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 9
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BRADDOCK'S RETREAT AND DEATH.
nishes the only English account of the departure of the French force to the battle, and of its return thence, laden with booty, and of the subsequent horrible torture of prisoners, a barbarous sequel which must forever rest as a foul stain upon the French escutcheon.
Of course this disastrous battle settled for the time the dominion of all the vast territory between the Allegheny and the Mississippi-but more, it left naked and defenceless the whole western half of the provinces of Pennsylvania and Virginia. The disgraceful and panic- stricken retreat to Philadelphia of Dunbar, the "Tardy," was, as we have said, far more deplorable and immediately calamitous than Brad- i dock's defeat itself. All was given up as lost. The whole back coun- try was thereby left naked and unprotected, and its inhabitants, finding themselves deserted, with no money or leaders or organization, became also panic-stricken, and left houses and stock and growing crops, and moved back to and even beyond the Susquehanna. It was some time before the French and their Delaware and Shawnee allies discovered the woeful state of panic and demoralization which followed the great battle ; but when small, adventurous parties of scouts and robbers brought back news how their mere presence even put whole communi- ties to flight, and how houses, crops, cattle, and the entire settlements were deserted, both Indians and French entered upon their horrid work with alacrity and with a keen relish for blood and slaughter. Many of the friendly Indians living along both sides of the Allegheny mountains, became at first discouraged, then defiant, and then hostile, joining with the western bands to burn, murder and destroy, until the whole coun- try, from New York down deep into Virginia, became one vast theatre for the most wanton destruction and inhuman barbarities.
The only redeeming feature in that whole period was the successful expedition which Colonel John Armstrong made, September, '56, against Kittanning, at that time occupied by Delaware Indians, headed by the brave but cruel Captain Jacobs, and the point and direction from which most of the forays against the Susquehanna border were made. The village was attacked in the night, a number of houses burned and Indians killed, including Jacobs and some of his wives, and a great many white captives set free. In fine, these were sad and humiliating days for England, both at home and abroad. Everything British was at the very lowest ebb. There was nothing but defeat, dis- grace and despair ; and so, indeed, it continued until the great man after whom Pittsburgh was named seized the helm of State. His nerve and ability soon put a new complexion on matters. Among his very first resolves was to make a second attempt to take Fort Duquesne, and to recover to the English crown the vast domain given up to the
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OUR WESTERN BORDER.
French at Braddocks Fields; and to this end he ordered the immediate collection, in Eastern Pennsylvania, of a large force, under a brave and skillful general.
DUQUESNE'S CAPTURE-GRANT'S DEFEAT-HIGHLAND RAGE.
The army of the Scotch General John Forbes-the "iron-headed," as he was called-was nearly six thousand strong, composed of about thirteen hundred Highlanders and the rest chiefly Virginia and Penn- sylvania troops. At Raystown (now Bedford) he halted, and sent for- ward Colonel Bouquet with two thousand men, to occupy the Loyal Hanna. The detachment by Bouquet of eight hundred men under Major Grant ; the advance, and empty bravado of that officer under the very walls of Fort Duquesne; the subsequent sally of the French and Indians from the fort, by which Grant's army was flanked on both sides of the hill which now bears his name and situate right in the centre of Pittsburgh, and his force only saved from utter annihilation by a stand made by the Provincial troops, are all well-known matters in history and we need not dwell on them. It is sad, however, to be compelled to relate that De Lignery was cowardly enough to deliver five of the prisoners taken at that rout to be burned at the stake, and that the remainder were tomahawked in cold blood on the parade ground of the fort.
The triumph at Grant's Hill almost brought the French to ruin, for, as after the battle of Braddocks Fields, so now, the Lake Indians, be- lieving the English army completely defeated, deserted for their dis- tant homes. A most timely visit, just at this time, of the Moravian Missionary, C. Frederick Post, to the Delaware and Shawnee chiefs be- tween Duquesne and Beaver, completed the demoralization of the French. The two tribes were found very sick of the war and most anxious to return to their allegiance, so that when Forbes' army-after innumerable difficulties and disheartening delays drew near, De Lig- nery, after firing the buildings, destroying the stores, and all possible of the works, ended by blowing up the magazine, and embarking in boats, some down the Ohio and others up the Allegheny. On the 24th of November, 1758, Forbes' army had encamped at Turtle Creek, his provisions, forage, etc., so nearly exhausted that even from that advanced point a retreat was seriously advised by a council of war.
The sick and emaciated but stout-hearted old General-who was car- ried on a litter all the way from and back to Philadelphia, where he shortly after died-would not hear of it, but swore he would sleep in
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DUQUESNE'S CAPTURE.
the fort the next night .* That very evening a great smoke, in the direction of the fort, was reported, and at midnight the whole camp was startled by the dull, heavy sound of some great explosion. It was the magazine of the old fort ; and encouraged by these signs, the army pressed on, the Provincials, in their fringed hunting-shirts, leading the way; next came the Royal Americans, their drums beating a lively march, followed by the old iron-headed General, his wasted form re- clining in a litter ; and last of all came the Highlanders, in a long and picturesque line, in their kilts and plaids-the " petticoat warriors," as the Indians called them.
As they all approached the fort, they passed along a race-path, on either side of which a horrid sight presented itself. A long row of naked stakes were planted, on each of which was impaled the head of a Highlander, killed at Grant's defeat, while beneath was suspended his kilt and accoutrements. Disgusted and provoked at the scene, it is said the Americans quickened pace and hastened on ; but not so the High- landers. One who was present thus relates the exciting scene that followed :
" The first intimation given by the Scots of their discovery of the in- sulted remains of their butchered brothers, was a subdued, threatening murmur, like the angry buzzing of a swarm of bees. Rapidly swelling in violence, it increased to a fierce, continuous, low shriek of rage and grief, that none who listened to would willingly hear again. In this moment, officers as well as men seemed to have abandoned every senti- ment but one of quick and bloody vengeance, and, inspired by a com- mon fury, cast all discipline to the winds. Their muskets were dashed upon the ground, and, bursting from the ranks, the infuriated Gaels, with brandished claymores, rushed madly on with hope to find an enemy on whom to accomplish retribution. Startled at the sound of swiftly tamping feet, the amazed Provincials looked round to see the headlong torrent sweep by, burthening the air with imprecations, and foaming ' like mad boars engaged in battle.' "
Too late ! The fort was in flames, and the last boat of the flying Frenchmen was disappearing in the evening mist that hung around
*An amusing story-to which, perhaps, the Italian proverb, " si non e vero, bene trovato ," (if it is not true, it ought to be) would well apply-is told of some French chiefs who had secretly ap. proached Forbes, the " iron-headed," when near Fort Duquesne, on a peace mission. The General, as stated, was very sick, and had to be constantly conveyed in a close litter. From this he spoke to the strange chiefs, who were greatly surprised, and asked why he was so carried. The officers told them that he was a desperate fighter, and was so savage and terribly ferocious against the faithless Indians that he had to be closely confined. The chiefs were much impressed, and de. parted, it is said, both sadder and wiser men. When the fort was found abandoned, no savages were found about.
5
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Smoky Island. In place of old Fort Duquesne-the scene of so many exploits and the bone of contention for so long a time between two great and powerful nations-there was now but a heap of smoking ruins, the stacks of some thirty chimneys only remaining to mark where the houses stood, and sixteen barrels of gunpowder and ball and a cart-load of scalping knives-discovered in the only magazine which had refused to fire-were the only spoils which remained to be gathered. But a small force was left, the main army marching east soon after. A square stockade for two hundred men, under Colonel Hugh Mercer, was built, which was succeeded the next year by the more imposing and much more costly structure, Fort Pitt.
STRANGE DISCOVERY BY THE YOUNG SIR PETER HALKET OF THE SKELETONS OF HIS FATHER AND BROTHER.
No sooner had General Forbes possession of the fort, or rather its site, than Major Halket, the son of Sir Peter Halket, and successor to his title and estates, resolved to visit the battle-ground of Braddocks Fields with a company of sharpshooters, under command of Captain West, brother of the great painter, Sir Benjamin West. The young Sir Peter had piously accompanied the Highlanders to America mainly to try and discover the remains of his father and brother, whose sad and peculiar death, at Braddocks Fields, we have already described.
By interrogating some of the Indians who had fought with the French at that massacre, he found one who said he had seen an officer, answer- ing the Major's description, fall near a remarkable tree, which he thought he could discover, stating, moreover, that the incident was im- pressed on his memory by observing a young subaltern, who, in run- ning to the officer's assistance, was shot dead on reaching the spot, and who fell across the other's body. The Major had a mournful conviction on his mind that the two officers were his father and brother, and the expedition, commanded by Captain West, and piloted by the Indians, took up their melancholy march. From Galt's Life of Benjamin West we give this brief account of this remarkable excursion.
" Captain West and his companions proceeded through the woods and along the bank of the river, towards the scene of the battle. The Indians regarded the expedition as a religious rite, and guided the troops with awe and in profound silence. The soldiers were affected with sentiments not less serious, and as they explored the bewildering labyrinths of those vast forests, their hearts were often melted with inex- pressible sorrow, for they frequently found skeletons lying across the trunks of fallen trees-a mournful proof to their imaginations, that the men who sat there had perished of hunger, in vainly attempting to find
MAJOR HALKET DISCOVERS SKELETONS OF FATHER AND BROTHER. -See page 67.
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STRANGE DISCOVERY.
their way to the plantations. Sometimes their feelings were raised to the utmost pitch of horror by the sight of skulls and bones scattered on the ground-a certain indication that the bodies had been devoured by wild beasts ; and in other places they saw the blackness of ashes amidst the relics-the tremendous evidence of atrocious rites.
" At length they reached a turn of the river, not far from the princi- pal scene of destruction, and the Indian who remembered the death of the two officers stopped ; the detachment also halted. He then looked round in quest of some object which might recall, distinctly, his re- collection of the ground, and suddenly darted into the woods. The soldiers rested their arms without speaking. A shrill cry was soon after heard, and the other guides made signs for the troops to follow them towards the spot from which it came.
" In a short time they reached the Indian warrior, who, by his cry, had announced to his companions that he had found the place where he was posted on the day of the battle. As the troops approached, he pointed to the tree under which the officers had fallen. Captain West halted his men around the spot, and with Sir Peter Halket, and other officers, formed a circle, while the Indians removed the leaves which thickly covered the ground. The skeletons were found, as the Indians expected, lying across each other. The officers having looked at them some time, the Major said, that as his father had an artificial tooth, he thought he might be able to ascertain if they were indeed his bones and those of his brother.
" The Indians were, therefore, ordered to remove the skeleton of the youth, and to bring to view that of the old officer. This was done, and after a short examination, Major Halket exclaimed, ' It is my father !' and fell back into the arms of his companions. The pioneers then dug a grave, and the bones being laid in it together, a Highland plaid was spread over them, and they were interred with the customary honors."
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OUR WESTERN BORDER.
NOTE .- Subjoined is a representation of Bouquet's old Block-house, the only existing relic, of rather suggestion of Fort Duquesne. It still stands in Pittsburgh, strong and staunch, and the loop- holes for musketry plainly visible, amid a crowd of shabby, dingy houses near the river junction. It was built over the ruins of the evacuated post by Col. Bouquet. The stone in the facade bears in rude characters the inscription :
"A. D. 1764. COL. BOUQUET."
For the purpose of better preservation, it has lately been removed to the New City Hall, by order af the Councils of Pittsburgh.
THE TOUCHING STORY OF FANNY BRADDOCK.
in our description of General Braddock's character we stated that he "had once made a most unfeeling speech and a cruel pun when he heard of the sad death of his beautiful but unfortunate sister Fanny, who committed suicide under most distressing circumstances." We may here very aptly introduce a brief sketch of this accomplished lady, con- densed from an account given by Goldsmith in his Life of Beau Nash: ·
Mistress Fanny Braddock was left a large fortune at her sister's de- cease, moved in the very best society, and contracted a passion for ele- gance. "Whatever the finest poet could conceive of wit, or the most celebrated painter imagine of beauty, were excelled in the perfections of this young lady." Naturally gay, sprightly, generous to a fault, and excelling in conversation, she left writings both in prose and verse which were as witty and brilliant as any in that age. Her chief failing was imprudence in the use of money. Anxious to relieve distress, she was lavish beyond reason; at nineteen she was surrounded by lovers, among whom was S-, a talented but unfortunate man, whose love,
·
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STORY OF FANNY BRADDOCK.
pity, generosity, and even friendship, were all in excess. He was called "the good-natured man," and became Mistress Braddock's favorite. Very soon, his debts becoming overwhelming, he was arrested and thrown into prison, and his lady-love immediately took the fatal resolu- tion of releasing him by discharging all his debts. All the admonitions of Nash and her other friends were disregarded. Her fortune was by this means exhausted, and, with all her attractions, she lost rank and esteem, and accepted Nash's invitation of a return to Bath, where, for a time, she moved in the very first circles, but a settled melancholy now possessed her and nothing could divert her.
Her beauty, simplicity and artlessness finally made her the victim of a designing woman who kept fashionable gambling rooms, and who, by flattery, loans of money, etc., soon gained an entire ascendency over the thoughtless deserted girl, and in 1727, Miss Fanny Braddock, with- out, as Goldsmith says, "ever transgressing the laws of virtue, had en- tirely lost her reputation. Whenever a person was wanting to make up a party for play at dame Lindsey's, Sylvia, as she was then familiarly called, was sent for, and was obliged to suffer all those slights which the rich but too often let fall upon their inferiors in point of fortune."
This charming girl struggled hard with adversity, and yielded to every encroachment of contempt with sullen reluctance. Matters soon grew from bad to worse, until her friend Nash induced her to break off all connection with dame Lindsey and to rent part of a house, where she behaved with the utmost complaisance, regularity and virtue; but her detestation of life still grew on her, and about this time she fre- quently dwelt, and conversed much, on suicide. She soon became so poor that, unable to mix in company for want of the elegancies of dress, she lived a lonely and deserted life, and accepted the position of gov- erness in Mr. Wood's family.
While he and part of his household were absent in London, she con- ceived the fatal resolution of leaving a life in which she could see no corner for comfort. Thus resolved, she sat down at the dining-room window, and with cool intrepidity wrote the following lines on one of the panes :-
O death ! thou pleasing end of human woe ; Thou cure for life ! thou greatest good below ; Still mayst thou fly the coward and the slave, And thy soft slumbers only bless the brave.
She then went into company with the most cheerful serenity, and or- dered supper to be ready in the little library, where she spent the hours before bedtime in dandling two of Mr. Wood's children on her knees. From this point we quote Goldsmith:
"In retiring to her chamber, she went into the nursery to take her leave of another child, as it lay sleeping in her cradle. Struck with the
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OUR WESTERN BORDER.
innocence of its looks and the consciousness of her meditated guilt, she could not avoid bursting into tears and hugging it in her arms. She then bid her old servant good-night and went to bed as usual. She soon quitted it, however, and dressed herself in clean linen and white garments of every kind, like a bridesmaid. Her gown was pinned over her breast, just as a nurse pins the swaddling clothes of an infant. A pink silk girdle was the instrument with which she resolved to termi- nate her misery, and this was lengthened by another made of gold thread. The end of the former was tied with a noose, and the latter with three knots.
"Thus prepared, she sat down and read; for she left the book open at that place, in the story of Olympia, in the 'Orlando Furioso' of Ariosto, where, by the envy and ingratitude of her bosom friend, she was ruined and left to the mercy of an unpitying world. This fatal event gave her fresh spirits to go through her tragical purpose. So, standing upon a stool and flinging the girdle which was tied round her neck over a closet door that opened into her chamber, she remained suspended. Her weight, however, broke the girdle, and the poor de- spairer fell on the floor with such violence that her fall awakened a workman that lay in the house, about half after two. Recovering her- self, she began to walk about the room, as her usual custom was when she wanted sleep, and the workman, imagining it to be only some ordi- nary accident, again went to sleep.
"She once more, therefore, had recourse to a stronger girdle, made of silver thread, and this kept her suspended till she died. Her old maid waited as usual for the ringing of the bell, hour after hour, until two of the afternoon, when the workman, entering by the win- dow, found her unfortunate mistress still hanging and quite cold. The coroner's jury brought in a verdict of lunacy, and her corpse was next night decently buried in her father's grave.
"Thus ended," concludes Goldsmith, "a female wit, a toast and a gamester; loved, admired and forsaken; formed for the delight of soci- ety ; fallen by imprudence to be an object of pity. Hundreds in high life lamented her fate, and bought up her effects with the greatest avid- ity; and she remains the strongest instance to posterity that want of prudence alone almost cancels every other virtue."
When the news of the suicide was told to her brother, Edward Brad- dock, he is said to have uttered this cruel and unfeeling play upon words: "Poor Fanny, I always thought she would play till she would be forced to 'tie herself up.'" To "tie oneself up from play" was a cant phrase of the day for incurring some obligation, which should act as a restraint upon gambling.
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ADVENTURES OF COL. JAMES SMITH.
REMARKABLE ADVENTURES OF COL. JAMES SMITH. FIVE YEARS A CAPTIVE AMONG INDIANS.
Among the captives confined at Fort Duquesne during the battle of Braddocks Fields and the subsequent torture of prisoners on the banks of the Allegheny, was a brave and enterprising Pennsylvania lad by the name of James Smith. He was adopted into an Indian tribe and re- mained a captive five years. After his release he had a series of adven- tures, and after his removal to Bourbon, Ky., became quite a promi- nent citizen and legislator, and wrote an exceedingly interesting narra- tive of his captivity. He furnishes the fullest and most faithful account ever yet published of the habits, customs, sentiments and daily forest life of the American Indian, such as he was before being debauched and contaminated by intercourse with swindling traders and rum traffickers.
Smith has been appropriately called the "untutored Defoe," and there is such a charming quaintness and simplicity in his invaluable narrative that we very much regret we may not give it entire. We cannot refrain, however, from quoting him for as much as we have room. In fact it is to him, as the only English-speaking person in the fort, that history is indebted for the only account of the French-Indian departure for the battle, their return from the gory field laden down with scalps and spoils, and the subsequent horrid and inhuman torture of prisoners. We quote :-
In May, 1755, the province of Pennsylvania agreed to send out three hundred men, in order to cut a wagon road. from Fort Loudon to join Braddock's road, near the Turkey Foot, or three forks of Yohogania. My brother-in-law, William Smith, Esq., of Conococheague, was appointed commissioner, to have the oversight of these road-cutters. Though I was at that time only eighteen years of age, I had fallen violently in love with a young lady, whom I apprehended was possessed of a large share of both beauty and virtue ; but being born between Venus and Mars, I concluded I must also leave my dear fair one, and go out with the company of road- cutters, to see the event of this campaign; but still expecting that some time in the course of this Summer, I should again return to the arms of my beloved.
We went on with the road without interruption until near the Alle- gheny mountain, when I was sent back in order to hurry up some
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OUR WESTERN BORDER.
provision wagons that were on the way after us. I proceeded Comp the road as far as the crossings of the Juniata, where, finding the wagons were coming on as fast as possible, I returned up the road again toward the Allegheny mountain, in company with one Arnold Vigoras. About four or five miles above Bedford, three Indians had made a blind of bushes, stuck in the ground, as though they had grown naturally, where they concealed themselves, about fifteen yards from the road. When we came opposite to them they fired upon us at this short distance, and killed my fellow-traveler, yet their bullets did not touch me; but my horse making a violent start, threw me, and the In- dians immediately ran up and took me prisoner. The one that laid hold on me was a Canasataugua; the other two were Delawares. One of them could speak English, and asked me if there were any more white men coming after . I told them not any near, that I knew of. Two of these Indians stood by me, whilst the other scalped my com- rade : they then set off and ran at a smart rate, through the woods, for about fifteen miles, and that night we slept on the Allegheny mountain, without fire.
The next morning they divided the last of their provisions, which they had brought from Fort Duquesne, and gave me an equal share, which was about two or three ounces of mouldy biscuit-this and a young ground-hog, about as large as a rabbit, roasted and also equally divided, was all the provision we had until we came to the Loyal Han- na, which was about fifty miles ; and a great part of the way we came through exceeding rocky laurel thickets, without any path. When we came to the west side of Laurel Hill, they gave the scalp halloo, as usual, which is a long yell or halloo for every scalp or prisoner they have in possession ; the last of these scalp halloos was followed with quick and sudden shrill shouts of joy and triumph. On their perform- ing this, we were answered by the firing of a number of guns on the Loyal Hanna, one after another, quicker than one could count, by another party of Indians, who were encamped where Ligonier now stands. As we advanced near the party, they increased their repeated shouts of joy and triumph; but I did not share with them in their ex- cessive mirth.
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