USA > Virginia > The history of Virginia, from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 13
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In the meanwhile, the French were already desolating the frontiers of New England. On the 10th of August, 1703, detached parties of French and Indians assaulted, simultaneously, every settlement between Casco and Wells ; sparing in their barbarous warfare, neither age nor infancy. In March, 1704, two hundred Ca- nadians, and one hundred and fifty Indians, led by Hertelle de Rouville, marched over the snow from Canada, and fell suddenly upon the picketed village of Deersfield, then the northwestern fron- tier town of New England. In the early gray of morning, just as the sentinels had retired, they entered the palisades, rendered useless by the drifted snow, and raising the war-whoop, set the village in flames. But few of the inhabitants escaped, forty-seven were killed, and upwards of one hundred others, including the minister and his family, were taken captives. Then com- menced, through that bitter wintry weather, the long, weary march to Canada. Two of the pri- soners died of starvation by the way ; while weak women and sorrowing children met their death by the tomahawk. A desultory warfare succeeded, and Massachusetts called upon the neighbouring colonies for assistance. A brief truce followed ; but in 1707 the war was renewed. Another descent upon Acadie being determined on, a thou-
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INDIAN WAR.
1710.]
sand men under Colonel March, sailed for Port Royal, and, supported by an English frigate, entered the river and landed before the town. This unfortunate settlement was again entirely destroyed; the houses were burned, the cattle killed, and the corn drowned by making openings in the embankments which protected the rich flats from the encroachments of the river. Being un- provided with heavy artillery, March retired to his vessels without attempting to assault the fort.
In retaliation for this foray, Hertelle de Rou- ville entered the valley of the Merrimac, and attacked Haverhill, the frontier settlement on that river. Assisted by his Indian allies, he plundered and burned the town, slew between forty and fifty of the inhabitants, led off as many more into cap- tivity, and, though hotly pursued, succeeded in reaching Canada with the greater portion of his prisoners.
In 1710, Port Royal was again made the object of attack. Five hundred warriors and four regi- ments of militia from New England, under the command of Nicholson, the former governor of Virginia, sailed to attack the fort which March had not the means of assaulting with success. It was an easy conquest. The French garrison, feeble and mutinous, surrendered upon terms. Vetch, the second in command, was left with four hundred men to garrison the fort, which was soon after besieged by the Acadiens and Indians.
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HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1711.
The following year, the English government fitted out a large fleet and army for the conquest of Canada. The command of this fleet, which consisted of fifteen ships of war, and forty trans- ports, was given to Sir Hoveden Walker. Briga- dier-general Masham was appointed to lead the troops, which comprised seven veteran regiments, and a battalion of marines. Through the inca- pacity of the admiral, this expedition-which was destined to attack Quebec, while a land force from Albany assaulted Montreal-ended in a most disastrous failure. On the 22d of August, eight of the vessels were wrecked in a fog among the Egg Islands of the St. Lawrence, and eight hundred and eighty-four men were drowned. Con- gratulating himself that, by this loss, he had been saved from venturing to Quebec, where the lives of many others might have been seriously jeopar- dized, Walker ordered the remaining vessels to put back; and in this shameful and inglorious manner ended an expedition, from which the most splendid results had been confidently anticipated.
1713.]
TREATY OF UTRECHT.
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1
CHAPTER XIX.
Treaty of Utrecht-Population of the Colonies-Absence of towns in Virginia-Crown Point taken possession of by the French-Communication between Canada and Louisiana- First newspaper in Virginia-War with Spain-Disastrous expedition to Carthagena-War with France-Capture of Louisburg-Treaty of Aix la Chapelle-Progress of Virginia -Religious intolerance-Capitol at Williamsburg burned- Close of Gooch's administration-Evidences of affectionate regard-Character of Gooch -- Ohio Company -- French claims -- Opposite claims of the British-Brownsville founded- French posts established in the vicinity of the Ohio-Orders from L'ngland-Dinwiddie appointed Governor of Virginia- His purchase from the Indians-Back settlements of Virginia threatened by the French-A messenger despatched by Din- widdie to ascertain their intentions-Virginia instructed to build two forts on the Ohio-George Washington- His early life and character.
THE treaty of Utrecht in 1713, put an end to the second intercolonial war. On the battle fields of Europe, England had covered herself with glory, humbled the pride of the haughty Louis, and added fifty millions of pounds sterling to her national debt. Under the terms of the treaty, France ceded to England the territory of Hud- son's Bay, the whole of New Foundland and Acadie, and the French part of the Island of St. Kitts, in the West Indies.
But, however distressing the second intercolo- nial war may have been to those families which
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HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1731.
settled the frontier towns, it had not checked in any considerable degree the increase of popula- tion. In 1715, the table compiled for the use of the Board of Trade, exhibited the whole popula- tion of the twelve colonies as four hundred and thirty-four thousand and six hundred. Virginia alone contained ninety-five thousand inhabitants, and yet there was not at this time, nor for many years after, any collection of houses in the whole. province worthy to be dignified with the name of a town. In 1728, Norfolk was but a small commercial village, while Richmond was not founded until 1742, and at the commencement of the Revolution contained but a few straggling houses.
In 1729, two years after Gooch was appointed Governor of Virginia, a printing press was brought into the province, and in 1735, the first news- paper ever published in Virginia, was issued at Williamsburg.
No further interruption of consequence was experienced by the colonists until the year 1731, when the French sailed up Lake Champlain, and took possession of Crown Point, within one hun- dred miles of Albany. New York immediately sent a notice of this daring encroachment to the neighbouring states, and requested aid from Eng- land. But Walpole was resolutely bent on pre- serving peace, and the French were allowed to establish the new settlement without molestation.
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225
WAR WITH SPAIN.
1740.]
The building of a fort at Niagara was regarded with an equal indifference.
As yet no French traders had approached the back settlements of Pennsylvania or Virginia. The easy communication existing between Lake Erie and the head waters of the Ohio appears at this time to have been unknown, the Wabash being regarded by the French as the main stream, to which the Ohio was but a tributary. Owing to an imperfect geographical knowledge of that region, the connection between Canada and Louisiana was kept up by the distant routes of Green Bay and Wisconsin, and subsequently, by way of the Maumee and the Wabash. When, however, the true character of the Ohio river be- came known, the facilities by which its waters could be reached from Lake Erie, tempted the French to fortify a post upon its banks, and by this means brought them into collision for the first time with the Virginians. This did not hap- pen, however, until some years later. As yet, the vast region lying between the Ohio river and the great lakes remained a terra incognita to both nations.
In 1740, England having been forced into a war with Spain, all the North American colonies were called upon to aid in raising a regiment of thirty-five hundred men. The Assembly of Vir- ginia responded to the call by increasing the duty on imported slaves to ten per cent., and by im-
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HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1740.
pressing the men of her quota from among the able-bodied idlers of the province.
The American levies were taken on board the fleet of Admiral Vernon, who sailed soon after from Jamaica to the assault of Carthagena, the strongest place in Spanish America. The result was melancholy in the extreme.
The attack, owing to differences between the military and naval commanders, was badly planned, and worse conducted. Some of the fortresses were taken, but that of San Lazaro, which commanded the town, was successfully de- fended by the Spaniards. The rainy season setting in soon after, the soldiers died by thou- sands, of the yellow fever. Vernon destroyed the fortifications, and retired to Jamaica. His entire losses were estimated at twenty thousand men. Of the troops furnished by the colonies, which, including five hundred additional men subse- quently furnished by Massachusetts, amounted to four thousand, only four hundred returned to their homes.
The Spaniards thus triumphantly freed from an expedition, the magnitude of which had been a well grounded source of alarm, now retaliated by precipitating a large force upon the infant province of Georgia. By the signal ability of General Oglethorpe the invaders were repulsed, and after failing in their attack on Frederica,
227
1744.] CAPTURE OF LOUISBURG.
they hurriedly re-embarked on board their ves- sels, and returned to Cuba.
The war with France against Austria, speedily involved England, as the ally of the latter. In 1744, France again declared war with England. The first intimation received by the colonies of the recommencement of hostilities in North A.me- rica, was the capture of Fort Canso, in Nova Scotia, by a party of Canadians. At the same time the Indians began to lay desolate the fron- tiers of Maine.
Shirley, the Governor of Massachusetts, im- mediately bestirred himself. The legislature of the province determined by a majority of one vote to attempt the capture of Louisburg, the strong-" est fortress north of the Gulf of Mexico. New York and Pennsylvania sent supplies of artillery and provisions. The New England provinces fur- nished the necessary troops. Assisted by the British squadron, under Commodore Warren, the forces from New England, after a siege of six weeks, compelled the garrison to capitulate, and the inhabitants of Cape Breton immediately ac- knowledged allegiance to England.
The news of this important success was rapidly conveyed by expresses to the governors of the various English colonies. Virginia at once gene- rously threw open her ports for the purposes of trade, free of all duty, to vessels sailing from the newly acquired island of Cape Breton, and the
228
HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1748.
governor despatched to Louisburg, for the use of the garrison, provisions to the value of two thou- sand pounds.
But the war which had been thus recommenced, was carried on languidly by both nations, and in America had only affected the extreme frontiers, when it was brought to a close in 1748, by the treaty of Aix la Chapelle.
Four years previous to this, while the New England provinces were preparing for the expe- dition to Louisburg, Virginia was extending her borders by a treaty with deputies from the Six Nations. For about four hundred pounds, a deed was obtained from the chiefs of the Iroquois, to all the territory beyond the mountains, that was then, or should be hereafter considered by the King of England as belonging to the colony of Virginia.
Subject to none of those hostile invasions by which the peace of the extreme north and south ' had been so often disturbed, the population of Virginia continued steadily to increase, until at length her settlements extended beyond the moun- tains west of the blue ridge.
The attachment of the Virginians to the doc- trines of the Church of England had frequently rendered them intolerant of the religious tenets of others. Even the mild, gentlemanly, and ex- emplary Gooch, was not free from this narrow spirit. In his address to the grand jury in April,
229
BURNING OF THE CAPITOL.
1746.]
1745, he recommended to their attention certain false teachers lately crept into the province, who, without order or license, or producing any testi- monial of their education, or sect, had " led the innocent and ignorant people into all kinds of delusion." How far the presentments of the grand jury conformed to the spirit of this address has not been ascertained; but that the worthy, though prejudiced governor, expressed the senti- ments of a great majority of the Virginians of that day, there does not exist the shadow of a doubt.
During the year following, the public buildings at Williamsburg being reduced to ashes, the sub- ject began to be agitated of removing the seat of government to some point more advantageously situated in the heart, rather than near the ex- tremity of the province.
The members of the Assembly entered warmly upon the subject of removal, and in a speech to the governor eulogized the foundation of a new central city in the most glowing terms. " To lay the foundation of a new city," said they, " to raise a capitol in a place commodiously situated for navigation, will complete the glory of your administration, and transmit your name with the highest lustre to future ages. With what pleasure may we then extend our view through future centuries, and anticipate the happiness provided for posterity."
This very respectful, but somewhat inflated lan-
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HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1749.
guage, had no effect on the old governor. The best houses in Williamsburg were owned by himself, by the members of his council, and by gentlemen of importance in the colony. This property would necessarily diminish in value by the proposed change. The influence of the college, and that of other officers of government, was also thrown into the scale of opposition, so that Williamsburg, notwithstanding many wordy altercations, re- mained the capital of the province up to the period of the Revolutionary war.
In 1749, the administration of Gooch, which for upwards of twenty-two years had been of the most courteous character, was terminated by his de- parture for England. The sixth and last colonial revisal of the Virginia code took place only a short time previous to his leaving the province.
When Governor Gooch was about to set sail, he was honoured by the president and council with an address significant of their profound ap- preciation of the many blessings they had enjoyed under his wise and benificent government, and their sincere respect for his public and private virtues. The collegiate authorities of William and Mary, and the municipality of Williamsburg expressed a similar sense of his merits, and the good old governor finally embarked amidst the tears and benedictions of the people, among whom he had lived so long, and over whom he had ex-
231
1750.] THE OHIO COMPANY.
ercised a sway that might justly be regarded as paternal.
The courtesy of Governor Gooch has been handed down to the present time in the shape of an anecdote, which well illustrates the character of a true gentleman. Having been reproached one day for returning the salutation of a negro, Gooch replied mildly, "I shond be much ashamed that a negro should have better manners than I." A baronetcy was the reward of his long and faithful services to a province whose people always spoke of him with affection, and justly regarded him as one of their warmest and most steadfast friends.
The government now devolved on Robinson, the president of the council; but on his death a few days afterward, Thomas Lee, as president, succeeded to the administration. .
During the brief deputy-governorship of Lee, surveyors were permitted to measure and locate lands on the other side of the mountains, pro- vided they did not interfere with grants made to the Ohio Company. Before November, 1750, the period to which the Assembly stood prorogued, Lee died, and was succeeded by Lewis Burwell.
The Ohio Company, of which mention has al- ready been made, consisted of an association of London merchants and Virginia land speculators. This company had obtained in England, shortly after the treaty of Aix la Chapelle, a grant of six hundred thousand acres of land, on the east
232
HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1752.
branch of the Ohio river, greatly to the indigna- tion of the French, who claimed by right of dis- covery the entire region watered by the Missis- sippi and its tributaries. The British opposed to the claims of the French those of the Six Nations, who asserted the territory to have become theirs by right of conquest, and had already sold a portion of it to Virginia under that title. The French pointed to the numerous posts and garri- sons, more than sixty in number, which they had maintained on the lakes, the Mississippi, and the Wabash, for a number of years. Their title was complete enough to the country on the upper lakes, the Mississippi, the Illinois, and the Wa- bash, while to render it valid to the territory immediately south of Lake Erie, the Count de la Galisonniére, Governor-general of Canada, de- spatched an officer with three hundred men, to spread themselves over the country lying between Detroit and the Cumberland Mountains, to bury at the most important points leaden plates, en- graved with the arms of France, to take posses- sion of the territory with a formal process verbal, and to warn English traders out of the country.
In 1752, the Ohio Company built a trading house and fort at Brownsville, on the Mononga- hela. This act gave great offence to the French, who made a descent upon the "Miami Indians, settled at Sandusky, and burned their village be- cause they persisted in trading with the English.
233
HOSTILE INDICATIONS.
1752.]
Early in 1753, twelve hundred men from Mon- treal built a fort at Presque Isle, on the southern shore of Lake Erie, and then, moving southward, established posts on French Creek, and the main stream of the Alleghany.
The Board of Trade reported these encroach- ments upon Pennsylvania and Virginia to the king, and orders were immediately sent to the colonial governors to repel force by force, when- ever the French were found within the undoubted limits of their provinces.
During the year 1752, Robert Dinwiddie, pre- viously a member of the council, and surveyor- general of the colonial customs, succeeded Bur- well as deputy-governor of Virginia. Conscious that the movements of the French toward the upper waters of the Ohio, seriously threatened the back settlements of Virginia, Dinwiddie pur- chased from the Indians on the Monongahela permission to build a fort at the junction of that river with the Alleghany. Tidings reaching the capital of Virginia soon after, that the French were about to establish fortifications on the Ohio, and that the Indian tribes in the surrounding region exhibited symptoms of hostility, it was thought necessary to send a messenger over the mountains, with instructions to ascertain the tem- per and designs of the Indians, and to make him- self acquainted with the movements and inten- tions of the French. The first messenger sent 20*
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HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1752.
out, failing to execute his mission perfectly, and orders having, in the mean time, reached Gover- nor Dinwiddie from England to build two forts on the Ohio, for which artillery and ammunition had been sent out, it was thought, advisable to send a commissioner in due form, and invested with proper credentials, to confer with the officer in command of the French forces ; to ascertain under what authority he was acting, and what were his ulterior designs. This delicate and dangerous mission was entrusted to George Washington, the eldest son of a widowed mother, a surveyor by profession; and although at this time but twenty- one years of age, already distinguished for his judgment and capacity, and the purity of his moral character. Born on the old ancestral do- main in Westmoreland county, he was removed in infancy to the banks of the Rappahannock, where he became an orphan in his eleventh year.
In 1743, his father, Augustine Washington, a farmer in affluent circumstances, died, leaving a competent provision for his widow and children. Growing up thus under the care of his mother, the youthful Washington, whose name was soon to become a household word in the history of a great nation, received only such common educa- tion as the indifferent schools of the neighbour- hood at that time afforded. To read, to write, and to cipher, composed the whole of his know- ledge. To add to the means derived from his
235
WASHINGTON.
1752.]
paternal estate, he studied the lucrative profession of a surveyor, and at the age of sixteen entered upon its arduous and toilsome duties in the rich valleys of the Alleghany mountains.
The careful accuracy with which these his earliest surveys were made soon brought him into notice, and established his reputation. The following year he received a commission as a public survey- or, and passed the three subsequent years among the southern branches of the Potomac river, and the spurs and ridges of the Alleghanies. In ad- dition to this employment, he had been appointed, at the age of nineteen, military inspector of one of the districts into which the province was di- vided, with the rank of major; a commission which must have been peculiarly gratifying to one whose military predilections had always been of the strongest character, and had hitherto only been subdued by the force of prudential conside- rations.
" It was while engaged in the performance of the duties belonging to this office, that Major Washington was selected by Dinwiddie to proceed to the French posts in the vicinity of the Ohio.
His instructions were to travel without delay to the Ohio river. To halt at a place called Logstown, and after convening some of the prin- cipal Indian chiefs of the vicinity, to learn where the French were stationed, and obtain an escort of warriors to that point. On his arrival at the
236
HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1753.
principal French post, he was to present his cre- dentials, and demand an answer. He was also to make secret inquiry into the number of French , troops, and the prospect of reinforcements from Canada; what forts they had erected, how they were garrisoned, and their distances from each other.
Furnished with a passport, and these instruc- tions, Washington left Williamsburg on the thirty- first of October, 1753. The distance he had to traverse was nearly six hundred miles, a great part over lofty and rugged mountains, and more than half of the way through wild forests, never trodden before by any human feet but those of the white hunter and the wandering savage.
237
WASHINGTON'S MISSION.
1753 ]
CHAPTER XX.
Mission of Washington to the Ohio-Reaches Will's Creek- Halts at the Forks of the Ohio-Holds a conference with In- dians at Logstown-Delivers his letter and credentials to the French commandant-His return-Is shot at by an Indian- His peril in crossing the Alleghany river-Arrives at Wil- liamsburg-Increase of the provincial army-Washington appointed lieutenant-colonel-Marches to Will's Creek-The French drive off the troops at the Forks of the Ohio, and build Fort Duquesne-Skirmish at Great Meadows-Death of Jumonville, and capture of his party-Fort Necessity erected-Invested by the French-The Virginians capitulate on terms-Washington resigns his commission and retires to private life-Arrival of General Braddock with troops from England-Is joined by Washington as a volunteer-March of the army-Crossing of the Alleghanies-Defeat of Brad- dock on the banks of the Monongahela-Death of Braddock -Heroism of the Virginia troops-Retreat of the army to Cumberland.
ACCOMPANIED by John Davidson, an Indian interpreter, and Jacob Vanbraam, engaged in consequence of his knowledge of the French lan- guage, Major Washington, travelling by way of Fredericksburg, Alexandria, and Winchester, reached Will's Creek in fourteen days. At this point Fort Cumberland was subsequently erected. Here he was joined by Mr. Gist, a person well acquainted with the route to the Ohio river, who consented to act as guide. Four attendants, two of whom were Indian traders, were also added to the party.
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HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1753
From the frontier station of Will's Creek, Washington and his party passed over the Alle- ghanies, already covered with snow. The swollen and turbulent streams that intercepted their way, were crossed by means of rafts, or by swimming their horses. When they reached the junction of the Monongahela with the Alleghany, the point at which Dinwiddie had, by purchase of the Indians, obtained the right to build a fort, Wash- · ington narrowly examined the ground, and on his return home reported to the governor his opinion of its advantages as a military post. Upon his recommendation a fort was subsequently com- menced on the site then chosen, the walls of which were in the slow process of erection, when the workmen were driven off by the advance of the French.
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