USA > Massachusetts > The history of Massachusetts, the provincial period. 1692-1775 v. II > Part 21
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1756. July 23.
1757. March.
Nearly every governor in the thirteen British colonies at this date was a devout supporter of the prerogative ; nor could any one have been appointed to office who was not a royalist.
1 Letter of Andrew Oliver, of May 11, 1757, in Williams's MSS. ii. 23; Letter of Bollan, in MS. Letters and Papers, 1721-1760, fol. 186; Hutch- inson, iii. 53; Minot, ii. 19.
2 Smith's N. Y. ii. 206.
3 Bollan, in his letter of March 12, says, " I this day took leave of him," i. e., Pownall, "after having had the
pleasure to hear him make the plain- est and strongest declarations of his coming to his government with a de- termined purpose to promote to the utmost of his power the prosperity of the province, together with the high- est regard for its liberties and charter privileges." ".
221
MOVEMENTS AT THE WESTWARD.
Hence not the best men were selected to govern the people, CHAP. but generally the most subservient. It would be ungenerous VIII. 1757. to insinuate that any one of these gentlemen was destitute of principle ; for men of far purer virtue and of far higher attain- ments have been often seduced by the flatteries of royalty, and the blandishments of place and power. This should be remem- bered in forming an estimate of the character of the provincial governors ; and, judged by this standard, Mr. Pownall will not suffer in comparison with his predecessors. Gifted with tal- ents of a superior order, few were better acquainted with the American people than himself; and his striking predictions of the effects of ministerial measures were, in more than one instance, remarkably verified. It should also be spoken to his credit, that, in his published writings, especially in his “Speech in the House of Commons," 1 his " Rights of the Colonies stated and defended," and his " Administration of the British Colo- nies," he sought to avert the evils of the revolution when pend- ing ; though he was not the advocate of the independence of the colonies, but of their constitutional subordination to the Parliament of Great Britain.2
Long before the arrival of the new governor, important events had occurred at the westward. The French, during the winter of 1756-57, sent out scouting parties for the annoy- ance of the English ; and the English rangers at Fort William Henry performed gallant exploits. The brave Rogers, accom- Jan. 15 panied by Stark and others, seventy-four in all, officers includ- to 17. ed, marched from Carillon. On the way, they met with sledges Jan. 21. sent by the French to Crown Point. The rangers attacked them, but were intercepted by a party of two hundred and fifty French and Indians, and in the night retreated, with the loss of fourteen who had fallen, and six who were missing. The survivors were applauded, and Stark was promoted.3
At length Montcalm decided upon a more formidable at-
1 Published in 1769. not, ii. 18, 19 ; Grahame, ii. 306, 307.
: Comp. Hutchinson, iii. 56; Mi- 3 Rogers's Journal, 38-49.
222
FORT WILLIAM HENRY ATTACKED.
CHAP. tempt ; and a detachment of fifteen hundred French and Indians VIII. was sent, under Vaudreuil and De Longueuil, to attack Fort
1757. William Henry. At midnight they noiselessly approached the Mar. 19. fortress ; but the vigilant sentries discovered them in time, an alarm was sounded, and, by a brisk fire of cannon and musket- Mar.20. ry, they were repulsed. The next day they invested the place, Mar.21. and the day after summoned the commandant, Major · Eyres, 1756. who had relieved General Winslow, to surrender. He refused.
Nov.11. The works were then assailed a fourth, and even a fifth time ; but, repulsed in every attack, the enemy could only burn the vessels of the English, and their storehouses and huts. Strength- ening Ticonderoga and Crown Point with two battalions, and sending Captain Pouchot to Niagara, where he had been posted most of the time for the year past,1 Montcalm returned to Montreal ; and shortly after, Colonel Parker, who had been ordered, at the head of four hundred English, to attack the advanced guard near Ticonderoga, was led into an ambuscade, and nearly half his men were captured or slain.2
The plan of campaign proposed by Lord Loudoun, and ap- proved by the English ministry and the colonial governors, was limited to the defence of the frontiers and the capture of Lou- isburg. Preparations for the latter expedition had been rapidly 1757. Jan. pushed in England ; and seven regiments of infantry, and a detachment of artillery commanded by Major General Hopson, were assembled at Cork to await the arrival of a powerful fleet of fourteen line-of-battle ships, which were to bear them to America. This armament, under Admiral Holborne, was to May 8. proceed on its voyage, and, on reaching Halifax, was to be joined by Lord Loudoun with all the forces he could collect. Jun. 19. In June, Lord Loudoun left New York, with six thousand men, in the fleet of Sir Charles Hardy, consisting of four ships of Jun. 29. war and seventy transports ; ten days after he reached Hali- July 9. fax ; early in July, the whole armament was assembled ; and
1 Pouchot's Mems. i. 88-90.
2 Review of Pitt's Administration,
38; Warburton's Conquest of Cana- da, ii. 58, 59 ; Bancroft, iv. 252.
223
THE LOUISBURG EXPEDITION.
nineteen ships of the line and frigates, with innumerable smaller CHAP. vessels, and an army of thirteen battalions comprising ten thou- VIII. sand men, were mustered at the disposal of the British leaders. 1757. But the pusillanimous Loudoun, "whom a child might outwit, or terrify with a popgun," instead of pushing forward imme- diately to the attack, wasted his time in "making sham fights and planting cabbages," until the French fleet had been reën- forced by a number of ships of the line, when, deeming it use- less to proceed, he abandoned the expedition, and returned to Aug.31. New York.1
The relinquishment of the enterprise against Crown Point was a severe disappointment to the people of the New England States, who had set their hearts upon its successful prosecution ; and the result of the campaign of the previous year vindicated the wisdom of their policy, and rebuked the imbecility of the British commander. It was quite common with the British offi- cers to decry the colonial forces as "inexperienced wood rangers, who had never seen regular service, and who were wholly unac- quainted with the discipline of military life." Hence, vaunting their own superiority, they could brook no advice from the provincial officers, but followed their own judgment, and relied for success on the experience acquired upon the battle fields of Europe.
Pending the progress of the expedition to Louisburg, Colonel Webb, with his army of five or six thousand men, had been left to cope with the vigilant Montcalm. The latter seized the
1 Letter of James Gray, dated Hal- fax, July 16, 1757, and of Andrew Oliver of July 14, in Williams's MSS. i. 28, 29; Conduct of Lord Loudoun mpartially reviewed, 2d ed. Lond. 1760, pp. 6-10, 20, 25-27; Hist. of the War, 132-134 ; Grenville Cor- esp. i. 200-202; Hopkins's Defence of the Halifax Libel, Boston, 1765, p. :; Review of Pitt's Administration, 8, 22, 36, 37 ; Letts. and Mems. rel- tive to Cape Breton, 331-336; Wal- ole to Sir H. Mann, Feb. 13, 1757;
Walpole's George II. ii. 231; Lord Mahon's Hist. England, iv. 168; Mor- timer's England, iii. 567 ; Hutchinson, iii. 61, 62; Minot, ii. 23, 24; War- burton's Conquest of Canada, ii. 59- 62; Parsons, Life of Pepperrell, 298. Indecision was the ruling fault of Loudoun's character. " He is like St. George upon the signposts," said a Philadelphian to Dr. Franklin, “ al- ways on horseback, but never ad- vances."
224
CAPTURE OF FORT WILLIAM HENRY.
CHAP. favorable moment presented by the withdrawal of Lord Lou- VIII. doun, and concentrated a force of from six to eight thousand
1757. French and Indians at Montreal, who were to ascend Lake Aug. 2. George, land at its southern extremity, and besiege Fort Wil- liam Henry. Webb might have saved the place had he marched promptly to its relief; but, instead of this, he con- tented himself with sending a letter to Colonel Monro, the commandant, exaggerating the numbers of the French, and advising him to capitulate.1 The latter refused to surrender, and declared he would defend his post " to the last extremity." Aug. 9. Nor did he yield until the eve of the Festival of St. Lawrence, when half his guns were burst, and his ammunition was ex- pended. The Indians, with their usual ferocity, fell upon his troops after they were disarmed ; and in the slaughter which ensued six hundred dispersed among the woods and fled to Fort Edward, whither they were followed by their surviving comrades, one after another. Governor Pownall was informed July 31. by express of these movements of the French ; and appointing Sir William Pepperrell lieutenant general over all the militia Aug. 8. in the province, he was hastened to Springfield to forward sup- plies and collect a magazine of provisions and stores. Soon after his arrival he learned the fate of the fortress ; and though the regiments of Worthington, Williams, Ruggles, and Chan- dler, from the counties of Hampshire and Worcester, had marched to the relief of Monro, and others followed, they were stopped by General Webb, whose timidity was strikingly man- ifested throughout the affair, and who was subsequently cen- sured severely for his cowardice.2
1 Mortimer, Hist. England, iii. 567, says, General Webb beheld the prep- aration of Montcalm " with an indif- ference and security bordering on in- fatuation. It is creditably reported that he had private intelligence of all the doings and motions of the French general; yet, either despising his strength or discrediting the informa-
tion, he neglected collecting the mili- tia in time, and the fortress fell."
2 Mass. Rec's ; Order of Aug. 5, 1757, " for all and every one of his majestie's well affected subjects, able to bear arms, to repair to Fort Ed- ward, on the Hudson, to serve with General Webb for the relief of Fort William Henry, which still stands out
225
SITUATION OF THE PROVINCES.
Thus the English had been driven from the basin of the CHAP. Ohio, and Montcalm had routed them from the basin of the VIII. St. Lawrence. The frontiers were in a defenceless condition, 1757. exposed to the ravages of a triumphant foe ; and New York and Massachusetts trembled for their own safety. The provin- cial troops alone had achieved signal successes ; not a laurel had been won by the British commanders. The opinion began to prevail that, so long as the war was thus conducted, the French would continue to be victorious ; and more than one was ready to echo the impassioned wish of John Adams : "O that we had nothing to do with Great Britain forever! " 1
Yet no disloyal wish was openly expressed ; nor was it until the people had been goaded to the point of desperation, that they gave bold utterance to the thoughts which inspired them. Hence when, in the fall of this year, recruiting parties reached Nov. 15. Boston from Nova Scotia, and Lord Loudoun, as he had for- merly done at New York and Philadelphia,2 demanded that they should be quartered upon the people, threatening, in case of refusal, to march his regiments from New York and Con- necticut to enforce obedience, the assembly passed a special act, similar to the act of Parliament for quartering troops in pub- lic houses ; and a message, expressing the sense of the people of the constitutional authority of Parliament, was draughted, 1758. Jan. 6. which contains these words : "The authority of all acts of ,
Parliament which concern the colonies, and extend to them, is
fighting against a large and numerous body of the enemy ; " Letter of Worth- ington, of Aug. 6; Order of Pownall to Israel Williams, of Aug. 6; Second Letter of Pownall, of Aug. 7, &c., in Williams's MSS. ii. 31-33; Letter of N. Whiting, of Aug. 23, giving an ac- count of the taking of the fort, in ibid. i. 42; Review of Pitt's Administra- ion, 38; Pouchot's Mems. i. 101- 07; Walpole to Sir H. Mann, Oct. 2, 1757; Hutchinson, iii. 58-61; Iinot, ii. 21-23; Grahame, ii.
1 Smith's N. Y. ii. 245-249.
2 Smith's N. Y. ii. 241, 242; Haz- VOL. II. 15
ard's Register, v. 328; Bancroft, iv. 240, 241. In the summer session of the General Court, the governor rec- ommended the passage of an act "to empower and require the civil magis- trate to take up and assign quarters for such of the king's troops as should come into the province, under such regulations that the troops might be well accommodated, and the province be as little burdened as possible ; " but the court declined complying with the recommendation. Mass. Rec's; Hutchinson, iii. 63.
226
ACCESSION OF PITT.
CHAP. ever acknowledged in all the courts of law, and made the rule VIII. of all judicial proceedings in the province. There is not a 1757. member of the General Court, and we know of no inhabitant within the bounds of the government, that ever questioned this authority. To prevent any ill consequences which may result from an opinion of our holding such principles, we now utterly disavow them, as we should readily have done at any time past if there had been occasion for it." 1
April 5. Pitt, who was compelled to resign his office in April, was re- Jun. 29. appointed in the following June, and, upon his accession, exert- ed himself diligently to retrieve the fortunes of England and to humble France.2 But he labored under great difficulties, owing to the absurd management adopted by his predecessors. Offi- cers had been sent to America to take charge of the forces of England, not because of their fitness, but because their rank entitled them to precedence. " We are undone," said Chester- Jun. 29. field, "both at home and abroad - at home, by our increasing expenses ; abroad, by our ill luck and incapacity. The French are masters to do what they please in America."3 But Pitt did not despair. "I am sure," said he to the Duke of Devon- shire, -" I am sure I can save this country, and no one else July. can." 4 And he did save it. It was midsummer before the new ministry was thoroughly organized ; then it was too late
1 Mass. Rec's ; Jour. House Reps. ; Hutchinson, iii. 65, 66 ; Gordon's Am. Rev. i. 96; Minot, ii. 24-30; Chal- mers, Revolt, ii. 307, 308. Lord Lou- doun was dissatisfied with this act, and would not allow that the General Court was authorized to take such a step, as in time of war the rules and customs of war must govern ; but the court, in reply, declared their opinion that the act of Parliament did not ex- tend to the plantations, and that the rules and customs of war were not the rules which the civil magistrate was to govern himself by, but that a law of the province was necessary for his jus- tification.
2 History of the War, 114-117 : Grenville Corresp. i. 195, 196; Chat- ham Corresp. i. 236; Lord Mahon's Hist. Eng. i. 338, 344. " From this period," says the editor of the Chat- ham Correspondence, " commenced the brilliant era justly called Mr. Pitt's administration ;" " the greatest and most glorious, perhaps," adds Lord Mahon, " that England had ever yet known."
3 Taylor's Corresp. of Earl of Chat- ham, i. 238, note; Lord Mahon's Hist. Eng. i. 345.
4 Lord Orford's Memoirs, ii. 271; Lord Mahon's Hist. Eng. i. 299; N. Am. Rev. for Oct. 1842.
227
LOUDOUN RECALLED.
to accomplish any thing that year. Hence the reverses of CHAP. 1757 must be charged to the old ministry. Lord George VIII. Sackville attempted to apologize for Loudoun ; but Pitt, with 1757. keenest scalpel, ripped up his rotten arguments, and exposed to view the festering corruption which his client's mismanage- ment had bred. "Nothing has been done," said he ; " nothing attempted. We have lost all the waters ; we have not a boat on the lakes. Every door is open to France." 1
1758. Feb. 20. 1757. Dec. 30.
The work of reform was instantly commenced ; and Loudoun, who had been at Hartford, planning schemes which he was incompetent to effect, was recalled.2 Massachusetts had pre- viously proposed to the New England assemblies a meeting of commissioners to agree upon measures of mutual defence ; but New Hampshire and Rhode Island refused to respond to the call. Connecticut alone seconded the proposal, and sent agents to Boston, where a plan was agreed upon, and New Hampshire and Rhode Island were invited to accede ; but the whole affair dropped by the neglect of the assemblies to act upon the report.3 The attempt of Lord Loudoun was equally unsuc- cessful ; and hastening to Boston, at his instance the governor, in his speech to the General Court, recommended that provis- ions should be made " for a suitable body of forces to cooper- ate in aid and assistance to his majesty's troops at the east- ward." This request gave rise to debate. The number of men solicited was twenty-two hundred ; but the assembly hesi- tated to vote the supply. "How long are the men to continue in service ?" it was asked. "What officers are they to be placed under ? Where is the command to be ? How are they to be paid, armed, and victualled ? What is their destination ? What will be the whole force when they shall have joined it ?" The general was displeased with these queries, and would
1 Bancroft, iv. 291.
2 A letter from Pitt, announcing is recall and the appointment of Ab- ercrombie in his stead, may be seen
in the Trumbull MSS. i. 127.
3 Mass. Rec's ; Hutchinson, iii. 67 ; Minot, ii. 33.
228
ARMY REFORMS.
CHAP. doubtless have publicly manifested his displeasure, had not an VIII. express from New York brought intelligence that he was re- 1757. called. The very next morning he left the town, in high anger, to return to New York, and shortly after embarked for Eng- land, to advise a magisterial exercise of British authority, and to vote in Parliament for enforcing American taxation by fire and sword.
Dec.
Six months after assuming the reins, Pitt succeeded in ob- taining the orders of the king that every provincial officer, of no higher rank than colonel, should have equal command with the British, according to the date of their commissions.1 He had thoroughly acquainted himself with the posture of affairs in America, and knew that this measure was not only just, but politic. And the result proved the correctness of his views. The same letters which informed the government that Lord Loudoun had been superseded recommended, in the strongest terms, an exertion on the part of the province to enlist fresh troops, and gave encouragement that a proper compensation would be made by Parliament. These forces, it was expected, would be employed in the reduction of Canada ; and at once the House voted to raise seven thousand men, to be formed into regiments under provincial officers approved by the cap- tain general, and to continue in session until the first of November, unless dismissed sooner.2 Similar letters were sent to the other colonies, and with a like success ; for, before the May. season ended, twenty thousand provincials were called into ser- vice. The contributions from different parts were exceedingly unequal - the New England colonies, as usual, excelling the rest. Nearly one third of the effective men of Massachusetts were enrolled.
France, in the mean time, though thus far successful, trem- bled for the future safety of Canada. Famine stared the people in the face, who were cut off from receiving supplies
1 Lord Orford's Memoirs, ii. 261; 2 Mass. Rec's ; Hutchinson, iii. 69 Minot, ii. 36, 37; Bancroft, iv. 291.
Lord Mahon's Hist. Eng. ii. 363.
229
CAPTURE OF LOUISBURG.
from abroad. "I shudder," said Montcalm, "when I think of CHAP.
provisions. The famine is very great." "For all our success,". VIII. he afterwards wrote, "New France needs peace, or sooner or 1758. Feb. 23. later it must fall ; such are the numbers of the English, such Apr. 10. the difficulty of our receiving supplies." 1
Three expeditions were planned by the British ministry, the execution of which was intrusted to experienced officers, select- ed for their coolness, intrepidity, and judgment. The first, under Jeffrey Amherst and James Wolfe, was to join the fleet under Boscawen, and besiege Louisburg. The second, under Joseph Forbes, was to scour the Ohio valley. And the third, under Abercrombie and Lord Howe, was to proceed against Ticonderoga and Crown Point.
Towards the last of May, Amherst, after a long passage, May 28. reached Halifax. Twenty-two ships of the line and fifteen frigates, with one hundred and twenty smaller vessels, com- posed the fleet under Boscawen ; and fourteen battalions of infantry and engineers, in all twelve thousand men, formed the army of Amherst. Wolfe, who while a lad had fought at Det- tingen and Fontenoy, and who had won laurels at Laffeldt when just of age, panted for fresh honors on the new scene of action ; and Cook, afterwards celebrated as the circumnaviga- tor of the globe, served in this expedition. In five days the June 2. armament arrived off Cape Breton. Wind and fog delayed June 8. the landing for six days more. Four days later the French Jun. 12. withdrew from their outposts, and the lighthouse battery was surprised. At the end of six weeks Louisburg was in ruins, July 26. and the fortress surrendered. More than five thousand pris- oners were taken ; eleven ships of war were seized or de- stroyed ; two hundred and forty pieces of ordnance, fifteen thousand stand of arms, and a vast amount of ammunition, pro- visions, and military stores fell into the hands of the victors ; and eleven stand of colors were laid at the feet of George II.,
1 Pouchot's Mems. i. 130, 131; Bancroft, iv. 294.
230
REDUCTION OF FORT DU QUESNE.
CHAP. and afterwards deposited with great solemnity in the Cathedral VIII. of St. Paul's. A few hovels mark the site of the Dunkirk of
1758. America.1
Jun. 30. The expedition under Forbes was equally successful. Twelve hundred and fifty of Montgomery's Highlanders from South Carolina, three hundred and fifty Royal Americans, twenty- seven hundred men from Pennsylvania, sixteen hundred from Virginia, and about three hundred from Maryland, - in all, between six and seven thousand men, - placed under Colonel Nov. 5. Washington, comprised his army. It was late in the season before the troops reached Loyal Hanna, afterwards Fort Ligo- nia ; and then Forbes, fast sinking into the grave, determined to advance no farther. But Washington, unwilling to aban- don the enterprise, was impatient to proceed ; and, obtaining consent, with his brigade of provincials he promptly set for- ward. As he drew near Fort Du Quesne, the disheartened garrison, about five hundred in number, set the fort on fire, and by the light of the flames descended the Ohio. Before the Nov.25. month closed Washington planted his flag on the deserted ruins ; and, in honor of the great statesman of England, the place was named Pittsburg.2
The third expedition was a failure. The troops from New England and the other northern colonies were detailed for its
1 Narr. in French Doc'ts, Mass. Archives, ix. 1-25 ; Grenville Cor- resp. i. 240-243, 254-256, 265 ; Wal- pole's Mem. of George II. iii. 134; Hist. of the War, 152, 153 ; Letters and Mems. relative to Cape Breton, 342 et seq. ; Review of Pitt's Administra- tion, 47-49 ; Knox's Histor. Jour. i. 144 ; Boston Gazette for 1758; Mor- timer, Hist. Eng. iii. 603, 604; Mi- not, ii. 38; Grahame, ii .; Warbur- ton's Conquest of Canada, ii. 74-80. 2 Grenville Corresp. i. 273-275, 289; Pouchot's Mems. i. 170-177; Review of Pitt's Administration, 51; Olden Time, ii. 284; Public Adverti- ser of Jan. 20, 1759; Lord Mahon's
Hist. Eng. il. 365 and note ; Chal- mers, Revolt, ii. 291; Sparks's Wash- ington, ii. 271-327 ; Sargent's Brad- dock's Expedition, 270-274; War- burton's Conquest of Canada, ii. 103- 105. Mortimer, Hist. Eng. iii. 606, says the expedition under Forbes left Philadelphia June 13, and advanced to Ray's Town, 90 miles from Fort Du Quesne, whence he sent forward Bouquet, with 2000 men, to Loyal Hanna, 50 miles farther. The latter detached 800 men, under Major Grant, to reconnoitre, who were re- pulsed ; upon which Forbes advanced, and the enemy retreated, &c.
231
THE CROWN POINT EXPEDITION.
prosecution, and were ordered to take the field early in May ; CHAP. but, owing to the slowness with which the muster proceeded, VIII. it was the middle of June before any movements were made 1758. May. June. towards the scene of action. Massachusetts had agreed to enlist seven thousand men for the war. Connecticut, rivalling her zeal, voted to raise five thousand. New Hampshire, a thinly-settled province, could furnish but nine hundred ; but she sent from her hills a captain who was a host in himself - the gallant Stark. At length nine thousand provincials, from New England, New York, and New Jersey, assembled on the banks of Lake George. Over six thousand regulars were Jun. 28. already on the spot, making, in all, an army of fifteen thousand men.1 Early in July the cannon and stores arrived ; and the July 5. whole force, in upwards of a thousand boats, embarked for Ticonderoga. The spectacle was gorgeous to behold ; the armament stretching far down the lake, and moving on, with flashing oars and glittering weapons, to strains of music which rung shrilly from crags and rocks, or died away in mellowed strains among the distant mountains. As day closed in, a land- ing was effected at Sabbath Day Point; and an hour before midnight, reembarking, the troops once more moved down the lake, until they reached the point which still preserves the name of Lord Howe, where they disembarked. Seven thousand , July 6. men, in four columns, began the march through the adjacent wood, with Rogers and his men in advance as scouts. Soon they were bewildered ; and, falling in with De Trépézée, at the head of three hundred men, who had likewise lost his way, a skirmish ensued, in which Lord Howe, the soul of the expe- dition, was the first to fall, expiring immediately. Massachu- setts voted a monument to his memory, and the English nation mourned his loss.2
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