USA > Massachusetts > The history of Massachusetts, from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 11
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Having been apprized of Dieskau's approach, Johnson sent forward from his camp at Lake George, Colonel Ephraim Williams, a Massa- chusetts officer, with a thousand provincials and Indians to relieve the fort. Unconscious of the proximity of the enemy, Williams, while march- ing carelessly along, fell into an ambush within three miles of the camp he had so lately quitted. After a brief but desperate engagement, the detachment was compelled to retreat toward Lake George, closely followed by the victorious Dieskau. Among the killed was Williams, who in anticipation of such an issue, had made his will while passing through Albany, by which he bequeathed a sum of money to found the college at Williamstown, Massachusetts, which still bears his name.
. Warned by the sound of approaching mus-
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HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. [1755.
ketry, the troops at the camp hastily drew up from the lake shore two or three field pieces, and threw across their front a slight breastwork of felled timber. The design of Dieskau had been to follow close upon the fugitives, rush suddenly upon the camp, and by combining his forces upon one point, to break the line of defence. But the Indians and Canadians, habituated to a different kind of warfare, turned off into a thicket of trees upon a rising ground within gunshot of the English lines, from whence they opened their customary irregular fire. Notwithstanding this defection, Dieskau boldly advanced with his regulars only, and made a gallant attempt to force the centre of the lines ; but being received by a tremendous discharge of musketry, and by the fire of the field-pieces, he was compelled to fall back. For five hours the action was ob- stinately contested on both sides ; but the French regulars, not being sustained by their allies, began at length to show signs of faltering. No sooner were these indications discovered, than the Americans broke through their slight breast- works and drove the enemy from their cover.
The loss of the provincials in this well-fought battle, amounted, in killed and wounded, to three hundred men. Johnson being slightly injured early in the action, the chief command devolved upon General Lyman. The brave Dieskau, though wounded in three places, still struggled
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1755.] DEFEAT OF BRADDOCK.
to retrieve the fortune of the day. One by one his gallant regulars were struck down, yet he still maintained the fight. Growing faint from loss of blood, he seated himself on the stump of a tree, heedless of the balls that whistled around him. When his troops were routed, he ordered his attendants to place his military dress beside him, and dismissed them. In this position he was discovered by one of the pursuers, a French renegade, who fired at and mortally wounded him.
In the mean time, Shirley, with his own and Pepperell's regiment, lately enlisted in New England, marched, in June, from Albany to Oswego, from whence he proposed to embark for Niagara, at that time an insignificant military station, garrisoned by about thirty French regu- lars. After capturing the post, he was to re- main there until joined by General Braddock, then on his way to reduce Fort Duquesne. But while Shirley was engaged in constructing boats for his conveyance up the lake, news arrived of the defeat and death of Braddock. That brave, but rash and inconsiderate commander, disdain- ing the advice of Washington and other provin- cial officers, had fallen into an ambush, by which his regulars, after being terribly cut up by the fire of an unseen enemy, were compelled to re- treat in disorder. Braddock himself, mortally wounded, was carried in the arms of his men to
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HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. [1755.
the vicinity of Fort Necessity, where he died four days after the battle.
These sad tidings disheartened the troops under Shirley, who were already broken down by sickness and the difficulties of the route. Delayed by severe storms, and straightened by a scarcity of provisions, Shirley, leaving behind, in the fort he had constructed at Oswego, a garrison of seven hundred men, finally conclud- ed to abandon the expedition, and return to Albany. At this place he was met by a com- mission creating him "commander-in-chief of all his majesty's forces in the American colonies."
Knowing little of the art of war, yet possess- ing great ambition and indefatigable industry, Shirley immediately began to project plans for future victories. In December, during a con- gress of governors at New York, he concocted an imposing campaign for the following year. One of the objects at which he aimed was to drive the French from the region of the lakes. Returning to Boston, he requested the assembly to co-operate with money and troops. Dissatis- fied with some of the results of the last cam- paign, they hesitated to involve the province in any further expense. An increase of debt would ruin them, they said, and " they hoped his majesty would graciously afford a sufficient force" to oppose their powerful enemy. Being
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1756.] ARBITRARY ACTS OF PARLIAMENT.
still pressed, they pleaded their inability to borrow the sum required, on account of the low- ness of their credit. To obviate this objetcion, Shirley offered to lend them thirty thousand pounds out of the moneys remitted for the sup- port of the king's troops, provided they would agree to repay the loan from an expected parlia- mentary grant to the colonies. To these con- ditions the assembly finally consented, and re- solved to raise three thousand troops. But the grant, which arrived soon after, was scarcely sufficient to reimburse the amount of the loan.
In June, 1756, and in the midst of his prepa- rations for the approaching campaign, Shirley was recalled to England, for the purpose " of being consulted upon measures for carrying out the war." The Earl of Loudoun, to whom the governorship of Virginia was also given, was appointed to succeed him in the command of the army.
With the design of restricting the indepen- dence of the colonial assemblies, and subordi- nating them to a military rule, acts of parlia- ment had been passed for quartering the troops in private houses, and degrading the provincial officers to a position below that of those com- missioned by the crown. The promulgation of these arbitrary laws roused a feeling of intense indignation throughout the colonies ; while the arrogant manner in which they were sought to
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HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. [1756.
be enforced, tended greatly to weaken the affection of the Americans for the mother country. .
Notwithstanding the flattering manner in which he had been superseded in his military command, Shirley was disappointed and morti- fied. The loss of his government of Massachu- setts, which devolved upon Lieutenant-governor Phipps until a successor was appointed, cha- grined him still more. To add to his anxiety, just before his departure to England, the di- sastrous intelligence arrived that the Marquis of Montcalm, who had succeeded Dieskau in com- mand of the French forces, had suddenly ap- peared before Oswego and captured its augmented garrison of fifteen hundred men, together with its stores and munitions of war, and the ship- ping in the harbour.
When this bold achievement took place, the main body of the forces under Loudoun, after remaining for more than a month inactive at Albany, was on the march to Ticonderoga. General Webb with the advance, in a futile ef- fort to relieve Oswego, had reached the Oneida portage. Loudoun himself had been at Albany for two weeks. The destruction of Oswego caused Webb to fall back precipitately. The main army was recalled by Loudoun ; offensive operations were abandoned ; and, after reinforcing Forts Edward and William, the provincials were
187
POWNALL APPOINTED GOVERNOR.
1757.]
dismissed, and the regulars ordered into winter quarters.
Such was the disastrous close of the campaign of 1756. To assist in the campaign of 1757, a congress of governors, held at Boston, in January, agreed to raise four thousand men, whom Loudoun, greatly to the relief of the pro- vinces, offered to arm, equip, and victual. The principal part of the troops thus brought into action was posted at Forts William Henry and Edward. With the regulars thus relieved, and a British squadron under Admiral Holland, Lou- doun undertook the reduction of Louisburg. While he was wasting his time in drilling his troops and planting cabbages at Halifax, the ar- rival of a French fleet rendered the success of an attack doubtful, and he finally concluded to return to New York. The tidings which met him on his way were of the most momentous cha- racter.
Thomas Pownall, appointed to succeed Shirley in the government of Massachusetts, reached the province in August. Owing to the decease of Phipps, the administration for four months previous had been in the hands of the council. Scarcely had Pownall entered upon the duties of his office, before an express arrived from Fort Edward with the alarming news of a French in- vasion. Notwithstanding some doubts as to the constitutionality of the measure, Pownall imme-
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HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. [1757.
diately issued orders for the militia to be in readiness to march at a minute's notice to the relief of the forts on Lake George. By a fur- ther stretch of his authority, he appointed Sir William Pepperell, who had been knighted for the conquest of Port Royal, to the command of the Massachusetts forces, with the new title of lieutenant-general.
Intelligence of the fall of Fort William Henry reached Boston soon after. Ascending Lake George with a force of some five thousand regu- lars, Canadians and Indians, the energetic Montcalm, after an obstinate resistance on the part of the garrison, had compelled Monroe, the English commander, to capitulate on terms. The conditions of surrender were, that the garrison should be allowed to march out with the honours of war, and that they should be conducted to Fort Edward, some twelve miles distant, under the protection of a French escort sufficiently strong to secure them from the fury of the sa- vages. These terms Montcalm honourably at- tempted to fulfil, but no effort on the part of himself or his officers could restrain the ferocity of his Indian allies. Excited by liquor, they sprang upon the English captives, and though Montcalm rushed among the uplifted tomahawks and entreated the savages to kill him rather than his English prisoners ; and although his officers received wounds in defence of those
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EXTRAORDINARY PANIC.
1757.]
-
they attempted to succor, some thirty of the gar- rison were slain in this barbarous onslaught, while a number of others were hurried off into captivity.
In the mean while, General Webb lay at Fort Edward with a force of six thousand men. Al- though repeatedly solicited by Sir William John- son, the conqueror of Dieskau, to send reinforce- ments to Fort William Henry, he timidly vacil- lated until the capitulation of the garrison rendered assistance no longerof any avail .. . Fearful of his own safety, Webb even hesitated whether to abandon his post or remain.
The alarm which this incursion created throughout the neighbouring provinces seems almost incredible. Christie, who commanded at Albany, wrote to the governor of Massachusetts in an agony of terror. " For God's sake," said he, " exert yourself to save a province; New York itself must fall; save a country ; prevent the downfall of the British government upon this continent."
The danger being thus magnified, Pownall, sharing ,in their fears, ordered the inhabitants west of the Connecticut River to destroy their wheel carriages, and drive in their cattle. He also despatched several regiments of militia to reinforce the garrison at Fort Edward; but after reaching the province of New York, they were met by a messenger from the imbecile
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HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. [1757.
Webb, with the information that their services were no longer necessary. Satisfied with the terror he had inspired, Montcalm was already on his way back to Canada.
During the prevalence of this panic, the ar- rogant and inefficient Loudoun reached New York. Unknowing what to do, he hurried from one place to another, and wasted the remainder of the season in preparations ending in nothing. He even, at one time, proposed to encamp on . Long Island, for the defence of the continent.
But while he was thus subjecting himself to the contemptuous criticism of provincial writers, and to the scarcely suppressed disgust of his subordinate officers, he was attempting to con- trol the colonial assemblies, by threatening to exert against them the extraordinary powers with which he had been vested by the English government.
The Massachusetts general court had provided barracks at the castle, with fire, lights, and bar- rack utensils, for such of the British troops as might be stationed at Boston. Certain recruit- ing officers from Nova Scotia, finding the distance inconvenient, requested the justices of peace to quarter and billet them in the town, as provided for by the British Mutiny Act. The magistrates refused, denying that act to be in force in the colonies. Loudoun violently espoused the cause of his officers and threatened, if necessary, to
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1757.]
PITT'S POPULAR MEASURES.
send eight regiments to Boston, to enforce the law, unless the demand was complied with within forty-eight hours. To avoid this extremity, the general court, yielding to the solicitation of Pownall, passed a law of their own, embracing some of the principal provisions of the Mutiny Act, which they still persisted did not in its terms extend to the colonies.
Pownall's course in this affair, leaning, as it did, to the side of the colonies, together with the general frankness of his manners, tended to make him very popular. His administration had entirely changed the politics of Massachusetts. Hutchinson was presently appointed lieutenant- governor; but the most of those who had sup- ported Shirley, and encouraged the English ministry to rule the province by means of the king's prerogative, had gone into opposition. Otis, a liberal, was promised a seat on the su- preme bench ; while his son, a young lawyer of brilliant talents, and subsequently so well known as the most ardent defender of the cause of popular liberty, was appointed advocate of the Admiralty.
William Pitt was now at the head of the Eng- lish ministry. Attributing the success of the French on the colonial frontiers to the unskil- -
fulness of the British commanders, in connection with the desultory efforts of the colonies, he rejected the policy of his predecessors, and
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HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.
[1758
planned the conquest of Canada by aiding th patriotism of the provinces with the resource of the government. Striking effectually at one fruitful source of dissatisfaction, he obtained in December, 1757, the king's order that every provincial officer of no higher rank than colonel should have equal command with the British. For the campaign of 1758 he called upon the governors for a levy of twenty thousand men, to be furnished with arms, ammunition, tents, and provisions at the charge of the crown. The expense of levying, paying, and clothing the men was required to be met by the colonies ; but even this sum he promised should be reim- bursed by parliament.
Loudoun, at this time engaged in a quarrel with the general court, was recalled, Abercrombie having been commissioned to succeed him as commander-in-chief. Pitt's requisition was re- sponded to with alacrity. Massachusetts voted - to raise seven thousand men, to which were added some three thousand from the northern province.
On the 5th of July, while Wolfe and Bos- cawen were besieging Louisburg, and General Forbes was slowly preparing to march against Fort Duquesne, nine thousand of the provincials, having formed a junction with seven thousand regulars, Abercrombie embarked on the placid waters of Lake George, and with banners
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193
DEATH OF HOWE.
1758.]
waving in the wind, and to the sound of spirit- stirring music, this vast flotilla sailed down the ake to attack Ticonderoga. At nine o'clock the next morning the troops disembarked in a sheltered cove on the west side of the lake, and soon after took up their line of march through a dense wood, covering grounds uneven and rough. Over this rugged and intricate route, seven thou- sand regulars and provincials, led by inexpe- rienced guides, marched in a disorderly manner toward the fort. In the midst of this confusion, the right centre, under Lord Howe, second in com- mand to Abercrombie, and an officer on whose skill the confidence of the army mainly reposed, suddenly encountered a detachment of the ene- my, not exceeding three hundred strong. After a sharp skirmish the French were routed; a large number being killed, and one hundred and forty-eight taken prisoners. But this trifling victory was dearly bought. Lord Howe, fore- most in the fight, had been the first to fall. Sincerely lamented by his fellow-soldiers, his death was not less mourned by the colonies. Massachusetts testified her respect for his me- mory, by voting him a monument in Westminster Abbey.
After passing the night in the forest, Aber- crombie ordered a return to the landing-place. A new route had been opened by the energy of Bradstreet, an active provincial officer, who,
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HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS. [1758
with a strong detachment, had rebuilt th bridges which spanned the curving stream form ing the outlet to Lake George, and had taken possession of a sawmill about one mile and : half distant from the works at Ticonderoga.
After reconnoitering the position of Mont- calm, Clerk, the chief engineer of Abercrombie returned early on the morning of the eighth of July, and reported their lines practicable. Aber- crombie, without halting for his artillery to come up, at once determined to advance, and carry the breastworks by storm.
Montcalm, in the mean time, had not been idle. When the approach of the English was first re- ported, he called in all his outposts, and with the troops thus concentrated, amounting in all to about thirty-five hundred men, he endeavoured assiduously to fortify his position as strongly as the limited time would permit. Labouring in common with his officers and men, he succeeded, by dint of extraordinary energy, in entrenching his camp in front of the fort, and by the morn- ing of the eighth had nearly completed a for- midable line of defence. His principal protec- tion consisted in a breastwork of logs, some nine feet in height, the ground before which was encumbered by trees felled with their branches pointing outward, and by stumps and rubbish of all sorts, the whole being interwoven so thick as to afford an excellent barrier against all assail-
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DEFEAT OF ABERCROMBIE.
1758.]
ants. Rejecting the advantage afforded him by Mount Defiance, which being in his possession, and commanding the lines of the French, would, by the use of a few pieces of artillery, have rendered them speedily untenable, and equally ignorant that the fortifications on his left were unfinished, Abercrombie made his disposition to storm the formidable defence in front.
The British regulars, formed in three columns in rear of the provincials, were accordingly or- dered to advance and carry the breastworks. The troops of Montcalm, obedient to the com- mand of their sagacious leader, remained silent, without firing a single gun, until the storming party was entangled among the many obstacles by which their progress was impeded. At
length, as they struggled toward the trenches, the word was given, and an incessant and deadly fire was immediately opened upon the assailants, which swept off officers and men by hundreds. For three hours the English regulars contended with rash but heroic courage against impediments of the most formidable character ; but at length, being thrown into disorder, they commenced firing upon an advancing party of their own. The confusion thus created, speedily increased to a panic; and after losing, in killed and wounded, over two thousand of their number, the attack was abandoned. Utterly overwhelmed
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HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.
- [1758.
by his shameful failure, Abercrombie hurried his troops to the landing-place, the same evening, with such precipitation that it required the exer- cise of great activity and determination, on the part of Bradstreet, to prevent them from rush- ing in confusion into the boats. Early the next · morning, the whole army re-embarked, and re- turned up the lake, leaving provisions, entrench- ing tools, and other valuable stores in the hands of the enemy.
CHAPTER XIV.
Surprise of Fort Frontenac by Bradstreet-Capture of Louis- burg-Washington takes possession of Fort Duquesne- Campaign of 1759-Exertions of Pitt-Response of Massa- chusetts-Fort Niagara invested by Prideaux-His death- Defeat of the French and capture of Fort Niagara by Sir William Johnson-Desertion of Ticonderoga-Of Crown Point-Quebec invested by Wolfe-Battle of the Plains of. Abraham-Wolfe and Montcalm mortally wounded-Sur- render of Quebec-Movements of Amherst-Governor Ber- nard-His speech to the Massachusetts legislature-Respon- ses of the council and the house of representatives-Illegal conduct of the revenue officers-Writs of assistance-Hutch- inson appointed chief justice-James Otis-Opposition to the writs of assistance-Argument on behalf of their legality- The case argued-Speech of Oxenbridge Thatcher-Of James Otis the younger-Its effect upon the people-Unconstitu- tional act of Bernard-Its denunciation by Otis-Public. avowal of his principles.
NOTWITHSTANDING the mortification which at- tended the defeat before Ticonderoga, the suc-
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CAPTURE OF FORT FRONTENAC.
1758.]
cess of the other expeditions relieved Pitt from the charge of rashness, and amply justified the bold and vigorous measures he had so strenuously advocated.
The army of Abercrombie returned gloomy and dispirited to Fort William Henry. At this place the energetic Bradstreet projected the surprise of Fort Frontenac, on the northern shore of Lake Ontario. Having, at length, received a reluctant permission to make the attempt, he placed himself at the head of three thousand men, mostly provincials, seven hundred of whom were from Massachusetts, and, by marching with great celerity, suddenly appeared before the astonished garrison, on the 26th day of August. The next day the fort was surrendered. Nine armed vessels, and a large quantity of valuable stores, fell into the hands of the victors. After ravaging the fortress, and destroying seven of the vessels, together with such stores as could not be brought off, Bradstreet returned to Al- bany, having by this brilliant exploit gained the command of Lake Ontario, and facilitated the reduction of Fort Duquesne.
During the progress of the disastrous expe- dition against Ticonderoga, General Amherst, in conjunction with the fleet under Boscawen, was engaged in the siege of Louisburg. The French ships of war in the harbour having been destroyed or taken, the garrison, to the 17*
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HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.
[1758.
number of five thousand men, capitulated on the 27th of July. By the capture of this strong fortress, Cape Breton, Prince Edward's Island, and the whole of the French territory on our eastern coast passed into the hands of Great Britain.
In the west, General Forbes was equally for- tunate, though his success was attributable less to his own energy as a commander, than to the destruction of Fort Frontenac by Bradstreet. By that bold achievement, the garrison at Fort Duquesne, deprived of their customary supplies, and deserted, in consequence, by most of the Indians on whose support they relied, set fire to the works on the approach of the English, and hastily retreated down the river. Washington, with a detachment of provincials, forming the advance guard to the main army, took possession of the fort on the 25th of November, while its timbers were still burning.
The results obtained during the campaign of 1758, justified the opinion that an equally vigor- ous prosecution of the war during the following year would succeed in wresting Canada from the dominion of France. The colonies, eager to improve the advantages already obtained, readily responded to the call of Pitt for addi- tional levies. Massachusetts, though greatly weakened by previous efforts, called into ser- vice seven thousand men. Of these, twenty-five
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CAPTURE OF FORT NIAGARA.
1759.]
hundred were stationed in garrison at Louisburg. Several hundred joined the expedition of Wolfe against Quebec, while the remainder marched to reinforce Amherst, who, having been appoint- ed commander-in-chief, was about to attempt the reduction of Ticonderoga and Crown Point.
In the midst of preparations for these im- portant enterprises, General Prideaux marched against the French fort at Niagara. On the sixth of July he invested it in form. Being killed shortly after, by the bursting of a cohorn, the command devolved upon Sir William John- son. On the 24th of July, 1759, Johnson de- feated a French detachment, twelve hundred strong, which had hastened to the relief of the garrison. The next day the fort was surrendered. The possession of Niagara and Duquesne led to the abandonment, by the French, of the western posts of Erie, Le Bœuf, and Venango.
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