Part 18

One attack may be stated in detail; it followed the surrender of Fort Massachusetts to Vaudreuil's French and Indian forces, an honourable capitulation, which took place in the summer of 1746, the fort having defended itself as long as its ammunition lasted. The narrative is given in the language of another: "Immediately after the surrender of Fort Massachusetts, about fifty of Vaudreuil's Indians passed Hoosack mountain, for the purpose of making depredations at Deerfield, about forty miles eastward. Arriving near the village on Sunday, they reconnoitered the north meadow, for the purpose of selecting a place of attack upon the people, as they should commence their labor the next morning. Not finding a point of attack suited to their design, which seems to have been rather to capture than to secure scalps, they proceeded about two miles south, to a place called the _Bars_, where were a couple of houses, owned by the families of Arnsden and Allen, but now deserted; and early in the morning formed an ambuscade on the margin of a meadow, under the cover of a thicket of alders, near which was a quantity of mown hay. The laborers of the two families, accompanied by several children, then residing in Deerfield village, proceeded to their work in the early part of the day, and commenced their business very near the Indians, who now considered their prey as certain. But a little before they commenced their attack, Mr. Eleazer Hawks, one of the neighboring inhabitants, went out for fowling; and, approaching near the ambuscade, was shot down and scalped. Alarmed at the fire, the persons fled down a creek towards a mill, fiercely pursued by the Indians. Simeon Arnsden, a lad, was seized, killed and scalped; Samuel Allen, John Sadler, and Adonijah Gillet, made a stand under the bank of Deerfield river, near the mouth of the mill creek, whence they opened a fire on the Indians. Soon overpowered, Allen and Gillet fell; but Sadler escaped to an island, and thence across the river, under a shower of balls. In the mean time, others, making for the road leading to the town, were closely pursued, and Oliver Arnsden, after a vigorous struggle for his life, was barbarously butchered. Eunice, a daughter, and two sons of Allen (Samuel and Caleb) were in the field; Eunice was knocked down by a tomahawk, and her skull fractured, but, in the hurry, was left unscalped. Samuel was made prisoner, and Caleb effected his escape by running through a piece of corn, though the Indians passed very near him. Notwithstanding the severity of her wounds, Eunice recovered, and lived to an advanced age."[24]

Although the war between England and France was terminated by the treaty of peace at Aix-la-Chapelle, on the 18th of October, 1743, yet tranquillity did not immediately follow. The frontiers continued to be ravaged, and the comfort and progress of the settlers were seriously interrupted, for a time, beyond the general pacification. The basis of the peace, as settled at Aix-la-Chapelle, was the mutual restoration of all places taken during the war: Louisburg, the pride and glory of the war, reverted to the French, to the grief and mortification of New England.

FOOTNOTE:

[24] Hoyt.

XI. FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR.

DECLARATION of War between England and France--Causes of the War--Mode of conducting it--Various Expeditions planned--Nova Scotia taken from the French--General Braddock's signal defeat--Failure of Expeditions against Niagara and Fort Frontenac--Expedition against Crown Point--Battle of Lake George--Campaign of 1756--Inefficiency of Lord Loudon--Loss of Fort Oswego--Indian Atrocities in Pennsylvania--Campaign of 1757--Massacre at Fort William Henry--Campaign of 1758--Capture of Louisburg--Unsuccessful Expedition against Ticonderoga--Capture of Fort Frontenac--Fort du Quesne taken--Campaign of 1759--Ticonderoga and Crown Point taken--Niagara Captured--Siege and Capture of Quebec--Death of Wolfe and Montcalm--Final Surrender of the French Possessions in Canada to the English--Peace of Paris.

After a few years of peace, during which the colonies had somewhat repaired their wasted strength and resources, a declaration of war was made between Great Britain and France in the summer of 1756. There had been an actual state of warfare for two previous years, causing no small grief and annoyance to the colonies, who had fondly hoped longer to enjoy the blessings of tranquillity, and prosecute their schemes of improvement. An invaluable blessing, however, ultimately flowed from the renewed conflict of arms--as, from this time, that federation took place among the separated provinces, which was consummated afterwards in their independence as a nation. The prosecution of a common object, such as was presented in the French and Indian War, naturally concentrated and united their energies, and evolved, at length, the idea of a more perfect political association.

The _causes_ of the war grew out of the encroachments of the French upon the frontier of the English colonies in America. Such, at least, was the allegation on the part of England. France had established settlements on the St. Lawrence, and at the mouth of the Mississippi, and commenced the gigantic plan of uniting these points by a chain of forts, extending across the continent, and designed to confine the English colonists to the eastern slope of the Alleghanies. The French possessed considerable military strength in their northern colonies. They had strongly fortified Quebec and Montreal, and, at other points, the frontiers were defended by Louisburg, Cape Breton, and the forts of Lake Champlain, Niagara, Crown Point, Frontenac, and Ticonderoga. And they had, also, a fort of some strength at Du Quesne, now the spot on which Pittsburg is built.

The establishment of French posts on the Ohio, and the attack on Colonel Washington, were declared, by the British government, as the commencement of hostilities. The French, however, allege the intrusion of the Ohio Company upon their territory, as the immediate cause of the war. General Braddock, at the head of fifteen hundred troops, had been despatched to America. On his arrival in Virginia, he requested a convention of colonial governors to meet him there, to confer on the plan of the ensuing campaign. They accordingly met, and three expeditions were resolved upon--one against Du Quesne, to be conducted by General Braddock; one against forts Niagara and Frontenac, to be commanded by Governor Shirley; and one against Crown Point, to be led by General Johnson. The last-named expedition was a measure proposed by Massachusetts, and was to be executed by troops raised in New England and New York. In the mean time, a fourth expedition, which had been previously concerted, was carried on against the French forts in Nova Scotia. This province, it seems, after its cession to the English, by the treaty of Utrecht, was still retained, in part, by the French, as its boundaries were not defined. They had built forts on a portion of it which the English claimed. To gain possession of these, was the object of the expedition. About two thousand militia, under Monckton and Winslow, embarked at Boston, on the 20th of May, 1755; and, having been joined by three hundred regulars, when they had arrived at Chignecto, on the Bay of Fundy, they proceeded against Beau Sejour, now the principal post of the French in that country.

This place they invested and took possession of, after a bombardment of a few days. Other forts were afterwards attacked and taken, and the whole province was secured to the British, according to their idea of its proper boundaries.

The military operations at the South, during this time, proved to be disastrous in the extreme. One of the most signal defeats took place in Virginia, that the annals of American history have recorded. It had been a total loss of a large army (large for the colonial warfare), but for the prudence and valor of our youthful Fabius, George Washington. He saved a portion of it, while the whole was exposed to utter annihilation, through the pride and ill-calculating policy of its leader. General Braddock was not wanting in valor, or in the knowledge of European tactics; but he little understood the proper mode of meeting Indian warfare, and had the greater misfortune of unwillingness to receive advice from subordinates in office.

The object of the expedition under Braddock, was the reduction of Fort du Quesne. At the head of two thousand men, he commenced his march; but, as it was deemed an object of great importance to reach the fort before it could be rëinforced, he marched forward with twelve hundred men, selected from the different corps, with ten pieces of cannon, and the necessary ammunition and provisions. The remainder of the army was left under the command of Colonel Dunbar, to follow with the heavy artillery, by moderate and easy marches.

Washington, who was his aid, and well acquainted with the peculiarities of Indian warfare, foresaw the danger which was impending, and ventured to suggest the propriety of employing a body of Indians, who had offered their services. These, had the commander seen fit to accept the advice, would have proved serviceable to him as scouting and advanced parties. Or had he, as was also suggested to him, as a matter of safety, placed the provincial troops in his army in front, he would have avoided the danger. These troops, consisting of independent and ranging companies, accustomed to such services, would have scoured the woods and morasses, and guarded against an ambuscade. Despising the enemy, undervaluing the colonial troops, and confiding only in his own valor and the splendid array of his well-drilled British regulars, he fearlessly pursued his way. The natural and necessary impediments were many, and he did not reach the Monongahela until the 8th of July. The next day he expected to invest the fort, and in the morning he made a disposition of his forces, in accordance with that expectation. His van, consisting of three hundred British regulars, was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Gage, and he followed, at some distance, with the artillery and main body of his men, divided into small columns.

"Washington had the day before rëjoined the army, from which he had been a short time detained by severe illness. It was noon on the 9th of July, when, from the height above the right bank of the Monongahela, he looked upon the ascending army, which, ten miles from Fort Du Quesne, had just crossed the stream for the second time. Every thing looked more bright and beautiful than aught he had ever witnessed before. The companies in their crimson uniform, with burnished arms and floating banners, were marching gayly to cheerful music as they entered the forest."

But soon and suddenly, how changed the scene! How many exulting soldiers that entered the forest, were destined never to emerge from it, into the light of day! How many hearts that were throbbing with hope at the prospect of an easy victory, were to be hushed for ever! Heedless of danger, Braddock pressed forward, the distance of seven miles only still intervening between his army and the contemplated place of action. Suddenly, in an open wood, thick set with high grass, there burst upon them the Indian war-whoop and a fierce fire from an unseen enemy on every side. A momentary confusion and panic ensued--many fell, and, the ranks being broken, there was danger of an ignominious flight. None could at first tell who might be or where lurked the foe that was dealing death at so fearful a rate. Braddock, however, rallied his forces, but mistakingly deemed it necessary to fight, even under these circumstances, according to European tactics, and to preserve a regular order of battle. Thus he kept his soldiers in compact masses, as fair marks for the Indian bullet or arrow, without the possibility of effectually meeting the foe. At this critical moment, personal valor was of no avail. Discipline and art, combined action, and orderly movement, brought not the enemy where he could be foiled. There was, indeed, a momentary suspension of the fight, resulting from the fall of the commanding officer of the foe, but the attack was quickly renewed with increased fury--the van fell back on the main army, and the whole body was again thrown into confusion. Had an instant retreat, or a rapid charge without observance of orderly military movements been commanded, the result might have been very different. But Braddock, too ignorant of the right course, or too bigoted to the European method of battle, refused to adopt either expedient. Continually fired upon, and losing his brave men by scores, he still made efforts to form his broken and wasting troops on the very spot where they were first attacked, thus bringing the living to supply the places of the dead, and offering needlessly, and without any countervailing advantage, successive holocausts to the demon of battle.

The enemy was small in numbers, and hardly calculated on the possibility of defeating the English army. Annoyance and delay, seemed to be all that they expected to accomplish; but permitted securely, in the two ravines on each side of the road where they were concealed, to fire upon the English, they could but triumph. The Indians, taking leisurely aim at the officers, swept them from the field, and all but Washington were either killed or wounded. He, as aid to Braddock, was peculiarly exposed, as he rode over every part of the field to carry the general's orders. Indeed, the sharp-shooters endeavored to take him off, as well as the rest, but he was providentially preserved. No instrument of death might be wielded with effect upon him. The superstitious Indians were struck by the phenomenon of his escape, and concluded that he was not to be killed. One of them afterwards averred that he shot at him seventeen times in succession, and was forced to yield to the conviction that he was invulnerable. At the close of the battle, four bullets were found in his coat, and it was known that two horses had been killed under him.

After an action of three hours, General Braddock, who had fearlessly breasted the vollies of the enemy, and had lost successively three horses from under him, received a mortal wound. His troops no longer maintained their position, but fled in terror and dismay. The provincials remained last on the field, and effected an orderly retreat, protecting, at the same time, the regulars in their flight. The defeat was most signal, and the loss of life appalling. The proud army, at the close of the contest, counted but one-half of its entire number. Sixty-four officers were killed and wounded. The remains of the English forces sought their companions under Dunbar, forty miles distant. Braddock could proceed no farther, and there expired. The army, with Dunbar for its leader, was soon after marched to Philadelphia, where it found its winter-quarters. Thus, in the fatal results of that expedition, the whole frontier of Virginia was left exposed to the French and Indians.

Of the enterprise against _Niagara_ and _Fort Frontenac_, it may suffice to say, that it utterly failed. We proceed, therefore, to that against _Crown Point_, the rendezvous for which was at Albany. On the last of June (1755), four thousand troops arrived at Albany, under the command of General William Johnson and General Lyman. Here the sachem Hendrick joined them with a body of his Mohawks. As a portion of the troops, together with the artillery, batteaux, provisions, and other necessaries for the attempt on Crown Point, could not be immediately got ready, General Lyman advanced with the main body, and erected Fort Edward, on the Hudson, for the security of the apparatus above named, which was to be forwarded by Johnson.

Towards the end of August, General Johnson moved his forces forward more northerly, and pitched his camp at the south end of Lake George. Here he learned that two thousand French and Indians, under the command of Baron Dieskau, had landed at South bay, now Whitehall, and were marching toward Fort Edward for the purpose of destroying the English transports and munitions of war. It was resolved the next morning, in a council of war, to send out a large detachment of men to intercept Dieskau's army on its way. To perform this service, Colonel Ephraim Williams, of Deerfield, was appointed, at the head of twelve hundred troops, two hundred of whom were Indians. Dieskau, who was an able commander, had made an advantageous disposition to receive the English. While he kept the main body of his regulars with him in the center, he ordered the Canadians and Indians to advance on the right and left in the woods, with a view to surround their opponents. When the American troops had arrived considerably within the ambuscade, the Mohawk sachem, Hendrick, who had been sent out too late with his band, was hailed by a hostile Indian, and instantly there commenced a sharp fire. This brought on the action sooner than was intended by Dieskau, who had ordered his flanking parties to reserve their fire till the firing should proceed from the center. It was his design to let the English troops get completely inclosed before the firing commenced, in which case there would have been an entire defeat of the English. The discharge of arms necessarily became general, after the flanking parties had begun; but the advantage was altogether on the side of the ambuscaders. The provincials fought bravely, but finding that they were in danger of being hemmed in from every quarter, they were obliged to retreat. The loss of the Americans was considerable. Colonel Williams was killed. Hendrick and a number of his Indians, who fought with great intrepidity, were left dead on the field. The retreating troops joined the main body, and waited the approach of their now exulting assailants.[25]

It was nearly noon when the enemy appeared in sight of Johnson's army. The battle of _Lake George_, which was the consequence of their meeting, occurred on the 8th of September. The American army was encamped on the banks of that lake, and covered each side of a low thick morass. To form a sort of breastwork, trees had been felled, and this was his only cover against an attack. It happened most favorably that, two days before, General Johnson had received several cannon from Fort Edward. The enemy marched up in front of the breastwork within the distance of one hundred and fifty yards. Soon the grand and central attack was commenced, while the English flanks were beset by the Canadians and Indians. The distant platoon fire of the French did but little execution; and the English, summoning resolution, entered with increased spirit upon the defence of their position. Working their artillery with vigor, they compelled the Indians and Canadian militia to flee into the swamps. Dieskau, under these circumstances, was forced to order a retreat. It was not effected with much success, as his troops were thrown into irrecoverable disorder, and their flight was hastened by a party pursuing them from the English camp. The baron met the frequent fate of war--he received his death-wound from a soldier, who, meeting him alone, mistook a movement on the part of the general, which was intended as propitiatory, for an attempt at self-defence, and discharged his piece at him. He was feeling for his watch to give to the soldier. His wound proved fatal, but not until he had reached England.

When the baron's army halted, after its retreat or flight, it happened, just as they were about to take refreshment, that two hundred men of the New Hampshire forces, which had been detached from Fort Edward to the aid of the main body, fell upon the French, and put many of them to the sword. Their dead bodies were thrown into a small lake, which, from this circumstance, was afterwards called "the bloody pond."

The spirits of the colonists, which had been so depressed by Braddock's defeat, were greatly revived, but the issue of the battle of Lake George was not otherwise beneficial. The success was by no means followed up according to the expectations of the country. No further effort at this time was made to reduce Crown Point; but the remainder of the campaign was employed by Johnson only in strengthening the works at Fort Edward, and erecting on the site of the battle a fort, which he called William Henry.

Johnson, in his official letter respecting the engagement, makes no mention of General Lyman, although the latter held the command most of the day, as Johnson was wounded early in the action. This was an instance of ingratitude and selfishness highly unbecoming a soldier, especially as the consideration bestowed on himself was a baronetcy and five thousand pounds sterling.

The campaign of 1756, the year in which the public declaration of war was made, makes but an indifferent figure in American history. Expeditions against Niagara, Crown Point, Fort Du Quesne, and other places, were projected; but they severally failed. On the other hand, before the close of the summer, the Marquis de Montcalm, an efficient officer, who succeeded Dieskau, with a large force of regulars, Canadians, and Indians, took the important fort of Oswego, on the south side of Lake Ontario, which gave him the command of the lakes Ontario and Erie, and of the entire country of the Five Nations. Sixteen hundred men were taken prisoners; Colonel Mercer, the commanding officer, was killed, and the loss in cannon, mortars, batteaux, and other military resources, was great.

During this unfortunate year, a single military adventure on the confines of Pennsylvania, shows that the colonists were not insensible to the Indian depredations, and to the duty of attempting to repress them. Fort Granby, in that state, was surprised by a party of French and Indians, who made the garrison prisoners. Departing, in this instance, from their usual custom of killing and scalping the captives, they loaded them with flour, and thus drove them into the wilderness. In another quarter, the Indians on the Ohio barbarously killed, in their incursions, above a thousand inhabitants of the western frontiers. To avenge this outrageous conduct, Colonel Armstrong, with a party of two hundred and eighty provincials, marched from Fort Shirley, on the Juniata river, about one hundred and fifty miles west of Philadelphia, to Kittaning, an Indian town, the rendezvous of these murdering savages, and destroyed it. An Indian chief, called Captain Jacobs, defended himself through loop-holes of his log cabin. As the Indians refused the quarter which was offered them, Colonel Armstrong gave orders to set their houses on fire. This was at once executed, and many of the Indians perished by the flames and suffocation. Numbers were shot in attempting to reach the river. Jacobs, his squaw, and a boy called the king's son, were fired upon as they were attempting to escape out of the window, and were all killed and scalped. It is computed that between thirty and forty Indians were destroyed in this attack. Eleven English prisoners were also released.

On this occasion, a Captain Mercer was wounded, and conveyed away by his ensign and eleven men. He afterwards returned safe with twenty-three men, and four released prisoners. He is believed to be the distinguished General Mercer of the United States army, who died of wounds received in the battle of Princeton in 1776.[26]