USA > Pennsylvania > Greene County > History of Greene County, Pennsylvania > Part 16
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In the meantime one of the schooners had been dispatched to Niagara for supplies. On its return the savages, who had learned that it was manned by only ten men, planned to attack and capture
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it. In canoes they approached in the darkness in great numbers and in face of a rapid musketry fire were boarding the vessel, when the commander gave the order to fire the magazine and blow up the ship, which the Indians hearing, leaped overboard and swam to shore to escape the explosion, when the vessel moved up under cover of the fort unmolested.
The peace of Paris had been concluded in April, yet the intelli- gence was tardy in reaching the frontiers, and when finally it was known, the hatred of the English and the hope of yet driving them away through Indian warfare was still kept alive. But the stubborn defence of Detroit finally convinced the more considerate of the French that it was their best policy to submit to the English anthor- ity. Accordingly Neyon informed Pontiac that no further assistance could be expected from the King of France, a tale of whose coming with a great army to annihilate the English having been persistently dinned into his ears, that peace had been concluded, that France had surrendered everything in America, and that the English were now the only rightful rulers. The sullen Pontiac received the tidings with disgust, broke the siege in no spirit of submission, and declared that he would return again in the spring and renew his warfare.
From the first the will of Pontiac ruled all the frontier, though absent in person. The war belt which he sent was a sufficient com- mission for stealthy murders and midnight scalpings and burnings along all the borders. On the receipt of news of the conclusion of peace, the settlers who had been driven from their cabins during the continuance of hostilities, supposing that the pacification would be nade complete. hastened back to their settlements in the hope of getting their plantings and sewings made in season for crops that should be their support for the coming winter. But the decree of Pontiac disappointed all their hopes, and made this summer of 1763 the most bloody of all the seven. "About the first of June," it is recorded in the History of Western Pennsylvania, "the scalping parties perpetrated several murders in the vicinity of Fort Pitt, Upon receipt of this intelligence Governor Hamilton, with the assist- ance of the provincial commissioners, immediately reinforced the garrison at Angusta, and sent ont small parties to protect the frontiers. As the first attack was not immediately followed up by the Indians, the government was willing to believe it to have been the effect of some private resentments, rather than a general combina- tion for war. But such hopes were dissipated by inroads upon the settled parts of the province and the flight of the inhabitants to the interior. The whole country west of Shippensburg became the prey of the fierce barbarians. They set fire to houses, barns, corn, hay, and everything that was combustible. The wretched inhabitants whom they surprised at night, at their meals, or in the labors of the
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fields, were massaered with the utmost cruelty and barbarity; and those who fled were searee more happy. Overwhelmed by sorrow, without shelter or means of transportation, their tardy flight was im- peded by fainting women and weeping children. The inhabitants of Shippensburg and Carlisle, now become the barrier towns, opened their hearts and their houses to their afflicted brethren. In the towns, every stable and hovel was crowded with miserable refugees who, having lost their houses, their cattle and their harvest, were reduced from independence and happiness to beggary and despair. (On the 25th of July, 1763, there were in Shippensburg 1,384 of poor, distressed, back inhabitants, viz: men, 301; women, 345; children, 738; many of whom were obliged to lie in barns, stables, cellars, and under old leaky sheds, the dwelling houses being all crowded.) The streets were filled with people; the men, distracted by grief for their losses and the desire for revenge, more poignantly excited by the disconsolate females and bereaved children who wailed around them. In the woods, for some miles, on both sides of the Susquehanna River, many families with their cattle sought shelter, being unable to find it in towns."
While the scattered settlers fled for safety before the roving bands, the garrisons of the isolated forts far out beyond the farthest verge of the settlements were shut off from communication with their comrades whenee suceor could come, and were made the objects against which the best resourcees of the savages were directed. It was a new kind of warfare to them; but they had seen enough of siege work in the operations of the English against the French, to understand its nature, and to undertake it with all the relish inspired by a new thing. They had no artillery, but they could shoot fiery darts, mine with the zeal of a beaver, preserve constant vigils, and destroy by combustibles whatever was destructible that they could reach.
Presque Isle, next to Niagara and Detroit, was the most im- portant post along the line of defenses, as it guarded the communica- tion east and west, and being on water communication could be easily reached with supplies and reinforcements. On the 22d of June it was attacked. It had a garrison of twenty-four men and was easily defensible for any period. But the commander, Ensign Christy, after defending himself two days, in the most shameless manner capitulated, giving up all his men, who were no sooner in the hands of the savages than they were treacherously given over to the sealp- ing knife, he himself being carried away a prisoner to Detroit reserved for future torments. The fort at Le Boeuf (Waterford), but a few miles away, on the head waters of the Venango River (French Creek), one of the tributaries of the Allegheny, had been attacked four days before. The fort was of combustible material, and at midnight the
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savages succeeded in firing it, when the garrison, seeing that the flames could not be stayed, secretly withdrew under cover of the darkness into the woods and made good their escape, the Indians believing them burned. On their way down the river they saw at Venango the ruins of the fort, the garrison there having all been massacred, not one escaping to tell the tale.
Fort Pitt (Pittsburg), which had been laid out and its construc tion pushed with so much energy, had never been finished, and the floods of spring which had eaten in upon the banks with great violence had opened it on three sides. Captain Ecuyer, who was in commmand, had with him a garrison of three hundred and thirty men. With energy and skill he had reared a rampart on the unpro- tected sides, had palisaded the interior work, and had constructed an engine for extinguishing fire should the foe succeed in firing the work.
On the 22d of June, the very day on which the attack had been made at Presque Isle, the dusky warriors made their appearance before Fort Pitt, and commenced the attack, investing it on all sides, killing one and wounding another. With prying eye they skulked around at night peering in on every side to discover if possible its weak part. Concluding, probably, that the work would be a difficult one to overcome, and judging that strategy would be surer of success than force, after midnight they asked for a parley. Turtle Heart, chief of the Delawares spoke: " Brothers," he said, "all your posts and strong places, from this backwards are burnt and cut off. This is the only one you have left in our country. We have prevailed with six different nations of Indians, that are ready to attack you, to forbear till we came and warned you to go home. They have fur- ther agreed to permit you and your people to pass safe to the inhabi- tants. Therefore, brother, we desire that you may set off to-morrow, as great numbers of Indians are coming here, and after two days we shall not be able to do anything with them for you." Their purpose in this exhortation was doubtless to get the garrison in their power and then massacre them as they had done at Presque Isle, which had induced General Amherst to observe, " I am surprised that any officer in his senses would enter into terms with such barbarians."
To this apparently innocent and reasonable appeal, Ecuyer sternly refused to listen, but reminded them that three English armies were on their way to chastise them, and that it was they who should be seeking safety. The fort was now closely invested and no intelli- gence could be sent through, either to or from the fort. ' Though suffering for lack of many things necessary for the comfort and sue- cessful defence of the fort, the gallant captain vigilantly held and guarded it, though wounded by an Indian arrow, the foe using most skillfully all their savage implements of warfare. Again and again
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was the demand for the surrender of the fort made. Shingiss and Big Wolf speaking for the Delawares and Shawnees said, " You know this is our country. You yourselves are the people that have dis- turbed the chain of friendship. All the nations over the lakes are soon to be on their way to the forks of the Ohio. IIere is the wam- pmin. If you return quietly home, to your wise men, this is the furthest they will go. If not, see what will be the consequence; so we desire you to remove off." In his answer Ecuyer said, " You suffered the French to settle in the heart of your country ; why would you turn us out of it now? I will not abandon this post; I have warriors, provisions, and ammunition in plenty to defend it three years against all the Indians in the woods. Go home to your towns, and take care of your women and children."
The siege was now pushed with redoubled vigor, digging holes by night and running their trenches close up to the walls of the fort, and keeping up a galling fire of musketry and fiery arrows from their safe hiding places upon the defenders. This close investment was continued till the close of July; but on the 1st of August all had disappeared, a danger which Eenyer had threatened now impending. General Amherst, who was still in command of the English army in America, when informed of the general Indian war which had broken out under the inspiration of the savage Pontiac, was withont suf- ficient troops with which to meet the threatened danger, a large part of the British regulars having been sent to the West Indies. Ilis energies were bent with what scattered forces he could gather up, to the relief of Detroit, Niagara and Fort Pitt. Fortunately Niagara was not attacked. For the relief of Fort Pitt Colonel Boquet was dispatched with the fragments of the Forty-seventh and Seventy- seventh regiments of Highlanders, comprising only 214 and 133 men respectively, and these greatly weakened by their severe service in the siege of Ilavanna. At Carlisle, he was to be furnished with sup- plies; but upon his arrival there, no supplies were collected, and eighteen days were consumed in gathering them. Plenty of grain stood ripe ready for the sickle, but the reapers were gone, and the mills were deserted. With scarcely five hundred men Boquet moved boldly forward on that bloody path which had been so often traversed before with such disastrous results, driving two hundred sheep, and half the number of kine, bearing ammunition, flour, and provisions carried upon pack-horses and in wagons drawn by oxen. Beyond the Alleghanies was Fort Ligonier, held by a small garrison under command of Lieutenant Blane. It was of the utmost importance that this should be held, as the stores of ammunition deposited there if allowed to fall into the hands of the Indians would afford them the means of prolonging the war. Besides, it furnished a rallying point for the force in advancing, and falling back if misfortune should
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overtake them. Accordingly, Boquet dispatched thirty picked men under a discreet officer to proceed by forced marches to gain the fort. This they successfully accomplished, carrying succor to the closely beleaguered post. A party of skilled woodsmen had previously been sent out from Fort Bedford, a point midway between Carlisle and Fort Pitt, one hundred miles from either point.
Boquet could get no information on the way, as roving bands of Indians picked off any one who ventured to pass from one point to the other, though the savages were kept constantly informed of every movement of the troops. Arrived with his main body at Ligonier, the Colonel determined to leave his wagons, and proceed only en- cumbered with pack-horses. By the road that he was to follow, was a dangerous defile of several miles in extent overhung by high craggy hills. This he was familiar with, and intended to pass it by a night march, hoping thus to surprise the foe and escape an attack by them on this difficult ground. At Bushy Run, a tributary of Brush Run and that of Turtle Creek, and twenty-one miles from Pittsburg, he 'had intended to halt for rest; but when arrived within a half mile of this point, on August 5th, he was suddenly attacked by an unseen foe, who came upon him unawares. A charge upon the attacking party sent them fleeing; but when pushed in one direction they ap- peared in another, and soon they attacked along the whole flank. A steady charge of the regulars sent them back, but only to ap- pear again in another part, until they had the little force of Boquet completely surrounded by a continuous line, and were becoming every moment more daring and eager for the fight. They, no doubt, believed that they now had the whole force completely in their power, and would soon have the fighting men picked off from their hiding places. It must be acknowledged that the prospect seemed gloomy enough. Should this army be now sacrificed, the whole frontier would be thrown open to the attacks of the stealthy savages, and the tomahawk and the scalping-knife would bear undisputed sway, even to the very doors of Philadelphia.
But Boquet understood the methods of savage warfare better than Braddock, and Halket, and Dunbar, and was unmoved by the fierce whoop of the Red Man or his gleaming scalping knife. Ile could not advance in any direction and leave his pack-horses and his stores, as they would immediately fall into the hands of the foe. He, ac- cordingly, formed his forces in a circle facing outwards, and drew up lis trains in the center. Noticing that the Indians were becoming more and more cager for the fray, and every moment more venture- some, Boquet determined to give them a taste of their own tactics. At dawn of the second day of the action the enemy were early awake, and opened the battle with the most horrid and unearthly screech- ings. Having the advantage of elevated ground, and being some-
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what concealed by the foliage of the trees and bushes, Boquet conld maneuver his forces without disclosing his movements. Seeing that the savages were eager to rush forward whenever they saw the least disposition of the troops to yield, he determined to feign a retreat. He accordingly ordered the two companies occupying the advance to retire within the circle, and the lines again to close up, as if the whole force was commencing the retreat. But before commencing this movement he had posted a force of light infantry in ambuscade, who, if the Indians should follow the retreating troops, would have them at their mercy. The stratagem succeeded precisely as had been anticipated. The Indians, seeing the troops retreating, and the feeble lines closing in behind them, as if covering the retirement, rushed forward in wildest confusion and in great numbers. But when the grenadiers who had been posted on either side, saw their opportunity they advanced from their concealment, and charged with the greatest steadiness, shooting down the savages in great numbers, who returned the fire, but soon broke in confusion and disorderly flight. But now the companies of light infantry which had been posted on the opposite side, rose up from their ambush and received the flying mass with fresh volleys. Seized with terror at this un- expected disaster, and having lost many of their best fighting men and war chiefs, they became disheartened, and seeing the regulars giving close pursuit, they broke and fled in all directions. All · efforts of their surviving chiefs to rally and form them were unavail- ing. They could no longer be controlled; but breaking up they fled singly and in parties to their homes, many of them not pausing till they had reached the country of the Muskingum.
Boquet, though entirely successful in this, the battle of Bushy Run, had lost nearly a fourth of his whole army, fifty killed, sixty wounded and five missing, and nearly all his pack-horses, and there- fore took every precaution to avoid a surprise and further loss. He destroyed all his stores which he could not carry with him, that they might not fall into the enemy's hands, and moved forward in close order; but without further molestation, and in four days reached Fort Pitt, the enemy having been so thoroughly broken that they did not again show themselves before the fort. The savages lost in this engagement sixty killed and many wounded in the pursuit.
As the tidings of the fall of post after post, along the whole frontier, came day after day to General Amherst, who had his head- quarters at New York, and of the savage attacks upon Detroit and Fort Pitt, his anger knew no bounds. He recognized in Pontiac the chief of the conspiracy and the investigator of all their savage designs. Before receiving news of the success of Boquet, he wrote to Gladwin, by the hand of Gardiner :- "The Senecas, and all these hostile tribes must be deemed our enemies, and used as such; not
Dothe Teamalle
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as a generous enemy, but as the vilest race of beings that ever in- fested the earth, and whose riddance from it must be esteemed a meritorious act, for the good of mankind. You will, therefore, take no prisoners, but put to death all that fall into your hands of the nations who have so unjustly and cruelly committed depredations. I have thought proper to promise a reward of one hundred pounds to the man who shall kill Pontiac, the chief of the Ottawas-a cowardly villain."
Though the campaign of 1763 had been disastrous to English arms in America, yet its termination in the triumph of Bushy Ruu and relief of Fort Pitt, and the complete foil given to all the plans of Pontiac, which he personally conducted, gave the Indians a gloomy outlook for the future. Nevertheless, Pontiac returned in the spring of 1764 to the siege of Detroit. General Gage, who had succeeded Amherst in command in America, determined to push the campaign with a strong hand. Two expeditions were planned, one to advance under Colonel Bradstreet by Niagara, Presque Isle and Sandusky, and a second under Colonel Boquet by way of Fort Pitt and the country of the Muskingum. Sir William Jolinson had always possessed great influence with the Indians, especially with the Six Nations, occupying the greater part of New York, and during the winter of 1763-64 had sent out messengers to all the tribes advising peace. Hence when Bradstreet reached Presque Isle, he was met by the chiefs, Shawnees and Delawares, and at Sandusky by the Ottawas, Wyan- dotts, and Miamis, who, under the garb of peace and friendship, de- sired to make a treaty of pacification. But, notwithstanding their promises, murders and massacres continued. At Detroit, he was met by the Ottawas, Ojibwas, Pottawattamies, Sacs, and Wyandotts, who likewise made treaties of peace; but they were unable either to control the young warriors, or they never meant to comply with the terms they had agreed to, and the whole campaign proved fruitless, Bradstreet returning to Niagara, and Gage issuing orders to annul all his treaties.
Not so with Boquet, who knew the Indian tactics better. With five hundred regulars and a thousand provincials he marched from Carlisle on the 5th of August, and arrived at Fort Pitt about the middle of September. IIe had received a message from Bradstreet on the way informing him that he had coneluded treaties of peace with all the western tribes, and that it would be unnecessary to pro- ceed further. But Boquet knew that the Colonel had been duped, and pushed forward with his army. At Fort Pitt Boquet learned that the messenger sent by him to Bradstreet had been murdered and his head set up upon a pole in the road. The chiefs of Delawares, Senecas, and Shawnees waited upon him on his arrival and advised peace, and that he proceed no further, alleging that their young men
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had committed the outrages charged without authority. Boquet boldly charged faithlessness, and that they should punish their young men if they disobeyed. He boldly marched on down the Ohio into the very heart of the Indian country, and so stern were his words and so summary his threats, and the taste of his fighting had inspired such dread, that the tribes sent their chiefs to sue for peace. Boquet met them in the midst of his army, and in answer to their entreaties for peace charged them with constantly breaking their promises. " You have," said he, " promised at every former treaty, as you do now, to deliver up all your prisoners, and have received at every time presents, but have never complied with the engagements. 1 am now to tell you, therefore, that the English will no longer be im- posed upon by your promises. This army shall not leave your country until you have fully complied with every condition that is to precede a treaty with you. *
% * If I find you faithfully execute the follow- ing preliminary conditions, I will not treat you with the severity you deserve. I give you twelve days to deliver into my hands all the prisoners in your possession, without any exception: Englishmen, Frenchmen, women and children. whether adopted in your tribes, married or living amongst you under any denomination and pretense, „whatsoever, together with all the negroes."
The stern tone of the brave Colonel had the desired effect. They saw before them a man determined to enforce his commands sur- rounded by soldiers ready to execute vengeance. They became sub- missive and a part of them asked for peace, but the Colonel refused to take them by the hand until their promises were fulfilled, and the terms of peace fully agreed upon. The chief's were much grieved by this lack of confidence, and used their utmost endeavors to induce their people to bring forward their captives. By the 9th of Nov- ember all the captives had been brought in and delivered up, to the number of two hundred and six,-Virginians, thirty-two males and fifty-eight females, and Pennsylvanians, forty-nine males and sixty- seven females. This number did not include nearly a hundred in the hands of the Shawnees, who were to gather and deliver them up in the following spring.
When all had been accomplished, Keyashuta, chief of the Sen- ecas, a tribe of the Delawares spoke: "Brother, the misfortune which has happened of one of your people being murdered, gives us the same sorrow it gives you. By this string of wampum (giving one) we wipe the tears from your eyes, and remove from your heart the resentment which this murder has raised against us. * *
We have strictly complied with your desire, and now deliver you these three prisoners, which are the last of your flesh and blood that remain among us. * ** Brother, we cover the bones which have been buried, in such a manner, that they never more be re-
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membered. We cover them again with leaves, that the place where they are buried, may never more be seen. As we have been a long time astray, and the path between us and you stopped, we hope the path will be again cleared, and we now extend this belt of wamipum be- tween you and us, that we may again travel in peace to see our brothers as our ancestors formerly did. * As we have now extended a belt representing the road between you and us, we beg that you will take fast hold of it, that the path may always be kept open between us."
In answer to these earnest sentiments of peace Colonel Boquet replied: "I bury the bones of the people who fell in the war, so that the place be no more seen (presents a belt). Your readiness in complying with every condition I have already required of you, con- vinces me that your intentions are upright, and I will now treat you as brethren (presents a belt). Brother you ask peace. The King, my master, and your father, has appointed me to make war upon you; but he has other servants who are employed in the work of peace, and his majesty has been pleased to empower Sir William Johnson to make peace with the Indians." Before departing, how- ever, he required that the four hostages to be kept at Fort Pitt until peace was finally settled, should be delivered to him, and that the deputies to be sent to Sir William Johnson should be fully em- powered to conclude the terms of peace, and that they should agree to abide by the terms thus concluded. These conditions having been settled, Boquet shook hands with them in token of his satisfac- tion, which greatly rejoiced the hearts of the savages.
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