"Courageous youth! were now thine honor'd sire"May Forbes yet live the cruel debt to pay,To breathe again, and rouse his wonted fire,And wash the blood of Braddock's field away;Nor French nor Shawnee durst his rage provoke,Then fair Ohio's blushing waves may tellFrom great Potomac's spring to Roanoke."How Briton's fought, and how each hero fell." *
* See page 478.
Character of Spottswood.—Conflicting Claims of the French and English.—Injustice toward the Indians.—The Ohio Company.
governors Virginia ever had. He was liberal-minded and generous, and at once reversed the usual practice of royal governors, by making his private interest, if necessary, subservient to the public good. * He promoted internal improvements, set an example of elegant hospitality, encouraged learning, revered religion, and if he had been the royal representative when the eloquence of Henry aroused every generous heart in the Old Dominion, he would doubtless have been among the boldestrebelsof the day. From the close of his administration in 1722, until the commencement of difficulties with the French and Indians, more than twenty years afterward, Virginia continued to increase in wealth, and general happiness and prosperity prevailed within its borders. **
We have already considered the most important events connected with the French empire in America which occurred along our northern frontier, and alluded to the fact that, in the ambitious scheme for gaining the mastery of this continent, the French made strenuous efforts to form a continuous chain of military works from the northern lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. Upon widely different grounds did the French and English base their claims to the possession of the territory west of the Alleghany Mountains. The former claimed a right to the soil because of prior actual occupation; the latter claimed the domain as their own on account of the discovery of the Atlantic coast by the Cabots, before the French had made any settlements. The Pacific coast was considered as the western boundary. Upon the principle of settling claims by drawing a line interiorly at right angles from the coast discovered, the French, from their undisputed province of Acadia, might have claimed almost the whole of New England, and one half of New York, with all the lakes. It was a difficult question, while the argument rested upon a foundation of unrighteousness. **
The French had long occupied Detroit. They had explored the Mississippi Valley, formed settlements at Kaskaskias and Vincennes (the former now in the southern portion of Illinois, and the latter in the south part of Indiana), and along the northern border of the Gulf of Mexico, when the dispute arose. To vindicate their claims to the country they had explored, they commenced building forts. These the English viewed with jealousy, and determined to contravene the evident attempts to supersede them in the empire of the New World.
In 1749, a royal grant of six hundred thousand acres of land on the Ohio River was made to a number of English merchants and Virginia planters, who, under the name ofThe Ohio Company, had associated for the ostensible purpose of trade. The British ministry, anticipating early hostility with France, had also sent out orders to the governor of Virginia to build two forts near the Ohio River, for the purpose of securing possession. But the order came too late; already the French were planting fortifications in that direction. The establishment of this trading company was the first positive intimation which the French had received of the intention of the English to vindicate their claims. They regarded the movement as the incipient steps toward a destruction of their western trade with the In-
* I have in my possession a document, signed by Spottswood, to which is attached the great seal of Virginia, a huge disk of beeswax, four and a half inches in diameter, on one side of which is impressed the English arms, and on the other a figure of Britannia, holding a scepter in one hand and a globe in the other, and receiving the obeisance of an Indian queen, who, bowed upon one knee, is presenting a bunch of the tobacco plant to her.
** In the early part of his administration, Governor Spottswood led, in person, an expedition over the Blue Ridge, beyond which no white man's foot had yet trodden in that direction, and obtained glimpses of those glorious valleys which stretch away along the tributaries of the mighty Mississippi. In commemoration of this event, King George the First conferred upon him the honor of knighthood, and in allusion to the fact that he commanded a troop of mounted men on the occasion, he was presented with a silver miniature horseshoe, on which was inscribed the motto, "Thus he swears to cross the mountains."
*** In these discussions the natives, the original proprietors of the soil, were not considered. The intruding Europeans assumed sovereignty and possession without ever pretending to have purchased a rood of the soil from the aboriginal owners. It is related that when Mr. Gist went into the Ohio Valley on a tour of observation for the Ohio Company, a messenger was sent by two Indian sachems to inquire, "Where is the Indian's land? The English claim it all on one side of the river, the French on the other; where does the Indian's land lay." The true answer to that question would have been, "Every where," and the intruders should have withdrawn from the soil and closed their lips in shame.
Jealousy of the French.—Erection of Forts.—Dinwiddie's Measures.—George Washington sent to the French Commandant
dians, and to break their communication between New France or Canada, and Louisiana. With such impressions they resolved on defensive measures—aggressive ones too, if necessary. A pretense was not long wanting. While some English traders were engaged in their vocation near the present site of Pittsburgh, they were seized by some French and Indians, and conveyed to Presque Isle, now the town of Erie, on the lake of that name. The object was to learn from them the designs of the English in Virginia. In retaliation for this outrage, the Twightwees, * a body of Indians friendly to the English, seized some French traders, and sent them to Pennsylvania. Bitter animosity was now engendered, and it was intensified by those national and religious feuds which had so long made the English and French inimical to each other. Finally, the French began the erection of forts on the south side of Lake Erie, sending troops across the lakes with munitions of war, and forwarding bodies of armed men from New Orleans. One fort was built at Presque Isle (now Erie); another at Le Bouf (now Waterford), on the head waters of the Venango (now French Creek ** ), and a third at Venango (now Franklin, the capital of Venango county, Pennsylvania, at the junction of French Creek with the Alleghany). TheOhio Companycomplained, and Robert Dinwiddie, *** the lieutenant governor of Virginia, within whose jurisdiction the offensive movement occurred, felt called upon to send a formal remonstrance to the French commandant, M. De St. Pierre, and demand a withdrawal of his troops. The mission was an exceedingly delicate one, and demanded the exercise of great courage, discretion, and judgment. George Washington, then a young man of twenty-one, was chosen, from among the hundreds of the Virginia aristocracy, to execute this commission of trust. At the age of nineteen he had received the appointment of adjutant general of one of the four military districts of Virginia, with the rank of major. The appointment was as creditable to the sagacity of Dinwiddie as it was flattering to the young officer.
On the 31st of October, 1753, Major Washington, bearing a letter from Dinwiddie to the French commandant of the Western posts, left Williamsburg. At Fredericksburg he engaged Jacob Vanbraam, a Dutchman, to accompany him as French interpreter, and John Davidson as Indian interpreter, and then turned his face toward the wilderness. Before him was a journey of more than five hundred miles. At the junction of Will's Creek with the Potomac (now Cumberland, in Maryland), fourteen days journey from Williamsburg, he was joined by Mr. Gist (mentioned in a note on page 472) and four othera Nov 14, 1753men, two of them Indian traders. (a) This point, at the mouth of Will's Creek on the Potomac, was on the verge of civilization, and near the lofty Alleghanies, then covered with snow. Over these the little party pushed their way, enduring every hardship incident to a dreary wilderness and the rigors of winter. The streams in the valleys were swollen, and upon frail rafts the travelers crossed them; or, when occasion demanded, they entered the chilling flood, and, by wading or swimming, accomplished a passage. At length they reached the forks of the Ohio, (b) at the present site of Pittsburgh, and, after resting part of a day, they hastened onward twenty miles down the river, to Logstown (nowb Nov. 23in Beaver county), accompanied by Shingias, a chief sachem of the Delawares.
There Washington called the surrounding Indian chiefs together in council, (c) madec Nov. 26
* According to Mr. Gist, who visited them in 1751, the Twightwees, or Tuigtuis, as the Freneh wrote it, were a very numerous people, composed of many tribes. At that time they were in amity with the Six Nations, and were considered the most powerful body of Indians westward of the English settlements. While they resided on the Wabash, they were in the interests of the French, but left them, came eastward, and joined the fortunes of the English. Some assert that the Twightwees and the Ottawas were the same, originally.
** This is ealled Beef River on Bouquet's map.
*** The first successor of Spottswood in the chair of administration was Hugh Drysdale, in 1722, who was succeeded by William Gooch in 1727. In 1749, Thomas Lee, president of the council, was acting governor, and, in 1750, Lewis Burwell held the same responsible office. Robert Dinwiddie was appointed lieutenant governor in 1752. He administered the office for six years, and was succeeded by Francis Fauquier. Ten years later (1768), Lord Botetourt was appointed, and from the period of his death until the arrival of Lord Dunmore, the last of the royal governors. William Nelson, father of one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, was acting governor.
Friendly Offices of the Indians.—St. Pierre.—His Letter to Dinwiddie.—Washington's Journey.—Preparations for War.
known to them the objects of his visit, and solicited a guide to conduct him to the French encampment, one hundred and twenty miles distant. The request was complied with, and Tanacharison * (Half King), with two other chiefs, ** and a bold hunter, accompanied Washington and his little band. After suffering terrible hardships, they reached the French camp. At Venango, a French outpost, attempts were made to detain the Indians, though
Dec. 5, 1753Joncaire, the commandant, received Washington with civility. The head-quarters of the French were higher up the stream, at Fort Le Bouf, and there theDec 12.Virginia commissioner was received with great politeness by M. De St. Pierre. After a perilous journey of forty-one days, Washington had reached his destination.
St. Pierre was an elderly man, a knight of the order of St. Louis. He entertained Washington and his party for four days with cordial hospitality, and then delivered to him a sealed reply to Governor Dinwiddie's letter. *** In the mean while, Washington and his attendants made full observations respecting the fort and garrison, construction of the works, numbers of cannon, &c.; information of much value. After a journey marked by more perils and hardships than the first, **** a large portion of which Major Washington and Mr. Gist per-Jan. 16, 1754formed alone and on foot, the former reached Williamsburg, having been absent eleven weeks. (v)
Dinwiddie was greatly incensed when he opened the letter of St. Pierre. That officer, writing like a soldier, said it did not belong to him as a subaltern to discuss treaties; that such a message as Washington bore should have been sent to the Marquis Duquesne, governor of Canada, by whose instructions he acted, and whose orders he should obey; and that the summons to retire could not be complied with. There could be no longer a doubt of the hostile designs of the French. (vi) Governor Dinwiddie called his council together, and, without waiting for the Burgesses to convene, took measures for the expulsion of their troublesome neighbors from Virginia soil. The council advised the enlistment of two companies, of one hundred men each, for the service; and the Ohio Company sent out a party of thirty men to erect a fort at the confluence of the Alleghany and Monongahela Rivers (Pittsburgh), a spot which Washington strongly recommended as most eligible, and to enlist men among
* This chief was a bold and patriotic man. He warned both the English and the French to leave the country. He had felt the encroachments of the French, by their taking actual possession of large tracts of land; but as yet he mistook the character of the English, and believed that they came simply to trade with his race. He and his brethren soon learned, by fearful experience, that the French and English were equally governed by whatever policy was necessary for the accomplishment of those acts of rapacity and injustice which are sanctioned by the law of nations! "Fathers," said Tanacharison to the French, "The Great Being above allowed this land to be a place of residence for us, so I desire you to withdraw, as I have done our brothers the English; for I will keep you at arm's length. I lay this down as a trial for both, to see which will have the greatest regard to it, and that side we will stand by, and make equal shares with us." The French treated him with contempt, and hence he was the friend of the English.
** Jeskakake and White Thunder.
*** Dinwiddie, in his letter, asserted that the lands on the Ohio belonged to the Crown of Great Britain: expressed surprise at the encroachments of the French; demanded by whose authority an armed force had crossed the lakes, and urged their speedy departure.
**** On one occasion, an Indian, supposed to have been induced by Joncaire, at Venango, attempted to shoot them. On another occasion, after working a whole day in constructing a frail raft, they attempted to cross the swift current of the Alleghany, then filled with drifting ice. Their raft was destroyed among the ice, and the travelers, drenched in the river, were east upon a desert island, where they laid upon the snow all night. In the morning the ice over the other channel was sufficiently strong to bear them. They crossed over, and toward evening reached the house of Frazier (who was a lieutenant under captain Trent the following May), near the spot where a year and a half afterward was fought the battle of the Monongahela. The island on which they were cast now bears the name of Washington's Island. It is directly opposite the United States Arsenal, at Lawrenceville, two or three miles above Pittsburgh.
* (v) See Washington's Journal. This journal was published in the newspapers here, and also in England and France, where it excited great attention.
* (vi) Washington says in his Journal, in reference to the imprudence of Joncaire and his party, on account of too free indulgence in wine: "They told me that it was their absolute design to take possession of the Ohio, and by God they would do it; for that, although they were sensible the English could raise two men to their one, yet they knew their motions were too slow and dilatory to prevent any undertaking of theirs."
Expedition against the French.—Attack upon the Virginians.—Fort Duquesne.—Fort Necessity.—Surprise of Jumonville.
the traders on the frontier. The command of the two companies was given to Major Washington, one of which was to be raised by himself; the other by Captain Trent, who was to collect his men among the traders in the back settlements. Washington proceeded to Alexandria, while Trent went to the frontier and collected his corps in the neighborhood of the Ohio Fork.
When the Virginia Assembly met, they voted ten thousand pounds toward supporting the expedition to the Ohio. The Carolinas also voted twelve thousand pounds. With this aid, and promises of more, Dinwiddie determined to increase the number of men to be sent to the Ohio to three hundred, to be divided into six companies. Colonel Joshua Fry * was appointed to the command of the whole, and Major Washington was made his lieutenant. Ten cannons and other munitions of war were sent to Alexandria for the use of the expedition.
Washington left Alexandria, with two companies of troops, on the 2d of April,1754and arrived at Will's Creek on the 20th. He was joined on the route by Captain Adam Stephen, the general who was cashiered after the battle at Germantown, twenty-three years subsequently. When about to move on, Ensign Ward arrived with the intelligence that Captain Trent's corps, with those sent out by the Ohio Company to construct a fort at the Ohio Fork (now Pittsburgh), had been obliged to surrender the post to a French force of one thousand men, most of them Indians, under Monsieur Contrecoeur. **April 7This was the first overt act of hostility—this was the beginning of theFrench and Indian war, which lasted seven years. The French completed the fort taken from Trent, and called itDuquesne, in honor of the governor general of Canada.
Washington pushed forward with one hundred and fifty men, to attempt toMay 1, 1754retrieve this loss, confident that a larger force than his own, under Colonel Fry, would speedily follow. He marched for the junction of the Red Stone Creek and Monongahela River, thirty-seven miles from Fort Duquesne, where he intended to fortify himself, and wait for the arrival of Colonel Fry, with artillery. On the way, he received intelligence from Half KingMay 24that a French force was then marching to attack the English, wherever they might be found. Washington was now a few miles beyond the Great Meadows, an eligible place for a camp, and thither he returned and threw up an intrenchment, which he called Fort Necessity, from the circumstances under which it was erected. On the 27th, he received another message from Half King, informing him that he had discovered the hiding-place of a French detachment of fifty men. With a few Indians, and forty chosen troops, Washington proceeded to attack them. They were found in a well-sheltered place among rocks, and, assaulting them by surprise, he defeated them after a severe skirmish of ten minutes. Ten of the Frenchmen were killed (among whom was M. De Jumonville, the commander), one wounded, and twenty-one made prisoners. Washington had only one man killed, and two or three wounded. The prisoners were conducted to Fort Necessity, and from thence sent over the mountains into Eastern Virginia. ***
*Joshua Fry was a native of Somersetshire, England, and was educated at Oxford. He was at one time professor of mathematics in William and Mary College, Williamsburg; was subsequently a member of the House of Burgesses, and served as a commissioner in running the boundary line between Virginia and North Carolina. With Peter Jefferson, he made a map of Virginia, and by these employments became well acquainted with the frontier regions. In 1752, he was one of the Virginia commissioners for making a treaty with the Indians at Logstown. His integrity, experience, and knowledge of the Indian character qualified him to command the expedition against the French in 1754. He died at Will's Creek, while on his way to the Ohio, on the 31st of May, 1754.
** Ensign Ward was in command of the post when the enemy approached, Captain Trent being then at Will's Creek, and Lieutenant Frazier at his residence, ten miles distant. The whole number of men under Ward was only forty-one.
*** The French made a great clamor about this skirmish, declaring that Jumonville was the bearer of dispatches; and French writers unjustly vilified the character of Washington, by representing the affair as a massacre. Cotemporary evidence clearly indicates that Jumonville's embassy was a hostile, not a peaceful one; and, as Contrecour had commenced hostilities by capturing the fort at the Ohio Fork, Washington was justified in his conduct by the rules of war.
Death of Colonel Fry.—Washington in Command.—Fort Necessity.—Washington's Return home.—The Great Meadows.
Two days after Washington wrote his dispatch to Colonel Fry, communicating the factsMay 31respecting attack on the French, that officer died at Will's Creek. His troops, intended to re-enforce Washington, were sent forward, and swelled his little army to four hundred men. On the death of Fry, the chief command of the expedition devolved upon Washington, and with his inadequate force he proceeded to attack Fort Duquesne. He held a council of war at Gist's plantation, where information was received that the French at Duquesne were re-enforced, and were preparing to march against the English. Captain Mackay, with his South Carolina company, and Captains Lewis and Poison, with their detachments, were summoned to rendezvous at Gist's plantation, where another council was held, and a retreat was resolved upon. The intrenchments thrown up at Gist's were abandoned, and, with their ammunition and stores, the whole party reached Fort Necessity on the first of July.1754There, on account of great fatigue, and suffering from hunger, they halted, and commenced the construction of a ditch and abatis, and strengthened the stockades. *
On the third of July, a French force under M. De Villiers, Jumonville's brother, reported to be nine hundred strong, approached to the attack of Fort Necessity. It was about eleven o'clock when they came within six hundred yards of the outworks, and began an ineffectual fire. Colonel Washington had drawn up his little band outside the trenches, and ordered his men to reserve their fire until the enemy were near enough to do execution. But the French were not inclined to leave the woods and make an assault upon the works. At sunrise, rain had begun to fall, and toward noon it came down in torrents, accompanied by vivid lightning. The trenches into which Colonel Washington ordered his men were filled with water, and the arms of the provincials were seriously injured. A desultory fire was kept up the whole day by both parties, without any decisive result, when De Villiers sent proposals to capitulate. Washington at first declined, but on consultation with his officers, and being assured there was no chance of victory over such overwhelming numbers, he consented, and highly honorable terms were conceded. The English were allowed to march out of the fort with all the honors of war, retaining their baggage, and every thing except their artillery, and to return to Will's Creek unmolested. Washington agreed to restore the prisoners taken at the skirmish with Jumonville, ** and that the English should not attempt to erect any establishment beyond the mountains for the space of one year. On their march from the fort, a party of one hundred Indians, who came to re-enforce the French, surrounded them, and menaced them with death. They plundered their baggage, and committed other mischief.
The provincials finally arrived at Will's Creek, and Washington, with Captain Mackay, proceeded to Williamsburg, where the former communicated to Dinwiddie, in person, the events of the campaign. *** The House of Burgesses of Virginia approved generally of the conduct of the campaign, and passed a vote of thanks to Washington and his officers. **** The
* The Great Meadows, where Fort Necessity was built, is a level bottom, cleft by a small creek. Around it are hills of a moderate height and gradual ascent. The bottom is about two hundred and fifty yards wide where the fort was erected. It was a point well chosen, being about one hundred yards from the upland or wooded grounds on one side, and about a hundred and fifty on the other. The creek afforded water for the fort. On the side nearest the wood were three entrances, protected by short breast-works or bastions. The site of this fort is three or four hundred yards south of what is now called the National Road, four miles from the foot of Laurel Hill, and fifty miles from Cumberland, at Will's Creek. When Mr. Sparks visited the site in 1830, the lines of the fort were very visible.—See Sparks's Writings of Washington, ii., 457.
** This part of the capitulation the governor refused to ratify, because the French, after the surrender, took eight Englishmen prisoners, and sent them to Canada. Vanbraam and Stobo, whom Washington left with De Villiers, as hostages for the fulfillment of the conditions of the capitulation, were sent to Canada. The prisoners on both sides were finally released.
*** It was during this campaign that the colonial convention was held at Albany, noticed on pages 302 and 303, vol. i., of this work, where a plan for a political union of all the colonies, similar in some of its features to that proposed by Governor Nicholson fifty years before, was submitted.
**** All the officers were named in the resolution of thanks, except those of the major of the regiment, who was charged with cowardice, and Captain Vanbraam, who was believed to have acted a treacherous part in falsely interpreting the terms of capitulation, which were written in French, by which Washington was made to acknowledge that Jumonville was assassinated. A pistole (about three dollars and sixty cents) was given as a gratuity to each soldier engaged in the campaign.
Loss at Fort Necessity.—French Duplicity.—General Braddock.—Provincial Governors.—March toward Fort Duquesne.
exact loss of the provincials in this engagement is not known. There were twelve killed, and forty-three wounded, of the Virginia regiment; the number of killed and wounded belonging to Captain Mackay's Carolinians is not recorded. The number of provincials in the fort was about four hundred; the assailants were nearly one thousand strong, five hundred of whom were Frenchmen. The loss of the latter was supposed to be more than that of the former.
When the British ministry called the attention of the French court to the transactions in America, the latter expressed the most pacific intentions and promises for the future, while its actions were in direct opposition to its professions. The English, therefore, resolved to send to America a sufficient force to co-operate with the provincial troops in driving the French back to Canada. On the twentieth of February, 1755, General Braddock arrived at Alexandria, in Virginia, with two regiments of the British army from Ireland, eaeh consisting of five hundred men, with a suitable train of artillery, and with stores and provisions. His colonels were Dunbar and Sir Peter Halket. At a meeting of colonial governors, * first called at Annapolis, and afterward convened at Alexandria, three expeditions were planned, one against Fort Duquesne, under Braddock; a second against Niagara and Frontenac (Kingston, U. C.), under General William Shirley; and a third against Crown Point, under General William Johnson. The last two expeditions have been fully considered in the first volume of this work.
General Braddock, with the force destined to act against Fort Duquesne, left Alexandria on the twentieth of April, and, marching by the way of Winchester, reached Will's Creek about the tenth of May. Here a fortification was thrown up, and named Fort Cumberland. Washington had left the service on account of a regulation by which the colonial officers were made to rank under those of the regular army, but being earnestly urged by General Braddock to accompany him, he consented to do so in the character of aid, and as a volunteer. The great delay in procuring wagons for transporting the baggage and stores, and in furnishing other supplies, gave the French an opportunity to arouse the Indians, and prepare for a vigorous defense.
On numbering his troops at Will's Creek, Braddock ascertained that his force consisted of a little more than two thousand effective men, about one half of whom belonged to the royal regiments.
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The remainder were furnished by the colonies, among whom were portions of two independent companies, contributed by New York, under Captain Horatio Gates, unto whom Burgoyne surrendered twenty-two years later. Braddock separated his army into two divisions. The advanced division, consisting of over twelve hundred men, he led in person; the other was intrusted to the command of Colonel Dunbar, who, by slower marches, was to remain in the rear. Braddock reached the junction of the Voughiogheny and Monongahela Rivers, within fifteen miles of Fort Duquesne, on the eighth of July, where he was joined by Colonel Washington, who had just recovered from an attack of fever.
On the morning of the ninth,1755the whole army crossed the Monongahela, and marching five miles along its southwestern banks, on account of rugged hills on the other side, they again crossed to the northeastern shore, and proceeded directly toward Fort Duquesne. Lieutenant Colonel Gage, afterward the commander of the British forces at Boston when besieged by the Americans under Washington, led the advanced guard of three
* Six colonial governors assembled on this occasion, namely: Shirley, of Massachusetts; Dinwiddie, of Virginia; James Delaney, of New York; Sharpe, of Maryland; Morris, of Pennsylvania; and Dobbs, of North Carolina. Admiral Keppel, then in command of his majesty's fleet in America, was also present.
Alarm of the French.—Passage of the Monongahela.—The Battle.—Washington's Advance.—Death of Braddock.
hundred men in the order of march. Contrecoeur, the commandant of Fort Duquesne, had been early informed of the approach of Braddock, and his Indian scouts were out in every direction. He had doubts of his ability to maintain the fort against the English, and contemplated an abandonment, when Captain De Beaujeu proposed to head a detachment of French and Indians, and meet them while on their march. The proposition was agreed to, and on the morning of the ninth of July,1755at the moment when the English first crossed the Monongahela, the French and Indians took up their line of march, intending to make the attack at the second crossing of the river. Arriving too late, they posted themselves in the woods and ravines, on the line of march toward the fort.
It was one o'clock, and the sun was pouring its rays down fiercely, when the rear of the British army reached the north side of the Monongahela. A level plain extended from the river to a gentle hill, nearly half a mile northward. This hill terminated in higher elevations thickly covered with woods, and furrowed by narrow ravines. * Next to Gage, with his advanced party, was another division of two hundred men, and then came Braddock with the column of artillery and the main body of the army. Just as Gage was ascending the slope and approaching a dense wood, a heavy volley of musketry poured a deadly storm into his ranks. No adversary was to be seen. It was the first intimation that the enemy was near, and the firing seemed to proceed from an invisible foe. The British fired in return, but at random, while the concealed enemy, from behind trees, and rocks, and thick bushes, kept up rapid and destructive volleys. Beaujeu, the commander of the French and Indians, was killed at the first return fire, and M. Dumas took his place. Braddock advanced with all possible speed to the relief of the advanced guard; but so great was their panic, that they fell back in confusion upon the artillery and other columns of the army, and communicated their panic to the whole. The general tried in vain to rally his troops. Himself and officers were in the thickest of the fight, and exhibited indomitable courage. Washington ventured to suggest the propriety of adopting the Indian mode of skulking, and each man firing for himself, without orders; but Braddock would listen to no suggestions so contrary to military tactics. ** For three hours he endeavored to form his men into regular columns and platoons, as if in battle with European troops upon a broad plain, while the concealed enemy, with sure aim, was slaying his brave soldiers by scores. Harassed on every side, the British huddled together in great confusion, fired irregularly, and in several instances shot down their own officers without perceptibly injuring their enemies. The Virginians under Washington, contrary to orders, now adopted the provincial mode of fighting, and did more execution than all the rest of the troops. The carnage was dreadful. More than half of Braddock's whole army, which made such a beautiful picture in the eyes of Washington in the morning, *** were killed and wounded. General Braddock received a wound which disabled him, and terminated his life three days afterward. **** Through the
* Mr. Sparks visited this battle-field in 1830. He says the hill up which Gage and his detachment were marching is little more than an inclined plain of about three degrees. Down this slope extended two ravines, beginning near together, at about one hundred and fifty yards from the bottom of the hill, and proceeding in different directions, until they terminated in the valley below. In these ravines the enemy were concealed and protected. In 1830, they were from eight to ten feet deep, and capable of holding a thousand men. It was between these ravines that the British army was slaughtered.—See Sparks's Washington, ii., 474. Although nearly one hundred years have elapsed since the battle, grape-shot and bullets are now sometimes cut out of the trees, or, with buttons and other metallic portions of military equipage, are turned up by the plowmen.
** It was on this occasion that the haughty and petulant Braddoek is said to have remarked contemptuously, "What, a Virginia colonel teach a British general how to fight!" It is proper to remark that this anecdote rests upon apocryphal authority.
*** Washington was often heard to say, during his lifetime, that the most beautiful spectacle he had ever beheld was the display of the British troops on that morning. Every man was neatly dressed in full uniform; the soldiers were arranged in columns, and marched in exact order; the sun gleamed from the burnished arms; the river flowed tranquilly on their right, and the deep forest overshadowed them with solemn grandeur on the left.—Sparks.
**** General Braddock had five horses shot under him before he was mortally wounded himself. He was conveyed first in a tumbril, then on horseback, and finally by his soldiers in their flight toward Fort Cumberland after the defeat. He was attended by Dr. James Craik. * He died on the night of the 15th, and was buried in the road, to prevent his body being discovered by the Indians. Colonel Washington read the impressive funeral service of the Episcopal Church over it, by torch-light. The place of his grave is a few yards north of the present National Road, between the fifty-third and fifty-fourth mile from Cumberland, and about a mile west of the site of Fort Necessity, at the Great Meadows. It is said that a man named Thomas Faucett, who was among the soldiers under Braddock, shot his general. Faucett resided near Uniontown. Fayette county, Pennsylvania, toward the close of the last century, and never denied the accusation. He excused his conduct by the plea that by destroying the general, who would not allow his men to fire from behind trees, the remnant of the army was saved.
Washington's Skill.—Providential Care acknowledged.—Lord Loudon.—New Expedition.—General Forbes.
stubbornness of that general, his contempt of the Indians, and the cowardice of many of his regular troops, an army thirteen hundred strong was half destroyed and utterly defeated by about one half that number, a large portion of whom were Indians. * Every mounted officer, except Washington, was slain before Braddock fell, and the whole duty of distributing orders devolved upon the youthful colonel, who was almost too weak from sickness to be in the saddle when the action commenced. **
William Pitt entered the British ministry at the close of 1757, and one of his first acts was the preparation of a plan for the campaign of 1758 against the French and Indians.
Lord Loudoun, who had been appointed to the chief command of the troops in America, *** was also appointed the successor of Dinwiddie, who left Virginia in January, 1758.
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Loudoun's deputy, Francis Fauquier, a man greatly esteemed, performed the functions of governor. Pitt, in his arrangements, planned an expedition against Fort Duquesne. Every thing was devised upon a just and liberal scale. Brigadier-general Forbes **** was intrusted with the command of the expedition. The Virginian army was augmented to two thousand men. These were divided into two regiments. The first was under Colonel Washington, who was likewise commander-in-chief of the Virginia forces; the second was under Colonel William Byrd, of Westover, mentioned on page 441. After much delay in the collecting of men and munitions, the Virginians were ordered to Fort Cumberland, on the Potomac, at Will's Creek, to join the other portions of the expedition. The illness of General Forbes detained him long in Philadelphia, and, when able to move, his perversity of judgment placed many obstacles in the way of
* In a letter to his mother, written at Fort Cumberland nine days after the battle, Washington said, after mentioning the slaughter of the Virginia troops; "In short, the dastardly behavior of those they call regulars exposed all others who were inclined to do their duty to almost certain death; and at last, in despite of all the efforts of the officers to the contrary, they ran as sheep pursued by dogs, and it was impossible to 'rally them." He used similar language in writing to Governor Dinwiddie.
** Colonel Washington had two horses shot under him, and four bullets passed through his coat. ** Secretary Shirley was shot through the head, Sir Peter Halket was instantly killed, and among the wounded officers were Colonel Burton, Sir John St. Clair, Lieutenant Colonel Gage, Colonel Orme, Major Sparks, and Brigade-major Halket. Five captains were killed, and five wounded; fifteen lieutenants killed, and twenty-two wounded; out of eighty-six officers, twenty-six were killed, and thirty-seven wounded. The killed and wounded of the privates amounted to seven hundred and fourteen. One half of them were supposed to be killed, and these were stripped and scalped by the Indians.
*** See volume i., p. 110.
**** John Forbes was a native of Petincenet, Fifeshire, Scotland, and was educated for a physician. He entered the army in 1745. After serving as quarter-master general under the Duke of Cumberland, he was appointed brigadier general, and sent to America. The remainder of his public career is recorded in the text. The fort at Will's Creek he called Cumberland, in honor of his former commander, and the town since built there retains its name.
* See page 241.
** Speaking of this in a letter to his brother, he remarked, "By the all-powerful dispensations of Providence, I have been protected beyond all human probability or expectation; for I had four bullets through my coat, and two horses shot under me, and escaped unhurt, although death was leveling my companions on every side of me." Dr. Craik, the intimate friend of Washington through life, and who was in this battle, relates that fifteen years afterward, while traveling near the junction of the great Kenhawa and Ohio Rivers in exploring wild lands, they were met by a party of Indians with an interpreter, headed by a venerable chief. The old chief said he had come a long way to see Colonel Washington, for in the battle of the Monongahela, he had singled him out as a conspicuous object, fired his rifle at him fifteen times, and directed his young warriors to do the same, but not one could hit him. He was persuaded that the Great Spirit protected the young hero, and ceased firing at him. The Rev. Samuel Davies of Hanover (afterward president of Princeton College, New Jersey), when preaching to a volunteer company a month after the battle, said, in allusion to Colonel Washington, "I can not but hope Providence has hitherto preserved him in so signal a manner, for some important service to his country." Washington was never wounded in battle.
Movements of Forbes.—Defeat of Grant Attack on Bouquet.—Abandonment of Fort Duquesne.—Washington's Resignation.
success. Instead of following Braddock's road over the mountains, he insisted upon constructing a new one farther northward; and in September, when it was known that not more than eight hundred men were in garrison at Fort Duquesne, and the British might have been successfully beleaguring the fortress if Washington's advice had been heeded, General Forbes with six thousand men was yet east of the Alleghanies!
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It was November when he reached the scene of action, and then his provisions were nearly exhausted.
In the mean while, Major Grant, of a Highland regiment, who had been ordered by Colonel Bouquet to marchtowardFort Duquesne with about eight hundred men, and reconnoiter the country, exceeded his instructions, and made an unsuccessful attempt to capture it.Sept. 21, The British were defeated with great loss, and both Major Grant and Major Andrew Lewis, of Washington's regiment (who commanded a rear guard), were made prisoners, and sent to Montreal. The retreat of the survivors was effected by the skill and energy of Captain Bullit, who, with fifty men, was left in charge of the baggage. The total loss on that occasion was two hundred and seventy-eight killed, and forty-two wounded. * The French, greatly inspirited by this event, determined to attack Colonel Bouquet at Loyal Hanna, ** before General Forbes should arrive from Fort Bedford. *** A force under De Vetrie, consisting of twelve hundred French and two hundred Indians, marched eastward, and on the twelfth of October attacked Bouquet's camp. The battle lasted four hours, and the French were repulsed with considerable loss. Colonel Bouquet lost sixty-seven men in killed and wounded. The Indians, bitterly disappointed, left the French in great numbers, and went out upon their hunting-grounds to secure a supply of food for the winter.
General Forbes arrived, toward the close of October, at Loyal Hanna, about half way between Fort Bedford and Fort Duquesne, where he called a council of war. The increasing inclemency of the season and scarcity of provisions, made it appear inexpedient to attempt to reach the fort, and they were about to abandon the expedition until Spring, when a knowledge of the extreme weakness of the garrison at Fort Duquesne was communicated by some prisoners who had been taken. Encouraged by this intelligence, the expedition moved on, the regiment of Colonel Washington forming the advanced corps. When he was within a days' march of Fort Duquesne, he was discovered by scouts. Fear magnified his numbers, and the garrison "burned the fort, and ran away by the light of it at night, going down the Ohio by water, to the number of about five hundred men, according to the best information." ****Nov. 25, 1758The English took possession of its site the next day. The blackened chimneys of thirty tenements stood in bold relief among the ruins. (v) The works were repaired, and the name of Pitt was given to the new fortress. After furnishing two hundred men from his regiment to garrison Fort Pitt, Colonel Washington marched back to Winchester, from whence he soon proceeded to Williamsburg to take his seat in the House of Burgesses, to which he had been elected a member by the county of Frederick, while he was at Fort Cumberland. The French being expelled from the Ohio, and the fear of frontier troubles subsiding, Washington determined to yield to the demands of enfeebled health and required attention to private affairs, and leave the army. At about the close of the year, he resigned his commission as colonel of the first Virginia regiment and commander-in-chief of all the troops raised in the colony. (vi)
* Marshall, i., 25.
** Now Ligonier, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, fifty miles west of Bedford.
*** This fort was on the site of the present village of Bedford, the capital of Bedford county.
**** Washington's letter to Governor Fauquier.
* (v) Day's History of Western Pennsylvania, page 140.
* (vi) It was on the occasion of his visit to Williamsburg, at the close of this campaign, that a touching event in the life of Washington is said to have occurred. He went into the gallery of the old Capitol when the House of Burgesses were in session, to listen to the proceedings. As soon as he was perceived by Mr. Speaker Robinson, that gentleman called the attention of the House to the young hero, and greatly complimented him for his gallantry. Washington, who was naturally diffident, and never a fluent extemporaneous speaker, was much confused. He arose to express his acknowledgments for the honor, but, blushing and stammering, he was unable to utter a word intelligibly. Mr. Robinson observed his embarrassment, and with admirable tact relieved him. "Sit down, Mr. Washington," he said; "your modesty is equal to your valor, and that surpasses the power of any language that I possess." Mr. Robinson, the speaker of the House on this occasion, was the father of Colonel Beverly Robinson, the distinguished Loyalist of New York during the Revolution, whose portrait is printed on page 141. The last surviving son of Colonel Robinson, Sir Frederick Philipse Robinson, died at his residence at Brighton, England, on the first of January, 1852, at the age of eighty-seven years.
Development of Washington's Military Character.—Sir Frederick Philipse Robinson.
In this rapid sketch—this mere birds-eye view of the colonial history of Virginia, we have seen the development of those principles which made that state so eminently republican and patriotic when the Revolution broke out; and we have also seen the budding and growth of the military genius and public esteem of him who led our armies through that sanguinary conflict to victory and renown. We will now consider some of the events of the war for Independence which distinguished the peninsula below Richmond, lying between the York and James Rivers.
Effect of the Stamp Act in Virginia.—Boldness of Patrick Henry.—His Resolution in Opposition to the Act.