USA > New York > The Pennsylvania and New York frontier : history of from 1720 to the close of the Revolution > Part 7
USA > Pennsylvania > The Pennsylvania and New York frontier : history of from 1720 to the close of the Revolution > Part 7
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As early as 1739, he discerned the advantages of the north side of the river, and purchased in his own right a large tract of land with a valuable mill site. When his uncle, Captain Warren learned of this, he reproached him, intimating a suspicion, that Johnson intended to abandon the Warren connection, and remove thither. A letter followed full of excuses and with the declaration that he would never remove. But, in 1743, he removed and severed the Warren connection, which caused his uncle to hire a lawyer and demand an accounting, resulting in a compromise, whereby Johnson gave his notes, aggregating over £1000 and the pledge of a valuable tract of land, in satisfaction of his overreaching. It would seem, he lacked gratitude to his benefactor, who had made possible his successful career. When a little later, Warren died, his will disclosed, that with a fine sense of irony, he left this claim to the other members of the Johnson family in Ireland. The claim was never paid, for shortly before Johnson died, he won the dispute, as a biographer suggests, because of his great influence in New York politics and corrupt connivance with the attorney for the Johnson heirs. If true, this was dishonest and reprehensible conduct and stamps Sir William Johnson as an utterly selfish and uncon- scionable man. Another dereliction of Johnson was his utter neglect of his less prosperous family in Ireland. He rarely wrote to his father and mother, although repeatedly admonished, to do so by his brother, and reminded of the heart burnings at home.
In 1749, Johnson erected at his place on the north side of the river, a little above the present city of Amsterdam, a large eight room stone house called Mt. Johnson and still standing. In 1754, it was protected by ram- parts and blockhouses ; and had adjoining it a store, bake house, mill and barns. After the French and Indian War, he built another house, "John- son Hall," near Johnstown, which he founded. It is a spacious frame house and is now used as a public museum. All talk about either of these houses being a baronial hall or castle is the fertile fancy of American snobbery. How the Johnson houses were kept, under the supervision of Molly Brant, with the household training of an Indian squaw, can be conjectured.
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They were, of course, well furnished with solid mahogany, an abundance of silver plate and a library of books; and plentifully stocked with brandy and wine and all the good things money could buy. But, the coming and going, of dirty Indian chiefs, slovenly squaws and a bawling brood of halfbreed children, must have been distracting to a good housekeeper.
During the old French war, the governor of New York was George Clinton sent over from England to mend his fortune. He had little tact or honesty and waged a perpetual feud with the assembly led by James De Lancey, and consequently New York never got out of a wrangle. Indian affairs were in the hands of the Board of Indian Commissioners, dishonest and avaricious Albany traders and their friends, and as a result these relations were in a constant tangle.
The sore spot of the New York frontier was Oswego, always coveted and continually threatened by the French. A considerable and very profit- able part, of Johnson's trading operations, was supplying the Oswego traders, and he was vitally interested in keeping open the road to that post. As Johnson was sending his merchandise to Oswego, Clinton, in April 1746, commissioned him to supply the Oswego garrison. This was the first important government recognition of him.
Probably, to increase his trade, Johnson had made himself very familiar with his Mohawk Indian neighbors, had been adopted by them and given the name of Warraghiyagey. In 1746, Clinton held a conference with the Six Nations at Albany ; and Johnson, who had persuaded many of the Mohawks to attend, appeared there, at their head, bedecked and bedaubed like an Indian chief. His influence was not great as three of the principal Mohawk chiefs were won over by Mr. Barclay, missionary at Fort Hunter and Dr. Cadwallader Colden, who was the soul of the conference. Al- though, the Iroquois pledged themselves to take up the hatchet against the French, their active participation in the war was of little consequence.
Johnson supported Clinton in his war against De Lancey and the assembly, and the governor commissioned him a colonel of the Indian forces. Thenceforth, Clinton largely entrusted Johnson with the manage- ment of Indian affairs. The assembly hectored Clinton with replies to his messages, which contained intimations, that although large sums had been supplied the Indians, they had not joined in the war to any extent; also that in these disbursements, individuals (evidently alluding to Johnson) had profited largely.
Governor Clinton, in 1750, appointed Johnson a member of the Provincial Council and the same year he resigned his position in con- nection with Indian affairs. For supplying the garrison at Oswego, John- son made claims which the assembly would not pay. With rare discern- ment, in 1751, Johnson procured, from the Iroquois, a deed of Onondaga lake and the land around for two miles in width. He informed Clinton, he obtained it for no other purpose than to secure it for the crown, and offered to transfer it upon reimbursement for his expense, but the assembly would not comply. However, later the Provincial Council, of which John- son was a member, granted him this large and valuable tract in payment
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of his. Oswego claim. If he had this in view, when he secured the deed, it shows his uncanny business foresight. In 1753, Johnson was empowered by the governor to meet the Iroquois Council at Onondaga, which he did in a friendly manner, but the conference was of no great importance.
William Johnson owed his business opportunity to his first benefactor, Peter Warren; and he owed his political opportunity to his second bene- factor Governor George Clinton. He had been absorbed in the self-satis- faction of growing rich, and found contentment in his farm and squaws. Clinton hated the Indian Commissioners, who opposed him in the assembly ; and to be rid of them, he turned to Johnson, the only one of his adherents, who was in touch and had knowledge of Indian affairs. Johnson responded with alacrity, because it increased his business opportunities and enhanced his influence and importance. Hitherto, he had been absorbed in the conduct of his farm and the management of a dirty Indian store. Thence- forth, he had a wider vision of life, as a member of the Governor's Council and the most influential man on the New York frontier. So far, he had accomplished little of real value, in his political career, but that did not matter for Clinton's administration did not amount to much. But, to Johnson, Clinton's preferment meant his advancement to a high position in the affairs of New York, which opened avenues of emolument and honor in the future, unexpected and undreamed of in the past.
(For main facts of Johnson's early life, see : Parkman's Montcalm and Wolfe; Bancroft's History of the United States; 2, 435 to 438; Stone's Life; Pound's, Johnson of the Mohawk.)
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CHAPTER EIGHT
THE FRENCH INVASION
The Allegheny river was flush within its banks and every rift now afforded safe passage for canoes and rafts. Departed winter's snow had barely drained away from the bleak mountains, leaving the air cool and crisp ; and the dense and dismal wilderness, lining the river's winding way, was yet unclothed with the full verdure of spring. But vegetation was again budding into life and the arbutus had burst into bloom. The sleeping bear had bestirred himself and young fawn, born at the winter's close, gazed timidly, from clumps of spruce and pine, on the rough and rumbling water. Above the thread of the stream, wild fowl and feathered birds sought their summer homes and southern songsters enlivened every glade and glen. Dormant nature was springing into life and the buoyant air of spring incited the ambitions and hopes of men.
Breaking the gloomy forest's deep solitude, a flotilla of hostile craft was borne down the lonely river. There were three hundred and sixty canoes, bateaux and rafts carrying cannon, powder and shells and a thousand French and Indian fighting men. They landed on the river's eastern shore. It was the 16th of April, 1754, a momentous day in the annals of men. They planted their cannon; and their commander, Con- trecoeur dispatched Captain le Mercier to Trent's insignificant company of forty one Virginians engaged in hewing timber for an English fort, where the rivers meet. He demanded surrender and, if they immediately withdrew, promised security of persons and property, but if they refused, threatened destruction and confiscation. Captain Trent was away and Ensign Ward, in command, complied. It was the first overt act and the beginning of the French and Indian War. The Virginians with their effects marched away, and the royal ensign of France fluttered over the rising ramparts of Fort Duquesne.
In May 1754, there was peace in Europe, but the tangled skein of French and English diplomacy was rent by the martial occurrences in the wilderness. Europe was in a state of sad dismay. Its people were deluded by the pomp and splendor of imperial power. Its affairs were mismanaged and misgoverned by corrupt and cynical politicians. A blundering old German king was on the throne of England, and his ministers were incom- petent and corrupt. The continent was in the throes of petticoat govern-
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ment. A dissolute woman was czarina of Russia, the Austrian archduchess was an ambitious and scheming woman and a prostitute ruled France. The only star shinning in this clouded European sky was Frederick the Second of the little kingdom of Prussia. This malignant boil of ineptitude and corruption was festered deep with dejection and helpless hatred, and only a pin prick was needed to lance the inflamation. However, the pin was not pricked by Europe's effete courtiers and dotard generals but by a course of events in the American forests.
The first overt act by the French and its accentuation by a trifling skirmish, naturally following, precipitated the Seven Years War, which drenched the world with blood. Two subaltern officers were the uncon- scious players in this grim game of fate. They were George Washington, a lieutenant colonel of Virginia militia and Coulon de Jumonville, a petty ensign in the French army.
Virginia had voted £10,000 to sustain the occupation of the Ohio region and called on Pennsylvania for equal assistance. The assembly of that province was engaged in an acrimonious dispute with the governor over the issuance of bills of credit, and consequently Pennsylvania afforded no help. Virginia, which had received thirty cannon and eighty barrels of gunpowder, from the British government, proceeded to raise a regiment of three hundred men. Joshua Fry1 was appointed colonel of this regiment and Washington was commissioned lieutenant colonel. The pay of the colonel was only fifteen shillings, $3.75 in depreciated Virginia currency. Washington with one hundred and fifty men of this regiment, marched from Alexandria to Wills creek and thence made his way through the mountains, designing to proceed to Red Stone on the Monongahela river.
Contrecoeur dispatched Jumonville with thirty-four men from Fort Duquesne, and provided him with a letter demanding Washington's with- drawal. His instructions were to ascertain and report the whereabouts and numbers of the English. The plan, evidently, was to reinforce Jumon- ville with such numbers, as would overawe Washington and compel him to retire upon delivery of the letter. Perhaps, the officers, at Fort Duquesne, were negligent in sending reinforcemnts. Jumonville, however, by lurk- ing in the forest for five days without attempting to deliver his message, assumed the hostile attitude of a spy.
Washington was at the Youghiogheny, inspecting its passage, when informed by an Indian runner, that a French force was out. He immediately returned to the Great Meadows, where his force was and entrenched his camp. Christopher Gist informed him, May 27th, the French had been at his plantation, the day before. At 9 o'clock that night, two Indian run- ners came from the Half King with intelligence, they had discovered the hiding place of the French. Washington acted at once and taking with him forty men started for the Half King's encampment. They blundered and tumbled through the woods, in dense darkness and a downpour of rain, and did not arrive at the Half King's until near sunrise. Washington and the Half King agreed to immediately attack the French. Led by the Half King and Scarooyady with their naked and painted warriors, the
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English followed in Indian fashion, silently and in single file. The Indian scouts scanned every tree and branch for broken twigs, and crouching on the ground, examined the forest sward for faint footstep traces leading to the French hiding place. It was in a little glen surrounded by high rocks and shaded by a grove of pines.2 None but an Indian could have found it.
Washington posted his men on one side, and the Half King ambushed his warriors opposite, so as to completely surround the hideaway. The French discovered them and rushed for their guns. Washington ordered his men to fire, and the Indians burst through the underbrush with toma- hawks and scalping knives. Jumonville and nine of his men were killed, one was wounded, one escaped and twenty one were taken prisoners. The Indians scalped the dead. Davison, the interpreter stated,3 that Washing- ton and the Half King disagreed considerably, the English fired wildly and the Indians did the most execution. One Virginian was killed, three wounded and the Indians escaped unharmed.
The French claimed they were acting, only, as messengers and asserted it was an unprovoked murder of a peaceable mission and Washington's conduct inexcusable. Some writers have attempted to explain Washington's attack in such a way, as to leave the inference, that had it been any one else, it would be censurable. It seems, they have ignored the actual facts. The Ohio region was disputed territory, as no treaty had ever defined the boundaries between France and England. The English claimed it and from their standpoint it was just as much theirs as the settled parts of Virginia. Contrecoeur's expedition was an invasion of English territory and his capture of the fort and expulsion of Trent's force was an overt act of hostility and justified a war of retaliation. It was no mere ejection of private individuals. Trent was there under orders of the royal governor of Virginia, who represented the crown of England. The right, to repel an invasion by force and recapture what the invader has seized, without any formal declaration of war, has always been admitted. The French army had begun a war in America, and they were subject to the rules and conditions of war. This was exactly Washington's position and of his superior, Dinwiddie, who acting under instructions of the English authori- ties, had always proclaimed he would repel force by force. Washington did not march to begin a war. He marched into a war already begun.
There was no assertion a white flag was raised, when the French dis- covered they were surrounded, nor credible evidence they announced they had a message to deliver. Only, a loose claim, made later, that Jumon- ville waived a paper. This Washington positively denied. Instead they rushed for their guns and killed one and wounded three of the English.4
Washington returned to the Great Meadows, sent his French prisoners to Wills Creek and called for reinforcements. He was followed by the Half King and his loyal Mingoes and Queen Aliquippa. His fortification, called Fort Necessity, was strengthened. It was located four miles east of the Laurel Hills, in the present Fayette county, Pennsylvania and was sur- rounded by elevated, densely wooded ground. The fort was undesirably located, as the high ground enabled the enemy to enfilade it, and the
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woods, which approached to within one hundred yards, afforded conceal- ment. The only advantage was a small creek, flowing through the camp, which provided a plentiful supply of water. The works, designed by Cap- tain Robert Stobo, consisted of a log fort one hundred feet square and partly surrounded by a ditch.5
Christopher Gist brought word, that Colonel Fry had died at Wills Creek, May 31st, and consequently, the entire command, now, devolved on Washington. He was reinforced by the three other companies of the regiment and by Captain Mckay and his South Carolina company, which augmented his force to about four hundred men. There was contention between Washington and Mckay as to seniority, and the Carolina men refused to perform any work without extra pay. These disagreements dispirited and demoralized the Virginia troops. Exasperated by these con- tentions, Washington, leaving Mckay at Fort Necessity, marched his Virginians to Gist's plantation, where he entrenched. Nearly a month was frittered away by this dissension. But, rumors of impending attack forced Washington to fall back to Fort Necessity.
Coulon de Villiers arrived at Fort Duquesne, June 26th, with a large force of Canadian Indians, and being the ranking officer and brother of the slain Jumonville, he was designated commander of the attacking force. Contrecoeur, by liberally feasting the Delawares, persuaded them to join the party, which amounted to over eight hundred men. They paddled their canoes up the Monongahela to the Ohio Company's trading house at the mouth of Red Stone creek, which they seized ; and thence marched through the woods, by the site of the Jumonville affair and Gist's plantation, toward Fort Necessity.
July 3rd, about 11 o'clock in the forenoon, a wounded sentinel limped into Fort Necessity with the news that the French were near. The place was short of supplies. The men were raw and inexperienced and the officers apprehensive. Soon savage warwhoops filled the forest with the din of their presence. Washington posted his men without the trenches, to entice the enemy to the open field, but they declined to leave the shelter of the woods. The Half King, who disapproved of Washington's conduct of the campaign, withdrew and none of his Indians took part in the engage- ment. The day was dark and gloomy. The heavy intermittent showers, which wet the priming of the guns, were interspersed by a foggy mist, which obscured the vision of the men. The French enfiladed a portion of the fort and drove the English from that part of the fortification. The gunners were unable, to work their poorly protected cannon, by the heavy musketry fire directed upon them; and the men stood knee deep in the water, which flowed into the ditches with each downpour of rain. For nine long, dreary hours, when the weather permitted, the firing continued on both sides, and until the darkness of night descended upon them.
At 8 o'clock, de Villiers offered to negotiate but Washington declined. The offer being repeated, he sent the Dutchman, Van Braam, who under- stood a little French, to de Villiers. The parleys were continued until near midnight, when Van Braam returned with the written terms of surrender.
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In a downpour of rain, the officers gathered about him, and by the feeble light of a sputtering candle, he fumbled through a translation, which seemed to them acceptable. Washington signed the articles of capitulation.6
These set forth it was not the intention of the French, "to trouble the peace, which reigns between the two princes in amity, but only to revenge the assassination, which has been done to one of our officers bearer of a citation, as appears by his writings, as also to hinder any establishment on the lands of the dominions of the king my master." These were very humiliating admissions and concessions of English right to the disputed ter- ritory. If correctly translated, they should have been refused, unless the situation of the beseiged was extremely desperate. The English were allowed to retire with all their belongings, except artillery, and with the honors of war. The seventh article reiterated, "the assassination of Sr. de Jumonville" and provided that Captains Jacob Van Braam and Robert Stobo should be hostages for the return of the prisoners taken in the Jumonville skirmish.
It is claimed, Van Braam translated the words, "1 assassinate du Sr. de Jumonville," as death of Sr. de Jumonville, instead of assassination. Most writers appear to ignore the more damaging admissions and acknowledgements of French right to the Ohio region, and dwell at great length on the mistranslation of the word "I' assassinat," and even Wash- ington does not specifically refer to any other grievance. Dinwiddie, how- ever, perceived the greater error of the admissions, as in his letter, to Governor Hamilton (Col. Recs. 6, 136), he stated, "the enemy has noth- ing to vaunt of except what they got by the capitulation." In fact, running throughout the entire articles, the French claim is maintained, and the English acceptance and Washington's signature, would appear to concede it. The only excuse is a mistranslation of the whole document.
The French officers had throughout their invasion acted with great circumspection and attained complete success. They proclaimed no inten- tion to disturb the peace, and that their attack, on Fort Necessity, was solely to revenge the murder of Jumonville and expel the intruders from the dominions of the king of France. By the terms of the capitulation, it would seem they had achieved complete English acknowledgement of all they claimed, and by a full written record vindicated their invasion.
The English casualties were about one hundred killed and wounded, one third of this number, supposed to have been killed. The French reported a loss of seventy two killed and wounded.7
There was considerable criticism of Washington. Conrad Weiser reported (Col. Recs., 6, 151) "By the way Tanacharison, otherwise called the Half King, Complained very much of the Behaviour of Col. Washing- ton to him (tho in a very moderate way, saying the Col. Washington was a good natured man but had no experience), saying he took upon him to command the Indians as his slaves and would have them every day upon the Out Scout and attack the enemy by themselves, and that he would by no means take advice from the Indians; that he lay at one place from one full Moon to the other and made no Fortification but that little thing
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upon the meadow, where he thought the French would come up to him in open Field; that had he taken the Half King's advice and made such fortification as the Half King advised him to make he would certainly beat the French off ; that the French had acted as great Cowards and the English as Fools in that engagement; that he (the Half King) had car- ried off his wife and children, so did the other Indians before the Battle begun, because Col. Washington would never listen to them, but was always driving them on to fight by his Directions."
Colonel William Johnson in a letter (Johnson Papers 1,410) stated: "I wish Washington had acted with prudence and circumspection requisite in an officer of his rank. I can't help saying he was very wrong in many respects, and I doubt his being too ambitious of acquiring all the honor. He should have rather avoided an engagement until our troops were all assembled."
Thomas Penn wrote from England: "I am concerned to find Colonel Washington's conduct so imprudent." (Pa. Archs., 2, 255.)
Washington may have owed his appointment to the influence of his brothers, who were prominent members of the Ohio Company; and to the good graces of Dinwiddie, a close friend of Hanbury, London partner in the concern. Too much should not have been expected of a mere boy of twenty two, an enthusiastic youth, inexperienced in either public affairs or as a military commander. He was handicapped by officers equally inex- perienced, by an inadequate force, and by the illness and death of Colonel Fry, who was conversant with public affairs, was a highly educated and trusted man and had been an able Indian negotiator.
Washington retired to Winchester and his regiment was broken up into independent companies. Colonel James Innes had been appointed commander in chief of the expedition. He was joined by two New York independent companies and the North Carolina regiment, and proceeded to Wills Creek. There, he erected a fortification, which he called Fort Mt. Pleasant. The name was subsequently changed to Fort Cumberland, in honor of the Duke of Cumberland.
After Washington's defeat, the loyal western Indians fled to Aughwick. They severely taxed the patience of George Croghan, who, in August, wrote the governor, inquiring what he should do, and sending a bill for their support. The government, distrustful of Croghan in money matters, sent Conrad Weiser to Aughwick to afford the necessary relief.
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