History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 9

Author: Crumrine, Boyd, 1838-1916; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Hungerford, Austin N
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : H.L. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1216

USA > Pennsylvania > Washington County > History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 9

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The numbers of the English forces engaged in the battle at the Great Meadows is not precisely known. The Virginia regiment went in three hundred strong, including officers, and their loss in the engagement was twelve killed and forty-three wounded.5 Capt. Mackay's company numbered about one hundred, but its losses in killed and wounded were not of- ficially stated. On the French side, according to the statement of De Villiers, the losses were two French- men and one Indian killed, fifteen Frenchmen and two Indians seriously, and a number of others slightly wounded.

4 " We made the English," said Villiers, "consent to sign that they had assassinated my brother in his camp."

5 By Washington's own official statement.

WASHINGTON'S CAMPAIGN OF 1754.

On the 4th of July, at break of day, the troops of Washington filed out of the fort with drums beating and colors flying, and (without any transportation for their effects other than was afforded by the backs and shoulders of the men, and having no means of carry- ing their badly wounded except on improvised stretch- ers) moved sadly away to commence their weary jour- ney of sixty miles over hills and streams to Wills' Creek.

Upon the evacuation of the fort by Washington the French took possession, and immediately proceeded to demolish the work, while "M. le Mercier ordered the cannon of the English to be broken, as also the one granted by capitulation, they not being able to carry it away." The French commander very prudently ordered the destruction of some barrels of rum which were in the fort, to guard against the disorder and perhaps bloodshed which would probably have en- sued if the liquor had been allowed to fall into the hands of the Indians.

De Villiers felt no little anxiety lest the expected reinforcements to Washington should arrive, which might place him in an unpleasant position and re- verse the fortunes of the day. He therefore lost no time, and took his departure from the Great Meadows at as early an hour as possible, and marched about From his camping-ground, three miles southeast of the demolished fort, the Virginia regiment, with Mackay's South Carolinians, moved forward in the morning of the 5th of July, and fording the Youghio- gheny at the Great Crossings, retraced their steps over the route previously traveled, and reached Wills' Creek after a slow and very toilsome journey. From that place Washington went to Alexandria, and the Virginia troops returned to their homes. Mackay's gether with two independent companies from New York,-all under command of Col. James Innes,- erected the fortification afterwards called " Fort Cum- berland." This was then the western gutpost of Eng- lish power, and in all the country west of the moun- tains there was left no bar to French occupation and supremacy. two leagues before he encamped for the night. On the 5th, at about nine o'clock in the forenoon, he arrived at Gist's, where he demolished the stockade which Washington had partially erected there, " and after having detached M. de la Chauvignerie to burn the houses round about," continued on the route to- wards Redstone to a point about three leagues north- west of Gist's, where his forces made their night bivouac. In the morning of the 6th they moved at : Carolina company remained at Wills' Creek, and to- an early hour, and reached the mouth of Redstone at ten o'clock. There they " put their periaguas in order, victualed the detachment, carried away the reserve of provisions which they had left there, found several things which the English had hidden," and then, after burning the "Hangard" store-house, embarked and went down the Monongahela. In the passage down the river, says De Villiers, " we burned down all the settlements we found;" and about four o'clock in the afternoon of the 7th of July they arrived at Fort Du Quesne.

As to the manner of the departure of Washington's troops from the surrendered fort, De Villiers said, " The number of their dead and wounded moved me to pity, notwithstanding my resentment for their having in such a manner taken away my brother's life. The savages, who in everything had adhered to my wishes, claimed the right of plunder, but I re- strained them; however, the English being fright- ened fled, and left their tents and one of their colors." But Washington, commenting on these statements of De Villiers, said, in a letter written not long after-

wards, "That we left our baggage and horses at the Meadows is certain ; that there was not as a powaj- bility to bring them away is equally certain, as we had every horse belonging to the camp killed or taken away during the action, so that it was impracticable to bring anything off that our shoulders were not able to bear, and to wait there was impossible, for we had scarce three days' provisions, and were seventy miles from a supply, yet to say that we came off precipi- tately is absolutely false, notwithstanding they did, contrary to the articles, suffer their Indians to pillage our baggage1 and commit all kinds of irregularity. We were with them until ten o'clock the next day ; we destroyed our powder and other stores, nay, even our private baggage, to prevent its falling into their hands, as we could not bring it off. When we had got about a mile from the place of action we missed two or three of the wounded, and sent a party back to bring them up; this is the party he speaks of. We brought them all safe off, and encamped within three miles of the Meadows. These are circum- stances, I think, that make it evidently clear that we were not very apprehensive of danger. The colors he speaks of as left were a large flag of immense size and weight; our regimental colors were brought off, and are now in my possession."2

1 " We all know that the French are a people that never pay any re- gard to treaties longer than they find them consistent with their interes .. and this treaty [the Fort Necessity capitulation articles] they broke im- mediately by letting the Indians demolish and destroy everything our people had, especially the doctor's box, that our wounded should meet with no relief."-Extract from a letter written by Col. James Innes to Goe. Hamilton, dated Winchester, July 12, 1754.

" It appears that the Half-King, Tanacharison, had a poor opinion of Washington's ability as a military commander, and freely expressed that opinion to the Indian agent and interpreter, Courad Weiser, who reported it as follows :

" The colonel [Washington] was a good-natured man, but had bo ex- perience. He took upon him to command the Indians as his slaves, and would have them every day upon the scout, and to attach the enemy by themselves, but would by no means take advice from the Indians. He lay in one place from one full moon to the other, without making any fortifications except that little thing on the Meadow, whereas had he taken advice and built such fortifications as he [Tanacharison] advised him he might easily have heat off the French. But the French in the engagement," he said, " acted like cowards, and the English like fools."

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

CHAPTER IV.

BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITION IN 1755.

THE news of Washington's defeat, and the conse- quent domination of the French over the broad terri- tory west of the Alleghenies, was forwarded without | delay to England, where it produced a general alarm and excitement, and roused the ministry to a deter- mination to retrieve the disaster and expel the French, at whatever cost, from the valleys of the Mononga- hela and Allegheny Rivers. In pursuance of this de- termination, it was decided to send out a military force, to march from the Potomac to the " Forks of the Ohio," there to wrest from the French, by force of arms, their most menacing possession,-Fort Du Quesne.1

The expeditionary force, which was intended to be a very formidable one (for that early day), was to be composed of the Forty-fourth and Forty-eighth Royal Regiments of Foot,2 commanded respectively by Col. Sir Peter Halket and Col. Thomas Dunbar, with some other troops to be raised in Virginia and other American provinces. The command of the expedi- tion was given to Maj .- Gen. Edward Braddock, of the regular British army, who was also made commander- in chief of all his Majesty's forces in America.

Gen. Braddock sailed from Cork, Ireland, on the 14th of January, with the two regular regiments, on board the fleet of Admiral Keppel, of the British navy. The fleet arrived in Hampton Roads on the 20th of February, and the general, with the admiral, disembarked there and proceeded to Williamsburg, Va., for conference with Governor Dinwiddie. There, also, the general met his quartermaster-general, Sir John Sinclair, who had preceded him to America, and had already visited Fort Cumberland to make the preliminary arrangements for the campaign. "Vir- ginia levies" had already been raised for the purpose of being incorporated with the Forty-fourth and Forty-eighth Regiments, and these levies had been ordered to Alexandria, whither, also, the fleet was ordered for disembarkation of the troops.

Leaving Williamsburg, Gen. Braddock, Sir John · Sinclair, and the admiral arrived on the 26th at Alex- andria, which place was the headquarters of the ex- pedition for nearly two months, during which time (on the 14th of April) a council was held there, com- posed of the commander-in-chief, Admiral Keppel, Governor Dinwiddie, of Virginia; Governor Shirley, of Massachusetts ; Governor Delancey, of New York ; Governor Morris, of Pennsylvania; and Governor Sharpe, of Maryland ; at which conference the plan

of the campaign 3 was decided on, and arrangements made to facilitate the forwarding of the provincial troops destined for the expedition.

Sir John Sinclair was dispatched from Alexandria soon after his arrival with orders to proceed to Win- chester, Va., and thence to Fort Cumberland, to com- plete all arrangements for the army's transportation. By his advice Braddock adopted the plan of moving his force from Alexandria in two divisions, viz. : one regiment and a portion of the stores to proceed to Winchester, whence a new road was nearly completed to Fort Cumberland, and the other regiment, with the remainder of the stores and the artillery, to move to the fort (which had been designated as the general rendezvous) by way of Frederick, Md. Accordingly, on the 9th of April, Sir Peter Halket left Alexandria for the fort, by way of Winchester, with six com- panies of the Forty-fourth Regiment, leaving the other four companies behind under command of Lieut .- Col. Gage+ to escort the artillery. On the 18th Col. Dunbar, with the Forty-eighth, marched for Frederick, Md., and the commander-in-chief left Alexandria for the same place on the 20th, leaving Gage to follow with the artillery. When Dunbar arrived at Frederick he found that there was no road to Cumberland through Maryland,5 and accordingly, on the 1st of May, he recrossed the Potomac, struck the Winchester route, and nine days later was in the neighborhood of the fort. "At high noon on the 10th of May, while Halket's command was already encamped at the common destination, the Forty- eighth was startled by the passage of Braddock and his staff through their ranks, with a body of light- horse galloping on each side of his traveling chariot, in haste to reach Fort Cumberland. The troops saluted, the drums rolled out the Grenadiers' March, and the cortege passed by. An hour later they heard the booming of the artillery which welcomed the gen- eral's arrival, and a little later themselves encamped on the hillsides about that post." The artillery es- corted by Gage arrived at the fort on the 20th.

Arriving at the fort on the 10th, the general re- mained there about one month, during which time his expeditionary force was completed and organized. Two companies, Rutherford's and Clarke's, had been stationed at the fort during the winter, and were still there. The Forty-fourth and Forty-eighth regulars

1 There were, however, two other expeditions projected,-one against Niagara and Frontenac, under Gen. Shirley, and another against Crown Point, under Gen. William Johnson; but the principal one was that in- tended for the reduction of Fort Du Quesne.

2 These regiments, however, were far from being full, numbering only about five hundred men each.

3 The council, however, had really nothing to do with the adoption of the plan of operations, which was made entirely according to the mar- tinet ideas and opinions of the commander-in-chief.

4 The same Gage who as major-general commanded the British forces in Boston in 1775.

5 Capt. Orme, in his journal of the expedition, says, "The general ordered a bridge to be built over the Antietum, which being furnished and provision laid upon the road Col. Dunbar marched with his regiment from Frederick on the 28th of April, and about this time the bridge over the Opeccon was finished for the passage of the artillery, and floats were built on all the rivers and creeks." The " Antietum" here mentioned is the same historic stream whose locust-fringed banks witnessed the ter- rific battle between the Union and Confederate hosts under Mcclellan and Lee, on the 17th of September, 1862.

BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITION IN 1755.

had been augmented to a total of fourteen hundred men by the addition of Virginia and Maryland levies at Alexandria. A company of Virginia light-horse, under command of Capt. Stewart, acted as the gen- eral's body-guard. A body of seventy provincials was formed into two companies of pioneers, each having a captain, two subalterns, and two sergeants, and with these was also a very small company of guides. A. lieutenant, Mr. Spendelow, and two midshipmen from Admiral Keppel's fleet were present with about thirty sailors to have charge of the cordage and tackles, necessary for the building of bridges and the hoisting of artillery pieces and other heavy material over precipices. The other provincial troops brought the to'al number up to about two thousand one hun- dred and fifty, including officers, but exclusive of wag- oners and the usual complement of non-combatant camp-followers, among whom were a number of women. There were eight friendly Indians who ac- companied the expedition. The forces of Gen. Brad- dock were brigaded by his orders as follows :

First Brigade, commanded by Sir Peter Halket, composed of The Forty-fourth Regiment of Regulars.

Capt. John Rutherford's & Independent Companies of New York. Capt. Horatio Gates'1

Capt. William Polson's Company of Pioneers and Carpenters.

Capt. William Peyronie's Virginia Rangers.

Capt. Thomas Waggener's Virginia Rangers. Capt. Eli Dagworthy's Maryland Rangers. Second Brigade, commanded by Col. Thomas Dunbar, composed of The Forty-eighth Regiment of Regulars. Capt. Paul Demerie's South Carolina detachment.

Capt. Dobb's North Carolina Rangers. Capt. Mercer's Company of Carpenters and Pioneers. Capt. Adam Stephen's 2 Capt. Peter Hogg's

Virginia Rangers.

Capt. Thomas Cocke's

Capt. Andrew Lewis had been sent with his com- pany of Virginians to the Greenbrier River for the protection of settlers there, but he afterwards rejoined Braddock's column on its way to Fort Du Quesne.

The field-officers under Braddock were Lieutenant- Colonels Burton and Gage; Majors Chapman and Sparks; Brigade-Major Francis Halket; Major Sir John Sinclair, deputy quartermaster-general ; Mat- thew Leslie, assistant quartermaster-general. The secretary to the commanding general was William Shirley, and his aides-de-camp were Capt. Robert Orme, George Washington,8 and Roger Morris.

Christopher Gist and Nathaniel Gist, his son, ac- companied the expedition as principal guides. George Croghan and Andrew Montour were with the general as Indian interpreters.

"The soldiers were ordered to be furnished with one new spare shirt, one new pair of stockings, and one new pair of shoes ; and Osnabrig waistcoats and breeches were provided for them, as the excessive heat would have made the others insupportable; and the commanding officers of companies were desired to provide leather or bladders for the men's hats."4

The transportation which was collected at Fort Cumberland for the use of Braddock's force.consisted of one hundred and ninety wagons and more than fifteen hundred horses. When he landed in Virginia he expected that " two hundred wagons and one hun- dred and fifty carrying-horses" would be furnished by the provincial authorities, but when he arrived at Frederick, Md., he found that not more than a tenth part that number had been raised, and that some of these even were in an unserviceable condition. Upon learning this he burst out in fierce invective against the inefficiency, poverty, and lack of integrity among the provincials, and declared that the expedition was at an end, for that it was impracticable to proceed without one hundred and fifty wagons, and a corre- sponding number of horses at the very least. But Dr. Benjamin Franklin, who was present at Frederick, told the general that the Pennsylvania farmers were able to furnish the necessary transportation, and that he (Franklin) would contract for a specified sum to deliver one hundred and fifty wagons and the neces- sary horses at Fort Cumberland within a given time, whereupon Braddock proceeded on his march; and in about two weeks Franklin had caused the specified number of wagons and animals to be at the fort. Gen. Braddock was very grateful for this service, and he warmly complimented Franklin in a letter which he wrote to the Secretary of State, dated at Wills' Creek, June 5th, as follows :

" Before I left Williamsburg the quartermaster-gen- eral told me that I might depend on twenty-five hun- dred horses and two hundred wagons from Virginia and Maryland ; but I had great reason to doubt it, having experienced the false dealings of all in this country with whom I had been concerned. Hence, before my departure from Frederick, I agreed with Mr. Benjamin Franklin, postmaster in Pennsylvania, who has great credit in that province, to hire one

some merit if it is considered that the sole motive which invites me to the field is the laudable desire of serving my country, not the gratifica- tion of any ambitious or lucrative plans. This, I flatter myself, will manifestly appear by my guing as a volunteer, without expectation of reward or prospect of obtaining a command, as I am confidently assured it is not in General Braddock's power to give me a commission that I would accept. . .. It is true I have been importuned to make this campaign by Gen. Braddock as a member of his family, he conceiving, I suppose that the small knowledge I had an opportunity of acquiring of the country and the Indians is worthy of his notice, and may be useful t him in the progress of the expedition.'"

4 Capt. Orme's Journal.

1 Afterwards Major-General Gates, to whom Burgoyne surrendered at Saratoga.

2 Afterwards General Stephen, of the Revolutionary army.

3 After his return from the Fort Necessity campaign, Col. Washing- ton's rank, as well as that of other colonial officers, was reduced by royal order, which caused him to resign his commission, and at the time of Gen. Braddock's arrival in America he was not in the military ser- vice. But Braddock, well aware of the importance of securing his services, urged Washington to take the position of volunteer aide-de- camp on his staff, and the offer, so earnestly pressed, was accepted.

Sparks, in his " Life of Washington" (page 58), in speaking of Wash- ington's acceptance of Braddock's proposition to accompany him on the expedition as a member of his military family, says, " His views on the subject were explained, with a becoming frankness and elevation of mind, in a letter to a friend : 'I may be allowed,' said he, "to claim 4

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

hundred and fifty wagons and the necessary number tageous spot, and to secure the provisions and men as of horses. This he accomplished with promptitude ' before. When the wagons were unloaded the field- and fidelity; and it is almost the only instance of address and integrity which I have seen in all these provinces." officer with three hundred men was to return to camp, and Sir John St Clair with the first engineer was to remain and carry on the works with the other three hundred."3

It has been said that, in procuring the wagons and horses from the Teutonic farmers in the Southern Pennsylvania counties, he was materially aided by the presence of Braddock's quartermaster-general. "Sir John Sinclair 1 wore a Hussar's cap, and Franklin made use of the circumstance to terrify the German settlers with the belief that he was a Hussar, who would administer to them the tyrannical treatment they had experienced in their own country if they did not comply with his wishes."

At a council of war held at Fort Cumberland the order of march was determined on, viz. : the advance was to be led by "a party of six hundred men, workers and coverers, with a field-officer and the quartermaster-general; that they should take with them two six-pounders, with a full proportion of am- munition ; that they should also take with them eight days' provisions for three thousand two hundred men ; that they should make the road as good as possible, and march five days towards the first crossing of the Yoxhio Geni,2 which was about thirty miles from the camp, at which place they were to make a deposit of provisions, building proper sheds for its security, and also a place of arms for the security of the men. If they could not in five days advance so far, they were at the expiration of that time to choose an advan-

1 This same Sir John Sinclair was a man of very rough speech and imperious and domineering character, as is made apparent by the fol- lowing extract from a letter written by Messrs. George Croghan, James Burd, John Armstrong, William Buchanan, and Adam Hoopes to Gov- ernor Morris, of Pennsylvania, dated Fort Cumberland, April 16, 1755, at which time some of the companies, as well as Sir John himself, had already reached the rendezvous. The writers of the letter had been appointed to view and lay out a road over the mountains, and had re- turned from their mission to the fort. In the letter they say, " Last evening we came to the camp, and were kindly received by the officers, but particularly Capt. Rutherford. We waited for Sir John coming to camp from the road towards Winchester, who came this day at three o'clock, but treated us in a very disagreeable manner. He is extremely warm and angry at our province; he would not look at our draughts, nor suffer any representations to be made to him in regard to the prov- ince, but stormed like a lion rampant. He said our commission to lay ont the road should have issued in January last, upon his first letter; that doing it now is doing nothing ; that the troops must march ou the first of May ; that the want of this road and the provisions promised by Pennsylvania has retarded the expedition, which may cost them their lives, because of the fresh number of the French that are suddenly like to be poured into the country ; that instead of marching to the Ohio he would in nine days march his army into Cumberland County, to cut the roads, press wagons, etc. ; that he would not suffer a soldier to handle an axe, but by fire and sword oblige the inhabitants to do it, and take every man that refused to the Ohio, as he had yesterday some of the Virginians; that he would kill all kind of cattle, and carry away the horses, burn houses, etc. : and that if the French defeated them by the delays of this province, that he would with his sword drawn pass through the prov- ince and treat the inhabitants as a parcel of traitors to his master; that he would to-morrow write to England by a man-of-war, shake Mr. Penn's proprietaryship, and represent Pennsylvania as disaffected. . . . and told us to go to the general, if we pleased, who would give us ten bad words for one he had given."

2 Youghiogheny.

This advance detachment was to be followed by the remainder of the forces in three divisions, in the fol- lowing order : First, Sir Peter Halket's command, with "about one hundred wagons of provisions, stores, and powder ;" second, Lieut .- Col. Burton, "with the independent companies, Virginia, Mary- land, and Carolina Rangers," taking the artillery, am- munition, and some stores and provisions ; third, Col. Dunbar's brigade, "with the provision-wagons from Winchester, the returned wagons from the ad- vanced party, and all the carrying-horses."

In accordance with this order, Maj. Chapman with a body of six hundred men, and accompanied by Sir John Sinclair, marched at daybreak on the 30th of May, but " it was night before the whole baggage had got over a mountain about two miles from camp. . . . The general reconnoitred this mountain, and deter- mined to set the engineers and three hundred more men at work on it, as he thought it impassable by howitzers. He did not imagine any other road could be made, as a reconnoitring-party had already been to explore the country ; nevertheless, Mr. Spendelow, lieutenant of the seamen, a young man of great discernment and abilities, acquainted the general that in passing that mountain he had discovered a valley which led quite round the foot of it. A party of a hundred men with an engineer was ordered to cut a road there, and an extreme good one was made in two days, which fell into the other road about a mile on the other side of the mountain."

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History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 9

Author: Crumrine, Boyd, 1838-1916; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Hungerford, Austin N Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Philadelphia : H.L. Everts & Co. Number of Pages: 1216

Author: Crumrine, Boyd, 1838-1916; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Hungerford, Austin N
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : H.L. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1216