USA > Ohio > The Ohio Valley in colonial days > Part 7
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On the other side, the French were also endeavor- ing to secure the support of Indians near enough to be of any use. Early in the spring of 1754, they sent messages to the Twightwees, Wyandots and other tribes in alliance with them, asking that they should take up the hatchet, start for the Ohio and there cut off the inhabitants and all the English among them .¿ But for once they were not success- ful, for Big Kettle informed the Half King, a staunch ally of the English, of the French intrigues, and " at
* Dinwiddie Papers, I, 179.
+ Ib. 186.
# Ib. 191.
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In Colonial Days.
the same time assured him of their good intention to assist the Six Nations and their brethren the English."
The next meeting between the contending nation- alities was a disastrous one for the English. "A few days ago," writes Governor Dinwiddie to the Lords of Trade on the 24th of July, 1754, " Col. Washington, * , arrived from our camp at the Meadows, near the Ohio river, who gave the following melancholy account of an engagement be- tween our forces and the French. On the 3ª of this Month they had intelligence, that the French were reinforced (at the fort they took from us, last May, near the Ohio) with 700 men and that they were in full march with 900 men to attack our small camp, which consisted of few more than 300 men besides Officers. They immediately connected and prepared to make the best defence their small number would admit of."* But a successful defense was almost an impossibility, seeing the superiority of the attacking force and the blunder of the English commander, who, in locating his camp, had left standing around trees enough to shelter the French against the fire from the English trenches. The English troops were again allowed to march out with all the honors of war, colors flying and drums beating.
The other Colonies' troops, with the exception of the South Carolina Company, had not yet joined and Dinwiddie is undoubtedly right in attributing to their
* Dinwiddie Papers, I, 239, et seq.
15
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slowness the disaster of July, 1754. The two New York Companies had reached Winchester, the North Carolina Company was still on the march and "the other Colonies have not given any assistance, and I fear do not intend to do any thing, unless obliged by an act of Parliament, for a general poll tax of half a crown stlg. for conducting this expedition."* The forces which were to contend against the French were, 100 men from South Carolina, 350 from North Carolina, 300 Virginians, 100 Marylanders and 160 from New York, a total of 1010 men, to whom Din- widdie expected to add 200 more.
The Indians of the Ohio characteristically, had partly joined the French after the first defeat of the English and this second mishap, it was feared, would induce many more of the Iroquois to desert Corach- koot and go to Onontio .?
And while hard at work in other directions, there came to Dinwiddie the disheartening news, that the Cherokees, who had constantly protested they were friends of the English, had conferred with the French and made peace with them. The exertions of Richard Pears, an Indian trader among the Cherokees on Holston river,§ however, induced Attakullakulla, the chief of this tribe, also called Little Carpenter, to break the peace. He and the Catawbas were also
* Dinwiddie Papers, I, 239, et seq.
+ Indian name for the King of England.
¿ Indian name for Governor of Canada.
§ Branch of the Tennessee.
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In Colonial Days.
relied upon to prevent the building of a French fort on the Holston or Choto river, where the French had begun such a structure and where a settlement by Englishmen had sprung up .*
But even if the Indians should fail him, the Gover- nor of Virginia did not intend to give up his pet scheme of driving the French from the territory dis- covered by them, and taken possession of long before the English had any knowledge of its existence. He applied to his work all the experience, gathered dur- ing his military life on the battle-fields of Europe and sent orders to Colonel James Innes, commanding the forces, to gather all his soldiers at Will's creek, a tributary of the Potomac, to march them across the ridge of the Allegheny mountains and after expelling the French from the fort, so lately taken by them, to build another strong place at the crossing place Red Stone creek, or where it was thought most advisable in that neighborhood of the Monongahela. But a few weeks later, Dinwiddie gave Governor Sharpe of Maryland, the following doleful account of the situation:+
" The plan of operations that I proposed for this fall are entirely defeated : Ist. By the No. Car. forces disbanding themselves, which was occasioned by a monstrous mismanagement of them from the begin- ning ; they raised £12,000. The President of that Colony (Rowan) gave the private men 3 sh. Procla-
* Dinwiddie Papers, I, 267.
+ Ib. 304.
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mation money per day and the officers in proportion, so that their money was wholly expended before they joined the other forces and would serve no longer without assurance of the above pay. Next is the reduction of the No. of our forces, those killed and wounded unfit for service, and desertion, which has reduced the number to 150. If the appropria- tion of {20,000 had passed, I fully intended to aug- ment our regiment to 8 Companies of 70 men each, . and in course made up the deficiency oc- casioned by the No. Car. people, but the obstinacy of our Assembly have defeated my intentions and I am now persuaded that no expedition can be conducted here with dependence on American Assemblies.
Under these great disappointments I de- termined to keep the few people we have in pay and propose 100 of them to march to Will's creek to join the Independent Companies and to endeavour to secure a pass over the Allegany mounts by erecting a fort to facilitate our operations next spring I am of opinion with our handful of men, we can only be on the defensive till we in- crease our numbers."
The French, in the meantime, were not idly sitting in their newly acquired foothold on the forks of Mo- nongahela, but made many depredatory descents upon the English settlers in the neighborhood, in Augusta county, and prepared for a vigorous defense of what they considered French territory, by new forts on Holston, Green Brier's and other rivers,
II7
In Colonial Days.
whose waters found their way to the Ohio. These attempts, in fact only the mention of such intention, aroused, however, the ire of the Iroquois, who looked upon themselves as the rightful owners of the terri- tory in dispute between the two foreign white races. Already at the Albany Congress in June and July of this year, 1754, the speaker of the Mohawks had said :* " We cannot find after the strictest inquiry, that any leave to build forts has been given or land sold to the French. They have gone there without our consent. The Governors of Virginia and of Canada are both quarreling about lands belonging to us. Virginia and Pennsylvania have made roads through our country without acquainting us of it." Governor de Lancey, of New York, appeased their anger toward the English Colonies by telling them, that the invaded country was still acknowledged to be theirs under English protection, and that the inroads were made for the purpose of protecting them. This assertion was confirmed by Conrad Weiser, a Ger- man possessed of great influence among the Six Nations, and the latter were so well satisfied with this notion of English protection that in the latter part of the summer of 1754, they sent messages to Virginia asking for aid and assistance to be given to their friends and allies on the Ohio, t which was readily promised by Governor Dinwiddie, who was very soon after compelled, by the failure of the appropriation, to
* N. Y. Col. Hist., VI, 870 et seq .
+ N. Y. Col. MSS., Council Min., XXIII, 220.
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countermand his orders to Colonel Innes, and direct him to secure a good position back of the mountains, at the same time maintaining the Ohio company's warehouse for storing his supplies. The time for active operations in 1754 was rapidly drawing toward its close when Governor Dinwiddie, still obedient to the orders received in the previous year, wrote to Hor- ace Walpole, the Secretary of War :* " The French are left to perpetrate all their mischievous schemes against the British subjects with 1,500 men ; what a dangerous condition are these Colonies in from the obstinate and imprudent behaviour of the Assem- blies ? New York lately has voted £5,000 and Maryland £6,000, their moneys, but these sums are trifling for the support of so essential and necessary (an) expedition. . .. Without a British act of Par- liament to raise a general poll-tax all over the conti- nent no money can be raised here, though for their own safety, and I fear that would not do. I there- fore have humbly recommended a supply from home of men, money and ammunition, without which I dread much the consequence. For I do not con- ceive the French views are confined to the lands on the Ohio, but for a general conquest of all the British Colonies, and without immediate assistance I dread their success. . . So. Car. and Pennsylvania have not as yet granted any aid whatever to this expedi- tion."
It is difficult, at this day, to fully understand the
* Dinwiddie Papers, I, 343.
119
In Colonial Days.
supine lethargy, evinced by the other English Col- onies in regard to the efforts made by Virginia for extending British territory. The New England Colonies had too much to do in defending themselves against the common enemy ; but their neighbor, New York, was, on account of her Indians, the Six Na- tions, as much interested in keeping the French out of the Ohio valley, as in securing the safety of her own frontiers. The slackness of Pennsylvania must be attributed partly to jealousy, that Virginia might establish a prescriptive right to the Ohio lands by her exertions against the French, partly to the dis- inclination of the dominant party in the Colony, the Quakers, to assist, even if only in an indirect manner, in the shedding of blood. That the Assem- bly of Virginia should fail, at a decisive moment, to grant the needed moneys, is almost incomprehensible, unless we ascribe their action to personal motives, to a dislike against their Governor, arising out of Dinwid- die's former service in the Colony as Surveyor of Customs. The other Colonies, New Jersey, Mary- land, the Carolinas and Georgia, were evidently actuated by the feeling, displayed by a rabbit, which, if it cannot see the danger, considers itself safe, and won't run.
Governor Dinwiddie's urgent appeals for aid, di- ercted to the British government, finally were crowned with success. At the re-assembling of the Virginia House of Burgesses on the 17th of October, 1754, he could inform them, that in view of the dangerous con-
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dition of his Colonies, the King had sent over £10,000, and 2,000 stand of arms, and he appealed to their sense of duty and self-preservation so effectively, that they granted further £20,000 out of the revenues of the Colony. A new Governor for North Carolina, Dobbs, arriving, gave to Dinwiddie a chance of hold- ing a council of war with this new comer, and with Governor Sharpe of Maryland, who had been ap- pointed to command the combined forces of the pro- posed expedition.
The Virginia militia, numbering about 20,000, could not be ordered out of the Province; to make it available for the proposed expulsory measures, Governor Dinwiddie intended to have the Assem- bly pass an act, allowing him to draft one man in ten, altogether 2,000, to march across the Alleghanies.
The Cherokees and Catawbas, having been noti- fied that the French had taken up the hatchet and were invading their hunting grounds on the Ohio, promised to send from 800 to 1,000 of their warriors against the French, but were dissuaded from it by Governor Glen of South Carolina, who acted very much like a dog in the manger ; he could not see any advantage for his Colony arising from this expedi- tion, and, therefore, would allow no other one to reap any.
A renewed appeal to them, made by Dinwiddie in November, 1754, with promises of plenty of powder and of sincere friendship, had the effect of counter- acting Governor Glen's promptings, and the plan of
I2I
In Colonial Days.
sending warriors to join the English troops on their march to the Ohio, was resumed, but none came to help Braddock .*
The Twightwees continued steadily in the British interest, and sent messages, that they were going to war against the French, after having killed a number of them.
Other Indians re-affirmed their loyalty to the Eng- lish, also. "On the 18th of October last," writes Governor Dinwiddie,+ " there was a small treaty at our camp at Will's Creek, between Col. Innes and some Indians, viz .: Scaruniata and Moses, warriors of the Six Nations, Laputhia, the Shawna King, Jescoma, a Delaware, and Monecatoocha, chief on the Ohio, when after long consultation they unani- mously took up the hatchet against the French, and sent Monecatoocha with a black belt of wampum and a hatchet, to Onondaga, desiring the Six Nations to declare themselves against the French and desired, that this Colony, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York should each of them send a black belt and hatchet to engage them to declare against the French." Within a fortnight after the date of this letter, Scarroyadi, the Oneida chief, and a chief of the Senecas, probably the two warriors of the Six Na- tions mentioned above, appeared before the Gover- nor and Council of New York with messages from the western Indians and on their way to Onondaga
* Dinwiddie Papers, II, 51.
+ Ib., I, 430.
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with Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania belts .* Scarroyadi, the Half King, explained, that they were about to consult the Six Nations upon the present situation of affairs and intended, to effect a union between them and the western Indians, who had al- ready taken up the hatchet against the French, but meant to keep it in their bosom, still all their breth- ren, English and Indians, should strike with it to- gether. They were further charged with an invita- tion for the Six Nations to come to Winchester and asked for a New York belt, to give weight to the others.
Governor De Lancey told them in reply, that at the conference in Albany, held during the preceding summer, a large belt had been given to the Six Na- tions, to unite all governments with them and their friends, when it was agreed that whenever their brethren, the English, called upon them, they, the Six Nations, would join and attack the French. New York, he said, is ready to strike, but must wait until the General, appointed by the King to com- mand this expedition, t has arrived.
About the same time Governor Dinwiddie lost for this expedition an officer whose knowledge of the country and experience in frontier warfare had ren- dered his services conspicuously valuable. The reason was a question of rank, pardonable in any officer, but in this case deplorable. Colonel George Wash-
* N. Y. Col. MSS., Council Min., XXIII, 259.
+ Braddock.
123
In Colonial. Days.
ington resigned his commission because, under the new military establishment planned by Governor Dinwid- die, the Virginia forces were to be divided into ten independent companies of 100 men each under the command of a captain, who were severally subordi- nate to officers with royal commissions. This might have placed Colonel Washington at the orders of men, to whom he had formerly given orders himself and, therefore, he resigned in a pet, without waiting for the result of the Governor's application for royal commissions, to be issued to the officers of the inde- pendent companies .*
The winter of 1 754 to 1755 was spent in preparations for an early spring campaign. The other Colonies, more or less interested in the object of it, began to throw off their lethargy, one after the other, and granted money or men, or both, for the expulsion of the French from the Ohio valley. New York, from which Colony troops were already in this service and which was called upon also for the defense of its northern frontiers, raised 800 men and voted £4,500. In the Jerseys 500 men were enlisted, Pennsylvania gave £15,000, Maryland £6,000 with a promise of perhaps doubling that sum; Virginia had to pay £30,000 besides refunding the money received from England; North Carolina had contributed £8,000 and South Carolina - nothing. Governor Glen, of this colony, which gave nothing, was, however, dissat- isfied, that he could not have a share of the £10,000
*Dinwiddie Papers, I.
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granted by England for the defense of the Colonies, and he boldly demanded from Governor Din- widdie £7,000 for the purpose of building a fort in the Upper Cherokee country, basing this demand on the instruction which had accompanied the money grant. " It is likewise His Majesty's pleas- ure, you [Dinwiddie] should concert with Mr. Glen, Gov. of S. Car., the necessary measures for securing the Cherokee Indians by a proper present and for obtaining forthwith permission for the building a fort in their country, for which purpose you are hereby empowered to remit to Mr. Glen such sums out of the money ({10,000) as shall be agreed be- tween you and the said Governor."
Before the Colonies had bestirred themselves, as stated above, General Braddock and troops from England had arrived, and it is likely that the Colo- nial Assemblies, who had hitherto always opposed the royal prerogatives, felt ashamed, when they saw that these same objectionable prerogatives were ex- erted for their benefit, while they themselves had been doing nothing for their own defense; hence they made liberal appropriations.
While the Colonists under either crown were thus preparing for and already engaged in actual hostili- ties, peace still reigned in their trans-Atlantic homes; but the governments of both France and England recognized the portent of the ominous clouds gather- ing over their American Provinces, and hastened to
* Dinwiddie Papers, I, 484.
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In Colonial Days.
send assistance. Irony of fate decided that the two European generals, Braddock, the English com- mander, and Baron Dieskau, the French, should come across the ocean, to meet defeat at the hands of their foes. General Braddock with two regiments of the Royal army* reached Virginia about the middle of March, 1755, and immediately set to work upon a plan of campaign. Governor Dinwiddie pro- posed that the attack upon the French should be made all along the line, from Niagara to the Ohio, General Braddock commanding the southern or left wing. After the capture of Fort Du Quesne, of which the Governor seems not to have doubted, this southern wing was to march toward Lake Erie, join the forces at or before Niagara, and, if success- ful here, direct their attentions to Crown Point, New York. At a Council of War, held in April, by Gen- eral Braddock, Commodore Keppel, and the Gov- ernors of Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York and New England, this plan was adopted, with the additional feature that Sir William Johnson, of New York, with 5,000 men, should make an attack on Crown Point at the same time as the other troops, 3,000 under Braddock, and two regiments of Pro- vincials, under Shirley, attempted the expulsion of the French from the upper Ohio and Niagara. Sir Peter Halkett's and Colonel Dunbar's commands were already on the march to the Ohiot and were joined
* 44th and 48th Regts., R. A.
+ Dinwiddie Papers, II, 14.
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by a company of 84 men from North Carolina, the only Provincial help given to Virginia for the undertak- ing, except the two companies from New York, which had remained in this service since the preced- ing year.
Although the General in command of this army of operation, marching westward, had been trained in a good military school in Europe, - on the battle- fields of Fontenoy, and in Flanders, - and, there- fore, may be presumed to have acquired some knowl- edge of warfare, and to have been a man of courage, the English government could hardly have sent a man more unfit for this undertaking, than Braddock. His arrogance, profligacy and profanity* soon made him unpopular with the Provincials under his com- mand, and their Indian allies. Of these, the Six Nations were not only the most important, but also the most dissatisfied. Uneasiness and jealousies had been aroused among them by the claims made upon the Ohio lands by the English, especially by the Ohio company. They knew of this and other grants of land, which they considered their own, by Virginia, upon which settlements had already been attempted or effected. They, therefore, disliked Virginia, and as they looked upon Braddock and his army, as upon the Governor and people of this Colony, and were arrogantly treated by the General, who endeavored to drill his white and Indian troops, as he would drill European soldiers,
* He had learned to swear "with our army in Flanders."
127
In Colonial Days.
they refused to help him at the decisive moment .* The General's efforts to impart European military discipline to his troops, a long delay in procuring wagons and horses for the provisions and the forage, kept the army in the camp near Fort Cumberland until late in May. " The 28th of that month the first division of his army began the march over the Alleghany Mts."+ and could reasonably expect to be successful, for it was supposed that " not above 500 Frenchmen, besides Indians, were at the fort on the Ohio ;" the newst sent by Lieutenant Holland, May 10 and 12, 1755, that two parties of 300 French each besides Indians, and by Captain Broadstreet, May 29, that 950 French with nine cannons had passed Oswego on their way to Ohio, and that others were said to be under orders for the same place, could as yet not have reached Virginia. Indian report was also of a nature to buoy up the hope of success for the English arms. The French were said to intend retreat from and perhaps dismantling of the fort on the Ohio on sight of Braddock's army,§ and Brad- dock made his plans accordingly. He sent for guns and ammunition to be used in the fort on the Ohio " if he should succeed in taking it, which I do not in the least doubt of,"§ says Governor Dinwiddie.
On the 10th of June the last detachment of the 3,000 men, composing General Braddock's army, marched
* N. Y. Col. Hist., VII, 22.
+ Dinwiddie Papers, II, 50.
¿ N. Y. Col. MSS., Coun. Min., XXV, 32 and 43.
§ Dinwiddie Papers, II, 69.
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over the Alleghany mountains* and was about to meet the fate, of which they did not dream, while parties of French and Indians devastated the Eng- lish settlements on the frontiers of Virginia and Maryland, in Hampshire, Frederick and Augusta counties and on Holston river.+
Governor Dinwiddie, though distressed by the ac- count of ravages committed by the French, was still in buoyant hopes, that the army, sent to drive them from their stronghold on the Ohio, would put a stop to their further proceeding in this direction, when the news came, which wiped away all these hopes at one fell blow. " I wrote you two days ago the account,"} he writes to Lord Halifax on the 25th of July, 1755: "we had from the Ohio of the defeat of our forces, death of Gen' Braddock &c. I then was in hopes these accts were false, but alas! last night I had an express confirming these melancholy news."
The battle of the 9th of July, 1755, has been so often described, that a relation of it would appear superfluous, were it not by one of the participants in the expedition, though not in the battle. Captain John Rutherford, the writer of the following letter, was a member of the Council of New York and com- manded one of the New York companies.
" I have delayed writing this week past out of vex- ation at our proceedings here, but now a Retreat is
* Dinwiddie Papers, II, 73.
+ Ib. 90-1.
# Ib. 117.
In Colonial Days. 129
ordered and the blow struck to our shame and the Glory of the Indians who with a very few Canadians amongst them have entirely defeated our General and the Division of our Troops which he carried alongst with him and what is worst of all our Train of Artillery is left in their hands which ruins all hopes of doing any thing this way. Sir Peter Halket was killed in the field regretted by all mankind and his son Lieut. Halket, his son Major Halket came off unwounded with a few officers more, all the rest killed or returned wounded, many very dangerously amongst whom are the General and Sir John St Clair, Capt. Gates has a slight wound, Lt Semain killed and Lt Miller returned unwounded, Capt Gates with 50 of his men having marched with the first division and my Company and Capt. Demires with the re- mainder of his under Lieut. Spearing marched in the second division, except a few of our men who had gone up to the first division with a convoy of Pro- visions ; the slaughter on our side is surprising con- sidering General Braddock had 1,500 and I dont believe the Indians had 300 but they chose a very advantageous Ground within 9 miles of Fort Du- quesne. The general Told us he would never be 5 miles from us, so that the one division might support the other whenever attacked ; what made him change his resolution and order Colº Dunbar to keep us be. hind with Provisions and tired Waggon Horses, God knows, it seems Infatuation : he thought he had Men enough and was vain of his Artillery.
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