USA > Vermont > The Lake Champlain and Lake George valleys, Vol. I > Part 7
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On one occasion, the French influence was great enough to obtain from the Senecas permission to build a fort at the mouth of the Niagara, but on another occasion the English won the consent of the Iroquois to fortify Oswego, which became the great center for the fur trade. But in the meantime, another war had been fought between France and England. Leaving for the moment the important strug- gle of the two powers for the affections of the Iroquois let us return once more to the story of military conflict and border warfare.
In 1702, hostilities were resumed between France and England. In this hemisphere the conflict was known as Queen Anne's War, the second of the French and Indian wars, in honor of the Queen of Eng- land. In Europe the struggle was known as the War of the Spanish Succession. Louis XIV of France and Emperor Leopold I of the House of Hapsburg both claimed the throne of Spain for their respec- tive families. Neither England nor Holland could afford to allow either monarch thus to upset the balance of power in Europe. A long war followed, not ending until the Treaty of Utrecht was signed in 1713.
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When hostilities were resumed in America, the French departed from their old custom of sending war parties against Albany and Schenectady, because they were afraid of alienating the Iroquois, pre- ferring rather to keep these Indians neutral through the efforts of Joncaire and his associates. French aggression was now aimed at New England rather than at New York. In midwinter of 1704 a party of fifty Canadians and two hundred Indians under Hertel de Rouville set out on a raid against New Hampshire and Massachu- setts. This force ascended the northern portion of Lake Champlain on the ice until it reached the mouth of the Winooski River. There the men made their way up that valley on snowshoes, crossing the Green Mountains, descending the Connecticut and finally destroying the settlement at Deerfield, Massachusetts. Rouville's men, hungry as wolves, lay shivering under the pines in the deep snow outside the palisade until about two hours before daybreak, when they cautiously crept over the snow crust and suddenly pierced the silence of the night with terrible war whoops. The settlement was speedily destroyed and one hundred and eleven inhabitants were taken captive. Rouville then managed to retreat safely through the wilderness until Canada was eventually reached. Four years later, a larger party similarly burned Haverhill.
In 1709 an attempt was made by the English to attack Canada by way of the Hudson and Lake Champlain, the command of the expe- dition being given to Colonel Nicholson. Advancing northward from Albany, he built a stockade fort opposite Saratoga, constructed another known as Fort Nicholson at Fort Edward, and cut a road through the wilderness to Wood Creek, where he built a third post named Fort Ann. In the meantime, Vaudreuil, who was now gov- ernor of Canada, learned of the English expedition and sent Ramesay with fifteen hundred men to surprise Nicholson's camp. The French force made its way as far south as Crown Point, when it was discov- ered by English scouts. Ramesay lost himself in the woods and for a time could not even find his army. His scouts brought back ridicu- lous reports which perplexed the French and filled them with panic. Finally the force returned to Chambly without accomplishing any- thing. Nicholson advanced no farther, but spent week after week at Wood Creek waiting for his signal to advance. The army was to get under way as soon as news should come of the arrival of a British fleet at Boston. The ships were expected as early as the middle of
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May, but they never arrived, having been sent to Portugal instead. Nicholson finally retired without fighting a battle, and so once more high-sounding British plans for the conquest of Canada petered out due to lethargy, incompetence, and lack of coordination.
In the fall of 1710, Nicholson sailed away to attack Port Royal with a landing force of four hundred English and fifteen hundred provincials. The settlement was captured and its name was changed to Annapolis Royal. On two previous occasions it had been taken by English forces only to be restored to France by treaty. This time England retained her conquest.
Again, in 1711, the British made plans for the conquest of Canada, ordering Nicholson to move northward by way of Lake Champlain while an English squadron under Walker and Hill was to attack from the sea with a force of twelve thousand men, including sailors. It would be difficult anywhere in history to find a more discreditable per- formance than was now contributed by Walker. He wrecked some of his ships, became afraid of the dangers of starvation and cannibal- ism, and, last but not least, although the month was August, he wor- ried about the ice in the St. Lawrence freezing to the bottom and destroying his fleet. When the news of his retreat from these unreal and fantastic calamities, so vivid in his imagination, reached Wood Creek, Nicholson was furious. Possessing a force of only twenty- three hundred men, the only thing he could do was to burn the forts he had built and retire to Albany. Nicholson had played an impor- tant part in Colonial affairs, and at various times had been Governor of Virginia, New York, Maryland, and South Carolina. Although, like all men, he had his weaknesses, he deserved a better fate than to have both of his expeditions up to Champlain valley fail through the incompetence and stupidity of others. It seems to have been a favorite habit of the English government to have its soldiers march up the Hudson only to march back down again. Needless to say, all this was very pleasing to Vaudreuil and the other French partisans, who had been greatly alarmed by the gigantic English preparations centering around Walker's fleet.
Finally, in 1713, Queen Anne's War came to an end with the signing of a treaty at Utrecht, which was favorable to England, thanks largely to the military achievements of her great soldier, Marlborough, on the continent. Although a Bourbon ruler was per- mitted to retain Spain, this was only on condition that the French
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and Spanish crowns should never rest on the same head. In North America, England was awarded Acadia (Nova Scotia), Newfound- land, and the Hudson Bay region, and so began to push the French out of the continent. For the time being England held the advantage in the duel for empire. Theoretically the Colonies and the Indians were at peace and, except for small war parties and border fighting, a profound quiet permeated most of the American wilderness. One exception to this tranquillity, however, was Cape Breton Island, which guarded the main entrance to the St. Lawrence. Here the French now began the construction of Louisburg, which was destined to become the strongest fortress on the Atlantic coast. Named in honor of the King of France, it was used not only to defend Canada from attack from the sea, but also it was to furnish a base for attacking New England and recovering Acadia in the next war.
Finally, in 1726, thirteen years after the Treaty of Utrecht, the French attempted to erect another fortification opposite Crown Point, where Lake Champlain becomes extremely narrow, but were prevented by Massachusetts. Five years later, however, they began to intrench themselves on the western shore within New York's juris- diction without opposition, due to the fact that this province was completely absorbed in a quarrel with New Jersey and in disputes with her own Governor. Although the place was called Crown Point by the English, the French name was Scalp Point. Its fortification was due, to a certain extent, to the advice of that able French officer, Saint-Luc de la Corne, with whom we shall shortly become better acquainted, and was probably hurried by rumors reaching Canada that the English intended to seize and fortify it. The small stockade erected there in 1731 was named Fort St. Frederic in honor of Fréd- éric de Maurepas, the French Secretary of State, and by virtue of its location could impede or block English expeditions advancing toward Canada. This stockade was improved in 1734 and again in 1742, when it became the strongest French fortress in America, except Que- bec itself. The English Colonies naturally looked with alarm upon this activity because their enemies were now in easy striking distance of their homes. The British government protested the fort as a vio- lation of the Treaty of Utrecht, but the Colonies were so absorbed in their internal affairs and disputes with each other that a united effort to stop the French was out of the question. Thus France was allowed to control Lake Champlain by virtue of her fortifications at St. Fred-
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eric and in the words of Parkman: "Through the midst of the great Canadian wilderness stretched Lake Champlain, pointing straight to the heart of the British settlements . a watery thoroughfare of neutral attack and the only approach by which, without a long detour, by wilderness or sea, a hostile army could come within strik- ing distance of the colony." The famous Swedish traveler, Peter Kalm, has left a very interesting account of how the post looked in 1749 :
"The fort is built on a rock, consisting of black lime slates . .. . ; it is nearly quadrangular, has high thick walls, made of the same limestone, of which there is a quarry about half a mile from the fort. On the eastern part of the fort is a high tower, which is proof against bomb shells, provided with very thick and substantial walls, and well stored with cannon from the bottom almost to the very top; and the governor lives in the tower. In the terre-plein of the fort is a well- built little church, and houses of stone for the officers and soldiers.
"Within one or two musket shots to the east of the fort is a wind- mill built of stone, with very thick walls, and most of the flour which is wanted to supply the fort is ground here. The windmill is so con- trived as to serve the purpose of a redoubt, and at the top of it are five or six small pieces of cannon. During the last war there was a number of soldiers quartered in this mill, because they could from thence look a great way up the river (southern approach of Lake Champlain) and observe whether the English boats approached, which could not be done from the fort itself.
"The soldiers which had been paid off after the war had built houses round the fort on the lands allotted to them; but most of these habitations were no better than those in the most wretched parts of Sweden; with the difference, however, that their inhabitants here were rarely oppressed by hunger, and could eat good and pure wheat bread. The huts which they had erected consisted of boards, stand- ing perpendicularly close to each other. The roofs were of wood, too. The crevices were stopped up with clay, to keep the room warm. The floor was commonly clay or a black limestone, which is common here. The hearth was built of the same stone except the place where the fire was to ly (lie) ; which was made of grey sandstone, which for the greatest part consists of particles of quartz. They had no glass in their windows. The horses were left out of doors during the winter
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and find their food in the woods, living upon nothing but dry plants, which are very abundant; however, they do not fall off by this food, but look very fine and plump in spring.
"The soldiers enjoy such advantages here as they are not allowed in every part of the world. Those who formed the garrison of this place had a very plentiful allowance from the government. They get every day a pound and a half of wheat bread. They likewise get pease, bacon, and salt meat in plenty. Sometimes they kill oxen and other cattle, the flesh of which is distributed among the soldiers. All the officers kept cows at the expense of the King, and the milk they gave was more than sufficient to supply them. The soldiers had each a small garden without the fort, which they were allowed to attend, and plant in it whatever they liked, and some of them had built summer houses in them and planted all kinds of pot herbs. The governor told me that it was a general custom to allow the soldiers a spot for kitchen gardens at such of the French forts hereabouts as were not situated near great towns, from whence they could be supported with Greens. In time of peace the soldiers had very little trouble with being upon guard at the fort; and as the lake close by is full of fish, and the woods abound with birds and animals, those amongst them who choose to be diligent may live extremely well, and very grand in regard to food.
(Courtesy of the Champlain Valley Council) SECRET STAIRWAY, FORT ST. FREDERIC
"Each soldier got a new coat every two years; but annually a waistcoat, cap, hat, breeches, cravat, two pairs of stockings, two pairs of shoes, and as much wood as he had occasion for in winter. They likewise got five sols (sous, a coin worth about one cent) apiece every day; which is augmented to thirty sols when they have any particular labour for the King. When this is considered, it is not surprising to find the men are very fresh, well fed, strong, and lively here."
Once again, in 1744, the world-wide duel between France and Eng- land was renewed. Every time the armed hosts of these two countries locked horns on the battlefields of Europe, the echo was to be heard in the wilds of North America. From 1744 until 1748 our continent
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was to witness King George's War, while at the same time the crowned heads of Europe were to wage a dispute over the throne of Austria, known as the War of the Austrian Succession. Fighting in Europe began in 1740, long before formal declaration of war by England and France. It was characterized mainly by Frederick the Great's efforts to seize the province of Silesia from the young Austrian Queen, Maria Theresa, in spite of a solemn agreement to respect her possessions, and without the formality of declaring war, showing once more that undeclared wars do not constitute a modern innovation. When France followed Frederick's example, England joined Austria to maintain the balance of power and prevent France from annexing the Austrian Netherlands. It was during this war that the French sent Prince Charlie, the Young Pretender and grandson of the Stuart King James II, to Britain in an effort to gain the throne of England, only to meet with disaster at Culloden Moor in 1746. At this time the English ruler was the Hanoverian King George II, and it was for him that the war in America was named.
King George's War was literally honeycombed with small French and Indian expeditions setting out from Crown Point southward, carrying death and destruction to the English Colonists. New York was in poor condition to put an end to this French aggression, being in the midst of a bitter dispute with the representative of the British Crown, while at the same time many colonists opposed war because of their interest in the contraband trade carried on with the Canadians. When the Governor mustered troops for service on the northern frontier, the Colonial Assembly refused to provide for transporting supplies beyond Albany. Both sides were at fault. The Governor lost his temper and treated the citizens with arrogance and contempt, while the legislative body allowed its passionate opposition to the royal governor to blind it to the needs of the people of the province. In any case, the situation was pleasing to the French. The only defense north of Albany was a small stockade fort at Saratoga which con- tained only one sergeant, one corporal and ten soldiers, and was so dilapidated that in rainy weather they could keep neither themselves nor their powder dry. Added to this fact, the Iroquois Confederacy was wavering in its allegiance to England's King because of the leth- argy and weakness of its ally.
The great fortress at Louisburg was the only French naval sta- tion on the continent. It was a constant menace to New England,
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serving as a base for the operations of privateers, and threatening the ruin of colonial fisheries. In spite of the fact that during the twenty-five years France had been fortifying it the fort had become very powerful, it was only natural that the British should think of the possibilities of capturing it. The result was a glorious exploit. A force of New England troops under the command of Colonel Wil- liam Pepperell, of Maine, assisted by Admiral Warren, succeeded in capturing the famous Cape Breton Island stronghold. Louisburg fell on June 17, 1745, and became a monument to the courage and military ability of England's American colonists.
In the fall of the same year, a large French force under Marin set out from Montreal to attack settlements on the Connecticut River, but when it reached Crown Point, it was decided to advance toward Albany instead. Accordingly this party, which numbered from five hun- dred to six hundred men, proceeded up Lake Champlain to Wood Creek, crossed over to the Hudson, destroyed a lumber establishment erected by Lydius at Fort Edward, and finally surprised and annihilated the fort and settlement at Saratoga. The town was plundered, the buildings were burned, thirty inhabitants were killed and scalped and, except for one family, the remainder, numbering from sixty to one hundred, were carried away into captivity. Another fort was built here by New York the following year, however, and named Fort Clinton. It was one hundred and fifty feet long and one hundred feet wide, with wooden redoubts, and possessed twelve cannon. It was neglected by its owners like its predecessor, Peter Schuyler being forced to abandon it in 1747 because of a lack of supplies. It was soon burned by the English themselves, much to the disgust of the Iroquois.
In 1746 small war parties continually set out from Crown Point in the direction of Albany, plundering and scalping as they went, and escaping again into the northland without much difficulty. During July, a large force of Canadians and Indians was busy fel- ling trees across Wood Creek so that English expeditions would be unable to navigate it. Some of the Indians were Christians and some were unconverted, but so far as the Colonists could determine they were all peas from the same pod. In August a large French force under Rigaud de Vaudreuil left Montreal in canoes for service in the Champlain valley and southward. When it arrived at Fort St. Frederic and found there was no danger of an English attack, the
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commander decided to attack Schenectady. His party contained some Iroquois, however, who knew that this English post was likely to contain relatives. To please them, it was decided to attack Fort Mas- sachusetts instead. Soon the Indians changed their minds and desired to attack Saratoga, but this time Rigaud was firm.
Fort Massachusetts was located in the present town of Adams, Massachusetts, near the western border of the State on the Hoosic River, a tributary of the Hudson, called Kaskékouké by the French and Schaticook by the Dutch. The invading force, consisting of five hundred French and two hundred Indians, proceeding by way of South Bay, left a small party at Whitehall to guard the canoes, avoided the vicinity of Saratoga, and finally arrived at the fort with- out discovery. The English garrison was commanded by Captain Ephraim Williams, who was to leave his name to Williamstown and found Williams College and who was, also, nine years later, to give his life for the English cause in a ravine south of Lake George. At full strength his force numbered only fifty men, but on this occasion fourteen men were absent on a mission to obtain powder and lead, while half of the remainder were disabled with dysentery. After a brave but hopeless defense, Williams surrendered when the French promised good treatment of prisoners and exchange at the first oppor- tunity. He was also told that none of the English would be given to the Indians, but the latter had on a previous occasion been promised prisoners by Rigaud. Trouble was bound to result, and finally the French commander was forced to compromise with his red allies, giv- ing them some of the English captives. Fort Massachusetts was burned to the ground, and small parties ravaged the frontier as far as Deerfield. Finally the invaders retraced their steps toward Can- ada, leaving desolation behind them. In the latter part of the year, the Iroquois also became more active than formerly, and in October one of their parties crossed the St. Lawrence to collect French scalps, while nine warriors went to Montreal and deceived the French officers into employing them to carry papers to Crown Point, which they handed over to the English. In general, however, the year 1746 pos- sessed a distinctly French flavor.
In 1747 the French war parties continued to ravage the frontier with undiminished vigor and even a greater amount of murder and atrocity. During this year at least thirty different attacks were made
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on the settlements between the head of Lake George and Albany. The torch and scalping knife were busy with monotonous frequency. No colonist knew at what moment sudden death or lingering torture would spring upon him from a nearby bush or tree as he hoed his crops. No one could predict whether a frontier settlement would exist after another twenty-four hours had passed. Before the war was over Fort Massachusetts was rebuilt, but in New York there was no escape from these hostile excursions. In August, William John- son sent some Iroquois into Canada. They attacked Chambly and inflicted considerable damage, but later were drawn into ambush and suffered considerable losses. This half-hearted English reply to the French depredations had no effect on the enemy, however, and the scalping parties from the north ravaged the English settlers as before.
Whether the French attacked New England by way of Lake Memphremagog or by way of Lake Champlain through the valleys of the Winooski or the Otter, the famous post at Number Four on the Connecticut River (where Charlestown, New Hampshire, is located) was extremely useful to the English. It was only natural that the French should attempt to remove this impediment from their path. Within a period of two months, in 1746, this lonely sentinel of Eng- lish civilization was attacked by Indians at least five times. On one of these occasions the enemy party numbered one hundred and fifty men, but was forced to retreat by the garrison after a fierce battle in the woods. Toward the latter part of 1746, Massachusetts, which had defended the post in spite of the fact that it had been awarded to New Hampshire, became tired of bearing the burden and vacated the defenses while the settlers also moved away. This colony soon changed its mind, however, and sent Captain Phineas Stevens with thirty men to reoccupy Number Four in March, 1747. Accompany- ing this small force were a few dogs, taken along to detect the pres- ence of Indians. A wise precaution this proved to be, for, although no enemy savages showed their painted faces, the dogs began to bark soon after the arrival of the English force at its objective. One of the soldiers decided to leave the stockade, accompanied by a couple of dogs, to find out what caused this canine displeasure. He soon learned, for bullets and war whoops came at him from all directions, but he escaped to the fort with only a slight wound. The French and Indians, led by their commander, Boucher de Niverville, attempted
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to set the wooden structure on fire, but without success. Ultimately they were forced by hunger to conclude the siege, and pillage the sur- rounding countryside for food. Stevens' brilliant defense of the fort was extremely welcome news to the rest of New England, because Number Four remained a serious check to the activities of the French Indians in that section of the frontier.
Finally, in 1748, a treaty of peace was signed by France and Eng- land at Aix-la-Chapelle. All the powers were tired of war and it was agreed that all conquests made during hostilities should be given up, including Louisburg. This brought another theoretical cessa- tion to the conflict raging in America, but settled nothing. Fort St. Frederic was ignored. Green says that the treaty was "a mere truce forced on the contending powers by sheer exhaustion." Both France and England continued to claim Lake George and the Champlain val- ley, although of course it belonged to neither. The complete con- trol held over this territory by the French during King George's War was exemplified by the fact that at one time Rigaud de Vaudreuil had his headquarters at South Bay on Lake Champlain and had five or six hundred men stationed as far south on Lake George as Long Island in order to protect Fort St. Frederic. The ending of the war did not change this situation, the French being left in complete con- trol of both waterways.
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