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 4
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It was just such traders as these who, from the year 1748 down to 1783, were first stopped by the French and warned off the soil, or, finding that course ineffective, were then seized and sent captives to Canada. The French were then busy erecting a continuous chain of forts from Niagara down to Louisiana, and plainly with the intent of firmly holding all the vast country which they openly claimed as theirs. Alarming reports of their violent and summary proceedings now reached the English colonies.
WASHINGTON'S FIRST VISIT TO THE GREAT WEST.
Gov. Dinwiddie, of Virginia, an official ot great energy and deter- mination, was not only startled but indignant at the various rumors which reached him from the Ohio region. He, therefore, appointed Major George Washington,-at that time a young surveyor of about twenty-two years of age, of excellent repute for judgment and bravery, and whom previous life had enured to hardships and instructed in woodcraft,-to proceed immediately into the distant wilds of the west; visit and deliver a letter to the French commandant ; ascertain pre- cisely their strength in the Ohio country, the number and location of their forts, and what were their claims and intentions.
The appointment was a good one. The zealous Major set out promptly on the very day he received his commission, and arrived at Wills Creek on Nov. 14th. Engaging horse and servants, and select- ing Jacob Van Braam as his French interpreter, and Christopher Gist, who was better acquainted with the western wilderness than any colo- nist of that day, as his guide, he turned into an old Indian trail and commenced his toilsome way, arriving at Turtle Creek, near the very point where scarce two years after he engaged the French-Indian army in the disastrous battle of Braddocks Fields, on the 22d.
Washington kept a very accurate and interesting journal of his pro- ceedings, which on his return was immediately published, both in the 2
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Colonies and in Great Britain, and was the means of enlightening the English government as to the aggressive designs of the French. Some, parts of his journal we will quote; and first, the earliest mention made of the forks of the Ohio-called De-un-da-ga by the Indians, and afterwards the famous site of the French Fort Duquesne, then of the British Fort Pitt, and now of the vast and opulent city of Pittsburgh. We quote :
"The waters were quite impassable without swimming our horses, which obliged us to get the loan of a canoe from Frazier," (an Indian trader who had lately been driven away from Venango by the French, and whose humble log cabin, on the banks of the Monongahela, was the ultima thule of English frontier advance) "and to send Barnaby Cur- rin and Henry Steward down the Monongahela with our baggage, to meet us at the forks of the Ohio, about ten miles below : there to cross the Allegheny.
" As I got down before the canoe did, I spent some time in viewing the rivers and the land in the fork, which I think extremely well situ- ated for a fort, as it has the absolute command of both rivers. The land at the point is twenty-five feet above the common surface of the water ; and a considerable 'bottom' of flat, well-timbered land all around it, very convenient for building. The rivers are each a quarter of a mile or more across and run here very nearly at right angles- Allegheny bearing north-east and Monongahela south-east. The former of these two is a very rapid and swift-running water, the other deep and still, without any perceptible fall.
" About two miles from this, on the south-east side of the Ohio, at the place where the Ohio Company intended to erect a fort, lives Shin- giss, King of the Delawares. We called upon him to invite him to a council at Logstown. Shingiss attended us to Logstown" (an Indian town on the Ohio, about twenty miles below the forks,) " where we arrived between sun-setting and dark, the twenty-fifth day after I left Williamsburg.
" As soon as I came to town I went to Monakatoocha " (afterwards a famous chief, generally known as Scarrooyaddy, who accompanied Braddock's Expedition as chiet guide, and who was noted for his loy- alty and repeated services to the English) " and informed him by John Davidson, my Indian interpreter, that I was sent a messenger to the French General and was ordered to call upon the sachems of the Six Nations to acquaint them with it. I gave him a string of wampum and a twist of tobacco, and desired him to send for Tannacharison, the Half King (who was absent at his hunting cabin at Little Beaver Creek) which he promised to do by a runner in the morning, as also for other sachems.
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WASHINGTON'S FIRST VISIT TO THE GREAT WEST.
" About three o'clock this evening the Half King came to town. I ' went up and invited him privately to my tent, and desired him to re- late some of the particulars of his late journey to the French Com- mandant, and to give me an account of the ways and the distance. He told me that the nearest and levelest way was now impassable by reason of many large miry savannas ; that we must be obliged to go by Venango, and should not get to the fort in less than five or six days' good traveling, &c., &c.
" The Half King then said that he had been received very sternly by the French commander, who abruptly asked him his business, &c. The Half King then made to him a strong protest against the French occupying their lands, building forts, &c., and warned him off the whole territory and menaced him with a rod to drive him away. The French Commandant had answered very haughtily that he was not ' afraid of flies or mosquitoes, and that down that river (the Allegheny) he was sure to go, and that if the river was blocked up he had abundance of force to burst it open ; that the Half King talked foolish to call the land Indian land since the French had seen it first,' &c. He also informed the Half King that the French had built two forts, one at Lake Erie (Presq' Isle, now Erie, Pa.,) and another on French Creek (where Waterford, Pa., now stands.)"
All this was important news to Washington, and after a few days of ceremonious delays, he set out for the French Fort at Venango, situate on the Allegheny at the mouth of French Creek, in company with the Half King, Jeskakake, an old and prominent chief, White Thunder and the Hunter (who after became celebrated by the name of Guyasu- tha and fought the bloody battle of Bushy Run with Col. Bouquet.)
After much very fatiguing travel they arrived at Venango on the 4th of December, and found the French colors hoisted on the house from which Frazier had been ejected. One of the three officers, Captain Joncaire, famed for his influence among the Indians and his skillful, pol- itic manner of first winning and then managing them, received Wash- ington very politely, but told him he would have to travel further to the fort on French Creek, where there was a superior officer. The French officers later in the day drank copiously, which unloosed their tongues so as to talk freely of French designs. They asserted boldly that it was their absolute design to take possession of the Ohio and by G-d they would do it, for although they knew that the English could raise two men for their one, yet that their motions were too slow and dilatory to prevent any French undertaking. They claimed the whole country watered by the Mississippi and its tributaries, and they were determined to occupy it all the very next Spring and thus prevent the
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English settling on the Ohio. Washington further found, by skillful " pumping," that there were then about seven hundred French west of
· Lake Ontario, scattered in a number of newly-erected forts.
The French now privately coaxed the Major's redskin escort among them, and so liberally plied them with liquor that notwithstanding all his warnings they became quite drunk, but the Half King happily re- mained firm and constant, and the next day offered Joncaire a belt, (which that wily and politic officer refused to receive,) and warned the French off of the Indian soil. Every stratagem was used to prevent the chiefs from going on with Washington, but in vain, for they finally set off for the French Creek fort, which, on account of excessive rains, snows and frequent swamps, they did not reach until the 11th. The commander was an elderly soldierly gentleman, a Knight of St. Louis, and named Legardeur de St. Pierre. He received Washington very courteously, read Dinwiddie's letter, and he with his brother officers retired to consult as to what answer should be sent it.
Meanwhile the Major used his eyes busily, jotting down the minutest particular and finding in fifty birch and one hundred and seventy-five pine canoes drawn up along the beach, a startling confirmation of Joncaire's boast that a fort was to be built, as soon as Spring opened, at the Forks of the Ohio. The one-eyed Knight of St. Louis, too, had boldly laid claim to all the territory as far east as the Allegheny mountains.
With the important news he had gathered, Washington hastened down the creek by canoe, reaching Joncaire again on December 22d. Here the horses were found so weak and the baggage so heavy, that they were given up, and after going with them three days, Washington and Gist, guns in hand and packs on back, started through the woods on foot, piloted by a bad and treacherous Indian guide. The very next day a party of French Indians lay in wait for them, and one of them, writes Washington, in his journal, "fired at Mr. Gist or me, not fifteen steps off, but fortunately missed. We took this fellow into cus- tody, and kept him until about nine o'clock at night, then let him go, and walked all the remaining part of the night without making any stop. The next day we continued traveling until quite dark, and got to the Allegheny about two miles from Shannopins. We expected to have found the river frozen, but it was not, only about fifty yards from each shore. The ice, I suppose, had broken up above, for it was driving in vast quantities."
WASHINGTON HURLED INTO THE RIVER AND SHOT AT BY A SAVAGE.
" There was no way for getting over," continues the Major's journal, " but on a raft, which we set about with but one poor hatchet, and fin-
MADAME
MEEDERCHUBB SC
YOUNG GEORGE WASHINGTON HURLED INTO THE ICY ALLEGHENY.
-See page 21.
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WASHINGTON HURLED INTO THE RIVER AND SHOT AT.
ished just after sunsetting. This was a whole day's work ! We next got it launched, then went on board of it and set off, but before we were half way over, we were jammed in the ice in such a manner that we expected every moment our raft to sink, and ourselves to perish. I put out my setting pole to try and stop the raft that the ice might pass by, when the rapidity of the stream threw it with so much violence against the pole, that it jerked me out into ten feet of water ; but I for- tunately saved myself by catching hold of one of the raft logs.
"Notwithstanding all our efforts, we could not get to either shore, but were obliged, as we were near an island, to quit our raft and make to it. The cold was so extremely severe that Mr. Gist had all his fin- gers and some of his toes frozen; and the water was shut up so hard that we found no difficulty in getting off the island on the ice in the morning, and went to Mr. Frazier's. As we intended to take horses here, and it required some time to find them, I went up about three miles to the mouth of the Youghiogheny to visit Queen Alaquippa, who had expressed great concern that we passed her in going to the fort. I made her a present of a match-coat and a bottle of rum, which latter was thought much the better present of the two."
This island was Wainwright's Island, now almost completely destroyed, but which lay near Herr's, and is about three miles above the Ohio forks The former island lay near the eastern bank, and that branch of the river might well freeze over in a night, but the wide channel be- tween Herr's Island and Shannopins could scarcely so easily freeze over. Now, Gist also kept a journal on this memorable expedition. His ac- count of the attempt by the Indian guide at murder is so very credita- ble to Washington's kind and humane heart that we will quote the pas- sage at length:
"We rose early in the morning, and set out about two o'clock, and got to Murderingtown, on the south-east fork of Beaver Creek. Here we met an Indian whom I thought I had seen at Joncaire's. This fel- low called me by my Indian name and pretended to be glad to see me. I thought very ill of the fellow, but did not care to let the Major know I mistrusted him. But he soon mistrusted him as much as I did. The Indian said he could hear a gun from his cabin, and steered us more northwardly. We grew uneasy, and then he said two whoops might be heard from his cabin. We went two miles further. Then the Major said he would stay at the next water, and we desired the Indian to stop at the next water. We came to water; we came to a clear meadow. It was very light, and snow was on the ground.
"The Indian made a stop, and turned about. The Major saw him point his gun towards us and he fired. Said the Major, 'Are you shot?'
.
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'No!' said I; upon which the Indian ran forward to a big standing white oak, and began loading his gun, but we were soon with him. 1 would have killed him, but the Major would not suffer me. We let him charge his gun; we found he put in ball; then we took care of him; either the Major or I always stood by the guns. We made him make a fire for us by a little run, as if we intended to sleep there. I said to the Major, 'As you will not have him killed, we must get him away, and then we must travel all night;' upon which I said to the Indian: 'I suppose you were lost, and fired your gun.' He said he knew the way to his cabin, and it was but a little way. 'Well,' said I, 'do you go home, and as we are tired, we will follow your track in the morning; and here is a cake of bread for you, and you must give us meal for it in the morning.' He was glad to get away. I followed him and lis- tened until he was fairly out of the way, and then we went about half a mile, when we made a fire, set our compass, fixed our course, and traveled all night. In the morning we were at the head of Piny Creek."
All doubts as to French claims and intentions were removed by Wash- ington's important visit. In order to arouse the Colonies and Britain, Governor Dinwiddie had the Major's journal published far and wide, and reprinted in England, which led to very important and immediate action, since it was the first positive intelligence of the views and de- signs of the French. Instant steps were taken by Dinwiddie to send troops to the Ohio forks, which were at that time supposed by him to belong to his province. One company, under command of Captain Trent, was soon ready, and early in April Ensign Ward reached the forks, and commenced work on a rude fortification. They had made but little progress, however, before a French-Indian force of a thousand men, with eighteen cannon, suddenly made their appearance on the Al- legheny, in sixty batteaux and three hundred canoes, and an immediate summons to surrender their works was made on Ward by Contrecœur. Tannacharison, the Half King, who was present with Ward, in order to gain time, shrewdly urged him to reply that he had no authority to sur- render but would send for orders. To this, of course, the French leader would not listen, but gave just one hour to retire, which poor Ward was compelled to do. The French then landed and built there a fort, first giving it the name of "The Assumption of the Holy Virgin," after- wards changing it to Fort Duquesne, in honor of the Marquis Duquesne, the then French Governor of Canada; and this little affair has always been considered as the commencement of that long and memorable "seven years' war," only terminated by the Treaty of Paris, and by which France ceded to England all Canada and almost the whole terri- tory east of the Mississippi.
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WASHINGTON'S FIRST CAMPAIGN.
WASHINGTON'S FIRST CAMPAIGN-SURRENDER OF FORT NECESSITY.
Washington immediately sent expresses to the Governors of Pennsyl- vania, Maryland and Virginia, acquainting them with the forced sur- render of Ward's company and the erection of a fort in what was then clearly considered to be part of Virginia. He himself proceeded-as soon as he could gather the force-at the head of three companies, to the Monongahela, at the point now occupied by Brownsville, Pa. He soon received a message from his old friend Tannacharison, the Half King, that the French from Fort Duquesne were marching against him. Next day Col. Gist, who had formed a frontier settlement near where Uniontown, Pa., now stands, joined him with the startling news that a French force of fifty men had been at his place the day before. Close on the heels of these tidings arrived another message from the Half King, who was then encamped with his warriors some six miles distant, with information that the French had encamped near him, and urging Washington to "strike " them.
Washington immediately started with forty men to join his faithful ally. The night was pitch dark; the rain fell in torrents; the woods were pathless and tangled with undergrowth, and the soldiers often lost their way groping through the matted bushes and clambering over logs and rocks, but at length they arrived at the Indian camp just before sun- rise, May 28, 1754.
A council with the Red Chief was held at once, and a joint attack on the French was resolved upon. Two Indian spies discovered the enemies' position in an obscure place surrounded by rocks and about a half mile from the main trail. Washington was to advance on the right, the Half King on the left. They all then stealthily approached in single file until discovered by the French, who flew to arms. The action commenced by a sharp firing on both sides, but in a very brief time the French had succumbed, with the loss of Monsieur Jumonville, their commandant, and ten of his men. Twenty-two were taken prisoner and sent off to Dinwiddie.
This was the very first "baptism of blood" received by Washington, and the affair was afterwards misrepresented, greatly to his injury. It was also the first overt act in a long war which had not yet been declared, but which for many years after deluged all Europe in blood.
The news of this fateful action stirred up a tremendous hubbub, not only in the American Colonies, but in England and France. War had not yet been generally declared, and it was the policy of each govern- ment to throw the blame of commencing hostilities on the other party. It was officially charged by France that Jumonville was leading an
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embassy of peace, and that while conveying a civil summons to Wash- ington, asserting the French claim to all the country watered by the Ohio and its tributaries, and requesting the English forces to retire, he was waylaid and assassinated. Unfortunately some color was given to this charge of assassination against Washington afterwards in the articles of capitulation at Fort Necessity, when the word assassination instead of killing was, through the stupid blundering of Van Braam, the interpreter, allowed to stand, making it appear as if Washington confessed the base charge.
The whole affair has been carefully examined and discussed by English and American historians, and, without entering into the de- tailed pros and cons of the controversy, we need only state that the result was a complete and triumphant vindication of Washington.
Among the prisoners taken by Washington was a Mr. La Force, who was known throughout the whole western country as an uncommonly bold and enterprising leader of great subtlety and exercising a potent sway among the Indians.
As Washington knew that the news of this successful assault upon Jumonville would draw on him an attack in overwhelming force from Fort Duquesne, he set his troops at once to prepare an entrenched work at the Great Meadows, which he named Fort Necessity. The Half King, Queen Alaquippa and their friendly Indians began to flock in, and Cap- tain Mackay with a South Carolina company joined him most oppor- tunely. Shortly after a company of nine deserters from Fort Duquesne arrived with the startling tidings that the French, by their artful wiles and bountiful presents, had induced the warlike tribes of Delawares and Shawnees to " dig up the hatchet " against the English and would soon appear in force.
Shortly after friendly Indians brought the news that the French at the forks had been heavily reinforced from Canada, and were prepar- ing to march against him and drive him out of the country. Washing- ton, for many reasons not needful here to enumerate, resolved to abide the issue at Fort Necessity, situated near the Laurel Hill and about fifty miles west of Cumberland, Md. Trees were felled, breast-works were strengthened, and all put in the best possible state of defence.
On the 3d of July, the enemy "put in an appearance." Washing- ton had drawn up his men on the flat outside of the trenches, but find- ing the foe in superior force and that they refused an open encounter, but were using all their arts to circumvent him, he retired his men and gave them permission to fire at discretion. A brisk fire was main- tained all day by an enemy that never dared to emerge from the sheltering cover of the woods. An untimely rain filled the trenches
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WASHINGTON'S FIRST CAMPAIGN.
with water, the provisions and ammunition were exhausted, and many of the miserable, worthless arms of the soldiers were out of order ; so that, when a very civil summons for a parley came from the French leader, M. de Villiers, a brother of Jumonville, Washington was ready to negotiate.
The result was a capitulation under very favorable terms, the whole garrison being allowed to retire to the east, taking all their effects with them except their artillery, and to march out of the fort with the hon- ors of war, their drums beating and colors flying. Washington agreed on his part, to restore the prisoners who had been taken at the late skirmish with Jumonville, and as a surety for this article, Captain Van Braam and Major Robert Stobo, (of the latter of whom we shall speed- ily say more and nothing to his discredit,) were delivered to the French as hostages. It was moreover agreed that the English should not at- tempt to build any more establishments west of the mountains for the space of one year.
Washington accordingly marched forth next day, but had gone but a short distance when a large body of hostile French Indians surrounded them and could hardly be restrained from an attack. They pilfered the baggage and did other mischief. Washington finally, after being com- pelled to leave much baggage behind, reached Wills Creek in safety. Much dissatisfaction, however, prevailed in the colonies where the terms of this capitulation were published. The war spirit against these overt acts of the French was rising to fever heat. The truth is that Wash- ington had been grossly deceived by the interpreter, Van Braam, either through his ignorance or his design. He was a Dutchman and it is probable erred through his ignorance of the French language. Be this as it may, the Virginia House of Burgesses approved Washington's cam- paign and he was accorded a vote of thanks. It was ever a matter of mortification to him, however, that Dinwiddie refused to ratify that ar- ticle of the capitulation regarding the return of the French prisoners who instead were sent to England. Thus it happened that Major Robert Stobo, the hostage given to the French for their return, was for many years kept in confinement, and had a series of remarkable adventures which we shall now proceed to relate.
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OUR WESTERN BORDER.
REMARKABLE ADVENTURES OF MAJOR ROBERT STOBO.
This gallant and indomitable Scotchman had scarce arrived at Fort Duquesne before he began casting about how he should put it into the hands of the English. With a boldness that while it challenges admira- tion, yet savors much of rashness, he entrusted to the hands of friendly Indians, two highly interesting letters, signed openly with his own name. Had his messengers proved faithless, Stobo's life would at once have paid the forfeit, but the brave Major, as we shall speedily find, was! a patriot of the true metal and perfectly willing to take all conse- quences.
These letters contained a very accurate plan of the fort ; an account of the amount and disposition of the forces; gave much news of the savages and of the artful lies which the French had employed to make them hostile to their old friends, the English, and furnished many valu- able hints as to how the fort could be easily taken, and urged upon Washington to immediately make an advance and capture it.
They also contained such expressions as these: "If this news is true," (alluding to some Indian defection), "it will make our return very hazardous, but that is not to be considered." "La Force," (the French leader captured by Washington), "is greatly wanted here. No scouting now-he certainly must have been an extraordinary man among them, he is so much regretted and wished for." "When we engaged to serve the country, it was expected we were to do it with our lives. Let the country not be disappointed. Consider the good of the expedition without the least regard to us. For my part I would die a thousand deaths to have the pleasure of possessing this fort but for one day. They are so vain of their success at the Meadows, it is worse than death to hear them." "Strike this Fall as soon as possible. Make the In- dians ours. Prevent intelligence. Get the best, and 'tis done. One hundred trusty Indians might surprise the fort." "The French manage the Indians with the greatest artifice. La Force is greatly missed here. Let the good of the expedition be considered preferable to our safety. Haste to strike."
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