USA > Ohio > The Ohio Valley in colonial days > Part 6
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* Dinwiddie Papers, I, 17.
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In Colonial Days.
that such an establishment had been agreed upon by his tribe and the Long House at Onondaga, that is the Supreme Council of the Iroquois .*
The Council of Virginia was of all the English authorities on the Continent the first to make a move, although a very insignificant one. The English gov- ernment had sent over a present to be made to the Six Nations, and the Council advised Governor Dinwiddie to deliver it with all due ceremony, expecting to make a favorable impression on the natives.+ Commis- sioners were appointed to meet the Indians at Loggstown,¿ and after the presents had been handed over and evidently approved by the recipients, the request for building a fort in the same place as des- ignated before, was renewed, but, says Croghan, to no effect.
Celoron's report of what he had seen in 1749 had in the meantime worked on the minds of his country- men. They understood the importance of securing a foothold at the junction of the Ohio and Monon- gahela so well, that Governor Dinwiddie wrote in February, 1753, with some alarm, about some fifteen or sixteen Frenchmen, arrived at Loggs Town and building houses, etc., there, and "that it is to be feared they will take possession of the Ohio, oppress our trade and take our traders prisoners, etc. We would fain hope these people are only French
* N. Y. Col. Hist., VII, 268-9.
+ Dinwiddie Papers, I, 17.
# Near Pittsburg, Penna.
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traders, and they have no other view but trade."* This trading post at Loggstown was, however, only the link, stretched out farthest, of the antenna, which the French army worm threw out as a feeler. In May, 1753, the commandant at Oswego saw thirty French canoes, part of an army going to Ohio, pass his post, who were to make good the French claim upon that region, but as war had not been declared between the two nations, he could not interfere, even though one of these French told him, that M. Marin was coming with 6,000 men to the Ohio, in order to settle the boundaries between his nation and the English, that the French laid claim to all lands on any rivers or creeks running into the great lakes ; that one fort was to be built at Ka-sa-no-tia- yo-ga (a carrying place), another at Diontaroga. Five hundred Cochnawagas, Scenondidies, Onogan- gas, Oroondoks and Chenundies went with this French detachment, not to fight the English but to supply the French with the results of their chase, and thus answer Governor Dinwiddie's question in the above quoted letter, of how the French would subsist their army so far from their base of supply. The Senecas, Cayugas and Shawnees looked upon this movement of the French with distrust ; they did not want them to build forts on the Ohio, upon which they looked as their property, ¿ and notified
* Dinwiddie Papers, I, 22.
+ N. Y. Col. MSS, LXXVII, 87.
į Ib. 143.
In Colonial Days. 97
the Indian Commissioners of New York that they had resolved to go to war against the French, and desired the co-operation of the whole of their confederacy."
Of the three English Colonies, whose special inter- est it was to keep the French out of the Ohio terri- tory, New York did nothing, while Pennsylvania and Virginia quarreled about the boundary line to the westward. Governor Dinwiddie writes to Cresap and Trent in February, 1753 *: "Till the line between Pennsylvania is run and our limits ascertained, I cannot restrain the many abuses done in the back- woods, as by the last treaty at the Ohio. The Indians having given us full power to settle all the lands this side of the Ohio, I conceive that the treaty fully establishes the British right to those lands, there- fore some method must be found out to dispossess the French, if they presume to oppose our settle- ments." In the following year he commenced build- ing a fort, where now stands the city of Pittsburgh, and issued the following proclamation :
Virginia, ss.
By the Hon. Robert Dinwiddie, Esq ;
His Majesty's Lieutenant-Governor, and Comman- der-in-Chief of this Dominion.
A PROCLAMATION,
For Encouraging Men to enlist in His Majesty's Ser- vice for the Defence and Security of this Colony. WHEREAS it is determined that a Fort be im-
* Dinwiddie Papers, I, 22 and 23.
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mediately built on the River Ohio, at the Fork of Monongahela, to oppose any further Encroachments, or hostile Attempts of the French, and the Indians in their Interest, and for the Security and Protection of his Majesty's Subjects in this Colony ; and as it is absolutely necessary that a sufficient Force should be raised to erect and support the same : For an Encouragement to all who shall voluntarily enter into the said Service, I do hereby notify and promise, by and with the Advice and Consent of his Majesty's Council of this Colony, that over and above their Pay, Two Hundred Thousand Acres, of his Majestys the King of Great Britains Lands, on the East Side of the River Ohio, within this Dominion, (One Hundred Thousand Acres whereof to be contiguous to the said Fort, and the other Hundred Thousand Acres to be on, or near the River Ohio) shall be laid off and granted to such Persons, who by their volun- tary Engagement, and good Behaviour in the said Service, shall deserve the same. And I further promise, that the said Lands shall be divided amongst them immediately after the Performance of the said Service, in a Proportion due to their respec- tive merit, as shall be represented to me by their Officers, and held and enjoyed by them without pay- ing any Rights, and also free from the Payment of Quit-rents, for the Term of Fifteen Years. And I do appoint this Proclamation to be read and published at the Court-Houses, Churches and Chapels in each
99
In Colonial Days.
County within this Colony, and that the Sheriffs take Care the same be done accordingly.
Given at the Council Chamber in Williamsburg, on the 19th Day of February, in the 27th Year of his Majesty's Reign, Annoque Domini, 1754.
ROBERT DINWIDDIE. GOD save the KING .*
Governor Hamilton of Pennsylvania had been in- structed by the Proprietors of the Province to assist Virginia in the proposed measures, but also to require an acknowledgment, that the projected settlements should not be continued to the prejudice of the rights of Pennsylvania. Governor Dinwiddie, however, was more alive to the necessities of all the Colonies, than Hamilton and preferred security of the British interest on the Ohio and perhaps on the whole Con- tinent, to additions to the treasury of his Province. He therefore agreed that the quit-rents for the lands to be granted by him, might be collected by Penn- sylvania, until the dispute was settled by a definitely established boundary line. This was not done in English times ; the war of the Revolution had broken out, before in 1779 the Commissioners appointed for that purpose agreed upon a line "due west five de- grees of longitude, completed from the river Dela- ware, for the southern boundary of Pennsylvania, and a meridian drawn from the western boundary thereof
* From an original in N. Y. Col. MSS., LXXVIII, 68.
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to the northern limit of said State, be the western boundary of said State forever."*
Meanwhile repeated informations came to the authorities, who ought to have acted upon it, that French troops were moving to the Ohio from Canada, and others were to join them from the Mississippi in order to build forts and drive the English from the Ohio.+ At the same time the Indians pro- claimed, that many southern Indians and others, friendly to the English, intended to oppose the French .¿ In October of 1753, the operations for the year came to a close. The French had erected forts twenty or thirty miles from each other, and by these means and the lakes kept the communication open between Quebec and the Mississippi,"§ but they had lost the hearty support of their Indian allies, who left them dissatisfied, because, contrary to the promise, made by the Governor of Canada, Englishmen had been taken prisoners. ¿
The appearance of the French army - large for those days, for it consisted of 400 regulars, 5,000 militia and 600 Indians, a levy which bore heavy upon the resources of the Colony and made the French inhabitants very dissatisfied | - at last opened the eyes of the English. The Assembly of Virginia voted during the session of 1753-4,
*Craig, Olden Times, I, pp. 433-524.
+ N. Y. Coll. MSS., Council Min., XXIII, 95.
ţ Ib.
§ Ib. 140.
|| Ib. 124.
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In Colonial Days.
£10,000 "for the support of his Majesty's rights to the lands on the Ohio,"* and with these Governor Dinwiddie expected to raise five or six companies, which were to march to Wills Creek, where the Ohio Company established that year a store-house or magazine. The Colonies of Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York were called upon for as- sistance, but were either careless or dilatory, and another appropriation of {20,000, also intended by Dinwiddie for the prosecution of the Ohio expedition, miscarried through an internal dispute. The Gov- ernor insisted upon the fee of one pistolet for every patent exceeding 400 acres, which had been granted, but not signed or issued by his predecessor. The Virginia Assembly was so strongly opposed to this, that they sent a representation against him, to Eng- land with the result, that he should not receive any fee for those patents, but might exact a pistole fee for every grant made by him, exceeding fifty acres. This cost the Assembly £2,500 Virginia currency, and to pay the sum they tacked a clause to the bill for £20,000, which the Council would not pass, and they were prorogued. }
When Governor Dinwiddie had received from the Virginia Assembly the first grant of £10,000 for supporting the British interest against the insults and invasions by the French, he notified the other English Colonies of his intentions, asking for their
* Dinwiddie, I, 80.
+ About $5 in gold.
¿N. Y. Col. MSS., Johnson Papers, I, 130.
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assistance. The Council of New York advised the Governor, Admiral George Clinton, that "as the present state of affairs seems to threaten a rupture, and as the frontiers of this Province are in a very defenseless condition, the Assembly will most likely not incline to give any money for this service, at least not until a general plan is concerted for attack- ing and dislodging the French."*
But, they continue, we are informed that a number of Connecticut people intend to buy from the Indians a tract of land to the westward of one hundred miles square, and to settle it immediately. Let them know of Governor Dinwiddie's proclamation, promis- ing 200,000 acres, etc., that will probably be an in- ducement to settle on the Ohio under the govern- ment of Virginia, and thereby that part of the country would be greatly strengthened.
Governor Belcher of New Jersey tried every argu- ment in his power "to urge the Assembly to a sense of their duty to the King, by complying with his Majesty's most reasonable orders, for maintaining the honor and interest of the British Crown," but the Assembly turned a deaf ear to his appeals and he could do nothing for the accomplishment of the Virginia project. +
The Maryland Assembly refused to vote any money for military operations, North Carolina, the poorest
* N. Y. MSS. Council Min., XXIII, 164.
¡ N. J. Archives, VIII, 287.
# Dinwiddie Papers, I, 126.
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In Colonial Days.
of all the Colonies, however, granted £12,000 and ex pected to raise 750 men for the Ohio expedition. Pennsylvania had allowed a sum of money in the pre- ceding year, 1753, for distribution among the Indians, but it appears, the religious principles of the majority in the Assembly prevented them from granting money for an expedition which might lead to bloodshed, and they forgot over it the first law of nature, self- preservation. South Carolina sent one of her inde- pendent companies, and New York sent two, follow- ing orders from the Earl of Holderness, the British Secretary of State.
In his instructions to Colonel Joshua Fry, com- manding the Virginia regiment, Governor Din- widdie explains (March 1, 1754) his plan for the Ohio campaign .* Colonel Fry was, after taking com- mand of all the forces assembled at Alexandria, to march to Wills Creek, above the Potomac Falls, and from there "with the great guns, ammunition and provisions you are to proceed to Monongahela; when arrived there, you are to make choice of the best place to erect a fort for mounting your cannons and ascertaining His Majesty the King of Great Britain's undoubted right to those lands." Two weeks later Captains Trent and Cresap inform him, that the French are already expected down the Ohio, and he ordered, March 15, Colonel George Washington to march with whatever number of soldiers he might have enlisted, to the Ohio. "I would gladly hope,"
* Dinwiddie Papers, I, 88.
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he continues, " as Captain Trent has begun to build a fort at Allegany, that the French will not imme- diately disturb us there ; and when our forces are properly collected, we shall be able to keep posses- sion and drive the French from the Ohio."* The worthy Governor did not dream how disastrous this campaign of 1754 would end for the Virginia troops engaged in it.
Pennsylvania had voted only money enough to make a present to the Indians, and thereby to keep them in the British interest; New Jersey had utterly refused " to raise any supplies for the common defense and security of the Colonies against the hostile en- croachments of a foreign power."f The New Eng- land Colonies were engaged in an expedition against Canada in another quarter, and had to bear that bur- den, which deprived them of the means to assist Vir- ginia in the Ohio expedition, and while Virginia is already sending a part of her great army of 700 men, poorly provisioned and without tents, New York is still debating how to send the two independent com- panies, detached from the regiments in New York by orders from the home government for service on the Ohio. In May, 1754, the Council comes to the con- clusion, that it is best to send them by water "be- cause so long a march over land, if practicable, must be attended with many desertions, and cause great delay."} The companies are finally embarked, and
* Ib. 106.
+ N. J. Archives, VII, 294.
¿ N. Y. Col. MSS. Council Min. XXIII, 178.
-
In Colonial Days. 105
the man-of-war, which carries them, has sailed down the Bay to the Watering Place, when another delay is occasioned by the objections of Captain Diggs, who has relieved Captain Kennedy in command of the above man-of-war ; Captain Diggs declines going to Virginia because he has orders for home. But here the Council of New York is firm, though wordy .* The dis- tance from New York to the Ohio is about 400 miles, through a country almost wholly inhabited, and, therefore, the forces could not be subsisted with pro- visions, were it practicable to march thither, which the Council thinks impracticable in the absence of roads; were the troops to march by way of Virginia, they could not arrive in time to be of any service this year, and even were all these difficulties surmounted there are no tents in the King's store, and no money to buy them and the provisions necessary for a long march. Therefore the troops must go by water and any delay must be prejudicial to the service at this juncture, when the French have already taken an English fort on the Ohio, and may, if not prevented by sufficient strength, advance even to the settle- ments of Virginia, and it appears by late advices from the Ohio, that the Indians there are apprehen- sive they'll be destroyed by the French, if not sup- ported soon, or forced to relinquish the British and join the French interest." This was communicated to Captain Diggs, who then sailed for the James river, in Virginia, and arrived there in June, too
* N. Y. Col. MSS., Council Min. XXIII, 178.
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late to help in averting the first disaster of the cam- paign.
Pierre Claude Pecaudy, Seigneur de Contrecoeur, had reached the neighborhood of the fort, built by the advanced detachment under Ensign Ward at the embouchure of the Monongahela, and immedi- ately sent the following :
"Summon, by order of Contrecoeur, Captain of one of the Companies of the Detachment of the French Marine; Commander in Chief of his most Christian Majesty's Troops now on the Beautiful River ; To the Commander of those, of the King of Great Britain, at the Mouth of the River Mononga- hela,
" Sir.
" Nothing can surprise me more, than to see you Attempt a Settlement upon the Lands of the King my Master, which obliges me now, Sir, to send you this Gentleman Chevalier Le Mercier, Captain of the Bombardiers, Commander of the Artillery of Canada, to know of you, Sir, by Virtue of what Au- thority you are come to fortify yourself within the Dominions of the King my Master. This Action seems so contrary to the last Treaty of Peace con- cluded at Aix La Chapelle, between his most Chris- tian Majesty and the King of Great Britain, that I do not know, to whom to impute such a Usurpation, as it is incontestable, that the Lands Situated along the Beautiful River belong to his most Christian Majesty.
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In Colonial Days.
"I am Informed, Sir, that your undertaking has been concerted by none else, than by a Company who have more in view the Advantage of a Trade, than to endeavour to keep the Union and harmony which Subsists between the Crowns of France and Great Britain ; altho' it is as much the Interest, Sir, of your Nation, as ours to preserve it.
"Let it be as it will, Sir, if you come into this place charged with Orders, I summon you in the name of the King my Master by Virtue of orders which I got from my General to retreat Peaceably with your Troops, from off the Lands of the King (and not return ; or else I find myself obliged to fulfill my Duty, and compel you to it. I hope, Sir, you will not defer an Instant, and that you will not force me to the least Extremity) in that case, Sir, you may be persuaded, that I will give orders, that there shall be no Damage done by my Detachment.
"I prevent you, Sir, from the Trouble of asking me one Hour of delay, nor to wait for my consent to receive Orders from your Govt. He can give none within the Dominions of the King my Master ; those I have received of my General are my Laws, so that I cannot depart from them.
" If on the Contrary, Sir, you have not got orders and only come to Trade I am sorry to tell you, that I cant avoid seizing you and to confiscate your Ef- fects, to the use of the Indians, our Children, Allies and Friends : as you are not allowed to carry on a Contraband Trade. It is for this reason Sir, that
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we stopped two Englishmen last Year, who were Trading upon our Lands, moreover the King my Master asks nothing but his Right, he has not the least Intention, to trouble the good Harmony and Friendship which Reigns between his Majesty and the King of Great Britain.
" The Governor of Canada can give Proof of having done his utmost endeavours, to maintain the Perfect Union which Reigns between two Friendly Princes, as he had learned that the Iroquois and Nepissingues of the Lake of the two Mountains* had struck and destroyed an English Family towards Carolina, he has barred up the Road and forced them to give him a little Boy belonging to that Family, which was the only one alive and which Mr. Wlerick a Merchant of Montreal has carried to Boston : and what is more he has forbid the Savages from Exer- cising their Accustomed Cruelty upon the English our Friends.
" I coud complain Bitterly Sir, of the means taken all last Winter to instigate the Indians to accept the Hatchet and to strike us while we were striving to maintain the Peace.
" I am well Persuaded Sir of the Polite manner in which you will receive Mr. LeMercier, as well out of Regard to his Business, as his Distinction and Per- sonal merit. I expect you will send him back with one of Your Officers, who will bring me a Precise Answer. As you have got some Indians with you,
* North East of Lake Huron. (?)
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In Colonial Days.
Sir, I Join with Mr. Le Mercier an Interpreter, that he may inform them of my intentions upon that Sub- ject. I am with great Respect Sir, Your most humble and most
obedient Servant
CONTRECOEUR. "*
" Done at our Camp April 16th 1754
This courteous and dignified invitation to leave comparatively comfortable quarters proved irresist- ible, as the following letter of Colonel Geo. Wash- ington to the Governor of Pennsylvania shows :
"It is with the greatest Concern I acquaint you that Mr. Ward Ensign in Capt. Trents Company was compelled to surrender his small Fort in the Forks of Mohongialo to the French on the 17th inst. who fell down from Weningo with a Fleet of 360 Battoes and Canoes with upwards of One Thousand Men and Eighteen Pieces of Artillery, which they planted against the Fort, drew up their Men and sent the enclosed summons to Mr. Ward, who having but an inconsiderable number of Men and no Cannon to make a proper Defence was obliged to surrender ; they suffered him to draw off his Men, Arms and Working Tools and gave Leave that he might retreat to the Inhabitants.
" I have arrived thus far with a Detachment of 150 Men, Col. Fry with the Remainder of the Regiment and Artillery is daily expected. In the meantime, we
* From a copy in N. Y. Col. MSS., LXXVIII, 113, certified to by Richd Peters, Secy of Penna May 6, 1754.
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advance slowly across the Mountains, making the Roads as We march, fit for the Carriage of our Guns &cª and are designed to proceed as far as the Mouth of the Red Stone Creek which enters Mohongialo about 37 miles above the Fort taken by the French, from whence we have a Water Carriage down the River - And there is a Store House built by the Ohio Company, which may serve as a Recepticle for our Ammunition and Provisions.
" Besides these French that came from Weningo, We have credible Accounts that another Party are coming up Ohio-We also have Intelligence that 600 of the Chippoways and Ottoways are marching down Sciodo Ck to join them." * * *
"P. S. James Foley the Express says he left Mr. Washington at the new Store on Patowmack about 130 miles from Capt. Trents Fort at the Mouth of Mohongialo on Saturday 27th April."*
Governor Dinwiddie was not discouraged by this first check, which his small army had received. Some of the troops, one company of 100 soldiers, had ar- rived from South Carolina and the New York com- panies were, as he writes,t daily expected. As the main body, in advance, could not make more than two, three or four miles a day, ¿ because they were obliged to clear roads for the provision train, it was possible for the South Carolinians to keep up with
* From a copy in N. Y. Col. MSS., LXXVIII, III, certified to by Richª Peters, Secy of Penna May 6, 1754.
+ Dinwiddie Papers, I, 150.
# Ib. 151.
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In Colonial Days.
them ; the New Yorkers, who arrived only in June, could not be expected to do so.
Meanwhile unpleasant news came from the Ohio. Washington writes under date of May 4, 1754, from Little Meadows,* that the French at the fort lately taken by them have received a reinforcement of 800 men, that another French detachment of 600 is building a fort at the falls of the Ohiot and intend to move up river from there to erect another fort at the mouth of the Scioto. But an Indian message, arriving simultaneously with the news of Ward's dis- aster, put a more hopeful face to the matter. It showed that the English had not yet lost the friend- ship of the Indians, who were in so many respects an important factor in the Ohio drama.
Scruniyattha, the Half King; that is, the Head Chief, of a tribe dependent upon the Iroquois, said : " We have been waiting this long Time for the French to strike us; now we see what they design to do with us, we are ready to strike them now and wait for your assistance ; be strong and come as soon as possible you can, and you shall find us your true brothers and shall find us as ready to strike them as you are."}
Relying on this promised assistance from the In- dians and buoyed up by the arrival of a company of " 100 fine Men" from South Carolina, Governor
* Dinwiddie Papers, I, 152.
+ Near Louisville, Ky.
# N. Y. Col. MSS., LXXVIII, p. 112.
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Dinwiddie did not relinquish the hope of driving the French from the territory, which he claimed to be English, but which was still in dispute between Vir- ginia and Pennsylvania. Washington's successful encounter with a detachment of French near the Great Meadows, in which the English killed ten, wounded one and took twenty-one prisoners, out of a French force of about seventy-five,* must have ap- peared as the beginning of a realization of Dinwid- die's expectations. As the Governor puts it in a let- ler to Washington, congratulating him on his victory, the success gained "may give testimony to the In- dians, that the French are not invincible when fairly engaged with the English."+ Another cause for re- joicing was the news that a body of Cherokee In- dians were on the march to join the small English forces.
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