USA > Virginia > A history of Virginia : from its discovery and settlement by Europeans to the present time. Vol. I > Part 29
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a Sparks's Washington, i. 35. The journal of his expedition will be author of the Outline says, "sixteen found in Marshall, Appen., note i., weeks"-an error. Grahame, iii. 1-20, vol. ii.
370; Marshall, ii. 5. Washington's
452
PREPARATIONS FOR WAR. [CHAP. VIII.
forces to the threatened point. Other provinces were. yet undecided. Some were not convinced of the danger; some believed it, but thought their own frontiers would require all the protection they could give. The Virginia Assembly voted ten thousand pounds for defence, by an act which bore an eva- sive title, "For the encouragement and protection of settlers on the waters of the Mississippi." Din- widdie was greatly chagrined by this act, which he said intimated a doubt as to the title of his Britan- nic Majesty to the interior of his dominions; but he concealed his displeasure, and prepared for active war.a
Six companies of provincial troops were raised, to be commanded by Colonel Joshua Fry, a native of England, and a gentleman much esteemed for his mathematical learning and his amiable charac- ter. Washington was second in command, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. His brave -spirit urged him to immediate advance; and two compa- nies having been fully formed, he marched from Alexandria to Wills' Creek, on his route to the Ohio. Here he received startling intelligence : forty-one Virginians had commenced a fort at the junction of the Monongahela and Alleghany; but, in the midst of their work, an overwhelming force of French, consisting of nearly a thousand men, in three hundred canoes, and with many pieces of cannon, the whole commanded by M. Contrecœur, poured down upon them, drove them from the spot, took possession in the name of France, and com-
a Sparks's Life of Washington, i. 39.
453
FRENCH BUILD FORT DUQUESNE.
1754.]
pleted the fort, which, in honour of the Governor of Canada, they called Fort Duquesne.ª
Washington's duty was now doubtful. Colonel Fry had not yet joined him, and his force was fee- ble compared with the numbers of whom accounts had just been received. But he was always ready to advance rather than retreat. Pushing on boldly through the wilderness, he hoped to be able to erect a fort on the Monongahela, at the mouth of Red- stone Creek, in time to arrest the farther progress of the French. After crossing the Yohogany, he arrived at a spot well known as the " Great Mea- dows." The country was open and level, with little to obstruct progress except bushes and under- growth, which were easily uprooted. Washington here halted for a short time, to gather advices as to the movements of the enemy.b Friendly Indians joined him; and among them came Tanacharison, the Half King, from whom he received many evi- dences of affection and fidelity.
Learning that the French were advancing upon him with a force concerning which he could gain no definite knowledge, he moved cautiously forward, encamping at night with a strong sentry guard. After their invasion and capture of Fort Duquesne, he could not doubt their hostile designs, and he would have been guilty of unpardonable impru- dence had he still looked upon them in any other
a Burk, iii. 176; Sparks's Wash- .b The plate in Sparks's Washing- ington, i. 43; Gordon's Am., i. 89; ton, i., opposite page 56, will convey Grahame, iii. 371; Smollett's Con- tinuation, viii. 520.
an accurate idea of the country forming the Great Meadows.
454
DEATH OF JUMONVILLE. [CHAP. VIII.
light than as enemies. When, therefore, he was informed that a small party had advanced near to his position, that they came with great secrecy, and that they had left the main route and were en- camped in a dark vale, as if to secure concealment, he did not hesitate to prepare for the attack. (May. 28.) Dividing his troops into two lines, he marched under the direction of Indian guides. A stormy night favoured his scheme, and at daybreak he had nearly surrounded the French, who, suddenly aroused from sleep, seized their arms. A simulta- neous fire took place ; the provincial troops rushed forward, and the French surrendered, having by the first discharge lost their commander, M. Ju- monville, and ten of their number. One of Wash- ington's men was killed, and three were wounded.a Thus the first blood was shed in a war which has been not inappropriately called the "native of America,"b and which speedily involved Europe and her dependencies in a conflict of more than wonted violence.
While the remainder of the regiment, of which the advance guard was commanded by Washing- ton, prepared to join him, Colonel Fry died sud- denly at Wills' Creek; and thus the whole respon- sibility devolved upon the younger officer. At the Great Meadows he was joined by two independent
a Burk, iii. 177, and Marshall, ii. " b Smollett's Continuation of Hume, 7, say that M. Jumonville was the viii. 514. only person killed, but Sparks's ac- count may be relied on. Life of Washington, i. 46, 47. r.
-
455
FORT NECESSITY.
1754.]
1
companies, one from New York and another from South Carolina. The last was commanded by Captain Mackay, who held a commission under the English crown, and claimed precedence of the co- lonial officers ; but though this absurd whim threat- ened for a season to produce disastrous results, the impendence of danger soon caused all to submit quietly to the superior genius of Washington.ª He directed a small stockade fort to be erected at the Meadows, which afterwards claimed for itself the title of Fort Necessity, and at the head of nearly four hundred effective men he turned his face resolutely towards Fort Duquesne. He had but just reached the foot of Laurel Hill, thirteen miles from Fort Necessity, when he was met by friendly Indians, who warned him not to proceed, assuring him, in the figurative style to which nature is always inclined, that enemies were approaching " as numerous as pigeons in the woods."" Deserters confirmed this report, and the Half King and the Queen Aliquippa, from a tribe in the vicinity of the " Great Fork," by their eager admonitions left no room for doubt. A council of war was called. Many difficulties assailed them. Ill-timed parsi- mony, in their several provinces, had left men and
₡
a Gordon's Am., i. 89 ; Marshall's silvis, hostilemque in morem sedi- Washington, ii. 7; Sparks's Life of bus Anglicis instare." Vita Wash- Washington, i. 51-53. ingtonii, by Francis Glass, page 28. b Grahame, iii. 371; Marshall, ii. 7. Mr. Reynolds is entitled to- the gra- titude of his country for having been " Marshall, ii. 8; Burk, iii. 179. instrumental in giving to her this " Ab Indis amicis facti certiores fue.
unpretending volume, from the pen runt Gallos columbarum instar in of a modest and devoted scholar.
456
ATTACK ON THE FORT. [CHAP. VIII.
officers without sufficient pay ; their bread was ex- hausted ; for six days they had not tasted this spe- cies of food; other provisions began to fail, and their horses grew daily weaker from fatigue and famine.ª Under these circumstances it would have been madness to encounter in the open field a foe who outnumbered them in the proportion of three to one; and it was unanimously resolved that they should return to the fort at the Great Meadows. (June 28.)
Here they strained every nerve to complete the stockade and to sink a ditch around it ere the foe should appear. Before these were finished, fifteen hundred French and Indians, commanded by M. De Villier, rapidly advanced, and seemed confi- dent that superior numbers would secure to them an easy prey. But they were destined to disap- pointment. The mature judgment of Washington had been shown in the position of Fort Necessity. In the midst of an even meadow, and surrounded on all sides by a level surface, which extended more than two hundred and fifty yards without a point of concealment, it gave all advantages to the defence and' none to the attack. As the enemy came up, they commenced firing at long distances, but their balls were thrown away ; and when they ventured nearer, they were singled out and cut down by the keen marksmen within the stockade, and in the ditch without. From ten o'clock in the morning until dark the engagement continued ;
a Marshall, ii. 8; Sparks, i. 49-54; Burk, iii. 180.
A
457
A PARLEY DEMANDED.
1754.]
during all this time Washington remained outside of the wall, encouraging his men, who were often sunk to the knees in mud and water.ª De Villier found that he had met a determined foe; already two hundred of his, men had been killed or disa- bled, and yet no impression had been made on the stockade. To advance to the assault would have been rash, and would probably have been fatal to three-fourths of his remaining number. To con- quer by famine was an uncertain means ; he knew not the resources of the garrison, nor did he know how soon they might be relieved by reinforcements. Under these circumstances he demanded a parley, which was at first declined by Washington, from apprehensions of treachery ; but when the demand was repeated, and an earnest message from De Villier requested that an officer should be sent out to him, for whose safety he pledged his honour as a soldier, the young commander no longer felt him- self at liberty to refuse.b
Captain Vanbraam, a Dutch soldier, who knew more of the art of fighting than of the niceties of the French language, was sent to De Villier. He was the only man in the fort then in condition to act as interpreter, yet was his ignorance so great as to be the means of injuring the fair fame of his
a Burk, iii. 180, 181; Marshall, honouring; but I think he has here ii. 9; Sparks, i. 55.
drawn upon his Irish imagination for a compliment to the young hero, iii. 181. Mr. Sparks quotes from Wash-
b Account in Sparks, i. 55, 56; Marshall, i. 9. Mr. Burk says the first proposals were rejected by ington's Writings, vol. ii. 456. Washington, because they were dis-
458
AN IGNORANT INTERPRETER. [CHAP. VIII.
commander in the eyes of a great and generous people. (July 4.) The articles agreed upon were highly honourable to the provincial forces. They were to retain all their arms, except the artillery ; to march out with drums beating and colours fly- ing ; to preserve as much of their baggage as they could carry away ; and to proceed, unmolested by the savages, to the frontiers of Virginia.ª Captains Vanbraam and Stobo were to be retained as host- ages by the French until the return of certain pri- soners previously captured, among whom was La Force, a character to be noted hereafter.b Such were the terms of capitulation, as they were ex- plained to Colonel Washington, who, being igno- rant of the French tongue, was obliged to trust to interpreters. Whether De Villier designedly took advantage of this fact or not, we do not know; but it is certain that the articles contained a word, the import of which was appreciated neither by Van- braam nor by his young commander ; and its effect was to give to Washington the appearance of ac- knowledging that in the death of Jumonville, him- self and his party had been guilty of deliberate murder ! So artfully was this matter arranged,
a Washington's Writings, referred to in Sparks, i. 56. Yet Chalmers speaks of this surrender as " a dis- graceful capitulation !" Rev. Am. Col., ii. 269.
which Vanbraam explained as mean- ing simply "the death of M. Ju- monville." In this form the paper was signed by Washington. Out- line, in Howe, 94; Sparks's Life of b Burk, iii. 182, 183. Washington, i. 47-49 ; Marshall, ii. c In the French draft of the arti- 10; Grahame, iii. 371, in note; cles this event was described as Burk, iii. 183; Washington's letter, " l'assassinat de M. Jumonville," in Marshall, ii. Appen., 20-23.
1754.]
VOTE OF THANKS. 459
that when accounts of the opening of hostilities reached Paris, profound emotion pervaded the pub- lic mind. Jumonville was looked upon as an as- sassinated hero. Washington was vilified as his murderer, and an epic poem was founded on the affecting tragedy ! Many years passed away before the writers of France were willing to acknowledge the injustice done to a character that has since been the subject of some of their most splendid eulogies.
After the surrender of Fort Necessity, the pro- vincial troops marched towards Virginia ; and not- withstanding the engagement of De Villier, the savages were not prevented from resorting to their wonted attacks upon a disabled foe. They hung upon their rear, and constantly harassed them, de- stroying the feeble and threatening the bold.ª At length the regiment arrived at Winchester, having sustained a total loss of about seventy men. The Virginia troops suffered most severely. They were earliest in action, and never recoiled from the post of danger. When official accounts of the events of this campaign were received in Williamsburg, the Assembly passed a vote of thanks to Washington and all who had served under him, expressed their perfect content with their conduct, and voted three hundred pistoles for the supply of their immediate wants.b This approval had been well merited. They had surmounted formidable difficulties, had kept a superior foe at bay, and even in defeat had
a Marshall, ii. 11; Burk, iii. 186; b Burk, iii. 187; Sparks's Life of Washington, i. 57, 58.
Sparks, i. 57.
460
EXTRAVAGANT SCHEMES. [CHAP. VIII.
secured to themselves a most honourable capitula- tion.
Governor Dinwiddie was wholly ignorant of mi- litary affairs; but, with the confidence often attend- ing ignorance, he opened a plan for another cam- paign. Colonel Innes, of North Carolina, who was a favourite with Dinwiddie, was appointed to su- preme command in the provincial army. He was a gentleman, but not a soldier, and his appointment gave small satisfaction. What he might have done in the field we know not, for events did not bring him into actual conflict. But Dinwiddie had mag- nificent ideas, and immediately ordered that the army, which, as now reinforced, did not number eight hundred men, should march from Winches- ter, again cross the Alleghanies, defeat the Indians and French, and capture Fort Duquesne.ª When Washington heard these mad orders, he was asto- nished and distressed, but without delay he repaired to the post of duty. To recruit troops without mo- ney, to march into a wilderness' without supplies, to encounter the snow-storms of the Alleghany re- gion without tents, and to defeat a daring foe with- out one-half his numbers; these were the Governor's commands, and he was surprised that they were not promptly obeyed. But the Virginia Assembly relieved the officers and the army from their di- lemma. They refused to vote a supply of money for increasing the regiment.b . The Governor was vexed, and in an indignant message to the Assem-
,
a Marshall, ii. 12; Sparks, i. 58; Burk, iii. 187.
b Burk, iii. 188-190; Marshall, ii. 12; Sparks, i. 58, 59.
461
DINWIDDIE AND LA FORCE.
1754.]
bly he expressed his displeasure at their conduct ; but they adhered firmly to their purpose, and his plan for the campaign at once vanished into air.
. Dinwiddie had none of the chivalrous feeling which ought to have existed in the bosom of a chief magistrate of the Old Dominion. He looked upon the operations of war with the crude views of a custom-house clerk; and his treatment of a prisoner, whom the laws of military honour required him to protect, evinced his meanness of spirit. Early in the last campaign, a Frenchman named La Force had been captured by Washington; and being suspected of having acted as a spy for his government, he was sent to Williamsburg, and carefully guarded. Nothing attaching special guilt to his case appeared ; and in the capitulation at Fort Necessity, it was expressly agreed that La Force should be released from prison and permitted to return to his companions. Yet Dinwiddie refused to comply with this article, and Washington's re- monstrances were vain. The captive was a man of inventive genius, of indomitable resolution, and of great bodily powers; and finding his liberty thus denied to him, he escaped from prison at Williams- burg, and sought to make his way to Fort Du- quesne. So much courage merited success; but at King and Queen Court-house, he fell in with a backwoodsman, to whom his questions exposed his character. The sturdy Virginian instantly arrested him; and notwithstanding all his entrea- ties, he was conducted back to Williamsburg. The Governor's triumph was great; and with unmanly
462
VANBRAAM AND STOBO. [CHAP. VIII.
rigour, he directed La Force to be laden with double irons, and chained to the floor of his dun- geon. Washington renewed his entreaties for his release, and painted, in strong colours, the disho- nour attendant on this conduct; but Dinwiddie was deaf to his prayers, nor was La Force ever enlarged until his persecutor left the colony.ª
In the mean time, the hostages Vanbraam and Stobo had been confined, without any unusual harshness, in Quebec. They too had broken pri- son, and Stobo succeeded in making his escape, but' Vanbraam had fainted with fatigue, and was conducted back to captivity. Even then no reta- liatory measures were adopted ; the French gover- nor was humane and generous, the English clerk was mean and vindictive.b
During the winter, Dinwiddie received from England ten thousand pounds in specie for the ex- penses of the war. This would have been liberal, had it not been accompanied by orders instructing him to place the whole provincial force on the footing of independent companies, and to assign corresponding rank to their officers. The effect of this was, to reduce all superior officers in the colonies to the grade of captains, and to make them subordinate even to those holding the same nomi- nal rank in the regular army." The high spirit of George Washington could not brook this unjust
a This account is taken from . b Burk, iii, 194; Outline, in Burk, iii. 182, 192, 193. It is sub- Howe, 95.
stantially repeated in the Outline, in Howe, 94.
c Sparks, i. 60; Burk, iii. 191, 192; Marshall, ii. 13.
1755.]
ARRIVAL OF BRADDOCK. 463
degradation. He had been first in danger and in suffering, had led soldiers to victory, and had pre- served them from death; and to be now reduced in rank, and placed beneath the captains of the British service, was a descent to which he would not submit. No man who can appreciate the feel- ings of an honourable soldier will blame his course. He immediately resigned his commission and re- turned to private life.
(1755.) England now made vigorous prepara- tions for carrying on the war in America. Early in the spring, two regiments of troops from Ire- land arrived in Hampton Roads, and they were soon followed by the Sea-Horse and Nightingale ships of war, giving convoy to transports for sol- diers and military supplies. The whole assembled at Alexandria, which presented the most eligible point for their subsequent operations. Major-Ge- neral Edward Braddock was the commander. He had won fame on the plains of Europe, and came to gather fresher laurels amid the forests of Ame- rica. He was brave, but imprudent; rigid in disci- pline, but inexperienced in the duty now before him. He was too haughty to be beloved. His officers were repulsed by his austerity ; his men were alienated by his excessive rigour. Ere he left England, the Duke of Cumberland had warned him that he must not expect amid the wilderness the regular fighting and manœuvres of European tactics, and had specially urged him to beware of surprise and ambush.ª But Braddock despised 1
a Smollett's Continuation, viii. 540, 541, chap. iv .; Gordon's Am., i. 95.
464
FORT CUMBERLAND. [CHAP, VIII.
his enemies, and believed that compact columns of grenadiers would instantly put them to flight.
Having learned enough of Washington to induce a strong wish to secure his services, the comman- der-in-chief urged him to accept the place of one of his aids. Burning with desire to serve his country, when he could do so without a compro- mise of honour, Washington complied with this request, and asked only a short time to arrange his private affairs before joining the army. The whole force moved from Alexandria in April. Two complete British regiments in admirable condi- tion, and several bodies of provincial troops, com- prised a total of nearly two thousand five hundred men. Braddock commanded in chief, and under him were Colonel Dunbar and Sir Peter Halket. Without difficulty they reached Wills' Creek, where a fort had been erected under the eye of Colonel Innes, which had received the name of Cumberland, in honour of his warlike highness. Here an unexpected delay awaited them. The Virginia contractors had not supplied the requisite number of wagons and teams for transporting the baggage, and precious days were lost ere this de- fect could be remedied.ª General Braddock was wrought up to a paroxysm of rage by this disap-
a Marshall, ii. 14; Sparks, i. 61, and that Braddock should have con- 62.
b Dr. Smollett says that the Vir- ginians were well supplied with water conveyances, but were deplo- rably destitute of land carriages,
tracted with the Pennsylvanians. Contin. viii. 539. Probably he is right. See Marshall, ii. 14, 15; Burk, iii. 196, 197; Sparks, i. 62; Marshall's Am. Colon., 291.
1755.] TROOPS MARCH FROM THE FORT. 465
pointment, and it required all the philosophy of Benjamin Franklin to restore him to good humour. This great man then held the office of postmaster- general in the colonies, and by active exertions he succeeded in obtaining from the Pennsylvania far- mers one hundred and fifty wagons, which were immediately placed under the control of the com- mander-in-chief.ª
But the principal difficulties were yet to be en- countered. Beyond Fort Cumberland was the wilderness of the West, with its mountains and ravines, its thick forests and matted undergrowth. Roads were to be traversed along which man had seldom passed ; and so rugged was the way, that often they could only advance by doubling their teams in front, and continuing this tedious process to the last wagon of the train. Their line often extended to four miles in length ; and, while thus attenuated, an attack on the flank or rear would have been almost certainly fatal. Washington had advised, that, for conveying the baggage, pack- horses should be used, instead of vehicles; but his counsel was at first rejected, and was at last but partially applied. Thus the army crept forward so slowly, that three days after leaving Fort Cum- berland it had gained but ten miles. This tor- turing delay, together with his constant exposure and fatigue, preyed upon the health of Colonel Washington, and he was prostrated by a violent fever, which threatened a fatal result. (June 15.)
a Sparks, i. 62 ; note, in Burk, iii. 196.
VOL. I.
30
466
WASHINGTON'S ADVICE. [CHAP. VIII.
He was no longer able to keep the saddle, and a covered wagon furnished the only practicable mode of conveyance. Even in this state, his mind con- tinued to dwell upon the affairs of the army, and his advice was still sought by his superior officers. He strenuously urged that the heavy baggage and a part of their force should be left behind, and that a select body should push rapidly forward to Fort Duquesne. His reasons were sound. The French were reported to be yet weak at this point; but powerful reinforcements were expected, and would arrive as soon as the waters of Le Bœuf were swelled by summer rains.ª Each moment of delay rendered the success of the English more doubtful.
A council of war approved this plan, and Gene- ral Braddock hastened to carry it into execution. Colonel Dunbar, with the heaviest part of the bag- gage, with the troops least fitted for active service, and with such stores as could be left, remained in the rear. A select corps of twelve hundred men, taken from the two regiments, and embracing nearly all the provincial forces, was detailed for the advance. They carried on horses all the bag- gage absolutely necessary, and they were instruct- ed to divest themselves of every thing that would impede a rapid march. General Braddock com- manded in person, and under him were Sir Peter Halket, now an acting brigadier, Lieutenant-Colo- nels Gage and Burton, and Major Spark.b
a Marshall, ii. 16; Burk, iii. 198; Sparks, i. 63, 64.
b Marshall, ii. 17.
467
CONFIDENCE AND DELAY.
1755.]
As long as his increasing indisposition would permit, Washington · continued with the comman- der-in-chief. He told him of the danger from am- bush, and urged him to employ all the friendly Indians who offered themselves, as scouts for the army. Had this been done, surprise would have been impossible; for these men of the forests would have detected each concealed party, and warned the English in time to preserve them. But Brad- dock received the natives with coldness, and though he accepted some of them, he was so forbidding in his demeanour, that they became disgusted, and, one after another, they left him to his fate.ª This was the first omen that portended the coming storm. 11
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