History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 6

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1314

USA > Pennsylvania > Fayette County > History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 6

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" Following is a translation of the orders given by M. de Contrecœur to Jumonville for this expedition :

" De it known that the captain of a company belonging to the detach- ment of marines, commander-in-chief at the Ohio Fort du Quesne, Presqu' Isle and Rivière aux Boeufs, bath given orders to M. de Jumon- . ville, an ensign of the troops, to depart immediately, with one officer, three cadets, one volunteer [La Force], one English interpreter, and twenty-eight meu, to go up as far as the High Lands, and to make what discovery he can ; he shall keep along the river Monongahela in Peria- ghas, as far as the Hangand, after which he shall march along until he finds the road which leads to that said to have been cleared by the Eng- lish. As the Indians give ont that the English are on their march to attack ne (which we cannot believe, since we are at peace), should M. de Jumonville, contrary to our expectations, hear of any attempt in- tended to be made by the English en the lands belonging to the French King, he shall immediately go to them and deliver them the summons we have given him. We further charge him to dispatch a speedy mes- senger to os before the summons be read, to acquaint ns of all the dis- coveries he hath made; of the day he intends to read them the sun- mons, and nisu to bring as an answer from them, with all possible dili- gence, after it is read.

" If M. de Jumonville should hear that the English intend to go on the other side of the Great Mountain [the Alleghenies] he shall not pass the High Lands, for we would not disturb them in the least, being de- sirens to krep up that nnion which exists between the two crowns.

(Signed) CONTRECEUL."

charged by the commandant at Fort du Quesne with the duty of delivering a communication to the com- manding officer of the English force; and that the military party which accompanied him was acting simply as his guard while performing this service. But if it was simply a gnard to a peaceful envoy, then certainly its leader adopted a very strange cour e in lurking near Washington's encampment for two days, and hiding his men in an obscure and gloomy glen among rocks and brushwood.

It having been determined to attack Jumonville's party, Washington's men and Tanacharison's Indians left the headquarters of the latter, and marched " In- dian-file" to near the French camp,4 where a line was formed, with the English on the right and the Indians on the left, and in this order the combined forees moved to the attack. It was not a complete surprise, for the French discovered their assailants before they were within rifle-range. The right, nnder Washing- ton, opened fire, and received that of the French. The conflict lasted only about a quarter of an hour, when the French surrendered. Their loss was ten killed and one wounded. Among the killed was M. de Jumonville.3 All the dead men were scalped by Tanacharison's Indians. Washington's loss was one man killed and two wounded.

The prisoners, twenty-one in number (among whom were La Force, M. Drouillard, and two cadets), were marched to the Half-King's camp, and thence to the Great Meadows. Two days later, they were sent to Winchester, Va., with a guard of twenty men, under command of Lieutenant West, who was also aecom- panied by Mr. Spindorph.

On the 30th, Washington " began to raise a fort with small palisadoes, fearing that when the French should hear the news of that defeat we might be at- taeked by considerable forces." The defenses which his men had constructed at the Great Meadows' camp prior to this, probably consisted of parapets, formed of logs (laid horizontally ) and earth, along the erests of the "two natural intrenchments," which have al- ready been mentioned, and the discovery of which at the Great Meadows, together with the advantage of a small stream that flowed near them, seems to have been a principal reason for his selecting that

4 " Jumonville's Camp," says Mr. Veech, " is a place well known in our mountains. It is near half a mile southward of Dunbar's Camp, and about five hundred yards eastward of Braddock's road,-the same which Washington was then making. . . . There is not above ground in Fay- ette County a place se well calculated for concealment, and for secretly watching and counting Washington's little army as it would pass along the road, as this snme Jumenville's Camp." The spot is now well known by residents in that part of the county, and is frequently visited by strangers from motives of curiosity.

5 The killing of Jumonville was stigmatized by the French as the assassination of a peaceful envoy, and their writers have covered thou- snods of pages with accusations against Washington as commander of the attacking force. Even u greater amount of writing has been done

" We charge M. de Jumonville to stand upon his guard against every attempt, either from the English or the Imhans. If he should meet any Indians, he shall tell theos he is traveling about to see what is transact- ing on the King's territories, and to take notice of every road, and shall | by American historians to refute those false allegations. But the charac- show them friendship. Done at the camp at Fort Du Quesne, the 23d of May, 1754.

ter of WASHINGTON Deeds no vindication, and certainly none will be offered in these pages.

WASHINGTON'S CAMPAIGN OF 1754 IN THE YOUGHHIOGHIENY VALLEY.

place as a site for his fortified camp and temporary base of operations.

The little stockade, which Washington built after the fight at Jumonville's camp, was evidently a very slight and primitive affair, for on the 2d of June it was completed, and religious services were held in it. In the previous evening the Half-King had arrived, bring- ing with him some twenty-five or thirty families of In- dians, who had fled from the lower Monongahela and the neighborhood of Logstown for fear of the vengeance of the French. The fugitive party numbered between eighty and one hundred persons, including women and children. Among them was "Queen" Alliquippa and her son. Her heart had evidently been touched in its tenderest chord by Washington's present of a bottle of rum to her in the preceding December, and now she came to place herself under his protection, she doubtless had visions of future favors from him. But the presence of these refugees was very embar- rassing to the young commander on necount of pros- pective searcity of provisions, and for many other reasons; and the inconvenience was afterwards in- creased by the arrival of other parties of non-com- batant Indians. One of these was a party of Shaw- anese, who came to the fort on the 2d of June, and others came in on the 5th and 6th. Washington wished to be disencumbered of these hangers-on, and tried to have a rendezvous of friendly Indians estab- lished at the mouth of the Redstone Creek, but did not succeed in effecting his purpose.

On the 6th of June, Christopher Gist arrived from Wills' Creek, with information that Col. Fry, com- manding officer of the Virginia regiment, had died at that place on the 30th of May while on his way to the Great Meadows with troops. By his death Washing- ton succeeded to the command of the regiment. On the 9th, Major Muse arrived from Wills' Creek with the remainder of the regiment, and nine small swivel- guns, with ammunition for them. But although the last of the regiment had now arrived, the total force under Washington was but little more than three hundred men, in six companies, commanded respec- tively by Captains Stephen, Jacob Van Braam, Robert Stobo, Peter Hogg, Andrew Lewis,1 Polson, and George Mercer. Among the subalterns were Lieuten- ants John Mercer and Waggoner, and Ensigns Pey- ronie and Tower. Major Muse, as a man of some military experience, was detailed as quartermaster, and Captain Stephen was made acting major.

Major Muse, on his arrival, reported that Captain Mackay, of the South Carolina Royal Independent Company, had arrived with his command at Wills' Creek, and was not far behind him on the march to Great Meadows. He (Mackay ) arrived on the follow-

ing day (June 10th ), having with him a force of about one hundred men, five days' rations of flour, sixty cattle on the hoof, and a considerable supply of am- munition. As Capt. Mackay was a regular officer in the royal service, he displayed from the first a disin- clination to act under the orders of a "buckskin colonel" of Virginia provincial troops. This feeling extended to the private soldiers of the Carolina com- pany, but no act of pronounced insubordination resulted from it.

Two days after the arrival of Capt. Mackay, some of Washington's scouts brought in word that they had discovered a French party, numbering, by estimate, about ninety men, between Gist's and Stewart's Cros- sings of the Youghioghieny. This intelligence caused the colonel to start out with about one hundred and thirty men and thirty Indians to find them; but before leaving the meadows, he took the same pre- caution that he observed when he went out to attack the party under Jumonville,-that is, he directed all his ammunition and stores to be placed in the safest possible position within the palisade, and set a strong guard over it, with orders to keep the strictest watch until his return ; for he still feared that the reported movement by the French was part of a stratagem by which they hoped to capture the work in the absence of a large part of its defenders. On moving out with his party, however, he soon met an Indian party, who informed him that the alarm was unfounded, for, that instead of the reported party of ninety, there were but mine Freuchmen, and these were deserters. There- upon he returned to the camp, leaving a small party to take the deserters and bring them in, which they accomplished soon afterwards.

Finding that there was as yet no French force in his vicinity, Washington now resolved to advance towards Redstone, and accordingly, on the 16th, moved out on the Nemacolin path towards Gist's, taking with him his artillery pieces, some of the wagons, and all his men, except the Carolinians, under Mackay, who were left behind at the fort to guard the stores. This was done to avoid a possible conflict of authority with Mackay, who was indisposed to have his com- pany perform its share of labor in elearing the way for the passage of the train.

This labor was found to be so great that the force under Washington was employed thirteen days in making the road passable from the fort to Gist's, though the distance was only thirteen miles. Before reaching Gist's (on the 27th) Capt. Lewis was sent ahead with Lieut. Waggoner, Ensign Mercer, and a detachment of seventy men, to attempt the opening of a practicable road beyond Gist's, towards Redstone. Another detachment, under Capt. Polson, was sent out in advance to reconnoitre.

On the 29th of June Washington arrived at Gist's, and there received information that a strong Frenchi force was advancing up the Monongahela. Thereupon, he at ouce called a council of war, at which it was re-

1 Afterwards General Lewis, who fought the battle of Point Pleasant in Dunmore's war of 1774. Ile was a relative of Washington, and it is Baid that in 1775 the latter recommended him for the appointment which he himself sooo after received, that of commander-in-chief of the Ameri- can armios.

HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

solved to concentrate all the forces at that point, and there await the French attack. Intrenchments were immediately commenced and pushed with all possible vigor ; a messenger was sent towards Redstone, to call in Lewis's and Polson's detachments, and an- other to the Great Meadows, with a request to Capt. Mackay to march his force without delay to Gist's. He promptly responded ; and Lewis and Polson also came in the next morning, having cut through nearly eight miles of road from Gist's towards Redstone. On their arrival Washington called a second council of war, which reversed the decision of the first, and re- solved, without a dissenting voice, to abandon the work at Gist's and retreat to Wills' Creek, over the route by which they had advanced. This decision was at once acted on.

In the retreat, the means of transportation being very deficient,1 it is said that "Colonel Washington set a noble example to the officers by leading his own horse with ammunition and other public stores, leaving his baggage behind, and giving the soldiers four pistoles to carry it forward. The other officers followed this example. There were nine swivels, which were drawn by the soldiers of the Virginia regiment, over a very broken road, unassisted by the men belonging to the Independent Company [Mackay's], who refused to perform any service of the kind. Neither would they act as pioneers, nor aid in transporting the public stores, considering this a duty not incumbent on them as King's soldiers. This conduct had a discouraging effect upon the soldiers of the Virginia regiment, by dampening their ardor and making them more dis- satisfied with their extreme fatigue." 2

The journey between Gist's and the Great Meadows, which Washington, on his outward march, had been unable to perform in less than thirteen days, was now made in less than two days, notwithstanding the insuf- fi ciency of transportation and the severe labor which the men were obliged to perform in hauling the artil- lery pieces and military stores; and the retreating col- umn reached the fortified camp at Great Meadows on the 1st of July.

It had been the intention, as before noticed, to con- tinue the retreat to Wills' Creek, but on the arrival at the Meadows, Washington found that it was im- practicable to go on, for, says Sparks, "His men had become so much fatigued from great labor and a de- ficiency of provisions, that they could draw the swivels no farther, nor carry the baggage on their backs. They had been eight days without bread, and at the Great Meadows they found only a few hags of flour. It was thought advisable to wait here, therefore, and fortify themselves in the best manner they could till

they should receive supplies and reinforcements. They had heard of the arrival, at Alexandria, of two independent companies from New York, twenty days before, and it was presumed they must, by this time, have reached Wills' Creek. An express was sent to hasten them on with as much dispatch as possible."

When it had been decided to make a stand at the fortified camp at Great Meadows, Washington gave orders for the mnen to commence, without delay, to strengthen the rude defenses which had already been erected. More palisades were added ; the stockade was extended, and salient angles formed, and a broad but shallow ditch was made outside the fort, materi- ally adding to the strength of the work. Outside this ditch there was constructed a line of defense, similar in character to the modern rifle-pits,-but all joined in one extended trench,-further protected in front by a low parapet of logs, embanked with the earth thrown from the trench. The work was done under the supervision of Capt. Robert Stobo, who had had some experience in military engineering. When completed, Washington named it " Fort Necessity," as expressive of the necessity he was under to stand there and fight, because of his inability to continue the retreat to Wills' Creek, as he had intended. The extreme scar- city of provisions, and other supplies too, made the name appropriate.

Washington's selection of a site for his fortification has been often and severely criticised by military men as being badly calculated for defense, and com- manded on three sides by high ground and closely approaching woods. The location was undoubtedly chosen partly on account of the peculiar conforma- tion of the ground, which Washington called " natural intrenchments," and which materially lightened the labor of construction, and still more on account of the small stream (a tributary of Great Meadows Run) which flowed by the spot, and across which, at one point, the palisade was extended, so as to bring it within the work, and furnish the defenders with an abundant supply of water, a consideration of vital importance if the fort was to be besieged.

The size and shape of Fort Necessity have often been described by writers, but the different accounts vary in a remarkable manner. Col. Burd, who vis- ited the ruin of the work in 1759, five years after its erection, says, under date of September 10th, in that year, " Saw Col. Washington's fort, which was called Fort Necessity. It is a small, circular, stockade, with a small house in the centre. On the outside there is a small ditch goes round it, about eight yards from the stockade. It is situated in a narrow part of the meadows, commanded by three points of woods. There is a small run of water just by it. We saw two iron swivels."

Sparks, in describing the fort and its location, says, "The space of ground called the Great Meadows is a level bottom, through which passes a small creek, and is surrounded by hills of moderate and gradual

1 Sargent says, "Two miserable teams, and a few pack horses being all their means of transporting their ammunition, the officers at once added their own steeds to the train; and, leaving half his baggage be- hind, Washington, for four pistoles, hired some of the soldiers to carry the remainder."

" Spirks.

WASHINGTON'S CAMPAIGN OF 1754 IN THIE YOUGHIOGHIENY VALLEY.

descent. This bottom, or glade, is entirely level, covered with long grass and small bushes [ Waslı- ington mentioned the clearing away of the bushes which covered the ground when the work was com- menced ], and varies in width. At the point where the fort stood it is about two hundred and fifty yards wide from the base of one hill to that of the opposite. The position of the fort was well chosen, being about one hundred yards from the upland or wooded ground on the one side, and one hundred and fifty on the other, and so situated on the margin of the ereek as to afford easy access to the water. At one point the high ground comes within sixty yards of the fort, and this was the nearest distance to which an enemy could approach under shelter of trees. The outlines of the fort were still visible when the spot was visited by the writer in 1830, occupying an irregular square, the dimensions of which were about one hundred feet on each side. One of the angles was prolonged farther than the others, for the purpose of reaching the water in the creek. On the west side, next to the nearest wood, were three entrances, protected by stout breastworks or bastions. The remains of a ditch, stretching round the south and west sides, were also distinctly seen. The site of this fort, named Fort Necessity from the circumstances attending its erec- tion and original use, is three or four hundred yards south of what is called the National road, four miles from the foot of Laurel Hill, and fifty miles from Cumberland, at Wills' Creek." If Sparks had been in the least acquainted with military matters, he probably would not have spoken of a fortified posi- tion as being "well chosen" when it was commanded on three sides by higher ground, in no place more than one hundred and fifty yards distant, with the opportunity for an enemy to approach on one side within sixty yards under cover of woods.

The best, and it is believed the only reliable de- seription of the form and dimension of the fort, is found in Veech's " Monongahela of Old," as follows : "The engraving and description of Fort Necessity given in Sparks' Washington are inaccurate. It may have presented that diamond shape in 1830, but in 1816 the senior author of these sketches made a regular survey of it with compass and chain. It was in the form of an obtuse-angled triangle of one hun- dred and five degrees, having its base or hypothenuse upon the run. The line of the base was about midway sected or broken, and about two perches of it thrown across the run, connecting with the base by lines of about the same length, nearly perpendicular to the opposite lines of the triangle. One line of the angle was six, the other seven perches ; the base line eleven perches long, including the section thrown across the run. The lines embraced in all about fifty square perches of land, or nearly one-third of an acre. The embankments then (1816) were nearly three feet

above thelevel of the meadow. The outside " trenches" were filled up. But inside the lines were ditches or excavations about two feet deep, formed by throwing the earth up against the palisades. There were no traces of 'bastions' at the angles or entrances. The junetions of the meadow or glade with the wooded upland were distant from the fort on the southeast about eighty yards, on the north about two hundred yards, and on the sonth about two hundred and fifty yards. Northwestward, in the direction of the Turn- pike road, the slope was a very regular and gradual rise to the high ground, which is about four hundred yards distant."

Leaving Washington and his little army in oceu- pation of their frail defenses at the Great Meadows, let ns take a brief glance at the enemy which was approaching them from Fort du Quesne by way of the Monongahela Valley.

The French force, which was marching in pursuit of Washington, was commanded by M. Coulon de Villiers, from whose journal of the campaign a few extracts are here given : "June the 26th .- Arrived at Fort du Quesne about eight in the morning, with the several [ Indian ] nations, the command of which the General had given me. At my arrival, was informed that M. de Contreconr had made a detachment of five hundred French, and eleven Indians of different nations on the Ohio, the command of which he had given to Chevalier le Mercier, who was to depart the next day. As I was the oldest officer, and com- manded the Indian nations, and as my brother" had been assassinated, M. de Contrecœur honored me with that command, and M. le Mercier, though de- prived of the command, seemed very well pleased to make the campaign under my orders. .

" The 28th .- M. de Contrecœur gave me my orders, the provisions were distributed, and we left the fort at about ten o'clock in the morning. I began from that instant to send out some Indians to range about by land to prevent being surprised. I posted myself at a short distance above the first fork of the river Mo- nongahela, though I had no thought of taking that route. I called the Indians together and demanded their opinion. It was decided that it was suitable to take the river Monongahela, though the route was longer.

"The 29th .- Mass was said in the camp, after which we marched with the usual precaution.

"30th .- Came to the Hangard, which was a sort of fort built with logs, one upon another, well notched in, about thirty feet in length and twenty in breadth ; and as it was late, and would not do anything without consulting the Indians, I encamped about two mus- ket-shots from that place. At night I called the sa- chems together, and we consulted upon what was best to be done for the safety of our periaguas (large ca-

1 Freeman Lewis.

" Meaning M. de Jumonville, who was Villiers' half-brother,

HISTORY OF FAYETTE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

noes), and of the provisions we left in reserve, as also what guard should be left to keep it.

" July the 1st .- Put our periaguas in a safe place. Our effects, and everything we could do without, we took into the Hangard, where I left one good sergeant, i with twenty men and some sick Indians. Ammunition was afterwards distributed, and we began our march."

The force of De Villiers consisted of five hundred Frenchmen, and about four hundred Indians.1 March- ing from the Hangard in the morning of the 1st of July (at which time Washington's force was approach- ing the Great Meadows on its retreat from Gist's plan- tation ) the French and Indian column moved up the valley of Redstone Creek (over nearly the same route which was afterwards traversed by Col. Burd's road) towards Gist's, where De Villiers expected to find Washington, his Indian scouts having reported the English force to be at that place.

" At about eleven o'clock," continues the journal, " we discovered some tracks, which made us suspect we were discovered. At three in the afternoon, hav- ing no news of our rangers, I sent others, who met those sent before, and not knowing each other, were near upon exchanging shots, but happily found their mistake; they returned to us and declared to have been at the road which the English were clearing ;2 that they were of opinion no body had been that way for three days. We were no longer in doubt of our proceedings being known to the English."

At daybreak in the morning of the 2d the French force left its bivouac of the previous night and marched towards Gist's. "After having marched some time we stopped, for I was resolved to proceed no farther until I had positive news; wherefore I sent scouts upon the road. In the meanwhile came some of the Indians to me whom we had left at the Han- gard ; they had taken a prisoner, who called himself a deserter. I examined him, and threatened him with the rope if he offered to impose on me. I learned that the English had left their post [at Gist's] in order to rejoin their fort, and that they had taken back their cannon. Some of our people, finding that the English had abandoned the camp, we went thereto, and I sent some men to search it through- out. They found several tools and other utensils hidden in many places, which I ordered them to carry away. As it was late, I ordered the detach- ment to encamp there.3 . . . We had rain all night."

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History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 6

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885 Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co. Number of Pages: 1314

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1314