USA > Virginia > Virginia, a history of the people > Part 25
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38
339
THE NEW LIGHTS.
land, as well as in Hanover, "the birthplace," number- ing three hundred communicants. He was not at all bitter against the English Church; that was not his nature. The objections of the Dissenters, he said, were " not against the peculiar rites and ceremonies of that Church ; much less against their excellent Articles, but against the general strain of the doctrines delivered from the pulpit, in which their Articles were opposed, or not mentioned at all."
Such was the liberal and evangelical Christianity of this eminent young man, all whose instincts were expanded. Afterwards he went to England to obtain money for Princeton College ; made a great name as a preacher, especially in Scotland ; and returning to Virginia estab- lished (1755) the first Presbytery there. It was during the next year, after Braddock's defeat, that he spoke of " that heroic youth, Colonel Washington, whom I cannot but liope Providence hath hitherto preserved in so signal a manner for some important service to his country." The young preacher was thirty-three when he said this of the young soldier of twenty-four; and soon afterwards he went away to succeed the famous Calvin- ist, Jonathan Edwards, as President of Princeton, where he died, still young ; but not before he had made a great and lasting name.
This outline will indicate the condition of religious affairs in Virginia at the middle of the century. The Church of England is in the ascendant, with nothing to check it but a variously construed Act of Toleration. In Hanover and elsewhere the Presbyterians and Bap- tists are clamoring for religious freedom. Beyond the mountains German Lutherans and Scotch-Irish Presby- terians demand the " free enjoyment of their civil and
--
340
VIRGINIA: A HISTORY OF THE PEOPLE.
religious liberties." The fossilized crust of dry-bones and old-world prejudices is slowly cracking under the pressure, and the new time is coming. After all the years, religious freedom, long writhing with the knee on its breast and the hand at its throat, is going to stand erect and bid defiance to whatever attempts to over- throw it.
XXV.
FRANCE AND ENGLAND IN THE "GREAT WOODS."
JUST as the half century expired, Virginia was called on to protect her frontier beyond the Ohio. What fol- lowed was the " French War," which proved a passion- ate episode in the history of the colony, as well as a decisive trial of strength between France and England in America.
The issue to be decided was the ownership of the territory extending from the Great Lakes to Louisiana. France urged her claim to it on the ground that a French subject, Padre Marquette, had in 1673 sailed down the Mississippi and taken possession of it in the name of France; and the English claimed it on the ground that it was part of Virginia, and had also been conveyed to them by the Iroquois. Either title might be plausibly maintained, but the real question was which could be supported by arms ; to which issue affairs had drifted at the middle of the century. Both powers moved in the matter. The English organized the " Ohio Company " to form settlements in the region ; and the French, burying a lead plate inscribed with an assertion of their claim, on the banks of La Belle Rivière, the Ohio, proceeded to occupy the country with troops and
341
IN THE " GREAT WOODS."
settlers. Most important of all, they erected a chain of forts reaching from the Lakes to the southwest, which Spotswood had vainly urged on his own government. Canadian France in the northi thus joined hands, through the "Great Woods," with Lousianian France in the south ; and the English settlements on the Atlantic were hemmed in by this cordon. France said to them, through the mouths of her cannon, " Thus far and no farther."
In 1753 things were coming to a crisis. The west- ern territory swarmed with French hunters and traders ; they were advancing step by step, and if England meant to support her claim to the country it was necessary to do so quickly. The result was that cannon and supplies were sent to Virginia, and the Governor was directed to formally assert the English title, and if necessary fight. The Governor at the time was Robert Dinwiddie, a native of Scotland, who had succeeded Gooch in 1752. In obedience to his orders he drew up his protest against the French occupation, and selected as his envoy a young Virginian, Major George Washington.
This is the first appearance of Washington in public affairs. He was just twenty-one and unknown beyond the borders of Virginia ; but had already established there the reputation of a young man of excellent ad- ministrative ability. An accident had directed his life. At the age of sixteen, Lord Fairfax had selected him to survey his lands beyond the Blue Ridge, and the boy had spent some years roughing it on the border. The result was a manly development and self-reliance which fitted him for great performances ; and the personal association with Lord Fairfax was another important influence in shaping his character. The lonely Earl
342 VIRGINIA: A HISTORY OF THE PEOPLE.
had come to reside at Greenway Court in the Shenan- doah Valley, and here the boy often stopped as he jour- neyed to and fro. The result was a warm personal friendship from which the country youth must have profited. Lord Fairfax was a man of the world and had seen life in every form. He had passed his youth as a fine gentleman in the most elegant society of Lon- don ; had known Addison, and even written some num- bers of the " Spectator ; " and after mingling with dukes and duchesses and flirting the fans of fine ladies, had come, a disappointed old man, to pass his age in the Virginia woods. He was almost alone at Greenway Court, where he spent his time chiefly in hunting ; and the visits of young George Washington were doubtless a great pleasure to him. To the youth they must have been equally profitable in expanding his views and giving him a glimpse of the great world ; and it is cer- tain that to the end of his life he retained the warmest regard for the old nobleman.
The direct result of this early association and employ- ment as surveyor was to place him in the way of pro- motion. His ability was recognized, and at nineteen he was appointed Adjutant-General of the Northern Dis- trict of Virginia. He discharged his duties with credit ; became known as a man of efficiency ; and the result was his selection to bear the English protest beyond the Ohio.
His adventures on this perilous expedition are famil- iar to all. In a freezing spell of weather (November, 1753), he set out with a small party ; penetrated the woods to the Indian village of Logstown : and was there directed where to find the French Commandant near Lake Erie. He was the Chevalier de St. Pierre, an old
343
IN THE "GREAT WOODS."
nobleman with silvery hair, and met the envoy with low bows and profuse courtesies. Under the courtier, how- ever, was the soldier. His reply to Dinwiddie's protest was : "I am here by the orders of my General, and I entreat you, sir, not to doubt one moment, but that I am determined to conform myself to them with all the exactness and resolution that can be expected from the best officer." With this response Washington was obliged to return; and the march back was terrible. The rivers were full of broken ice, and often the party were compelled to carry the canoes on their shoulders. The worn-out horses stumbled and fell in the roads and made no progress; and at last Washington with one companion set out on foot, knapsack on shoulder, through the snow for Virginia. The journey was made at the risk of his life. Near a place bearing the ominous name of Murdering Town, an Indian guide attempted to shoot lim, and not far from the present city of Pittsburg, while crossing the Alleghany on a raft, he fell into the water filled with floating ice and narrowly escaped drowning. Gaining an island he passed the night there half frozen, and nearly perished; but pushing on in the morning through the winter woods at last reached the settle- ments, from which he continued his way on horseback, and in sixteen days was at Williamsburg.
The English protest had thus come to nothing, and in the next year (1754), an expedition was sent against the French, which resulted in the disaster of the Great Meadows. This brief and rather inglorious incident demands only a few words. The vanguard of the Eng- lish force, commanded by Washington, advanced toward the present Pittsburg, when intelligence was received that a large body of French and Indians were coming
344 VIRGINIA: A HISTORY OF THE PEOPLE.
to attack him. He took the initiative by surprising a French party under De Jumonville, who fell in the engagement, and then retreating to a point known as Great Meadows threw up intrenchments. Here the enemy in large force soon appeared and made a resolute attack. It resulted in the surrender of the English, who seem to have been without ammunition, and (July 4, 1754), they marched out and made their way back to Virginia.
Such was the first military event in the career of Washington. It was not very imposing, but the sur- render seems to have been a military necessity, since the young commander and his troops received the thanks of the Virginia Assembly. The result was for the time decisive. The first appeal to arms had been disastrous to the English claim ; and the leaden plate, buried by the French on the banks of the Ohio, seemed to have asserted a title to the country which France was able to support with muskets and cannon.
XXVI.
THE TRAGEDY OF DUQUESNE.
THE surrender at Great Meadows aroused a bitter excitement in England. The English flag had gone down before the lilies of France; and the possession of half a continent was at issue. After all the long pro- tests and diplomatic wrangles affairs in America had suddenly come to the sword ; and the French sword had beat down the English.
Prompt steps were taken to reverse this great disas ter by another appeal to arms; and this time the fight-
345
THE TRAGEDY OF DUQUESNE.
ing was not to be confined to one region, but to aim at a great general result. A comprehensive scheme for driving the French from the entire country was matured in England; and (February, 1755), General Edward Braddock, with an English force of about 1,000 men, was sent to carry out part of the project. The General first conferred with Governor Dinwiddie at Williamsburg, and then proceeded to Alexandria on the Potomac, where his troops were quartered. Herc he was met in April by the Governors of Massachusetts, New York, Penn- sylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. The plan of opera- tions was speedily determined upon. The English troops sent to Virginia, reinforced by Provincials, were to ad- vance and capture Fort Duquesne, then to march and reduce Fort Niagara, then Fort Frontenac and all the French strongholds toward the Lakes. Of the success of the campaign, Braddock said there could be no doubt. Duquesne would certainly capitulate in three or four days ; the others would follow the same example ; and by autumn of this year (1755), the English would be masters of all North America south of the St. Law- rence.
It was a very fine campaign - on paper, or set forth in the eloquent words, interspersed with oaths, of Gen- eral Braddock. The English authorities had made a very bad selection of a leader. The commander in this important expedition was a brave soldier and nothing more. He was about forty, bluff of manner, rubicund, fond of "strong waters," with an overweening opinion of- his own capacity, very obstinate, immensely preju- diced in favor of "regular troops," and cordially de- spised the ragged Provincials. A certain civilian from Pennsylvania, Benjamin Franklin by name, gave him
346 VIRGINIA: A HISTORY OF THE PEOPLE.
sound advice which he only laughed at. When Brad- dock, rattling his sword and swearing his military oaths, spoke of capturing Fort Duquesne with little difficulty; the cautious Franklin replied : --
"To be sure, sir, if you arrive well before Duquesne, with these fine troops, the fort can probably make but a short resistance."
But there were the Indians, - added this obstinate civilian with his provincial ideas of military operations. The Indians would side with the French and watch the English from the moment when they entered the Great Woods, and unless the utmost care were taken the scar- let column would be "cut like a thread into several pieces." At this the bluff soldier burst forth into oaths and expressions of disdain.
" These savages," he exclaimed, "may be indeed a formidable enemy to raw American militia, but upon the King's regular and disciplined troops, sir, it is impos- sible to make any impression !"
It was the pride that goes before the heavy falls of life. This worthy soldier, as brave as his sword, and with a hundred generous instincts, wanted the brain of the army-leader, and was merely a fighting man. The only act of his life, at this critical moment, which indi- cated prudence was the invitation sent to young Colonel George Washington, of Mount Vernon, to accompany him as a member of his staff. Washington had resigned his commission in great disgust, at the end of 1754, upon hearing that, under a new organization, his subor- dinates were to rank him. He however accepted Brad- dock's invitation, and thus became an actor in the trag- edy that followed. It was May now, and the English troops were on the march westward to the rendezvous
347
THE TRAGEDY OF DUQUESNE.
Early in July all was to end, as a tragic drama ends with the fall of the curtain.
General Braddock had ordered his forces to be con- centrated at Wills's Creek, the present Cumberland, on the upper Potomac. He followed them toward the end of May, traveling in his coach, and stopped, it seems, at Greenway Court to visit Lord Fairfax. As an English nobleman and "County Lieutenant " of all the lower Shenandoah Valley, the old lord was entitled to this mark of respect ; and Washington also went to Green- way to procure fresh horses. The tarrying there was brief. The lawn in front of the old lodge with its bel- fries on the roof, echoed for a moment with the rattle of hoofs, and the roll of wheels, as Braddock stopped to greet the Earl ; then the fine coach was whirled away, and the General had made his first and last visit to the sylvan manor-house. He hastened on through Winches- ter, a small border village, uttered volleys of curses at the horrible mountain roads, and reaching Cumberland passed in front of his troops, like a military meteor, in the midst of rolling drums and the thunder of cannon.
At once the firm soldier-hand was felt throughout the little army. Stringent orders were issued and rigidly enforced ; some Indian beauties in camp, of whom "the officers were scandalous fond," - among them the " daz- zling Bright Lightning, the daughter of White Thun- der,"- were ordered to depart ; and Washington, look- ing with ardent eyes at this new military pageant, was delighted with everything, and studied his profession for another struggle, -against these red-coats. But Gen- eral Braddock was in no better humor than when he had "heartily damned " the Virginia roads. He could get no wagons, and uttered fearful oaths. When some
348
VIRGINIA: A HISTORY OF THE PEOPLE.
one told him he must go on horseback, he " despised his observations ; " and when Washington said that the march of a column with wagons would prove "a tre- mendous undertaking," the General did not conceal his displeasure at the intrusion of such crude notions by a mere " Provincial."
The army set out from Cumberland in the first days of June (1755). It consisted of two royal regiments numbering together one thousand men, and Provincials from Virginia, Maryland, and New York, which made the full force a little more than two thousand. Soon the tremendous undertaking of penetrating the Great Woods with the unwieldy column began. The army was followed by a long train of wagons loaded down with the baggage of the officers ; and the line often ex- tended for three or four miles. It was the wildest of absurdities. Never had obstinate adherence to martinet ideas had so strong an illustration. This English soldier, relying on English traditions, was dragging his cumbrous machine through the American woods as if they were the plains of Europe. And all this time his dread enemy was watching him. From the heights of every mountain Indian runners looked down and laughed quietly. But the pioneers still went in front cutting a road for the creaking wagons ; the scattered troops straggled along ; and in this manner General Braddock went into the great region called the "Shades of Death," the shadow of his own hovering above liim.
At Little Meadows Braddock saw for the first time that he was committing a terrible blunder. He had re- fused to listen to the advice of Washington, but now swallowed his pride, and consulted the "Provincial." Washington, always grave and courteous, repeated his
349
THE TRAGEDY OF DUQUESNE.
former views. It was necessary to mobilize the army ; to leave the baggage behind, and advance rapidly with a body of picked troops, and ammunition on pack- horses, and so surprise Fort Duquesne before it could be reenforced. Braddock consented with ill-concealed reluctance ; then his splendid regulars were not all-suf- ficient, advancing and fighting in their own manner ! His wrath descended on a brave ranger, since it effected nothing with this grave young Colonel Washington. Captain Jack, called the " Black Rifle," a famous figliter of the woods, came and offered his services. He would go with his rangers in front, he said, and recon- noitre. But Braddock tossed away from him.
" There was time enough," he said haughtily, " for making arrangements; he had experienced troops upon whom he could completely rely for all purposes."
Thereupon the borderer, shouldering his rifle, turned his back on Braddock and went away with his rangers to their homes on the Juniata, - leaving him to his fate. Even then the old folly went on. " They were halting," Washington afterwards said, "to level every mole-hill and erect bridges over every brook, by which means we were four days in getting twelve miles." Some friendly Indians went before to scour the woods. Traces of fires were found showing that French scouts were every- where; but no opposition was made, and at last they halted on the Monongahela, about fifteen miles south of Fort Duquesne (July 8, 1755).
The grapple was near now ; this night was the last spent by many a brave fellow on earth. Braddock re- solved to advance and attack the fort on the next morn- ing. It was only a short march distant, and the English were now on the same side of the river. But to reach
350 VIRGINIA: A HISTORY OF THE PEOPLE.
Duquesne it was necessary to make two crossings. A steep bank in front ran down into the water rendering a passage there impossible; there was, however, a prac- ticable ford, and another five miles below ; and Braddock determined to cross at the two fords and so advance to the attack.
Early on the next morning (July 9, 1755), he moved with his advance of twelve hundred men and ten can- non. The march was made in the most unconcerned manner. True to the last to his disdain of precaution, Braddock advanced with his "regulars " in front; witlı drums rolling, fifes shirilling, and flags floating in all the pride and pomp of glorious war. There were a great many people who could have told him that he was tempt- ing his fate; but talking reason to General Braddock had, for some weeks now, proved a loss of time. So the brave "regulars " stepped out proudly to the tap of the drum ; the English music sounded ; the English flags , flaunted; and the Virginian and other " provincial " rangers of the woods marched behind, to assist in the improbable event that their services would be required. Washington said afterwards that this was the finest sight he had ever witnessed; and so the twelve hundred doomed men crossed the ford in triumph ; found no more trouble at the lower crossing ; and were now on the east bank again, not far from Fort Duquesne.
The commandant there was De Contrecœur, and he had despaired of holding the place ; exaggerated reports of Braddock's force had reached him ; and he was con- sulting whether to stand fast or evacuate the fort, when De Beaujeu, one of his young captains, offered to take a force and advance to meet the English. To this De Contrecœur assented. De Beaujeu marched promptly ; and the collision followed.
351
THE TRAGEDY OF DUQUESNE.
The English had crossed the ford and were marching across a plain in front of which were wooded hills. On each side of the road leading up this slope were ravines, covered with thicket, and here the battle took place. The English had reached the spot, when a commotion in the woods in front attracted their attention. It was De Beaujeu advancing at the head of his two hundred and thirty Canadians, and six hundred and thirty sav- ages, in all 860 men. The young Frenchman bounded forward in a gay hunting-shirt and silver gorget, and waved his hat-the signal for his skirmishers to scatter behind the trees and rocks. At the signal the Indians disappeared to the right and left, leaving the French in the centre; and upon this force the English opened a quick fire which killed about twelve men, among them De Beaujeu, who fell as he was cheering on his troops. But the English good fortune was short-lived; it was' the only gleam of success, this first quick fire, during the whole bloody tragedy.
There was no battle, properly speaking ; it was a mere slaughter. The English regulars, huddled up like sheep in a narrow road, from which they could not extri- cate themselves, lost their heads at the merciless fire from the ravines, fired in the air, were seized by mortal panic, and had not even the presence of mind to fly. The offi- cers, who acted " with incomparable bravery," would not let them take shelter behind trees, and in vain attempted to make them advance. They seemed not to liear the words, or to feel the flats of the swords striking their backs; the terrible fire, poured into their ranks from the Indians hidden behind the rocks, paralyzed them. Right and left from the tangled ravines issued fatal volleys ; and at every shot almost, a red-coat fell,
352 VIRGINIA: A HISTORY OF THE PEOPLE.
for the Indians aimed deliberately before firing. The Virginia rangers scattered and fouglit from behind trees as they were accustomed to do. This and the cannon was all that preserved the regulars from a consecutive butchery of each man in turn. They stood there dazed and deprived of reason. Their " dastardly bellavior " showed that there was no longer any hope. Their offi- cers and the Virginians and other Provincials did all that men could do, but it was in vain. Washington had " four bullets through his coat and two horses shot under him." Braddock had three horses killed under him, and two wounded so as to be disabled. He did all that a brave soldier could do; but he was struggling against what no commander can make headway against -- the pusillanimity of his men. The Indian fire utterly destroyed now their remains of courage. They broke and rolled over each other in the wild attempt to es- cape. At last Braddock fell. A bullet passed through his right arm, entered liis breast, and he would have dropped from the saddle had not Captain Stewart of the Virginia Light Horse caught him in his arms. In his agony he groaned aloud and asked to be left to die on the field. His men were now in wild disorder. They threw away their guns, accoutrements, and even their clothes, and rushed into the river. Cannon, in- fantry, and horse hastened away, and the Virginia rangers were obliged to follow. The army was in wild flight. They had lost more than half their number by that fearful hidden fire. Sir Peter Halket was dead ; Shirley, secretary of Braddock, was shot through the head ; the Virginians were nearly decimated : out of eighty-six officers twenty-six were killed and thirty- seven wounded. The enemy's loss, all numbered, was
-
353
THE TRAGEDY OF DUQUESNE.
but twenty-eight killed and twenty-nine wounded. All that saved the English was the cupidity of the sav- ages. They stopped to gather up the muskets and scar- let coats littering the ground ; and that alone preserved the fugitives from the tomahawk as they rushed over the Monongahela.
Braddock was borne from the field, and his friends hastened on with their mortally wounded commander. His brave English officers and the Virginians were the only people who remained with him. His own men, mastered by a shameful panic, deserted him. He was placed, according to tradition, in the folds of a large silk sash; the ends were affixed to the saddles of two horses moving abreast; and in this military fashion the dying officer took his way back toward Virginia, which he was never to reach. The army had vanished, and only the little cavalcade of English officers and Pro- vincials remained with poor Braddock. In these last hours he saw all his errors, and told the Virginians, who were " unremitting in their attentions to him," that he had done them injustice : they were true sol- diers, who had acquitted themselves like men. To Washington, who seems to have commanded the little escort, he apologized feelingly for all his ill-humor ; and, as an evidence of his regard, presented him with a favorite riding horse, and his own servant, Bishop. As he went on through the "Shades of Death " he kept groaning and muttering, -
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.