USA > Massachusetts > Our western border : its life, combats, adventures, forays, massacres, captivities, scouts, red chiefs, pioneer women, one hundred years ago, containing the cream of all the rare old border chronicles > Part 18
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By the end of September, three of the tribes retired from the contest; but the Ottawas, led and inspired by the indomitable Pontiac, still con- tinued petty hostilities. By November, however, a fatal blow was given to the hopes of the great chief in a letter sent by M. Neyon, command- ant of Fort Chartres, the principal French post in the Illinois country. It assured Pontiac that France and England were now at peace and that hostilities which could lead to no good result, had better be abandoned. This message had great influence with the fickle Indians, and in rage and mortification Pontiac, with a number of his chiefs, left for the Maumee country in the hope of exciting the Indians there and renew- ing hostilities in the Spring. Shortly after, two friendly Wyandots gained secret admission to the fort and one of them unstringing his powder horn and taking off its false bottom, revealed a letter to Glad- wyn from Major Wilkins-who was then expected from Fort Niagara- conveying the unwelcome tidings that his command had been overtaken by a storm ; many of the boats had been wrecked; seventy men had been lost and all the stores and ammunition had been destroyed and the expedition had returned to Niagara.
Bad news enough ! rendering the prospect of the coming Winter still more dreary. The besiegers had now, however, almost all scattered to their wintering grounds. It was impossible for them to remain longer in a body without actual starvation. The confederated tribes had failed to take Detroit, Fort Pitt and Niagara, the three most important fortresses in their country, and there was general disaffection among them. The siege proper may be said to terminate at this point, although for six months after, until relieved by General Bradstreet's army, the fort was environed by hostile bands and cut off from all pro- visions, communications, &c.
We can only simply refer to the decadence of Pontiac's power, and need not follow him in his broken fortunes. ' With soul unsubdued ; with undying hatred to the English, and with one purpose so steadfast
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DEATH OF PONTIAC.
and unfaltering as to almost reach the sublime, he continued to defy his foes and sought to confederate his friends. His exertions only grew the more daring as his fortunes became more desperate, but agencies were then at work all over the country, which at length convinced him that he had no longer a cause or a formidable following. He resolved, therefore, to accept the peace ; to nurse his vengeance and to bide his time. He went the next year to Oswego; held a grand council with" Sir William Johnson and the Iroquois sachems, and there made his last speech and sealed his submission to the English, renouncing forever the hopes which had so long nerved his ambitious soul. But the sacrifice almost broke his heart, and for the next two years he lived in such obscurity that history has no trace of him.
In 1769 he went with some attendant chiefs to visit his French friends at Fort St. Louis. The famous Pierre Chouteau of that post vividly remembered to the very last day of his life Pontiac's appearance at that memorable visit. He was arrayed in the full uniform of a French officer-a special mark of favor from the Marquis de Montcalm-and moved about with great dignity. Hearing that a large number of Indians were assembled at Cahokia, nearly opposite, he, in spite of all dissuasion to the contrary, crossed the river to visit them. His fame at once surrounded him with attentions, and he was induced to drink deeply. When the council was over he strode to the adjacent woods, where he was heard to sing his medicine songs. An English trader named Williamson was then in the village, and it is said bribed a Kaskaskia Indian to kill the great chief-the implacable foe to all Britons. As Pontiac entered the forest this assassin stole upon his track, and, watching his opportunity, buried a tomahawk in his brain.
This base and ignoble death caused great excitement among the western tribes, and most signally was it afterwards avenged, the Illi- nois tribes having been completely exterminated by the nations who almost worshipped Pontiac. The, murdered chief lay where he fell un- til his old friend St. Ange sent to claim the body and buried it with warlike honors near his fort of St. Louis. In our account of Pontiac and the siege of Detroit, we have followed Parkman, whose monograph on Pontiac's Conspiracy is exceedingly full, exhaustive and reliable. He thus appropriately closes his notice of the great and imperial Ot- tawa chief : "Neither mound nor tablet mark the burial place of Pon- tiac. For a mausoleum, a city has risen above the great forest hero, and the race whom he hated with such burning rancor, trample with un- ceasing footsteps over his forgotten grave."
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OUR WESTERN BORDER.
GUYASUTHA'S ATTACK ON FORT PITT AND REPULSE.
Let us now go back and briefly narrate what occurred at Fort Pitt, one of the three frontier posts which escaped capture during Pontiac's war. It stood at the junction of the Allegheny and Monongahela, a little to one side of the ruins of the French Fort Duquesne, abandoned in 1758, and was a strong and formidable fortification, having five sides, the two towards the land of brick and the other three stockades. A broad moat, dry when the river was low, surrounded the fort.
Nothing occurred to alarm until May 27th, when prowling bands of Indians scoured the country around, scalping stragglers, shooting or driving off stock, and murdering Indian traders. Then came news of the wholesale butchery of traders in the Ohio country. Among the Hurons the traders were so numerous and formidable that the Indians gained possession of them by stratagem, telling them that the surrounding tribes had risen in arms and were killing all the whites they met, and that it would be impossible for them (the Hurons) to protect their friends, the traders, unless the traders would consent, for appearance sake, to be made prisoners. In that case they should be set at liberty soon as the danger was over. The deluded traders gave up their arms, submitted to be bound, and were inhumanly slaughtered to a man. At Fort Pitt every preparation was made for a vigorous defence. The garrison consisted of three hundred and thirty soldiers, traders and hunters, commanded by the gallant Captain Ecuyer, and for many days were kept in constant alarm. The surrounding woods were full of prowling savages, though as yet no general assault was attempted.
At length on June 22d a general fire was opened, which was replied to by a discharge of howitzers, the bursting shells appearing greatly to disconcert the assailants. Next morning a Delaware chief; Turtle's Heart by name, surrounded by other chiefs, boldly appeared before the fort and demanded its surrender, stating that six great nations had taken up the hatchet and had cut off all the frontier posts but that one. They must go back to the settlements or they would all be killed. Ecuyer replied, with a grim humor, which showed his confidence, that he could hold the fort against all the savages who should choose to combine against it; that they were very well off there and meant to stay; that he would tell them in confidence, but hoped they would not mention to other Indians, that a great army of six thousand was coming to Fort Pitt; another of three thousand had gone up the lakes, and a third had gone to the Virginia frontier, where, being joined by the Cherokees and Catawbas, (who were the most dreaded foes of the Ohio Indians,) they would come and destroy them. Therefore, they had better hide
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RUSE WITH A STUFFED PADDY.
or they would get hurt. The chiefs were thus beaten at their own game, and taking fright at the three imaginary armies, disappeared and dispersed to attack weaker posts like Ligonier and Bedford. A few days later came in Ensign Price, followed by seven haggard, half-famished soldiers. They were the garrison of Le Bœuf on French Creek, attacked about same time as Presq' Isle and Venango. Price stated that the Indians had suddenly surrounded his block-house, showering bullets and fire-arrows against it, and had soon set it on fire. The yelling crowd then gathered in a half-circle about the gate, awaiting the moment when the inmates, stifled with flame and smoke, should rush out to their fate. But Price and his followers had hewn out a passage through the massive back wall of the block-house, and made good their escape to the surrounding woods, and thence to Fort Pitt. No man remained alive to tell how Fort Venango was taken, and it was not until long after that Sir William Johnson learned from a savage, who was present, that a large body of Senecas had gained entrance by a ruse, then closed the gates, fell upon the garrison, and butchered all but the commander, Lieutenant Gordon, whom they tortured to death over a slow fire for several successive nights.
Meanwhile every possible effort was made at Fort Pitt for the re- newed attack which was daily expected. The rampart was repaired, a line of palisades was erected, the barracks were made bullet-proof to protect the women and children, of whom there were sheltered there more than a hundred. It was not, however, till the 26th of July, that there appeared a delegation, headed by Shingiss and Turtle's Heart, bear- ing a message from Pontiac to the effect that he was coming against the Englishı at the forks of the Ohio with a great army, and that being a hungry and a headstrong people, they would eat up everything that came in their way. To this gentle hint, Ecuyer promptly replied that he despised the Ottawas; could and would hold his fort against all the Indians in the woods, and that if they came again about the fort, he would blow them to atoms with bombshells, and would fire bagfuls of bullets at them.
RUSE WITH A STUFFED PADDY-BOUQUET COMES TO THE RESCUE.
The savages at this retired in great disgust, and then organized a more serious attack. Crawling along and behind the steep banks of the riv- ers, they dug holes in' them to conceal themselves and afford shelter from the garrison's fire. Snugly ensconced in these caverns, they kept up a severe and incessant hail on the fort, and often set it on fire with their arrows. It was dangerous to expose a head or any part of the body. They thus killed and wounded seven, including the brave and
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OUR WESTERN BORDER.
plucky Ecuyer himself. A soldier's letter from the fort, written at this time, and describing the above facts, says : "Some of our fellows, however, were more than a match for them. One day 'Brown Bill' procured some old clothes and straw, and stuffing a paddy he told us that night to lift it slowly above the stockade, and then let it fall quickly whenever it was fired at from the caves. He then took his station a few feet from it, and soon as his eye became accustomed to the dark- ness, bade us raise it up. We hoisted slowly, and a bullet at once passed through it, but instantly Bill, who could fire at a flash, put a ball through the Indian's head. We all laughed at the result, which made Bill tre- mendously angry. 'If you had held your jaw,' said he, 'the paddy might have served again, but now it's of no use, as the yellow-hides will smell a rat.' At last we got tired of being cooped up, but the follow- ing day chased the Indians from the banks of the river, where they most annoyed us. We built upon rollers a large flat-boat with high gunwales. The rowers were secured and port-holes bored all around; when finished and ready we rolled it into the Monongahela and anchored it so we could fire up the Allegheny. The Indians were astonished, afraid to attack either boat or fort, as they would be between two fires. We raked them from the boat along the river banks. They set up the most diabolical yells I ever heard, retired up stream, but never again ventured so close in daylight."
During all this time a terrible, scathing, ruthless border war was going on outside the forts along the whole line of frontier. Everywhere were experienced the same horrible cruelties the sudden surprise, the massacre, the scalping, the burning. Many thousand people in Vir- ginia were driven from their homes. The people of Pennsylvania suf- fered quite as much. They left all and crowded into the interior towns for safety, living as best they could in huts or tents, or on the charities of friends. Lancaster had become a frontier town. The colonial gov- ernment was paralyzed by faction, and for a long time no adequate pro- tection was furnished.
But this disgraceful state of things was about to end. Colonel Henry Bouquet, a Swiss, and one of the most able, resolute and energetic for- eign officers that ever served in this country, was coming to the aid of Fort Pitt, and of the western frontier which that important post dom- inated. With every possible effort, he could only gather together about five hundred men, the shattered remains of two regiments of High- landers, enfeebled by West Indian exposure and disease. Sixty of them were so weak that they had to be conveyed in baggage wagons. When Bouquet reached Carlisle he found the whole country in a pitiable panic. The roads were crowded with flying families, and the towns
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BOUQUET COMES TO THE RESCUE.
and villages were encumbered with a smitten and fugitive population. Instead of receiving supplies, therefore, as expected, he had to dispense them. Eighteen precious days were lost in collecting stores and pro- viding transportation, and the little command commenced its long wilderness march of two hundred miles with the worst forebodings of the whole people. Just out of Carlisle they passed a forlorn and pitia- ble multitude of wretched refugees, who, unable to find shelter in the town, had encamped in the woods or adjacent fields, erecting huts of bark or branches and living on the charities of the town. Think of it! Crowds of poor men, women and children; bereft of home, friends and the means of supporting life; most of them haunted day and night with visions of the bloody knife and reeking scalps ! It was enough, foreigners as they were, to move the hearts of the passing soldiers to pity, and to nerve their arms to deeds of vengeance. We will see how good a record they made.
The army pursued the route opened by Forbes on his expedi- tion against Fort Duquesne, and first relieving Forts Bedford and Ligonier, both beleaguered by Indians, struck gallantly forth into the pathless wilderness. Bouquet had hoped at Ligonier to get some late tidings from Fort Pitt, but no word had been heard from there for a month. The woods were alive with savages, and every messenger be- tween the two forts had been either killed or captured. Whether Fort Pitt stood or not, none knew-most probably not. The wagons were left behind, and everything needful packed on the horses, and, attended by the bleating of sheep and the lowing of cattle, the long, straggling train now wound its slow and toilsome way, like a huge serpent, through matted woods and across wild, dashing streams, dense walls of foliage on either side. Keen-eyed rangers scouted the woods on either flank. For nearly two days, in the sweltering heat of August, the troops fagged on. Before them now lay the dangerous defile of Turtle Creek, commanded for several miles by steep, craggy hills. Fearing an am. buscade, it was Bouquet's design to pass these by night, sweeping through so rapidly and stealthily that the savages could concert no a.c. tack. To do this a whole afternoon's rest was to be enjoyed at Busby Run, which by noon of the 5th-after a wearisome march of seven'reen miles-was declared to be only a half mile ahead. The jaded cattle and tired soldiers were pressing forward with renewed alacrity when their fond anticipations suffered a rude and cruel interruption.
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OUR WESTERN BORDER.
BOUQUET'S DESPERATE BATTLE OF BUSHY RUN.
A startling volley of firearms suddenly broke the forest stillness, causing every man's heart to leap to his throat and every man's hands to clutch his trusty musket. The drum beat to arms, the sharp command rang out loud and clear, but before ranks were closed up, the savages were upon them with a horrible din and clamor. Bouquet promptly ordered two companies to charge the ambuscade. As the files of gleaming bayonets steadily advanced, the savages broke and fled ; but only for a moment. They soon gathered again, rushed in from all sides, and in great force occupied the heights, almost com- pletely surrounding Bouquet's little army, and pouring in a most galling and fatal fire. A general charge along the whole line dislodged the swarming Indians from the heights, but the savages returned again and again to the attack, pouring in a murderous hail of fire in front and on both flanks, and even attacking the convoy in the rear.
The contest became hotter and hotter, the savages rushing to the attack with wonderful spirit and resolution, and the British holding their own with obstinacy and tenacity. It was life or death with them. Darkness alone ended the bloody battle. The brave little force was almost completely worn out. The day had been exceedingly sultry : they had fought for seven hours on empty stomachs; they were nearly tormented to death by thirst, and had coolly and with desperate courage withstood the galling hail from a fiery circle of whooping demons.
Right in the leafy wilderness where they had fought, on this hot, sul- try August night, without one drop of water to cool their parched tongues and fevered bodies, the poor Highlanders sank down to rest. Over sixty of their number, including several officers, had been killed or wounded. A dropping fire, and occasional yells and whoops were kept up by the Indians ; and in constant fear of a desperate night at- tack, the anxious hours were dragged through. At the very first streak of dawn a horrible din of yells and shrieks burst forth on all sides of them, and volley after volley of bullets came whistling among their thinned ranks. The combat raged fiercer and hotter than the day be- fore. The Indians seemed more desperate and reckless. They would rush up to close quarters and fire from every bush and tree which could yield a cover. Although repulsed at every point, fresh Indians would take the places of the retreating, and the conflict raged more furiously as the day advanced. Yielding their ground when a charge was made, the crafty savages would vanish for a moment only to come out in a new spot.
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DESPERATE BATTLE OF BUSHY RUN.
The troops maddened by thirst, fainting from heat, and worn out by incessant charges which led to nothing, were almost completely ex- hausted. Their distress was so plainly visible, that the foe redoubled their horrid yells and fierce attacks, approaching so near as to deride and curse them in bad English. The whole camp was in utter con- fusion. The wounded and terror-stricken horses rushed frantically about, and the drivers concealed themselves or ran away, and all seemed lost. The defence became wavering and irresolute ; all hope had gone, and death or torture menaced the jaded but still brave survivors. If anything was to be done, then was just the time, and no moment to spare.
Bouquet, happily, was equal to the occasion. In the very midst of despair he conceived and carried into immediate execution a masterly stratagem. He determined to get the Indians into one body, draw them into a trap, and then give them a furious bayonet charge, and so end the conflict. Two companies were ordered to fall back suddenly in the centre, while the troops on the flank should advance across the vacancy in the circle, as if to cover their retreat. Meanwhile another company of Light Infantry, with one of Grenadiers, were ordered to lie in ambush to support the first two companies on the feigned retreat. The stratagem took. These movements were mistaken for defeat and retreat. The yelling, screeching demons, believing that their time had come at last, leaped from cover on all sides and rushed headlong to the spot, pouring in a most galling fire. It seemed for a moment that nothing could withstand that impetuous advance and attack, but the two companies which had retreated, had, under cover of the dense woods and underbrush, made a rapid and secret detour, and now burst out on each flank of the yelling, onrushing crowd of savages, and dis- charged a heavy volley right into their very midst. The Indians, though taken completely by surprise, faced about with great intrepidity, and boldly returned the fire, and essayed to recover ground. .
It was too late ! With a wild, fierce yell of rage, the Highlanders were upon them with the cold steel. A well-conducted bayonet charge an Indian has never and will never stand. The shock was irresistible, and they fled in a tumultuous mob. Now the two other companies, who had been crouched in ambush, awaiting the moment to strike, put in an appearance. As the fugitive throng, pressed back by the ad- vancing wall of bristling steel, passed directly across their front, they rose and poured in a destructive volley, which ended the whole matter. The four companies now uniting, soon changed flight to utter rout. No time was given them to reload; many were shot or driven down, while the rest were scattered in remediless confusion throughout the woods.
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OUR WESTERN BORDER.
While all this took place in one part of the circle, the remaining savages on the other sides first watched, then wavered, then lost heart, and finally betook themselves to headlong flight. And thus was this gallant little force, and its brave and skillful commander, saved from a terrible disaster-snatched from the very jaws of death. Forty In- dians, some of them their chief warriors, had been slain outright. Bouquet lost about fifty killed, and had about sixty wounded. The troops had so greatly suffered, and so many horses had been lost, that large amounts of stores had to be destroyed. The march was still difficult and tedious, though entirely unmolested, and it was not until four days after this bloody struggle that Bouquet arrived at Fort Pitt with his convoy, and thus raised the siege.
It was Guyasutha's band of besieging Indians which were so crush- ingly defeated at Bushy Run. They had gone out with confidence against the little force, judging shrewdly that if it could be defeated as was Braddock's much larger command but a few years previous, Fort Pitt must finally be theirs. Now all was altered. There was no rally- ing from. that crushing overthrow, and the baffled Ohio savages retired sullenly to their homes beyond the Allegheny. Bouquet was most anxious to follow up his victory by marching at once into the heart of the enemy's country, and wringing from the hostile tribes a treaty, which would at once put an end to these scenes of rapine and slaughter, but his force was too small and the season too far advanced. He busied himself, therefore, during the Fall and Winter in restoring quiet along the frontier, and in gathering an adequate force for an early Spring campaign. It was not, however, till the next August that he was ready to move from Carlisle, his troops consisting of his old High- landers-such as were left of them-a thousand Pennsylvanians, and a small but invaluable corps of Virginia rangers. With this imposing force the plan was for him to march against the Shawnees, Delawares and Mingoes of Ohio, while Colonel Bradstreet should advance into the lake country, reduce the Ottawas, Chippewas and Wyandots, and relieve Detroit. During the Spring and Summer, Indian marauds and massacres had been renewed with such devastating effect that Pennsyl- vania had at last been compelled, in compliance with the earnest de- mand of the whole frontier, to offer a high bounty for scalps-men, women and children.
On September 13th Bouquet arrived with his army at Fort Pitt. Various delegations from the Ohio tribes, who had all retired beyond the Muskingum, endeavored on various pretexts to delay the expedition until too late in the season, but Bouquet was perfectly convinced that the only possible peace was to be secured by a show of rigor and
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DESPERATE BATTLE OF BUSHY RUN.
power. He could neither be wheedled or bullied into any fatal delay. And so on the 3d of October the army crossed the Allegheny, and de- filing into the Indian trail, struck boldly out into the trackless wilder- ness. It was accompanied by long trains of pack horses and immense droves of cattle, and was preceded by three scouting parties of rangers, one of which kept the trail while the other two moved on the flanks. This whole expedition, together with the various incidents attending it, is replete with a romantic interest, but we have only room for results.
Boone marking out his own grave .- See page 287. .
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OUR WESTERN BORDER.
BOUQUET IN THE HEART OF THE INDIAN COUNTRY.
The course lay along the Ohio to Big Beaver and thence to Yellow and Sandy Creeks directly to the Tuscarawas, a continuation of the Muskingum, which was reached on the tenth day. The march had been conducted in silence entirely through the vast primeval forest, and had been met with no obstructions whatever. They were now approaching the homes, hitherto sacred and secure, of the tribes which had been causing all the late mischief. News of their coming and of the imposing size of the army, as well as the skill and boldness of its commander, had long preceded them, and a great fear fell upon the contumacious tribes. Their hearts were now inclined to peace. Fleet runners went to and fro between the different towns. Grand councils were held; eloquent harangues were made; the young and ardent were overruled by the older and more prudent warriors, and the result was a large delegation of chiefs to sue for peace and endeavor to stay Bouquet's further progress.
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