USA > New York > The history of the late province of New-York, from its discovery, to the appointment of Governor Colden, in 1762. Vol. II > Part 22
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26
324
HISTORY OF NEW-YORK.
burnt an immense magazine for the supply of the interior dependencies, and in twenty-four days after having destroyed the vessels on the Lake, returned to assist in securing the important pass in the coun- try of the Oneidas, which Mr. Webb had the year before abandoned to the intimidation of all the six Indian tribes. But either by the fatigue of these vigorous exertions, or the bad quality of the waters of the Wood creek, we lost five hundred men of this detachment, a great part of whom were levies of this colony. The author's letter to governor Morris, enclosing one from Mr. Dubois, who was a captain under Bradstreet, brought the first intelligence of this event to England. He desired an audience to communicate it to Mr. Secretary Pitt, who received him, and unassisted, entered into so copious a dis- play of its consequences, that his informer lost, what was one of the ends of the interview, not having a thought to add to the sagacious remarks of that bold, active, and discerning statesman, who appeared to be accurately informed of the inland geography of America, then understood even in this country only by an inquisitive few.
It was imagined that Mr. Abercombie would re- new the attack, but the author learnt from general Prevost that some additional works at lake George engrossed all his attention, and that the campaign would end as shamefully as it had begun. Having communicated the public censures on his conduct in that quarter, so early as the 21st of July, his answer did not admit that the general was culpable in recrossing the lake, and seemed to hint that there could be but little dependence on the provincials.
325
HISTORY OF NEW-YORK.
The author, on the 13th of September, expressed himself thus :---
" Though some of the colony troops seemed to discover a temper not very encouraging at the first landing, is it not true that they behaved with spirit in the attack ? or, which is sufficient to my purpose, did not the general think so, when orders were given to thank them publicly for their gallantry? was not their universal surprise at the retreat some proof that their minds were then firm, and not broken by a panic? and does not the rapidity with which they were brought off, demonstrate that no time was spent to examine the temper of the army? what are your reflections on the general's orders of the cannon and baggage to New-York. Provin- · cials reduced Louisburgh the last war. Acadie was reduced mostly by provincials. Dieskau was taken by the colony troops. The rangers are colonists. Provincials cut off Killanning ; and by provincials we lately destroyed Frontenac. You will agree with me that irregulars will be of use for a surprise in a weakly fortified, wooded country. When pro- vincials succeed in one kind of service, most men think them fit for all. This indeed is arguing ill, and nothing will show it to be bad logic so soon as better conduct on the part of the regulars. What think you of rebuilding Oswego? If the war con- tinues another campaign, I can't help thinking that in a general invasion of Canada, five or six thousand troops sent down the Cataraqui stream would greatly favour the descent of a larger army through Cham- plain, and a fleet on the river."
326
HISTORY OF NEW-YORK.
The reply of the 28th has these passages :-
" I have no answer to make in regard to the general's orders to Cummings on the night of the attack, for I am at a loss to defend a bad cause, as I should be to give up a good one. Provincials have performed all you relate, and had they been pro- perly led, it is my just opinion they might have done more, but for all that, they were not in the least fit for the service we are upon. I do not know verily, whether we shall attempt this year to retrieve our losses, but we are in readiness with regard to all the necessary implements and provisions ; and if any thing is still wanting, I am pretty certain it will be at the lake before the reinforcement of the regulars can come from Boston."
When the five regiments from Louisburgh landed there, and marched slowly to find winter quarters at Albany, they had not the least intimation that Mr. Abercrombie suspended his re-attempts for their junction, and then heard it for the first time with surprise. The controversy then arose respect- ing the fault, which was at last charged upon Mr. Pownal, the governor of Boston, to whom Mr. Abercrombie had entrusted despatches to Mr. Amherst for reinforcements, immediately after the retreat from Carillon. But the season was elapsed. The French had gathered in their harvest. The British fleet had left the St. Lawrence, and the whole force of Canada was collected on lake Cham- plain, and by the middle of October, the victors from Louisburgh were in winter cantonments.
The operations terminated in the north-west, in the construction of a respectable fort in the country
327
HISTORY OF NEW-YORK.
of the Oneidas, and it was called Stanwix, in com- pliment to the general who commanded in that quarter.
The account of the loss of Louisburgh on one side, and of fort Frontenac on the other, arrived at Montreal on the same day. The militia of that island and neighbourhood were instantly command- ed up the St. Lawrence, to repair the demolished fort. Colonel Peter Schuyler was witness to the consternation of the French colony. 'The whole force sent to Frontenac did not exceed fifteen hun- dred men, and upon a false alarm of Bradstreet's second approach, the greatest part of them aban- doned the works, and descended the river with the utmost precipitation-the dispirited populace consi- dering their country as lost.
But our success on Ontario had still more exten- sive effects, and verified in fact what Shirley long had beheld in speculation: the Indians now changed their temper. A peace was established at Easton in October, not only with the Six Nations, but all the barbarians on the waters of the Delaware and the Susquehannah. The reduction of Frontenac contri- buted also to the progress of general Forbes on the Ohio. The enemy abandoned fort Du Quesne on his approach, and a treaty was concluded with the numerous savages in that remote country, who had, after Braddock's defeat, spread desolation along the interior frontiers of all the southern colo- nies. Frederick Root, after the treaty of Easton, ventured amongst them at the hazard of his life, and convened eight hundred of their warriors at a council fire on the western bank of the Ohio, near
328
HISTORY OF NEW-YORK.
fort Du Quesne. The Alleghanies, consisting of four hundred fighting men, who formerly inhabited Pennsylvania, New-Jersey, and the western parts of this province, agreed to meet at Philadelphia at such time as Mr. Denny, the governor of Pennsyl- vania, should appoint. The rest, who were Shaw- nees, and lived farther down the stream of the Ohio, were inclined to wait the result of the negotiations with the other tribes, but engaged to disperse at present, leaving Mr. Forbes to advance without opposition, and conducted part to that army to communicate that agreeable intelligence.
After divers adjournments, Mr. Delancey and his assembly met again in November, and he delivered a speech, congratulating them on the reduction of Louisburgh, the erection of fort Stanwix, and the success at Frontenac. Of the repulse at Ticonde- roga he expressed himself with caution : " Though (says he) our sanguine hopes have been disappoint- ed, yet the enemy have gained no ground there, and things are as they were on Hudson's river at the beginning of the campaign." He then reminds them of three trips to Albany-recommends these to their consideration, and leaves them to the common business of the year.
At the instance of Mr. Cruger, the thanks of this house were given to Mr. Oliver Delancey, who had served with general Abercrombie as colonel-in chief of the New-York forces-" For his great service and singular care of the troops under his com- mand."* They gave his brother, the lieutenant-
1
* He, with Mr. John Cruger and Mr. Beverly Robinson, were the pay-mas- ters and commissaries for laying out the £100,000 devoted for the campaign.
329
HISTORY OF NEW-YORK.
governor, eighteen hundred pounds for a salary, four hundred pounds for fuel, candles, and lights, and for his three visits to Albany three hundred pounds more.
According to a law, no assembly could continue longer than seven years from the test of the sum- mons by which it was first convened ; and the writs for the present house issuing in January, 1752, this was of course the last session, the term expiring in a few weeks.
The party who had so long held the reins, could not think of separating without a five-pound act for the greater influence of the trading factors in the ensuing elections.
One of the main sticklers in the council for amending the bill was Mr. Chambers-the profits of whose office, as town-clerk of the capital, would be greatly abridged by the commission of all causes between forty shillings and five pounds before cog- nizance in the mayor's court, to a single justice of the peace.
This was his motive for amending the bill, and he was supported by the majority, who thought it reasonable to give a compensation to all patent offices whose profits were to be lessened by that bill. The assembly had refused the amendments, and the council had given notice that they adhered to them, so that the bill had been considered as lost, until the house, unwilling to be dissolved without it, resumed the consideration of the amend- ments, on the 9th December, (for no prorogation had intervened) and assenting to them, the council, VOL. II .- 42
330
HISTORY OF NEW-YORK.
(into which Mr. Watts and Mr. Watson had been introduced by the interest of sir Charles Hardy,) without any objection handed the bill over to the lieutenant-governor, and it passed into a law.
· Before their parting, care was taken to intimidate and weaken the influence of Mr. Depeyster, the treasurer, and his powerful connexions in the inte- rest of his brother-in-law Chambers, by stating an account between him and the colony, according to which he appeared to be a debtor to the public in 1757, for above thirty thousand pounds ; and to reward Mr. Speaker Jones, who had so long served the interest of the lieutenant-governor, and fallen under the suspicion of his constituents in Queen's county as a friend to the chartered college, he was constituted one of the judges of the supreme court, and on the face of a new instruction gave him his commission, granting the office during good beha- viour. But it must be added, that there was at that time an important cause to be tried on a claim to near sixty acres of land in the suburbs of the me- tropolis, held by the corporation of Trinity church, of which Mr. Chambers and Mr. Horsmanden were members, and therefore exceptionable judges, and when the trial came on Mr. Jones sat alone.
But it was easy to apologise for this appointment, especially as the two houses at this time furnished him with a very seasonable exhibition of the zeal of the colony in the services of the war, with a view that this representation should be communicated with his own additions to the king's ministers for a share of the promised reimbursements, and that delivered, Mr. Delancey dissolved the assembly on
.331
HISTORY OF. NEW-YORK.
the 16th of December, " not (as he told them) for any distrust of their proceedings ; on the contrary, I take this public occasion of thanking them, and declaring that I think they have done a great deal for the service of their king and country, and that they merit the approbation and thanks of their constituents. But as his majesty's commands for the operations of the ensuing year against the enemy are not come over, and probably will not arrive here till near the time when this assembly must expire by the limitation of the septennial act ; in which event, if this assembly should not during their continuance go through the business then to be recommended to them, the public service would be delayed and perhaps disapproved."*
The elections demonstrated that all the arts used to influence the multitude were insufficient to extin- guish the flames of jealousy excited by the partial pre-eminence given to one denomination in the modelling of the college. Fifteen new members were introduced, and among them several whose abilities increased the difficulty of managing their humours, and who by their opulence were indiffe- rent to the smiles or frowns of a party they meant to check and subvert.
Philip Livingston, a popular alderman, came in as a member for the metropolis; William Living- ston, who had signalized himself in opposing the exclusive charter, was chosen to represent his bro- ther's manor; Robert R. Livingston and Henry
* It was known that general Amherst was to command the next year. He sent some of the Louisburgh troops across the country from Boston to Albany, and arrived at New-York on the 12th December, 1758.
1
332
HISTORY OF NEW-YORK.
Livingston were sent by the county of Dutchess ; Mr. Hicks of Queen's county had been a partisan of governor Clinton, and with his colleague were preferred to Mr. Justice Jones and Cornel-the people of that county censuring the former as a tool to the lieutenant-governor, and the latter as influenced by his old colleague. Messrs. Hasbrouck and Bruyn, Herring and Wisner, were sent up by Ulster and Orange counties, disgusted by the late ruling party.
But Mr. Delancey was not left without hopes. His brother Oliver, and his friends John Cruger, the mayor, and Mr. Lispenard got in for the city, nor did his brother and his cousins Verplanck and Rensselaer lose their seats. Besides, he could rely upon Mr. Nicoll, his cousin-german Mr. Watts, and upon Messrs. Winne, Philipse and Thomas, who were his companions and members of the late house.
Add to this, that the Delanceys had gained in the council what they lost in the assembly. He seemed to be fixed in the chair, and therefore awed the whole board. In proportion to their jealousy of the Livingstons, who were considered as the leaders of the non-episcopal denominations, they were willing to draw with the Delanceys, though the latter were not fond of being publicly considered as the head of a sect, though powerful in its influence, yet small in point of numbers ; not to mention that the new members, Watts and Watson, were not only sure votes in that board for the party, but a check upon the freedom of their debates, From this time we shall distinguish the opposition under the name of
333
HISTORY OF NEW-YORK.
the Livingston party, though it did not always pro- ceed from motives approved of by that family.
The writs of summons were returnable on the 26th January, 1759, but the inclemency of the season preventing their convention, Mr. Delancey pro- rogued them by a proclamation under his private seal, to the 31st. For this irregularity he had the advice of his council, nor was it excepted to by the assembly. The new plan for the year being not yet come to the hands of general Amherst, who had been waiting here in daily expectation of it, the lieutenant-governor, after Mr. Nicoll was chosen speaker, addressed them with congratulations on general Forbes's success against fort Du Quesne, recommended a more compulsory law for impress- ing horses and carriages, the prevention of frivolous arrests, the payment of public debts, and their con- certing a plan for more populous settlements of the waste lands of the crown. These measures were as much for his own interest as for that of the pub- lic; the last mentioned especially, by which his emoluments in the land office might by new grants be greatly increased.
They gave him a general answer with warm pro- fessions of zeal for the service of the crown and their country, and entered into the common routine of business, till Mr. Secretary Pitt's despatches arrived the latter end of February, requiring an addition to the British troops of at least twenty- thousand men from the colonies of the east, and of Pennsylvania, upon the terms of the last campaign.
It was immediately resolved to raise two thousand six hundred and eighty men, as the proportion of
. . 334
HISTORY OF NEW-YORK.
this colony, by giving each individual £15 bounty, and twenty shillings more to the recruiting officer ; and to defray the expense by an emission of £100,000 in paper, to be sunk in nine years by a tax, begin- ning with £12,000 for the present.
To quicken the levies, the lieutenant-governor urged the house for power to make detachments, that every man might be interested in procuring volunteers ; and by the 7th of March, the main bill for the levies and one for impresses being ready, they were passed with two or three others of less moment, and the members retired to their counties to forward the enlistments, when great umbrage was taken by the quakers, to whose conscientious scruples the legislature had shown very little regard.
But the assembly were soon re-convened for a fresh proof of their zeal. The agents for the motley contractors were out of cash, and the end of the campaign in danger of being frustrated, unless a loan could be made to the crown of £150,000 cur- rency. It was no sooner asked by Mr. Amherst, than a law passed (2d July) upon his promise of repayment in the course of a year, by bills to be drawn by the deputy pay-master of the army, and the cash lent consisted of bills of credit now issued.
General Prideaux took the command of the west- ern army destined to Niagara. They advanced the 1st of July, 2200 strong, exclusive of several hundred Indians led by sir William Johnston. They landed, invested the French fort and opened their trenches. The general fell by the unfortunate explosion of a cohorn on the 20th. The American baronet took
335
HISTORY OF NEW-YORK.
his place, and sent for Mr. Haldimand, who with twelve hundred men had just before repelled sixteen hundred of the enemy in the defence of that post, with a considerable loss to them and none to us. Before Mr. Haldimand arrived, a strong party of thirteen hundred came from Venango to the relief of the besieged, with five hundred savages. Lieu- tenant-colonel Massey advanced with a detachment of five hundred men to meet them. Observing that our Indians sought an opportunity to speak with them, and fearing the effect of it, the French set up and begun the charge. In less than an hour they gave way with the loss of one hundred and fifty prisoners, the first and second in command, Morang, the Indian leader, and seventeen officers, seven of whom were captains. Except the Mohawks, all our own Indians stood aloof till after the route. This victory of 23d July gave us the fort. Through the unskilfulness of our engineers, the works were un- hurt ; and having ammunition for only forty-eight hours more, sir William was on the point of raising the siege. The garrison capitulated at the instance of the commandants. There were made prisoners of war to the number of six hundred and seven: their women and children were to be sent to Montreal.
General Amherst led the main body. They passed lake George without opposition, and proceeded to the lines so fatal to us the year before. While our trenches were opening, the enemy kept in their fort, but in the night of the 26th July, blew it up and repaired to Crown Point, leaving twenty men behind who could not find room in their boats. We lost colonel Roger Townsend the night before, by a can-
336
HISTORY OF NEW-YORK.
non shot in the shoulder, while he was imprudently gratifying his curiosity at the trenches.
Five days after, M. Bourlemaque abandoned fort St. Frederick, and demolished the works on the approach of Rogers' rangers, and retiring with all the stores to the Isle aux Noix at the north end of lake Champlain, where his whole force collected amounted to two thousand men, who were in a starving condition.
Colonel Gage was ordered on the news of the surrender of Niagara, to proceed from Oswego with the western forces down the St. Lawrence to La Galette, while general Wolf was besieging Quebec, that the French force drawn to the two extremes of Canada, might favour general Amherst's descent upon the centre of the colony, with an army of twelve thousand men through lake Champlain.
On the flight from Crown Point, few doubted the reduction of Montreal, where they imagined the in- habitants shut out from the rest of the world, and so harassed as to be unable to collect in their harvest, upon the point of perishing by a famine, and by despair ready to resign themselves the moment of general Amherst's landing at St. John's : they relied on the intelligence that the savages in the French alliance were intimidated, and conceived that the immense plunder of Niagara would be sufficient to draw all our Indians to a firm junction with the troops who were to act under Mr. Gage. But of these de- signs not one was executed save that trusted to general Wolfe, and this not till the 13th September. General Amherst who had advanced within thirty miles of St. John's, and burnt all the French vessels
337
HISTORY OF NEW-YORK.
but one, on the news of the Quebec victory returned to Crown Point.
The multitude however were contented with a change of fortune so very different from what they had hitherto experienced, and contented with their successes, a veil was willingly drawn over that inac- tivity which had disappointed our hopes of the total subjugation of the power of France on this continent.
The fort of Niagara, though of earth, was res- pectable, and capable of containing two thousand men. On the sides it was difficult of access. It had a river on the west, the lake on the north, and on the east a morass. The ditch was large, and a great part of it wet. The soil near it, like the Seneca country, fertile, rich, and level. About two thousand Indians visited it the ensuing autumn, abject and servile, because aware of their depen- dence on us in future for many articles necessary for their subsistence : but not a single man of the Mississages, who inhabited the old country of the Hurons, on the north bank of lake Erie, came there till the close of the campaign, for the French still maintained their post at Toronto, at the north-west corner of lake Ontario, and therefore six hundred men were left the ensuing year as a garrison at Niagara.
At Oswego we built a new pentagon fort, and opened a ditch of five and thirty feet. The maga- zine was made capable of containing a thousand barrels. Casemates and bomb proofs were con- structed, and nine companies left there for its de- fence, with several small vessels and a brigantine , VOL. IT .- 43
338
HISTORY OF NEW-YORK.
of seventy odd feet keel, mounting twenty guns. One hundred men more were posted in a small fort at the Little Falls of the Onondaga, and as many more at the western extremity of the Oneida lake ; fifteen at the eastern end, and four hundred at fort Stanwix. A road was cut from that fortress eighteen miles across the portage to the mouth of the Wood creek, to shorten the passage by that stream, which is more than double that distance. It was then asserted that the plain of the waters of the Wood creek and the Mohawk river, at each end of that carrying place, differed but two feet, which, if true, may one day give a supply of salmon and many other kinds of fish to the inhabitants upon the bor- ders of the latter of these streams.
On the north general Amherst began a fort at William Henry, completed another at Ticonderoga, formed and began to execute the design of such a fortress at Crown Point as would comprehend a circuit of nine hundred yards. The winter garrisons of these three posts amounted to fifteen hundred men.
The defeat of the party from Venango facilitated the constructions ordered by Mr. Stanwix at Pitts- burgh, where he exhausted the summer in Indian treaties, and promoting our commerce with the aborigines of the south.
The provision for the New-York troops extending only to the first of November, and general Amherst wanting their assistance for securing the ground they had gained, and to prevent the French from repairing their losses, it was necessary to re-convene the assembly in October ; and on account of the
339
HISTORY OF NEW-YORK.
small-pox, Mr. Delancey ventured to summon them again at his own out-house in the suburbs.
General Amherst's patron was Mr. Pitt; and the lieutenant-governor, who had hitherto studied to conciliate the graces of that general, did not lose the opportunity to applaud his campaign.
After declaring his acquisitions to be important and valuable, and approving the wisdom of his measures, he adds for justifying them :
" You must be sensible that the enemy have had very small supplies of provisions this year from France, and that most of the men in Canada having been in arms this summer, their crops must have suffered greatly. In this pressing situation it cannot be doubted they will use their utmost efforts to repossess themselves of their strong holds, if it were only with a design of getting subsistence from our magazines ; but if they know that there are respec- table forts to oppose them, and find that the works are completed, they must lay aside all such attempts as fruitless and vain."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.