USA > Virginia > The history of Virginia, from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 15
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The expected arrival of the Earl of Loudoun to take command of the royal forces in America- a station temporarily occupied, since the fall of Braddock, by Governor Shirley of Massachusetts -may also have had its effect in reconciling Washington to bear, with such patience as he might, the annoyances to which he was subjected.
Hoping soon to be called upon to take part in a campaign of a more decided character, he busied himself, in the mean while, in strengthening the old forts and constructing new ones. A fort was also commenced at Winchester, as a depository for military stores, and a rallying point for such settlers as might be driven in from the frontiers. It was called Loudoun, in honour of the new commander-in-chief.
257
1757.] CONFERENCE AT PHILADELPHIA.
On the 18th of May, 1756, England formally declared war against France, and, late in July, the Earl of Loudoun arrived in America. He had scarcely assumed the duties of his command, before intelligence was brought him that the Marquis Montcalm had captured, after a short bombardment, the strong fort of Oswego, and taken its garrison, consisting of more than a thousand men, prisoners of war.
The expedition previously planned against Ti- conderoga and Crown Point was immediately abandoned; the troops which were on the march to reinforce the garrison at Oswego, fell back in dismay to Albany ; the militia were suffered to return to their homes ; and, as the season was by this time well advanced, the regulars were ordered into winter quarters at New York and Albany.
In March, 1757, Washington attended a meet- ing of governors and officers at. Philadelphia, which had been convened by Loudoun for the purpose of arranging with them the plan of the ensuing campaign. Washington urged his favour- ite project of an expedition against Duquesne ; but it was finally decided to continue the system of defensive operations in the middle and south- ern states, while the main army directed its efforts against the garrisons of the enemy at Louisburg and upon the lakes.
Through the tardiness and indecision of the commander-in-chief, the expedition organized 22*
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HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1758.
against Louisburg resulted in a complete failure. In the mean time, the energetic Montcalm placed himself at the head of eight thousand men, and invested Fort William Henry at the southern ex- tremity of Lake George. After a siege of six days the garrison, consisting of two thousand men, having exhausted their ammunition, capitu- lated on condition of being suffered to march out with the honours of war.
On the frontiers of Virginia the Indians still continued their predatory inroads, almost with impunity.
Washington had returned to his old quarters at Winchester ; but little could be done beyond maintaining the garrisons already established, and alleviating the sufferings of those who had fled from the fury of the savages. It was well understood by this time that no scheme of effect- ual relief could be planned, which had not for its basis the capture of Fort Duquesne.
The close of the year 1757 saw the French in possession of all their fortresses, from Cape Breton to Louisiana; while they had expelled the English from Oswego and Lake George, and had reduced the Six Nations to a position of neutrality.
The campaign of 1758, was to open under happier auspices. The elder Pitt had taken his seat in the British cabinet, as secretary of state, and understanding, far better than his predeces-
1758.] PITT'S MEASURES. 259
sors, the importance and condition of the Ameri- can provinces, he resolved on a vigorous prosecu- tion of the war, the plan of which embraced a series of offensive operations throughout the frontiers.
To the great joy of Virginia, General Forbes was ordered to undertake the conquest of Fort Duquesne. Thoroughly appreciating the inability of the provinces to carry on the war to a success- ful conclusion at their own expense, Pitt address- ed a circular to the respective governors, request- ing them to raise an aggregate force of not less than twenty thousand men, and offering to re- imburse the expense of the levies by a subsequent parliamentary grant. The troops thus raised were to be armed and provisioned at the charge of the crown. The effect of this liberality was at once apparent. Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, promptly responded to the call of the energetic minister.
The forces in Virginia were immediately in- creased to two regiments of a thousand men each. Colonel Washington, still retaining his commis- sion as commander-in-chief of the Virginia troops, was placed at the head of the first regiment. The command of the second was given to Colonel Byrd.
In the mean while, the affairs of the province had been materially benefited by a change of governors. Dinwiddie had sailed for England in
1
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HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1758.
January, 1758, leaving behind him a character for arrogance and avarice, which made his de- parture a source of congratulation rather than of regret. Lord Loudoun had been appointed to succeed him; but the pressure of his military duties detaining him at the north, John Blair, president of the council, acted as chief magistrate until the 7th of June, when he surrendered his authority into the hands of the newly commis- sioned governor, Francis Fauquier.
The period at length approached when the long wished for movement against Fort Duquesne was to take place. The army appointed to effect the conquest of this important fortress amounted to seven thousand men. General Forbes being taken ill on his way from Phila- delphia, the regulars and Pennsylvania troops, commanded by Colonel Bouquet, were ordered in advance to Raystown, on the south branch of tne Juniata ; and early in July, the Virginia regiments under Washington, were concentrated at Fort Cumberland. During the abser General Forbes, scouting parties, clothed in the light Indian dress, were employed in opening a road to Raystown, thirty miles distant, and in repairing the one leading to Great Meadows. Differences of opinion arising in relation to the line of route, Washington strenuously urged that the troops should march from Cumberland, over the road previously constructed by the army
261
GRANT'S ATTACK.
1758.]
under Braddock. His advice was disregarded. A new road was ordered to be commenced from Raystown, as the nearest and most direct route to the Ohio. For six weeks Bouquet's advance di- vision of twenty-five hundred men were kept in- cessantly employed on this arduous service, and on the 10th of September had penetrated no further than Loyal Hanna, a distance of forty- five miles from Raystown. While two-thirds of the troops were employed in constructing a fort at this point, Colonel Bouquet sent forward Major Grant, with a detachment of eight hun- dred men, to reconnoitre the country in the vicinity of Fort Duquesne.
On the fourteenth of September, after a march of nearly fifty miles, Grant reached a hill over- looking the fort. Under cover of the night, he drew up his men in the order of battle, and ad- vanced a small party of observation. Early the following morning, he ordered Major Lewis to take command of the baggage guard, and fall back some two miles in the rear. At the same time he sent an engineer, with a covering party, to take a plan of the works. To crown his rash- ness, he ordered the reveille to be beaten by all the drums in the detachment.
The fort remained sternly silent. Not a sin- gle gun was fired, not a single sound of prepara- tion was heard within its walls. This ominous stillness Grant attributed to fear. He was soon
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HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1758.
to be terribly undeceived. All at once, the gates were flung open, and multitudes of Indians came streaming out, brandishing their weapons, and startling the air with the shrillness of the war-whoop. Spreading themselves on the flanks of the covering party, they sent from the shelter of trees and high grass, and from behind boulders of rock, and the undulations of the ground, a perfect storm of bullets ; while a chosen body of French regulars advanced in close order, and commenced an attack in front. Grant descended the hill to the support of his detachment, but they were killed almost to a man before he reached them. The main body, fighting in masses, soon began to suffer terribly under the spirited attacks of the French and the more deadly fire of the concealed savages. They were speedily thrown into disorder, but still fought with a blind fury, which injured the enemy but little, while it brought destruction upon themselves. Early in the action, Major Lewis hastened to the assist- ance of Grant, with the greater portion of his rear guard, leaving Captain Bullet with fifty men for the defence of the baggage. This reinforce- ment proved utterly ineffectual in checking the success of the enemy. The Indians, now confi- dent of victory, sprang from their coverts, and assaulted the wavering troops with the tomahawk and the scalping knife. They gave no quarter ; but inhumanly butchered the regulars and pro-
263
1758.]
HEROISM OF COL. BULLET.
vincials in the very act of surrender. Grant barely succeeded in saving his life by capitulating to a French officer. Lewis, after defending him- self with great gallantry from the attacks of several savages, one of whom he killed, was forced to retreat upon a French detachment and yield himself a prisoner of war. On the capture of their principal officers, the troops fled from the field in complete rout. Following close upon the footsteps of the fugitives, the Indians hewed them down as they ran, scalping and hacking the bodies of their victims in the most barbarous manner.
The cool forethought and heroism of Captain Bullet, at length put a stop to the sanguinary massacre. Sending back under a slender con- voy the strongest horses, with the most valuable part of the baggage, he formed a breastwork of the remainder, as a cover for his troops, and a rallying point for the fugitives. By keeping up a close and well directed fire, he was enabled to check for some time the advance of the pursuers. Finding, from the rapidly increasing strength of the savages, that he was in danger of being speedily overpowered, he resorted to a manœuvre, which can only be justified by the extremity of his peril, and his knowledge of the treacherous character of those with whom he had to deal. Ordering his troops to reverse their arms, as a signal of surrender, he led them slowly, in this
264
HISTORY OF VIRGINIA.
- [1758.
manner, toward the expectant savages, already grasping their tomahawks to begin the carnage anew. At a distance of only eight yards from the enemy, he suddenly halted his men, poured a close and destructive volley into the congregated groups, and instantly followed it by a furious charge with fixed bayonets. Struck with astonish- ment and terror, the Indians, imagining the whole army was at hand, took the woods, and did not cease their flight until they found themselves once more under the protection of the French regu- lars. Prudently refraining from pursuit, Bullet fell back upon the main body of the army at Loyal Hanna; collecting as he retreated the wounded and terrified soldiers, whom he found scattered along his line of march, exhausted from want of food, and haunted by incessant fears of the savages. In this fatal action, nearly three hundred men were either killed or taken prison- ers. The first Virginia regiment lost six officers, and sixty-two privates.
The gallantry of the provincials in the previous battle, in the subsequent repulse of the victorious savages, and in their masterly retreat, was the theme of universal praise.
It was not until the 8th of November, that General Forbes was able to join Bouquet with the main army and heavy baggage. The difficulties in opening the new route were both serious and discouraging. The army, weary of repeated de-
1758.]
FORT PITT. 265
lays, and weakened by sickness and desertion, began to exhibit symptoms of discontent. Fifty miles of unbroken forest yet lay between the camp at Loyal Hanna and Fort Duquesne.
As the winter was close at hand, a council of war advised the abandonment of the enterprise until the opening of spring ; but before this deci- sion was acted upon, three prisoners, accidentally captured, reported the enemy as enfeebled by the failure of their usual supplies from the north, and by the desertion of their Indian allies.
An advance was immediately resolved upon. Washington, at his own request, was placed in command of the troops thrown forward to prepare the way for the main army. Leaving their bag- gage and artillery at Loyal Hanna, the troops partook of the newly revived ardour of their offi- cers, and in despite of the numerous obstacles by which their march was delayed, reached Fort Duquesne on the 20th of November, 1758; but the enemy had already disappeared. The day previous to the arrival of the army under Forbes, they had set fire to the works, and retreated down the Ohio in boats. The ruined walls were speedi- ly renewed, and the long dreaded Fort Duquesne received the name of Fort Pitt, in honour of the English minister. After garrisoning the post with two hundred men, selected from the Virgi- nia regiment, Forbes, whose health was daily becoming more infirm, returned with the main
23
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HISTORY OF VIRGINIA.
.- [1759.
army to Philadelphia, where he died a few weeks after his arrival.
The possession of Fort Pitt soon proved of in- calculable advantage to the provinces of Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. No longer stimu- lated to hostilities by the French, and awed by the successes of the British arms at the north, the Indian tribes were effectually controlled, and in a little while the fugitive settlers were enabled to return to the frontiers, and occupy their homes in peace.
At the north the war was prosecuted with signal vigour and success. Louisburg had fallen before the combined forces of Abercrombie and Bos- cawen, and Fort Frontenac had surrendered to a strong detachment of provincials under Broad- street.
The campaign of 1759 was marked by still greater triumphs. Fort Niagara was captured by the levies under Prideaux and Johnson. Du- ring the same month the regulars, under Amherst, took possession of the important fortresses of Crown Point and Ticonderoga, and the con- quest of all the French possessions in Canada was completed, on the eighteenth of September, by the surrender of Quebec to the forces com- manded by the gallant and lamented Wolfe.
But while the loss of her North American terri- tories restored peace to the British provinces, it was not until 1762 that France consented to the
267
1759.] TREATY OF FONTAINBLEAU.
humiliating concessions which were extorted from her by the treaty of Fontainbleau. By this treaty she ceded to Great Britain the whole of Canada, Cape Breton, the islands in the gulf and river of St. Lawrence, part of Louisiana east of the Mississippi River, and her possessions in the West Indies.
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The bitterness of feeling engendered by this. loss of territory, displayed itself a few years later, in prompting her to retaliate upon Great Britain, by rendering assistance to the colonists in their struggle for independence.
CHAPTER XXII.
English financial embarrassment-Proposition to tax the colo- nies-Passage of the stamp act-Its reception in America- Patrick Henry-His birth and education-Studies law-His first speech in the " parson's cause"-Its effect upon his audi- tors-Elected a member of the assembly-Offers his celebra- ted resolutions-The effect of their adoption-Congress at Philadelphia-Solemn declaration of rights-Repeal of the stamp act-Townshend's new bill-Passed by the Imperial parliament-Resistance of the Americans-Death of Fauquier -Session of 1768-Resolutions of the assembly-Dissolved by the arrival of Lord Bottetourt as governor-in-chief-Ses- sion of 1769-Dissolution of the assembly-Non-importation agreement-Progress of resistance-Repeal of all duties ex- cept that on tea-Agitation still continues-Death of Lord Bottetourt-His character-The assembly order a statue to be erected to his memory.
THE immense accession, of territory acquired by the treaty of Fontainbleau, was soon discov
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HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1762.
ered to be but a poor compensation for the alarming financial embarrassments into which England became plunged by the enormous ex- penses of the war. The energy infused by Pitt into her councils, the indomitable bravery of her regular troops, and the acknowledged prowess of her provincial levies, had raised her to the envi- able position of the greatest power in Europe. But the honour of this supremacy had been dearly bought. Four prolonged wars, within three quarters of a century, had increased her national debt to nearly seven hundred millions of dollars, and had reduced, by excessive taxation, her own immediate subjects to the verge of bankruptcy. A part of these difficulties were undoubtedly oc- casioned by the large sums of money required to protect the British American provinces from the aggressions of the French. In order to relieve the people of England from so onerous a burden in future, it was thought advisable to draw a revenue from the colonies sufficient to cover the charge of their defence. Hitherto, the colonial assemblies had been permitted to exercise their own discretion in granting or withholding military contributions. Jealous of their independence, and tenacious of a privilege they had so long enjoyed, they denied the authority of the impe- rial parliament to tax them without their own consent. The power to regulate the colonial trade with foreign countries, although it had
269
STAMP ACT.
1765.]
been exercised by the officers of the crown for several generations, had always been submitted to with reluctance, and was daily growing more unpopular. Even the charges for the support of a post office, although the latter was an ac- knowledged benefit, had not been consented to without opposition. Having thus, by the impo- sition of duties for the regulation of trade, opened the way for more serious exactions, the English government finally resolved to assert its rights to levy taxes for revenue.
In 1763, Lord Granville gave notice of his intention to bring in a bill imposing duty on stamps, avowedly for the purpose of raising a revenue from the provinces. At the next session of parliament, a resolution, affirming the right to tax the colonies, passed the House of Commons without a division. Petitions and remonstrances soon after flowed in from all parts of America. Notwithstanding the intense excitement which the ministry were conscious of having created, the bill was brought forward, and on the 22d of March, 1765, the Stamp Act was finally imposed.
No sooner did its passage become known in America, than Virginia and Massachusetts took the lead in opposition to its enforcement. The assembly of Virginia was in session when the tidings arrived. Among the newly elected bur- gesses was Patrick Henry, a young lawyer, then just rising into celebrity for an eloquence seldom 23*
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HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1765.
equalled, and never excelled. Of the knowledge derived from a scholastic education, he possessed but little. He had been taught Latin by his father, and had attained to some proficiency in mathematics, but the confinement of study was his aversion. He better loved to wander with his gun across his shoulder through the intricate mazes of the forest ; or to recline by the brook- side beneath the shade of some far-spreading tree, where, lulled into a dreamy mood -by the sound of rippling waters, he could indulge for hours · together in his own thick coming fancies. When he grew to manhood he became by turns a mer- chant and a farmer. Equally unsuccessful in both occupations, he determined to study law. After a course of reading which his poverty limited to six weeks, he obtained, in the twenty- fourth year of his age, a license to practice. Utterly ignorant at first of the simplest business of his profession, the three succeeding years were passed in the greatest pecuniary distress. But the leisure which the absence of clients imposed was not wholly unimproved. He di- vided his time between his favourite sports, the reading of books upon ancient and modern his- tory, and a close study of the ancient Virginia charters. At length, an opportunity occurred ' for the display of those extraordinary powers, which have handed his name to posterity as the - greatest natural orator the world has ever known.
1764.]
THE PARSONS' CAUSE.
271
It was the celebrated "Parsons' cause." The salary of the Episcopal ministers in Virginia had been fixed by law at sixteen thousand pounds of tobacco, the value of which long usage had esta- blished at sixteen shillings and eight pence a hundred weight. The issue of paper money, and the subsequent rage for speculation, having raised the price of that staple to fifty shillings a hundred weight, laws were passed in 1755 and 1758, au- thorizing the payment of all tobacco debts in money, at the old rate of sixteen shillings and eight pence. These laws were contested by the clergy, who claimed the right to receive their salary in tobacco, according to the terms of the original statute, or an amount in money equiva-
lent to the increased price of the staple.
A
previous decision of the court in favour of the claimants, had left nothing undetermined but the amount of damages, the standard of which had been established by the law of 1748. The plain- tiff in the present case was Henry's own uncle. Naturally awkward in his deportment, and con- fused by the presence of so many learned men, and by the multitude of anxious listeners with which the court-house was thronged, Henry faltered so much in his exordium, that his father, who occupied the chair as presiding magistrate, sank back in his seat, covered with shame and mortification. The immense crowd which had assembled within and without the court-house,
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HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1765.
painfully impressed with the incapacity of their chosen champion, hung their heads in despond- ency ; while the clergy, some twenty of whom were present, glanced at each other with a covert expression of anticipated triumph.
But a wonderful change of feeling was now about to take place. The first few, feeble, and broken sentences, were succeeded by others bet- ter connected, and full of pith and meaning. As he gained confidence, the young rustic lawyer disappeared, and in his place stood the impas- sioned orator, holding the multitude in thrall by the grandeur of his expression, the intense fire which shone in his eyes, the grace of his action, the graphic force of his imagery, and the almost magical charm of a voice which now stirred all hearts, like the blast of a war-bugle, and now soothed them to quietude, as by the tender music of a lute.
The cause was gained; under the bewildering influence of an eloquence almost miraculous, the jury, forgetting alike the clear provisions of the law, and the conceded right of the plaintiff, re- turned a verdict of one penny damages.
Henry rose rapidly in popularity. The follow- ing year he amazed a committee of the house of burgesses, by a brilliant display of his peculiar powers, on a question involving the right of suf- frage. In 1765, he was elected to the assembly. He had taken his seat but a few days, when
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273
HENRY LEADS THE LIBERALS.
1765.]
tidings reached Virginia that the Stamp Act had passed. As a member of a body composed prin- cipally of the aristocracy of the province, a stranger to most of the burgesses, and entirely unacquainted with the forms of the house, Henry waited for some time the action of older and more experienced men. But finding,' as the period approached when the law was to go into opera- tion, that all shrank from grappling with a ques- tion involving issues of so momentous a character, he tore from an old law-book a blank leaf, on which he wrote a series of resolutions, claiming for the people of Virginia all the privileges of Bri- tish subjects ; asserting the exclusive right of the assembly to impose taxes upon the people of the colony ; and declaring any attempt to vest that authority elsewhere, as inconsistent with the ancient charter of Virginia, and subversive of British, as well as of American freedom. Reso- lutions so bold and spirited alarmed the fears of those who styled themselves the friends of the government, and gave rise to violent debates.
Henry at once took his place at the head of the liberals. Ardent and uncompromising, he poured forth his magnificent philippics, startling his aristocratic antagonists by the power of his language, the fiery impetuosity of his gestures, and the singular aptness of his comparisons. Warming with his theme, he blanched the cheeks of his auditors, by exclaiming : " Cæsar had his
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HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. [1765.
Brutus ; Charles the First his Cromwell ; and George the Third"-" Treason ! treason !" ex- claimed the speaker. " Treason ! treason !"
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