USA > Illinois > Cook County > Chicago > Discovery and conquests of the Northwest, with the history of Chicago, Vol. I > Part 14
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To the French it was second in importance only to Quebec, commanding as it did the channels of com- merce, which was then carried on by canoes only, along the entire chain of lakes. No sooner had Gen. Pou- chot, the commander of the fort, learned of the ap- proach of the invaders, than he summoned to his aid all the spare French troops from Detroit, Presque Isle, Le Bœuf, and Venango, and as many Indian allies as could be induced to take up arms for the declining for- tunes of the French.
The number of French thus raised from the distant forts and the Indians combined was 1,500; but, ere they could gather within the walls of the fort, Johnson inter- cepted their path, and they were obliged to fight his army on an equal footing, in the open field.
This battle took place not far from Niagara Falls, on the east bank. D'Aubrey, the leader of the French, dashed against Johnson's well-trained army of provin- cials and Indians, with desperate resolution; but the fire they met was so fierce that it was like the surprise of an ambuscade. D'Aubrey himself, with seventeen officers, were taken prisoners, and many of the French soldiers, while their red allies fled into their native forests to
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General Wolfe Before Quebec.
brood over their misfortunes. Gen. Prideaux was push- ing the siege all the while, but was killed in the trenches by the bursting of a gun, wlren the command fell upon Johnson, who, after his victory, summoned Gen. Pou- chot to surrender. The summons was obeyed, and 607 officers and privates became prisoners. A large quan- tity of scalping-knives were among the military stores taken. The prisoners were sent to New York, leaving behind them many a romantic reminiscence of a spot in which nature was so prodigal with her gifts, among which the dusky beauty of the forest was not the soonest to be forgotten by the gay French lieutenants.
This blow effectually severed the line of communi- cation between Canada and the Mississippi valley; but since the French had been driven from Ft. Duquesne, little remained which could offer any serious resistance to the English, scattered as the forts were from Detroit to the far-distant post of New Orleans.
While Johnson had been dictating terms to the French at Niagara, Amherst massed his forces at Al- bany, crossed Lake George with 12,000 men, and ap- peared before Ticonderoga on the 22d of July. He immediately began to plant his batteries; but, before the place was environed, the French evacuated, blow- ing up their magazine behind them, and took refuge within the walls of Crown Point on the 27th. Gen. Am- herst promptly followed them to their new retreat; but, at his approach, they again fled down the lake, and entrenched themselves on the island of Aux Noix. The season was now too far advanced to continue operations, and after some skirmishing, in which two French ves- sels were captured, Gen. Amherst went into winter quarters at Crown Point.
Gen. Wolfe was now before the walls of Quebec. Early in June, he had sailed up the St. Lawrence with 8,000 men, and made a landing on the island of Orleans, just below the city. He found the city planted on the summit of a headland of rock, at the base of which the St. Lawrence, a mile wide, rolled along the surplus waters of the great lakes. Below, the St. Charles and Montmorenci, tributaries from the north, cleft to its base the adamantine bank on which it stood. En- trenched behind earthworks, on the bluffs of these streams, rested the left wing of its defenders, the right extending to the city. Heavy forests extended far to
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142
Stobo's Adventurous Escape.
the north in the rear, affording additional protection. Above the city, the same bank held its undiminished height for miles along the river. Montcalm himself stood behind these defenses with 14,000 soldiers. Be- fore going on with the progress of Wolfe, let us turn back to the days of Ft. Necessity.
When Col. Washington gave up this fort, five years before, it will not be forgotten that Major Robert Stobo was one of the hostages delivered into the hands of the French. He was taken to Ft. Duquesne, where his ready adaption to his situation as prisoner soon won favor among the French soldier's, who have ever been conspicuous in history for their magnanimity toward a fallen foe. Among the Indians who came and went to the fort without ceremony, was one named Delaware George, who had been a disciple of Post* on the Dela- ware river. Something in his companionship won the confidence of Stobo, and he sent the converted Dela- ware through the forests with a letter to Virginia, containing important information. Delaware George quietly left the place without exciting suspicion, and delivered the message. At Braddock's defeat, the docu- ment, with all other papers of Braddock's, fell into the hands of the French; but as no one at the fort could translate English, it was sent to Paris. Meantime, Stobo had been sent to Canada, and here the evidence of his spying message overtook him, on the 28th of Novem- ber, 1756. He was tried and sentenced to be hung, but the numerous friends he had made in Canada, particu- larly among the fascinating women of Quebec, came to his rescue, and his pardon was applied for at the French court. The king gave it, and once more Stobo was an honored hostage, though a prisoner. He soon afterward made his escape, but a reward of 6,000 livres brought about his capture, which was effected on the banks of the Montmorenci, while he was looking for a boat in which to cross the St. Lawrence. This river crossed, he intended to pierce the hostile forests which intervened between Canada and the English frontier. After his unsuccessful attempt to escape, his confine- ment became more strict and his health gave way. This misfortune redoubled the tenderness of his fair patron who had long befriended him. This true-hearted hero- ine now used her influence with Vaudreuil, the gov-
* See Heckewelder.
143
Stobo Rewarded.
ernor, to mitigate the severity of Stobo's confinement. Her plea was successful, and he was allowed to exercise on the ramparts, anywhere within the lines of the senti- nels. Here he soon made the acquaintance of a Mr. Stephenson, a native of New Hampshire, who had been captured from the daring band of Rogers' Rangers. He was a ship carpenter, and being at work for the French in the shipyard, knew all the possible avenues of escape by boat. A plan was soon made up by the two to effect this, and, the first favorable opportunity, it was put in execution, by seizing a yawl and going down the St. Lawrence. Soon as his flight had been dis- covered, a reward was again offered for him; but the rapid current of the river had left behind all danger of capture.
One stricken heart was also left behind, to whom his empty cell was a painful memorial of unrequited love.
The adventurers, after great privations, reached Louisburg while Gen. Wolfe was there, joined his army, and were with him at the siege of Quebec. While this was in progress, Wolfe wished to communicate with Gen. Amherst, and Stobo volunteered to take the mes- sage to him, across the country, which he succeeded in delivering at his winter quarters at Crown Point. This done, the hero proceeded to his old home in Virginia, where, on November 19th, 1759, the House of Burgesses voted him a bonus of £1,000, besides full pay for his services during his eventful captivity .*
The first place attacked by Wolfe, after landing, was the Heights of Point Levi, across the river from Que- bec. This he carried with ease, and erected a battery on the spot, from which he opened fire upon the town, reducing the lower portions of it to ashes. Montcalm, trying in vain to dislodge the English from this point, conceived the idea of burning their fleet as it lay anchored below the city. A number of fire-ships were set afloat from above, to accomplish this design; but the English sailors, by great exertion, managed to turn them aside, and they harmlessly consumed below. Wolfe in turn made a direct attack on the left wing of Montcalm's army, as it lay entrenched on the banks of the Mont-
* Until 1854, the British Museum was the custodian of Stobo's letters and manuscript memoirs, and it was from Hume's letter to Smollet that the edi- tor who first published the substance of them, became aware of their im- ; portance. The narrative was at that time published in Pittsburgh, from which this account is taken.
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I44
Council of War.
morenci. A strong detachment of Highlanders and provincials crossed the river in small boats, under cover of a fire from the ships, and, clambering up the steep bank of the river, made an impetuous attack on the French lines, but they were defeated, with a loss of 500 men.
Up to this time, no tidings had come from either Johnson or Amherst, although the French were well in- formed of what had transpired in the various theaters of the war, and an event soon took place which brought this information to Wolfe. At Chambaud, a short dis- tance up the river, the French had a magazine, defended by a small body of soldiers. Gen. Murray was sent to capture it, which being effected, the prisoners taken gave the first news to Wolfe of the success of the Eng- lish arms at Niagara and Lake Champlain. The season, however, was so far advanced that no hopes could be entertained of assistance from either Amherst or John- son, and, smarting under the sting of defeat on the banks of the Montmorenci, he wrote to the Secretary of State, informing him of his defeat and of the diffi- culties in the way of taking Quebec.
A council of war was called on the 3d of September, and by its deliberations it was resolved to transfer the operations against Quebec from the Montmorenci to the banks of the river above the town. The ill success which had thus far attended the enterprise had wrought upon the mind of Wolfe till he was prostrate on a bed of sickness; and, while in this situation, Generals Mur- ray, Monckton and Townsend, whom he had asked to propose some new plan of operations, suggested an at- tack from the Heights of Abraham,* in the rear of the city, possession of which was to be gained under cover of night. Wolfe consented, though difficulties, appar- ently insurmountable, stood in the way. The ascent up the rugged bluffs was almost perpendicular and their summits guarded by French sentinels; yet the desper- ate character of the enterprise, by dispelling suspicion from the French, might assure success, and orders were given for its execution.
On the 12th of September, the English fleet moved up the river, several miles above the spot where the river bank was to be ascended. At midnight the small boats were lowered, 5,000 soldiers stepped into them
* Graham's Colonial History, vol. IV., p. 49.
145
Gen. Wolfe Gains The Heights of Abraham.
from the vessels, and silently floated down the current, lying close to the north bank. Several French sentinels had to be passed, but fortunately a Scotch officer among them understood the French language, and, when chal- lenged, disarmed their suspicions by appropriate replies in good French. To the last challenge thus made, the Scotch officer's ingenuity in his reply was fully up to the demands of the critical occasion, he having cut off fur- ther inquiry by enjoining silence lest the English should overhear them. By the last packet which came from England, a copy of Gray's Elegy, which had recently been published, was sent to Wolfe. Deeply impressed with its poetic beauty, while silently floating down stream to the cove* from which the army were to scale the bank, he repeated to his companions one of its lines-
"The path of glory leads but to the grave."
"Now, gentlemen, I would rather be the author of that poem than take Quebec," said he. "Perhaps the noblest tribute ever paid by arms to letters, since that heroic era when hostile fury and havoc were remedied or in- tercepted by respect for the genius of Aristotle, and for the poetry of Pindar and Euripides."+ About an hour before daybreak, Wolfe was among the first to leap ashore, when, turning his eyes upward to the shelv- ing bank, he observed to an officer near him: "I doubt if you can get up, but you must do what you can." Col. Howe, brother to him killed at Ticonderoga, led the way at the head of the Highlanders, and the whole army followed by a narrow path up the cliff, sometimes laying hold of the young shrubbery to facilitate the steep ascent. When the entire army had reached the summit, it was broad daylight.
The astonished French sentinels quickly conveyed the information to Montcalm. At first, he would not believe it, but supposed the movement to be only a feint to distract his attention from the banks of the Mont- morenci, where the real attack was to be made, as he thought. Farther observation, however, soon dispelled this illusion, and he quit his camp, crossed the St. Charles, and boldly advanced to meet Wolfe, and de- cide the fate of New France on the battle-field.
At nine o'clock, on the 13th of September, 1759,
*This has ever since been called Wolfe's Cove.
+ Graham.
146
Wolfe's Victory and Death.
13,000 French soldiers stood on an elevated plateau, facing 5,000 English soldiers. Not a ditch-not a ravine -- not a hill, valley or tree was there between them, to intercept the mortal tornado about to roll into the un- protected ranks of both armies.
No human vision could pierce the future, and bring to light the issue depending on the result of the battle. If the French arms had triumphed, the English must have fallen into their hands as prisoners, and, Quebec have been reinforced long before the armies of Amherst and Johnson could have reached the place, and the French would have retained the valley of the Mis- sissippi.
On the other hand, the triumph of the English arms was destined to lead to events which, if then foreseen, would have distracted the English army between con- tending emotions of loyalty and self-protection; for on the result of this battle hung the destiny of a nation yet in her germ-cell-America.
Montcalm advanced to the conflict and commenced the fire. The English waited till but forty rods inter- vened between themselves and the advancing French; the order to fire was then given, and from their whole front a tempest of shot flew into the ranks of the French, directed by the aim of veterans. The French never recovered from the shock. It was impossible to fill up the gaps made in their front ranks. They at- tempted to rally, but their lines wavered before the deadly aim of the English, till they fled from the field, pursued by the Highlanders with broadswords.
Early in the action, Wolfe had been wounded in the arm, but bandaged it with his handkerchief. Soon afterward he received a shot in his groin, but, conceal- ing the wound, still pushed on his men, when a third shot brought him down. The command now fell on Monckton, who soon fell wounded, when Gen. Town- send took his place.
Montcalm was mortally wounded, and nearly a thou- sand of his men had fallen, either killed or wounded. Death spared Wolfe till the shouts of victory ran through his lines-"They run! they run!", "Who run?" cried the dying man. "The French!" replied the officer on whose breast he was leaning. "Then I die happy!" said Wolfe, and ceased to breathe.
Montcalm died the next day. The two commanders
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Death of General Montcalm.
were buried beside each other, on the field where they had fought one of the decisive battles of the world.
A third of Quebec had been burned by the fire of the English fleet. Gaiety and wretchedness were indis- criminately huddled together in squalid tenements; but still they must pack closer yet. The 5,000 English soldiers, less the fifty killed in the battle, must have room, and the 500 wounded soldiers must have lint and gruel prepared for them. These knotty problems were soon solved by the stern decrees of war, by which the city had been given up to the English. A recoil from the harshness of these decrees, however, now spread a luster over the scene.
A mutual spirit of conciliation was moulded in every face. English and French vied with each other to assuage the calamities of war. The priests no longer prayed for the success of the French, or, if they did, the English cared little as long as the ensign of St. George waved from the watch-towers, and the utmost freedom in religious matters was granted-mere trifles in the estimation of the conquerors compared to the great question at issue.
The fugitives of Montcalm's army had fled to Mon- treal, where a force fully 10,000 strong represented the forlorn hope of New France.
Spring came. The snowdrifts of the St. Lawrence had melted into its turbulent current, bearing along its swollen waters released gorges of ice. While gazing at these, one day, the English sailors espied a man lying prostrate on one of them. The yawl was lowered, and the victim rescued from his perilous position, almost insensible from exhaustion and cold. When restored, he informed his new friends that he had fallen over- board from the French fleet, and, when questioned as to their movements, he gave such information as gave Gen. Murray no room to doubt that the French were about to make a descent on Quebec .*
Preparations were immediately made to meet the un- expected blow. One thousand of Murray's men had died with the scurvy, as many more were in the hos- pital, and he had but. 3,000 left. The attack soon came, 10,000 strong. A battle ensued, in which the English were partially defeated, but managed to retain their position till news came that an English fleet was sailing
* Raynal, vol. VII., p. 124.
148 Canada and the West Given up to the English.
up the St. Lawrence, when the French retreated. By a chance, this English fleet gained the mouth of the river ahead of a French fleet destined for the same theater. A few months later, the English armies, under Gen. Amherst and Gen. Haviland, appeared before Montreal. The place surrendered, and Vaudreuil, the governor, gave up Canada and the West to the English, September 8th, 1760. The war still raged on the Con- tinent, and it was not till February 10th, 1763, that the definitive treaty of peace was signed at Paris. By its stipulations, everything east of the Mississippi river, as far south as the 3Ist Parallel, was ceded to the English.
The boundary line, between the two Counties, continued along this parallel Eastwardly to the Pearl River, thence South along this river to the Gulf of Mexico.
The next year France ceded all her American pos- sessions to Spain, which, latter Power, already owning Florida, limited on the North by the 31st parallel and on the West by the Perdido river, made her a neighbor, as formidably as she afterwards proved to be captious. In 1800, Spain retroceded Louisiana to France, by the secret treaty of St. Ildefonso, which, when made known the next year, caused a sensation both in England and America. The next year, 1801, England declared war against France, which, latter power, under the rising Star of Napoleon, awakened grave apprehensions in the minds of the Americans, the relief to which will be told in future pages.
Death of General Wolfe on the Battlefield.
(From Lossing's History of the United States, published by the Harpers.)
CHAPTER VI.
Rogers sent by Gen. Amherst to take possession of Detroit -He meets Pontiac on the way-Holds a parley with him-Detroit garrisoned by the English, under Capt. Campbell-Discontent of the Indians-Alexander Henry arrives at Michilimackinac-Conspiracy to drive the English out of the country-Detroit saved from massa- cre by an Ojibway girl-Is besieged-Massacre at Mich- ilimackinac-Narrow escape of Alexander Henry-St. Joseph, Ouatanon, Miami and Sandusky taken by the Indians-Capture of the Batteau Fleet sent to succor De- troit-Horrible massacre of the soldiers-Detroit relieved -Arrival of Capt. Dalzell-His disastrous sortie-Des- perate defense of a vessel loaded with supplies-Pontiac retires to the Maumee Rapids.
The French and Indian war began on the question as to who should own a bit of wild land drained by the tributary sources of the Ohio.
The English went into it with tardiness, and the Americans, with the exception of the Virginia colony, with apathy; not from any indisposition to sustain the national honor, for there was no such issue in the ques- tion. Each colony held its own respective territory, and could hardly be expected to fight for more, not know- ing who might possess the prize if won.
What had given the Virginia colony so deep an in. terest in the question, was the munificent donations of the lands on the Ohio to her subjects from the king. The recipients of these favors were the Ohio Company, prominent among whom were the Washington brothers, and this company had taken the first steps in the war by commencing the little fort at the fork of the Ohio, under Trent.
George Washington struck the first hostile blow when
I 50
Rogers' Expedition to Detroit.
he attacked Jumonville. Never in the records of nations did a greater result grow out of an issue so apparently small. The magnitude of the prize was an elephant on the hands of the victors.
To the west were the forests north of the Ohio river, enriched by a thousand autumnal dressings of leaf mold, through which unnumbered rivers and stream- lets took their courses along valleys of alluvium. Beyond these were oceans of prairie, luxuriant in grasses har- vested each year only by the annual fires that swept over them.
With the exception of the few French settlements mentioned in previous chapters, this immense country was a majestic waste, tenanted by perhaps one hundred thousand Indians. Most of these had always been the allies of the French, but such as were not had been forced into their friendship by the war. Now everything was changed. To the English they must look for a supply of such goods as the elements of civilization had taught them the use of, and without which it was difficult to subsist. The trade in these articles, with furs in ex- change, was now to go into the hands of the English; but the first thing to be done was to take possession of such French forts as had not been taken by force during the war.
These were Detroit, Sandusky, Michilimackinac, St. Joseph, Green Bay, the cluster of French villages in the Southern Illinois country, Vincennes and Ouatanon on the Wabash, and Ft. Miami on the Maumee, close by the spot where Ft. Wayne was subsequently built; the whole containing a population not exceeding 6,000 French inhabitants.
On the 13th of September, 1760, three days after the surrender of Montreal, Major Robert Rogers was dis- patched by Gen. Amherst on this mission, * with a force of 200 chosen men, in fifteen whale boats. His orders
*Rogers had served during the war in the capacity of a ranger. His field had been on the frontier between Albany and the French forts on Lake Champlain, where his daring exploits at the head of his chosen band of New Hampshire provincials, were the admiration of both friend and foe. He kept a journal of his adventures and wrote a book entitled "Concise Account of North America," published in London in 1765, which forms the basis of this account.
15I
Arrives at Presque Isle.
were to proceed to Ft. Niagara, where Maj. Walters, the commander, was to deliver into his custody a Mr. Gamelin,* a French prisoner taken at the surrender of that post. He was then to proceed to Presque Isle, and from thence, with a small force, across the country to Ft. Pitt, then under the command of Gen. Monckton. From him he was to receive such assistance as was necessary in the execution of the work before him, which was to take possession of the posts of Detroit and Michilimackinac, and administer the oath of allegiance to the inhabitants. This done, he was to return with his force to Albany, or wherever the headquarters of the commanding general might be at that time. Arriv- ing at Presque Isle on the 8th of October, in accordance with these instructions, he left his command, and, with only three companions, pursued the well known French trail to Ft. Pitt, where he was reinforced by a detach- ment of Royal Americans, under Capt. Campbell. Returning to Presque Isle, he received forty oxen from Col. Bryant, under charge of Capt. Monter, who, with the assistance of twenty Indians, was to drive them to Detroit, for the subsistence of the soldiers. About the Ist of November, the whole command embarked in their boats from Presque Isle. It was an English del- egation, composed of Americans, whose superior qualifi- cations for such a dangerous adventure were apparent to Gen. Amherst.
The western Indians had never before seen any other than Frenchmen unless perchance some of them had been in battle array against them on the bloody fields of the late war. As yet, the English flag had been saluted with yells of approbation by all the Indians they had met; but these first ebullitions of applause from the red frontierers might prove but a snare to lull them into a fatal security when the interior was reached. But Rogers, bred among the wilds of frontier warfare, had measured its depths of dissimulation, and he was ready for any emergency.
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