USA > New York > Warren County > History of Warren County [N.Y.] with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 8
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In October, 1748, the European powers signed a new treaty of peace at Aix-la-Chapelle, which it was hoped, would bring alasting peace. Once more the hatchet was buried, and the settler felt safe in planting his crops, and har- vesting the same without the accompaniment of his rifle. Many who had been driven from their clearings to the larger settlements, returned to find but a blackened spot where their homes had stood, and that nature does not remain idle while men are spending their strength in war. But the return of peace brought with it hope and faith, and the sturdy backwoodsman returned to his axe and plow trusting that he had reached the beginning of the era of his re- ward. But yet the strife was not ended.
"The peace secured by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, hollow and insin- cere in the Old World, was scarcely observed in the New. The ashes of the frontier settlements had scarcely ceased smoking when the French resumed " 1 their military operations. "The Indians, far and near, by threats and caresses, presents, promises, and displays of force, were rendered tributary to their vast designs." 2
Beginning in 1754, continued alarms and occasional attacks on the frontiers awakened the colonists to the fact that the fancied security arising from the peace treaty was but the lull before the storm. Measures were accordingly undertaken for a more vigorous defense than had before been made. When the New York Assembly met in the spring of 1754, Governor James De Lan- cey in his message called their attention to the recent encroachments of the
1 HOLDEN'S Queensbury.
2 Ibid.
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French and to a request by Virginia for aid. The assembly voted a thousand pounds and to bear its share in erecting forts along the frontier. By victories in western Pennsylvania in 1754, the French were left in undisputed possession of the entire region west of the Alleghanies. The necessity for concerted ac- tion by the English colonies was now too apparent to be overlooked; but the old sectional differences tended to prevent harmonious action. The Iroquois were also becoming, to some extent, alienated from the English, whose apathy and failures they did not relish. The English ministry had, therefore, advised a convention of delegates from all the colonial assemblies in an effort to secure the continued alliance of the Six Nations. This convention was held in Albany in June, 1754; Governor De Lancey was president, and he opened the proceed- ings with a speech to the Indian chiefs who were present. A treaty was re- newed and the Indians left apparently satisfied. 1
It was upon this occasion that, in his final speech, Hendrick, the famous Mohawk chief, closed as follows : "Brethren, we put you in mind from our former speech, of the defenseless state of your frontiers, particularly of this city of Schenectady, and of the country of the Five Nations. You told us yesterday you were consulting about securing both. We beg you will resolve upon something speedily. You are not safe from danger one day. The French have their hatchet in their hands both at Ohio and in two places in New Eng- land. We don't know but this very night they may attack us. Since Colonel Johnson has been in this city there has been a French Indian at his house, who took measure of the wall around it, and made very narrow observations on everything thereabouts. We think Colonel Johnson in very great danger, be- cause the French will take more than ordinary pains to kill him or take him prisoner, both on account of his great interest among us and because he is one of our sachems.
" Brethren, there is an affair about which our hearts tremble and our minds are deeply concerned. We refer to the selling of rum in our castles. It de- stroys many, both of our old and young people. We are in great fears about this rum. It may cause murder on both sides. We, the Mohawks of both castles, request that the people who are settled round about us may not be suf- fered to sell our people rum. It keeps them all poor, and makes them idle and wicked. If they have any money or goods they lay all out in rum. It de- stroys virtue and the progress of religion among us."
1 It was on this occasion that the venerable Hendrick, the great Mohawk chieftain, pronounced one of those thrilling and eloquent speeches that marked the nobler times of the Iroquois. It excited the wonder and admiration of those who listened, and commanded the highest encomiums wherever it was read. In burning words he contrasted the supineness and imbecility of the English, with the energies of the French policy. His hoary head and majestic bearing attached dignity and force to his utterances.
. " We," he exclaimed, " would have gone and taken Crown Point, but you hindered ns." He closed his phillippic with this overwhelming rebuke : " Look at the French, they are men. They are fortify- ing everywhere. But you, and we are ashamed to say it, you are like women, bare and open without any fortifications."
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The governor promised satisfaction to this pathetic appeal, of course, gave the Indians thirty wagon loads of presents, and the civilized inhabitants went on selling their gallons of rum for beaver skins. And the Indians have often been cursed for their intemperance.
Meanwhile at the suggestion of the Massachusetts delegates to this conven- tion, a plan for the union of the colonies was taken into consideration. The suggestion was favorably received and a committee of one from each colony was appointed to draw plans for the purpose. Then the fertile mind of Ben- jamin Franklin, having already conceived the necessity of union and harmony, produced a plan which he had already prepared and which was adopted. It was the forerunner of our constitution ; but the assemblies rejected it, deem- ing that it encroached on their liberties, while the ministry rejected it as grant- ing too much power to the people.
As one of the results of the convention, Massachusetts raised three regi- ments of infantry, one of which was placed under command of Ephraim Williams as colonel. As an element in the proposed campaign Colonel Will- iams was to co-operate with General William Johnson in an attack upon the posts the French had established along Lake Champlain, and was ordered to proceed to Albany for that purpose, along with other New England forces.
Though England and France were nominally at peace,1 the frontier was continually harassed by the Indians, fitted out and let loose by the French, and the colonists continued their appeals to the English ministry.
On April 14th, 1755, a congress, composed of General Edward Braddock, Commodore Keppel, with the governors of Massachusetts, New York, Penn- sylvania, Maryland and Virginia, was held at Annapolis, Maryland. Braddock had lately arrived as commander-in-chief of the British forces in America. Under instructions from the ministry he directed the attention of the colonial governors to the necessity of raising a revenue for military purposes. The governors informed him of their strifes with their respective assemblies, and assured the British general that no such fund could be established without the first step being taken by parliament. It was finally determined, however, to begin a campaign by organizing four separate expeditions. The first to effect the reduction of Nova Scotia; the second to recover the Ohio valley; the third to expel the French from Fort Niagara and then form a junction with the Ohio expedition, and the fourth to capture Crown Point. The first of these expeditions was entirely successful; the second, under command of Braddock himself, was, chiefly through his folly, disastrous in the extreme. He failed to send out scouts, as repeatedly counseled by Washington, and when within a few miles of Fort Du Quesne, the army was surprised by the lurking foe and only saved from destruction by Washington, who, upon the fall of Braddock, as-
1 War was not formally declared in Europe till the following year (1756) by England on the 18th of May, and by France on the 9th of June following.
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sumed command and conducted the retreat. The expedition against Fort Niagara was also unsuccessful. It was commanded by General Shirley, gover- nor of Massachusetts, and many of his force deserted upon hearing of Brad- dock's defeat. Leaving a garrison at Oswego, he led the remainder of his army to Albany and returned to Massachusetts.
The army gathered for the capture of Crown Point was assembled at Al- bany and the command entrusted to General William Johnson. It comprised the militia and volunteers from New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. They came together fired with zeal and enthusiasm born of the conviction that they were to fight for the safety of their firesides.
"His army, fresh from the plow and the workshop, save a few who had been engaged at the siege of Louisburg, were novices in the arts and services of war. The provincials, clothed in the home-spun garments woven by wives and moth- ers, armed only with their own rifles and fowling pieces, without bayonets, but animated by the noblest impulses of patriotism and courage, and inspired by a fervid religious enthusiasm, which kindled the faith that they were battling in defense of the altars of Protestantism and for the subversion of idolatry. While the preparations were in active, but to their impatient ardor, slow progress, they were restive and impatient for the advance. On the Sabbath, in obedience to their Puritan habits, they assembled to unite in prayer and to 'listen to the word,' while their swarthy allies gravely hear the interpretation of a long ser- mon." 1
In July General Lyman, of New Hampshire, with 600 men was sent for- ward to clear up the old military road along the Hudson, and rebuild the fort at Lydius's Mills. Meantime Colonel Williams was sent to the "second car- rying-place" on the Hudson, where he erected a block-house and entrench- ments. The village of Fort Miller still perpetuates the name then given to these defenses.
The French were not idle and already their attention, or that of their engi- neers, was drawn to the bold and rocky cliffs at the confluence of Lake George (known to the French as Lake St. Sacrament2) and Lake Champlain, as an excellent military stronghold. In the summer of 1755, Du Quesne had ad- vised the construction of works at that point. The selection of the site and the construction of the works were entrusted to Lotbinière, an engineer of the province. The original fort (which was still unfinished a year later) "was a square fort with four bastions, and built of earth and timber."3 In the same year Johnson mentions Ticonderoga as an important but unoccupied position.
1 WATSON'S Essex County.
2 Father Jogues . on his return to Canada . set out with some Indians for the scene of his former sufferings in company with Sieur Bourdon, royal engineer, and arrived on the fes- tival of Corpus Christi at Lake Andiatorocte, to which, in honor of the day, he gave the name of the Lake of the Blessed Sacrament .- O'CALLAGHAN.
3 Documentary History, x, 414.
1
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
Such was the inception of Fort Carillon,1 about which was to center so much of military conflict and heroism. It is not now known when the imposing stone battlements were erected, whose picturesque ruins inform the beholder of to-day of their original strength. In the year 1758 the French were energetically engaged in extending and strengthening the fortress; at that time Crown Point, on account of its less favorable position, and the falling walls of Fort St. Frederic, became of secondary importance to them.
When the news of Braddock's movements reached France, a fleet bearing six battalions of regulars was dispatched to the aid of the troops in Canada. With it came also Vaudreuil, governor-general of New France (the last one) and Baron de Dieskau as commander-in-chief of the colonial armies. The latter laid his plans for the immediate capture of Oswego, when the govenor- general received the startling intelligence of Johnson's movement towards Ti- conderoga and Crown Point. Dieskau was, therefore, hurried to the defense of Lake Champlain.
All the preparations for the campaign having been completed at Albany in the early part of August, the main body of the troops began its slow and tedious march along the old military road up the Hudson, General Johnson following immediately after with the artillery, stores and baggage. On the 14th of August Johnson reached the " great carrying-place," when he reported to Governor De Lancey that his whole force did "not exceed 2,850 men fit for marching to Crown Point." One regiment was left behind to guard the wagons and bateaux.
While awaiting the arrival of his stores and implements of war, General Johnson began an addition to the defenses at this point, to which was given the name of Fort Lyman, in honor of Major-General Phineas Lyman,2 of the Connect- icut troops, who had charge of its erection. It was soon after changed to Fort Edward, as a compliment to Edward, Duke of York, brother of George III.
On the 15th a council was called by Johnson, at which resolutions were passed asking for reinforcements from the governors of New York and Con- necticut; and requesting the governor of Massachusetts to make a diversion in his favor by sending a detachment down the Chaudière River to attack the
1 Mr. Watson says the name "Carillon seems to bear the same signification as the Indian name, " The-Onderoga," the original of Ticonderoga, meaning noise'-chimes, in allusion, doubtless, to the brawling waters.
2 General Lyman was a graduate of Yale College, and a lawyer by profession. He commanded the Connecticut troops in this movement, under Johnson, and when the latter was wounded at the battle of Lake George, the command devolved upon him. He participated in later campaigns, under Aber- crombie, Lord Howe, and Amherst. In 1763 he was sent to England as agent to receive prize moneys due him and other officers, and as agent for a company soliciting a grant of lands on the Mississippi, and there wasted eleven years of his life, being deluded by idle promises until his mind sank to imbe- cility. In 1774 his wife sent his second son to bring him home. About this time the petitioners re- ceived their grant of land, when he and his eldest son embarked for the Mississippi, and died on the way in West Florida in 1755.
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French posts in that vicinity. Later in the month he reported to Governor De Lancey that " the road is now making from this place to Lake St. Sacra- ment where I propose to build magazines and raise a defensible fortification," and adds, "I propose to march to-morrow or next day with the first division of about fifteen hundred men, and some Indians, and a few field pieces."1
The following detailed and trustworthy account is taken from Holden's His- tory of Queensbury. It is based upon early documents, and is considered a valuable historical statement :-
" Awaiting developments, General Johnson established a camp at the head of the lake, and under the immediate supervision of Col. Williams, a large clearing was made on the headland afterward covered by the intrenchments of Fort William Henry.
" In a communication to the board of trade dated 3d Sept., 1755, General Johnson states as follows: 'I am building a fort at this lake where no house ever before was built, nor a rod of land cleared, which the French call Lake St. Sacrament, but I have given it the name of Lake George, not only in honor to His Majesty but to ascertain his undoubted dominion here. When the bat- toes (certain small boats so called) are brought from the last fort caused to be built at the great carrying-place abt 17 miles from hence, I propose to go down this lake with a part of the army, and take part of the end of it about fifty miles from hence at a pass called Tionderogue abt 15 miles from Crown Point, there wait the coming up of the rest of the army, and then attack Crown Point.'
"On Sunday, the seventh, the camp was hushed to listen to the first Chris- tian services and sermon held on this spot of which there is record. The ven- erable and Reverend Stephen Williams, of Longmeadow, Mass., a near relative of Col. Williams, and chaplain of his regiment, preached in camp from the pro- phetic words of Isaiah, ' which remain among the graves and lodge in the moun- tains.' The forces gathered here now numbered nearly five thousand, and the want of transportation, coupled with the intelligence received from his trusty scouts and runners, that the French were in possession of the passes at the north dissipated the plan for any further advance.
"In the mean time the enemy, more active and aggressive, had dispatched three thousand men to the frontier post of St. Frederic; early one-third of these veterans from the fields of France, the remainder consisting of Canadians and Indians. They were joined on the seventeenth by the Baron de Dieskau, a brave and experienced officer, who had been assigned to the command of the expedition. For the following fifteen days he was encamped under the en- trenchments of that fort, maturing his plans - sending out scouts for intelli- gence and harmonizing disagreements among the intractable savages who con- stituted so large a part of his following. On the second of September he
1 Documentary History of N. Y., II, p. 682.
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
reached the lower fall on the outlet of Lake George, whence he sent out a small scouting party, and bivouacked for a couple of days at what is now known as the fort ground of Ticonderoga. On the 4th M. de St. Pierre was sent forward with the Canadians and Indians, who were to sleep that night on the side of the great marsh near Whitehall. General Dieskau made the great mistake of leaving the bulk of his force, viz .: 1800 men, at Carillon, and with a flying corps of six hundred Canadians, as many Indians, and three hundred regulars, . . . . he reached the head of South Bay, on Lake Champlain, on the 5th, and set forward on his march to Fort Lyman. Continuing the march on the 6th, about noon the detachment encamped beyond the mountains. Here small scouting parties were sent off in the direction of Fort Lyman and the head of Lake George. One of these returning the same night discovered and reported thick smoke seen in the direction of Johnson's camp. On the 7th the army, preceded by scouts, again set forward. About two o'clock of that day the scouts, who had been sent to reconnoiter in the vicinity of Fort Lyman, rejoined the main body, with the information that there were about fifty tents outside of the fort, upon which Dieskau decided to attack it. Push- ing forward he reached that night the banks of the Hudson River about one league from the fort, where he encamped for the night.1
"At daybreak on the 8th the Indians fired at and killed a courier galloping towards the fort. On his person was found a dispatch to the officer in com- mand of the garrison at that place advising him of Dieskau's approach, with a large force of Frenchmen, Canadians, and Indians; and cautioning him as to the proper disposition of the provisions and ammunition. Twelve wagons shortly after passed in the same direction, from which Dieskau only obtained two prisoners, from whom he obtained tolerably accurate information as to the condition and disposition of the English forces at the head of the lake. The garrison at Fort Lyman consisted of only about three hundred troops from the New Hampshire levies under Col. Blanchard. It was the baron's original in- tention, after learning the weakness of the latter place, to move forward with celerity, assault and carry it by storm. 'The Iroquois refused point blank to march to attack the fort.' Dieskau in his account of the affair says: 'I was to arrive at nightfall at the fort and rush to the attack ; but the Iroquois, who took the lead on the march, under the pretense of zeal, caused a wrong direc- tion to be taken; and when I was informed of the circumstance, it was no longer time to apply a remedy, so that at nightfall I was yet a league from that fort on the road leading from it to Lake St. Sacrament.'
" M. de St. Pierre who, by the baron's orders, had consulted the chiefs of the different natives, and communicated to them his intention of attacking the camp at the head of the lake, under the alluring representation 'that the more English there were, the more of them he would kill,' reported that the Indians
1 Probably on the flat at the foot of Sandy Hill.
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would submit to his pleasure ; and should he succeed at Lake St. Sacrament, they would accompany him to the fort.
"After daybreak on the morning of the eighth, Dieskau commenced his march along the newly made road so recently traversed by Johnson and his army. His force was disposed in five columns, marching at a distance of thirty paces apart. The regular troops forming the center were led by the Baron, in person, while on either flank was a column of Canadians and another of In- dians. The latter were obliged, in order to maintain their front, to wade mo- rasses and streams, thread the tangled underbrush of the forest and climb the hills on their route. Nevertheless the for cemoved with considerable celerity, reaching the heights just north of Brown's Half-way House, at about eight o'clock in the morning. Here he was met by some scouts who brought in two English prisoners, from whom he derived the intelligence that General Johnson had fortified and entrenched the English camp, that he was in posses- sion of twelve cannon from thirty pounders down. And, 'that a large body of English and Indians were following them on their way to reinforce Fort Lyd- ius.' In consequence of this information, a halt was ordered, the Canadians and Indians deposited their packs, and in light marching order were instructed to place themselves in ambush on the side hill west of the road, which was occupied by Dieskau with his regular troops.
" In the mean time an express arrived at the English camp with the intel- ligence that he had seen a large body of the enemy, a few miles to the north of Fort Lyman. In the morning following a council of war was held to deter- mine a plan of procedure, at which it was resolved to send out a small party to reconnoitre and harass the enemy's flanks as they approached. King Hen- drick, the celebrated chief of the Mohawks, being asked for his opinion, re- plied : 'If they are to fight they are too few, if they are to be killed they are too many.' It was subsequently proposed to divide the party into three de- tachments. The brave old sachem remonstrated, and forcibly illustrated the folly of the suggestion by picking up three sticks and binding them together saying: 'You see now that these cannot easily be broken ; but take them one by one, and you may break them at once.' The council of war adopted in part the chief's advice, and one thousand men, under the command of Col. Ephraim Williams, of the Massachusetts levies, and two hundred Mohawks, led by King Hendrick, the sachem of the upper castle of that tribe, were de- tailed for this service. Before starting King Hendrick mounted a gun carriage and addressed his followers in a strain of thrilling eloquence, that at once aroused their courage, and kindled their ferocious passions for the approaching fray. An eye-witness, who did not understand a word of what was said, de- scribed it as the most affecting speech he ever heard.
"The road recently made followed the course of a ravine extending from the head of the lake nearly due south for a distance of several miles. The de-
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tachment headed by Colonel Williams took this route at nine o'clock in the- morning, and in consequence of the intelligence received at midnight, supposed the enemy to be still in the vicinity of Fort Lyman ; and probably moved for- ward with less precaution than he would have done, if he had supposed the enemy nearer. At a point about two miles south of the encampment, near- a place now known as Hendrick's Spring, he halted, and was joined by the- detachment of Mohawks, who, with their chief, passed to the front, and at. ten o'clock resumed the march. King Hendrick was mounted on a small horse, loaned for the occasion by his friend the general. Flanking parties- were now thrown out, which advanced, cautiously beating the dense woods on the right and left.
" About one-third of a mile south of Bloody Pond the ravine, through which Williams's detachment proceeded, is narrowed by the abrupt shoulder of a hill projecting from the west, while on the east the sharp acclivity and rug- ged sides of French Mountain abut the narrow defile. At its base creep the shimmering waters of a rivulet known as Rocky Brook. When within a short. distance of the ambush, a herd of deer, probably driven forward by the French advance, rushed violently down the defile, and effected their escape by break- ing through the ranks of the advancing party. Still, no apprehensions were entertained of the proximity of the enemy, and they continued to advance in fearless confidence, the entire command marching in double files along the road, until entered some distance within the jaws of the ambuscade, when, reaching a small eminence, the keen sighted Hendrick suddenly halted and exclaimed to- Williams who was near him : ' I scent Indians.' A few Mohawks pushed out into. the thick undergrowth of bushes, and the detachment moved cautiously forward for a short distance, when one of the French allies called out, 'Whence come you ?' 'From the Mohawks,' was the reply. 'Whence come you ?' returned Hendrick to which was answered, 'Montreal,' accompanied with a few scattering shots, followed shortly by the terrific Indian war-whoop, and a destructive vol- ley of musketry from the woods and rocks on the right. Shortly afterward a. heavy fire was poured in by the Canadians on the left. King Hendrick's horse was killed by the first fire, and he was soon after dispatched with a bayonet. The advancing files of provincials, wholly unprepared for the unexpected en- counter, made but a feeble resistance, while at the first alarm the Mohawks. took promptly to cover.
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