USA > New York > Essex County > The military and civil history of the county of Essex, New York : and a general survey of its physical geography, its mines and minerals, and industrial pursuits, embracing an account of the northern wilderness > Part 6
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 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42
Johnson, when he heard the noise of the battle, and knew by its approach that his troops were retreating, with admirable promptitude and energy, sent forth the reen- forcement of Cole, and prepared for the impending conflict. The skilled woodsmen of New England rapidly felled trees, which, with the wagons and baggage formed a hasty
: 1 A cotemporaneous account states that Hendrik fired the first shot in the battle .- Pownall to Lords of Trade, Doc., VI, 1008.
2 Doc., x, 343. ª Idem, 343.
59
MILITARY AND POLITICAL HISTORY.
and partial breastwork, while two or three cannons were hurried from the shore of the lake, where they had been placed ready for embarkation. The defection of the irregular troops compelled Dieskau to make a brief halt in front of the works,1 which was a precious boon to the intrenching provincials. Then ensued, protracted through the horrors of more than four hours, the most severe and bloodiest fight the wilds of the new world had ever wit- nessed. Dieskau first assaulted with his regulars the centre, but, "thrown into disorder by the warm and con- stant fire of the artillery and colonial troops," was repulsed.2 Then he assailed the left flank, and, in a last and desperate effort, hurled his wasted and bleeding veterans upon the extreme right, with the impetuosity and heroic daring that belonged to the troops of France. But this attack was also crushed by the overwhelming fire from the intrench- ments. In their excited ardor, many of the provincials and Indians leaping over the frail breastworks, opposed the butts of their reversed guns to the glittering bayonets of the French, and completed with a great slaughter, their defeat.3 The Canadians and Indians inflicted con- siderable loss upon the Americans from an adjacent morass, but were dispersed by a few shots thrown into their midst. And this was the extent of their services. However inherently brave, as was attested by many a bloody field, the habitans of Canada were reluctant and murmuring levies, forced into a war of conquest by a ruthless conscription, that swept, on the threshold of har- vest, every able-bodied man from the district of Montreal, leaving their crops to be gathered by coerced labor, from other sections of the province.4
Dieskau appears not to have been adapted by tempera- ment or manners, to conciliate the attachment or to com- mand the confidence of his savage allies. Instead of indulging in familiar intercourse and yielding to their
1 Johnson's official report. 2 Johnson's report. 3 Johnson, idem.
4 Breard to Machault, Doc., x, 309.
60
HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY.
habits and peculiarities, he maintained with them -and equally with his subordinates and the Canadians -the stately German style of seclusion and exclusiveness. This course destroyed the influence and devotion, which could only be exerted over their rude and capricious na- ture, by controlling their impulses and affections. They could not comprehend the motive of Dieskau in his rapid attack on the entrenched camp, and asked delay, "that they might rest and care for their wounded." When he persisted, they exclaimed in amazement : " Father you have lost your reason, listen to us." 1
Dieskau, thrice wounded and disabled, refused to be carried from the field by Montrueil, his subordinate, and " ordered him in the king's name to assume the command and make the best retreat he could." 2 Two Canadians came to his relief, " but one was killed outright," writes Dieskau, "falling across my legs to my great embarrass- ment." Bathed in blood and calmly supporting himself against a tree, while the tempest of bullets hurtled about him, he remained until the advance of the provincials, when he was again deliberately fired at by a refugee Frenchman.3 The shot penetrating both hips, perforated an internal organ, and caused a wound, which. after twelve years of extreme suffering, terminated his life. But his mental anguish far exceeded any physical suffering. He was allowed by his king to languish a prisoner until the peace of 1763, neglected by his country and an object of unjust calumny and aspersion.4
Dieskau, when his name was known, was tenderly borne by the victors to the tent of Johnson, placed upon his bed and received the prompt aid of Johnson's own surgeon.
' Hough's Pouchot, 1, 35, 47. 2 Idem, 343.
3 " Leaping on me, he said in very good French, " Surrender." I said to him, "You rascal, why did you fire on me : you see a man lying on the ground bathed in blood, and you fire on him, eh ?" He answered, "How did I know but you had a pistol ? I prefer to kill the devil, than that the devil kill me."- Doc., x, 343.
4 Dieskau to Belle Isle .- Doc., x, 806 ; Idem, 594.
61
MILITARY AND POLITICAL HISTORY.
Several Indians forced themselves into the tent and in passionate vehemence claimed the prisoner, that they might burn him to expiate the death of their chieftain. The determined attitude of Johnson and his great influence with the Mohawks, alone preserved Dieskau from this horrid doom.1 Romance and sympathy still linger in the popular heart around the name of Dieskau. Able, valiant and generous, he fell, almost at the moment of victory, by the baseness and treachery of unworthy followers. He reached the St. Lawrence with high hopes and ardent am- bition, when June had scarcely decorated its shores in the beauty and verdure of spring; but before the autumnal leaves had fallen, he was fatally stricken, defeated, and a captive.2
St. Pierre, the leader of the French Indians, and the de- fiant but chivalric negotiator with Washington on the banks of the Ohio two years before, fell on this bloody field. But the disasters of the French were not yet termi- nated. The army had scattered into fragments ; and a party of about three hundred, stopping for a brief rest, were encountered by a body of provincials under McGinnis of New Hampshire and Folsom of New York, were again routed and flying in confusion, abandoned all their bag- gage and ammunition to the conquerors. This triumph cost the life of the gallant McGinnis.3 The French at the moment of the assault had cast off the packs containing their supplies, and in the confusion of their hurried retreat did not recover them, and wandered two days in the woods and through morasses without food.4
The losses of the respective armies were nearly the same, each including several valuable officers, amounting to about four hundred and fifty of the French, and one hundred less of the English and Mohawks, while both could claim peculiar advantages from the results. The French had arrested the advance of the British armies, and for the sea-
1 Dieskau, Doc., x, 343. 2 Bancroft. $ Graham's Colonial History, II, 200.
4 Mortreuil to D'Argenson, Doc. x, 359.
62
HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY.
son averted an attack upon the works on Lake Champlain. For Britain, a victory had been achieved, which, succeeding so soon the disasters of Braddock, thrilled the land with joy and exultation. In the mind of the provincials the prestige of invincibility, which had attached to science and disci- pline was gone forever, and the issue of this battle had its fruition by the influence it imparted in a future and a nobler contest for national independence and freedom. The narrative of this triumph will ever warm the heart of the American historian with interest and pride, for this was the first field on which the yeomanry of the colonies, led by their own citizens, met and vanquished the trained vete- rans of Europe.
Johnson, at an early stage of the conflict, was wounded, and left the field and the battle to be guided by the con- duct and intrepidity of Lyman of Massachusetts. These and the fiery and persistent valor of the troops, won the victory. The Mohawks and the colonists were alike cla- morous for the pursuit of the flying enemy ; the one burn- ing to avenge the death of their beloved sachem, and the other panting to crush a foe that so often had desolated their own borders with fire and blood. But the prudence, or timidity of Johnson who professed to fear a renewed attack with artillery, restrained their ardor, and the French secured an unmolested retreat to Carillon.1 The voice of New England and the council of his officers urged the accom- plishment of the original designs of the campaign, while the French army was demoralized by defeat, the works at Ticon- deroga scarcely commenced and the walls of St. Frederick crumbling, but the Mohawks returned to their wigwams, and Johnson, irresolute and hesitating, lost the occasion, and wasted the season in the profitless labor of erecting Fort William Henry. The campaign was closed, and the army disbanded.2 On another field, Johnson vindicated claims to high military talents ; but here he seems to shrink from risking by the contingencies of war laurels already plucked,
1 Doc., x, 1013. 2 Bancroft and Graham.
63
MILITARY AND POLITICAL HISTORY.
and which he probably perceived in his visions, gilded with future honors and fortune. Johnson was magnanimous to- wards his fallen enemy, but unjust and ungenerous to his as- sociates.1 Ascribing to himself the glory of the great event, Lyman was not named in the official report, while a faint and cold commendatory notice was extended to a few of the subordinate officers. The services of Lyman, and the courage of the American citizens, who achieved the vic- tory, received from England neither applause nor recogni- tion, while Johnson was dignified by a baronetcy, made royal superintendent of Indian affairs with a grant by parliament of £5,000, wrung from the scanty pittance allowed the suffering colonies for the burdens they had in a generous patriotism self-imposed.
It was not until the summer succeeding these exciting events, that open and mutual declarations of war were proclaimed between France and England. The contest lanquished during the year 1756 upon the borders of Champlain. In that year, another force was organized for the attack of Crown point. As on the former occasion the colonies presented their required contingents, but delays, dissensions, the incapacity and indecision of the English commanders, again exhausted the season. Offen- sive operations were limited to the bold and romantic exploits of the American rangers and the partisan corps of France. Rogers, the gallant ranger, was particularly conspicuous in these wild and daring adventures. Some- times stealing under the cover of night by the forts in canoes, he lay in ambush far down the lake, surprised and captured boats laded with supplies, which, unsuspicious of danger, were proceeding to relieve the garrisons. Fre- quently he approached the forts by land, and prowling about them with Indian skill and patience, until he ascer- tained the intelligence he was ordered to collect, he cap- tured prisoners, shot down stragglers, burnt dwellings, and
1 Dieskau to D'Argenson, Doc., x, 318.
64
HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY.
slaughtered cattle feeding around the works, and then de- fying pursuit, retreated in safety.1
In one of these bold incursions, which signalized the opening of the next year, Rogers and Stark had penetrated with a force of less than eighty men, to a point between the French fortresses, near the mouth of a stream, since known as Putnam's creek, and there, in ambush, awaited their victims. A party of French are passing in gay and joyous security on the ice toward Ticonderoga. Part are taken, the rest escape and alarm the garrison. The rangers attempt to retreat, pressing rapidly along the snow path, in Indian file, as was their custom, but on ascending the crest of a hill they receive the fire of an overwhelming force, posted with every advantage to receive them.2 A fierce and bloody conflict ensued, protracted from near meridian until evening. The rangers retreating to a hill, are protected by the covert of the trees and there gallantly sustain the unequal conflict. Rogers, twice wounded, yields the command of the little band to Stark, who with infinite skill and courage, guides the battle, repulses the foe, with a loss far exceeding his entire force, and at night conducts a successful retreat to Lake George. Leaving there his wounded and exhausted companions, Stark, accompanied by only two volunteers, traverses on snow shoes, a distance of forty miles, and returns to them, with aid and supplies the second morning. This courageous band, reduced to forty-eight effective men, with their pri- soners effected a retreat to Fort William Henry in safety. This incident, brilliant as it appears, is rivaled, if not
1 Rogers's Journal, 16, 18, 20, 24. Rogers, on a later occasion, manifested that humor was blended with his daring. He killed fifteen beeves almost beneath the walls of Carillon, and to the horns of one attached a paper couched in these words: "I am obliged for the repose you have allowed me to take ; I thank you for the fresh meat you have sent me. I shall take care of my prisoners ; I request you to present my compliments to the Marquis De Montcalm. ROGERS, Commandant of the Independent Companies."- Doc., x, 839.
2 This battle is supposed to have occurred near the residence of M. B. Townsend, in Crown point .- C. Fenton.
65
MILITARY AND POLITICAL HISTORY.
eclipsed by a chivalric and daring exploit of the French. A detachment of fifteen hundred French and Canadians, led by Vaudreuil in the ensuing February, who traversed the ice and snows of Champlain and Lake George, a distance of more than one hundred miles, traveling upon snow shoes, " their provisions on sledges drawn by dogs, a bear skin for their couch," and "a simple veil " their only covering. Their errand was the surprise and capture of William Henry. But the garrison was wary and vigilant. The fort was defended with success, although the vessels and bateaux, with the store houses and huts of the rangers were con- sumed.
On the return of the French from this expedition they were exposed to an infliction, rare in the sufferings incident to war. The reflection of the bright March sun from the dazzling surface of the snow produced a partial although temporary blindness, in one-third of the party. So severe was this opthalmic attack, that those affected were obliged to be led by their companions.1
A bold and secret attack by English boats upon the out- works and flotilla at Ticonderoga, was, some months after, signally defeated with severe loss.
The northern colonies, still eager for the expulsion of the French from their borders, acceded to the requisition of Loudon, and assumed to raise four thousand troops for the campaign of 1757. These contingents, they supposed, were designed for the reduction of Crown point and Ticonderoga. Loudon, either from caprice or instability, suddenly announced the abandonment of that expedition, and his purpose of uniting his forces for the conquest of Louisburg. This futile and impracticable scheme left the frontier of the colonies open and unprotected. The vigilant and sagacious enemy, from their watch-towers, at Carillon, saw the error and prepared promptly to seize the advantage.
1 Garneau, III, 88 ; Pouchot.
5
66
HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY.
CHAPTER V. MONTCALM, 1756, 1757.
The Marquis de Montcalm was ordered to Canada as the successor of Dieskau. A nobleman of high birth, nurtured in camps from the age of fourteen, animated by spirit and genius in his profession, and guided by an uncommon grasp of views and perceptions in the political affairs of his coun- try, he was calculated to act a distinguished role in the bloody drama then enacting in the new world. Montcalm had served with distinction in the wars of Italy, Germany, and Bohemia, and numerous wounds attested the severity of his services. He was a scholar deeply conversant with the classics of Greece and Rome. Repeated instances in the progress of events had illustrated how almost utterly value- less were the experience and science gained in the wars of Europe, in projecting or conducting a campaign in the wilds of America. The acute sagacity of Montcalm at once perceived this fact, and he promptly engaged in pro- curing "information of a country and a war, in which everything is different to what obtains in Europe."1 Along the vast boundary line that divided the possessions of France and England, extending from Acadia to the Missis- sippi, an unbroken forest, often hundreds of miles in width, separated the occupied districts of the alien provinces. These forests had but slight assimilation to the poetical green woods of the old world, but disclosed only dark, tan- gled, dank and impervious tracts, penetrated alone by the trail of the Indian. On either side the bold and hardy pioneers were gradually, but constantly invading these solitudes. Their vigorous arms were slowly carving out spots, where the humble cabins were built upon the verge of this boundless forest. A perpetual warfare was waged between the savages, who regarded these wildernesses as their homes and their hunting grounds, and this vanguard
1 Doc., x, 400.
67
MILITARY AND POLITICAL HISTORY.
of civilization. The aborigines knew no other method of attack than the secret ambuscade, and surprise, and in actual fighting, the covert by each individual of a tree, a rock or a bush. The practices of civilized war, the con- certed manœuvres of troops, or the mechanism that moved drilled battalions, were found in many a conflict with Indian warriors without efficiency, and powerless. The instincts of self-preservation compelled the settlers to adopt the method of savage arts, and they became expert pupils in this horrid warfare. With almost equal skill as their Indian teachers, they learned to form the ambush, to make the sudden attack, to thread the intricacies of the forest, to pursue the trail of a foe, and to disguise their own. The tomahawk was wielded by the backwoodsman with savage dexterity, and even the terrible offices of the scalp- ing-knife were often familiar to his habits.1 In these wars, mercy was seldom recognized, and a mutual extermination was their stimulating motive.
The exigencies of these circumstances and of the times, called into existence a novel organization of troops, little known to the military bureaux of Europe. The partisan corps of New France, and the American rangers and scouts, combined with most of the Indian characteristics some infusion of the discipline and subordination belong- ing to regular armies. These bodies, especially the French corps, united with a large savage element, were the most effective and active arm of forest warfare upon the borders of New England, and New York. These savages reached everywhere, overwhelming alike the hut of the frontier and the dwellings and hamlets, whose re- moteness seemed to secure immunity from danger ; flank- ing armies and fortresses, and suddenly striking a blow, far in the interior of the hostile territory, and retreating by the light of burning villages or the flames of solitary cabins with the scalps of childhood and age, of the soldier and woman, they would steal back silently to their lurk-
1 Hough's Pouchot, 77.
68
HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY.
ing places. Marin - the Molang of tradition and popular tales-was the prominent leader of the French expeditions, and by his brilliant qualities as a partisan, and by deeds of valor, often sanguinary, but sometimes redeemed by generous acts, he was a worthy, though formidable antago- nist to Rogers and Putnam, the gallant chiefs of the American rangers. Marin was originally attached to the navy of France, but at an early age, allured by the romance and daring character of the border warfare of New France, he joined the irregular forces of the government, formed of Indians and Canadians.
The French, far more than the English, were successful in conducting military operations in association with their savage auxilliaries. More flexible in their own feelings, they were more yielding and tolerant towards the peculiar habits and temperament of the Indians. Coercion and reason were powerless with such allies. Capricious, and intractable, superstitious and fluctuating, they could only be moved by their affections and controlled by an apparent yielding to their humors and impulses. The Indians, in these border wars, were often the most valuable auxiliaries, and achieved victory upon more than one important field ; but always unreliable, no safe calculations could be placed upon their services, their fidelity or constancy. Montcalm pronounced them inestimable as scouts and spies. The corps of Marin, so dreaded for its ubiquity, its bold exploits, and the desolation it inflicted upon the American settle- ments, was constituted chiefly of Indians. Scalps and prisoners commanded their price in market, and their comparative value was decided by the spirit of mercy or ven- geance which happened to prevail in the council chamber.1
Montcalm arrived in May, 1756, at Quebec, and has- tened without delay to the frontier, to acquire by personal inspection a knowledge of its conditions and capabilities
1 Montcalm, in a postscript to D'Argenson, coolly adds : "Two canoes arriving while I write. They raise the dead cry. That wail announces that they have killed or captured eleven English."- Doc., x, 422.
69
MILITARY AND POLITICAL HISTORY.
of defense. Fifteen busy days he occupied in their in- vestigations. " Ambulances," he writes, " in a horrible condition; bread bad; the works at Carillon but little advanced; order to be introduced everywhere; recogni- zances of the passes to be made."1 Recalled by Vau- dreuil to Montreal, he " traveled night and day," and after one day given to consultation, repaired with the same rapid speed to Frontenac. Such zeal animated the ardor of Montcalm, and he desired to impart the same spirit to all branches of the service and administration. In August, he had organized an adequate force and armament, and advancing with a celerity that disguised his movements, he suddenly besieged Oswego, which, after a brief defense, capitulated. Abandoning his con- quest, he left on its site only ruins and solitude.2 In the autumn and winter succeeding, he was present at Carillon, and directed the events traced in the close of the last chapter. Marin, in July, 1757, was dispatched from Carillon, with a small body of Indians, to harass the Eng- lish scouting parties. He surprised near Fort Edward, and attacked with success, two detachments, and retreated triumphantly in the face of a superior force, that pursued him. " He was unwilling," wrote Montcalm to Vaudreuil, " to amuse himself making prisoners ; he brought in one, and thirty-two scalps." 3 Did this cold apathy presage the fearful scenes soon to occur at William Henry ?
In the same summer, a party of three hundred and fifty provincials, under the command of Colonel Parker, in twenty-two bateaux, proceeding incautiously down Lake George, were surprised by a body of Ottawa Indians under Corbiere at Sabbath-day point. Only two boats and fifty men escaped the fatal ambush.4 The next year when the British army stopped at the same place, they " beheld the melancholy remains of the command both in the water and on the land." 5
1 Doc., x, 432. 2 Bancroft. $ Doc., X. 591. 4 Idem, 594. 5 Idem, 734.
70
HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY.
Montcalm had directed all the powers of his genius and energies to the accomplishment of one great and desirable triumph. The fort at the head of Lake George, erected by Johnson, had been a perpetual object of alarm and anxiety to the government of Canada, and its conquest was a determined purpose, cherished in the colonial policy. The partial success of Vaudreuil, instead of repressing has prompted renewed effort. It was determined that the attempt should be repeated, with a force and efficiency, that must command success. In aid of this enterprise, all the savage tribes, controlled by the influence of France, were summoned. Their warriors gathered from the wilds of Lake Superior to the shores of Acadia, assembled around the fort at St. Johns. Montcalm, glowing with the triumph at Oswego, was there. By his success, his courage and endurance, he had conciliated their affection. He justly wrote " I have seized their manners and genius.1
He mingled in their war dance, and chanted their war songs, captivating their hearts by his largesses and kind- ness, and exciting their savage passions by visions of plun- der and revenge. The warriors embarked in two hundred canoes, bearing the distinctive pennons of the various nations : the priests accompanied their neophytes, and while the war chants strangely blended with the hymn of the missionary, passed up Lake Champlain, to unite at Ticonderoga their rude forces with the legions of Montcalm. These had been rapidly assembled at Crown point and Carillon.
The transportation of two hundred and fifty bateaux and two hundred canoes across the portage between Lake Champlain and Lake George, a space of about three miles, " without the aid of oxen or horses " was a gigantic labor, achieved by "men's arms alone; entire brigades headed by their officers, relieved each other in the work."2 The next day, when all the preliminaries had been arranged, Montcalm called together the chiefs of the tribes in coun-
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.