USA > Pennsylvania > Westmoreland County > History of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, Vol. I > Part 2
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
men were falling in every direction. Confusion and excitement was the result, and the entire advance guard with its support fell back. When the dauntless Braddock rushed forward to cheer them on, he was met by bleeding and disordered ranks, fleeing from an invisible but most deadly enemy. In less time than we can conceive, so terrible was the onslaught and so complete the rout, that the pioneers, infantry, artillery and baggage, were a tangled mass, with the enemy almost surrounding them, yet still invisible. In the meantime the force left to guard the baggage was at- tacked, and this was in the more open plain towards the river. Many wagoners were shot down, while others, seeing this, cut their horses from their wagons, mounted them, and hurried back across the river in wild confusion. The English soldiers who could do so, some of them, at all events, did the same. The artillery was almost useless, for still no enemy was in view, nor were they seen by the British and Americans till the retreat began. The only open space, if it could be so called, was the road cut by the advancing army, while almost every place of concealment was previously occupied by the enemy. Every attempt to turn the tide of affairs, on the part of Braddock, who was a total stranger to fear, seemed to result only in confusion. Mingled with the cries of anguish on the part of the wounded were the shouts of the officers, the rattle of the musketry and the roar of the cannon. while above all was the frenzied war whoop and yell of the infuriated Indian. Survivors for long years afterwards were not able to drive this horrible picture from their memory.
The battle lasted nearly three hours, the British much of the time hud- dled together like sheep, and even trampled under foot by dashing runaway horses. It is not to be wondered at that in this state of affairs many were killed by their own men. Captain Waggoner, of Virginia, attempted to secure a spot of rising ground where, partly concealed by a large fallen tree, he hoped to mend the condition of the army, or perhaps change its for- tunes. With about eighty Virginians who were accustomed to backwoods warfare, he reached the objective point and for a brief space did splendid work against a body of Indians concealed from the panic-stricken soldiers, but in full view from his position. But very soon. in the whirl of con- fusion, the British mistook the smoke of his guns for that of the enemy, and made against him one of the most effective fires of the day on their part. The little company soon fell back, leaving fifty of Captain Waggoner's eighty soldiers dead and wounded on the ground.
When at length Braddock found it impossible to oppose the enemy far- ther, he tried to have them retreat in good order, and even in this he suc- ceeded but moderately. Many of them were so wild and bewildered that they were firing in the air. By this time half of the army was killed or wounded, with most of the best officers among the slain. General Brad- dock had five horses shot under him and received his death wound.
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
It will never be known whether he was shot by friend or foe. Quite likely it was an accidental shot from one of his own soldiers. In a letter from Washington to Governor Dinwiddie, (See Sparks' "Letters of Washing- tion," vol. 2, p. 88) he avers that two-thirds of the killed and wounded in the battle received their shots from the cowardly and panic-stricken royal- ists. Washington had several bullet holes in his clothes, two horses wounded and one killed under him, but was unhurt.
Braddock was shot through the arm and lung. He was carried from the field and transported to Dunbar's camp, thirty-six miles away, in a lit- ter. The Indians even fired on the retreating army as they were crossing the river, and some were thus killed in the water. All the dead and wounded, with the baggage and cannon, were left on the field. The road to Dunbar's camp was strewn with the abandoned accoutrements of war. Indeed, the Indians only ceased the fighting to hastily gather the rich har- vest of scalps, and divide among themselves the baggage and provisions of the English.
Washington, in describing the battle forty years afterward, has writ- ten these words concerning Braddock: "At an encampment near Great Meadows the brave but unfortunate General Braddock breathed his last. He was interred with the honors of war, and it was left to me to see this performed and to mark out the spot for the reception of his remains. To guard against a savage triumph if the place should be discovered, they were deposited in the road over which the army wagons passed, to hide every trace by which the entombment could be discovered. Thus died a man whose good and bad qualities were intimately blended. He was brave even to a fault. His attachments were warm, his enmities were strong, and there was no disguise about him." (See Scribner's Magazine, May, 1894). Braddock died on Sunday night, July 13, four days after the battle. In America, at least, his dauntless courage has gone far to recompense his faults and redeem his fame; still his memory will always be clouded by disaster, and his name forever inseparably associated with defeat.
The most contemptible spirit in the army was certainly Colonel Dun- bar. It will be remembered that nearly half of the entire army remained with him to follow Braddock by slower marches. When the remnant of the advance army returned to him, though his army then numbered at least fifteen hundred, he showed no desire to reform it and march again against the enemy. A little fortitude on his part, a tithe of the Braddock bravery, and he could have stormed the fort and taken the field. But, instead, he and his soldiers, joined in the excitement of the hour, buried their heavy artillery in the ground, destroyed what stores and ammunition they could not transport, and hurriedly if not cowardly skulked away to Philadelphia.
The enemy so successful in this battle were sent out from Fort Duquesne, and were composed of French Canadians and Indians under com-
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
mand of Captain Beaujeu. It was originally their intention to remain in the fort and await the attack of the English, but Beaujeu insisted on the surprise which resulted so successfully. His force was about six hun- dred Indians and two hundred French and Canadians. It was his inten- tion to attack the English as they crossed the river, but, having nine miles to march, they arrived too late, and so made the attack on perhaps more advantageous grounds, for the ground close to the river was partly cleared. Beaujeu was killed with the first regular fire. His followers dropped back, and there was a lull in the fighting which was noticed and remembered even by the frightened English. Then the enemy contemplated a retreat. Had the proper spirit been shown at the right time the field could have been won by Braddock's forces. With that opportunity gone, the field was lost. Dumas, a cool brave French- man, took Beaujeu's place and won the victory. The loss to the enemy can only be known by their own re- ports which have always been doubted. They reported a loss of only thirty, and most of these killed from falling timbers cut off by wildly di- rected cannon balls. The British lost sixty-three out of eighty-six officers, and one-half of the private, that is, nearly seven hundred killed and wounded. Every mounted officer save Washington was carried off the field. It was at best a most terrible slaughter. This victory was due mainly to the Indians. Of these the Wyandots and Ottawas, the latter it is supposed, CAPT. BEAUJEU. under Pontiac, a warrior who after- wards became so conspicuous in Indian raids, outnumbered all the rest. The impartial reader cannot but attribute this ignominious defeat almost entirely to obstinacy on the part of General Braddock. He was long schooled in warfare, and his vaunted courage led the Americans to look up to him and to expect great things from him and his soldiers. Yet, instead of setting an example of bravery to the undrilled American troops, the English were the first to disobey orders, desert their comrades, and flee from the field in cowardly disorder. They were commanded, too, by brave and able men, many of whom lived in after years to show to the world the highest order of military skill. Braddock's bravery has been admitted by friend and foe alike; indeed, it has become proverbial. Wash-
HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
ington, either in victory or in defeat, was never aught but great, but he was particularly strong in the emergency of saving a waning army from, destruction. Gage commanded the British army at Boston during the- siege at the commencement of the Revolutionary war. Then there was Horatio Gates, who afterwards arose to distinction and was a major-gen- eral in the American army in the Revolution. There too was Colonel. Daniel Morgan, still renowned throughout America as the hero of Cowpens. Then there were Lewises of Virginia, a name which will always be noted in the war annals of America.
Hitherto the world had been taught that the Englishman was invincible- in arms. Perhaps no people in all the world revered and honored the English army as highly as did the American colonies. The defeat of Braddock most thoroughly demonstrated the fallacy of this opinion. Henceforth, in the mind of the average American colonist, the royal Eng- lish soldier was measured by his actions on the banks of the Monongahela. And, when we remember that in less than twenty years these same colonies. had so changed their ideas of the superiority of the English army that they were induced to engage in the Revolutionary war, we cannot doubt but that in one sense, at least, the defeat of Braddock was a benefit to the- American people.
The defeat of Braddock was a sad blow to the settlers of western Penn- sylvania. The Indians, spurred on by the temporary victory, became at once more hostile than ever, and more determined that the English should never obtain a foothold in this section. So far as it was possible our set- tlers were at peace with the Indians, for they had adopted Penn's pacific principles very largely in dealing with them. But when the French and Indian war began, the entire frontier, being unprotected, was subjected to the ravages of this brutal race. Many isolated settlers were driven back to their eastern homes. They left their hard earned harvests ungathered ; they saw their log cabin homes in ashes, and their families murdered or taken as prisoners to Canada. Nothing short of a line of forts along the entire frontier could have protected these pioneers.
The most western English forts then were immediately west of the Susquehanna, viz .: Fort Louther, at Carlisle; Fort Franklin, at Shippens- burg ; Fort Shirley, near the Juniata; and Fort Littleton and Fort Loudon, within the limits of the present Franklin county. These forts were very poorly garrisoned, the provincial military being weak. There were how- ever, a few blockhouses, and to these the settlers could flee in times of Indian raids, and thus united could in some degree protect themselves.
From month to month these Indian depredations grew more and more severe. Two chiefs, Shingass (or Shingast), and Captain Jacobs were- considered the instigators of these depredations. Each had a following
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
of a large band of warriors, and their general habitation was in what is now Westmoreland and Armstrong counties, with their principal town at Kittanning.
On the death of Braddock, General Shirley was made commander-in- chief of all the British forces in America. But General Montcalm, the French commander, who afterwards died so heroically when opposing Gen- eral James Wolfe at Quebec, was then invading northern New York, and Shirley and his army were scarcely adequate to the defence of even that sec- tion. This left the French and Indian marauders of Western Pennsylvania but little opposition in 1755-56. In August of the latter year Colonel John Armstrong, a militia officer of Pennsylvania, but a most daring one, made preparation to surprise and if possible exterminate these tribes of Indians. He took with him what was known as the Second Battalion, which consisted of eight companies stationed on the west side of the Susquehanna. He left Fort Shirley on August 30th, with about three hundred men, and marched up the Juniata and stealthily down the Kis- kiminetas, marching a great deal by night. His objective point was the Indian stronghold at Kittanning town. The last night he marched thirty miles, and reached the town before daylight. At break of day he began the attack. Captain Jacobs discovered the presence of the soldiers and gave out a few war cries to arouse the Indians, and then the fight began. The squaws and children were sent to the woods, and not one of them was fired on by Armstrong's men. The Indians kept in their houses, and killed and wounded a good many soldiers in the early morning by firing through the cracks and portholes. Against this the soldier's shots were almost futile, and at considerable loss of life Armstrong ordered these houses to be set on fire. In firing a hut Armstrong himself was severely wounded in the shoulder. The fire spread rapidly to the entire collection of houses and wigwams, and drove the Indians from their shelter. Just as they emerged from the burning buildings they were shot down, the soldiers being so placed that they commanded every retreat. Jacobs, the leader, was reported killed, but Armstrong doubted it. The stronghold was destroyed, and the Indian inhabitants were either killed or compelled to flee from the community. It was a most effectual blow to them. The en- tire secrecy of the march and the attack made it all the more so, for there- after they were afraid to join in large numbers to commit depredations, lest they might at any time be attacked and cut down as they were at Kittanning. This has been known as Armstrong's Expedition. In its immediate results and in its salutary effects upon the peace and good order of our western border, it has justly been rated as one of the most effectual expeditions of our pioneer history. The reader will probably smile in this modern age of large armies, at three hundred men being called the Second Battalion. It is, however, the language of the colonies at that
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
time, and, with their limited capacity, it was doubtless a pretty large army to them.
Still the French and Indian power over the British in America very largely predominated. This state of affairs dissatisfied England. She believed this deplorable situation was due to bad management on the part of its home government. A change was demanded, and in June, 1757, William Pitt, the Great Commoner, a name which should be revered by every American, was made premier. From the beginning he favored the colonies, and in return the colonies were loyal to him. Pennsylvania voted a large sum of money to their defense, and showed many other signs of loyalty.
In the early part of 1758 Admiral Boscawan reached America with twelve thousand soldiers. Very soon the colonists began to enlist, and these, with the British soldiers here, swelled the number to more than fifty thousand men, all in the service of the colonies. Again three distinct expeditions were projected, viz .: against Louisburg, in the St. Lawrence ; against Ticonderoga, in northern New York; and against Fort Duquesne. The latter expedition is, of course, the one of special interest to us in West- moreland. It was under the command of a Scotchman, Brigadier General John Forbes. He started from Philadelphia. The first question which pre- sented itself to him was as to the route he should take. The Pennsylvanians wanted him to go directly through the province, presumably to open up a new road and new territory. But Virginia had the same claim, and she, too, was furnishing many munitions of war. The old road was of course Braddock's route by the way of Cumberland, and the proposed new one was by way of Bedford. So much had been said about the slowness of Braddock's march that his defenders had probably magnified its difficul- ties. Washington favored the Braddock route, which, in the light of after discoveries, was undoubtedly the better one to take. Colonel Henry Bou- quet, second commander to Forbes, seems to have decided the matter in favor of the new route. It was fifty miles shorter than the other, and was taken with the further hope of avoiding the difficulties which retarded Braddock's westward march.
Forbes' army was nearly three times as large as Braddock's liad been, which means that he had about seven thousand men with him. There were twenty-seven hundred Pennsylvanians, sixteen hundred Virginians, twelve hundred Highlanders who came with Forbes from England, three hundred and fifty regular soldiers called Royal Americans, and one thous- and from Delaware, Maryland and North Carolina. There were also about one thousand wagoners, axe men, &c., which, if counted would swell his army to nearly eight thousand.
The Virginia, North Carolina and Maryland troops were brought to- gether at Winchester and placed in command of Colonel George Wash-
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
ington. The Pennsylvania forces were assembled at Raystown (Bedford), Pennsylvania, under Bouquet. Forbes was long detained in Philadelphia by sickness and various arrangements incident to a military campaign. He did not reach Bedford until September, by which time Colonel James Burd, by direction of Colonel Bouquet, had, with twenty-five hundred "soldiers and axe men, cut a road across the Allegheny Mountains and across Laurel Hill, a distance of fifty miles, and had encamped on the banks of the Loyalhanna, in Ligonier valley. Here he awaited the main army, and in the meantime by order of Bouquet, an expedition was sent out un- der Major Grant to learn something of the strength of the enemy. This expedition was composed of thirty-seven officers and eight hundred and thirteen privates. Grant was supported by Major Lewis, of Virginia, Captain Bullet and others. He was instructed by the wary Bouquet not to bring on a battle but to approach as near to the fort as safety would permit, and to collect all possible information concerning the enemy. The com- mand left Loyalhanna camp on September IIth. They made very rapid marches, for they were but slightly encumbered with baggage. The first -day's march they passed over or through Chestnut Ridge. The route they took is not definitely known, but they most likely passed down the gap cut by the Loyalhanna. Doubtless the path which they took did not vary much otherwise from the route which Forbes afterwards took. Passing over the southeastern part of Derry township he crossed the Loyalhanna about half a mile below the Shelving Rocks. For the night they camped near the mouth of the Nine Mile Run, so named from its flowing into the Loyalhanna, about nine miles from the encampment they had left, now Ligonier. It is a plateau, then covered with heavy timber. On the east was the run, with a steep bank twenty feet high which formed a natural fortification. He threw up earthworks facing the west and north. They are all gone now, but are remembered by the oldest citizens, and the place is even yet known as Breastworks Hill. The second day he marched twen- ty-five miles westward, and was then within less than fifteen miles of the famous Fort Duquesne.
The Indians and French in the fort had spies out, mainly Indians, who kept a close watch on the main army, but they undoubtedly overlooked Grant, who passed under the very shadow of the fort without being seen. About two miles east of the fort he left his horses and baggage under Captain Bullet, with about fifty men. About nine o'clock at night two officers with a company of fifty men crept up to the fort and found not ·even a single picket. They set fire to a store house, but, this being dis- covered by the inmates of the fort, was extinguished, they regarding the fire as an accident. A heavy fog hung over the entire community and in part prevented Grant from correctly ascertaining the situation. The fol- lowing morning, misled by these appearances, he became overly anxious
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
to win the great honor of taking the fortress over which two mighty nations had been for years contending. He overstepped and even disobeyed his orders. He sent Major Lewis with two hundred men back along the road a short distance so that he might claim the victory entirely for him- self, it is said. His main army he posted on a low ridge and sent about fifty men to beat drums and play the Scotch bagpipes, hoping thus to draw the enemy from the fort. So stealthy had been his movements that the music aroused the French from their morning sleep. Unfortunately for Grant they knew the country better than he. The fort, it will be remembered, was near the point made by the junction of the Allegheny and Mononga- hela rivers, where they unite to form the Ohio.
Shrewd indeed was the maneuver on the part of the commander of the fort, who sent about one-third of the forces quietly and quickly up the bank of the Allegheny, and one-third with similar orders up the Mononga- hela River, while the others remained in the fort until the first and second deploys had passed up their respective rivers far enough to be practic: on the rear of Grant and his army. When these positions were secured, the soldiers in the fort marched boldly forth toward Grant, while each of the other divisions moved in on the right and left rear of his band. In a few minutes they had practically surrounded his entire advance forces. From all sides came the attack. The Indians filled the woods with war whoops, and sprang on his men with tomahawks and scalping knives. Lewis heard the firing and hastened, perhaps by order of Grant, to his relief. But Grant had fallen back from his original position, and Lewis missed him. Both were captured by the French. There was really little left for the army to do but retreat, if, indeed, that was not entirely cut off. Just when the rout promised to rival Braddock's defeat three years before, a relief came from an unlooked-for source. Captain Bullet, stationed in the rear with horses, baggage, etc., heard the sound of battle and hurried to the rescue. Knowing that his fifty men amounted to nothing in the face of the enemy, he secured them in bushes and behind rocks, and by firing gave such effective opposition to the enemy that they imagined a much larger force had appeared, and to a great extent ceased firing. Then he resorted to a stratagem. He and his men marched boldly up to the enemy with arms reversed as if they meant to surrender. The Indians, being pastmasters in the art of treachery, with undoubted sinister designs on their part, fell into the trap. When within a few yards of the Indians, as Bullet commanded, a death-dealing volley was thrown in their faces, and immediately the little command charged with bayonets. The Indians never withstood a bayonet charge, and by this means were thoroughly routed. It was learned afterward that the audacity of the onslaught con- vinced the Indians that a much larger force was near by in waiting. Mean-
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HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
while Grant's army rapidly retreated and made the best of its way back to Loyalhanna camp, with a loss of two hundred seventy-three men. The loss was mostly among the Highlanders, who fought only in the open, as they were taught. This battle occurred on the hill where Allegheny county court house now stands, and the street traversing the hill or ridge (Grant street) was named after the unsuccessful commander of the battle. The fort, as was afterwards learned, had been the day be- fore reinforced by four hundred men under Captain Aubrey, who planned the attack on Grant. Grant and Lewis were held as prisoners a short time and then exchanged. Grant was a man of ability, too, though he did not display it on this occasion. His stolen march was overlooked by the spies only because of its utter improbability and foolhardiness. Two years later he was made governor of Florida. He afterwards won high rank in the English army and fought part of the time in the Revolution, viz. : in the battles of Germantown and Monmouth Court House. He com- manded at the latter, and defeated General Lee. Still later he was a mem- ber of the British Parliament, and died in 1806, aged eighty-six.
This battle occurred September 14, 1758, and the forces traveled there- fore from Loyalhanna to Fort Duquesne in three days. They reached the camp on the 17th and bore the sad news to Bouquet. He was not by any means discouraged, but set to work to strengthen his camp till Forbes and his army should arrive. Flushed by this victory over Grant, Bouquet had little doubt that the enemy would soon storm his gates. And so it was, for on October 12 the enemy was arrayed in battle around the camp at Loyalhanna. There came about twelve hundred French soldiers, but only about two hundred Indians. The smallness in the number of the latter was due to the fact that many of them had deserted the French and gone to their homes to lay in a stock of venison before cold weather came, so that their families might not perish during the winter. James Smith, who was then a prisoner in Fort Duquesne and of whom much more shall be said later on, made this and many other disclosures on his release. He also said that a close watch was kept on Forbes' army dur- ing all its journey, and that they hoped to surprise and defeat it as they had done in Braddock's case.
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