USA > Massachusetts > The history of Massachusetts, the provincial period. 1692-1775 v. II > Part 18
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smallest expectation. But see the wondrous works of Providence, and the uncertainty of human things ! We, but a few moments before, be- lieved our numbers almost equal to the Canadian force ; they only expect- ed to annoy us. Yet, contrary to all expectation and human probability, and even to the common course of things, we were totally defeated, and sustained the loss of every thing." Sparks's Washington, ii. 90. The visit to Braddock's field, which re- sulted in the discovery of the bones of the slain, has been often compared to the discovery of the bones of the soldiers of the legions of Varus, in the forest of Teutenburg, as described by Tacitus, Ann. b. i. ch. 61. Smith's Discourse of April 5, 1757, pub. at London, 1759.
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188
SHIRLEY'S EXPEDITION.
CHAP. ication in the possession of such extensive power ; and he could VII. hold up his head more proudly than ever, under the conscious- 1755. ness that whoever stood in the way of his preferment could boast less merit than himself in claiming a reward for their services, and could plead less eloquently for the favor of the crown.1 Yet he was never so intent on contemplating his own grandeur as to lose all patience in laboring to earn it. " Honor virtutis præmium," was the motto of his ancestors ; and this motto he was ready to adopt for himself, allowing him to inter- pret it to suit his own wishes.2
Albany was the grand theatre of the preparations for the northern expedition against Fort Frederick, as well as for that to the westward for the reduction of Niagara. The general, July 10. on his arrival, however, did not find things in the forwardness which he had reason to expect. The provincials, discontented with the inactivity of a long encampment, were anxious to be in motion ; and his own troops were filing off in different directions from Schenectady towards Oswego.3 The distance of the latter place from Albany is towards three hundred miles. Over the first sixteen miles, to Schenectady, there was a good wagon road ; and from thence to the Little Falls, in the Mo- hawk, at Canajoharie, a distance of sixty-five miles, the commu- nication was by bateaux set against a rapid stream, in dry sea- sons so shallow that the boatmen were frequently obliged to turn out and draw their craft over the rifts with inconceivable labor. At the Little Falls was a portage, a mile wide, over which the bateaux were transported on sleds, the ground being
1 See Johnson, in Doc. Hist. N. Y. in Williams's MSS. i., and letters of ii. 684-689.
2 He would probably have interpret- ed it, " Office is the reward of good management."
3 Governor Shirley's instructions to Ephraim Williams to march to Alba- ny were dated May 31, 1755; and Colonel Williams arrived there early in July. Letter of Shirley of May 31,
E. Williams of July 8 and July 15, in ibid. 150, 153. Seth Pomeroy, in a letter dated July 15, in ibid., speaks of Shirley's and Pepperrell's regiments as then on their march to Oswego, and of General Johnson's regiment as ready to march for Crown Point, but as be- ing detained for the want of stores.
189
EXPEDITION TO OSWEGO.
too marshy to admit the use of wheeled carriages. The same CHAP. conveyance was used at the Great Carrying Place, at Oneida, VII. 1755. sixty miles beyond the Little Falls - the current thither being still adverse and extremely swift. Taking water again, the troops entered Wood Creek, which leads into the Oneida Lake, distant forty miles. This stream, whose banks were fringed with thick woods, was then much obstructed with old logs and fallen trees. The Oneida Lake stretches from east to west some thirty miles, and in calm weather is passed with great facility. At its western extremity opens the Onondaga River, leading to Oswego, situated at its entrance, on the south side of Lake Ontario. The passage through this river, whose cur- rent flows with surprising rapidity, and which abounds with rifts and rocks, was extremely difficult and hazardous. The principal obstruction is a fall, about eleven feet perpendicular, twelve miles short of Oswego.1
Through this long and " amphibious " march the army pro- ceeded with great risk and fatigue. For the management, of the bateaux, of which at least five hundred were prepared, General Shirley had engaged all the young men in the county of Albany, who had been formerly employed in the. Indian- trade at Oswego. The fort at Oswego, at first garrisoned by twenty-five men, and afterwards by fifty, had been strengthened in the spring by a detachment of two hundred soldiers, besides May. workmen, under Captain King, and Colonel John Bradstreet, who had fought under Pepperrell at Louisburg.2 It was to this point the attention of the general was directed ; and here his forces were to be concentrated, to proceed to Niagara, which was represented to be in a ruinous condition.
Schuyler's New Jersey regiment, consisting of five hundred men, raised at the instance of Governor Shirley, embarked in two divisions from Schenectady the beginning of July ; and July.
1 Stirling's Vindication of Shirley, 14-16; 1 M. H. Coll. vii. 95, 96.
Stirling's Vindication of Shirley,
11. Marching orders were given these troops April 16.
190
EXPEDITION TO OSWEGO.
CHAP. the regiments of Shirley and Pepperrell were preparing to VII. follow, when the news of the defeat of Braddock arrived.1
1755. This struck a damp on the spirits of the troops, and great numbers deserted ; but the general, aware of the necessity of pushing forward, pursued his march in spite of every disap- Aug.18. pointment.2 On reaching Oswego, the necessary preparations for proceeding to Niagara were made ; but, at councils of war Sept. 18 held soon after, intelligence was received from Niagara and and 27. Frontenac which led to the belief that a descent was contem- plated on Oswego itself; and, as the works were much de- cayed, and the post was of the utmost importance for securing the frontiers of the western colonies and maintaining the Brit- ish dominion over the great lakes and the country beyond the Apalachian range, it was deemed advisable, for its security, to commence immediately the erection of a second fort, called Ontario, on a high point commanding the old fort; and a third, called Oswego, a short distance west of the old fort. In the mean time an attempt was made to embark troops for Sep. 18. Niagara ; but a furious storm, which raged for thirteen days, prevented its success. During this boisterous weather num- bers fell sick, whose tents were an insufficient shelter ; and the Indians, well acquainted with the climate, went off, declaring the season too far advanced to admit of an expedition on the lake. The provisions for the army were by this time much reduced, though further supplies were daily expected ; but the many discouragements in the way of the expedition, owing to this and other causes, led to the postponement of the design
1 Stirling's Vindication of Shirley, 12, 25. Comp. also Johnson, in Doc. Hist. N. Y. ii. 666, 684, and 1 M. H. Coll. vii. 97. Ephraim Williams, than whom no braver or more honest man could be found in the army, does not speak in flattering terms of the con- duet of Shirley on this occasion, and confirms the charges of malfeasance brought against him by others. See his letters of August 14 and August
17, in Williams's MSS. i. 171, 173. 2 A letter of Ephraim Williams, dated August 2, 1755, in Williams's MSS. i. 164, gives an account of Brad- doek's defeat, the news of which had reached Albany eleven days before ; and Generals Shirley and Johnson en- deavored to keep the matter as pri- vate as possible, for fear it should intimidate their men.
191
EXPEDITION TO CROWN POINT.
until another year ; the troops went into winter quarters ; and CHAP. General Shirley, after seeing them comfortably settled under VII. Lieutenant Colonel Mercer, left Oswego, and returned to Mas- 1755. sachusetts to attend to the affairs of his government, which 1756.
Oct. 24. needed his presence. Thus ended the second project, less dis- Jan. 30.
astrously than the first, yet fruitlessly, so far as the annoyance of the enemy was concerned.1
The execution of the third project, originated by Gov- 1755. ernor Shirley,2 was intrusted to General Johnson, of New York, which was to proceed to Crown Point for the reduction of Fort Frederick. The history of this extraordinary man is singularly romantic. A native of Ireland, and a nephew of Sir Peter Warren, the associate of Pepperrell in the reduction of Louisburg, he embarked for America at the age of nineteen, 1734. in consequence, it is said, of the hapless issue of a love affair. Here he took charge of an extensive tract of wild land belong- ing to his uncle, and, settling in the beautiful valley of the Mohawk, carried on a prosperous traffic with the Indians, rap- idly rising to wealth and influence. His residences in the val- ley - for he had two - were known by the names of Johnson Castle and Johnson Hall ; the latter of which, a substantial building of wood and stone, is still standing in the village of Johnstown.3 The castle was his ordinary abode ; and here he lived in a state of feudal magnificence, keeping open house, and welcoming to his board the crowds of Indians who flocked to his dwelling.4 He had supplied the place of his first love by a damsel of Dutch descent, who bore him several children ; and at her decease, he found another favorite in the person of Molly Brant, sister of the renowned Mohawk warrior, "whose black eyes and laughing face caught his fancy, as, fluttering
1 Pouchot's Mems. i. 47 ; Stirling's Vindication, 27-40 ; 1 M. H. Coll. vii. 96, 116-124; Smith's N. Y. ii. 221. 2 Stirling's Vindication, 7; Smith's N. Y. ii. 206, 210.
3 Parkman's Conspiracy of Pontiac, 80.
4 Doc. Hist. N. Y. ii. 646; Mems. of an American Lady, ii. 61.
192
CHARACTER OF WILLIAM JOHNSON.
CHAP. with ribbons, she galloped past him at a muster of the Tryon VII.
county militia." 1
1755.
No man, probably, that ever lived in America, was more. popular with the Indians than William Johnson. He was " the tribune " of the Six Nations, who almost idolized him, and who would listen to his advice when they would scarcely heed the advice of their own chiefs.2 Tall and erect in his person, brusque in his manners, upright in his dealings,3 undaunted in his courage, and gifted by nature with brilliant oratorical pow- ers, he was every way fitted for the station he filled, and every way worthy the confidence he inspired. Some, indeed, moved by jealousy, have insinuated that he was "never distinguished for his sense or penetration ;" that he was a magnificent vapor- er, boasting of exploits which he was unable to perform ; who, " by the splendid representations of his secretary, and the sov- ereign decree of his patron," was "exalted into an eminent hero ;" and who was indebted "to the panegyrical pen of Mr. Wraxall, and the sic volo sic jubeo of Lieutenant Governor De Lancey " for " that mighty renown which echoed through the colonies, reverberated to Europe, and elevated a raw, inex- perienced youth into a kind of second Marlborough." 4 All such representations, however, must pass for what they are worth ; and it should be remembered that
" Men that make Envy and crooked malice nourishment, Dare bite the best."
Johnson was the competitor of Governor Shirley ; 5 and to this is doubtless to be attributed much of the ill treatment which he experienced from the latter, and the disparaging re-
1 Parkman's Conspiracy of Pontiac, 81.
2 Mems. of an American Lady, ii. 61; Warburton's Conquest of Cana- da, ii. 31.
3 See Johnson to the Board of Trade, in Doc. Hist. N. Y. ii. 672.
4 Review of Military Operations, in 1 M. H. Coll. vii. 114. 5 See Johnson, in Doc. Hist. N. Y. ii. 645, 646, 687.
193
PREPARATIONS FOR THE EXPEDITION.
flections which were cast upon his conduct. Between two such CHAP. men - the one open and frank-hearted, of a lively, generous, VII. and impulsive spirit ; the other cautious, crafty, and dissem- 1755. bling his true feelings - no disinterested and self-sacrificing friendship could be expected to subsist. They could tolerate each other's presence, because both had sense enough to know that it would be folly for either to give way to public demon- strations of anger ; but beneath this outward interchange of unmeaning compliments there was a deep-seated feeling of hate, generated, in the one case, by the success of a rival, and provoked, in the other, by the treachery of an enemy.1
Let it not be supposed, however, that Johnson was faultless ; for the defects in his character were glaring and great. His mind was of that coarse nature which delights in sensual pleas- ures. He was vain of his influence with his savage allies, and vain of the importance accruing from this source. And, pos- sessing no remarkable delicacy of feeling, "in pushing his own way he was never distinguished by an anxious solicitude for the rights of others." 2
Mr. Johnson, whose commission for the present expedition was signed by Governors Shirley and De Lancey, was at that Apr. 16. time at the head of Indian affairs in New York.3 The assem- bly of that province was convened early in August, and, agree- Aug. o. ably to the request of the government of Massachusetts, . resolved to reënforce the army for Crown Point with four hundred men. The bill for this purpose passed the House, and was approved by the governor ; but when it came before the Council it was defeated, the design of a reenforcement was dropped, and the assembly adjourned.4 This, however, did not
1 Johnson to Shirley, in Doc. Hist. N. Y. ii. 663.
2 Parkman's Conspiracy of Pontiac, 82, 83; Allen's Biog. Dict. art. JOHN- SON ; Campbell's Annals of Tryon County, &c.
3 Doc. Hist. N. Y. ii. 651-654 ; VOL. II. 13
Mass. Rec's ; 1 M. H. Coll. vii. 88. Doc. Hist. N. Y. ii. 669, 670, 675 -678; 1 M. H. Coll. vii. 101, 102; Smith's N. Y. ii. 214-217; Chauncy's Letter on Ohio Defeat, 6, note. See also Mass. Rec's; and Minot, i. 251, 252.
194
MOVEMENTS OF THE TROOPS.
CHAP. defeat the expedition, which was, in fact, already in progress VII. at the time supplies were refused. Major General Lyman, next
1755. in command to Johnson, had advanced with a detachment of one thousand men to the portage, or carrying place, about sixty July 16. miles from Albany, near the head springs of the Sorel, and Aug. awaited the arrival of his superior at Fort Lyman, afterwards
Fort Edward.1 Johnson left Albany three days after the Aug. 8. court adjourned, with the train of artillery, and arrived at the Aug.14. camp a week later, where a council of war was held, at which Aug.22. all the field officers of the army were present.2 Towards the Aug. 25 last of the month, with the main body of the army, consisting or 26.
of New England militia, chiefly from Connecticut and Massa- chusetts,3 he moved fourteen miles farther north, and pitched Before his camp at the end of Lake George, which the French called Sept. 3. St. Sacrement.4 Here, while his troops were reposing in indo- lence, admiring the beautiful and romantic scenery, or engaged on the Sabbath in the worship of God, he received intelligence that a party of French and Indians had been discovered at Ticonderoga, - which is situated on the isthmus between the north end of Lake George and the southern part of Lake Champlain, - but that no works were there thrown up. The importance of securing this pass, which commanded the route to Crown Point through the lake, was so evident that Johnson Sept. 1. proposed to sail thither ; and a letter was despatched to Shir- ley for the requisite bateaux. Pending their arrival an en- gagement occurred, which was greeted both in England and America as a signal victory.5
1 MS. Letter of E. Williams, of July 22, in Williams's MSS. i. 157; 1 M. H. Coll. vii. 105; Minot, i. 251; Parsons, Life of Pepperrell, 279.
2 E. Williams's letter, of August 16, in which he says he arrived at Fort Nicolson August 14; and letter of August 23, from the Great Carry- ing Place, in which he speaks of the proceedings of the council. Williams's MSS. i. 171, 173. Also, letter of
August 30, in ibid. 174. Johnson, in a letter dated August 15, 1755, from the Great Carrying Place, speaks of his arrival there, with his troops, num- bering in all 2850 men. Mass. Ar- chives.
3 Doc. Hist. N. Y. ii. 652, 678; Journal H. of R. for 1755, p. 75. 4 Doc. Hist. N. Y. ii. 678, 680, 682, 683, 684, 689.
5 Doc. Hist. N. Y. ii. 689.
195
DIESKAU SENT TO AMERICA.
A French fleet, of twenty-two ships of the line, besides frig- CHAP. ates and transports, had been sent from Brest early in the VII. spring, in which six thousand marines, and eighty-five compa- 1755. May 6. nies of land troops, of the regiments of the Queen, of Artois, Burgundy, Languedoc, Guienne, and Béarn, under the veteran Dieskau, a native of Germany and the favorite of Saxe, were embarked for Cape Breton and Canada. On the passage, eight companies of grenadiers were taken, with the Lys and Alcide men-of-war, the one armé en flute, and the other en guerre, who fell in with the English fleet off Cape Race, under Jun. 10. Admiral Boscawen, despatched to the coast to watch the Apr. 23. French squadron. Subsequently, a thousand of the troops were landed at Louisburg ; and the remainder arrived at Que- Jun. 19 bec, with De Vaudreuil, the governor general of Canada, and Dieskau, the commander of the forces.1 Dieskau, whose motto was " Boldness wins," had intended, soon after his arrival, by the advice of Vaudreuil, to seize the fort at Oswego, whither Shirley had marched, and had proceeded to Montreal to make the necessary preparations ; but, apprised of Johnson's move- ments, he altered his plans, crossed Lake Champlain, landed at the South Bay, some sixteen miles from the English encamp-
1 French Doc'ts in Mass. Archives, ix. 205-229 ; Trumbull MSS. i. 101, in Lib. Mass. Hist. Soc. ; Hist. of the War, 21-23; Letter to the People of England, 19 et seq. ; Pouchot's Mems. i. 18-28 ; James Grenville to his brother, in Grenville Corresp. i. 136; Chalmers, Revolt, ii. 277; Doc. Hist. N. Y. ii. 694; 1 M. H. Coll. viii. 113; Letters and Mems. relating to Cape Breton, 304 et seq. Mortimer, Hist. Eng. i. 511 et seq., says that, by the last of March, there were at Brest one man-of-war of 80 guns, four of 74 guns, six of 64 guns, one of 60 guns, one of 50 guns, one of 46 guns, four of 30 guns, and one of 24 guns ; at Toulon, one of 80 guns, five of 74 guns, three of 64 guns, two of 32 guns, and one of 24 guns; and at
Rochefort, one of 80 guns, one of 74 guns, three of 64 guns, one of 50. guns, and one of 32 guns : in all thir- ty-eight vessels. This fleet sailed May 6, commanded by Macnamara, an offi- cer of Irish extraction ; but soon after nine of the vessels returned, and the rest, under M. Bois de la Mothe and M. de Salvert, continued on. Macna- mara sailed again in June. By the middle of April the English had at Spithead a noble fleet, consisting of ten ships of the line and six frigates, having on board 6000 land forces. This fleet sailed, under Admiral Bos- cawen, on the 23d. The accounts in different authorities vary both as to the number of vessels in the two fleets, the troops on board, and the date of sailing.
196
BATTLE OF LAKE GEORGE.
CHAP. ment, and, making a circuit by the way of Wood Creek, VII. gained the rear of the English army, with a force of about two 1755. thousand French and Indians. Sept. 7.
Johnson was early informed of the approach of the French by his scouts, who were ever abroad to anticipate an attack ; and, presuming from their movements that their first design was to surprise the troops at the Carrying Place, it was re- solved to detach a thousand English and two hundred Indians "to catch the enemy in their retreat."1 The command of this detachment was intrusted to Ephraim Williams, a Massachu- setts colonel, who, in passing through Albany, had made a July 22. bequest of his estate by will to found a free school ; 2 and Israel Putnam, of Connecticut, had charge of a small company of the young men of his own neighborhood.3 The army of Johnson had, some time before, been increased by the accession of a fine regiment from New Hampshire, of five hundred men, under John Stark, a lieutenant, afterwards conspicuous in the annals of the revolution; so that the encampment on Lake George, numbering four thousand men, was of ample strength to withstand the invaders. 4
Sept. 8. About an hour after the departure of Williams, a heavy firing was heard - a signal that he had fallen in with the main body of the enemy, who were posted in ambush. The surprise was complete ; and the deadly fire so thinned the ranks of the little army that the detachment was compelled to retreat, with the loss of their commander, who fell at the first charge, and the gray-haired Hendrick, the chieftain of the Six Nations, famed for his clear voice and flashing eye. The re- treat was conducted by Nathan Whiting, of Connecticut. By the arrival of fresh troops, under Lieutenant Cole, the pursuers were checked ; and the fugitives once more reached the camp from which they had so recently and proudly departed.
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1 Doc. Hist. N. Y. ii. 691.
2 Holland's Hist. Western Mass. i. 182; 1 M. H. Coll. viii. 48.
3 Life of Putnam, 25.
4 Doc. Hist. N. Y. ii. 683; 1 M. H. Coll. vii. 113.
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197
DEFEAT OF DIESKAU.
Soon the troops under Dieskau 1 came in sight ; and those CHAP. who looked out at the edge of the woods which bordered the VII. opening in front, saw painted Indians approaching, and the 1755. bayonets of the French glittering among the foliage "like a row of icicles on a January morning." Within a hundred and fifty yards of the breastwork of fallen trees, which had been hastily thrown up for the protection of the camp, the brave baron halted; and this halt proved his ruin. Immediately Johnson's artillery, under the direction of Captain Eyre, was brought to bear upon his columns ; and the regulars, finding themselves deserted by the Canadian militia and their savage allies, who had skulked to the swamps, took to trees, and main- tained for some time a scattering fire upon the flanks of the English with intermitting briskness.2 With but a handful of his followers left, Dieskau retired. A party from the camp, jumping over the breastwork, eagerly followed ; and at a short distance the French general, thrice wounded, was seized as a prisoner. But one English officer was killed in this engage- ment- the gallant Titcomb, who had fought with such bravery at the siege of Louisburg, and whose name should be transmit- ted to posterity with honor. General Johnson was wounded at the outset, but the wound was not serious ; and for his ser- vices on this occasion, which were perhaps over-magnified, he received a gratuity of five thousand pounds, and the honors
1 According to the French ac- October 1, 1755. See also Mortimer's counts, Doc'ts in Mass. Archives, ix. 241-253, the army of Dieskau con- sisted in all of 3573 men, viz. : the garrison at Fort Frederic, 150; a corps d'observation, 400; the battal- on of the queen, 1011; Canadians, 1412; and savages, 600. Only one third of these troops are said to have been with the baron when he attacked General Johnson. Montreuil, in ibid. 265-269, gives an account of the narch of Dieskau and the engage- nent, in letters dated August 31 and
Hist. Eng. iii. 515, 516. 2 MS. letters of Clarke, Sept. 16, Seth Pomeroy to his wife, Sept. 20, and Perez Marsh, Sept. 25, in Wil- liams's MSS. i. 174, 182, 184; Lett. on Defeat of French at Lake George, p. 8 ; 1 M. H. Coll. vii. 112. Pome- roy says that, when the French first rushed towards the camp, they fired impetuously upon the English, so that " the hailstones from heaven have not been much thicker than their bullets came." But the fierceness of the first onset was soon checked.
198
EXPEDITION TO NOVA SCOTIA.
CHAP. of knighthood were conferred upon him by the king.1 Yet VII. to Lyman was doubtless " chiefly to be ascribed the honor of 1755. the victory," though his name makes but little display in the account transmitted to England.2
But one other project remains to be noticed - the expedi- tion against Nova Scotia, proposed by Massachusetts, but undertaken and conducted at the expense of the crown.3 Two battalions were raised for this service. The command of the first was conferred on John Winslow, of Marshfield, great grandson of Edward Winslow,4 who held a commission of major general in the militia, and whose personal influence and popularity were so great as to effect the raising of two thou- sand men in two months, to serve for a year if necessary. Of the second battalion Colonel Scott had the command ; and Lieutenant Colonel Monckton, of Nova Scotia, was designated by the king to take charge of the expedition.5
May 20. The troops from Massachusetts were embarked in May ; and May 26. towards the last of the month they arrived at Annapolis, June 1. whence, the week after, in a fleet of forty-one vessels, they set out for Chiegnecto, early in the morning, and the same evening about sunset anchored five miles from Fort Lawrence. The next day the troops landed ; and the day after, at a council of June 3. war, it was resolved to push on and lay siege to Beau-Sejour. June 4. Captain Adams, of the first battalion, with sixty men, led the advance, followed by Colonel Monckton, with about three hundred men. Colonel Scott, with his battalion, occupied the
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