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We had no attacks upon us but small scalping parties."
Another letter gives a picture of a warfare in those days. It is from Governor Sharpe, of Maryland, to Governor Morris, of Pennsylvania.
" ANNAPOLIS, July 15, 1755.
"I have not received any letters from the General or the Camp since the 22d of June, but one MI-, who belongs to the train wr. a letter to a Gentleman of this town, dated near the Great Meadows the Ist of this month, says on the 9th of last month the whole Army except 600 men with Sir Jnº St Clair, who marchd two days before, went from Wills Creek & with Infinite difficultys thro the worst roads in the world arrived 10 days afterwards at the little Meadows, where an Abatie was made by Sir John & two Engineers encircling the whole Camp- here the whole halted 3 days, then the Baronett with his party moved forward & the second day after the General with four Howitzers, four twelve pounders, 13 Artillery Waggons, beside Ammunition Carts fol- lowed him & have kept marching ever since & this Evening tis Expected his Excellency will be within 25 miles of the fort-Collo Dunbar with the re- mainder of the Army, four Artillery Officers, 84 Car- riages with Ordinance stores and all the provision waggons form the rear amongst whom I am. The night before last we were Alarmª four different times by the Sculking Indians, on whom our out Guards & Centries fired-tis said this morning the General
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In Colonial Days.
has had advice that 500 regulars are in full march to the fort, which is the reason he is determined to be there before them. As we had but very little pro- visions since we left the post at Wills Creek, the Officers as well as private men have been & still are Extremely Ill with the flux,- many have died,-to- morrow morning we march again & are to Encamp on the Western side of the great meadows, from whence we are to proceed after the General, but am fearfull it will not be before we have built some fortyfications there & Leave a strong Party of men with a Great Deal Provisions & Artillery Stores - our horses being so weak for want of food & rest, that it is Impossible for the whole Rear to joyn the front in five & twenty Days. "*
To complete the account of the battle a French report is given here, which says :+ " M. de Contre- coeur, Captain of Infantry, Commandant at Fort Duquesne on the Ohio, having been informed, that the English were taking up arms in Virginia for the purpose of coming to attack him, was advised, shortly afterwards, that they were on the march. He dispatched scouts, who reported to him faithfully their progress. On the 17th (?) instant, he was ad- vised, that their army consisting of 3,000 regulars from Old England, were within six leagues of this fort. That officer employed the next day in making his arrangements : and on the 9th detached M. de
* N. Y. Col. MSS., LXXXI, 78; Penn. Col. Records, VII, 477.
+ N. Y. Co st., X, 303, reprinted in Pennsylvania Archives, 2d Ser .. VI, 256.
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Beaujeu, seconded by Messrs Dumas and de Lignery, all three Captains, with four Lieutenants, 6 Ensigns, 20 Cadets, 100 Soldiers, 100 Canadians and 600 Indians, with orders to lie in ambush at a favorable spot, which he had reconnoitred the previous evening. The detachment, before it could reach its place of destination, found itself in the presence of the en- emy within three leagues of that fort. Mr de Beaujeu, finding his ambush had failed, decided on an attack. This he made with so much vigor as to astonish the enemy, who were waiting for us in the best possible order; but their artillery loaded with grape (à cartouche), having opened its fire, our men gave way in turn. The Indians also, frightened by the report of the cannon rather than by any damage it could inflict, began to yield, when M. de Beaujeu was killed. M. Dumas began to encourage his de- tachment. He ordered the officers in command of the Indians to spread themselves along the wings so as to take the enemy in flank, whilst he, M. de Lig- nery and the other officers, who led the French, were attacking them in front. This order was executed so promptly, that the enemy, who were already shouting their " Long live the King," thought now of only defending themselves. The fight was obstinate on both sides and success long doubtful ; but the enemy at last gave way. Efforts were made, in vain, to introduce some sort of order in their retreat. The whoop of the Indians, which echoed through the forest, struck terror into the hearts of the entire
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In Colonial Days.
enemy. The rout was complete. We remained in possession of the field with six brass twelves and sixes, four howitz-carriages of fifty, 11 small royal grenade mortars, all their ammunition and generally their entire baggage. Some deserters, who have come in since, have told us, that we had been en- gaged with only 2,000 men, the remainder of the army being four leagues off. These same deserters have informed us, that the enemy were retreating to Virginia and some scouts, sent as far as the height of land, have confirmed this by reporting, that the thousand men, who were not engaged, had been equally panic stricken and abandoned both pro- visions and ammunition on the way. On this intelli- gence a detachment was dispatched after them, which destroyed and burnt everything that could be found. The enemy have left more than 1,000 men on the field of battle. They have lost a great portion of the artillery and ammunition, provisions, as also their General, whose name was Mr Braddock and almost all their officers. We have had 3 officers killed, 2 officers and 2 cadets wounded. Such a victory, so entirely unexpected, seeing the inequality of the forces, is the fruit of M. Dumas' experience and of the activity and valor of the officers under his com- mand."
CHAPTER VI.
THE FRENCH MASTERS OF THE OHIO VALLEY.
Although the defeat of the English troops, who had encountered the enemy, could hardly have been more decisive and humiliating, because 300 French and 600 Indians had almost annihilated 1,300 English soldiers, Governor Dinwiddie was still intent upon carrying out his plan of driving the French from the Ohio. The feeling, that this defeat was a disaster which could be made use of in obtaining further help against the French, was shared by others. Secretary Richard Peters, of Pennsylvania, writes to Governor de Lancey, of New York, July 19, 1755 :*
" The defeat is not general. The Army was in 2 Divisions in the First of which marched the General, having with him 1300 men, 4 Howitzers, 4 12 pdrs. & 13 Arty Waggons. The second was com- manded by Col. Dunbar and had not marched further than Two Miles West of the great meadows, distant from Fort Duquesne Sixty Miles, having with him the heavy baggage, Ordinance Stores, the Provisions and greatest part of the waggons .- The General was advanced within Five miles of Fort Duquesne and
* N. Y. Col. MSS., LXXXI, 85.
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marching in a narrow Way on the 8th or gth Instant when he was attacked by a large Number of French and Indians and beat, but not killed as was said, and was making a fine Retreat to Col. Dunbars part of the Army."
The reader may ask, where were the Indians, friendly to the British, a so important factor in Colo- nial warfare ? Governor Dinwiddie propounds the same question and answers it as follows :* " The Six Nations, so many as are in the British Int't, were engaged with Gen1 Shirley and Johnson on the Expedit's to Niagara and Crown Point. The Twightwees, who I verily think are in our interest, are on the other Side the Ohio and I believe [were] prevented from serving us by the Fr. being between them and us. Those Indians on the Ohio, who I had reason to think were in our Interest, were over- awed by the Fr. and their Indians, only Moneca- toocha their Chief, and a few of their People, rem'd at Ft Cumb'l'd, march'd with the Gen" and shew'd their attachm't to us by doing every Th'g in their Power for our Service. The So'ern Ind's, viz : the Cherokees and Catawbas, I have been these 18 mo's endeavour'g to get a No. of them to join our Forces, wch they seriously promised. The Fr., who are always on the watch, knowing their Intent's, in March last sent 14 of their Ind's to perswade to lie Neuter, or declare War ag'st So. Caro. and they would assist them, or get a Meet'g with the Go'r of y't Province
* Dinwiddie Papers, II, 224.
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to have some Presents for their Interest. The last Proposal prevailed, wch answer'd the Ends of the Fr. They kept them at a distance from the Scene of Action."
Governor Dinwiddie was eager to renew the at- tempt against the French. He wrote to Colonel Dunbar, July 26, 1755 :* " Dear Colonel, is there no Method left to retrieve the Dishonor done to the British Arms? As you now Comm'd all the Forces yt remain are you not able, after a proper Refreshm't of your Men, to make a second Attempt to recover the Loss we have Sustained? You must still have remain'g upwards of 1600 Men and I have called the Assembly of this Dom'n to meet next Tuesday next come Week, w'n I think I can promise You a Rein- forcement of at least 400 Men. . Why cannot we recover the Train [of Artillery] in the same Manner as the Enemy took them. You have four Mo's now to come of the best Weather in the Year for such an Expedition. As our Forces under Gen1 Shirley are marched and before ys I suppose attacked Niagara and Colo. Johnson,+ I believe, has prevailed with the Six Nations to take up the Hatchet agst the French, and I suppose that Gent. is gone agst Crown Point, wch no doubt the Forces at Ft Duquesne are appris'd of and naturally will go up the River Ohio to the Assist'ce of these Places, and will remain satisfied and secure yt no Attempt ys Year will be made on
* Dinwiddie Papers, II, 118.
+ Sir Wm Johnson of New York.
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the Ohio, under ys, y' Security, wt may You not do if You march over the Mounts the Beginning of Septbr. . It's my duty to H. M'y, as Gov' of ys Domi'n, to make the above Proposal to You, wch if it meets wth Y' Approbat'n or that of a Council of War, will give me much Pleasure."
The Virginia Assembly roused itself to energy and voted quickly £40,000, with the help of which the Governor was to raise a force of 1,200 men. But the Council of War decided against this project of Dinwiddie and Colonel Dunbar's unauthorized action made it impossible. Although more than forty miles from the scene of Braddock's defeat and therefore not in immediate danger of an attack, which consid- ering the number of troops under his command he might easily have repulsed, he destroyed all the am- munition and provisions in his camp and in the mid- dle of summer marched with his whole force to Philadelphia to go into winter quarters. Governor Dinwiddie was in despair over this untoward break- ing down of his calculations and now could do nothing more than to make arrangements to protect the Eng- lish settlers and Indian allies on the frontiers. Unin- tentionally the French helped him by outrages, " devastation and murders "* in Indian villages on the Holston and New rivers. He ordered forts to be built on these two streams, probably next to Walker's, the first European establishments in that part of the present United States. Doctor Thomas
* Dinwiddie Papers, II, 189.
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Walker, belonging to an even at that time old or long-settled Virginia family, had crossed Powell's valley in 1748 and gave the name of Cumberland to the lofty range of mountains west of Virginia. The remarkable depression in this chain received from him the name of Cumberland Gap, and the Sha- wanese river that of Cumberland. In a previous chapter a map is mentioned which speaks of " Walk- er's, an English settlement," in 1750. Doctor Walker crossed Clinch and Powell rivers into Kentucky again in 1760, probably with Daniel Boone. Gover- nor Dinwiddie, through his agents, asked the Chero- kees to assist in keeping the French with their Shawanese allies out of this territory, and a party of 130 Cherokees* joined 200 Virginia Rangers to attack the French Indians in their towns.+ Their hoped for success was expected to be of great service, for these allies of the French committed "monstrous and barbarous murders in the back country."
But French diplomacy and statescraft prepared unforeseen difficulties. The Creek Indians were induced by it to make war on South Carolina and their native allies, of whom the Chickasaws bore the first brunt, while French emissaries and priests were busy among the Catawbas and Cherokees. To coun- teract their efforts Governor Dinwiddie was obliged to put his hands into the public treasury and draw out £500 for presents, which two members of his
* Dinwiddie Papers, II, 294.
+ Ib. 320.
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Council, Peter Randolph and William Byrd, were commissioned to bring to them. These agents had authority to enter into a treaty of alliance with the Cherokees and their allies, and for a wonder ! they succeeded, for which we may assume they were more indebted to the hatred of the French, aroused in the Indians' hearts, than to their skill in treating with a race, which though God's creatures like themselves, the English-speaking nations do not consider any more entitled to reasonable treatment, than an hun- gry wolf.
The experiences of the preceding winter had already demonstrated that it would be necessary to punish our erratic friends, the Shawanoes. In No- vember, 1755, they were reported as having gone south to join the Creeks, who were enemies of the Cherokees .* This tribe, faithful to their English friends, sent, as stated before, a detachment of 130 warriors to co-operate with Virginia Rangers in an attack upon the Shawanoe towns, and Major Andrew Lewis was appointed to the chief command of this expedition,t but after struggling for six weeks through the woods, it had to be declared unsuccess- ful. The rivers which were to be crossed, had over- flowed their banks, swollen by thawing snow and spring rains; canoes with provisions and ammunition were upset, and the valiant warriors were finally obliged to kill their horses for food. The Sandy
* Dinwiddie Papers, II, 279.
+ Ib.
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. Creek expedition, though well prepared and fairly well managed, had proved a failure, because no atten- tion had been paid to climatic conditions. A possible retaliation upon their Cherokee enemies by the Sha- wanoes and their friends, Indian and French, had, however, to be made ineffectual, and the best means for doing so was the construction of a fort in the Cherokee country. The Cherokees were willing to have an English fort in their country and Major Andrew Lewis was appointed to superintend the con- struction of it. In pursuance of the instructions given him by Governor Dinwiddie, Major Lewis was to march to Chotte,* in the country of the Cherokees, and to build there the fort, in which undertaking it was hoped, men sent by the Governor of South Caro- lina would assist. Although the South Carolinians were rather slow in coming to the work, Governor Dinwiddie could write to Major Lewis in August, 1756 :+ "I am very glad the fort was so forward when you wrote me, and that it was so agreeable to the Cherokees, wch they write is entirely to their sat- isfaction."
Governor Dinwiddie was wedded to the idea of driving the French out of the Ohio valley and having now secured a firm alliance with the Cherokees and presumably their friends, he began to plan a new expedition against the French, but he was met by unexpected obstacles to carry it out. " I am glad,"
* On or near Holston river.
+ Dinwiddie Papers, II, 486.
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In Colonial Days.
he writes to Colonel Washington, May 8th, 1756,* " the Ind's are gone over the All'y Mount's, but I can't believe them so numerous as represented, unless they have prevailed upon the Twightwees to join with 'em, and I am of Opin'n if You c'd send a Message to them by some trusty Ind'n to let 'em know our Intent's agt the Fr., and the No. of War- riors sent by Y' Father, the King, to exterpate the Fr. and to protect Y' Lands, they w'd continue Steddy in our Int't, for they will never forget the Insults and Murd's comitted agst 'em by the Fr. in 1752. ... As to a Plan of Operation, what can I concert, when our neighbouring are asleep and afford us no assistance ? No great Gunns or Engineers to attack their Fort, which I much desire to be on the offensive, but as we are now situated, we can only remain on the de- fencive to protect our frontiers." If the plan of union, proposed and discussed at Albany in 1754, had become operative, Governor Dinwiddie's plans might have found support in the other Colonies, for through Sir William Johnson's clever management the Shawanoes and Delawares, important allies of the French, had been induced to join the British. He had been stirred up to use his best efforts for this purpose, among others by the following letter, writ- ten at Philadelphia, by Daniel Claus, + April 5, 1756: "This Province is at present in the most deplorable
* Dinwiddie Papers, II, 406.
" + Lieutenant and later Captain 60th (Roy1 American) Regt. Son-in-law of Sir Wm and one of his deputies in Indian affairs.
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situation. The Governors Party and the Quakers (whose head is Mr. Franklin) are continually in dis- pute with one another and nothing but Confusion reigns here. The Enemy as reported is descending upon them with a body of 1600 strong. Mr. Peters is sometimes most distracted and dreads its ruin if things go on as they do. The 60,000 pounds raised lately are expended to one quarter and nobody knows, what good was done thereby.
" The young man, that made his escape from King Shingo, the Delaware, says, that the Indians told him, how they found out, that the English and French had made an agreement to cut them off & then take their lands in possession, but that they would pre- vent that if possible, for saith they, if we only subdue the English first, we may do afterwards what we please with the French, for we have them as it were in a sheeps pen and may cut them off at any time, for they had no liberty to plant any corn yet, tho' they tried but it was forbid them & we told them, that we did not give them liberty to build that fort in order to make improvements, but only to fight against the English.
" The people here were surprised, that the 6 Nations at the last treaty had not agreed upon knocking the Delawares and Shawanoes in the head. Skarouyade told them, that the 6 Nations were re- solved to cut them off in case they would not listen to the message they sent now ; the Gov & Council then were wondering that the treaty was mentioning
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In Colonial Days.
nothing of the nature. I told them I did not hear the 6 Nations say any such thing in public nor be- lieved they believed they would undertake it, then Mr. Montour* said, it was agreed upon in some of their private councils. They are now upon promising rewards for scalps, £30 a scalp & £50 a prisoner, before they know the result of the 6 Nations upon the answer the Delawares are to give to their late message. I am afeared, they will make evil worse. They think the message to the Delawares upon Sus- quehanna was of no consequence or help, but mes- sages should have been sent to Ohio and the Indians,
who live near Fort du Quesne."+ Matters were evi- dently beginning to take a favorable shape, so that Goldsborough Banyar, Clerk of the N. Y. Council and an intimate friend of Sir William, could write him April 30, 1756: "I am glad to see the prospect increases of your accommodating matters between us and the Delawares and the Shawnese. Do not spare any powers to accomplish it, you can hardly do your King and country a more essential service and you'll win the hearts of the Quakers by it, (if that were a New York motive), who utterly disapprove of Gov' Morris (of Pennsylvania) Proclamation."}
This proclamation was a declaration of war against the Delaware and Susquehanna Indians. Though hostilities against the Indians, friendly to the British
Indian interpreter, frequently employed by Sir Wm.
+ Sir Wm Johnson Papers, N. Y. State Library, IV, 34.
# Ib. 40.
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interest, were forbidden at the same time, misrepre- sentations of the Pennsylvanian intentions not only alarmed the Six Nations, but threatened also to pre- vent the southern tribes from coming to the great meeting at Onondaga. Messengers traveled in all di- rections to counteract this bad impression and in July, 1756, Sir William could open the Indian congress, attended by the New York Indians, and as the report of the proceedings* has it, "their allies and depend- ents, the Shawanese and Delawares."
Monacatutha, the Half King,t speaking for these latter, said : " You desire to know of us, why those of our people, who have committed several murders upon the English have not appeared at this meeting and what were their reasons for their committing hostilities on their brethren without any provocation.
" Brother, we know the reason and will tell you it here before the Six Nations and all present, for we are not afraid to speak the truth before any nation or people. Last year the French brought a powerful army into our country and soon after the English marched another army, which appeared to us like two Clouds hanging over us ; we looked on till the battle was over and then we found some of the Six Nations with the French hatchets in their hands killing the English and as we were in strict alliance with the Six Nations, we thought it our duty to do the same, yet we did not immediately strike. } Some of our young
* Sir Wm Johnson Papers, N. Y. State Library, IV. 77.
+ An Oneida chief.
# From here to ## relates to the Shawanese on the Ohio according to a note in the original.
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In Colonial Days.
men soon after killed some hogs belonging to the English, which exasperated the English so much, that they struck their hatchets into our heads and then we declared war against the English, but we have found, that we have acted wrong, for which reason we hope, our brethren, the English, will par- don us for what is past, as we laid down our hatchets, as soon as we were convinced we were wrong."##
The Shawanese King added : " We were first set- tled at Shahandowana (Wyoming) and upon our brothers application we left that place and came and settled upon a branch of Susquehannah. Brother, you may naturally conclude, we could have no bad intentions towards the English, by our removing nearer to them and I assure you, that we neither have been nor will be concerned in any hostilities against them."
When a few days later the conference ended, all the troubles with the Delawares and Shawanese were considered settled, and in opposition to Morris of Pennsylvania, Governor Belcher of New Jersey disap- proved strongly of any warlike measures against the Indians, with whom Sir William Johnson had just treated." The French at Fort du Quesne, provisioned by way of the Illinois, were expecting, that the result of the Onondaga conference would be in their favor. The Marquis de Vaudreuil writes home in August, 1756:+
* Sir Wm Johnson Papers, IV, 87.
+ N. Y. Col. Hist., X, 436.
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" The Iroquois of the vicinity of Fort du Quesne have almost all retired to the mouth of Rivière aux Boeufs on a belt from the Five Nations. M. Dumas, Commander at Fort du Quesne, is very glad to be rid of them. His affairs will only improve, as soon as he thoroughly understands the disposition of the Delawares and Shawanese towards them. .... M. Dumas had received the provisions, which he had demanded from Illinois. .... I knew that the route from the Illinois to Fort du Quesne was as fine as . could be desired. Chevalier de Villiers, who com- manded the escort of these provisions, came up as far as Fort du Quesne with a bateau of 18 thousand weight. This little convoy makes known to this Colony a sure communication with the Illinois, whence I can derive succor in provisions and men, sooner and more easily than from the heart of this Colony.
" M. de Villiers' report shows more strongly than ever the necessity of erecting a fort at the falls* to secure that communication. ... I made in 1746 the like representations to the Court, which authorized me to have that fort erected; but its execution was neglected owing to circumstances and since then there has not been any further question of it."
The Shawanese seem to have been a tribe, upon whose word little dependence could be placed, unless Marquis de Vaudreuil complacently deceives himself by continuing in the above letter as follows : "M. Dumas has sent me two young warriors, Chaouanons,
* Now Louisville, Ky.
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In Colonial Days.
who are attached to him. They have assured me, on the part of their chiefs and their entire nation, of the pleasure they experienced at seeing me; that from the first moment they had learned of my arrival, they had wholly declared for the French ; that they have given me proof thereof in the battle we gave the army of General Braddock; that they were resolved never to quit the French and to die with them. I have warmly received these Chaouanons. The wel- come I have given them will not fail to excite the envy of the other Indians on the Beautiful River to. follow the same route."
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