swamps, which would at once baffle the most determined
European. Not only were they strong of limb, swift of foot, and
excellent marksmen, the hatchet was as familiar to them as the musket;
in short, when means or arguments could be used powerful enough to
collect a people so uncontrolled and so uncontrollable, and when headed
by a leader whom they loved and trusted, a well-armed body of New York
Provincials had nothing to dread but an ague or an ambuscade, to both of
which they were much exposed on the banks of the lakes, and amid the
swampy forests they had to penetrate in pursuit of an enemy."--_Memoirs
of an American Lady_, vol. i., p. 203.]

[Footnote 47: "Our artillery then began to play on them, and was served,
under the direction of Captain Eyre ... in a manner very advantageous to
his character."--_Letter from General Johnson to the Governor of New
York._ Camp at Lake George, Sept. 9th, 1755.]

[Footnote 48: "Just arrived from America, and to be seen at the New York
and Cape Breton Coffee-house, in Sweeting's Alley, from 12 to 3, and
from 4 till 6, to the latter end of next week, and then will embark for
America in the _General Webb_, Captain Boardman, a famous Mohawk Indian
warrior! the same person who took M. Dieskau, the French general,
prisoner, at the battle of Lake George, where General Johnson beat the
French, and was one of the said general's guards. He is dressed in the
same manner with his native Indians when they go to war; his face and
body painted, with his scalping knife, tom-ax, and all other implements
of war that are used by the Indians in battle: a sight worthy the
curiosity of every true Briton.

"Price one shilling each person.

"*** The only Indian that has been in England since the reign of Queen
Anne."--_Public Advertiser_, 1755.]

[Footnote 49: "There are flying reports that General Johnson, our only
hero at present, has taken Crown Point."--Walpole's _Letters to Sir H.
Mann_, Dec. 4, 1755.]

[Footnote 50: "General Johnson complained that his troops seemed
impressed with apprehensions of the enemy, from the boldness with which
they had been attacked, and were unwilling, from the insufficiency of
their clothing, want of provisions, and other causes, to proceed further
on the enterprise; and, although urged by General Shirley, now
commander-in-chief (since Braddock's death), to attempt Ticonderoga,
even that object was abandoned."--Marshall's _Life of Washington_, vol.
i., p. 318.]

[Footnote 51: "They erected a little stockaded fort at the nether end of
Lake George, in which they left a small garrison as a future prey for the
enemy, a misfortune which might have been easily foreseen."--Smollett,
vol. iii., p. 456.

This was Fort William Henry. Between Lake George and the River Hudson,
twelve miles of high table-land intervened; at its extremity was the
portage or carrying-place for the River Hudson. Here Fort Edward had
been erected a few weeks before.]

[Footnote 52: Crown Point was called Fort Frederic by the French. It was
situated at the south end of Lake Champlain or Lake Corlaer. At fifteen
miles' distance, at the north end of Lake George, the French were now
beginning to fortify the post of Ticonderoga.]

[Footnote 53: "Three days before the meeting of Parliament, November
1755, Sir Thomas Robinson, secretary of state, from an honest and
sincere consciousness of his incapacity to conduct the business of
Parliament in the House of Commons, had resigned the seals, which were
directly transferred to Mr. Fox, secretary at war, who unquestionably,
in respect of political ability, had at this time no rival in the House
of Commons, Mr. Pitt only excepted.... There had been vain attempts at a
negotiation with Pitt during the summer, but his positive refusal to
consent to 'a system of subsidies' threw the Duke of Newcastle into
Fox's power, and the seals were now given to him upon his own
terms."--Belsham, vol. ii., p. 379; Lord Mahon's _History of England_,
vol. iv., p. 76, 77.

"This session of Parliament was distinguished by an act of generosity
and humanity, which conferred the highest honor upon the Parliament and
nation. The city of Lisbon was almost totally destroyed by a tremendous
earthquake on the 1st of November, 1755. A message from the throne
informed both houses of this dreadful calamity, and the sum of L100,000
was instantly and unanimously voted for the use of the distressed
inhabitants.... Amid the millions and millions expended for the purposes
of devastation and destruction, a vote of this description seems as a
paradise blooming in the wild!"--Belsham, vol. ii., p. 381. See Lord
Mahon's _History of England_, vol. iv., p. 87; Southey's _Peninsular
War_, vol. iii., p. 388, 8vo edition.]

[Footnote 54: Smollett, vol. iii., p. 520.

"The Earl of Loudon, an officer of reputation and merit."--Belsham, vol.
ii., p. 370.

"If it had been the wish or intention of the British ministers to render
the guardian care of the parent state ridiculous, and its supremacy
odious to the colonists, they could hardly have selected a fitter
instrument for the achievement of this sinister purpose than Lord
Loudon. Devoid of genius, either civil or military; always hurried and
hurrying others, yet making little progress in the dispatch of business;
hasty to project and threaten, but mutable, indecisive, and languid in
pursuit and action; negligent of even the semblance of public virtue;
impotent against the enemy whom he was sent to destroy, formidable only
to the spirit and liberty of the people whom he was commissioned to
defend, he excited alternately the disgust, the apprehension, and the
contemptuous amazement of the colonists of America."--Graham's _History
of the United States_, vol. iv., p. 4.]

[Footnote 55: The Twightwees were Indians who lived on the banks of the
Ohio.]

[Footnote 56: Washington makes a labored defense of his conduct in the
affair of M. de Jumonville, in the "Journal of his Expedition to the
Ohio." In M. de Villiers's "Journal of his Campaign," he always uses the
term "assassination" with reference to his brother's death. The only
notice he takes of the broken terms of the capitulation is, "The
consternation of the English was so great, when they heard the French
savages laid claim to the pillage, that they ran away and left behind
them even their flag and a pair of their colors."--_Translation of M. de
Villiers's Journal_, July 4th, 1754.

The following is the testimony of the Canadian historian, Garneau: "Le
17 Mai (1754), au soir M. de Jumonville s'etait retire dans une vallon
profond et obscur, lorsque des sauvages qui rodaient le decouvrirent et
en informerent le Colonel Washington, qui arrivait dans le voisinage
avec ses troupes. Celui-ci marcha toute la nuit pour le cerner, et le
lendemain au point du jour il l'attaqua avec precipitation, marchant
comme a une surprise a la tete de son detachment. Jumonville fut tue
avec neuf hommes de sa suite. Les Francais pretendent que ce depute fit
signe qu'il etait porteur d'une lettre de son commandant, que le feu
cessa, et que ce ne fut qu'apres que l'on eut commence la lecture de la
sommation que les assaillans se remirent a tirer. Washington affirme
qu'il etoit a la tete de la marche, et qu'aussitot que les Francais le
virent, ils coururent a leurs armes sans appeller, ce qu'il aurait du
entendre s'ils l'avaient fait. Il est probable qu'il y a du vrai dans
les deux versions: l'attaque fut si precipitee qu'il dut s'ensuivre une
confusion qui ne permit pas de rien demeler; mais s'il n'y a pas eu
d'assassinat, on se demandera toujours pourquoi Washington avec des
forces si superieures a celles de Jumonville, montra une si grande
ardeur pour le surprendre au point du jour comme s'il eut ete un ennemi
fort a craindre? Ce n'etait point certainement avec 30 hommes que
Jumonville etait en etat d'accepter le combat.... Tels sont les humbles
exploits par lesquels le futur conquerant des libertes Americaines
commenca sa carriere.... La victoire que M. de Villiers venoit
d'obtenir, fut le premier acte de ce grand drame de 29 ans, dans lequel
la puissance Francaise et Anglaise devait subir de si terribles echecs
en Amerique."--_Histoire du Canada_, vol. ii., p. 541 (Quebec, 1846).]

[Footnote 57: "Another revolution about this period (November, 1744)
took place in the British cabinet. Lord Carteret, now become Earl of
Granville, had insinuated himself so far into the good graces of his
sovereign as to excite apprehension and dislike of the Duke of Newcastle
and his brother Mr. Pelham. They therefore effected the downfall of this
ambitious and haughty minister, whose power they envied, and whose
talents they feared. Mr. Pelham, who, on the death of Lord Wilmington,
had succeeded to the direction of the Board of Treasury, was now
nominated Chancellor of the Exchequer, and may be considered from this
period as first minister."--Belsham, vol. ii., p. 313.]

[Footnote 58: "To reward Colonel Pepperel and Governor Shirley for the
conquest of Louisburg in 1745, a regiment, to be raised in America, was
bestowed on each."--Marshall's _Life of Washington_, vol. i., p. 280.]

[Footnote 59: War was not declared against France until May in the
following year.]

[Footnote 60: Pannoni's coffee-house of the Florentine nobility, not
famous for their courage of note.--_Ibid._]

[Footnote 61: He was the son of Bishop Burnet.]




CHAPTER II.


The campaign of 1755 had opened with evil promise for the cause of
France in the Western world; four formidable armies were arrayed to
check her progress, and turn back the tide of war upon her own
territory. A powerful fleet, under the brave and vigilant Boscawen,
swept the Atlantic coast, insulted her eastern harbors, and captured her
re-enforcements and supplies. The doubtful allegiance of many of her
Indian neighbors was far overbalanced by the avowed hostility of others
no less numerous and powerful.

But the close of the year presented results very different from those
that might have been anticipated. Braddock was defeated and slain; the
whole of that vast Valley of the Mississippi, whose unequaled fertility
is now the wonder of mankind, had been freed from the presence of a
British soldier by one decisive victory. Niagara was strengthened and
unassailed; Crown Point had not been compromised by Johnson's partial
success. The undisputed superiority upon Lake Ontario was upon the
Canadian shore. From dangerous foes, or almost as dangerous friends, the
forest tribes had generally become zealous allies, and thrown themselves
with ready policy into the apparently preponderating scale; the ruined
settlements and diminished numbers of the British frontier colonists
marked the cruel efficiency of their co-operation. Notwithstanding the
check of the Baron Dieskau's detachment, there still remained to the
French more than 3000 regular troops, with a large force of the Canadian
militia, who were in some respects even better qualified for forest
warfare than their veteran brethren from the mother country. All these,
united under one able chief, formed a much more formidable military
power than the English colonies, with their jarring interests and
independent commanders, could bring forward. Nova Scotia, again severed
from the territories of New France, and the Acadian peasants reduced to
British rule, formed but a slight offset to these hostile gains.

The civil progress of the French colony was, however, far from
satisfactory. For two years past the scarcity of grain and other
provisions had almost amounted to famine. The inhabitants of the
country, constantly employed in warfare against their English neighbors
were forced to neglect the cultivation of the soil, till absence from
their own homesteads was almost as ruinous to themselves as their
destructive presence to the enemy. Although the scanty supply of corn
was too well known, the intendant Bigot, with infamous avarice, shipped
off vast quantities of wheat to the West Indies for his own gain and
that of his creatures. The price of food rose enormously, and the
commerce of the country, hampered by selfish and stupid restrictions,
rapidly declined.

The Marquis de Vaudreuil de Cavagnac, the successor of the Marquis du
Quesne as governor, soon lost the confidence of his people. To him they
had looked hopefully and earnestly for protection against the fatal
monopolies of the Merchant Company, but they found that he readily
sanctioned the oppression under which they suffered, and, indeed, rather
increased its severity. Great stores of wheat had been purchased from
the settlers by the company in anticipation of a scarcity; when they had
obtained a sufficient quantity to command the market, they arranged with
the intendant to fix the price at an immense advance, which was
maintained in spite of the misery and clamors of the people. Again, the
intendant pretended that the dearth was caused by the farmers having
secreted their grain, and, in consequence, he issued an order that the
city and troops should be immediately supplied at a very low rate, and
those who would not submit to these nefarious conditions had their corn
seized and confiscated without any remuneration whatever.

Abuses and peculations disgraced every department of the public service;
the example set in high places was faithfully followed by the petty
officials all over the colony. The commissaries who had the supply of
the distant posts enriched themselves at the cost of the mother country;
and, to the detriment of the hardy and adventurous men occupying those
remote and dreary settlements, boats were not allowed to visit them
without paying such heavy fees that the venture became ruinous, and thus
the trade was soon altogether confined to the commissaries.

Vessels sent to Miramichi with provisions for the unfortunate Acadians,
returned loaded with that people, who, faithful to their king and
nation, had left their happy homes, refusing the proffered protection of
their conquerors. When they reached Quebec they met with a cruel
reception. The intendant gave to a creature named Cadet the office of
ministering to their wants. This heartless man shamefully abused the
trust, and only considered it as a means of selfish profit, providing
them with unwholesome and insufficient food: thus many fell victims to
his cruel avarice. Some, indeed, who settled on lands belonging to the
governor or his favorites, were amply supplied, for the private
advantage of the proprietors.

Loud and constant were the complaints of the colonists against these
shameful abuses of power; but they fell either upon ears determined not
to hear, or were misrepresented and refracted by the medium through
which they passed. The outer aspect of New France was bold and
formidable, but within all was corruption, languor, and decay. The
seignorial tenure[62] and the custom law of Paris fatally embarrassed
agricultural improvement, and the monopoly of the Merchant Company
paralyzed trade. The absolute system of government, and the intrusive
exercise of imperial power in even the most trivial matters of colonial
interest, cramped individual energy by the constraining force of
centralization. The military[63] system of feudal organization turned
the plow-shares and reaping-hooks of the most active among the
population into weapons of war, and the settlements, that were little
else than scattered barracks for troops, made but small progress in the
truly glorious war against the desolation of the wilderness. While the
hardy _voyageurs_ of the Ottawa and the farmers of the rich Valley of
the St. Lawrence reaped the laurels of the bloody fight at Fort du
Quesne, the canoes, once richly laden with the furs of the Western
country, floated idly in the stream, and the exuberant soil by the banks
of the Great River was overrun with a harvest of useless or noxious
weeds. Thus it was that, while the military superstructure of this great
French colony was strong and imposing, the social and political
foundations were false and feeble.

On the other hand, the dangerous British rivals had rapidly advanced to
prosperity and to the possession of formidable resources. The State of
Massachusetts alone mustered 40,000 men capable of bearing arms, by one
third a greater number than all Canada could produce. The militia of
Connecticut was 27,000 strong, and that of New Hampshire and Rhode
Island also considerable. Pennsylvania, Virginia, and other states were
also in themselves powerful, but in military matters New England ever
took the lead. The sturdy Nonconformists who first peopled that country
had been long accustomed to encounter and overcome difficulties: they
had continually waged a war of mutual extermination with the Indians.
The unbending spirit of their ancestors lost nothing under such
training. Each separate settlement possessed an independent vitality;
the habit of self-government engendered a feeling of confidence in their
own power, and they who had marched with steady step over the barriers
of an almost impenetrable forest, and swept away the warlike hordes of
its savage inhabitants, were no mean foes to match even against the
brilliant chivalry of France.

The peculiar and distinct institutions of these British colonies, while
they fostered the development of individual energy and stimulated
general prosperity, forbade, at the same time, that compact and
centralized organization which rendered the external power of New
France so formidable. It was difficult or impossible to unite all the
different states in one great effort, and hopeless to induce them to act
in concert. The borderers of Maine or Massachusetts heard with almost
indifference of Indian massacres upon the banks of the Susquehanna, and
the men of Virginia felt but little sympathy with the victors of the
north. English colonization had already progressed to unheard of
prosperity in its component parts, in spite of its utter want of large
and comprehensive system, while that of France, planned on a scheme of
magnificent ambition, had proved but a sickly exotic under the
over-anxious care of the founders. In the one, powerful elements formed
but a disjointed and unwieldy aggregate; in the other, indifferent
materials were rendered strong by the firm frame-work in which they were
united.

The defensive power of the British colonies was, however, very great. In
cases of real peril, when the farmer tore himself from his fields, the
merchant from his store-house, and the hunter from the chase, a militia
formidable in numbers and composition was at the service of the state,
while the vast extent and the scattered situations of the settlements
would have rendered complete conquest difficult, and occupation
impossible.

The campaign of 1756 opened with a partial success of the French arms.
The Marquis de Vaudreuil had learned that the British had erected a
chain of small forts to protect their route to Oswego, and that they
purposed building ships at that port to command the navigation of Lake
Ontario, and thus break up the chain of his communications. He therefore
ordered a detachment of about 350 Canadians and Indians, under M.
Chaussegros de Lery, to march to Montreal, from whence they proceeded
westward on the 17th of March.

After a harassing journey of great length through the wilderness, they
came upon one of the small English forts on the Oswego route, garrisoned
by Lieutenant Bull and twenty-five men. The British officer at once
rejected the proposal of a capitulation, and prepared to offer a
vigorous resistance; he was, however, speedily overpowered, and he and
his little party, with the exception of two, were massacred and scalped
by the Indians, whose ferocity could not be repressed; the fort was then
blown up, and the ammunition destroyed.

The French, fully alive to the danger of allowing their enemies to hold
possession of the important position of Oswego, were determined to spare
no efforts to drive them away. Another expedition was accordingly
prepared to accomplish this grand object, consisting of 300 men, led by
M. de Villiers. They proceeded to within a short distance of Oswego,
where they constructed a small fort, placed among the dense woods in
such a manner as to be unseen by the enemy: from this hiding-place they
frequently intercepted parties with provisions destined for Oswego. When
the Iroquois became aware of the designs of the French, they summoned
Sir William Johnson, whom they greatly respected, to meet them in
council, for the purpose of considering the means of diverting
hostilities from their country. He strongly advised them, if possible,
to prevent the attack upon the fort, and thus avoid a war that would
deluge the frontier with blood. Pursuing this counsel, they dispatched
thirty deputies to Montreal to assure M. de Vaudreuil that they wished
to preserve the strictest neutrality, and to entreat him not to draw the
sword in their country or interrupt their communications. The governor
answered that he would seek his enemies wherever he could find them, but
that the people of the Five Nations should be protected from every
insult as long as they did not join the English.

From this time the war was to assume a more important form, and new and
more illustrious actors were to appear upon the stage. The British
government[64] determined to increase its efforts in North America; and
as the Earl of Loudon, lately appointed general-in-chief of the forces
on that continent, was unavoidably detained in England for some time,
Major-general Abercromby was ordered to precede him and hold command
until his arrival. Lord Loudon was intrusted with extraordinary powers,
to enable him to promote the essential object of union among the English
colonies; he was also appointed governor of Virginia, and made colonel
of a regiment of four battalions, chiefly officered by foreigners,
called the Royal American.[65]

In the mean time, the preparations were made in British America to
forward the execution of the plans[66] recommended by the great council
of war, and the militia of the several provinces were assembled at
Albany, where they awaited the arrival of the English general.
Abercromby did not reach the army till the latter end of June, 1756, and
at that time only brought with him two regiments, the 35th and the 42d,
or Murray's Highlanders. The British troops in North America at this
time consisted of those two corps, the 44th and 48th of the line,
Shirley's and Pepperel's battalions, eight independent companies from
New York and Carolina, and a large body of the Provincial militia.

General Abercromby considered the force under his command insufficient
to carry out the extensive schemes recommended by the council at Albany;
he was, however, cordially agreed with them upon the advantages to be
gained by their execution. Desirous to avoid responsibility, he
determined to await the arrival of the commander-in-chief, but in the
mean time he marched the Provincial forces upon Fort William Henry,
under the command of General Winslow,[67] who there awaited
re-enforcements previous to his advance against Crown Point.

In the West, however, British energy and courage found employment under
the able and adventurous Lieutenant-colonel Bradstreet. He determined to
execute, as far as in his power lay, the resolves of the council at
Albany, and left Schenectady with about 300 boatmen, bearing supplies
and military stores to strengthen the important post of Oswego. His
detachment consisted of raw Irish recruits, utterly unacquainted with
discipline, and unaccustomed to the sight of an enemy; but their native
courage overcame all disadvantages, and they bravely did their duty, as
their countrymen have ever done when striving for a good cause, and led
by a worthy chief. Bradstreet passed in safety up the Onondaga River,
reached Oswego, and accomplished his object. The French, being apprized
of this expedition, collected in force some miles to the eastward of
Oswego, and detached 700 men to intercept their enemy. Happily, however,
they became embarrassed in the tangled wilderness, and lost their way:
when, at last, after much difficulty, they reached the banks of the
Onondaga, the English had already passed up the stream in safety. They
well knew, however, that Bradstreet must soon return by the same route;
they therefore patiently awaited their opportunity, concealed beneath
the favoring cloak of the dense forests surrounding the river.

The English chief--either informed of this ambuscade, or mistrusting the
facility with which the dangerous navigation had been before
accomplished--took the only precaution his difficult position permitted.
To scour the neighborhood of the rapid stream with light troops would
have been impossible, owing to the thick underwood every where arresting
the human foot; and yet, from each dark clump of cedars, or from behind
each projecting crag on the rugged banks, he might at any moment expect
to see the deadly flash of the Canadian musket, and to hear the
war-whoop of the savage. Bradstreet therefore determined on the
precaution of proceeding in three divisions of canoes, within easy
distances of each other; that thus, if any one were attacked, his stout
boatmen might land from the others, and on equal terms encounter the
assailants on the shore. He entered the first canoe; his gallant men
followed with somewhat tumultuous good will. The day of their departure
was the 3d of July; in that burning season the stream was low and
difficult of navigation, and the stately trees and luxuriant underwood,
rich in leafy honors, afforded complete concealment to the dangerous
enemy.

For nine miles the party forced their way up the Onondaga, laboriously
but without interruption; at length they reached a spot where the waters
flow in shallow rapids past a small island, and the dense woods throw
their shade over the very margin of the stream. Suddenly, from the north
shore, a loud volley, and a louder yell, broke through the silence of
the wilderness. This first fire fell with deadly effect upon the leading
division; but Bradstreet, with six of the survivors, forced their canoes
quickly across the eddying current toward the island. Twenty of the
enemy had at the same time plunged into the river, and, taking advantage
of the ford, arrived before him; nevertheless, Bradstreet threw himself
on shore, and with desperate courage faced the foe. After a sharp
struggle, he even dislodged them from the island, and drove them back
upon the main land. When the remaining canoes of the advanced division
joined, his little force amounted to no more than twenty men. The
French, enraged at their first repulse, vigorously renewed the attack
with doubled numbers, but they were again beaten, and, leaving many of
their foremost dead in the stream, returned to the shelter of the shore.
A third time, however, the assailants, brave even in defeat, pushed
across the ford with seventy men, and threw themselves upon the little
knot of English. For nearly an hour, with fiery courage on the one side
and stubborn resolution on the other, they fought among the rocks and
trees, till the secluded spot, where perhaps human foot had never before
trodden, was red with human blood. At length the French gave way, and,
scattered and depressed, fell back upon the main body of their
countrymen.

While this stout fight was raging on the little island, the boatmen of
the remaining divisions had landed in safety lower down on the southern
shore, and moved in good order to the support of their hard-pressed
comrades. The main body of the French pressed rapidly along the opposite
bank toward another ford about a mile higher up the river, and many
succeeded in crossing before Bradstreet's stout boatmen could intercept
them. By this time, however, the British leader had arrived from the
little island, and put himself at the head of his two last divisions.
With prompt determination he threw himself upon the French advance, and,
bravely supported by his followers, after a stubborn strife, forced it
back into the river. Many of the conquered were struck down by the
English marksmen in the close bush-fight, and even a greater number
perished in their hurried passage of the stream.

In Bradstreet's absence, another large body of the French swarmed across
the ford by the little island where they had been before repeatedly
repulsed, but this last effort was even more disastrous than the
preceding. Before they could form in the tangled swamps, the boatmen and
their gallant chief came down at a running pace, flushed with recent
success. One short struggle on the woody bank, and the assailants were
forced back in utter rout. The remainder of the enemy dispersed in the
forest and attacked no more, but above 100 of their number had perished
in the stream or had fallen by the sword, while seventy prisoners and a
great quantity of arms rewarded the successful valor of the conquerors.
Many of the French regular soldiers, strangers to the American
wilderness, became bewildered in its mazes, and died miserably of
starvation. On the other hand, no less than sixty of Bradstreet's
boatmen were killed and wounded in this gallant action.[68]

The English were too much fatigued and weakened by their hard-won
victory to venture on pursuit, and prepared to rest that night upon the
battle-field; they were, however, soon aroused by the approach of a body
of troops, which, to their great joy, proved to be a detachment of their
own grenadiers, on the march to Oswego, and the next morning 200 men
also joined them from that garrison. But, in the mean time, the rain had
poured down in torrents, and the stream of the Onondaga swelled to an
angry flood; to cross and follow up their success was therefore
impossible, and the remnant of the French found refuge in their vessels
on the waters of Lake Ontario. After a time, when the subsiding flood
permitted, the detachment and the grenadiers descended the river to
Oswego, and the victorious boatmen, with their leader, pushed on for
Schenectady, where they arrived in safety on the 14th of July. The
following day Bradstreet set out for Albany to warn General Abercromby
of the designs of the French against Oswego: the prisoners had informed
him that a force of 1200 men was encamped on the shores of the lake, not
far from the eastern fort of that port, where the thick covert of the
forest concealed them from the British garrison. Abercromby at once
ordered the remains of the 44th regiment, under Colonel Webb, to hasten
to Oswego, but, owing to the interference of the Provincial
governors,[69] a fatal delay intervened before this corps was put in
motion.

On the 26th of July Lord Loudon arrived at New York from Europe; on the
29th he reached Albany, and assumed the command of the army. He found a
body of nearly 3000 regular troops, besides a large Provincial force,
under his orders at Albany[70] and Schenectady, including the survivors
of the two unfortunate regiments which had been crippled and broken in
Braddock's disaster.[71] In the fort of Oswego[72] were mustered 1400
bayonets, principally of Shirley's and Pepperel's regiments, besides
sailors and peasants,[73] and nearly 500 men, in scattered detachments,
preserved the difficult communications through the Iroquois territories.

On the other hand, the French held Crown Point and Ticonderoga with 3000
veterans, and found means to assemble a still more formidable force at
Fort Frontenac for the purpose of attacking Oswego.

This year had arrived at Quebec from France a large body of regulars,
under the command of the MARQUIS DE MONTCALM, with the Brigadier de
Levi, and Colonel de Bourlemaque. Montcalm remained but a few days at
Quebec, and then hastened on with his veteran re-enforcements to
strengthen the force destined to act against Oswego. Rigaud de
Vaudreuil, with a large body of Canadian militia raised at Montreal, was
detached as the vanguard of the army, and arrived undiscovered on the
9th of August within a mile and a half of the British position; on the
night of the 10th the first division also arrived; on the 12th, at
midnight, the second division joined. Then the French chief, having made
all necessary preparations, opened his trenches before Fort Ontario,[74]
which was situated at the opposite side of the river from the important
position of Oswego.

From break of day until six in the evening Montcalm kept up a heavy
fire, which was vigorously replied to by the defenders; then, however,
the resistance suddenly ceased. The unpardonable neglect of the British
authorities had left this important post almost unprovided with
ammunition, and in the hour of extremest need the scanty supply failed.
Further defense was impossible; the survivors of the little garrison
spiked their cannon, and retreated without interruption to the
neighboring position of Fort Oswego, on the opposite side of the river.
When the French perceived that the defenders had yielded the post, they
quickly took possession, and turned such of the guns as in the hurry of
retreat had been still left uninjured upon the walls of the remaining
stronghold. The defenses of the feeble fort soon crumbled beneath the
crushing fire from Montcalm's battering train and the now hostile guns
of Fort Ontario. Colonel Mercer, the English chief, and many of his men,
were struck down, and the remainder, hopeless of a successful defense,
surrendered upon not unfavorable terms on the evening of the 14th of
August.

Seven armed vessels, mounting from 8 to 18 guns each, 200 bateaux, a
vast quantity of provisions and warlike stores, with 1200
prisoners,[75] were gained by the victors; and for a brief space,
several British flags, the unwonted trophies of French conquest, decked
with drooping folds the walls of the Canadian churches. This brilliant
and important success was, however, stained by cruelty and doubtful
faith.[76] Notwithstanding the terms of the capitulation, the savages
were permitted to plunder all, and massacre many of the captives;[77]
and, to the shame of Montcalm, the sick and wounded who had been
intrusted to his protection were slain and scalped under the Indian
knife. The remaining prisoners, however, were escorted to Montreal,
where they were treated with kindness and consideration, and soon
afterward exchanged.[78] The French, having demolished the works at
Oswego, returned to the eastern part of the province.

This conquest established Montcalm's already rising reputation. Canada
rejoiced, and the British colonies were proportionately discouraged.
The sad news was first carried to Albany by some French deserters, but
remained unconfirmed for several days, till two sailors arrived who had
escaped subsequently to the disaster. Indian rumor was also busy with
the melancholy tale. It was for a time believed that the whole garrison
of Oswego had been put to the sword,[79] and that the bodies of the
slain were left unburied upon the desolate shores of Lake Ontario. A
panic spread. Colonel Webb, with the 44th regiment, nearly 900 strong,
and 800 boatmen, stopped short in his advance, now useless through
culpable delay, and employed his whole force in felling trees to block
up the navigation of the important passage of Wood Creek,[80] while the
French, equally anxious to avoid collision, performed a similar labor
higher up the river.

The province of New York was the first to suffer by the unhappy loss of
Oswego, and the pusillanimous retreat of Webb. The rich and beautiful
settlements called the German Flats were speedily desolated by the
Indians and the scarcely less vindictive Canadians; the crops were
destroyed, the houses and homesteads burned, and such of the inhabitants
as could not escape were captured, or slain and scalped.

It has been before stated that all the resources of the British colonies
were taxed to enable General Winslow to act against Crown Point, with a
view to master the important navigation of Lake Champlain, and to
demolish the French forts upon its shores,[81] but these preparations
produced no results beyond that of strengthening Forts Edward and
William Henry. No blow was struck,[82] notwithstanding the opportunity
afforded by the withdrawal of nearly all the French regular troops from
that neighborhood to aid the Oswego expedition. The inglorious campaign
concluded by the retirement of the British regiments of the line to
Albany, and the return of the Provincials to their several localities.

But while the genius and good fortune of Montcalm raised the military
reputation of New France and strengthened her external power, tyranny
and corruption withered her budding prosperity, and blighted it with
premature decay. The paltry peculations and narrow despotism of the
petty magnates of colonial government are nauseous and ungrateful
subjects. The "habitans" were oppressed and plundered, the troops were
defrauded of their hard-earned stipend, traders were ground down under
infamous extortions, and the unhappy Acadian refugees robbed of the
generous bounties of the state. Eminent among the perpetrators of these
shameless wrongs stood Bigot, the intendant; Cadet and others of his
creatures were worthy of their principal. A scarcity almost amounting to
famine, which inflicted the severest privations upon the colony, was
again seized as an opportunity of gain by these relentless men, under
the pretense of the general good; great stores of provisions were bought
by them at a low, compulsory price, and resold at an enormous advance
for their private benefit. Even the sacred calling of the missionaries
did not in all instances preserve them from the taint of these unworthy
acts; and where wealth, was thus largely and by such means increased,
morals were naturally deteriorated.

The loss of Oswego was in some degree compensated to the English by the
progress of Colonel Lawrence in Acadia, but sad it is to say that the
stain of cruelty tainted our success, as it had the victory of Montcalm.
When the French settlers refused to acknowledge allegiance to the
British crown and laws, they were pursued with fire and sword, their
villages and farms destroyed, and at last many thousands were suddenly
shipped off, and dispersed among the Atlantic colonies, where friends
and kinsfolk might never meet again; thus, to use the language of the
time, "establishing peace and tranquillity throughout the whole
province." In the ensuing February, some of these ill-fated Acadians
with a few allied Indians, about 300 in all, unexpectedly sallied out
upon the new English settlements, driven by desperation from the snowy
forests; but Lieutenant-colonel Scott promptly called together an equal
force of Provincials, and drove them back, with heavy loss, upon the
inhospitable wilderness.

In the month of August of the year 1756, a small post on the borders of
Pennsylvania, called Fort Granville, was surprised by a party of French
and Indians, and the garrison carried into captivity. At the same time,
the Moravian savages from the banks of the Ohio, rejoicing in the
opportunity afforded by the contentions of the white men, suddenly burst
upon the English western frontier, and massacred no less than 1000 of
the scattered settlers. Then the thirst of vengeance burned among the
hardy colonists. Infuriated rather than appalled by this horrid
butchery, 280 men hastily assembled, and with untiring energy pushed on
toward the rugged Alleganies to an Indian town called Kittaning, the
rendezvous of the fierce marauders. The road was rude and difficult, the
distance 150 miles, but the furious hatred of the pursuers spurred them
forward, and on the morning of the fifth day the foremost scouts brought
word that the Indian murderers were close at hand, celebrating their
bloody triumph in songs and dances.

When morning light first chased away the darkness of the forest, the
English Provincials burst upon the Indian camp. Armstrong, their leader,
offered quarter, but the savages, conscious of their unpardonable
cruelties, dared not submit. Then ensued a terrible slaughter; the
Indians were beaten down in furious rage, or shot in attempting to fly,
or shut up in their wooden huts and burned to death; some were seized
and scalped, in horrible imitation of their own ferocity, and not a few
were blown up and destroyed by the stores of ammunition they had
collected during their late incursion. Terrible as was this vengeance,
it availed but little. On almost every other part of the British
frontiers, parties of the Indians, and their almost equally savage
French allies, swarmed among the woods, concealed in ambush during the
day, and by night busied in their bloody work.

In the mean time, the season had become too far advanced for the
commencement of any important enterprise; the English colonies were
divided in spirit, and all efforts for the general good were perpetually
thwarted by jealousy and parsimony. Lord Loudon, with his armament, had
not reached New York till the end of July; by that time little remained
practicable but to strengthen some frontier forts, and push forward
parties of observation into the French territories. Thus closed the
campaign of 1756. England had a sorry account of her wasted blood and
treasure in these Western wars; opportunities had been neglected,
resources wasted, laurels lost.[83] The Indian trade and the commerce of
the great lakes had been forfeited by the surrender of Oswego. To us
only remained the barren boast of Bradstreet's gallant victory. The
Indians were not slow to perceive the weakness of British councils, and
Sir William Johnson's powerful influence was barely sufficient to
restrain the politic Iroquois from openly declaring for the enemy.

[Footnote 62: See Appendix, No. LXIII.]

[Footnote 63: "Thus was introduced into America the feudal system, so
long the ruin of Europe."--Raynal, vol. viii., p. 143.

"Nothing has reduced the families of the ancient French seigneurs to
misery more than the division and subdivision of their lands by their
own law; a law which, though it appears at first to breathe more the
spirit of democracy than of monarchy, yet in fact is calculated for a
military government only, because nobles so reduced can and will only
live by the sword."--Gray's _Canada_, p. 346.]

[Footnote 64: "War was at length declared in form by Great Britain
against France in May, 1756, and in the following month by France
against Great Britain; and in the manifesto published by the latter,
much pains were taken to contrast the moderation and equity of the court
of Versailles with the intemperate violence of the court of London, and
particularly stigmatizing the seizure of the French ships of war and
commerce, before a declaration of war, as piracy and perfidy."--Belsham,
vol. ii., p. 396.]

[Footnote 65: "The next object of the immediate attention of Parliament
in this session (1755--May, 1756) was the raising of a new regiment of
foot in North America, for which purpose the sum of L81,178 16s. was
voted. This regiment, which was to consist of four battalions of 1000
men each, was intended to be raised chiefly out of the German and Swiss,
who, for many years past, had annually transported themselves in great
numbers to the British plantations in America, where waste lands had
been assigned them upon the frontiers of the provinces; but, very
injudiciously, no care had been taken to intermix them with the English
inhabitants of the place, so that very few of them, even of those who
have been born there, have yet learned to speak or understand the
English tongue. However, as they were all zealous Protestants, and, in
general, strong, hardy men, accustomed to the climate, it was judged
that a regiment of good and faithful soldiers might be raised out of
them, particularly proper to oppose the French; but to this end it was
necessary to appoint some officers, especially subalterns, who
understood military discipline and could speak the German language; and
as a sufficient number of such could not be found among the English
officers, it was necessary to bring over and grant commissions to
several German and Swiss officers and engineers. But as this step, by
the Act of Settlement, could not be taken without the authority of
Parliament, an act was now passed for enabling his majesty to grant
commissions to a certain number of foreign Protestants who had served
abroad as officers or engineers, to act and rank as officers or
engineers in America only. The Royal American Regiment is now the 60th
Rifles."--Smollett's _History of England_, vol. iii., p. 483.]

[Footnote 66: The northern colonies were enabled to comply, in some
degree, with the requisitions made on them, by having received from the
British government, in the course of the summer, a considerable sum of
money as a reimbursement for the extraordinary expenses of the preceding
year. One hundred and fifteen thousand pounds had been apportioned among
them, according to their respective exertions,[84] and this sum gave new
vigor and energy to their councils.]

[Footnote 67: The command of the expedition against Crown Point was
given to Major-general Winslow, whose conduct in Nova Scotia had very
much increased both his reputation and his influence.--Marshall's _Life
of Washington_, vol. i., p. 325.

Mr. Beckford thus speaks of General Winslow in a letter to Mr. Pitt,
dated Fonthill, Dec. 18, 1758: "There is a brave, gallant officer, by
name Winslow, who has acted as general in North America, and done signal
service. This man is in England, and is only a captain on half pay. I
wish you would think of him; he might furnish you with useful
hints."--_Correspondence of the Earl of Chatham_, vol. i., p. 378.]

[Footnote 68: "Bradstreet had but three Indians of the Six Nations
(Iroquois) with him at this attack. Of these, one took to his heels; a
second fought bravely; but the third went over to the enemy, and
assisted in pointing out our officers."--_A Review of the Military
Operations in North America from 1753 to 1756._]

[Footnote 69: "Mr. Shirley and the Provincial chiefs wanted that Webb's
(the 44th) and my regiment (the 48th) should march to Forts Edward and
William Henry, taking it for granted that Oswego was in no
danger."--_Letter from General Abercromby_, dated Albany, 10th of
August, 1756.

"The detaching any troops to Oswego was strongly opposed by a party at
Albany, who thought that while Crown Point remained in the hands of the
French, there could be no security for the province of New York. General
Winslow, who was to command an expedition against Crown Point, was
already more than sufficiently strong for that purpose, yet this party
insisted on his being re-enforced with two or three regiments of regular
troops, and that an army should likewise remain at Albany to defend it,
in case the troops sent against Crown Point should happen to be
defeated. Nay, they strongly opposed the departure of the regiment which
General Abercromby had already ordered for Oswego. Some of the New
England colonies joined those of New York in this opposition, so that it
was not without the greatest difficulty Lord Loudon, who did not think
proper to do any thing material without their approbation, could so much
as prevail on them to let Colonel Webb depart for Oswego; therefore it
was the 12th of August before that officer could leave Albany; too late
to save Oswego. Thus the public safety of the whole British empire in
North America was made to yield to the private views of some leading
people in the provinces of New England and New York."--Mante, p. 64.]

[Footnote 70: "The Provincials do not exceed 4000, mostly vagabonds
picked up by the New Englanders at random, by the high premium given
them in order to save themselves from service."--_Letter from General
Abercromby_, Albany, 30th of August, 1756.]

[Footnote 71: The 44th (then Halket's, now Webb's) and the 48th (then
Dunbar's, now Abercromby's). They were regiments that ran away at
Preston Pans.]

[Footnote 72: "The garrison of Oswego was insensibly increased to 1400
men; only 700 had been left there by Mr. Shirley the autumn
before."--Mante's _Hist. of the War_, p. 63.]

[Footnote 73: "The greatest part of Shirley's and Pepperel's regiments
is there.... By all account, Shirley's and Pepperel's are by much the
worst corps on this continent. With such troops, what can we
do?"--_Letter from General Abercromby_, Albany, 30th of Aug., 1756.]

[Footnote 74: "General Shirley's troops, after the attack on Niagara was
relinquished in the autumn of the preceding year, had been employed in
the erection of two new forts, one of them 450 yards from the old Fort
Oswego, and bearing the same name, the other on the opposite side of the
Onondaga River, to be called Fort Ontario. They were erected on the
south side of Lake Ontario, at the mouth of the Onondaga, and
constituted a port of great importance. The garrison, as we have already
observed, consisted of 1400 men, chiefly militia and new-raised
recruits, under the command of Colonel Mercer, an officer of experience
and courage; but the situation of the forts was very ill chosen, the
materials mostly timber or logs of wood, the defenses wretchedly
continued and unfinished, and, in a word, the place altogether untenable
against any regular approach."--Smollett's _History of England_, vol.
iii., p. 535.]

[Footnote 75: "Such an important magazine, deposited in a place altogether
indefensible, and without the reach of immediate succor, was a flagrant
proof of egregious folly, temerity, and misconduct."--Smollett's _Hist.
of England_, vol. iii., p. 536.]

[Footnote 76: _Ibid._, p. 535.]

[Footnote 77: "Montcalm, in direct violation of the articles, as well as
in contempt of common humanity, delivered up above twenty men of the
garrison to the Indians, in lieu of the same number they had lost during
the siege."--_Ibid._]

[Footnote 78: "The negligence and dilatoriness of our governors at
home,[85] and the little-minded quarrels of the regulars and irregular
forces,[86] have reduced our affairs in that part of the world (America)
to a most deplorable state. Oswego, of ten times more importance even
than Minorca, is so annihilated that we can not learn the
particulars."--Walpole's _Letters to Sir H. Mann_, Nov. 4, 1756.]

[Footnote 79: "The massacre at Oswego happily proves a romance. Part of
the two regiments[87] that were made prisoners there are actually
arrived at Plymouth, the provisions at Quebec being too scanty to admit
additional numbers."--Walpole's _Letters to Sir H. Mann_, Nov. 13,
1756.]

[Footnote 80: Wood Creek was one of the streams that formed a nearly
uninterrupted water communication between Albany, in New York, and the
mouth of the River Onondaga, where Oswego was situated.]

[Footnote 81: Crown Point, or Fort Frederic, and Ticonderoga, which had
been lately fortified.]

[Footnote 82: Abercromby writes from Fort Edward, 30th of September,
1756; "Upon intelligence of the enemy's whole force being collected at
Crown Point, in order to make an attempt on this fort or that of Fort
William Henry, I arrived here the 26th with the Highlanders: to-morrow I
shall have three regiments.... Our works here are far from being
finished. However, though the fort is not finished we are throwing up
lines, and shall be able to repel the enemy's force.--8th of Oct. Lord
Loudon is now here: he has left Webb to take care of Otway's at Albany.
General Winslow (he was at Fort William Henry) holds daily
correspondence."]

[Footnote 83: Every where. "I see it with concern, considering who was
Newcastle's associate" (he alludes to his friend Fox); "but this was the
year of the worst administration that I have seen in England, for now
Newcastle's incapacity[88] was left to its full play."--Walpole's
_Memoirs_, vol. ii., p. 54.

"In the course of this unfortunate year, 1756, we were stripped of
Minorca and Oswego (the East India Company, by the loss of Calcutta,
received a blow which would have shaken an establishment of less
strength to its foundation), we apprehended an invasion of Great Britain
itself, our councils were torn to pieces by factions, and our military
fame was every where in contempt."--_Annual Register._

Burke was the writer of the "History of Europe" in the early volumes of
the _Annual Register_.]

[Footnote 84: To Massachusetts, L54,000; to Connecticut, L26,000; to New
York, L15,000; to New Hampshire, L8000; to Rhode Island, L7000; to New
Jersey, L5000,--Marshall's _Life of Washington_, vol. i., p. 328.]

[Footnote 85: The ministry of the Duke of Newcastle and Fox, which was
forced out of office by the public indignation at the loss of Minorca,
and on the 13th of Nov., 1756, Pitt kissed hands as secretary of state.]

[Footnote 86: "The regulations of the crown respecting rank had given
great disgust in America, and rendered it extremely difficult to carry
on any military operations which required a junction of British and
Provincial troops. When consulted on this delicate subject, General
Winslow assured General Abercromby of his apprehensions that, if the
result of the junction should be placing the Provincials under British
officers, it would produce very general discontent, and perhaps
desertion. His officers concurred with him in this opinion. On the
arrival of Lord Loudon, the subject was revived, and the colonial office
gave the same opinion. The request that Lord Loudon would permit them to
act separately was acceded to."--Marshall's _Life of Washington_, vol.
i., p. 327.]

[Footnote 87: Shirley's and Pepperel's.]

[Footnote 88: "A minister the most incapable though the most ambitious,
the weakest though the most insolent, the most pusillanimous though the
most presumptuous"--Mr. Potter's _Speech in the House of Commons_. "It
would, however, be injustice not to allow the Duke of Newcastle the
merit of disinterestedness as to the emoluments of office, and of zeal
for the general interests of his country."--Belsham, vol. ii., p. 381.]




CHAPTER III.


Stimulated by the general success of their arms during the campaign of
1756, the French suffered not their energies to slumber even through the
chilly Canadian winter. With detachments of Indians and hardy
"habitans," they scoured the northern frontiers of the British colonies,
and gained intelligence of every movement. From information thus
acquired, Montcalm determined to move a force suddenly on Fort William
Henry,[89] at the southern extremity of Lake George,[90] where the
English had formed a depot for a vast quantity of provisions and warlike
stores, which was as yet unprotected by any sufficient garrison. Fifteen
hundred men, of whom four hundred were Indians, led by Rigaud de
Vaudreuil and the Chevalier de Longueuil, were dispatched to surprise
and escalade the fort, and, in case of failure, to destroy the stores
and buildings beyond the protection of its walls, and also the shipping
and bateaux on the neighboring lake. On the 19th of March, at the dead
of night, the French noiselessly approached the little fortress, but the
vigilant sentries discovered them in time, and alarmed the defenders,
who drove them back with a brisk fire of cannon and musketry. Having
failed to surprise, they invested the place the following day, and twice
again vainly attacked the fort. On the 21st they summoned the
commandant, Major Eyres, to surrender, which demand he instantly
refused. The French assailed the stronghold a fourth and even a fifth
time; but, having been repulsed in every attack, contented themselves by
destroying the undefended property without. Furthermore, they
strengthened Ticonderoga and Crown Point with two battalions, and sent
Captain Pouchot as commandant to Niagara, with orders to fortify that
important post as he best might. They then returned to Montreal. Shortly
afterward they gained an advantage of some value over a detachment of
400 men, led by Colonel Parker, which had been sent by water to attack
their advanced guard near Ticonderoga. By a cleverly devised ambuscade,
and the opportune arrival of a re-enforcement, they completely
overpowered the British troops, and slew or captured more than half the
number.

In the mean while the Earl of Loudon exerted himself to the utmost in
collecting a sufficient force to strike a decisive blow. The favorite
object of carrying Crown Point was laid aside, and the grander scheme of
reducing the formidable stronghold of Louisburg, in Acadia, adopted
instead.[91] There the naval power of England could be brought to bear,
and the distracting jealousies of the several colonies might not
interfere to paralyze vigorous action. Preparations for this enterprise
were rapidly pushed on in England, and by the end of January, 1757,
seven regiments of infantry and a detachment of artillery, all commanded
by Major-general Hopson, were ordered to assemble at Cork, and await the
arrival of a powerful fleet of fourteen line-of-battle ships, destined
to bear them to America. June had nearly closed,[92] however, before
this powerful armament, under Admiral Holborne, arrived at the place of
rendezvous. Lord Loudon had arranged to meet the expedition at Halifax
with all the force he could collect; to accomplish this transport, he
was injudiciously led to lay an embargo on all the ships in the British
North American ports. This arbitrary measure at once aroused a storm of
indignation among the merchants and planters, whose trade it ruinously
affected. The home government, ever jealous of commercial liberty,
immediately disapproved the high-handed proceeding, and issued
peremptory orders against its repetition.

On the 20th of June, 1757, Lord Loudon had embarked at New York with a
considerable force drawn from the protection of the vast colonial
borders. Sir Charles Hardy commanded a fleet of four ships of war and
seventy transports for the troops; each ship had orders, in case of
separation, to make the best of her way to Halifax. On the 30th they all
reached that port, where they found eight vessels of war and some
artillery, with two regiments of infantry. The troops were landed as
soon as possible, and busied in various and somewhat trivial
occupations, while fast-sailing vessels were dispatched to examine the
French strength at Louisburg, and also to watch for the arrival of the
remainder of the English fleet under Holborne. By the 9th of July the
whole of the enormous armament had assembled. Nineteen ships of the
line, with a great number of smaller craft, and an army of thirteen
battalions in high spirit and condition, were now at the disposal of the
British leaders.

Much valuable time was wasted at Halifax in unnecessary drills and silly
sham fights; at length, however, on the 1st and 2d of August, the troops
were embarked, with orders to proceed to Gabarus Bay, to the westward of
Louisburg; but on the 4th, information received by a captured sloop that
eighteen ships of the line and 3000 regular troops, with many
militia-men and Indians, were prepared to defend the harbor, altered the
views of the English chiefs. The attack was abandoned,[93] the troops
were directed to land in various places on the Acadian peninsula, while
the fleet was to cruise off Louisburg and endeavor to bring the French
to action. About the middle of the month, a dispatch from Boston,
containing the disastrous news of the loss of Fort William Henry,
reached Lord Loudon; in consequence, his orders were again altered.[94]
The luckless general himself, with a part of the troops and fleet, made
sail for New York; the remaining regiments, not before landed, were
directed upon the Bay of Fundy, and Admiral Holborne, with the bulk of
this vast armament, bore away for the harbor of Louisburg.

The objects of this cruise can hardly be even conjectured; some imagine
that curiosity was Holborne's sole motive. It is obvious that he did not
mean to engage the enemy; for, when he approached within two miles of
the hostile batteries, and saw the French admiral's signal to unmoor, he
immediately made the best of his way back to Halifax. Being re-enforced
by four ships of the line about the middle of September, Holborne again
sailed within sight of Louisburg, being then certain that the French
would not leave the shelter of their batteries to encounter his superior
strength, and thus risk unnecessarily the safety of their colony.

While continuing this useless demonstration, a violent storm from the
southwest assailed the British fleet on the 24th of October, at the
distance of about forty leagues from the rock-bound coast. In twelve
hours the ships were driven almost to within gunshot of the shore, when
a happy shift of wind saved them from total destruction. But the
Tilbury, a magnificent vessel of sixty guns, went to pieces on Cape
Breton, and 225 of her crew perished in the waves; the Newark drove into
Halifax crippled and damaged; others subsequently gained the same
shelter, dismasted, and in a still more disastrous plight. When the
weather moderated, Admiral Holborne made the best of his way for
England with the remainder of the fleet, leaving, however, a small
squadron, under Lord Colville, to protect the British traders in those
northern seas.[95]

While the main force of the British armies had been occupied in the
ill-fated expedition against Louisburg, Colonel Stanwix had marched to
protect the Western frontier with a detachment of regular troops, and
nearly 2000 of the Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia militia. At the
same time, the borders of Carolina were intrusted to the care of Colonel
Bouquet with a nearly similar force. But to the north, the province of
New York and the New England states were feebly held by Colonel Webb
with about 4000 men, and Colonel Monro with his garrison of Fort William
Henry, against the able and vigilant Montcalm. Although Webb could not
but be aware of the movements of his dangerous enemy, he unaccountably
neglected to avail himself of the means of defense within his reach.
With an indifference bordering on infatuation, he abstained from calling
out the numerous and hardy militia of the surrounding states, in
themselves a force sufficient to overpower his active antagonist. At
length, when the white banner of France had actually been unfurled on
the shores of Lake Champlain, Webb awoke from his lethargy, but only to
make a precipitate and disgraceful retreat. He fell back upon Fort
Edward the following day, leaving Colonel Monro, with about 2000 men, to
bear the brunt of battle, and defend the post which he had thus
shamefully abandoned.

When Lord Loudon had put to sea with the main army, Montcalm instantly
seized the opportunity of renewing his favorite project of gaining the
command of Lake George, through the reduction of Fort William Henry. He
rapidly concentrated his forces at Ticonderoga, including a considerable
body of Indians, numbering altogether 8000 men, well appointed and
provisioned, with a proportionate force of artillery, and, without
delay, pushed on a large division of his army, under M. de Levi, along
the shores of the lake. On the 1st of August he followed with the
remainder, who, together with the heavy ordnance and warlike stores,
were embarked in canoes and bateaux. On the night of the 2d, both
divisions met in a bay near the English fort, and soon afterward the
general learned from some prisoners, who were the survivors of a party
surprised by the Indians, the retreat of Webb and the weakness of the
British garrison. He immediately advanced upon the fort in three
columns, sending M. de Levi, with all his savage allies, to scour the
neighboring woods; these fierce warriors suddenly fell upon a small
foraging party of the English, slew and scalped forty of their number,
and carried off fifty head of cattle.

Montcalm spent the 3d of August in reconnoitering the fort and
neighborhood,[96] and in erecting batteries; but the Indians scorned the
delays of regular warfare, and urged an immediate attack without waiting
for the aid of artillery. The chief listened not unwillingly to this
daring counsel; first, however, he determined to try the virtue of
negotiation, and dispatched a peremptory summons to Colonel Monro,
demanding an immediate surrender. The English chief, although but too
well aware of his own weakness, returned a spirited answer to this
haughty message: "I will defend my trust," said he, "to the last
extremity."

This bold reply quickened the ardor of the French: during the 4th and
5th, day and night, their labors ceased not; they dug and delved into
the earth with vindictive and untiring zeal, pushing on the trenches of
the attack close to the ramparts of the fort. At daybreak on the 6th,
ten guns and a large mortar broke the silence of the morning with a
salvo upon the beleaguered garrison. The British paid back the deadly
salute vigorously, but with far inferior power. Meanwhile, the Indians
and some Canadian sharp-shooters swarmed around at every point; some
hiding behind the stumps of the forest trees, others finding shelter in
an adjoining garden, from their covert swept the works of the defenders
with a murderous fire. The odds were great, but in a vain hope that Webb
would not see him lost without an effort, Monro held out with stubborn
courage. His loss was heavy, his defenses rapidly giving way under the
crashing artillery of the French, yet still he resisted the threats and
promises of the enemy. At length ammunition failed; the savages soon
perceived this, and redoubled their fire, crowding closer round the
failing defenders. While yet they strove to hold their ground, an
intercepted letter from Webb to Monro was sent in by the French general;
this destroyed the last remaining hope, for it stated that no timely
relief could reach them, and advised that they should make the best
terms in their power. Monro then no longer hesitated, and a capitulation
was signed, with conditions such as a chivalrous conqueror should give
to those who had nobly but unsuccessfully performed their duty.

The sequel of this gallant defense is as sad as it is unaccountable. The
Indians despised the rights of the conquered. When they saw the garrison
march out on the following day with arms and baggage, and protected by a
French escort, their rage knew no bounds; but with savage cunning they
suffered their victims to proceed uninterruptedly till a place was
reached favorable to their murderous designs, when suddenly, with
horrible yells, they burst from the woods, upon the English column. This
unexpected onslaught paralyzed with terror the men who but the day
before had fought with dauntless bravery; few attempted to resist, some
were instantly struck down by the tomahawks of the savages, others found
tardy protection from the French escort, and about 600 dispersed among
the woods, and finally reached Fort Edward in miserable plight.

The endeavor to clear the memory of the illustrious Montcalm from the
dark stain of connivance with this ferocious treachery is now a grateful
task. While the dreadful story was fresh on the English ear, few voices
were raised in his defense; the blood of the murdered men was laid at
his door; the traitor to a soldier's faith was held in scornful
detestation. But time, "that reverses the sentence of unrighteous
judges,"[97] has served to clear away the cloud that shaded the
brightness of the gallant Frenchman's fame. He may, indeed, still be
censured for not having provided a sufficient escort for the surrendered
garrison. Surely, however, he may well have deemed 2000 men, such as
those who had before defended themselves with becoming bravery against
his host, might hold their own against an inferior number of savages.
When the onslaught began, he used his utmost endeavor to arrest it; he
rushed into the bloody scene, and strove earnestly to stop its progress.
Baring his breast, he called upon the savages to slay him, their father,
but to spare the English for whom his honor was plighted. Then, finding
his interference useless, he called upon the prisoners to defend
themselves, and fire upon their pursuers; it was in vain, however, so
overpowering were the terrors of the Indian tomahawk.[98] Montcalm's
officers also threw themselves in the way of the vindictive savages, and
some were even wounded in the attempt.[99]

Immediately after the victory Montcalm demolished the fort, destroyed
all the English vessels and boats upon the lake, triumphantly carried
off the artillery, warlike stores, and baggage, 100 live oxen, and
provisions for six months for a garrison of 5000 men. They did not
endeavor to push further their important advantages, but once again
retired within their own territories.[100]

The Marquis de Vaudreuil took the earliest opportunity to inform the
court of France that his gallant general's expedition had been thus
eminently successful. He moreover accompanied the cheering news by
earnest demands for aid in troops, artillery, and warlike stores, and
prayed that he might be speedily informed of the intentions of the
ministry, and their plans for the defense of the still endangered
colony.[101]

Meanwhile, peculation and corruption had frightfully increased among
those intrusted with the Provincial administration. The Associates'
Company cast aside all decent seeming of honesty, and robbed the
government, the settlers, and the Indians with unblushing effrontery.
The officers in command of outposts followed this infectious example.
Under pretext of supplying the savages, they made frequent and large
demands for goods, which, when obtained, were applied to their own use;
and, not even content with this wholesale plunder, they gave
certificates, amounting to large sums of money, for articles never
furnished: from this source arose that immense amount of paper currency
which deluged the colony at the time of the conquest, leaving no less
than eighty millions of livres then unprovided for. This enormous
dishonesty brought down its own punishment; agriculture and trade were
paralyzed, loyalty shaken, while diminished resources and a discontented
people hastened the inevitable catastrophe of British triumph.

Immediately on Lord Loudon's return from the disgraceful expedition to
Halifax,[102] he repaired to Fort Edward, which was the English advanced
post in the direction of Canada since the loss of Fort William
Henry.[103] As soon as he had given directions for its defense, he took
up his winter quarters at Albany: thence he dispatched Captain Rogers,
with a small party, to capture stragglers of the enemy, and gain
intelligence of their movements. This officer succeeded in ascertaining
that the important posts of Ticonderoga and Crown Point had been left
insufficiently garrisoned. The English general formed designs, and even
made extensive preparations to take advantage of the opportunity thus
offered, but, with vacillating weakness, soon abandoned the project. In
Acadia some ineffectual marching and counter-marching was performed by
his orders, and the troops suffered considerably from privation and from
the harassing enmity of the French and Indians.

The feeble conduct and the contemptible results of this campaign
demonstrated the inability of the English chief for military command;
but Lord Loudon's merits in council should not be overlooked, while he
stands condemned as a general. He aroused the different colonial
governments from a dangerous apathy, induced them to unite, in some
measure, their great but disjointed power, and exert for the general
good the means which Providence had abundantly supplied. These favorable
conditions were improved by the politic wisdom of his successors in the
post of commander-in-chief in North America.

The return of Holborne's shattered fleet and the news of the resultless
maneuvers of Lord Loudon aroused a storm of indignation in England.
Enormous preparations had proved fruitless, a vast force had warred only
against the hardships of the wilderness or the dangers of the ocean.
Twenty thousand regular troops, with a large Provincial army, had wasted
the precious season of action in embarkations and disembarkations,
disgraceful retreats, and advances almost equally disgraceful. Twenty
magnificent ships of the line had left the British ports for the
American shore in the pride of irresistible power, and, without firing a
gun for the honor of their flag, returned to whence they came, or,
maimed and dismantled, sought refuge in friendly ports. England had to
lament her gallant children, her stately ships, her hard-earned
treasures, and, above all, her military glory, lost in the Western
deserts or swallowed up in the waters of the Atlantic.

[Footnote 89: "In the French accounts of this transaction, Fort George
is the name given to the fort. This was a strong position at a short
distance from Fort William Henry. In the vicinity of the village of
Caldwell is situated the site of the old Fort William Henry, and a short
distance beyond the ruins of Fort George, which was built during the
campaign of Amherst."--_Picturesque Tourist_, p. 104.]

[Footnote 90: "Lake George, called by the Indians Horican, is justly
celebrated for its romantic and beautiful scenery, and for the
transparency and purity of its waters. They were exclusively selected by
the Jesuit missionaries to perform the typical purification of baptism,
which obtained for it the appropriate title of Lac Sacrament. The less
zealous English thought they conferred sufficient honor on its unsullied
fountains when they bestowed the name of their reigning prince, the
second of the house of Hanover."--_Last of the Mohicans_, p. 2.]

[Footnote 91: "The abandonment of the enterprise against Crown Point, on
which they had securely relied, was a severe disappointment to the New
England States."--Graham's _Hist. of the United States_, vol. iv., p. 5.

"The attack on Louisburg was a scheme very favorable to the views and
interests of France at this period, as it left M. de Montcalm entirely
at liberty to prosecute his plans of conquest, and Louisburg was so
strongly defended that little apprehension was entertained for its
safety."--Belsham, vol. ii., p. 371.]

[Footnote 92: "Upon our anchoring in Chebucto harbor, our commanding
officer went ashore, and waited on his excellency the Earl of Loudon,
who, with Major-general Abercromby, expressed great pleasure at our
arrival, with the information they received of the fleet, and
re-enforcements we had parted with at sea; and his lordship said, 'We
had staid so long, he had almost despaired of us,' but being assured our
delay proceeded principally from an obstinate set of contrary winds,
that had retarded us in Ireland above two months after our arrival at
the port of embarkation, his lordship seemed pleased. (As the fate of
the expedition to Louisburg in this campaign depended, in a great
measure, on the speedy sailing and junction of the fleet and forces from
Europe with those of the Earl of Loudon, it was for this reason I judged
it necessary to commence this work with the first orders to the troops
in Ireland to march and embark for foreign service; and it will thereby
appear that the earliest measures were taken at home to forward this
enterprise, which, without doubt, would have succeeded, if the armament
could have sailed when first intended)."--Knox's _Historical Journals of
the Campaigns of North America_, vol. i., p. 14.

The same cause--impossibility of exactly combining fleets and
armies--had proved the ruin of every expedition, on a grand scale,
undertaken by either French or English, in America, for years before.]

[Footnote 93: "It was resolved, according to the custom of this war, to
postpone the expedition to another opportunity."--Belsham, vol. ii., p.
372.

"I do not augur very well of the ensuing summer; a detachment is going
to America under a commander whom a child might outwit or terrify with a
pop-gun."--Walpole's _Letters to Sir H. Mann_, Feb. 13, 1757.]

[Footnote 94: "It being now universally known at Halifax that the
expedition against Cape Breton is laid aside for this season, the clerk
of the Church, to evince his sentiments upon the situation of affairs,
gave out and sung the 1st, 2d, 9th, 10th, 11th, 13th, and 26th verses of
Psalm xliv., of the New Version. A Jew merchant and another man were
this morning committed to jail by the governor for circulating a false
report of there being only five ships of war and three frigates at
Louisburg; but the Earl of Loudon, being superior to such mean
resentments, ordered them to be released in the evening."--Knox's
_Historical Journal_, vol. i., p. 24.

The extraordinary ardor of Major-general Lord Charles Hay, having made
him much louder than others in condemning Lord Loudon's conduct, upon
this occasion, a council of war was called to consider the tendency of
his reflections, and the consequence was his being put under arrest.
General Hopson's letter to Lord Loudon in October, three months
afterward, mentions Lord Charles Hay being still under arrest, and
complains of three regiments, with their commanding officers at their
head, having gone "in corps" to wait upon him.]

[Footnote 95: "Shortly after came letters from the Earl of Loudon, the
commander-in-chief in North America, stating that he found the French
21,000 strong, and that, not having so many, he could not attack
Louisburg, but should return to Halifax. Admiral Holborne, one of the
sternest condemners of Byng, wrote at the same time that he, having but
seventeen ships and the French nineteen, dared not attack them. There
was another summer lost! Pitt expressed himself with great vehemence
against the earl, and we naturally have too lofty ideas of our naval
strength to suppose that seventeen of our ships are not a match for any
nineteen others."--Walpole's _George II._, vol. ii., p. 231.

"Admiral Holborne declined to attack the French, because, while he had
seventeen ships of the line, they had eighteen, and a greater WEIGHT OF
METAL, 'according to the new sea phrase,' says Chesterfield,
indignantly, 'which was unknown to Blake!' (_Letter to his Son_, Sept.
30, 1757.) He adds, 'I hear that letters have been sent to both
(Holborne and Loudon) with very severe reprimands.'"--Lord Mahon's
_History of England_, vol. iv., p. 168.

"The recent fate of Admiral Byng, who was shot on the 14th of March,
1757, for incapacity in a naval engagement, is supposed to have
paralyzed the energy of many British officers at this juncture."--Graham's
_United States_, vol. iv., p. 6.

"Dans ce pays-ci il est bon de tuer de tems en tems un amiral pour
encourager les autres."--_Candide_, ch. xxiii.

"The miserable consequences of our political divisions (in 1757)
produced a general unsteadiness in all our pursuits, and infused a
languor and inactivity into all our military operations; for while our
commanders abroad knew not who would reward their services or punish
their neglects, and were not assured in what light even the best of
their actions would be considered (having reason to apprehend that they
might not be judged of as they were in themselves, but as their
appearances might answer the end of some ruling faction), they naturally
wanted that enterprising resolution, without which the best capacity,
and intentions the most honest, can do nothing in war."--_Annual
Register._]

[Footnote 96: "Directly on the shore of the lake, and nearer to its
western than to its eastern margin, lay the extensive earthen ramparts
and low buildings of William Henry. Two of the sweeping bastions
appeared to rest on the water, which washed their bases, while a deep
ditch and extensive morasses guarded its other side and angles. The land
had been cleared of wood for a reasonable distance around the work, but
every other part of the scene lay in the green livery of nature, except
where the limpid water mellowed the view, or the bold rocks thrust their
black and naked heads above the undulating outline of the mountain
ranges. In its front might be seen the scattered sentinels who held a
weary watch against their numerous foes.... Toward the southeast, but in
immediate contact with the fort, was an intrenched camp, posted on a
rocky eminence, that would have been far more eligible for the work
itself.... But the spectacle which most concerned the young soldier was
on the western bank of the lake, though quite near to its southern
termination. On a strip of land, which appeared from its stand too
narrow to contain such an army, but which, in truth, extended many
hundreds of yards from the shores of Lake George to the base of the
mountain, were to be seen the white tents and military engines for an
encampment of 10,000 men."--_Last of the Mohicans_, p. 144.]

[Footnote 97: "I was a little child when this transaction took place,
and distinctly remember the strong emotions which it every where
excited, and which hitherto time has not been able to efface."--Dwight.
The _Last of the Mohicans_ has given an immortal interest to the fate of
Fort William Henry.--Graham's _United States_, vol. iv., p. 8.]

[Footnote 98: " ... Committing a thousand outrages and barbarities, from
which the French commander endeavored in vain to restrain them. All this
was suffered by 2000 men, with arms in their hands, from a disorderly
crew of savages."--Burke, _Annual Register for the year 1758_.]

[Footnote 99: "Montcalm says in his letter to Monro, August 3d, 1757, 'I
am still able to restrain the savages, and to oblige them to observe a
capitulation, as none of them have been killed; but this control will
not be in my power under other circumstances.'"--Russell's _Modern
Europe_.

"Of the scene of cruelty and bloodshed that took place at Fort William
Henry, the accounts which have been transmitted are not less uniform and
authentic than horrible and disgusting. The only point which is wrapped
in obscurity is _how far_ the French general and his troops were
voluntarily or unavoidably spectators of the violation of the treaty
which they stood pledged to fulfill. According to some accounts, no
escort whatever was furnished to the British garrison. According to
others, the escort was a mere mockery, both in respect of the numbers of
the French guards, and of their willingness to defend their civilized
enemies against their savage friends. It is certain that the escort, if
any, proved totally ineffectual; and this acknowledged circumstance,
taken in conjunction with the prior occurrences at Oswego, is sufficient
to stain the character of Montcalm with a suspicion of treachery and
dishonor."--Graham's _History of the United States_, vol. iv., p. 7.]

[Footnote 100: "Webb, roused at length from his lethargy by personal
apprehension, had hastily invoked the succor of the states of New
England. The call was promptly obeyed, and a portion of the militia of
Massachusetts and Connecticut was dispatched to check the victorious
progress of the French. Montcalm, whether daunted by this vigorous
demonstration or satisfied with the blow which he had struck, and
engrossed with the care of improving its propitious influence on the
minds of the Indians, refrained from even investing Fort Edward, and
made no further attempt at present to extend the circle of his
conquests."--Graham's _History of the United States_, vol. iv., p. 8.]

[Footnote 101: "Mais malgre les instantes demandes des Canadiens, le
gouvernement de Madame da Pompadour ne songeoit point a leur envoyer des
secours. M. Pitt, au contraire, apportant une meme vigueur dans tous les
departemens de la guerre, avoit destine des forces considerables, a
subjuguer dans toutes les parties de l'Amerique les Francois, qui
abandonnes a eux-memes ne pouvoient tarder plus long tems a
succomber."--Sismondi's _Hist. des Francais_, vol. xxix., ch. liv.]

[Footnote 102: "We had a torrent of bad news yesterday from America.
Lord Loudon has found an army of 20,000 French, gives over the design on
Louisburg, and retires to Halifax. Admiral Holborne writes that they
have nineteen ships to his seventeen, and that he can not attack them.
It is time for England to slip her own cables, and float away into some
unknown ocean!--Walpole's _Letters to Sir H. Mann_, Sept. 3, 1757.

"To add to the ill-humor, our papers are filled with the new loss of
Fort William Henry, which covered New York. That opulent and proud
colony, between their own factions and our folly, is in imminent danger;
but I will have done--nay, if we lose another dominion, I think I will
have done writing to you; I can not bear to chronicle so many
disgraces."--Walpole's _Letters to Sir H. Mann_, Oct. 12, 1757.

"When intelligence of these new losses and disgraces reached England,
the people, already sufficiently mortified by their losses and disgraces
in Europe,[104] sank into a general despondency; and some moral and
political writers, who pretended to foretell the ruin of the nation, and
ascribed its misfortunes to a total corruption of manners and
principles, obtained general credit. Of these writers the most
distinguished was Dr. Brown, whose _Estimate of the Manners and
Principles of the Times_, abounding with awful predictions, was bought
up and read with incredible avidity, and seemed to be as much confided
in as if he had been divinely inspired."--Russell's _Modern Europe_,
vol. iii., p. 324.]

[Footnote 103: The lengthened sheet of Lake Champlain stretched from the
frontiers of Canada nearly half the distance between Canada and New
York. On the Canada side the River Richelieu formed a communication with
the River St. Lawrence; on the New York side Lake George extended the
water communication twelve leagues further to the south, and then a
portage of twelve miles over the high land, which interposed itself to
the further passage of the water, conducted the traveler to the banks of
the Hudson, at a point where the river became navigable to the
tide.[105] It was this almost uninterrupted water communication between
the rival states of Canada and New York that rendered the forts on Lake
Champlain[106] and Lake George[107] such important objects of attack or
defense.]

[Footnote 104: The capitulation of Closterseven, or Convention of Stade,
was signed in September of this year.]

[Footnote 105: Here Fort Edward was situated.]

[Footnote 106: Ticonderoga and Fort Frederick, or Crown Point.]

[Footnote 107: Fort William Henry.]




CHAPTER IV.


During the disastrous campaign of 1757, a strife of greater importance
than that on the American continent was carried on in the English House
of Commons. In the preceding year, the falsehood and incompetency of the
Duke of Newcastle, prime minister of England, had aroused a storm of
indignation, to which the shameful losses of Minorca and Oswego had
given overwhelming force. Mr. Fox, the only commoner of character and
ability who still adhered to the ministry, determined to lend his name
no longer to the premier's policy, and in the month of October resigned
the seals of office. This blow proved fatal for the tottering cabinet.
To the almost universal joy of the people, the Duke of Newcastle did not
dare the encounter with his gifted rival in the approaching session of
Parliament, and reluctantly yielded up those powers the exercise of
which, in his hands, had led the nation to embarrassment and shame.

By the wish of the king, Mr. Fox endeavored to induce Mr. WILLIAM PITT
to join him in the conduct of the national councils. The "Great
Commoner," however, decisively rejected this overture.[108] The Duke of
Devonshire, lord lieutenant of Ireland, a man more remarkable for
probity and loyalty than for administrative capacity, next received the
royal commands to form a ministry; he sacrificed his personal
predilections toward Mr. Fox to the public good, and at once appointed
Pitt Secretary of State, with Legge as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Most
of the subordinate members of the cabinet retained their places, but
several of Pitt's relatives received appointments to important offices.

Almost the first step of the new cabinet was to apply to Parliament for
the means of aiding the King of Prussia against "the vindictive designs
of France." Notwithstanding the great popularity of the ministry, and
the general confidence in its capacity and integrity, the apparent
contrast between this proposition and former protestations against
continental interference excited the hostility of many, and the
observation of all. The supplies, however, were voted to the full extent
demanded by the minister.

Despite these concessions to the king's Hanoverian interests, nothing
could overcome the personal dislike of his majesty to Pitt, and to his
brother-in-law Lord Temple. The appointment of the Duke of Cumberland to
command the British force on the Continent gave opportunity for the
manifestation of this royal hostility. The duke refused to undertake his
duties while such an anti-Hanoverian as Pitt remained as virtual head of
the ministry. The king's love for his son, and hatred of his gifted
servant, combined to prompt him to the decided step of dismissing the
great minister from his councils. An interval of nearly three months
elapsed in vain attempts to form a cabinet from which Pitt should be
excluded. There was, however, another party interested in these
arrangements, which neither prerogative nor parliamentary influence
might long venture to oppose--the British nation. As with one voice, all
ranks and classes spoke out their will that Pitt should hold the helm.
His rivals saw that it was impossible to stem the stream, and wisely
counseled the king to yield to the wishes of his people. In June the
patriot minister was once again the ruler of England's destiny.[109]

This illustrious man knew no party but the British nation, acknowledged
no other interest. To exalt the power and prosperity of his country, and
to humble France, was his sole aim and object. Personally disagreeable
to the highest power in the state, and from many causes regarded with
hostility by the several aristocratic confederacies, it needed the
almost unanimous voice of his countrymen, and the unacknowledged
confidence of those powerful men whose favor he neither possessed nor
desired, to sweep away these formidable difficulties, and give to
England in the hour of need the services of her greatest son.

For the remainder of the campaign of 1757, however, the energy and
wisdom of Pitt were too late brought to the council, and the
ill-conducted schemes of his predecessors bore, as has been shown, the
bitter fruit of disaster and disgrace. But no sooner was he firmly
established in office, and his plans put in execution, than the British
cause began to revive in the Western hemisphere, and, although still
checkered with defeat, glory and success rewarded his gigantic efforts.
He at once determined to renew the expedition against Cape Breton, and,
warned by previous failures, urged upon the king the necessity of
removing both the naval and military officers who had hitherto conducted
the operations. With that admirable perception which is one of the most
useful faculties of superior minds, he readily discerned in others the
qualities requisite for his purpose--his judgment ever unwarped and his
keen vision unclouded by personal or political considerations. In
Colonel Amherst he had discovered sound sense, steady courage, and an
active genius; he therefore recalled him from the army in Germany, and,
casting aside the hampering formalities of military rule, promoted him
to the rank of major-general, and to the command of the troops destined
for the attack of Louisburg.[110] At the same time, from the British
navy's brilliant roll, the minister selected the Hon. Edward Boscawen as
admiral of the fleet, and gave him also, till the arrival of General
Amherst, the unusual commission of command over the land forces. With
vigorous zeal the equipments were hurried on, and on the 19th of
February a magnificent armament sailed from Portsmouth for the harbor of
Halifax on the Acadian peninsula. The general was delayed by contrary
winds, and did not reach Halifax till the 28th of May, where he met
Boscawen's fleet coming out of the harbor; the admiral, impatient of
delay, having put all the force in motion, with the exception of a corps
1600 strong left to guard the post. No less than 22 ships of the line
and 15 frigates, with 120 smaller vessels, sailed under his flag; and 14
battalions of infantry, with artillery and engineers, in all 11,600,
almost exclusively British regulars, were embarked to form the army of
General Amherst. The troops were told off in three brigades of nearly
equal strength, under the brigadier-generals Whitmore, Lawrence, and
JAMES WOLFE.[111]

At dawn on the 2d of June the armament arrived off Cape Breton, where
the greatest part of the fleet came to anchor in the open roadstead of
Gabarus Bay. Amherst entertained a strong hope to surprise the garrison
of Louisburg, and with that view issued an order to forbid the slightest
noise, or the exhibition of any light, on board the transports near the
shore; he especially warned the troops to preserve a profound silence as
they landed. But the elements rendered these judicious orders of no
avail. In the morning a dense fog shrouded the rocky shore, and as the
advancing day cleared away the curtains of the mist, a prodigious swell
rolled in from the Atlantic, and broke in impassable surf upon the
beach. Nevertheless, in the evening the general, with Lawrence and
Wolfe, approached close to the dangerous shore, and reconnoitered the
difficulties which nature and the enemy might oppose to their landing.
They found that the French had formed a chain of posts for some distance
across the country, and that they had also thrown up works and batteries
at the points where a successful debarkation seemed most probable. The
next morning the sea had not abated, and for six successive days the
heavy roll of the ocean broke with undiminished violence upon the rugged
shore. During this interval the enemy toiled day and night to strengthen
their position, and lost no opportunity of opening fire with guns and
mortars upon the ships.

On the 8th the sea subsided into calm, and the fog vanished from the
shore. Before daybreak the troops were assembled in boats, formed in
three divisions; at dawn Commodore Durell examined the coast, and
declared that the landing was now practicable. When his report was
received, seven of the smaller vessels at once opened fire, and in about
a quarter of an hour the boats of the left division began to row in
toward the shore: in them were embarked twelve companies of Grenadiers,
550 Light Infantry men, with the Highlanders and a body of Provincial
Rangers: Brigadier-general Wolfe was their chief. The right and center
brigades, under Whitmore and Lawrence, moved at the same time toward
other parts of the shore, and three sloops were sent past the mouth of
the harbor to distract the attention of the enemy.

The left division was the first to reach the beach, at a point a little
eastward of Fresh-water Cove, and four miles from the town.[112] The
French stood firm, and held their fire till the assailants were close in
shore; then, as the boats rose on the dangerous surf, they poured in a
rattling volley from every gun and musket that could be brought to bear.
Many of the British troops were struck down, but not a shot was
returned. Wolfe's flag-staff was shivered by a bar-shot, and many boats
badly damaged; still, with ardent valor, the sailors forced their way
through the surging waves, and in a very few minutes the whole division
was ashore, and the enemy flying in disorder from all his intrenchments.
The victors pressed on rapidly in pursuit, and, despite the rugged and
difficult country, inflicted a heavy loss on the fugitives, and took
seventy prisoners. At length the cannon of the ramparts of Louisburg
checked their further advance. In the mean time the remaining British
divisions had landed, but not without losing nearly 100 boats and many
men from the increasing violence of the sea.

During the two following days the fury of the waves forbade all attempts
to land the artillery and the necessary stores for the attack of the
hostile stronghold; on the 11th, however, the weather began to clear,
and some progress was made in the preparations. Hitherto the troops had
suffered much from want of provisions and tents; now their situation was
somewhat improved.

Louisburg is a noble harbor: within is ample shelter for the largest
fleets England or France have ever sent from their shores. A rugged
promontory, on which stood the town and somewhat dilapidated
fortifications, protects it from the southwest wind; another far larger
arm of the land is its shelter to the southeast. About midway across the
entrance of this land-locked bay stands Goat Island, which at that time
was defended by some works, with a formidable array of guns; a range of
impassable rocks extends thence to the town. From an elevation to the
northwest of the harbor, the grand battery showed a threatening front to
those who might seek to force the entrance of the Sound. For the defense
of this important position, M. de Drucour, the French chief, had at his
disposal six line-of-battle ships; five frigates, three of which he
sank, to impede the entrance of the harbor; 3000 regular troops and
burgher militia, with 350 Canadians and Indians.

On the 12th the French withdrew all their outposts, and even destroyed
the grand battery that commanded the entrance of the harbor,
concentrating their whole power upon the defense of the town. Wolfe's
active light troops soon gave intelligence of these movements, and the
following day the brigadier pushed on his advance round the northern and
eastern shores of the bay, till they gained the high lands opposite Goat
Island with little opposition; there, as soon as the perversity of the
weather would permit, he mounted some heavy artillery, but it was not
till the 20th that he was enabled to open fire upon the ships and the
land defenses. On the 25th the formidable French guns on Goat Island
were silenced. Wolfe then left a detachment in his battery, and hastened
round with his main force to a position close to the town, where he
erected works, and from them assailed the ramparts and the shipping.

For many days the slow and monotonous operations of the siege continued,
under great difficulties to the assailants, the marshy nature of the
ground rendering the movement of artillery very tedious. The rain poured
down in torrents, swamping the labors of the engineers; the surf still
foamed furiously upon the shore, embarrassing the landing of the
necessary material and impeding the communication with the fleet. On the
night of the 9th of July, the progress of the besiegers was somewhat
interrupted by a fierce and sudden sally; five companies of light
troops, supported by 600 men, burst upon a small English work during the
silence of the night, surprising and overwhelming the defenders. The
young Earl of Dundonald, commanding the grenadiers of the 17th, who held
the post, paid for this want of vigilance with his life; his lieutenant
was wounded and taken, and his men struck down, captured, or dispersed.
Major Murray, however, with the Grenadiers of the 22d and 28th, arrived
ere long, and restored the fight. After a time the French again betook
themselves to the shelter of their walls, having left twenty of their
men dead upon the scene of strife, and eighty more wounded or prisoners
in the hands of the besiegers.

Meanwhile the British generals pushed on the siege with unwearied zeal,
and, at the same time, with prudent caution, secured their own camp by
redoubts. Day and night the batteries[113] poured their ruinous shower
upon the ramparts, the citadel, and shipping. On the 21st, three large
vessels of war took fire in the harbor from a live shell, and the
English gunners dealt death to those who sought to extinguish the
flames. The next day the citadel was in a blaze; the next, the barracks
were burned to the ground, and Wolfe's trenches were pushed up to the
very defenses of the town. The French could no longer stand to their
guns. On the night of the 25th, two young captains, La Forey and
Balfour, with the boats of the fleet, rowed into the harbor under a
furious fire, boarded the two remaining vessels of war, and thus
destroyed the last serious obstacle to British triumph.[114] The
following morning, M. de Drucour surrendered at discretion.

In those days, the taking of Louisburg was a mighty triumph for the
British arms: a place of considerable strength, defended with skill and
courage, fully manned, and aided by a powerful fleet, had been bravely
won; 5600 men, soldiers, sailors, and marines were prisoners; eleven
ships of war taken or destroyed; 240 pieces of ordnance, 15,000 stand of
arms, and a great amount of ammunition, provisions, and military stores,
had fallen into the hands of the victors, and eleven stand of colors
were laid at the feet of the British sovereign: they were afterward
solemnly deposited in St. Paul's Cathedral.

But while the wisdom and zeal of Amherst, and the daring skill of
Wolfe,[115] excite the gratitude and admiration of their countrymen, it
must not be forgotten that causes beyond the power and patriotism of man
mainly influenced this great event. The brave admiral doubted the
practicability of the first landing.[116] Amherst hesitated, and the
chivalrous Wolfe himself, as he neared the awful surf, staggered in his
resolution, and, purposing to defer the enterprise, waved his hat for
the boats to retire. Three young subaltern officers, however, commanding
the leading craft, pushed on ashore, having mistaken the signal for what
their stout hearts desired--the order to advance; some of their men, as
they sprung upon the beach, were dragged back by the receding surge and
drowned, but the remainder climbed up the rugged rocks, and formed upon
the summit. The brigadier then cheered on the rest of the division to
the support of this gallant few, and thus the almost desperate landing
was accomplished.

Nor should due record be omitted of that which enhances the glory of the
conquerors--the merit of the conquered. To defend the whole line of
coast with his garrison was impossible; for nearly eight miles,
however, the energetic Drucour had thrown up a chain of works, and
occupied salient points with troops; and when at length the besiegers
effected a landing, he still left no means untried to uphold the honor
of his flag. Hope of relief or succor there was none; beyond the waters
of the bay the sea was white with the sails of the hostile fleet. Around
him, on every side, the long red line of British infantry closed in from
day to day. His light troops were swept from the neighboring woods; his
sallies were interrupted or overwhelmed. Well-armed batteries were
pushed up to the very ramparts; a murderous fire of musketry struck down
his gunners at their work; three gaping breaches lay open to the
assailants;[117] his best ships burned or taken; his officers and men
worn with fatigue and watching; four fifths of his artillery disabled;
then, and not till then, did the brave Frenchman give up the trust which
he had nobly and faithfully held. To the honor of the garrison, not a
man deserted his colors through all the dangers, privations, and
hardships of the siege, with the exception of a few Germans who served
as unwilling conscripts. This spirited defense was in so far successful
that it occupied the bulk of the British force, while Abercromby was
being crushed by the superior genius and power of Montcalm. By thus
delaying for seven weeks the progress of the campaign, the season became
too far advanced for further operations, and the final catastrophe of
French American dominion was deferred for another year.[118]

On the 7th of August detachments were sent, under Major Dalling and Lord
Rollo, to take possession of the other settlements in Cape Breton, and
of the Isle de St. Jean, now Prince Edward's Island. This latter
territory had long been an object of great importance to Canada; the
fertility of the soil, the comparative mildness of the climate, and the
situation commanding the navigation of the Great River, rendered it
invaluable to the settlers of New France.

On the 15th the French prisoners were dispatched to Europe in
transports. On the 28th, Admiral Sir Charles Hardy, with seven ships of
the line and three frigates, conveying a force of some Artillery, and
three battalions of Infantry, was sent round to the Gulf of St.
Lawrence. The object of this expedition was to destroy the French
settlements at Miramichi, the Baye de Chaleurs, Gaspe, and as far up the
banks of the Great River as the season might permit; then to disperse or
carry away the inhabitants: by this it was hoped that the troublesome
marauders on the English frontier might be chastised and kept in check,
and that a portion of the enemy's strength might be diverted from
Abercromby's front. The execution of this painful duty was committed to
Brigadier-general Wolfe.

These stern orders were punctually obeyed, but as much humanity as was
possible tempered the work of destruction. All the Acadian villages on
the northeastern coast were laid in ruins: some hundreds of the
inhabitants were borne away to captivity, and the rest driven from
their blackened hearths and desolated farms to the grim refuge of the
wilderness. Among the settlements devastated by this expedition was the
flourishing fishing station of Mont Louis.[119] The intendant in charge
of the place offered a ransom of 150,000 livres to save the stores and
provisions his people's industry had created, but the relentless law of
retribution took its course, and the hoarded magazines of corn, fish,
and other supplies for their own use and for the market of Quebec, were
totally destroyed. Colonel Monckton, with three other battalions, was
sent on a similar errand to the Bay of Fundy and to the River St. John,
and in like manner fulfilled his task.

It may, perhaps, be partial or unjust to single out one tale of woe from
among the crowded records of this war's gigantic misery to hold up in
the strong light of contrast with the glory of the recent victory. But
we may not hear, without a blush of shame and sorrow, how the simple
Acadian peasantry were made to pay the penalties of banishment and ruin
for the love of France and for loyalty to their king, at a time when
Pitt was the minister, Amherst the general, and Wolfe the lieutenant.

Having executed his orders, Wolfe repaired to Halifax and assumed the
command of the troops in garrison. Admiral Boscawen and General Amherst
came to a conclusion that for that season nothing more could be effected
by them against the power of France. They therefore agreed, although
their instructions did not extend to any part of the continent beyond
Nova Scotia, that it would be advisable to detach a portion of the army
to strengthen Abercromby, and assist him to repair his disaster, of
which they were informed. Accordingly, Amherst sailed for Boston on the
30th of August with five battalions, arrived on the 13th of September,
and the next day landed his troops. Despite the interested
remonstrances of the local authorities, he soon pushed on through the
difficult district of the Green Woods, by Kinderhook Mills, and through
Albany to Lake George. Having there held counsel with the unfortunate
Abercromby, and delivered over his seasonable re-enforcement, he
returned to Boston, and finally to Halifax, where he had been instructed
to await orders from the English government.

[Footnote 108: "But though Pitt desired high office, he desired it only
for high and generous ends. He did not seek it for patronage like
Newcastle, or for lucre like Fox. Glory was the bright star that ever
shone before his eyes, and ever guided him onward--his country's glory
and his own. 'My lord!' he once exclaimed to the Duke of Devonshire, 'I
am sure that I can save this country, and that no one else can.'"--Lord
Mahon's _Hist. of England_, vol. iv., p. 77.]

[Footnote 109: At this period commenced the brilliant era justly called
MR. PITT'S ADMINISTRATION, in which he became the soul of the British
councils, conciliated the good-will of the king, infused a new spirit
into the British nation, and curbed the united efforts of the house of
Bourbon.

The following picture of affairs at the moment when Pitt became
secretary of state (29th of June, 1757) is contained in a letter from
Lord Chesterfield to Mr. Dayrolles: "Whoever is in or whoever is out, I
am sure we are undone both at home and abroad: at home, by our increasing
debt and expenses; abroad, by our ill luck and incapacity.... The French
are masters to do what they please in America. We are no longer a nation.
I never yet saw so dreadful a prospect."--_Correspondence of the Earl of
Chatham_, edited by William Stanhope Taylor, Esq., vol. i., _note_,
p. 238.]

[Footnote 110: "What alarms me most, is the account Lady Hester brought,
of some men-of-war, a few, very few, being got into Louisburg; because,
upon the issue of that attempt I think the whole salvation of this
country and Europe does essentially depend," (Letter of Earl Temple to
Mr. Pitt, Stowe, July 3, 1758.)--_Chatham Correspondence_, vol. i., p.
325.]

[Footnote 111: See Appendix, No. LXIV.]

[Footnote 112: The place where the British troops landed, near
Fresh-water Cove, before the successful siege of Louisburg, was called
Cormoran Creek.]

[Footnote 113: "It may not be amiss to observe that a cavalier, which
Admiral Knowles had built, at enormous expense to the nation, while
Louisburg remained in the hands of the English during the last war, was
in the course of this siege entirely demolished by two or three shots
from one of the British batteries; so admirably had this piece of
fortification been contrived and executed, under the eye of that
profound engineer."--Smollett, vol. iv., p. 303.]

[Footnote 114: "The renowned Captain Cook, then serving as a petty
officer on board of a British ship of war, co-operated in this exploit,
and wrote an account of it to a friend in England. That he had honorably
distinguished himself may be inferred from his promotion to the rank of
lieutenant in the royal navy, which took place immediately
after."--Graham's _United States_, vol. iv., p. 28.]

[Footnote 115: "Brigadier Wolfe has performed prodigies of valor.... We
could not land before the 8th, which we fortunately effected after
encountering dangers that are almost incredible." (Letter from the camp
before Louisburg.)--Knox's _Historical Journal_, vol. i., p. 144.]

[Footnote 116: "Captain Ferguson, an old, brave, and distinguished navy
officer, earnestly prayed the admiral not to put the fate of the
expedition on the uncertain chances of a council of war,[120] but at
once to attempt the landing, despite all difficulties. His spirited
appeal was successful."--_The Field of Mars_; Article, Louisburg.
London, 1801.]

[Footnote 117: So ruinous were the fortifications, that "General Wolfe
himself was obliged to place sentinels upon the ramparts, for the
private men and the sutlers entered through the breaches and gaps with
as much ease as if there had only been an old ditch."--_Translation of a
Letter from M. de Drucour to M. ----_, dated Andover, October 1, 1758,
when he was a prisoner in England.]

[Footnote 118:

"DEAR WOLFE,

"Camp, August 8, 1758.

"I have your letter this morning, to which I can say no more to you than
what I have already done: that my first intentions and hopes were, after
the surrender of Louisburg, to go with the whole army (except what is
absolutely necessary for Louisburg) to Quebec, as I am convinced it is
the best thing we could do, if practicable. The next was, to pursue my
orders as to future operations; and this affair unluckily happening at
Ticonderoga, I quitted the thoughts of the future operations in part, as
ordered, to assist Major-general Abercromby by sending five or six
regiments to him, which I told Brigadier Lawrence he should command, in
case we could not go to Quebec.... I have proposed this to the admiral
for the day after the surrender of the town, and I am thoroughly
convinced he will not lose one moment's time in pursuing every thing for
forwarding and expediting the service.... Whatever schemes you may have,
or information that you can give to quicken our motions, your
communicating of them would be very acceptable, and will be of much more
service than your thoughts of quitting the army, which seem by no means
agreeable, as all my thoughts and wishes are confined at present to
pursuing our operations for the good of his majesty's service; and I
know nothing that can tend more to it than your assisting in it.

"I am, dear sir, your most obedient humble servant,

"JEFF. AMHERST."

--_Chatham Correspondence_, vol. i., p. 332.]

[Footnote 119: "The Bay of Mont Louis is situated upon the southern side
of the River St. Lawrence, bounded on one side by the inaccessible
mountains of Notre Dame. It is nearly half way between Quebec and the
sea, and all the vessels that ascend to Quebec pass within
view."--Charlevoix, tom. iii., p. 325.]

[Footnote 120: "Lord Clive declared to the Parliamentary Committee of
Inquiry, instituted A.D. 1773, that 'he never called a council of war
but once, which was previous to his passing the Ganges on his famous
expedition to Moorshedabad; and if he had then followed the decision of
the council, the company had been undone.'"--Belsham, vol. ii., p. 401.]




CHAPTER V.


From the brilliant successes on the island of Cape Breton, it is now
necessary to turn to the painfully checkered course of events on the
American continent, where the execution of Pitt's magnificent
designs[121] was unhappily intrusted to very different men from the
conquerors of Louisburg. The great minister's plan of operations had
embraced the whole extent of French American dominions, from the
embattled heights of Louisburg and Quebec, to the lone but luxuriant
wilderness of the West. By the protracted defense of the loyal and
skillful Drucour, the overwhelming forces of Amherst and Boscawen were
delayed till the advancing season had rendered impossible, for that
year, their descent upon the Valley of the St. Lawrence.

The next British expedition in order and in importance was directed
against Ticonderoga and Crown Point. By the possession of these
strongholds the French had long been enabled to harass the English
frontier almost with impunity, and to command the navigation of the
extensive lakes which formed the high road to the heart of Canada.

The third army was destined to march upon Fort du Quesne, of disastrous
memory, and to establish the British power in the Valley of the Ohio,
for the possession of which the sanguinary war had commenced, and the
spot where blood had first been shed. By the success of this object, all
communication between the French of Canada and Louisiana would be
effectually cut off, and the countries watered by the St. Lawrence and
the Mississippi left at the mercy of England's naval power.

The same express that bore the tidings of Lord Loudon's recall, conveyed
a circular letter from Mr. Pitt to the colonial governors, declaring the
determination of the British cabinet to repair, at any cost, the losses
and disasters of the last campaign.[122] To encourage the vigorous
co-operation of the colonists, they were informed that his majesty would
recommend Parliament to grant the several provinces such compensation
for t

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