CHAPTER V.

_The Gathering Storm of War._

Life among the Planters--The Dismal Swamp--The peace of Fontainebleau--Arrogance of the British--The Stamp Act--Speech of Patrick Henry--The First Congress--Testimony of Franklin--Views of Washington--Splendor of Display--Insolence of the Soldiery--The Boston Massacre--The Expedition to the Ohio--Events of the Journey--The Romance of Travel in the Wilderness.

Many of the Virginia planters were devoted to pleasure alone. They lived high, gambled, hunted, and left the management of their estates very much to overseers. Washington was a model planter. He carried into the administration of his estate all the sagacity, integrity, punctuality, and industry, which had thus far characterized him in public affairs. He was his own book-keeper, and his accounts were kept with methodical exactness. His integrity was such, that it is said that any barrel of flour, which bore his brand, was exempted in the West India ports from the ordinary inspection.[57]

He was very simple in his domestic habits, rising often, in midwinter, at five o’clock. He kindled his own fire, and read or wrote, by candle-light, until seven o’clock when he breakfasted very frugally. His ordinary breakfast was two small cups of tea, and three or four cakes of Indian meal, called hoe-cakes. After breakfast he mounted one of his superb horses, and in simple attire, but which set off to great advantage his majestic frame, visited all those parts of the extended estate, where any work was in progress. Everything was subjected to his careful supervision. At times he dismounted, and even lent a helping hand in furtherance of the operations which were going on. He dined at two o’clock, and retired to his chamber about nine in the evening.[58]

He was kind in word and deed to his negro slaves, and while careful that they should not be overtasked, was equally careful that they should not be permitted to loiter away their time in idleness. The servants were proud of their stately, dignified, wealthy master, and looked up to him with reverence amounting almost to religious homage. Washington was very fond of the chase. Often, when riding to a distant part of the estate, he would take some of the hounds with him, from the hope that he might start up a fox. There was not perhaps, in all Virginia, a better horseman, or a more bold rider. The habits and tastes of the old English nobility and gentry prevailed in Virginia to an extraordinary degree. The passion for following the hounds was thoroughly transplanted from the broad estates of the English land-holders to the vast realms which nature had reared and embellished on the banks of the Potomac, and amid the ridges of the Alleghanies.

Mount Vernon was always crowded with guests. Even the most profuse hospitality was no burden to the princely proprietor. Frequently, in the season, Washington would three times a week engage in these hunting excursions with his guests. He could mount them all superbly from his own stables. The Fairfaxes were constant companions on these festive occasions. These opulent and high-bred gentlemen would often breakfast at one mansion, and dine at another. It is said that Washington, notwithstanding his natural stateliness of character, greatly enjoyed these convivial repasts.

Washington was, however, by no means engrossed in these pleasures in which he sought frequent recreation. The care of his vast estates demanded much of his time. His superior abilities and his established integrity led him to be in demand for public services. He was appointed Judge of the County Court, and being a member of the House of Burgesses, was frequently called from home by public duties. Whatever trust Washington assumed, was discharged with the utmost fidelity. The diary which he carefully kept was headed with the words, “Where and How my Time is Spent.”[59]

The great Dismal Swamp, that vast, gloomy morass, thirty miles long and ten miles wide, had then been but very partially explored. Washington, with several other gentlemen of enterprise in his vicinity, formed a project to drain it. Imagination can hardly conceive of a more gloomy region. A dense, luxuriant forest, of cedar, cypress, hemlock, and other evergreen and deciduous trees, sprang up from the spongy soil. Many portions of this truly dismal realm were almost impenetrable, from the density of thickets and interlacing vines. Stagnant creeks and pools, some of which were almost lakes, were frequently interspersed. It was the favorite haunt of venomous reptiles, and birds and animals of ill omen.

Washington undertook to explore this revolting region. There were portions of the quaking bog over which he could ride on horseback. But often he had to dismount and carefully lead his horse from mound to mound. In the centre of the morass he found a large sheet of water, six miles long and three broad. It is appropriately called the Lake of the Dismal Swamp. Upon the banks of this lake there was some firm land. Here Washington encamped on the first night of his exploration. As the result of this survey a company was chartered, under the title of the Dismal Swamp Company. Through the efficiency of this company great improvements were made in this once desolate region.

In the spring of 1763, the peace of Fontainebleau was signed; and the two great kingdoms of England and France sheathed their swords. During the conflict, the British government, through the arrogance and haughty assumptions of its officers, had become increasingly unpopular. The British had driven the French from the continent. They had been accustomed to treat the Americans, officers and privates, as contemptuously as they had treated the Indians. A man born in America was deemed of an inferior grade to one born in England. This spirit, which met the Americans at every turn, was rapidly severing the ties of kindly feeling which had bound the emigrants to the mother country.

It was a constant endeavor of the British government to impose taxes upon the Americans, while refusing them the right of any representation in parliament. From the earliest period, when such a measure was attempted, the colonists had, with great determination, remonstrated against it. We cannot enter into the detail of the attempts made to impose taxes, and the nature of the resistance presented. At one time the colonists resolved not to purchase British fabrics, but to clothe themselves in home manufactures. This, in Boston alone, cut off the sale of British goods to the amount of more than fifty thousand dollars in a single year.

The question was discussed in parliament, in the year 1764, George Grenville being prime minister; and it was voted that England had a right to tax America. There were, however, many Englishmen who were opposed to the wrong, and who vehemently denounced it. In accordance with this vote the Stamp Act was passed. By this act, no legal instrument was binding, unless written upon paper stamped by the British government, and purchased of their agents.

It is a little remarkable that aristocratic Virginia was the first effectually to rise, in a burst of indignation, against this decree. Thus far it had been strong in its devotion to the British crown, church, and constitution. Washington was then a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses. Patrick Henry, one of the most renowned of the early patriots, presented the celebrated resolution, that “The General Assembly of Virginia has the exclusive right and power to lay taxes and impositions upon the inhabitants; and that whoever maintained the contrary should be deemed an enemy to the colony.”[60]

It was in the speech of great eloquence which he made upon this occasion, that he uttered the sentence which became world renowned:

“Cæsar had his Brutus; Charles his Cromwell; and George the Third”--“Treason; treason,” shouted several emissaries of the crown. Patrick Henry, bowing to the chairman, added, with great emphasis, “may profit by their example. Sir; if this be treason, make the most of it.”

The storm was gathering. Washington foresaw it. With gloomy forebodings he returned to Mount Vernon. He wrote to Francis Dandridge, his wife’s uncle, then in London:

“The Stamp Act engrosses the conversation of the speculative part of the colonists, who look upon this unconstitutional method of taxation as a direful attack upon their liberties, and loudly exclaim against the violation.”

The alarming posture of affairs led the General Court, or Assembly of Massachusetts, to invite a Congress to meet, of delegates from the several colonies. The meeting was held in New York, in October, 1765. There were delegates representing Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and South Carolina.

With great unanimity they denounced the acts of parliament imposing taxes without their consent, and some other measures, as violations of their rights and liberties. An address, in accordance with these resolves, was sent to the king, and petitions to both houses of parliament. In Boston, the stamp distributor was hung in effigy, and the stamps were seized and burned. Similar demonstrations were made in several other places. In Virginia, Mr. George Mercer was appointed distributor. On his arrival at Williamsburg he declined the office. The bells were rung, the town illuminated, and Mercer was greeted with acclaim.

The 1st of November, 1765, was the appointed day for the Stamp Act to go into operation. In many of the colonies the day was ushered in with funereal solemnities. The shops were closed, bells were tolled, flags were at half-mast, and many of the promoters of the act were burned in effigy. In New York, a copy of the act was paraded through the streets, in large letters on a pole, surmounted by a death’s head, with an inscription beneath:

“The Folly of England and the Ruin of America.”

Innumerable were the scenes of popular reprobation and violence which the obnoxious measure brought forth. The merchants of the great commercial marts of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, mutually pledged themselves not to purchase any goods of British manufacture, until the act was repealed.

Washington took no active part in these demonstrations. All his associations allied him with the aristocracy. The native dignity and reserve of his character rendered it difficult for him to throw himself into the turbid current of popular indignation. He was constitutionally cautious, being careful never to take a step which he might be compelled to retrace. He remained quietly at Mount Vernon, absorbed in the complicated cares of the large estates there subject to his control.

The commotion so increased that the British government became somewhat alarmed. Dr. Franklin was called before the House of Commons to be examined on the subject. He was asked:

“What was the temper of America toward Great Britain before the year 1763?”

The philosopher replied, in calm, well ordered phrase, characteristic of the extraordinary man:

“The best in the world. They submitted willingly to the government of the crown. Numerous as the people are, in the several old provinces, they cost you nothing in forts, citadels, garrisons, or armies to keep them in subjection. They were governed, by this country, at the expense only of a little pen, ink, and paper. They had not only respect, but affection for Great Britain, its laws, its customs and manners, and even a fondness for its fashions, that greatly increased the commerce. Natives of Great Britain were always treated with particular regard. To be an Old England man was, of itself, a character of some respect, and gave a kind of rank among us.”

“And what is their temper now?” Franklin was asked.

He replied, “Oh! it is very much altered. If the Stamp Act is not repealed there will be a total loss of the respect and affection the people of America bear to England; and there will be the total loss of the commerce which depends on that respect and affection.”

“Do you think,” the question was asked, “that the people of America would consent to pay the tax if it were moderated?”

“No,” Franklin replied; “never, unless compelled by force of arms.”[61]

These representations probably exerted very considerable influence. The act was repealed on the 18th of March, 1766. Washington was in entire harmony with the philosophic Franklin in his views upon this subject. To a friend he wrote:

“Had the Parliament of Great Britain resolved upon enforcing it, the consequences, I conceive, would have been more direful than is generally apprehended, both to the mother country and her colonies. All therefore, who were instrumental in securing the repeal, are entitled to the thanks of every British subject, and have mine cordially.”[62]

The Americans were struggling for the establishment of a principle which they deemed vital to their liberties. The petty pecuniary sum involved in that one case was of but little moment. The repeal of the act was attended with the obnoxious and insulting declaration that the king and parliament “had the right to bind the people of America in all cases whatever.”

In correspondence with this assumption, a tax was speedily imposed on tea, glass, and sundry other articles. Troops were also sent out to hold the Americans in subjection, and the colonies were ordered to pay for their support. Two regiments of British regulars were sent to Boston. This was indeed shaking the rod over the heads of the people. A town meeting was called. It was resolved that the king had no right to quarter troops upon the citizens, without their consent. The selectmen refused to provide lodgings for them.

Most of the troops were encamped on the common, while the governor, as agent of the crown, converted the State House and Faneuil Hall into barracks for others. The indignation of the people was at the boiling point. To overawe them, cannon, charged with grape-shot, were planted, to sweep the approaches to the State House and Faneuil Hall, and sentinels, with loaded muskets and fixed bayonets, challenged all who passed.

These regiments paraded the quiet streets of puritanic Boston with their banners and glittering weapons, and the martial music of bugles, drum and fifes was heard, even on the Sabbath, and every note fell upon the ears of the people like an insult and defiance. Washington, in his beautiful retreat at Mount Vernon, was steadfastly and anxiously watching all these proceedings. His feelings, in reference to the conduct of the British government, were very frankly expressed in the following letter to a friend, George Mason.[63]

“At a time when our lordly masters in Great Britain will be satisfied with nothing less than the deprivation of American freedom, it seems highly necessary that something should be done to avert the stroke, and maintain the liberty which we have derived from our ancestors. But the manner of doing it, to answer the purpose effectually, is the point in question. That no man should scruple or hesitate a moment, in defence of so valuable a blessing, is clearly my opinion. Yet arms should be the last resource. We have already, it is said, proved the inefficacy of addresses to the throne and remonstrances to Parliament. How far their attention to our rights and interests is to be awakened or alarmed, by starving their trade and manufactures, remains to be tried.”

Washington clearly foresaw how terrible the sacrifice which he and his opulent associates must make, in entering into a conflict with the British government. He alluded to this in the following words:

“I can see but one class of people, the merchants excepted, who will not, or ought not, to wish well to the scheme; namely those who live genteelly and hospitably on clear estates. Such as these, were they not to consider the valuable object in view, and the good of others, might think it hard to be curtailed in their living and enjoyments.”

It required the highest patriotic heroism for these wealthy men to peril their earthly all in such a conflict. An appeal to arms, followed by defeat, would inevitably lead to the confiscation of their estates, and to their execution upon the scaffold, as guilty of high treason. Mr. Mason nobly replied, in harmony with the spirit of Washington:

“Our all is at stake; and the little conveniences and comforts of life, when set in competition with our liberty, ought to be rejected, not with reluctance but with pleasure. We may retrench all manner of superfluities, finery of all descriptions, and confine ourselves to linens, woollens, etc. It is amazing how much this practice, if adopted by all the colonies, would lessen the American imports, and distress the various trades and manufactures of Great Britain.”

The result of this correspondence was the draft, by Mr. Mason, of the plan of an association, each member of which was to pledge himself not to use any article of British merchandise upon which a duty was imposed. Washington was to submit this plan to the House of Burgesses, on its approaching session. A somewhat similar resolve had already been adopted by the people of Boston.

The king had appointed Lord Botetourt[64] Governor of Virginia. It was the plan of the British court to crush the Puritans of Massachusetts by the gleam of bayonets and the rumbling of artillery. But the Cavaliers of Virginia were to be dazzled and seduced by such a display of regal splendor as had never before been witnessed on this continent. It was supposed that the _title_ of the noble lord would quite overawe the wealthy, splendor-loving plebeians of the Potomac. The king presented Lord Botetourt with a very magnificent coach of state, and also with a gorgeous dining service of solid silver.[65] When the governor reached Williamsburg, he surrounded his petty court with all the etiquette of royalty. He opened the session of the Assembly with the pomp of the monarch opening Parliament. His massive coach of state, polished like a mirror, and with the panels emblazoned with his lordship’s family coat-of-arms, was drawn from his mansion to the capitol by six milk-white horses in the richest caparisons.

The poor negroes gazed upon the pageant, with mouths wide open with wonder, awe, and admiration. The bedizened lord, seated upon luxurious cushions, with his outriders, his brilliantly liveried coachman and footman, appeared to them but little less than an archangel from some higher sphere. But the pompous display was not in the least calculated to overawe George Washington, George Mason, and their gentlemanly associates, who well knew the value of human rights, and the worthlessness of tawdry splendor.

The souls of these men were moved by stern responsibilities pressing upon them. Several members presented spirited resolves denouncing the late acts of Parliament in imposing taxes. It was declared, emphatically, that the power to impose taxes was vested in the House of Burgesses alone. Washington was prepared to submit the plan of agreement which Mr. Mason had drawn up. The plan was publicly canvassed, and everywhere met with approval. An address was voted to the king, in which it was urged that all trials for treason, alleged to be committed in one of the colonies, should be tried before the courts of that colony. It was very clear that if any one, who had incurred the displeasure of the crown, should be dragged to London for trial, he would stand a very poor chance of acquittal.

Lord Botetourt was astonished by these bold declarations and demands. He promptly repaired to the capitol, authoritatively summoned the speaker and his council to his audience chamber, and said to them imperiously:

“Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen of the House of Burgesses, I have heard of your resolves, and augur ill of their effects. You have made it my duty to dissolve you; and you are dissolved accordingly.”

The Burgesses, as the members of the colonial Assembly were called, unintimidated by this exercise of the royal prerogative, repaired, in a body, to a private house. They were no longer the House of Burgesses, but merely a collection of citizens. They chose for moderator their late speaker, Peyton Randolph.[66] Washington then presented his draft of an association to discountenance the use of all British merchandise, taxed by Parliament to raise a revenue in America. It was signed by every member. Then, being printed, it was sent throughout the country, and to other colonies, and soon became almost universally adopted.

The king and parliament were not alarmed; they were only astonished to see that the helpless worm should have presumption thus to squirm beneath their gigantic tread. Lord Botetourt soon began to feel the influence of the society which surrounded him. He found that the opulent, highly cultivated gentlemen of Virginia, were quite his equals; that they were men who could not be dazzled from their paths, by any display of ribbons and gilding and courtly pomp.

Nay, more than this; he soon began to feel the power of their superior intelligence. As he listened to their courteous and logical representations, he became convinced that their cause was a just one; that their grievances were many, and that he had entered upon his office, with entirely erroneous impressions respecting the true posture of affairs. His pompous equipage was laid aside. He reduced his establishment to the simplicity of that of a well bred gentleman. He even did not hesitate to declare that the taxes ought to be repealed, and that sundry other reforms were called for.

In Boston, a committee called upon the royal governor to state that the General Court could not deliberate, with self-respect, when the State House was surrounded by soldiers, and cannon were pointed at its doors, and men-of-war were in the harbor, with their guns directed menacingly against the town. They requested therefore that the governor, as the representative of his majesty the king, would have such forces removed from Boston during the session of the court.

The governor curtly replied, “I have no authority to order the removal of either ships or troops.”

The General Court responded firmly but respectfully, “The General Court cannot then undertake to transact any business, while thus menaced by cannon and muskets.”

The governor was embarrassed. There was business of pressing importance to come before the court. He endeavored to extricate himself by ordering the court to meet in Cambridge, beyond the reach of the guns of the fleet, and where there were no troops. The court met, and the governor immediately sent in a requisition for money to pay to British soldiers, and for quarters to be assigned for their board and lodging.

The blood of the Puritan was as red and pure as that of his equally patriotic brother the Cavalier. After a solemn discussion, for it was a solemn moment, involving issues of fearful magnitude, these noble men returned an answer, in brief as follows:

“The establishment of a standing army in this colony, in a time of peace, is an invasion of our natural rights.”

There was no offer to provide for these British regulars, and no refusal to do so, save what might be implied in the resolve. The governor again sent to know whether the Assembly would or would not make provision for the British troops. The decisive reply was returned that it was “incompatible with their own honor and interest, and their duty to their constituents,” to pay the expenses of British soldiers thus unconstitutionally billeted upon the American people.

The governor, much annoyed, prorogued the Assembly, and ordered it to meet again in Boston, on the 1st of January, 1770.

The “Non-Importation Associations,” as they were called, produced the effect, on British commerce, which the advocates of those measures had anticipated. The British merchants were in great trouble. They flooded Parliament with petitions that the taxes might be repealed, so that commerce might be restored.

Lord North became prime minister. He was one of the most haughty of England’s nobles, with limited capacity, but an obstinate will. He revoked all duties excepting that on tea. Thus he adhered to the _principle_ that England had a right to impose taxes upon America, without allowing the Americans any representation in Parliament. He distinctly announced that this single tax was continued, “to maintain the parliamentary right of taxation.” It was foolishly thought that, because the tax was only three-pence on the pound, the Americans would therefore consent to be betrayed into the establishment of the principle.

There were many Englishmen in Parliament whose sympathies were entirely with the Americans. In strains of eloquence equal to any which have ever proceeded from human lips, they argued the cause of colonial rights. George III. was one of the most obstinate of men. Lord North was bound to obey his behests. He but gave utterance to the sentiments of his royal master in saying:

“The properest time to exert our right of taxation is when the right is refused. To temporize is to yield. The authority of the mother country, if it is now unsupported, will be relinquished forever. A total repeal cannot be thought of, till America is prostrate at our feet.”[67]

The British soldiers, established in Boston, were exceedingly obnoxious to the citizens, and bitter hostility soon sprung up between them.

These veterans, inured to the cruelties of war, as, in their gay uniform they paraded the streets, with gleaming bayonets and loaded muskets, looked very contemptuously upon the towns-people, and often treated them with great insolence.

One day there was some collision between a party of young Bostonians and a small band of soldiers. The unarmed young men were put to flight, and the soldiers pursued them. The alarm bells were rung. Excited crowds swept through the streets. The mob, armed with clubs and stones, assailed the troops fiercely. They defended themselves with bullets. Four of the populace were killed. Several others were wounded. The exasperation had now risen to such a pitch that the governor deemed it expedient to remove the troops from the town. Tidings of the “Boston Massacre” swept through all the colonies, and added additional fuel to the flame already so fiercely burning.

Lord Botetourt found no friendly response to his representations at the British Court. He had been sent to Virginia to overawe the inhabitants, and to bring them into servile obedience to the British crown. He had thought that the same views of truth, which had influenced his mind, would exert a conciliatory influence upon the king and his cabinet. But he was bitterly disappointed. Opprobrium was his only reward. Desponding and enfeebled, he was attacked by a bilious fever and died. He had become endeared to the people by his noble espousal of their cause. Washington testified that he was disposed “to render every just and reasonable service to the people whom he governed.” The House of Burgesses erected a statue to his memory, in the area of the capitol.

The path of this world, as of all its nations and individuals, has ever been through darkness, clouds, and storms. While the tempest of national war, which was to doom our land to the most awful woes, was thus deepening its folds, Washington undertook another expedition, across the mountains, to the Ohio. He was influenced by public as well as private considerations. The State of Virginia had offered a bounty of two hundred thousand acres of land, to be divided among the officers and soldiers, who had served during the French war, according to their rank. Washington was one of the Virginia Board of Commissioners. There had been great neglect in settling these claims. The zeal of Washington was aroused that they should be promptly and fully paid.

The treaties made with the Indians in those days, will seldom bear minute investigation. The purchasers were not careful to ascertain the validity, of the title of the chiefs, to the lands which they sold. And many of the chiefs were ready, for a suitable compensation, to sell all their right and title to lands to which they had no claim whatever.

There was a powerful confederacy of tribes living in the vicinity of the great northern lakes, called the Six Nations.[68] By a treaty, in 1768, these chiefs sold to the British crown all the land possessed by them south of the river Ohio. Speculators were rushing in. It was the object of Washington to visit these fertile acres, and affix his seal to such tracts as he might deem suitable to pay off the soldiers’ claim.

It was an enterprise fraught with considerable danger. There was no law in these vast wilds, which were ranged by Indians, and by white men still more savage in character. Several of the tribes in that region remonstrated against the sale. Among these were the powerful Delawares, Mingoes, and Shawnees. They said that the chiefs of the Six Nations had withheld from them their share of the consideration which was paid; and that they were as legitimate owners of those vast hunting grounds as were any chiefs of the Six Nations. They therefore openly avowed their intention of exacting the deficiency, which they deemed due to them, from the white men who should attempt to settle on their hunting-grounds. Thus there had been several robberies and murders, perpetrated by no one knew who. White vagabonds, dressed in Indian costume, could scarcely be distinguished from the Indians themselves. And lawless bands of savages, roving here and there, were the burglars and highway robbers of the wilderness, for whose outrages no tribe could be held responsible.

Washington selected, for his companion, on this expedition, his very congenial friend and neighbor, Dr. Craik.[69] Washington took two of his negro servants to accompany him, and the doctor took one. Thus the party consisted of five persons. All were well mounted. A single led horse carried the baggage of the party. A journey of twelve days conducted them, through this unpeopled wilderness, to Fort Pitt, which, it will be remembered, had been reared on the ruins of Fort Duquesne.

It was the 17th of October, 1770, when they reached the fort. It was garrisoned by two companies of Irishmen. Around the fort a little hamlet had sprung up, of about twenty log houses. It was called the town. These rude dwellings, in comfort but little above the wigwam of the savage, were occupied by a rough, coarse set of men, who had been lured into the wilderness to trade with the Indians. Such was the origin, scarcely one hundred years ago, of the present beautiful city of Pittsburg, with its opulent, refined, and highly cultivated population.

One of these cabins they called a tavern. Nominally, Washington and his companion took up their quarters there. But they were entertained within the fort with all the hospitality that frontier post could afford. Washington met, at the fort, Colonel George Crogan, a man of great renown in frontier adventures. He had reared his hut on the banks of the Alleghany river, about four miles above the fort. Washington visited the colonel, at his spacious and well-guarded cabin. There he met several chiefs of the Six Nations. The fame of Washington had reached their ears. They greeted him fraternally, and assured him of their earnest desire to live in peace with the white men.

Washington and his party, returning to Fort Pitt, left their horses there, and embarked in a large canoe to sail down the beautiful and placid Ohio, as far as the Great Kanawha. Colonel Crogan engaged two Indians attendants and an interpreter to accompany the party, as they floated down the sublime solitudes of this majestic stream. He also, with several other officers, descended the river with them in a canoe, about thirty miles, as far as the Indian village called Logstown. It will be remembered that Washington had held an interview with the Indian chiefs here on a former excursion.[70]

It was the lovely month of October. Nothing can be imagined more beautiful than the luxuriant banks of the Ohio, with their swelling mounds, crowned in their autumnal vesture. It was the favorite hunting season of the Indians. The river valley abounded with game. The roving Indians were alike at home everywhere. They had a taste for lovely scenery. In every cove their picturesque wigwams could be seen. They feasted abundantly upon the choicest viands the forest and river could afford. Often, at night, the picturesque scenery would be illumined, far and wide, by their camp fires, while the echoes of hill and valley were awakened by their boisterous revelry.

Blessed peace reigned; and our voyagers were cordially welcomed and hospitably entertained at all these encampments. As they drifted down the tranquil current, they found themselves in the paradise of sportsmen. Herds of deer were browsing in the rich meadows, and unintimidated by the passage of the boats, were coming down to the waters edge to drink. At times the whole surface of the stream seemed to be covered with water-fowl, of every variety of gay plumage. Flocks of ducks and geese, in their streaming flight were soaring through the air. These skilful sportsmen, without landing, could fill their canoes with game. When night came, selecting some sheltered and attractive spot, they would land, erect their hut, imperious to wind and rain, spread their couch of rushes or fragrant hemlock boughs, build their fires, and, with appetites whetted by the adventures of the day, enjoy as rich a repast as earth can give.

The banks of the Ohio are now fringed with magnificent hotels, and the stream is ploughed with steamers palatial grandeur. But probably no voyagers on that river now can find the enjoyment, which Washington experienced in his canoe, one hundred years ago.

Washington had a spirit of romance in his nature which led him intensely to enjoy such scenes. And yet he was at the farthest remove from a mere pleasure-seeker. His journal shows that his mind was much engrossed with the great object of the expedition. He carefully examined the soil, the growth of timber, and the tracts of land most suitable for immediate settlement.

At Logstown, Colonel Crogan, and the officers of the fort returned up the river, and left the adventurers to pursue their voyage into the solitary realms beyond. About seventy-five miles below Fort Pitt they came to quite an important Indian village, called Mingotown. Here again, amid all these scenes of peace and beauty, where man might enjoy almost the bliss of Eden, they came to the sad evidences of our fallen race. The whole population was in turmoil. Sixty warriors, hideously painted and armed to the teeth, were just setting out on the warpath.

Their savage natures were roused to the highest pitch of hatred against the Cherokees, for some real or imagined wrong. With demoniac rage they were going to rush upon some Cherokee village, at midnight; to apply the torch, to dash out the brains of women and children, to tomahawk the men; and, having made such captives as they could, to bring them back to their villages, and there, burning them at the stake, to inflict upon them the most fiend-like torture.

It was also said that, about forty miles farther down the river, two white men had been recently killed. Who their murderers were was not known, or whether their object was plunder or revenge. This troubled state of affairs led Washington to hesitate whether to continue his voyage. He, however, decided to proceed, though with great circumspection. Having arrived at the spot, at the mouth of Captema creek, where the murder were said to have taken place, he found a small Indian village, two women only being there, as the men were all absent hunting. Here he learned that rumor had, as usual, been exaggerating the facts. Two traders had attempted to cross the Ohio, on the backs of their horses, swimming them; and one of them had been drowned. This was all.

The voyage of two additional days, through unbroken solitudes, brought the party to an Indian hunting camp, at the mouth of the Muskingum river. An illustrious chieftain resided here, by the name of Kiashuta. He was a sachem of the Senecas, and was considered head chief of the river tribes.[71]

Kiashuta was a renowned warrior. He had been one of the most energetic of the Indian chieftains in Pontiac’s conspiracy for the extermination of the English. The chief instantly recognized Washington. Seventeen years before, in 1753, he had formed one of the escort of the youthful Washington, across the wilderness country, to the French posts near Lake Erie.

The chief received Washington with every demonstration of friendship, presented him with a quarter of a fine buffalo, just killed, aided him in establishing his camp, and, at the camp fire, engaged in earnest conversation until near the dawn of the morning. He was a very intelligent man, of decided views as to Indian policy, and was well informed respecting the plans and measures of the English. As was the case with nearly all the chiefs, he was very anxious for peace with the white men. He expressed the earnest desire, to Washington, that friendly relations might continue to exist between them and the English, and that trade might be carried on between them upon equitable terms. Impartial history must declare that the Indians seldom if ever commenced hostilities, unless goaded to do so by intolerable wrongs.

Early the next morning the delightful voyage was resumed, beneath unclouded skies, through charming scenery, over a placid river, and in the enjoyment of as genial a clime as this earth can anywhere afford. They reached the mouth of the Great Kanawha. Here, upon a spot on the southern, or Kentucky shore, appropriately called Point Pleasant, they encamped for several days to explore the solitudes of the grand realms spreading around them.[72]

Washington describes the country as charming in the extreme. There were, in the vicinity, many beautiful lakelets of crystal water fringed with the grand forest in its autumnal vesture. Over these still waters, ducks, geese, and swans floated in numbers which could not be counted. Their gambols and their joyous notes excited the mind with the most pleasurable emotions. Flocks of fat turkeys would scarcely step aside from the path of the hunter, while buffalo, deer, and other similar game, met the eye in great abundance. The larder of our voyagers was profusely stored, and among those back woodsmen there were cooks who knew well how to find the tender cuts, and how to prepare them for their repasts with the most appetizing effect.