USA > Illinois > Cook County > Chicago > Discovery and conquests of the Northwest, with the history of Chicago, Vol. I > Part 13
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58
Lord Loudon was at this time making himself con- spicuous, in America, for his caustic criticisms of the provincial soldiers, while he was exhausting his re- sources, not in fighting the enemy, but in planning ex- peditions never destined to be executed .*
Under his direction, the campaign of 1757 was opened
*A Philadelphian said of him, "He reminds me of St. George on a sign- board, always on horseback and never advancing." In a speech he made at Boston, he attributed all the ill success of the English in America to the inefficiency of the provincial troops .- Graham's Col. Hist., vol. IV., p. 2.
130
Fort Wm. Henry Taken.
by embarking from New York with a heavy force, to take Louisburg, which place he did not even attack, al- though his fleet came in sight of it, and contented them- selves by giving its garrison a scare.
While this untimely scheme was in progress, the vigilant Montcalm appeared before Ft. William Henry, an important defense which had been built at the south- ern extremity of Lake George, near the spot where Dieskau had been defeated two years before. He had 10,000 men, consisting of regulars, Canadians and In- dians.
About 2,300 troops were all that could be opposed to this overwhelming force, 1,500 of whom had just been sent by Col. Webb from Ft. Edwards on the Hudson river. While this reinforcement was marching into the fort, Montcalm's advance was seen approaching along the sunlit coast of Lake George, their burnished arms sending its flickering streaks of light before them, while the welkin resounded with a din of yells, from his In- dians, gaudy with feathers and darkened with war- paint. Col. Monroe held command of the fort, to whom Montcalm sent a summons to surrender, offering him honorable terms; but Monroe, aware of the importance of the position, determined to defend it. The attack commenced on the 3d of August and lasted till the 9th. The guns of the fort had nearly all been burst in their desperate efforts to repel their numerous assailants. Hemmed in on every side, his messengers, sent to seek relief from Ft. Edwards, had been captured, and his weakness thereby made known to Montcalm. To hold the place longer was impossible, and he surrendered.
The garrison marched out with the honors of war, and were not to appear again in arms against France under eighteen months unless exchanged. They were to be protected against violence from Montcalm's In- dians by a suitable escort of French soldiers, on their way to Ft. Edwards, the place to which they had been permitted to retire by the terms of the surrender.
No sooner had they left the fort than the Indians be- gan to gather around them with no good intent. First they commenced robbing the sick and wounded, and next the shining coats of the British regulars attracted their attention. These were pulled from their backs, and whatever of value could be found about their per- sons was taken. A carnival of blood followed, and
I31
Expedition to Take Louisburg.
several hundred of the unprotected captives fell vic- tims. Jonathan Carver was among the prisoners, but escaped, as if by a miracle, with the loss of his coat and covered with wounds. He says that, during the mad- dening career of butchery, the French soldiers and offi- cers walked about outside of the bloody arena in care- less unconcern, without attempting to stay the hands of the destroyers .*
Not long after this atrocity, says the same author, the smallpox broke out among these Indians, who, tor- mented into delirium, threw themselves into the water to assuage the burning irritation. Death followed in almost every case, and a few mottled-faced savages were the only survivors of this tragedy which sent a pang of grief throughout New England and New York. In justice to the Canadians, it should not be omitted that some of them refused to celebrate the unhallowed victory.
.
The fugitives, who escaped the slaughter, gathered within the walls of Ft. Edwards, and thence made their way to their homes, there to tell the tale of treachery and murder that had stained the French faith, and a recoil of righteous indignation arose throughout the country.
The statesmanship of Pitt had already infused its vigor into the heart of England, and now its vitalizing influence was about to cross the Atlantic. He recalled Loudon, and to Gen. Abercrombie was given the chief command.+ Next in rank was Major Gen. Amherst, and an additional force of 5,000 men was put in the field, with which to open the campaign of 1758.
Gen. Amherst, assisted by Admiral Boscawen, was to attack Louisburg; Gen. Forbes was to march against Ft. Duquesne; while Gen. Abercrombie took upon him- self the task of driving the French out of Lake Cham- plain by an attack on Ticonderoga.
On the 28th of May, the expedition against Louis- burg, consisting of 12,000 British regulars and 157 ves- sels, direct from England, embarked from Halifax, the place of rendezvous, on the coast of Nova Scotia. The fleet soon arrived at the tangent point of land on the Island of Cape Breton, where the fort stood, amidst the
* See Carver's Travels, pp. 295 to 308.
t The reason assigned by Pitt for this step was that he could never ascer- tain what Loudon was doing .- Graham.
I32
Louisburg Destroyed.
desolation of the winds and waves, like a polar bear disputing possession of an iceberg .* The entrance to its harbor was obstructed by sunken vessels, while, far along the wave-beaten shore the tri-colored flag of France waved in defiance from bastion and tower.
In the face of these, the troops must make a landing and fight their way to the rear of the town, over uneven ground affording shelter to its defenders. The charge of this difficult task was given to Gen. Wolfe, the same who, the next year, led the British troops up the Heights of Abraham. The soldiers threw themselves into their yawls, and labored at the oar through the surf to gain the shore, amidst a tempest of shot from its defenders. Many were thrown into the sea by the breakers, but the hardihood of the sailors finally pre- vailed, and a landing in force was made at the mouth of Cormoran Creek, a few miles north of the place.
Louisburg was now soon environed with heavy artil- lery, which poured hot shot into the town, and even set fire to the French war vessels in the harbor, burning all except two. To destroy these, Admiral Boscawen set on foot an adventure, which for daring has few equals in the annals of heroic warfare. Capt. Cook, the same whose wonderful voyages, subsequently made, excited universal attention, was the one to whose charge the enterprise was confided. Under cover of night, at the head of 600 men, he silently rowed into the harbor, set fire to one of the vessels, and towed the other away.
The English fleet now entered the harbor, and the town being at its mercy, Drucourt, its commander, capitulated on the 27th of July, and once more the key to the St. Lawrence was given up to the English.+ Five thousand six hundred and thirty-seven prisoners, 22I cannon, 18 mortars, and large quantities of ammunition, were the results of this victory. The war prisoners were sent to England, and the inhabitants of the town, 4,000 in number, were, by the inexorable laws of war in those days, torn from their homes and sent to France on English transports. The defenses of the town were
*This fortress was the great French depot for supplies, from which to re- inforce the inland ports of New France, and its harbor was a convenient refuge for French war vessels.
tAn expedition had been planned against the place by Gov. Shirley ten years before the war, when it was taken by New England troops, but re- stored again to France at the peace of Aix la Chapelle; since which time the French had laid out thirty million livres in strengthening it.
I33
The English Defeated Before Ticonderoga.
then demolished, and the place was left without a soli- tary inhabitant to mourn over its destruction.
The Island of St. John shared the fate of Cape Bre- ton Island, both of which fell under the flag of England at the reduction of Louisburg. This was a grievous blow to the French of the St. Lawrence, as it was from here that they largely drew their supplies to feed their soldiers, both beef and corn being exported from the fertile fields of St. John's Island, even in that early day.
While the siege of Louisburg was in full tide, Gen. Abercrombie was marshaling his forces to attack Mont- calm, who had strongly intrenched himself within the walls of Ticonderoga. Early in July, he embarked his troops on Lake George, consisting of 7,000 British regu- lars, a part of whom were Highlanders, 10,000 provin- cials, and a few companies of Indians. No less than 900 batteaux and 135 whale-boats were required for their transportation. Arriving within a few miles of the fort, the army disembarked on the wooded shore and commenced their circuitous route over hills and valleys shaded by a dense canopy of evergreen foliage.
They soon arrived at an outpost of Ticonderoga, which the French evacuated in hot haste and disap- peared among the trees. The English kept on their course, but soon their guides became bewildered within the toils of the thicket, when suddenly they came in contact with the company of French soldiers who had just before abandoned their post at the approach of the English. They, too, were lost in the woody mazes, and, after a sharp skirmish, surrendered themselves as pris- oners. From them Gen. Abercrombie learned that Montcalm had but 6,000 troops at the fort, he having lately sent away a detachment of 3,000 men to invade the country on the Mohawk river, but that this force had just been ordered back to assist in his defense.
Abercrombie now resolved to assault the fort before their return. Accordingly, the regulars were ordered to charge against the works, which they did with an ex- alted courage seldom witnessed. The place stood on a spit of land extending into the lake, the approach to which was over a neck of springy soil covered with trees. These had been felled with the tops pointing away from the fort, and covered the ground, over which the assailants had to pass, with a tangle of brush. One thousand eight hundred of these brave soldiers were
I34
Ft. Frontenac Taken.
shot in the attempt to force their way through this abattis, when the retreat was sounded by the rash com- mander, and he returned to his camp on Lake George.
Before marching on this disastrous expedition, Col. Bradstreet had been sent with a force of 3,000 provin- cials, on a heroic adventure far within the enemy's ter- ritory, on their main line. It will not be forgotten with how much zeal Ft. Frontenac had been pushed to com- pletion, in the early and ambitious days of La Salle. Located at the point where the St. Lawrence outlets the waters of Lake Ontario, it commanded the com- munication along the great thoroughfare between Can- ada and the French posts of Ft. Niagara, Ft. Duquesne, and the Illinois country.
If this place could be taken, Ft. Duquesne, toward which an expedition was now renewed by the English, could not be reinforced from Canada. Crossing the eastern extremity of Lake Ontario, Bradstreet came upon the unsuspecting tenants of the fort, where a feeble garrison was reveling in a treacherous security behind its walls of stone. They surrendered without attempting a defense, and 60 cannon, 16 mortars, a bountiful store of merchandise and ammunition, to sup- ply the necessities of the forts to the west, were the direct spoils of the victors, but 18 French war vessels on the lake were soon added to the list. Bradstreet de- stroyed the fort and returned with his force to Oswego, which place Montcalm had evacuated soon after his victory over Mercer.
During the whole season, while the movements against Louisburg, Ticonderoga, and Ft. Frontenac, had been going on, preparations for an attack' on Ft. Duquesne had been in progress, but, ere it could be brought about, prodigious barriers of nature had to be overcome in crossing the mountains.
The Pennsylvanians, more intent on their interests than the public weal, availed themselves of the oppor- tunity to get a road cut from their frontiers to the west, at the expense of the military exchequer. While Wash- ington and the Virginians urged the advantages of the old road made by the Ohio Company six years before, and greatly improved by Braddock's engineers two years later, Gen. Forbes, who was the commander of the expedition, was prostrate on a bed of sickness, and to Col. Boquet, second in command, was given authority
I35
The Delawares, Shewanese and Mingoes.
to decide on the choice of routes. His decision was in favor of the Pennsylvania route, and on this line the army took up its march late in July. Washington, who held a colonel's commission, now entered cordially into the work, and, as usual, took the front.
While the axe is chopping a new path to the Ohio country for the bayonet to follow, we will take a glance at its tenants.
The Delawares, whose home was originally on the Susquehanna, had ever been at peace with the whites, till the outbreak of the war. William Penn, their loving father, had long been in his grave, and his mantle of charity not having fallen upon his successors, the, Dela- wares had been compelled to give up the fairest portion of their lands .* But in the autumn of 1756, after more than a year of warfare between the whites and the Delawares, who still remained on the Susquehanna, some Quakers, whose broad-brims secured them a safe interview, succeeded in restoring the old chain of friend- ship. This renewed league, however, did not bind the Delawares who had been driven to the Ohio. These, with the Shawanese, Mingoes, and many other tribes, had been on the best of terms with the French ever since the war had begun. But since the late English successes, the possibility of winning their friendship was considered by the English, and friendly messages were sent to them by the eastern Delawares.
The French, meantime, began to send emissaries to the eastern Delawares, inviting them to join their brothers in the Ohio country, under protection of the lilies of France. Autumn was now at hand, and the army of Forbes was still toiling among the mountains toward the fatal fort, liable at any time to be attacked by a host of Indians, and the success of his expedition seemed doubtful. In this emergency, it was deemed all-important to send an able messenger to the hostile tribes of the Ohio, to induce them, if possible, to for- sake the waning fortunes of the French.
Prominent among the Moravian (United Brethren) missionaries was a heroic apostle of their ancient faith, named Christian Frederic Post. This remarkable peo- ple dated their order back to John Huss, who preceded Luther a century. In 1732, they established a mission- ary station in the island of St. Thomas. The next year
* Doc. Hist. of N. Y., vol. II., p. 740.
.
I36
Mission of Christian Frederic Post.
they are found among the icebergs of Greenland, and the next in Georgia, teaching the savages the elements of Christianity. In 1730, they came to Pennsylvania and set up a tabernacle among the Delawares. So suc- cessful had they been here in converting the Indians, that the jealousy of the borderers was aroused lest the Bible and hymn-book should rival the whisky-jug.
Post was one of the foremost workers in the mission- ary cause, and consequently became an object of great aversion to the border ruffians. He was thrown into prison on false charges, and, when liberated for want of evidence, was set upon by a mob, and narrowly escaped with his life .* He it was who volunteered to be the bearer of an English message to the hostile Indians on the Ohio.
He started from Philadelphia on the 15th of July. A broad belt of debatable territory had to be crossed, which had been traveled only by scalping parties since Braddock's defeat. On the 7th of August, he passed the French post of Venango unharmed, as if a spell had been put upon its tenants. Arriving at the Indian town of Kushkushkee, he met 200 warriors, to whom he made proposals of peace. Their reply was as follows: "Why do you not fight your battles at home or on the high seas? Your heart is good-you speak sincerely- but there is a large number among you who wish to be rich. We do not wish to be rich and take away what others have. The white people think we have no brains. But remember, when you hunt a rattle-snake, perhaps it will bite you before you see it."+
Passing on to Sunkonk, the Indians at first sur- rounded him with drawn knives, and the French offered a reward for his scalp; but, fortunately, there were some Delawares present who had listened to his preaching, and, through their influence, a reaction soon began to be manifest, insomuch that they asked him to read his message. While reading it, a French messenger came in from Ft. Duquesne with a belt. The English mes- sage had already won over the vacillating Indians, and they refused to receive the French token, but kicked it about as if it had been a snake, says Post's journal.
A council was now proposed to be held. Accordingly, on the 24th it met, and the place chosen for it was across
* Heckewelder.
t Post's Journal.
I37
Fort Duquesne Taken.
the river from Ft. Duquesne, within the reach of its guns. Eight different tribes attended and made peace- ful promises to the English, the French not daring to disturb the grave deliberations, though they dissolved their alliance with all the Indian tribes except the Shawanese and a few others. Post remained till the 9th of September, when he started on his return.
He reached Philadelphia in safety, and his journal. was printed. All the while, Forbes' army was slowly advancing on the fort. On the 21st of September, a strong reconnoitering force was sent forward under Major Grant. Arriving near the fort, they were de- feated with a loss of 200 men.
While Forbes' army lay encamped at midnight, but a few miles from the place, a deep sound came quivering along the ground. "Ft. Duquesne is blown up!" ex- claimed the sentinels, as the distant explosion broke the wild silence around them. The army pressed for- ward with the first peep of day, when three deserters from the French soon met them and confirmed the sus- picion, and without further opposition the smouldering ruins of the fort were taken possession of on the 25th of November, 1758. Its garrison, deserted by the Indians, had fled, thanks to the hardihood of Post. A new fort was immediately built and named Ft. Pitt, in honor of the great premier, and 200 Virginians were left here to stand guard over the English flag, which now waved in triumph for the first time in the West.
Among both the English and provincial troops com- posing Forbes' army were surviving relatives of dis- tinguished persons slain in Braddock's defeat, and a desire to visit his battle-field and pay the last honors to their mouldering relics was manifest. Gen. Forbes, though an invalid and carried on a litter, entered heart- ily into the pious research, and gave the necessary orders for its execution under the charge of Capt. West, brother to the celebrated painter, Benjamin West. Be- sides his own company, a band of Indians, lately won over to the English interests by Post, were assigned to his command. Among these were several who had assisted in the slaughter of Braddock's army.
Major Sir Peter Halket, a member of Forbes' staff, had lost a father and a brother there, and from his de- scription of their appearance to the Indians, one of them assured him that he could point to the spot where they
138
Scene at Braddocks Field.
fell, near a remarkable tree. The expedition took up its march along the path through the forest that led to the fatal field, and the Indians, who were deeply im- pressed with the solemnity of the occasion, led the way with reverential footstep.
When the field was reached, the search began around its environs. Skeletons were found lying across the trunks of fallen trees, a proof, in their imaginations, that they had died here in the lingering torments of mortal wounds and starvation combined. In other places, disjointed bones were scattered around, giving evidence that the wolves of the forest had claimed them as their share of the spoils. Following the Indians to the spot where Halket's father and brother were sup- posed to have fallen, the Indian who saw them fall pointed out the crouching-place he had occupied during the battle and the tree under which they had fallen. Large masses of leaves covered the ground, which the wind had drifted over their bones. These were re- moved, and two skeletons lay together, one across the other. Tenderly the Indians raised them from the ground, when Sir Peter Halket said, "My father had an artificial tooth; examine his jaw." This was done, and there was the tooth. Sir Peter then exclaimed, "This is my father!" and fell insensible into the arms of his companions.
A grave was dug on the spot; the bones of father and son were placed in it; a Highland plaid was spread over them; they were covered with earth, and a salute was fired over their wilderness sepulcher. The Indian who pointed them out was not asked who was their execu- tioner .*
We come now to the most interesting part of the war. Even as the whirlwind gathers force as it travels, so did the magnitude of the issue in America enlarge as well as the national ambition to circumvent the French. Whatever misgivings had ever existed in the English court as to the policy of driving the French out of Can- ada, now vanished in the broad path of national gran- deur, and it was determined to attack Quebec itself, to bring about what both England and America demanded, the complete expulsion of the French.
In consequence of the reverse of Gen. Abercrombie before the walls of Ticonderoga, it was deemed expedi-
* Galt's Life of West.
I39
Gen. Amherst Takes Chief Command.
ent to supply his place with another general whose hold upon the public confidence had not been impaired by defeat. Gen. Amherst possessed these qualifications, and was promptly appointed by Pitt to succeed him. Under his guidance, the colonial States put forth re- newed exertions to end the war by one more decisive campaign. Connecticut raised 5,000 men, among whom was Israel Putnam, destined to a lasting revolutionary fame. Massachusetts raised 6,500, and New Hampshire 1,000. The numbers raised by the other States were smaller; but all the English forces in the field numbered fully 50,000, about half of whom were British regulars and the balance provincials, any and all of whom had mettle and endurance not to be questioned.
Ere the campaign of 1759 could be opened, a wintry truce must intervene, chaining the hostile arms of both nations with icy fetters, while their respective armies shivered in their barracks, at safe distances from each other, by fitful turns killing the tedious hours with bois- terous hilarity or thoughts of home, of which none can think more tenderly than the volunteer soldier fresh from the cornfield.
The English held the inside of the circle, or rather its segment commencing at Ft. Pitt, where a little band of Virginians stood sentinels at the outer edge of the im- mense plains of the Mississippi valley. At Oswego, the army of Gen. Bradstreet were reposing on their laurels, after their brilliant feat of taking Ft. Frontenac. At the head of Lake George rested the main body of the English and provincial soldiers. North of them were formidable bodies of French and Canadians entrenched, in confident security, within the walls of Ticonderoga and Crown Point.
Ft. Niagara was a post of great importance, and a respectable contingent of French soldiers now garri- soned its walls. The small stockades along French Creek had never been anything more than resting places for the French on their way to Ft. Duquesne; and, as this place was now in the hands of the English, the French only held them with the hope of retaking this strategic point.
While at these various places the armies of the two nations confronted each other during the winter, the salons of Quebec and Montreal were gay with Parisian elegance. The Frenchmen who could crowd the thea-
140
Johnson Victory at Niagara.
ters of Paris during the throes of the French Revolu- tion subsequent to this, were of the same spirit as these volatile Canadians, undisturbed as they were by the shadows of an English invasion hovering around their southern border. All the while, visions of future gran- deur rose before the eyes of the English, and a rare combination of fortuitous events was destined to verify them.
Gen. Amherst was to attack the posts of Ticonderoga and Crown Point. Gen. James Wolfe was to lay siege to Quebec, and Gen. Prideaux, with Gen. Johnson as second in command, was to march against Niagara. This expedition started from Oswego early in July, 1759, making its way in boats along the southern shore of Lake Ontario, where they landed without opposition at the mouth of Niagara on the 6th. The fort origin- ally built here by La Salle, in 1678, had been abandoned by the French in 1688, and again rebuilt by them in 1726, since which time it had been a menace to the Iro- quois; but to the western tribes it was a haven of prom- ise, on which rested an assurance of protection from their traditional enemies.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.