Our County and Its People: A Descriptive Work on Erie County, New York (Volume 1), Part 12

Author: Truman C. White
Publication date: 1898
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1017

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1 Col. Hist., Vol. X, pp. 828-29.

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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

From these, however [the 8,000 men], must be detached the 500 men who have gone to Niagara with M. de Montigny. Their business is to remain in that fort until the arrival of the troops destined to garrison it, and to be occupied there, in the mean while, either in coming or going for victualling that post, or at the different civil and military buildings which M. de Pouchot, whom I shaH send thither imme- diately to command them, would judge necessary for a long and vigorous defense ; therefore, no more than 2,500 or 3,500 men must be calculated.1

De Vaudreuil made some observations on Montcalm's memoir, dif- fering with him, as usual, in which he wrote:

The Marquis de Montcalm is too much of a military man not to admit that, no matter however well we may victual Niagara, were it reduced to the defense of its garrison alone, and we should abandon our lakes, neither it nor any of the other little posts could fail of being taken, if the English lay siege to them.

. I consent to confer the command of Niagara on M. Pouchot, as he is qualified to com- plete and even defend the works if attacked.'

Fort Duquesne was captured by the English on the 24th of Novem. ber, the garrison escaping down the river, " abandoned, or at least not seconded by their friends, the Indians, whom we had previously engaged to act a neutral part, and who now seem all willing and ready to em- brace His Majesty's Most gracious Protection."'

The prophecies of a bad harvest in Canada were fulfilled; the Eng- lish were inspirited by success and their armies were strengthened by large accessions, and the year closed in gloom for the French. They foresaw their doom in the coming campaign.

' Col. Hist., Vol. X, p. 870). " Ibid, p. 822.

3 Report of General Forbes on the siege of Duquesne, Ibid. p. 905.

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END OF FRENCH DOMINION.

CHAPTER VII.

END OF FRENCH DOMINION.

The Last Campaign-Desperate Situation of the French-English Preparations for the Last Struggle-Discontent Among the Five Nations-They Go over to the English-Pouchot Returned to Niagara-Repair of the Fort-English Campaign Plans-Expedition against Quebec-Organization of an Expedition against Niagara -Beginning of the Siege of that Post-Success of the English-Death of General Prideaux-A Doomed Fortress-French Reinforcements-They Meet the English- A Sanguinary Battle-Rout of the French-Surrender of Niagara to the English- End of French Dominion-Treaty of Peace.

The spring of 1759 found the French in a deplorable condition. The preceding harvest, as was predicted, was a complete failure, causing famine that was not the least of their misfortunes.' The Eng- lish were, on the other hand, exultant and as soon as the season was sufficiently advanced, they made preparations for the final campaign which was to give them permanent victory.

In a French memoir of January, 1759, on the position of the French and English in America, and what was absolutely necessary to enable the French to make an adequate defense, is the following:

Eight French battalions which will hardly number, at the opening of the cam- paign 3,400 men, twelve hundred troops of the Marine, at most, five or six thousand Militia. Such are our forces. The Indians cannot be included in the account. Eng- lish presents, our poverty, our prodigious inferiority-what motives to abate their ardor! Besides, being independent, never making two expeditions consecutively, even should the first have resulted only in raising one scalp; ill qualified for defense : afraid of death; what benefit can be expected to be derived from them?

No stronghold in the country; Niagara, the most tenable of the whole, if properly attacked, cannot hold out more than three weeks. Shell alone will force Carillon to surrender. . I do not even except Mont-Real and Quebec, if the foot of their walls be once reached.

1 The rations of bread were reduced to a pound and a half, and that of pork to a quarter of a pound. The latter failing, the intendant proposed to issue horseflesh to the troops, which they were obliged to submit to without a murmur. With economy they were still able to furnish a little pork, but when the ice melted they were obliged to throw it away as spoiled. The con- tractor was therefore ordered to furnish horses, and he accordingly collected all the jaded nags of the country to feed the troops .- Pouchot Memoirs, Vol. I, p. 134,

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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

We are in want of provisions, that is to say, by carefully economizing the little we have, it will be hardly possible to enter on the campaign and subsist through the first month.

We are in want of powder, to such a degree, that if the English come to Quebec, there is not six days supply for the cannon. Almost all the guns are iron, and bad. Mortars are wanting, and still more so shells of the calibre of those we have.'

The discontent of the Five Nations, aggravated not so much, per- haps, by parsimonious treatment by the French as by promises and more liberal treatment by the English, under the skillful diplomacy of Sir William Johnson, alarmed MM. Vaudreuil and Montcalm. It was the judgment of both that Captain Pouchot should be sent to Niagara as the one of all their officers best qualified to regain the weakening fealty of the Iroquois. Both knew that the attempt to further strengthen Niagara was a make-shift to impress the Indians, rather than an effort to intimidate the English or to place the post in better condition for defense.

Captain Pouchot, with only " three piquets, amounting to 149 men, " left Montreal on the 27th of March, accompanied also by 157 Canadians under a colonial officer. In taking leave of Montcalm, Pouchot said to him, " It appears that we shall never meet again, except in England.""

Pouchot arrived at Niagara on the 30th of April, after various delays. With his customary energy he set about repairing the fort, to which nothing had been done since he left it in 1757. Joncaire was there and informed Pouchot that the English were on the march, and that the Five Nations "had totally declared themselves for them." '

During the month of May small bodies of Indians, chiefly from the west, who had remained faithful to the French, arrived at Niagara, but the French hoped no longer for aid from the Iroquois; they were prone to join the victorious side. On the 28th of May a body of Cayugas went to Niagara for a council. Pouchot charged them with sending belts to other nations to turn them against the French. Their reply was unique as well as suggestive. "It is true, father, that we have no courage. We well know all the evil that we do, but no one is more embarrassed than ourselves. The French draw us one way, and the English the other. "'

Even the courageous Montcalm was now hopelessly discouraged,

' This extract from the memoir found in Vol. X. p. 926. Colonial History, is in the characteris tic style and also conveys the sentiments of Montcalm.

? Pouchot, 1, 140. " Ibid. { Jbid. $ Ibid, p. 149.

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END OF FRENCH DOMINION.

though still prepared to do his duty to his king. He wrote from Mon- treal to Belle Isle on the 12th of April:

Canada will be taken this campaign, and assuredly during the next, if there be not some unforeseen good luck, a powerful diversion by sea against the English colonies, or some gross blunder on the part of the enemy. The English have 60,000 men, we, at the most, from 10,000 to 11,000. Our government is good for nothing; money and provisions will fail. The Canadians are dispirited; no confidence in M. de Vaudreuil or in M. Bigot.1

The general plans of the English for this campaign, in their relation to our western frontier, as suggested by Colonel Montressor, are set forth in the following :

Five hundred to keep the post and depot at Oswego, and two thousand to embark and shape their course for Niagara, one engineer, one Lieu't of artillery, 2 bomba- diers, 4 gunners, 12 matrosses, with 2 twelve-pounders, 2 six-pounders, one 8-inch howitzer, 2 royals, 4 cohorns. This body is to land on the nearest and safest land- ing place to the fort, with summons to surrender, letting them know that all their communications are cut off from the River St. Lawrence. That the English are in actual possession of La Galette [Ogdensburg] and marching their army towards Montreal, which, if not agreed to on the spot, then to be attacked vigorously, which must be on great disadvantages on the enemy's side, who will not dare to hold out, considering the situation they must be in after the loss of Fort Duquesne.

This place, when taken, must be secured, provided and strengthened, in order to keep a garrison there for preserving the thoroughfare and communications from the upper lakes to the lower, and to the vast country through which the Ohio and Mississippi run through. 'Tis been always a noted Indian mart and trading place.'

The British planned three different expeditions in the approaching campaign, the success of which would conquer the whole of Canada. These were to be made one against Ticonderoga and Crown Point under Major-Gen. Jeffrey Amherst, who had succeeded as comman- der of all the British forces; another against Quebec, and the third against Niagara.

In the spring of the year a strong expedition was fitted out under the gallant Gen. James Wolfe to proceed against the Canadian strong- hold at Quebec, which left Louisburg on the 27th of June. Of this movement Pouchot wrote:

We have been notified from France, that an English fleet had sailed on the first days of February, to besiege Quebec with 10,000 men, embarked under the orders of General Wolf. An army of 25,000 was to penetrate Canada by way of Lake George, under General Amherst, who was to send a detachment by way of Lake Ontario.3

' Col. Hist., Vol. X, p. 960. "Ibid, pp. 908 9. 3 Pouchot Memoirs, Vol. I. p. 145.

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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

Three thousand French and colonial soldiers and militia were sent to attack Carillon (Ticonderoga) and the remainder of the French forces were ordered to Quebec to oppose the threatened attack of the Eng- lish.

In the mean time the expedition against Niagara was organized in strong numbers under Gen. John Prideaux, with a large Indian force under Sir William Johnson. The army consisted of about 2, 000 white soldiers and 600 Indians; the latter were increased to 1,000 before the expedition reached Niagara. The rendezvous was made at Oswego, whence the troops were transported along the southern shore of Lake Ontario to the mouth of Four-mile Creek, where they arrived on the 6th of July. It is evident that the English approached this point without being discovered by the French, although the corvette of the latter (the Iroquois), which entered Niagara River at 4 o'clock P. M., July 6, on its return from Oswego with the report that there were no English at that post, ought to have seen the English barges cruising near the shore. Had the corvette discovered them, "they might with their ten or twelve guns, have stopped or destroyed this army on its march. The English would have found it very difficult to fire, and could neither have advanced nor retreated." 1

The following account of the ensuing operations, as viewed from the French standpoint, is derived from the Pouchot Memoirs (Hough's translation), and that work will need no further credit for the story other than the quotation marks which indicate actual extracts from the work:

The approach of the English was discovered by "a soldier hunting pigeons. . . He at once ran to notify M. Pouchot, who sent out ten men to reconnoiter, supported by fifty men. . . They found them- selves surrounded and exposed to the fire of more than two hundred muskets. Five were taken and two wounded. M. Pouchot called them back, after having fired some volleys of cannon at the ene- my. They replied by regular volleys from behind coverts. M. Pouchot this night posted guards to occupy the outposts." Thus began the siege of Fort Niagara by the English, an event that was to prove of inestimable importance and influence on the future of this country.

"General Prideaux's army consisted of the 44th and 46th Regiments,

1 Pouchot Memoirs, Vol. I, pp. 159-60.

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Riviere de Niagara

du Portage

Chemin

10 90 80 40 60 80 70 80 90 100 110 120180 140 150 Toises

FORT NIAGARA IN 1739

- Galleries to communicate with the exterior works.

Lake Ontario Bastion.

: Barracks, stores and vestiges of the old fort.

Niagara Gate.

Bastion at the Gate of the Five Nations. Barbet Battery of 5 guns. Relief Gate.

Another Barbet Battery of 5 guns. Indian huts.

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END OF FRENCH DOMINION.

4th Battalion of Royal Americans, two battalions of New York troops, a detachment of Royal Artillery, and a large body of Indians under General Johnson." 1

The French " garrison consisted of one hundred and forty-nine men detached from" various regiments, "and one hundred and eighty- three men of colonial companies, . . and one hundred and thirty- three militia, and twenty one cannoniers. . .

The whole amount- ing to four hundred and eighty-six soldiers and thirty-nine employees, of whom five were women and children."

"On the 7th of July seven barges appeared under the steep shores of the lake to reconnoiter the place. . . . We fired some cannon which quickly made them gain the open lake." Captain Pouchot sent out scouts both by water and land, who reported from fifteen to twenty barges with twenty men each, and "a great many people who were walking on the shore."

Believing this to be, as it was, the advance of the English, Pouchot sent a courier to Chabert Joncaire, then in command of the fort at the portage, with orders to fall back to Chippewa Creek, should he know of the enemy near the fort, and to Presque Isle (Erie), and other posts, and to send to Niagara " all detachments of French and Indians."

On the 8th of July Pouchot discovered that the English had formed a camp at the " Little Marsh"-on the lake shore-evidently as a depot for their stores; he ordered the corvette to that point, the guns of which forced the English to quit their camp and seek shelter. In the after- noon Pouchot received a letter at the hands of an Iroquois from Jon- caire at the portage, saying that he had burned the fort there, as the place was no longer tenable. The valuable property he had removed up the Chippewa River.

On the 9th a white flag appeared in the clearing, and the bearer, an officer, was met and brought into the fort with his eyes bandaged. He brought a letter from General Prideaux, demanding surrender of the fort; to which Pouchot replied that he found himself in a condition to defend the work, and should do so; invited the officer to breakfast with true French politeness, and then bandaged his eyes and sent him back.

Satisfied that the English were actively beginning the siege, Pouchot made a disposition of his forces to defend, as best he could, the differ- ent parts of the works, which plan was carried out every night of the siege.

1 F. B. Hough's note in the Pouchot Memoirs, Vol. I, p. 159.

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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

On the 10th, says Pouchot, "we perceived a parallel of more than 300 toises,' which beginning at about the middle of the front of the fortifications, extended to the left on the side towards the lake. . . We battered both ends of the parallel with four pieces of cannon, At noon the two Joncaire brothers' arrived with seventy persons, several of them women; there were three Iroquois, among whom was the chief Kaendaé."

On the 11th Kaendae, on his request and by permission of Pouchot, had an interview with the Indians of the Five Nations who were en- gaged with the English, and brought in two deputies to Pouchot to learn his views concerning themselves. "These deputies said they did not know how they had got involved in this war, and that they were ashamed of it." But for all the "good words " and protestations by the Indians, they returned to the English, and the only result of the parley that M. Pouchot could discover was that, though firing had been suspended on both sides, the English had extended their works.

On the 12th the French saw that during the preceding night the English had still farther enlarged and strengthened their approaches. "In the morning Kaendae asked leave to go out and hold another council with the chiefs of his nation. M. Pouchot did not oppose him, but gave notice that he should not suspend any of his operations, be- cause the whites [English] would take advantage of the interval to labor. . At three o'clock in the afternoon Kaendae returned with an Onondaga chief named Hanging Belt, and two Cayugas. They presented a large white belt to M. Pouchot."" An extended parley followed, resulting in a portion of the Indians leaving the English and going to camp at La Belle-Famille- a "place a short eighth league from the fort, upon the right bank of the river, above the fort."

1 A fathom, six feet.

"These Joncaires were figures of considerable importance on the frontier at this time. Cha- bert Joncaire is believed to have been a young French soldier who was captured by the Senecas prior to 1700, was adopted by them, married an Indian wife and had several children. After many years he was liberated and took his family to Montreal. There he was immediately employed by the government and continued in active service during the remainder of his life. He wielded a powerful influence among the Senecas. He made his appearance in the Seneca country in 1730, and he was looked upon as a son of the nation. He died at Niagara in 1740, and the Senecas ap- plied to the French to permit his son to come and dwell with them; his name was Chabert also and he soon became active and useful to the French. In 1741 the son asked to be released from service for the French, and his younger brother, Clauzonne Joncaire, was appointed in his place. Chabert did not, however, fully relinquish his connection with the French, for his name, as well as that of his brother, is signed to the capitulation of Fort Niagara in 1.59.

' A sign of peace.

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On the 13th in the morning Pouchot examined the works of the en- emy and found a six-mortar battery added to their siege approaches. The chief, Kaendae, was permitted to meet a white flag from some In- dians across the river who had come to council. They were not al- lowed to enter the fort, but promised to remain neutral.

On the 14th Pouchot observed the advancing work of the enemy. Kaendaé and another Indian were permitted to go to the camp of the Indians and English, and reported about eighteen hundred men, and that "Johnson had induced his Indians to remain by promising them leave to pillage the place, on which they would make an assault in two or three days. Lastly, that they had only a small stock of provisions and were expecting a convoy." That day Pouchot permitted the In- diams at the fort, with their women, to cross the river, as they were afraid of the bombs, and " was well pleased to get rid of them." .

On the 15th it was seen that another battery was under way and the English threw many bombs, wounding some of the French. In the evening "a deserter, a kind of Frenchman, who had been with the Iroquois," came into the fort and reported the force of besiegers about the same as had Kaendae, and that on the morrow the English would place their cannon in battery-fifteen pieces; that they were short of provisions and were expecting a convoy from Oswego, where "M. de la Corne, in venturing to attack, had been repulsed."

On the 16th it rained constantly. Two barges appeared on the open lake, " but out of range of a twelve-pound cannon. These boats were reconnoitering." On the 17th, "by reason of a fog which did not rise till quite late, we did not observe that the enemy had thrown up new works." The English opened with their batteries on the opposite side of the river, from which a shot "entered the chimney of the com- mandant's quarters, and rolled down by the side of the bed where he had lain down " Artillery and musketry firing were kept up all day on both sides, the battery across the river obliging Pouchot to add to his defenses on the river side, where he had only an intrenchment.

On the 18th in the evening the French saw a great smoke arise from one of the English trenches, which was caused by a shot from the fort having set on fire one of their powder magazines. "On this day General Prideaux was killed in the trenches." Firing was sharp on both sides; the French "were greatly distressed, having many soldiers wounded and some killed."

"Brigadier-General John Prideaux was accidentally killed in the

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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.

trenches on the 19th of July, by the carelessness of a gunner in dis- charging a cohorn, the shell bursting instantly as the general was passing it. Word was at once sent to General Amherst, who dispatched Brigadier-General Gage to succeed Prideaux, but he did not reach the place before the fort surrendered to Johnson." '

Pouchot saw on the 20th the enemy's approaches gradually advancing under a heavy fire, which he "answered very fiercely with our ar- tillery." In noting the advance of the English trenches he farther says: "They fired very briskly with musketry on every side till midnight, but ours somewhat slackened toward daybreak, on account of the exhaustion of our troops, and the bad condition of our guns." The day previous in the afternoon the corvette appeared and Captain Pouchot sent out a canoe and seven men to her; they ran the gaunt- let of the enemy's guns, a ball from which struck one of the boat's paddles. During the night of the 19th the canoe returned, bring- ing dispatches from Montreal and Quebec. "They were concerned about us, but did not know that we were besieged." About ten in the morning of the 20th, Pouchot sent back the canoe with dispatches for Vaudreuil and Montcalm.

On the 21st "the firing was not as active on the enemy's side during the day as during the previous evening, because they were busy work- ing on their trenches." "In the evening the enemy redoubled his fire.

We had several men killed and wounded. We replied quite actively from . . three cannon which each fired fifty charges of grape shot. A shower which was too brief for us, and would have deluged their trenches, interrupted this firing."

On the 22d, "about nine o'clock in the morning they began to throw red hot shot from the battery on the other side of the river. The bat- tery where they had placed their heaviest guns did the same. By the precaution that M. Pouchot had taken, of having casks full of water before all the buildings, and parties of carpenters ready with axes to cut away the places exposed to the flames, the fire did not commit any ravages. The enemy could never understand it." The French were now driven to extremities; aside from the serious damage that was be- ing done to their works by the cannonade of the English, and the loss of men by death and wounds, their arms and munitions were giving

! Mante, p. 225. It will be seen that Pouchot makes the date the 18th; Lossing gives it as the 19th.

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END OF FRENCH DOMINION.

out. "The material for cannon wads was wanting, and we had not even hay. They took the mattresses of the beds, then the straw and finally the linen."

On the night of the 22d and 23d the English crowded their trenches still closer to the doomed fort, keeping up meantime a heavy fire of grape and solid shot. "We replied to them from our fort, but our arms were in so bad a condition, that among ten guns [muskets] scarcely one could be used, and on the next day there remained not more than a hundred fit for use, notwithstanding all the repairs daily made. Seven smiths or armorers were constantly employed in mend- ing them. The domestics and wounded were employed in washing them." On the 23d four Indians appeared in the road from La Belle- Famille to the portage, carrying a white flag. They bore letters dated July 17 and 22. They were from MM. Aubrey and Lignery, at Fort Machault and Presque Isle, in answer to messages of M. Pouchot of the 7th and 10th, and asked Pouchot's advice as to what they could do to relieve him. Pouchot replied, making four copies of his letter, one for each Indian, advising Aubrey and Lignery of his struggle with the English, and leaving to them the course they should pursue. The firing of the English during the day had ruined the flag bastion of the fort, leaving not two feet of the parapet. Pouchot says, " We will re- mark that of late we had been obliged to make our embrasures of packets of peltries for want of other materials, and that we used blankets and shirts from the magazines for cannon wads. We could no longer induce the Canadians to fire into the embrasures at the en- emy. Those who were placed at any point crouched down to cover themselves and were soon asleep. In the evening the enemy's fire con- siderably slackened. This respite made M. Pouchot believe, either that they intended to raise the siege, or that they were preparing for some determined assault. We had many wounded this night, and several killed in working to repair damages."

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Our County and Its People: A Descriptive Work on Erie County, New York (Volume 1), Part 12

Author: Truman C. White Publication date: 1898 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1017

Author: Truman C. White
Publication date: 1898
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1017